Our last three episodes
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By Tony Attwood
Arsenal were effectively barred from entering European competitions by the Football League’s unilateral adoption of a rule that only one team per city could enter those games. (The rule had originally been introduced for the Fairs Cup, but had quickly been dropped, and only England had retained it and of course, it primarily affected London teams – including obviously Arsenal. Clubs outside London naturally approved of the idea as it gave them an extra chance of getting a place in the competition).
Arsenal had been runners-up in Division One, and semi-finalists in the FA Cup in 1972/3 but by 1973/4, although many members of the triumphant team from the start of the decade still remained, changes in the lineup were happening.
In terms of regular players Nelson was increasingly seen as left back,, Storey played in almost every game, mostly at right half, Blockley and Simpson shared the duties of centre half, with Blockley playing at left half when Simpson was centre half, Armstong alternating between the wings, Alan Ball at number 8, John Radford the main centre forward, and Ray Kennedy playing in every league as inisde left Only outside left appeared to be an unsettled position, with Liam Brady making early appearances, along with Kelly and George.
So as can be seen players moved around as Bertie Mee wished, and a settled team simply did not emerge. Ball was the top goal scorer with 13 goals in 36 starts. Ray Kennedy, the one permanent fixture at number 10, scored 12 goals in his 42 starts.
Leeds pretty much ran away with the title, with the top three spread out by a considerable distance from each other. Arsenal finished 10th, equal on points with Tottenham and Manchester United ended up at the foot of the table four points from safety.
1
Leeds United
42
24
14
4
66
31
62
2
Liverpool
42
22
13
7
52
31
57
3
Derby County
42
17
14
11
52
42
48
10
Arsenal
42
14
14
14
49
51
42
11
Tottenham Hotspur
42
14
14
14
45
50
42
20
Southampton
42
11
14
17
47
68
36
21
Manchester United
42
10
12
20
38
48
32
The problem with this final table is that it reveals that Arsenal have failings in all departments, as both they and Tottenham had virtually identical seasons in every regard. Even the League Cup brought no relief as Arsenal lost at home to Tranmere Rovers, with Arsenal playing their regular first team of the time. It was a season to forget and offered no real reasons to imagine why 1974/5 should be any different.
In fact, in the league it was worse as in 1974/5 Arsenal, still under Bertie Mee, whose grand achievements at the start of the decade had now long faded into the memory, sank even further to 16th. They did make it to the quarter finals of the FA Cup where they lost at home to West Ham, and went out in the second round of the League Cup to Leicester.
Worse, crowds continued to decline. Although 43,000 turned up for the home game against Tottenham at the end of the season, when there was certainly nothing left for Arsenal to play for, for other games, crowds did sink further. 16,000 for a home game with Newcastle and 17,00 for the home match with Birmingham in the previous game showed that the fans had had enough. This was not the Arsenal of the start of the decade
Bertie Mee hung on for one more season, but a crowd of 28,000 for Arsenal’s first home game (a 0-1 defeat to Stoke) showed that nothing had changed. Worse, the top goal scorer was Kidd, who managed just 11 goals in 37 league matches. Wolverhampton knocked Arsenal out of the FA Cup in the third round, and Everton did the same in the second round of the League Cup.
Bertie Mee resigned in 1976, and despite the failures in the latter part of his time at the club he was overall Arsenal’s most successful manager when measured by the number of games his sides won (241). Mee was succeeded by Terry Neil, but that number of wins would remain Arsenal’s greatest win rate until the arrival of Arsène Wenger.
Mee’s first team of the season for the goalless draw away to Burnley was
Rimmer
Rice Nelson
Kelly Mancini O’Leary
Armstrong Cropley Honrsby Kidd Brady
His final team for the away defeat to Manchester City was
Rimmer
Rice Nelson
Ross Mancini Powling
Armstrong Ball Stapleton Honrsby Brady
In 1984, Mee was awarded the MBE, and after leaving Arsenal, he worked at Watford and retired in 1991. He died in October 2001 aged 83. He had achieved Arsenal’s first double, plus had been league and FA Cup runners-up, won the Fairs Cup in 1970 and been league cup runners-up twice in 1968 and 1969.
But he left in 1976, having taken Arsenal down to 17th. It was the club’s worst position in the league since they were relegated to the second division in 1925 – the moment that Leslie Knighton was sacked and replaced by Herbert Chapman.
The question now was, could Arsenal find themselves another Chapman?