You can find out the answer on our other website: The Arsenal Collection
Copies of our books Royal Arsenal – Champions of the South and Arsenal: The Complete Record 1886-2018 are still available from the publishers.
Whenever a new Arsenal player makes his debut, the question “how many players have played for Arsenal?” usually gets asked. Well, here is the answer – every player that has played for Arsenal’s first team in a competitive game in chronological order.
Any player that has an asterisk (*) next to his name scored on his Arsenal debut, and any names underlined will show a picture of the the player if you hover your mouse pointer over the name. We’ll add these as and when we can, but bear with us as it’s a time consuming process.
Where two or more players made their debut in the same game, they are given the same chronological number. If two or more players came on as a substitute in the same game, they are given consecutive chronological numbers dependent upon the order in which they came on.
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Arsenal had been in existence for 11 years before the directors finally succumbed and appointed the club’s first manager in March 1897. That man was Thomas Mitchell, one of the biggest names in the game who had led Blackburn Rovers to FA Cup wins in 1890 and 1891 as well as being a leading light in the foundation of the Football League.
Mitchell’s tenure only lasted a year before falling out with the directorate, and his successor remained something of a mystery man until a few years ago.
We’ve written before about how Arsenal’s famous clock moved around Highbury on a number of occasions during the 1930s. We were never 100% certain of when it first appeared at the back of the North terrace / Laundry End / North Bank; the best we could manage was some time during December 1931. We’ve now come across some more information, including a photograph from the first game when it re-appeared.
The Arsenal Clock – 6 January 1934
John Ollerenshaw: The Arsenal 1945-1950
John Ollerenshaw was a post-World War Two addition to the club, who made a couple of first team appearances during the transition wartime season, but unfortunately for John these games are not classed as first class matches. Thereafter, he appeared almost exclusively for the ‘A’ team.
Dave Bacuzzi: The Arsenal 1958-1964
The 489th player in the first team, he was a steady full back during the early sixties, though more regularly a reserve he made over 200 appearances for the club at various levels.
Paul Foley: The Arsenal 1988
Son of Theo Foley, he made two youth team appearance for Arsenal before becoming a well known figure within the Kent semi-professional game throughout the 1990s and 2000s.
Bill Darby The Arsenal 1969-2003. Photo: Irish Daily Mail
The Dublin based scout for Arsenal for many decades, he was a fixture at Irish football pitches over the years.
Alan Bass: The Arsenal 1960-68
The Arsenal medical adviser for much of the 1960s, Alan Bass worked at Arsenal with managers George Swindin, Billy Wright, and Bertie Mee.
The latest instalment in Leonard Evans’ series of Arsenal Football Programme Collectors Handbooks covers home and away reserve and youth team matches between 1980 and 2020.
