Welcome to the latest installment of the Gloucester Groundhopper blog.
For this chapter, we headed to London for some Women's Super League action as Arsenal Women took on Tottenham Hotspur Women at The Emirates Stadium.
It's All In The Name
The nickname 'The Gunners' refers to the club's roots, as it was founded by workers from the Royal Arsenal munitions factory in Woolwich. The Royal Arsenal manufactured ammunition, weapons (including artillery and small guns), and explosives.
The nickname complements the club's emblem, which features a cannon. The words 'The Gunners' appeared on early versions of the club badge. Cannons have been a significant component of the Arsenal crest since 1888, and the original crest was based on the Woolwich borough coat of arms. Despite moving from Woolwich to Highbury in 1913, Arsenal kept their name and iconography, but the club badge has been updated on occasion.
Some Notable People From Islington:
Asa Butterfield- Actor
Mark Strong- Actor
Roger Lloyd-Pack- Actor
Joe Swash- TV Presenter
Natalie Cassidy- Actress
Some Notable Former Players
Tony Adams
Charlie Nicholas
Thierry Henry
Nigel Winterburn
Ian Wright
David Seaman
Patrick Vieira
Freddie Ljungberg
Cesc Fabregas
Petr Cech
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
A History Lesson From The Gloucester Groundhopper
Arsenal
In October 1886, Scotsman David Danskin and fifteen other munitions workers in Woolwich created Dial Square Football Club, named after a workshop at the heart of the Royal Arsenal complex. Each member gave sixpence, and Danskin added three shillings to assist start the club. Dial Square won their first match 6-0 against Eastern Wanderers on 11th December 1886. By January 1887, the club had changed its name to Royal Arsenal, and its first home was Plumstead Common, however they spent the majority of their time at the Manor Ground. Their first trophies were the Kent Senior Cup and London Charity Cup in 1889-90, followed by the London Senior Cup in 1890-91; these were Arsenal's sole county association triumphs while based in South East London. Royal Arsenal were the first London club to go professional in 1891.
Royal Arsenal was renamed a second time in 1893 when it became a limited liability corporation. When the team ascended later that year, they registered their new name, Woolwich Arsenal, with The Football League. Woolwich Arsenal was The Football League's first southern member, rising from the Second Division to the First Division in 1904. Falling attendances, as a result of financial troubles among munitions workers and the emergence of more accessible football clubs elsewhere in the city, brought the club dangerously close to insolvency by 1910. Businessmen Henry Norris and William Hall were engaged in the club and attempted to relocate it.
After being relegated to the Second Division, the club relocated across the river to the new Arsenal Stadium in Highbury in 1913. Despite finishing fifth in the Second Division's last pre-war season in 1914-15, The Football League controversially opted to promote The Arsenal rather than demoted local rivals Tottenham Hotspur into the newly larger First Division in 1919. Later that year, The Arsenal began dropping "The" from official papers, eventually shifting its name to Arsenal, as it is now commonly known.
With a new home and First Division football, attendance at the Manor Ground more than doubled, and Arsenal's budget rose swiftly. Arsenal swiftly became regarded as the Bank of England team, thanks to record-breaking spending and gate receipts.
In 1925, star Huddersfield Town manager Herbert Chapman was enticed by Arsenal's location and record-breaking salary offer. Chapman spent the next five years constructing a revolutionary new Arsenal. To begin, he hired an enduring new trainer, Tom Whittaker, who would one day go on to become a legendary Arsenal manager himself. Implemented the developing WM formation with the assistance of player Charlie Buchan, which would serve as a stable cornerstone for his squad. He also signed generational young prospects like Cliff Bastin and Eddie Hapgood, while lavishing Highbury's wealth on stars like David Jack and Alex James.
Chapman's Arsenal won their first national trophy, the FA Cup, in 1930, followed by League Championships in 1930-31 and 1932-33. Off the pitch, Chapman oversaw innovations such as the addition of white sleeves and shirt numbers to the outfit, the naming of a Tube station after the club and the completion of the first of two lavish, Art Deco stands, which included some of the first floodlights in English football. Chapman died of pneumonia in the middle of the 1933-1934 season.
