14 May – Arsenal at rock bottom

14 May 1910 was a difficult moment for Arsenal.  The club put out a new share issue, and … it failed.
Share issues then as now had only a limited lifespan.  If you did not complete the sale by the set date, the share issue fell, and the previous share issue still applied.
On 14 May 1910 this is exactly what happened to Woolwich Arsenal.   The club was in financial ruin, following the failure of a policy adopted around 1907/8 in which top players were sold and there was an attempt to replace them with youngsters.   At the same time the armaments factories were being run down, and so Arsenal’s fan base was getting smaller.
At the time of course Arsenal didn’t know that help was close at hand – in fact far closer than anyone could have imagined.  Henry Norris had already attended a fund-holding meeting and had had dis...