100 seasons in the top division: Arsenal sink down: 1982/3
Recently published articles in this series (a link to the full index can be found at the end of the piece).
- 100 seasons in the top division: Arsenal sink down: 1982/3
- 1980/81 and 1981/82. Arsenal’s near misses, but not nearly good enough
- Some seasons seem a little crazy. 1979/80 was way beyond that
- 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
By Tony Attwood
As we all know, Arsenal won the Double in 1970/1. After that date, their achievements included…
- 1971/72: defeated FA cup finalists
- 1972/83: league runners-up
- 1977/78: defeated FA Cup finalists
- 1978/79: FA Cup winners
- 1979/80: defeated FA Cup finalists
Thus, it is true that there had been but one trophy (the FA Cup in 1979) but the runners-up places gave hope of improvement. And moving into the 1980s, the 1981/82 seasn saw Arsenal come fifth. That was not really an indication that Arsenal was challenging for the top spot, but it was enough for a board of directors who cherished the notion of Arsenal as a stable club that stood by their men and did things in the proper fashion. Yes, the club came 5th in the league, went out of the FA Cup in the third round, and out of the League cup in the fourth round, but this was Arsenal, and the crowds were still mostly above 30,000 for home games on a Saturday afternoon.
And if there was something to suggest that this view would herald a brighter future, it would have been in the end of the 1980/81 league season, which saw the club gain four wins and a draw to secure fifth place.
1980/81 end of season
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liverpool | 42 | 26 | 9 | 7 | 80 | 32 | 48 | 87 |
| 2 | Ipswich Town | 42 | 26 | 5 | 11 | 75 | 53 | 22 | 83 |
| 3 | Manchester United | 42 | 22 | 12 | 8 | 59 | 29 | 30 | 78 |
| 4 | Tottenham Hotspur | 42 | 20 | 11 | 11 | 67 | 48 | 19 | 71 |
| 5 | Arsenal | 42 | 20 | 11 | 11 | 48 | 37 | 11 | 71 |
So yes, Arsenal were fifth, but when considered more carefully, that position meant being below Tottenham on goal difference and 12 points below Ipswich Town, which showed that Arsenal were still not serious challengers, even after coming third the year before.
But it wasn’t just the lack of more trophies that had started to bother fans after losing the 1980 cup final to West Ham, of all clubs, nor the fact that the newspaper columnists and radio commentators seemed to see Arsenal as an eternal “not quite there” club, that began to do more than just irritate.
In the three seasons starting in 1977/78, Arsenal had won the FA Cup once, and been runners up in the FA Cup twice, while also being runners up in both the Cup Winners Cup and had the 1980 season, a season in which Alan Sunderland scored an exciting and indeed promising total of 29 goals.
Yet in 1980/81, although the club managed a creditable third in the league (by which I mean creditable in the sense that the previous seven seasons had seen them finish between fourth and 17th), after three consecutive seasons of being in the FA Cup final, Arsenal went out in the third round.
Worse, in those last three seasons, the top Arsenal goalscorers had been exciting to watch, even if the rest of the team occasionally were not. In 1977/8 Macdonald had knocked in 26. In 1978/9 Stapleton had scored 28, and in 1979/80, quite amazingly, Alan Sunderland had beaten both totals with 29 goals.
Which would have been highly celebrated were it not for 1979/80 being the season of three runners-up spots. OK, the Charity Shield was excusable given it was just one game, but runners-up in both the FA Cup and the Cup Winners Cup just seemed to mean Arsenal were “thereabouts” but really not quite “there”.
Thus 1980/1 had offered hope, but it had not been fulfilled. Third in the league, and out of the FA Cup in round 3, and the League Cup in round four. Stapleton returned to being top scorer, but while that had reflected 28 goals in 1978/9 now it was just 16 times on the score sheet in 1980/1.
And if anyone thought it had to get better, their misery was simply enhanced. Fifth in the league, round three in the FA Cup, round four in the League Cup, and round two in the UEFA Cup. As for the top scorer, that was Sunderland again, but while he had knocked in 29 in 1979/80, now he scored a measly dozen.
Thus, we entered 1982/3 having had a taste of European football and managed to keep it for another year, and with a new goal scorer. And really, there was nothing else to keep away the thought that Arsenal were also-rans. Or worse, declining also rans, for having come 3rd and 5th in the previous two league seasons, Arsenal in 1982/3 now came 10th
And indeed if anyone dared to think that the run of four wins and a draw in the last five games of 1981/2 was going to be a springboard for 1982/3 the opening games showed what a fallacy that thought was, as Arsenal lost to Stoke, Liverpool and Brighton while drawing with Norwich. They scored two goals and conceded six.
On 10 September 1982 the table (or at least one part of it) read
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 | Aston Villa | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 10 | -5 | 3 |
| 20 | Southampton | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 11 | -9 | 3 |
| 21 | Arsenal | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 6 | -4 | 1 |
| 22 | Birmingham City | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 12 | -10 | 1 |
And although Arsenal did manage to win their next two matches (against Coventry City and Notts County) they then only won two of the following eight.
Thus it was that on 19 November 1982, with almost a third of the season completed, Arsenal were 17th. The clubs below them were Luton, Southampton, Sunderland, Birmingham, and Norwich. Only two clubs had scored fewer goals after the 14 league games played, and there was only one thing that was keeping Arsenal out of the relegation zone. That one thing was in fact the defence. For after 14 games, only three teams had had fewer goals scored against them. And those three teams held three of the top four positions, and their difference from Arsenal was simply that they were also knocking in goals at the other end.
In fact, in just 14 games Liverpool had scored 33 goas. Arsenal had scored 14.
Arsenal did eventually learn how to win games, but it turned out to be only every other game, and the desperate state of the club was revealed for all to see on 4 April 1983 when Arsenal lost 0-5 to Tottenham. And there was more to that scoreline than just the score, or just being beaten by the noisy neighbours. For after that game, Arsenal were 31 points behind top of the table club, Liverpool. But perhaps worse, Arsenal were 15 points and 19 goals behind Watford. And while Tottenham were not setting the league on fire, they were scoring more, conceding fewer and had gained four more points than Arsenal. Tottenham were sixth and Arsenal were 13th, and Watford were laughing.
There were eight games to play after the thumping by Tottenham, and Arsenal managed to win half of them and lose the other half. Arsenal finished tenth in the league, which to some degree, sounded ok except that the club that had given Asenal one of their early shocks – Brighton – was relegated.
There was some light relief of course, in that Arsenal got to the semi-final of both domestic cups, losing to Manchester United in each case.
But the Arsenal top scorer was Brian Talbot with nine, and toward the end of the season, a whole string of players (who I suspect you may find it hard to remember if you were around in this era – I certainly do) came into the team and just as quickly vanished.
Yet there were some decent players in the squad – Hollins, Samson, Talbot, O’Leary, Robson, Sunderland, Woodcock, and yes, the club did make it to both cup semi-finals, but no one was really impressed and the crowds were shrinking. 18,053 turned up to Arsenal’s last home game of the season – a 0-1 defeat to Sunderland.
Clearly, the fans had had enough of Neil as manager, and there were signs that the board had as well. He did in fact, leave half way through the next season, being sacked after three successive defeats in December 1983 with Arsenal sitting 12th in the league.
We’ll come to that next time.
The full index of articles so far… is published here