After Chapman's death, his colleagues Joe Shaw and George Allison took over as shrewd and consummate custodians of Chapman's excellent Arsenal team, completing a hat-trick of league wins with the 1933-34, 1934-35, and 1937-38 titles, as well as winning the 1936 FA Cup.
The Football League was stopped for seven years due to World War II. While Arsenal was paraded by the nation as a symbol of national solidarity with war efforts, the war took a heavy toll on the team, with the club losing more players than any other top division club. Furthermore, debt from the planned North Bank Stand reconstruction depleted Arsenal's resources significantly.
Despite this period of turbulence & churn, Arsenal returned to win the league in the second post-war season of 1947–48. This was Tom Whittaker's first season as manager, and meant the club equalled the champions of England record. Tom Whittaker, despite his disarming humble & modest disposition, was oft-referred to as the "brains" behind the charismatic Chapman's legendary Arsenal side. Despite having very few resources, he assembled a strong and highly competent Arsenal team, with a fiery and expansive style that drew a lot of attention at the time.
They won their third FA Cup in 1950, followed by a record-breaking seventh title in 1952-53, making Arsenal the most successful side in English history at the time.
Arsenal would not win the Premier League or FA Cup for another 18 years. The '53 Champions squad had aged, and the club had struggled to find suitable replacements. Arsenal's fortunes had faded throughout these years, and the team spent the majority of the 1950s and 1960s in mid-table mediocrity. Even former England captain Billy Wright, who managed the club from 1962 to 1966, was unable to deliver the club any success.
In 1966, Arsenal temporarily hired club physiotherapist Bertie Mee as temporary manager. Mee led Arsenal to their first League Cup finals, in 1967-68 and 1968-69, with new assistant Don Howe and new players such as Bob McNab and George Graham. The 1969-70 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup was Arsenal's first competitive European trophy the following season. The following season, Arsenal won an even greater triumph with their first League and FA Cup double, as well as a new English champions record. This marked the decade's premature high point; the Double-winning side was quickly disbanded, and the rest of the decade was defined by a succession of close misses, with Arsenal finishing as FA Cup runners-up in 1972 and First Division runners-up in 1973.
Former player Terry Neill succeeded Mee in 1976. At the age of 34, he became the youngest Arsenal manager to date. With new signings like Malcolm Macdonald and Pat Jennings, and a crop of talent in the side like Liam Brady and Frank Stapleton, the club reached a trio of FA Cup finals (1978 FA Cup, 1979 FA Cup and 1980 FA Cup), and lost the 1980 European Cup Winners' Cup Final on penalties. The club's only trophy during this time was the 1979 FA Cup, achieved with a last-minute 3–2 victory over Manchester United, in a final is widely regarded as a classic.
George Graham, one of Mee's double winners, returned as manager in 1986, and Arsenal won their first League Cup in 1987, Graham's first season in command. By 1988, new acquisitions Nigel Winterburn, Lee Dixon, and Steve Bould had joined the club, rounding out the "famous Back Four" led by homegrown player Tony Adams. Graham's ideology of stressing defensive greatness appeared to clash with the club's usual expansive style and the club's youthful player demography at the time, but they swiftly established a cult following after early triumphs.
They quickly won the 1988 Football League Centenary Trophy, and then the 1988-89 Football League title, which they won with a last-minute goal against fellow title contenders Liverpool in the final game of the season. Graham's Arsenal won another title in 1990-91, losing only one match, as well as the FA Cup, League Cup, and European Cup Winners' Cup in 1994. Graham's image was tainted when it was discovered that he had taken kickbacks from agent Rune Hauge in exchange for signing certain players, and he was fired in 1995. Bruce Rioch, his replacement, lasted only one season before quitting the club due to a disagreement with the board of directors.
The club underwent a transformation during the tenure of French manager Arsène Wenger, who took over in 1996. His rule was distinguished by attacking football, overhauling dietary and fitness routines, and financial efficiency. Arsenal won a second League and Cup double in 1997-98 and a third in 2001-02 after acquiring crucial players from Wenger's country, such as Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry. Furthermore, the club reached the 1999-2000 UEFA Cup final, won the 2003 and 2005 FA Cup finals, and won the Premier League without losing a single match in 2003-04, earning the team the nickname "The Invincibles." This achievement came during a 49-game unbeaten streak from 7th May 2003 to 24th October 2004, a national record.
