100 years in the top division. The end of Swindin; the awful tenure of Wright

100 consecutive seasons in the top division….

Our last article and the whole series….

• • • Arsenal’s 100 seassons in the top division. 1959/60. If we thought it couldn’t get worse, we were wrong
    • The full index of articles so far is published here 

by Tony Attwood

When Arsenal won the league in 1953, it made Arsenal the first club ever to gain seven first division titles – all won within a period of just 16 seasons – while the club also picked up three FA Cups along the way.  Ten trophies for a club that had previously won nothing – it was quite an achievement.

But then things fell apart.  Tom Whittaker was taken ill and passed away during the 1956/7 season, and his successors could not find the magic touch of their illustrious predecessors from the age of Chapman onwards had brought to Arsenal’s door.

Crayston continued for one season after taking over from Whittaker upon his death, and then Swindin (Arsenal’s regular goal keeper priot to Jack Kelsey) had taken over and lasted for four seasons.  But after a third-place finish in his first season, the club never managed to rise above 10^th under their latest manager.

And so, having exhausted the idea of bringing in ex-ploayers as managers, In the summer of 1962, Billy Wright, one of the most famous footballers in England in the second half of the 20th century, became Arsenal’s first “five-star” appointment as manager since Herbert Chapman. 

But unfortunately, the difference between the men was enormous.  Chapman had made his reputation as a manager at Huddersfield, while Wright was the most famous player of the era; but he had never managed before.  And sadly, under Wright, Arsenal saw the error of their ways, as the team declined year on year during his tenure, finishing 7^th, 8^th,13^th, and 14^th in consecutive campaigns.

It is of course, true that in this first season, Wright took Arsenal back up the league a little, with the club finishing in the seventh position noted at the start of that sequence.  And although the club went out of the FA Cup in the fifth round, Arsenal hadn’t got beyond the fifth round since 1957, so that hardly seemed surprising.

But Wright suffered from the same problem that had beset his predecessors, which was quite simply Arsenal going on long runs of consecutive defeats.  After two wins in the opening of the 1962/3 season, the club then played six league games, of which they drew one and lost five.

Indeed, on 5 September 1962, Arsenal were lingering in 15th place in the league, with just three wins out of 13 league matches, sitting just two points above relegation.  And this for a club that had in recent years, been the most successful league team of all time.  As the media recognised this was a worse Arsenal side than the ones that Billy Wright’s predecessors had overseen.  

Of course, there were some uplifting and entertaining moments.  Arsenal beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 5-4 on 27 October, with Baker getting three and George Eastham two.  And in the following game away to Blackburn, the score was an even more improbable 5-5 with Baker getting another two, Eastham one more, and the remaining two coming from the somewhat eccentric winger Alan Skirton

A 1-0 victory over Sheffield United in the next game made it just one defeat in the last eight games, and there were thoughts of a corner being turned.   But then two away defeats to Liverpool and Nottingham Forest knocked that feeling of renewal somewhat before four successive wins raised hopes once more.  It was that sort of up and down time.

Then the weather struck with a vengeance, and Arsenal were unable to play any games between December 16 and February 8^th – which of course included the normally very important and very profitable Christmas programme.

That was of course a great shame for the clubs who urgently needed the money to be able to pay their staff, and in fact Arsenal did not have a home game at all between December 16 and February 16, thus wiping out the entire Christmas and New Year schedules.  And we must remember this was an era in which most clubs would play league games over the Christmas period (depending on the calendar of course, as there were no Sunday games).  The Boxing Day and subsequent FA Cup third round games were considered important money spinners as the men left their homes for the wives to “clean up after Christmas”.

That run left Arsenal 9th in the table after the run of postponements, which meant they did not play again until the second week of February.  But although Arsenal improved a little, there were still too many defeats (only one win in a run of five matches in April for example) as the clubs struggled to play all the games that had been postponed,

When the season finally did end on 18 May, Arsenal were seventh, with yet another early defeat in the FA Cup (this time in round five).  Of course, it could be pointed out that seventh was the best position since coming third in 1959, but for the club that had swept all opposition aside in the pre- and post-war eras, it was not that impressive.

And yet despite two finishes of 7th and 8th in the league and two dismissals in the fifth round of the FA Cup, Wright was allowed to continue as manager, and so was still in charge of the club in the 1964/5 season.

There was quite a feeling that this was a serious mistake by the board, as Arsenal won just two of the first six games of 1964/5 although four wins in five through September helped ease the pressure on the manager.

But then things declined once more, with one win in seven in November / December.  Crowds were at this time dropping throughout football, and although 50,000 might still turn up for the very biggest games, only 21,000 turned up in December for the match at Highbury against Liverpool

Arsenal could of course win games and could score goals – ten goals in three successive league victories in Janauary proved that – but the defeats kept on coming as well, and five league games from the end of Febraury to the start of April, with only 18,000 turning up for a home game against West Brom, the writing surely had to be on the wall.

Certainly, the fans thought so as only 16,000 came to Highbury on Easter Monday to see the 3-0 win over Birmingham, and as the season fizzled out with two defeats away to Everton and Manchester United, there were demands for change.  Under Wright Arsenal had finished 7th, 8th and now 13th

Worse still, after two consecutive exits from the FA Cup in the fifth round, in 1965 Arsenal went out in the fourth round to Peterborough United, a club that finished the season eighth in Division 3.

Surely, it was thought, Wright now had to go.  And yet, amazingly the board allowed him to stay on.  I will cover 1965/66 in my next episode, but here’s a clue: it got worse.  A lot worse.