The 1973/74 season had kicked off with the bad news that despite finishing as runners up the previous season, Arsenal would not be competing in European competition. Despite UEFA ditching the ‘one city, one club’ rule of the predecessor Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, the Football League unilaterally chose to continue with it. Tottenham Hotspur that season also won the Football League Cup and with the league wishing to promote their own show piece trophy, it was they and not Arsenal who were chosen to compete in the UEFA Cup for 1973/74. Over the summer of 1973, two icons of the famous early seventies Arsenal side were bidding farewell to Highbury – one an icon for what could have been achieved and the other for what actually was achieved.

In June, Captain Frank McLintock headed to Loftus Road to join QPR after being frozen out by Bertie Mee at Highbury. That same month, Peter Marinello was shipped out to Portsmouth, having failed to live up to the ‘new George Best’ tag that was placed in him on his arrival at Highbury in 1970. The only incoming transfer into Highbury that summer had been Brian Chambers from the previous season’s shock FA Cup winners Sunderland. Arsenal’s pre-season started with a tour of Norway. The first fixture had been a 2-0 win over Brann with goals for John Radford and Alan Ball, while three days later the Gunners suffered 0-1 defeat to the humorously named Frigg FC.

Arsenal’s first ‘competitive’ fixture of 1973/74 came at Highbury against Wolves in what was the FA Cup third/fourth place play off fixture (yes, really!). This fixture was introduced in 1970 and oddly enough, Arsenal had a hand in its creation. Back in 1953, Arsenal’s title decider against Burnley on the eve of the ‘Matthews’ Cup Final attracted many fans of both Blackpool and Bolton who were in the Capital for the big game the following day. An enterprising Arsenal FC board therefore decided to create a Cup Final eve fixture to attract the crowds to Highbury and therefore dreamt up an England over 30s v Young England (under 23s) game.

The fixture lasted for fifteen years, with the very first in 1954 attracting a crowd of 43,554. By the late sixties however, attendances for this fixture dwindled to as low as 13,018 in 1967. The fixture was replaced in 1970 as the third and fourth place play off for the FA Cup, based on the equally pointless play off fixture for the World Cup finals. The first game was between Watford and Man United at Highbury in April 1970, which United won 2-0 in front of just 15,105 fans. The game failed to capture the public’s imagination and the following year between Stoke City and Everton attracted just 5,000 spectators at Selhurst Park.

In 1972, the fixture was moved to the start of the following season which briefly boosted attendances. The 1973 fixture however failed to improve on this figure. The game would be captured by LWT’s ‘The Big Match’, with visible empty seats on show. Goals for Jim McCalliog and two for Derek Dougan meant Wolves inflicting a 1-3 defeat on the Gunners, while Brian Hornsby would be on target for Arsenal (this fixture would limp on for another season with the 1974 game between Burnley and Leicester attracting just 6,458 fans at Filbert Street. After this humiliation, the fixture was finally put out of its misery and disappeared from the football calendar for good).

Forty eight hours on, Arsenal headed to Ibrox to face Rangers in a game to mark the Gers’ centenary. Over 70,000 fans crammed into Ibrox for the fixture, with Alan Ball’s every touch booed with the Rangers’ faithful due to his annual battles with the Scots in the England v Scotland fixture. Derek Parlance gave Rangers the lead, which the Glaswegian side held until the final two minutes when a Charlie George shot was dropped over the line by Rangers keeper Peter McCloy. Rangers then pushed forward to regain their lead before a Charlie George pass put John Radford clear, who secured a 2-1 victory for Arsenal.

The Gunners’ League season kicked off with a visit from a Manchester United side in steep decline, having finished in a lowly eighteenth position the previous season. In front of a crowd of 51,501, goals for Ray Kennedy, Alan Ball and John Radford gave Arsenal a thumping 3-0 win. The victory however would give a false impression of Arsenal’s prospects for the season ahead. Next up came the visit of Don Revie’s Leeds United side, three days on. In the first minute, Arsenal took the lead with a goal from Jeff Blockley. The Gunners however missed several chances to increase their lead and early in the second half Leeds United equalised with a Peter Lorimer free kick. A Paul Madeley shot then rebounded off two defenders and into the Arsenal net, inflicting a 1-2 defeat on the Gunners.