Arsenal finished first or second in the league in eight of Wenger's first nine seasons at the club, though they never won the title twice in a row. The club had never advanced beyond the Champions League quarter-finals until 2005-06, when they became the first London team to reach the final in the competition's fifty-year history, but were defeated 2-1 by Barcelona. After 93 years at Highbury, they relocated to the Emirates Stadium in July 2006. Arsenal reached the League Cup finals in 2007 and 2011, losing 2-1 to Chelsea and Birmingham City, respectively. Arsenal had not won a trophy since the 2005 FA Cup until, led by club record signing Mesut Ozil, they defeated Hull City in the 2014 FA Cup Final, coming back from a 2-0 deficit to win 3-2.
A year later, Arsenal won the FA Cup for the 13th time, making them the most successful club in the tournament's history. However, Arsenal finished fifth in the league that same season, the first time they had been outside the top four since before Wenger joined in 1996. Arsenal finished sixth and won the Community Shield in Arsene Wenger's 21st and last season. Wenger left Arsenal on 13th May 2018, at the end of the season.
Following a revamp of the club's operational model to coincide with Wenger's retirement, Unai Emery, a Spaniard, was named the club's next head coach on 23rd May 2018. He was the club's first 'head coach' and the club's second manager from outside the United Kingdom. Arsenal finished fifth in the Premier League and second in the Europa League in Emery's first season. Emery was fired as manager on 29th November 2019, and former player and assistant first-team coach Freddie Ljungberg was named interim head coach.
Mikel Arteta, a former Arsenal captain, was named the club's new head coach on 20th December 2019. Arsenal finished ninth in the league, their lowest position since 1994-95, but beat Chelsea 2-1 to win their 14th FA Cup. Arteta's title was changed from head coach to manager at the end of the season.
Arsenal was declared as a founding club of the breakaway European league The Super League on 18th April 2021; they withdrew from the competition two days later amid widespread backlash. Arsenal finished ninth again this season, failing to qualify for a European competition for the first time in 26 years. Arsenal returned to the Champions League after finishing second to Manchester City in the 2022-23 Premier League season. Arsenal led the league for the majority of the season until succumbing to a string of defeats at the end, setting a record for the most time spent on top of the table without actually winning the league.
Arsenal Women
Vic Akers, long-time Arsenal men's team kit manager, helped start a women's football club in 1987 and was selected as their first manager. Arsenal Ladies Football Club was the club's first name. Arsenal's cup participation were restricted for the first fourteen years of their existence due to the general downturn in interest in women's football in England. The club went semi-professional in 2002. In the 1991-92 season, they won their first major award, the Women's League Cup. Also in 1992, they were promoted from the FA Women's National League South to the FA Women's Premier League, and a season later, they won the top division title at the first attempt.
This marked the start of a period of prolonged dominance for the club, which subsequently relocated to Meadow Park in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, as part of a groundshare arrangement with non-league side Boreham Wood. Following the men's team's storied success, Arsenal made a concerted attempt to market women's football as egalitarian. Over the next two decades, Arsenal tackled all aspects of the game, such as training, tactics, scouting, and financing, with the goal of maximising the club's growth and achieving championships. Arsenal dominated the Premier League for several seasons in the 1990s and 2000s, boasting academy graduates like Marieanne Spacey and Faye White, as well as spending the club's money on talents like Emma Byrne, allowing the club to win a spate of championships. During the summer of 1997, Akers resigned as manager of Arsenal's Women's squad to become kit manager for the men's team. Terry Howard took over as head coach for the 1997-98 season, but Akers returned in 1998-99 after Howard left.
Arsenal achieved unrivalled domestic success during Akers' leadership, winning 11 league crowns, nine FA Women's Cups, ten FA Women's Premier League Cups, and five FA Women's Community Shields. This featured seven consecutive league victories from the 2003-04 season to the 2009-10 season, as well as six unbeaten seasons. Furthermore, in the 2006-07 season, Akers led the squad to the most successful club season in English women's football, winning every single competition available to them, including the elusive UEFA Women's Cup. Arsenal's only trophy came from European competition, and it was the first time an English team won the championship. The Sports Journalists' Association honoured this unusual sextuple with The Committee Award at the 2007 Sports Journalists' Awards.
