Anders Limpar
Arsenal 4 Vastra Fround IE 0
Gothenburg, Sweden
Anders Limpar
A couple of weeks ago I was asked by Nik Brumsack if I would like to contribute to the “A Game of Two Halves” feature in the Arsenal Magazine. I was informed that John Cross of the Daily Mirror had first dibs and had chosen Arsene Wenger. That left me to choose between George Graham and Herbert Chapman.
Last year we thought it would be a good idea to put together a compendium of information relating to all of Arsenal’s FA Cup final appearances on one page so you don’t have to trawl all over the internet to find out the answers to all of those nagging questions.
We’ve updated the article and made some additions. We’ve added a brief match report for each game which we wrote for the Arsenal magazine last year, and most of the programmes for the games. We were hoping to have all of them ready in time for this blog but the later years take ages to scan as they are so big. We’ll add them as we scan them in. Be aware that these later programmes are huge, physically and electronically. With this in mind we’ve shown the file size for each one so you know what you are letting yourself in for. This article was originally posted in 2015 and has been updated to include all subsequent FA Cup final appearances.
Weekly Illustrated 25 April 1936.
Arsenal v France 14 February 1989
“Robson, Robson pick them all…Robson pick them all”, sang the North Bank as Arsenal outplayed and defeated the French international team.
Click on the picture to read the programme
The final Football League match played by the Gunners and the Saints prior to the inception of the Premier League.
More poignantly it was the final game played with the North Bank as a terrace, on which fans had stood on since 1913.
Click on the picture to read the whole programme
Our classic match report for the Manchester United programme is the one that kicked off a rivalry that lasted the best part of two decades and would see a number of controversial incidents. Again, we’ve included a copy of the programme, in which you can read about the plans to develop the Clock End.
To read the whole programme, click on the cover
Classic Match Report: Tottenham v Arsenal – 4 March 1987
Littlewoods Cup semi-final replay
This match means so much to so many fans of a certain age (ie our own) that we felt it had to be the classic match. Spurs were undone on their own pitch after seemingly being so sure of qualification into the final.
Though there are others that could have been recorded most obviously the 1971 or 2004 League clinching performances at White Hart Lane, but they have recently been commemorated quite brilliantly by a hardy bunch of Arsenal chaps during this summer, on a stag do that looks like it was a lot of fun!
However, back to 1987! Read More →
This season we’ve been asked to write a regular page in the official Arsenal programme based on a classic match featuring the opponents for each game we play in. Programme editor Andy Exley has kindly given us permission to reproduce the match reports on our blog. We will also be including additional material that didn’t make the final edit of the programme.
Our first game is the first leg of the semi-final of the Coca-Cola Cup in the year that Arsenal became the first English team to complete the domestic cup double.