For the first game of September 1973, Arsenal headed to St. James’s Park to face Newcastle. Terry McDermott gave Newcastle the lead, before a Charlie George equaliser earned Arsenal a 1-1 draw. Three days on, Arsenal headed to Bramall Lane for the first real indication that Bertie Mee’s tenure as Arsenal boss was heading in the wrong direction. The Blades had a worse start to the season than Arsenal, having won one and lost two of their first three games. Sheffield United raced into a four goal lead by seventeen minutes with Tony Currie running amok, even at one point sitting on the ball – emulating Alan Ball who carried out the same act two seasons earlier at Bramall Lane. The Blades added another on the hour to inflict a 0-5 hammering on Arsenal.

The following weekend back at Highbury things didn’t get any better with Arsenal suffering a 0-2 loss to Leicester and consequently tumbling to seventeenth in the table. One day later, Jackie Stewart became Formula One World Driver’s Champion after winning the Italian Grand Prix. Another two days on in Chile would see the original 9/11 disaster, with the other throw of Salvadore Allende’s democratically elected socialist government by General Pinochet. The next day, the Gunners would play host to Sheffield United at Highbury - seven days after the Bramall Lane detritus. A Ray Kennedy goal on eighty minutes would give Arsenal a 1-0 win.

At Highbury, there would be backroom change in that Steve Burtenshaw would exit after losing the confidence of the players, with Bobby Campbell coming in from QPR as coach. Next up would be a trip to Carrow Road to meet a Norwich City side that inflicted two defeats on Arsenal the previous season. An Alan Ball penalty, as well as Charlie George, Ray Kennedy and Bob McNab on target meant a much needed moral boosting 4-0 win. There would be a further victory with a 2-1 win at home over Stoke City, with goals for Alan Ball and John Radford. September 1973 however would end with a 0-1 away defeat to Everton, meaning that Arsenal ended the month in tenth place.

Three days later, Arsenal faced a visit from one of the other Merseyside teams – or the Wirral Peninsula to be exact – in the shape of third tier Tranmere Rovers. The Prenton Park side were Player-Managed by former Liverpool stalwart Ron Yeats and left Highbury inflicting a shock 0-1 defeat on the Gunners. Even worse was an injury to Alan Ball, who twisted his knee after a challenge with future FA Chief Executive Mark Palios. Tranmere Rovers remain the only British club to have a 100% record against Arsenal at Highbury. The Arsenal side that night was practically the Gunners’ first team, with the exception of Brian Chambers making his debut.

Four days on back at Highbury, Arsenal faced Birmingham City in front of a crowd of just 23,915. On the back of that humiliating loss came the introduction of a seventeen year old Liam Brady, brought on as sub for Jeff Blockley. Brian Chambers also made his second and last appearance in an Arsenal shirt. A goal for Ray Kennedy secured a 1-0 victory for Arsenal. Amidst the crisis at Highbury came a crisis in the wider world, as that same day a coalition of Arab Nations led by Egypt and Syria launched a surprise attack on Israel during the Jewish holy period of ‘Yom Kippur’. October too would be a crisis month for both Arsenal and English football too.

Firstly however, independent local radio would be launched, ending the BBC’s official legal monopoly over UK radio, with LBC becoming Britain’s first commercial station, followed by Capital Radio one week later. One week on, Arsenal travelled to White Hart Lane for that season’s North London Derby against a Spurs side languishing in eighteenth place. Whether LBC covered the game on the Radio is unknown, but the match would be captured by LWT’s ‘The Big Match’. Goals for Martin Chivers and Alan Gilzean meant Arsenal crashed to a 0-2 defeat. The week that followed would be momentous for English football - starting with Brian Clough and Peter Taylor walking out on Derby County.

