On this day 50 years ago, just 23,586 turned up for a league match

Compiled by Tony Attwood

• Day by Day the videos – An Arsenal video for (almost) every day of the year in order. 
• Day by Day the stories– a key moment in Arsenal and footballing history for each day of the year
• Details of some more series can be found at the foot of his article and others are on the home page

Today’s headline comes from 1974

7 September 1896 Arsenal 3 Rushden Town 2.  The first ever United League match for Woolwich Arsenal.  The club entered its first team into the 8 team league with the matches arranged to bring some income in addition to that of Football League games.

7 September 1889: Charlie Booth’s first league game for Wolverhampton prior to moving to Arsenal.   In total he played 73 games and scored 10 goals before moving to Woolwich Arsenal in 1892 – the year before the club joined the League, and played in Arsenal’s first ever league match.

7 September 1901:  Arsenal beat Leicester Fosse 2-0   It was the first time ever that Arsenal had won their first two matches of the season!  Tommy Briercliffe scored his first goal for the club.

7 September 1912:  Having drawn their opening game, Woolwich Arsenal travelled to Liverpool for their next fixture having never won at Anfield, drawing two and losing seven, with Liverpool winning the corresponding fixture 4-1 the previous season.  This year Arsenal lost 0-3.

7 September 1918: The start of the fourth and last wartime league of the era.  On this day Arsenal were away to QPR but with victory on the battlefield edging closer there was already talk of how football would be reformed once peace was restored.

7 September 1925:  This was the season when the offside rule was changed to increase goal scoring, but the result Leicester City 0 Arsenal 1 meant Arsenal had scored four goals in four games, and the explosion of goals was (as yet) not happening on a regular basis – at least not for Arsenal.

7 September 1945: Peter Storey born.  He was a member of the Arsenal youth team in 1961/2 and then moved into the first team making his debut in 1965 and going on to play 391 league games for Arsenal.

7 September 1949  WBA 1 Arsenal 2.  Freddie Cox’s first match with the goals scored by Lewis and Barnes.  Freddie went on to play 32 of the remaining games of the season.

50 Years Ago Today, just 23,586 turned up for a home match

7 September 1974: After five games Arsenal were 14th with just two wins and three defeats from the opening games.  And on this day it got worse with the result: Arsenal 0 Burnley 1.  Only 23,586 showed up and by now everyone knew Arsenal were in real trouble.

7 September 1991: Arsenal 1 Coventry 2.  Lee Dixon, ten yards out from his own goal near the touch line, punted the ball back to Seaman but it went beyond his grasping hand and into the net.  It caused Arsenal’s first home defeat in a year and a half.

7 September 1996: Final match of Stewart Houston’s reign as temporary manager; 2-2 draw with Aston Villa.  He had managed six games while waiting for Arsène Wenger to arrive, but won just two of them.

7 September 2007: Arsène Wenger signed a contract extension rumoured to be costing the club £4m a year – a figure on a par with many of the players in his teams.

7 September 2012: Chuks Aneke loaned to Crewe Alexandra for whom over two seasons he played 70 games scoring 20 goals.  In 2014, he signed permanently for Zulte Waregem. After 2 years there he returned to play for MK Dons and in 2019 signed for Charlton Athletic.