Akers also led the squad to a number of English women's football records, including a six-year league unbeaten streak from October 2003 to March 2009, which lasted 108 games. Between November 2005 and April 2008, Arsenal won a record 51 consecutive league games. Akers left management after winning the domestic treble in 2008-09.
Tony Gervaise followed Akers, who resigned in February 2010 after only eight months in office, implying that his position had been damaged by outside meddling. In an extraordinary turn of events, reserve coach Laura Harvey was promoted to first-team manager, while Gervaise was promoted to reserve coach. The club's first female coach in any position was appointed in this capacity.
Following a year off in preparation for a restructured competition, Arsenal were appointed as founding members of the FA Women's Super competition, which began in the spring of 2011.
Arsenal won the first season, their eighth consecutive English title, as well as the FA Cup, completing another domestic double. Shelley Kerr was named Harvey's replacement in 2013 after a two-year drought without a league title. The club won two FA Women's Cups under her leadership, including one in 2014, two weeks after the men's team won the FA Cup, completing a rare FA Cup double for the club. Kerr resigned following a terrible run of form that saw Arsenal take only one point from the first four league matches of the 2014 season, including exits from the Champions League to minnows Birmingham and a shock loss to Reading. Pedro Losa took her position. Losa guided the team to the FA WSL Cup in 2015 and the FA Women's Cup in 2016. Furthermore, he contributed to the squad's rebuilding by bringing in younger players such as Danielle van de Donk, Kim Little, Beth Mead, and Vivianne Miedema. Losa also brought in newcomers like Leah Williamson. However, Losa resigned at the end of the season and was replaced by Joe Montemurro.
In July 2017, the club relaunched as Arsenal Women Football Club, in what Arsenal characterised as a "clear signal of togetherness and unity" and in order to maintain the club's progressive spirit. Montemurro led Arsenal to the 2018-19 Women's Super League title with a game to spare, utilising the core Losa helped develop. The victory was their first in seven years, and it marked the club's first return to the Champions League in five years. Montemurro was released at the end of the 2020-21 season.
Following Montemurro's resignation, Arsenal appointed Jonas Eidevall as head coach. The North London derby at the Emirates Stadium on September 24, 2022, drew 47,367 people, the most ever for a WSL match. The game was won by Arsenal 4-0. Arsenal defeated Chelsea 3-1 in the Women's League Cup final on March 5, 2023, to earn their first title since 2019.
Honours
Arsenal
🏆 First Division/Premier League (Winners: 1930–31, 1932–33, 1933–34, 1934–35, 1937–38, 1947–48, 1952–53, 1970–71, 1988–89, 1990–91, 1997–98, 2001–02, 2003–04)
🏆 FA Cup (Winners: 1929–30, 1935–36, 1949–50, 1970–71, 1978–79, 1992–93, 1997–98, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2004–05, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2016–17, 2019–20)
🏆 Football League Club (Winners: 1986–87, 1992–93)
🏆 FA Community Shield (Winners: 1930, 1931, 1933, 1934, 1938, 1948, 1953, 1991, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2004, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2020, 2023)
🏆 Football League Centenary Trophy (Winners: 1988)
🏆 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (Winners: 1969-70)
🏆 UEFA Cup Winners Cup (Winners: 1993-94)
Arsenal Women
🏆 English Football Championship (Winners: 1992–93, 1994–95, 1996–97, 2000–01, 2001–02, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2011, 2012, 2018–19)
🏆 FA Women's Premier League South (Winners: 1991−92)
🏆 Women's FA Cup (Winners: 1992–93, 1994–95, 1997–98, 1998–99, 2000–01, 2003–04, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2010–11, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2015–16)
🏆 FA Women's League Cup (Winners: 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2018, 2023)
🏆 FA Women's National League Cup (Winners: 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1997–98, 1998–99, 1999–00, 2000–01, 2004–05, 2006–07, 2008–09)
🏆 Women's FA Community Shield (Winners: 2000, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2008)
🏆 UEFA Women's Champions League (Winners: 2006–07)
Matchday: Arsenal Women 1-0 Tottenham Hotspur Women
We travelled to London on a bitterly cold Sunday morning as we looked forward to yet another entertaining game. There was a decision made by the powers that be that the game would be moved from a 14:30 kickoff to a 12:30 kickoff. This made it an absolute nightmare to get to the game, and to be honest it made the logistics of the game a bit difficult.
