David Clark
Arsenal are due to play their final game the old White Hart Lane on 30th April 2017 before the planned new stadium there can be completed. For most Gooners the Lane is a place to be despised, not liked but below are a few reasons why I will miss the old White Hart Lane. But before that, let’s delve into a part of Arsenal’s history which is rarely mentioned…
ARSENAL... THE WHITE HART LANE YEARS
Yes fellow Gooners I bet at least some of you did not know that the Arsenal once used the Lane as their home ground. Yes that’s right White Hart Lane was where the Arsenal played their home games not just on a couple of occasions but for a number of years. Has that sunk in yet? Well before you get too distraught all these games were played at the Lane during the Second World War, basically because Highbury was requisitioned as an Air Raid Precaution station, complete with a barrage balloon at the Clock End! Now, let’s hope that someone in government at that time decided that it would be much better to protect Highbury rather than the Lane, but I suspect there were more pressing matters which were taken into consideration. Also during the war Highbury did get damaged. In 1940 a bomb fell near the stadium, killing two RAF men and resulting in tonnes of concrete being blown all over the Clock End. Highbury was also bombed in 1941, wrecking the North Bank.
The last game at Highbury before the war was in May 1939 when the Gunners beat Brentford 2 – 0. As well as being the last competitive game there before the war what also makes this game noticeable is that footage of it was used in the film ‘The Arsenal Stadium Mystery’ which does appear on TV every now and again to this day. The story centres on a Police investigation regarding a footballer who is poisoned at Highbury during a game. All the Arsenal staff, as well as the opposition (Brentford players as ‘The Trojans’) are under suspicion and it takes Scotland Yard’s finest to finally nab the culprit. The film shows Highbury in all its glory. Perhaps one day the Spurzz may get around to making a film where a number of their players are poisoned by a dodgy lasagne – if they do, once again they will be following in the Arsenal’s footsteps!
Arsenal’s first “home” game at White Hart Lane was played in October 1939 – the Gunners beat Charlton 8-4 in a Football League South ‘A’ Division game, watched by a crowd of around 9,000.
What is probably one of the most famous games played by the Arsenal took place at The Lane after the war had finished but before competitive football once again started, when they played Dynamo Moscow in November 1945. As was common during the war years, Arsenal fielded a number of ‘guest players’ for this game including Stanley Matthews and Stan Mortenson. Despite being 3 – 1 up at half time, Arsenal lost the game 4 - 3. To this day there are a number of unanswered questions about this game which was played in thick fog – how many players did Dynamo Moscow actually have on the pitch, (some rumours suggest there were up to 15 Dynamo Moscow players on the pitch during some points of the game); who actually scored their goals, did the Arsenal manager George Allison actually have a bet on the outcome of this game? These and many other questions still remain unanswered! Indeed the fallout from this game was so bad that it is said that it inspired George Orwell’s essay ‘The Sporting Spirit’ where he argued that the essential nature of all sport is war minus the shooting (that sounds a lot like the current squad where shooting from outside the box seems to be a definite no no!)
So why exactly do I love White Hart Lane. The following two dates will explain all!
3rd May 1971: Tottenham Hotspur 0 Arsenal 1 (Ray Kennedy)
Before this game, Leeds United, (remember them?) were top of the league having played all their games:
P42, W27, D10, L5, F72, A30 P64.
Arsenal, with this game in hand, stood as follows:
P41, W28, D7, L6, F70, A29 P63.
The rules at the time meant goal difference was not taken into account but the ‘goal average system’ was. Due to this the Arsenal had to either win the game or get a scoreless draw, any other result would mean that the title would be taken by Leeds. Even a score draw would mean that the title would go to Leeds.
Bill Nicholson, the Spurs manager who led his team to the first modern double in 1961 said before the game: ‘We are tremendously proud of our double achievement. I suppose some other club has got to do it again sometime but we will be doing our best to see that it isn’t Arsenal.’
The gates to the Lane were locked at least an hour before kick off with 51,000 people inside the ground to watch it, and by most accounts if the truth be told it was not much of a spectacle. However with three minutes of the game left, George Graham won the ball from Kinnear, crossing it to no one in particular, but the ball ran to the other side of the pitch where Georgie Armstrong lay in wait. He crossed it for Ray Kennedy to head into the net off the bar. 1 – 0 to the Arsenal and the title was theirs – won at the Lane!
To credit Spurzz, or more precisely Bill Nicholson, after the game Bertie Mee said:
‘We were given champagne in the dressing room by Bill Nicholson. The club could not have done more to help us celebrate our great night.’
25th April 2004: Tottenham Hotspur 2 Arsenal 2, (Patrick Vieira and Bobby Pires)
By the time this game took place Arsenal were on top of the league, nine points clear of Chelsea in second place with five games for the Arsenal left to play and three for Chelsea. A draw or win for the Arsenal would ensure that they would win the league!
Within three minutes of the start, Vieira made it 1 – 0 to the Arsenal, with Bobby Pires making it 2 – 0 shortly before half time. Around an hour into the game Jamie Redknapp pulled a goal back for the home team. Late into the game, in extra time mad Jens Lehman tangled with Robbie Keane on the goal line with Keane scoring from the resulting penalty sending the home fans into ecstasy! This suddenly turned into agony when the realisation that a draw would be enough for the Arsenal to take the title which they duly did.
