Arsenal History – 1966-1976: Most successful manager at the time!
After an unsuccessful previous decade, Arsenal fans were surely waiting to see what the next decade would bring. And they were not to be disappointed…
The decade began with the appointing of a new manager after the sacking of Billy Wright.
And the new manager turned out to be club physiotherapist Bertie Mee who was put in place as acting manager in 1966. Mee was clever during his appointment though as he asked for a get-out clause in his contract, and it was for him to return to being a physiotherapist after twelve months if it didn’t work out with the team.
Alongside him Mee recruited Dave Sexton and Don Howe as his assistants, in order to make up for any tactical shortcomings of his own. He also oversaw the incoming of new players such as Bob McNab and George Graham and had a crop of Arsenal’s youth players coming through the system which had the likes of Charlie George, John Radford, Pat Rice and Ray Kennedy in and they were all beginning to show promise, hence making the team foundations strong for those days.
And of course what promise they had!
As all of these names are those that are spoken even to this day, as are a lot of the old Arsenal players from back in the day. All for the impact they had on the club and the legacy they left at the club..
During his time as manager Mee led Arsenal to two successive League Cup finals, in 1967–68 and 1968–69 although we lost both to Leeds United and Swindon Town respectively.
However the wait for a trophy was not to be very far away as the following season which would be three years after his appointment, the club won its first European trophy and its first trophy of any kind for 17 years.
They did this by beating Anderlecht to claim the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup which they won 4–3 on aggregate. And this was all after they were 3-1 down in the away leg thankfully Arsenal managed to grab a late consolation in the first game although they ended up losing 3-1, but because they beat the Belgian side 3–0 at Highbury they won on aggregate.
So even back then Arsenal were unpredictable, but it showed that they never gave up. Something that if they are struggling with nowadays can look back to the history and know that it wasn’t in our DNA or our veins to give up, no matter how hard things would be!
The Fairs Cup was only the warm-up for what would be the main act though. As the FA Cup and League Double win came in 1971.
And it was then that Arsenal soon brushed away that bitter pill from the 1960-61 season when Spurs had won the double.
To rub even more salt in the wounds though Arsenal gave Spurs a taste of their own medicine and more, as we won the League title at White Hart Lane on Monday 3rd May which was also the last day of the season.
Well winning the league is one thing but doing it at the home of your biggest rivals is another and this is something that would be replicated for Arsenal many years later. More of that to come though…
Five days after winning the league though, Arsenal went on to beat Liverpool 2–1 at Wembley after extra-time and the winning goal was scored by Charlie George. This was the trophy that meant it was our turn to win the double.
Arsenal had become only the fourth team in history to do the Double and only the second in the 20th century.
Unfortunately that sunny May afternoon would be the peak of this side and compared to the decade before, although premature, this marked a high point of the decade and would not be continued or replicated.
Having been unable to retain their title the following season though we opted for more reinforcements and we went on to sign Alan Ball from Everton.
However our league campaign faltered and all hopes of a trophy depended on the FA Cup, where Arsenal had again reached the final, this time facing Leeds. But it wasn’t to be as Arsenal lost by a single goal.
In the 1972–73 season Arsenal managed to mount a serious Championship challenge where at one point they topped the table, but they couldn’t manage to hold on to top spot and eventually finished runners-up. A run in the FA Cup was also brought to an end by a semi-final defeat to what would be eventual winners Sunderland.
Mee then saw that he had no choice but to begin to break up the team which had won the double a few seasons before as the team wasn’t getting anywhere, and so this meant that players such as Ray Kennedy, Charlie George and even then Captain, Frank McLintock all left the club.
Remaining unsuccessful though and not seeing any kind of a change in the team, Mee announced his resignation in 1976 and he would depart as Arsenal’s most successful manager during those days, in terms of victories, with 241 wins under his belt. A number that would not be surpassed until 30 years later in 2006 by Arsène Wenger..
But we were not to know that at the time..
It was in the next decade that at the time, another former player in the shape of Terry Neill would come in to succeed Mee in 1976 and at the age of 34, he became the youngest Arsenal manager to date and all eyes would be on what he would achieve at the helm of one of football’s biggest and continuously growing clubs in the world…
To be continued…
Shenel Osman
@sh3n3l_
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