1968–69 Arsenal F.C. season

Arsenal
1968–69 season
Chairman	Denis Hill-Wood
Manager	Bertie Mee
First Division	4th
FA Cup	Fifth Round
League Cup	Finalists
Top goalscorer	League: ; John Radford (15); All: ; John Radford (19)
Highest home attendance	62,218 vs Manchester United (26 December 1968)
Lowest home attendance	23,891 vs Ipswich Town (19 February 1969)
Home colours	Away colours
	← 1967–68 1969–70 →

During the 1968–69 English football season, Arsenal Football Club competed in the Football League First Division. The team finished fourth in the league, an improvement on their ninth place finish the previous season.

Arsenal reached the final of the League Cup, losing 3-1 to Swindon Town in extra time. It was their second League Cup loss in two years. Arsenal went out in the fifth round of the FA Cup to West Brom.

John Radford was the top scorer in both the league and all competitions.^[1] The previous season's top scorer, George Graham, began to feature in midfield. Frank McLintock served as captain.^[2]

Season summary

Despite making several large bids, Arsenal did not bring in any major new players for the 1968-69 season. The team began the season with a victory at White Hart Lane, their first in eleven seasons. It kickstarted their best start to a season in twenty years, going eleven games unbeaten until a defeat at Elland Road.^[3]

Much of the 1968-69 season was represented in player growth. Bob Wilson, a former schoolteacher, improved markedly between the sticks. Peter Simpson became a more complete central defender, and manager Bertie Mee began to experiment with playing George Graham in midfield as his lack of pace was affecting his ability to play as a forward.^[3]

In the League Cup, Arsenal once again reached the final. Arsenal had showed their mettle in the semifinals against Tottenham with Radford scoring a crucial goal in the last minutes of the encounter at Highbury. Arsenal were to face Third Division side Swindon Town in the final. Wembley was in poor condition due to the International Horse of the Year Show, compounded by heavy rainfall.^[4] Upon match day, eight Arsenal players had just recovered from the flu while several Swindon players were recovering from injury. Arsenal, after a league record of letting in 18 goals in 30 games, conceded to Swindon in the 34th minute.^[3] The team recovered, playing against Swindon's second-half 9-1-0 formation, four minutes before time.^[4] Bobby Gould scored the equalizer.^[5] The game went into extra time, the pitch laden with mud. Don Rogers scored twice for Swindon in extra time and Arsenal lost their second League Cup final in two years.^[3]^[4]

Arsenal finished the season in fourth place, buoyed by their strong defensive record. They showed the ability to put streaks of success together, putting together a string of 6 consecutive wins with only one goal conceded in the middle of the season. Arsenal was becoming a team that could focus and find success, proved in their two League Cup finals and to be followed up with tangible successes in the coming seasons.^[6]

Final league table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GAv	Pts	Qualification or relegation
2	Liverpool	42	25	11	6	63	24	2.625	61	Qualification for the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup first round
3	Everton	42	21	15	6	77	36	2.139	57
4	Arsenal	42	22	12	8	56	27	2.074	56	Qualification for the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup first round^[a]
5	Chelsea	42	20	10	12	73	53	1.377	50
6	Tottenham Hotspur	42	14	17	11	61	51	1.196	45

Source: World Football
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal average; 3) Goals scored
Notes:

^ Everton were ineligible to participate in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup as Liverpool had already qualified. Under the rules of the cup, only one team per city could participate. Arsenal took their place as the highest-ranked team that hadn't already qualified for a European competition.

Results

Arsenal's score comes first^[7]

Legend

Win	Draw	Loss

Football League First Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance
10 August 1968	Tottenham Hotspur	A	2–1	56,280
13 August 1968	Leicester City	H	3–0	32,164
17 August 1968	Liverpool	H	1–1	43,535
21 August 1968	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	0–0	36,006
24 August 1968	Ipswich Town	A	2–1	25,825
27 August 1968	Manchester City	H	4–1	40,776
31 August 1968	Queen's Park Rangers	H	2–1	44,407
7 September 1968	Southampton	A	2–1	25,126
14 September 1968	Stoke City	H	1–0	28,275
21 September 1968	Leeds United	A	0–2	39,946
28 September 1968	Sunderland	H	0–0	35,277
5 October 1968	Manchester United	A	0–0	61,843
9 October 1968	Manchester City	A	1–1	33,830
12 October 1968	Coventry City	H	2–1	35,240
19 October 1968	West Bromwich Albion	A	0–1	35,624
26 October 1968	West Ham United	H	0–0	59,533
9 November 1968	Newcastle United	H	0–0	34,168
16 November 1968	Nottingham Forest	A	2–0	24,550
23 November 1968	Chelsea	H	0–1	45,588
30 November 1968	Burnley	A	1–0	16,264
7 December 1968	Everton	H	3–1	40,108
14 December 1968	Coventry City	A	1–0	27,332
21 December 1968	West Bromwich Albion	H	2–0	30,785
26 December 1968	Manchester United	H	3–0	62,300
11 January 1969	Sheffield Wednesday	H	2–0	39,008
18 January 1969	Newcastle United	A	1–2	34,227
1 February 1969	Nottingham Forest	H	1–1	35,585
15 February 1969	Burnley	H	2–0	27,614
18 February 1969	Ipswich Town	H	0–2	23,891
1 March 1969	Sheffield Wednesday	A	5–0	21,436
22 March 1969	Queen's Park Rangers	A	1–0	23,076
24 March 1969	Tottenham Hotspur	H	1–0	43,972
29 March 1969	Southampton	H	0–0	28,740
31 March 1969	Liverpool	A	1–1	44,843
5 April 1969	Sunderland	A	0–0	23,214
7 April 1969	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	3–1	31,011
8 April 1969	Leicester City	A	0–0	35,573
12 April 1969	Leeds United	H	1–2	44,715
14 April 1969	Chelsea	A	1–2	38,905
19 April 1969	Stoke City	A	3–1	14,996
21 April 1969	West Ham United	A	2–1	34,941
29 April 1969	Everton	A	0–1	39,689

