Recent posts in this series
The full index of articles on 100 seasons in the top division so far… is [published here](https://blog.woolwicharsenal.co.uk/100-consecutive-seasons-in-the-top-division)
By Tony Attwood
If you want to be accepted as an Arsenal manager, win a trophy in your first season and overall do better than those who have come before, you need a vision – a way of getting a trophy. And that is exactly what George Graham did when he was invited to be Arsenal’s manager in the summer of 1986
In 1982 onwards, Arsenal had come 10th, 6th, 7th and then 7th again in the league and it was incredibly unlikely that Arsenal could leap up from 7th in 1985/6 to top of the league in one season. But there were still the cups. And Arsenal had a very unlikely new goal scorer emerging in the shape of Martin Hayes.
**P**
**W**
**D**
**L**
**F**
**A**
**Pts**
**Pos**
**Top scorer**
**Goals**
1984/5
42
19
9
14
61
49
66
7th
Tony Woodcock
13
1985/6
42
20
9
13
49
47
69
7th
Charlie Nicholas
18
1986/7
42
20
10
12
58
35
70
4th
Martin Hayes
24
Graham had been manager of Millwall from 18982 to 1986 and in his first three years there had taken the club down to 17th in his first season, and then to 9th, and then second, thus giving them promotion to the second tier of English football. He also won Millwall, the Football League Group Cup and the Associate Members Cup – competitions now long forgotten but for a club whose only triumphs previously were the Western League and the London Challenge Cup – and indeed nothing since 1928 – that was certainly something worth noting, especially with crowds as low as 4000 or 5000.
In 1984/5, his final season with Millwall, Graham won them promotion to the second division, a feat that was at the time considered quite remarkable with the low crowds that the club got. But it was also clear that he had provided a very solid basis for the club to continue its progress after he left; this most unfashionable of clubs won promotion to the top division for the first time in their history. He became manager of Arsenal and remained in post from 1986 to 1995, and in his first season, he discovered a talent. Not a talent that many of the fans at Highbury recognised as such, possibly because of his perceived occasional ungainly style, but a player who could, given the right service and encouragement, deliver. The delivery only lasted for one season, but for that season, he was extraordinary.
That player was Martin Hayes, who in 1986/7 scored 19 goals (including penalties) in 31 appearances and took Arsenal to the club’s first trophy in eight years. But Martin Hayes was one of those players who, having risen quickly and shone brightly, faded just as quickly. My recollection from all these years later was that he lacked faith in his own abilities – but of course, I did not meet him, merely watched him play. But certainly, the figures show he never reached that level of success again. Yet is firgures of scoring 26 goals in 102 games are still good overall, and it remains a sadness that Arsenal were not able to unlock his extraordinary talent in subsequent years.
Maybe Hayes had a falling out with George Graham, who was manager in Hayes’ breakout season, one can’t say, but the extraordinary goalscoring talent of the player was lost, not just to Arsenal but to football. After retiring from playing, Martin Hayes became a manager of several non-league sides across the years, including having ten years with Bishops Stortford and later Dover Athletic, whom he guided to the third round of the FA Cup.
From the information I have, his final job was managing Waltham Abbey FC. He remains one of those extraordinary players who shone incredibly brightly for a season, but then was either cast aside because he didn’t fit into the team’s new format, or perhaps lost his own way – I don’t know. But having watched him in his breakout season, I know I saw a most extraordinary talent, which for some reason, was then not replicated later in his career.
But in 1986/7 he started 42 league and cup games and scored 28 goals, including 19 in the league – by far and away Arsenal’s top scorer.
As for the 1986/7 league season, it started poorly with two wins, three defeats and three consecutive goalless draws under George Graham – a collection of results which effectively set in stone Graham’s reputation as a manager.
But then came 24 league and cup matches unbeaten, a run that in the league ended on 23 January with 0-2 away defeat to Manchester United. But prior to that game, the league table, quite amazingly considering the opening three games of the season (two defeats and a draw) read….
