Written by peachesgooner

On September 6th 1913 The Arsenal played their first game at their new ground – Highbury. It was a 2-1 win over Leicester Fosse.

Here’s a bit of history behind the move to Highbury. By the end of the 1912/13 season, Henry Norris who had recently taken charge of the club came to the conclusion that if the club wanted to grow they needed to move to a new ground. Highbury was chosen as it was close to an underground station. The proximity to the totts could have been a problem but nevertheless Norris went ahead and found the money for a 21 year lease on the ground at Highbury. All appeals by residents and other local clubs were quashed and the  mighty Arsenal was born.

The speed with which the site was organised and completed was amazing. Within four months the pitch was levelled and installed, a new grandstand was partly built and the terracing and turnstiles were ready for the first game.

Henry Norris’ next aim was to get Arsenal into the First Division, but his plans were thwarted by the onset of the First World War. The shenanigans involved in getting Arsenal promoted are a bit of a skeleton in the cupboard but suffice to say we were promoted to the First Division by a ballot at the expense of the spuds.

This history lesson came about because I was taking a look around Arse.com yesterday afternoon feeding my gooner habit – not the best place some would say, when I happened upon the History section. I was really impressed with how much  detailed information there is  available.

I discovered this important fact about September 6th 1913 looking at the page titled  On This Day In …… which gives an archive calender with a fact for every day in the year. Click here to see the page for yourself. Here are the first five entries:-

• 1. 1934…Arsenal recorded their biggest ever win over Liverpool, 8-1 at Highbury. Drake scored 3.

• 2. 1893…Woolwich Arsenal played their first ever league game, a 2-2 draw with Newcastle United.

• 3. 1904…Woolwich Arsenal played their first ever game in England’s top division, versus Newcastle.

• 4. 1979…Arsenal recorded their biggest ever League Cup win, a 7-0 rout against Leeds United.

• 5. 1970…Two George Armstrong goals beat Spurs 2-0. Arsenal lifted the ‘Double’ later that season.
  

Always nice to find something heartwarming like beating spuds. Obviously there are 30 days of facts and being a bit geeky I had to read them all and pass some on.  In September 1958 we had two 6-1 wins within four days over Bolton and Everton. Freddie Ljungberg was signed by Arsène Wenger on the 11th of September 1998 and scored on his debut nine days later in a 3-0 win over the mancs.

Ian Wright was signed by George Graham from Crystal Palace on the 23rd in 1991 and he scored on his debut on the 25th in a League cup game against Leicester. In 1993 he scored his 5th hat-trick in a 5-0 win against Huddersfield in the League Cup and on the 13th September 1997 he broke Cliff Basten’s goalscoring record with a hat-trick against Bolton.

It was lovely to discover that three of my favourite players of all time were born on various dates in September, David Seaman, Emmanuel Petit and Sol Campbell. But the fact that made me smile the most was the one listed for the 28th September 1996 Frenchman Arsène Wenger became the first foreign manager of Arsenal ……… and the rest is history.