FA Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance
R3	4 January 1969	Cardiff City	A	0–0	55,316
R3 R	7 January 1969	Cardiff City	H	2–0	52,681
R4	25 January 1969	Charlton Athletic	H	2–0	55,760
R5	12 February 1969	West Bromwich Albion	A	0–1	50,354

League Cup

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
R2	4 September 1968	Sunderland	H	1–0	28,460	Neill 46'
R3	25 September 1968	Scunthorpe United	A	6–1	17,450
R4	15 October 1968	Liverpool	H	2–1	39,299
R5	29 October 1968	Blackpool	H	5–1	32,321
SF L1	20 November 1968	Tottenham Hotspur	H	1–0	55,237	Radford
SF L2	4 December 1968	Tottenham Hotspur	A	1–1	56,923
F	15 March 1969	Swindon Town	N	1–3	98,189	Gould

Squad

[1] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
-	GK	SCO	Bob Wilson
-	GK	ENG	Geoff Barnett
-	DF	NIR	Pat Rice
-	DF	SCO	Frank McLintock
-	DF	ENG	Peter Simpson
-	DF	ENG	Bob McNab
-	DF	NIR	Sammy Nelson
-	DF	WAL	John Roberts
-	MF	ENG	George Armstrong
-	MF	SCO	George Graham
-	MF	ENG	Jon Sammels


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
-	MF	ENG	Peter Storey
-	MF	SCO	Eddie Kelly
-	FW	ENG	Ray Kennedy
-	FW	ENG	John Radford
-	FW	ENG	Charlie George
-	FW	SCO	Peter Marinello

References

^ Arsenal Official Handbook 1970-71. London: Arsenal. 1969. p. 38.
^ Kelly, Andy (17 November 2014). "Arsenal's captains from day one". The Arsenal History. Archived from the original on 10 August 2023. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Soar, Phil; Tyler, Martin (1995). Arsenal: Official History. London: Hamlyn. pp. 131–133. ISBN 0600588262.
^ ^a ^b ^c Buckley, Will (23 September 2009). "The Forgotten Story Of ... Swindon's 1969 League Cup triumph". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 25 January 2022. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
^ Murray, Scott; Smyth, Rob (27 February 2009). "The Joy of Six: League Cup final memories". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 16 June 2023. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
^ Atwood, Tony (11 January 2014). "The curious story of 1968/9; the first run of six wins in 13 years". The History of Arsenal. Archived from the original on 3 July 2022. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
^ "Arsenal 1970-1971 Results – statto.com". Archived from the original on 24 May 2011. Retrieved 20 September 2017.

[table_note_res_ARS0.081364706662188-7] Everton were ineligible to participate in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup as Liverpool had already qualified. Under the rules of the cup, only one team per city could participate. Arsenal took their place as the highest-ranked team that hadn't already qualified for a European competition.

[1] Arsenal Official Handbook 1970-71. London: Arsenal. 1969. p. 38.

[2] Kelly, Andy (17 November 2014). "Arsenal's captains from day one". The Arsenal History. Archived from the original on 10 August 2023. Retrieved 14 November 2023.

[:0-3] Soar, Phil; Tyler, Martin (1995). Arsenal: Official History. London: Hamlyn. pp. 131–133. ISBN 0600588262.

[:1-4] Buckley, Will (23 September 2009). "The Forgotten Story Of ... Swindon's 1969 League Cup triumph". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 25 January 2022. Retrieved 15 November 2023.

[5] Murray, Scott; Smyth, Rob (27 February 2009). "The Joy of Six: League Cup final memories". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 16 June 2023. Retrieved 15 November 2023.

[6] Atwood, Tony (11 January 2014). "The curious story of 1968/9; the first run of six wins in 13 years". The History of Arsenal. Archived from the original on 3 July 2022. Retrieved 15 November 2023.

[8] "Arsenal 1970-1971 Results – statto.com". Archived from the original on 24 May 2011. Retrieved 20 September 2017.

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