Two days later, England failed to qualify for the 1974 World Cup Finals after failing to beat Poland, with Clough as part of the ITV panel for the live coverage referring to the Polish keeper Jan Tomaszewski as ‘a clown’. In between the two fixtures came a friendly fixture for Arsenal at the Camp Nou. The game would be noteworthy as Johan Cruyff’s debut for a Barcelona side that hadn’t won the Spanish title for thirteen years (imagine that!). Arsenal performed well, but crashed to a 0-1 defeat. That same day, in retaliation for western support for Israel in the Yom Kippur War, OPEC (the mostly Arab cartel of Oil producing nations) announced a 70% increase in the price of crude oil against western nations such as the USA, UK, Canada, Japan and Holland. This sparked the Oil crisis of 1973, which too led to a stock market crash and the first major international financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Back in League Football meanwhile, the following weekend Arsenal played host to Bobby Robson’s Ipswich Town. A goal for Peter Simpson meant a 1-1 draw. One week later, the Gunners headed to Loftus Road to meet QPR and former Captain Frank McLintock. The match was covered by the BBC’s ‘Match of the Day’. Goals for Don Givens and Stan Bowles pouncing on defensive confusion which followed a Brendan Batson back pass, meant Arsenal crashed to a 0-2 defeat. One week later saw the visit of reigning Champions Liverpool, who were sitting in sixth place having not won an away game all season. The game was once again covered by the BBC’s ‘Match of the Day’ and the match day programme uploaded on the ‘Angry of Islington’ blogsite of long time Gooner contributor Phil Wall.

Second half goals for Emlyn Hughes and John Toshack meant a 0-2 defeat for Arsenal, which sunk the Gunners to sixteenth place. Bertie Mee’s side had managed just one victory in their last seven fixtures in all competitions. Forty eight hours on would see Arsenal head to Portsmouth for a midweek friendly to commemorate Pompey’s seventy fifth year of League football. Only 8,859 fans turned up to view a 1-2 defeat for Arsenal with John Radford on target. Next up would be a trip to Maine Road to face eleventh place Man City, now managed by Ron Saunders. The game would be covered by Granada’s ‘Kick Off Match’. Arsenal finally grabbed their first win for five weeks as goals for Eddie Kelly and Brian Hornsby meant a 2-1 win, while Francis Lee would be on target for City.

Two days on – twenty four hours prior to the Royal Wedding of Princess Anne to Captain Mark Phillips - a state of emergency was declared by Prime Minister Edward Heath after the National Union of Mineworkers called an overtime ban. The Oil Crisis had made the nation even more reliant on coal stocks and with ever rising inflation throughout the early 1970s, the Union had for a few years been mired in conflict with the Heath government as Miners’ wages had failed to keep up with rising prices. One such response from the government to anticipated energy shortage was the banning of the use of floodlighting for sports fixtures.

This meant that evening kick offs were now off the agenda for the foreseeable future, as too were 3PM kick offs as the shorter mid-winter days meant that 2.15PM kick offs were the latest permissible time to finish a game in daylight. One week later, Chelsea came to Highbury for a London Derby. The Blues had had as poor a season as Arsenal to date and lay one place beneath Bertie Mee’s side in sixteenth. The game ended in a 0-0 draw. Next up would be another London Derby, this time against a West Ham side which stood second bottom and were in greater disarray than Arsenal with just one win in seventeen games.

However, first would be an away friendly with Belgian side Mechelen. Two goals for Brian Hornsby meant a 2-2 draw. Meanwhile, at Upton Park Arsenal brushed aside a poor West Ham team with a 3-1 victory and goals for Charlie George and two for Alan Ball, while Billy Bonds would bag one for the Hammers. Arsenal finished November 1973 languishing in eleventh place and a good twelve points behind run away League leaders Leeds United who were still unbeaten from the start of the season. The opening fixture for December would be a visit from Coventry City who were one place behind Arsenal on equal points, but with an inferior goal average.

The game took place on a frozen barely playable Highbury pitch and the combination of poor weather and Arsenal’s poor form saw the attendance drop to just 22,340. The Gunners fell two behind in the first half with goals from Brian Alderson and David Cross. In the second half, Arsenal came back with goals from Brian Hornsby and Sammy Nelson who came on as sub for Eddie Kelly, with the game ending in a 2-2 draw. Three days later back at Highbury, as a result of the ongoing oil crisis came the oddity of a Tuesday 2.45PM kick off against Wolves due to government restrictions on the use of electricity and football clubs’ use of floodlighting.