A tribute to Leroy Rosenior: man who did so much for Arsenal

by Andy Kelly
“Why on Earth are you writing about Leroy Rosenior on an Arsenal history site?” you are probably thinking.
Well, whilst putting together Woolwich Arsenal – The Club That Changed Football I put it to my co‑authors that if one of Woolwich Arsenal’s directors hadn’t died at the young age of 28 then the club’s history may have changed. I was told that the term for this is “counterfactual history”, i.e. re‑writing history in a “what would have happened if this had / hadn’t happened”. You could liken it to the films Sliding Doors or The Butterfly Effect.
So, Leroy. Where does he come into it? Well, during the 1988-89 season Leroy Rosenior was playing for West Ham and was an average forward. That season he scored 7 League goals, 2 in the FA Cup and 2 in the League Cup. One of those league goals turned out to be very important to Ar...