Some seasons seem a little crazy. 1979/80 was way beyond that
Recently in this series
- 100 years in the top league, Arsenal with Liam Brady
- 100 seasons at the top: 1978/9 and 1979/80; the most painful lesson learned
- 100 seasons in the top division: 1977/78 – the return begins
By Tony Attwood
Arsenal had started the 1970s in triumph with the achievement of the League and FA Cup double – an extraordinary leap forward for a team that in the previous season had ended up 12th in the league, although they perhaps even surprised themselves by winning the Fairs Cup.
As a result of that trophy, there was some talk of a new Arsenal being born, talked up as the start of the new Arsenal, a club that would take every trophy on offer, although that seemed rather unlikely with Arsenal coming 12th in the league in 1970. But even if it was just an exaggeration, it was at least a relief to have something positive to consider.
The Double of 1971 is of course well-charted in Arsenal’s history, not least for the sheer surprise of the event, and although Arsenal had slippede to 5th in 1972, 973 had seen Arsenal rise back to second in the League and although there was an FA Cup defeat in the sxith round – but there was still hope that with a few repairs to the squad all will be well.
Except that it wasn’t. In 1973/4 Arsenal ended the season in 0th and worse was to follow as they slipped to 6th, missing relegation by just five points. And desepite the fact that everyone thought things could not get worse, the following season was even worse, as Arsenal sank to 17th. All thoughts of the start of the decade were lost – that double now seemed like a distant dream at best, a chance bit of luck at worst. Managerial change was inevitable. In terms of trophies, Mee’s triumph had indeed been very short-lived indeed. In fact it seems to have surprised the manager as much as it surprised everyone else.
But at least the thought now was that improvement could happen and could happen quickly, as the finishied 8th in the League in 1977, 5th in 1978 (with another cup final, although another defeat), until finally in 1979, having finished 7th in the league, Arsenal won the FA Cup again by beating Manchester United in an extraordinarily exciting final.
It was all told the strangest of decades – Arsenal entering the period as Fairs Cup winners, and moving on to the Double in 1971, before sinking to being a club knocked out of both the league and FA Cup in the early rounds while coming 17th in the league.
Indeed, the decade that had promised everything and at first delivered it all, turned out to be a decade of further promises but no more trophies, until the FA Cup won again in 1979,. Worse in between the cup wins, Arsenal had finished 17th in 1976, and gone out of the FA Cup in round 3 and the League Cup in round 2. It was a decade of severe disappointment. How could a team that had achieved so much at the start of the decade slip away seemingly without a trace?
Bertie Mee finally gave up the fight in the summer of 1976 and was replaced by Terry Neill, who at least seemed to stop the rot. And indeed, much of the horror of the end of the Mee era was forgotten with another FA cup win in 1979, but now fans who had tasted the Double were still demanding more.
Part of the problem was that Malcolm Macdonald had tried several come backs utnil evetually declaring that he had to retire on medical orders, because of his knee injury. It was a sad end to a wonderful career, and a great loss to Arsenal.
And at this time there seemed to develop something erratic about Arsenal – something that showed they could really do over lesser teams but then equally crumble when facing their rivals. Beating newly promoted Brighton 4-0 away from home in the opening game of the 1979/80 campaign was a good start, but the fact that it was Arsenal hitting a newly promoted team was not lost on the media. And indeed it seemed they were right as Arsenal failed to win any of their next four games. By 7 October, Arsenal were 11th in the league after just two wins in nine games. Plus the fact that the win, when it did come, was against Ipswich, which did not do much to convince the fans or the media that Arsenal were about to turn things around.
However, at least it was a win, and was followed by two draws and two wins. The fact that the consecutive draws were goalless was of course noted, but after the return game with Brighton on November 3, Arsenal had at least climbed back to six. And there was also perhaps a ray of hope from the fact that the league leaders at this point – Manchester United – were only four points ahead. This was of course, still the era of two points for a win, but even so, things did not look as utterly hopeless as they had with just one win in the first five matches.
Unfortunately, a defeat to Palace by a single goal knocked the optimism somewhat. But then a seven-match unbeaten run, concluding with a 1-0 home win over Tottenham on Boxing Day, took Arsenal to third… something that just a few months before had looked quite impossible.
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liverpool | 21 | 13 | 6 | 2 | 47 | 14 | 33 | 32 |
| 2 | Manchester United | 22 | 12 | 6 | 4 | 33 | 16 | 17 | 30 |
| 3 | Arsenal | 22 | 8 | 10 | 4 | 27 | 16 | 11 | 26 |
| 4 | Southampton | 22 | 10 | 4 | 8 | 34 | 28 | 6 | 24 |
Given that Arsenal had not finished a season above third since 1973, this was certainly something of an uplift. Although two defeats to Manchester United and Leeds United, plus a third round Cup victory over Cardiff, across the turn of the year, with the latter requiring a replay, kept most feet on the ground.
But then at last it seemed that Arsenal under Terry Neill had indeed got their mojo back, as a run of six wins and draws took the club through to the end of March, fourth in the league, only short of third place by a couple of goals. Meanwhile, the club had beaten Brighton, Bolton and Watford to make it into the semi-final of the FA Cup.
Now we have to remember that the notion of penalty shoot outs were still just a distant nightmare, and so Arsenal and Liverpool were forced to slog out their cup semi-final for game after game until a winner was found. It actually took four games in which neither club could score more than a single goal, but in the final game, Arsenal did just that while Liverpool failed to score, and Arsenal were back at Wembley for the third year running.
Sadly, Arsenal lost 1-0 to West Ham in the FA Cup final, and opinion was that they had totally exhausted themselves through those replays. They were then left with two league matches, both away, to battle through, beating Wolverhampton 2-1 but losing to Middlesbrough 0-5 in the last match of the season. Arsenal finished fourth.
Neill had given Arsenal fans excitement, although in the end, no trophies, but was determined to push on, despite Liam Brady now doing what he had said he would – leaving for Italy. But perhaps as a distraction, Arsenal signed Clive Allen for a club record fee, before selling him on a month and a half later to Queens Park Rangers, without playing a game. But Arsenal did emerge from one of the strangest summer windows ever by getting Kenny Samson.
Arsenal had finished fourth in 1979/80, meaning that in the 1970s they had finished 2nd, 4th, 5th (twice), 7th, 8th, 10th, 16th, and 17th and won the FA Cup twice in 1971 and 1979.
Fans, I think it was fair to say, were getting anxious and angry – the club had recovered from the post 1972 disaster zone, but the strangeness of the Clive Allen affair suggested that maybe things were still not right. Arsenal wanted trophies, and an FA Cup at eighter end of the decade was not enough.
Meanwhile Tottenham had picked up a couple of League Cups in the early part of the 1970s, although their relegation in 1977 did give at least a twinkle to some Arsenal eyes. But Arsenal were still not winning things, and that they most certainly needed to do. Maybe the 1980s could see an uplift.
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