We arrived with around 30 minutes to go before kick off, and there were still thousands upon thousand of supporters outside the stadium waiting to go in. We did a quick walk around the stadium, seeing the statues the club have honouring: Arsene Wenger, Thierry Henry, Herbert Chapman and Tony Adams. We also had a quick trip to the clubshop. The club, frustratingly, did sell pin badges, but they had to be purchased with a keyring. The reason for this is unclear. One could call it up selling, but in the end it caused us not to buy anything, so that wouldn't make sense. We then queued up to enter the ground.
The ticketing system was okay. We bought the tickets online and had them sent to our phones. The biggest issue we had with the tickets was explaining to AFC Finners that we wanted the tickets printing- a concept he found very difficult to comprehend. It was simply a case of scanning the tickets, and getting into the ground.
There was very little time to queue up and buy food. AFC Finners was the only one brave enough to do so. He ordered a vegan hot dog and a coffee which Finners enjoyed. Meanwhile, Luke the Stuart Dallas Fan and I searched for our seats. We were based near the corner flag, or so we thought. We were informed that we were in the wrong seats by a friendly woman, and it was a case of we had got the correct row and seats, but the wrong block- our bad. We then ventured to our seats, in block 112 (not block 19).
We had a conversation about the difference in atmosphere between men and women's games. At women's games, the atmosphere is far more positive, with a lot more support and a lot less insulting and frustration, it is a needed change sometimes, and this was the case for the match, which was a sell out.
The stadium itself is one of the greatest we have visited. The seats were comfortable with a decent amount of room and the stadium itself was clean and well maintained. The only negative was that the signage to get to the upper blocks weren't obvious or clear, which led to the aforementioned mix up with our seats.
Teamsheet
Arsenal Women
Manager: Jonas Eidevall
Manuela Zinsberger
Lotte Wubben-Moy
Steph Catley
Beth Mead
Kim Little (c)
Lia Walti
Katie McCabe
Caitlin Foord
Victoria Pelova
Alessia Russo ⚽️
Laia Codina
Substitutes
Naomi Williams
Sarah Bouhaddi
Leah Williamson
Katie Reid
Kyra Cooney-Cross
Madison Earl
Frida Maanum
Vivienne Lia
Stina Blackstenius
Tottenham Hotspur Women
Manager: Robert Vilahamn
Rebecca Spencer
Ashleigh Neville
Molly Bartrip (C)
Amy James-Turner
Amanda Nilden
Kit Graham
Eveliina Summanen
Celin Bizet-Ildhusoy
Grace Clinton
Jessica Naz
Martha Thomas
Substitutes
Barbora Votikova
Charlotte Grant
Luana Buhler
Matilda Vinberg
Olga Ahtinen
Drew Spence
Ramona Petzelburger
Wang Shuang
Bethany England
Arsenal dominated the game from start to finish, as Tottenham attempted to defend deep while Arsenal employed their classic passing style. Tottenham's Jessica Naz came closest to opening the scoring when her effort was deflected onto the crossbar by Arsenal keeper Manuela Zinsberger.
Arsenal began quickly again in the second half, and this time they made the breakthrough. Little played a fantastic diagonal pass from the corner of the penalty area to Mead, who had excellent control before overcoming Amanda Nilden's push to set up Russo.
To clinch three points for Arsenal Women, the former Manchester United attacker smashed the ball into an unprotected net from six yards out, her sixth league goal of the season.
Scores On The Doors
Atmosphere: 8/10
Food and Drink: 7/10
Stadium: 9/10
Welcome: 7/10
Overall Experience: 7/10
GG
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