Team
P
W
D
L
F
A
GD
Pts
1
Arsenal
25
15
7
3
41
13
28
52
2
Everton
25
15
5
5
49
20
29
50
3
Liverpool
25
13
6
6
43
24
19
45
4
Nottingham Forest
24
11
6
7
46
32
14
39
Now, if you are a regular reader of our companion blog [“Untold Arsenal”](http://www.untold-arsenal.com), you will know that we have pointed out that it is common for successful clubs suddenly to get dips in form, where, after a long run unbeaten, a series of games can end in defeats and losses. And that is what happened to Arsenal at this moment. It lasted ten games from 18 January to 8 April. In those games, Arsenal drew four and lost six. Even more shockingly, Arsenal scored just two goals, and one of those was a penalty. 11 goals were conceded. Arsenal went down in the league to fifth, 12 points behind the leaders.
From there to the end of the season, things did pick up, however, with five wins and three defeats in the final eight games, to leave Arsenal a respectable fourth in the league – which is where they finished – their best position since 1980/81. Sadly, this was an era when English teams were not allowed into either the European Cup or the Uefa Cup because of the behaviour of the fans of some teams (not Arsenal) in previous seasons, so Arsenal gained no benefit from the fourth-place finish other than the knowledge that it was their best conclusion to a season since coming third in 1981.
Team
P
W
D
L
F
A
GD
Pts
1
Everton
42
26
8
8
76
31
+45
86
2
Liverpool
42
23
8
11
72
42
+30
77
3
Tottenham H
42
21
8
13
68
43
+25
71
4
Arsenal
42
20
10
12
58
35
+23
70
But there was a compensation to come, although Arsenal had not won a trophy since the FA Cup in 1978–79, and were drifting away from the top teams in the League. In fact, Arsenal had not finished in the top five during any of the previous four seasons, during which the major honours were picked up by an all-conquering Liverpool as well as the likes of Manchester United and Everton.
Graham quickly discarded the likes of Paul Mariner, who was released on a free transfer, Tony Woodcock, Stewart Robson and Tommy Caton, and replaced them with a combination of new signings and members of the youth team who he was often happy to give a chance to.
It is also said that George Graham imposed a very strict discipline – that perhaps being in his nature, or perhaps something that he had found essential in his previous job. His vision was that players represented the club all the time, no matter what they were doing, and most particularly on match days, when players were expected to arrive at and leave the ground dressed in what he felt was appropriate attire.
Whether this actually helped, we don’t know of course, but for the first time in over ten years Arsenal were top of the league by Christmas 1986. The long dip in form from January to early March put an end to any hope of the title, but such thoughts were overcome by the fact that in 1987 Arsenal did win a trophy.
In 1979 Arsenal had won the FA Cup, defeating Manchester United in a never-to-be-forgotten dramatic final. In 1980, they reached the FA Cup final again – for the third year running in fact – only to lose 1-0 to West Ham. After those highs 1980/1 had been a disaster, going out in the third round of the FA Cup and fourth round of the League Cup, feats that were exactly replicated in 1981/2 where Tottenham won in the third round of the FA Cup and Liverpool in the fourth round of the League Cup.
1982/3 was the year of two semi-finals, losing in both the FA Cup and the League Cup to Manchester United. In 1983/4 it was back to exits in the third round of the FA Cup and fourth of the League Cup, exits that were reversed in 1984/5, something made even more painful by the fact that York City beat Arsenal in the FA Cup fourth round, and Oxford United beat Arsenal in the League Cup third round. Defeats followed a similar pattern in 1985/6 although this time Arsenal did make it to the fifth round in each competition, going out in replays to Luton Town and Aston Villa.
Which brings us to 1986/7. The FA Cup followed a now familiar pattern with a 1-3 home defeat to Watford in the sixth round, but in the League Cup, Arsenal finally got their hands on silverware with a 2-1 defeat of Liverpool in extra time in the final. – and this after three semi-final games against Tottenham. So at the eighth time of trying after the wonderfully memorable defeat of Manchester United 3-2, Arsenal finally had another trophy.
OK, it wasn’t the League or the FA Cup, but it was still a trophy, and Arsenal had beaten Liverpool, who had so often been their nemesis. This surely had to be the start of the new era, and Graham’s second season in charge (1987/8) was looked forward to with great anticipation. George Graham, it was felt, “got” Arsenal. He understood. He was going to bring us more silverware. He was one of us.
And better still, we had a new goal scorer – Martin Hayes with 19 league goals in 31 games, which was quite something since our second highest scorer was Nail Quinn playing at number nine and getting just eight goals in 35.