"REMEMBERING THE BAD OLD DAYS"

I am an Arsenal supporter who migrated to Sydney Australia in 1965. To follow your team from this country is fairly easy. We have very good television coverage and now with the internet we are as well informed as those people living in Islington or Finsbury Park.

I go to England quite often and usually manage to see an Arsenal game. It was in 1994 when I last saw a game at Highbury. It was a dreadful goalless draw with Chelsea. But what happened to me before the game surprised me. I got talking to a fellow supporter who was approximately my age(now 63) about the bad old days. Within minutes we had a fairly large group listening to us and asking us questions. Questions like "Did you really see Jack Kelsey in action" and "What was Tommy Lawton like?" So many questions that we hardly realised the match was about to start. It got me thinking that current supporters are interested in the past but it depends how it is presented to them as to how interested they remain.

I refer to the bad old days because when I first started to go to Highbury I saw the very rapid disintegration of a once great team. The year was 1953. Arsenal were The Champions and everyone thought that Arsenal would continue on their winning ways. It took eight matches before the Gunners won their first match. "What's wrong with Arsenal ?" everyone was asking. The hard fact was that Arsenal had an aging team. The average age was 30. The likes of Joe Mercer, Wally Barnes, Alex Forbes, Lionel Smith, Laurie Scott, Don Roper, Jimmy Logie, Doug Lishman, Peter Goring, Lionel Smith would all be retired within 2 years. There was only Cliff Holton, Arthur Milton, and Ray Daniel to build around. Needless to say we finished the year half way down the table. This was the start of the 17 year drought during which we were not able to win one trophy. From 1953 to 1956 I saw every home match and away matches in London. I was 16 which is a very impressionable age. The football stars of that era have remained most vividly in my mind. It is interesting to compare some things of that time with the present. Admittance was 9 pence. Ground capacity at Highbury was 73 000 but for safety reasons was lowered to 65 000 after the war. The attendance boom was in full swing. If Blackpool or Sunderland were the visitors I made sure that I was in the ground two hours before kick off otherwise I would not get in. Blackpool had the great Stanley Matthews and Sunderland had Len Shackleton. Len was a bit of a clown. In his autobiography he had a chapter heading " What managers know about football'. He just left a blank page. Only once was I shut out and that was the 6th round of the FA Cup against Blackpool which we lost and Blackpool went on to win the cup for the very first time

Tom Whittaker was the manager in 1953 but for the next 2 years he was at his wits end to know what to do. To appease the growing unrest with supporters he felt he had to do something, anything. He bought Mike Tiddy and Gordon Nutt from Cardiff. Two wingers which was not what was needed. Tom must have liked their funny sounding names. Poor Tom died soon after. A procession of managers then followed. Jack Grayston, Billy Wright and George Swindin had no luck. Arsenal badly wanted Alec Stock from Leyton Orient but Alec thought that if he went to a big club he would loose his way of doing things. So instead Arsenal bought his two best players Vic Groves and Stan Charton. Both great players and I thought that finally we might get somewhere. We did not. I can't remember who had the bright idea to get Tommy Lawton who was in his mid 30s. Great player that he still was he couldn't possibly be someone you could build a team around. And so it continued until Berty Mee came along and the rest is history.

In February 1958 I was at Highbury to watch Arsenal loose 4-5 to Manchester United, also known at the time as The Busby Babes. Three days later United were in Munich returning from a European Cup tie against Red Star when their plane crashed and half the team was killed. I had just come back from national service in Cyprus and when I heard the news I cried like millions of others. The match I had seen three days earlier has often been described as the greatest league match ever played.

Arsene Wenger with a name like that had to become Arsenal's manager. I hope he stays forever. He is the equal of Herbert Chapman without doubt. Patrick Vieira is majestic. The remainder are all wonderful but it is taking time for them to gel. I hope Arsenal get planning permission to build their new stadium. It gets up my nose when I see Manchester United crowds of 67, 000 compared to Arsenals pathetic 38,000. Arsenal are located in a city with over 12 million people. Surely it can't be OUTGUNNED by a provincial city .

PS: I would be very grateful if anyone reading this can give me any information on Arsenal players mentioned above, whether they are still alive or what they have been up to all these years. Danny Clapton I have not mentioned but I would like to know why he committed suicide. I know that Jimmy Bloomfield. Jack Kelsey and Tommy Lawton have passed away.

Thank you - Charles Kessler

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