How would you like to have a winger playing right now, let’s say his name is Bukayo Saka or even Noni Madueke and he becomes Arsenal’s top scorer and 4 of his colleagues burst into our top ten ever goalscorers because of all the assists he gave them? You’d love it, yes? Well, back when we were England’s greatest team in the 1930’s we had such a player and his name was Cliff Bastin. And I think there is a strong argument that he was our greatest ever player.
Most fans have Thierry as the greatest
Of course, Thierry Henry is regarded as our greatest. He scored 228 across all competitions. Ian Wright was next on 189 and Bastin trailing that on 178. And you look at the record and it says that Henry was with Arsenal for 8 seasons if you don’t count his late loan cameo in 2012, and 377 appearances. Ian Wright was only 7 seasons with us and 288 appearances. Bastin was with us from 1929 to 1947. He had 396 appearances. The record is clear, then. Bastin is our 3rd best scorer. This is just Gus trying to stir up controversy – or is it?
He wasn’t even a striker
There are all sorts of metrics that argue for Cliff Bastin and do not worry I will get to them. I am guessing that Bastin to most of us is a great name from the past but we know little about him. There is a lot to know.
Jimmy Brain 139 goals
First of all, he was a winger, sometimes an inside forward, and a right half, not a striker. The winger's job in those days was clear, get the ball across to the big man in the centre, Jimmy Brain, Ted Drake, Joe Hulme and David Jack who are all in the top ten of Arsenal’s top scorers. So he was there when 4 of Arsenal’s greats were also there. Henry only had Van Persie (8th) on the pitch with him rarely and Wright had none of the top ten with him. I think you have got to give the man credit to score so many from the wing with also having to supply four of our greats.
Injuries and a strange little Austrian
Ah, but he was with us from 1929 to 1947, 18 seasons, plenty of time to score goals? Uh, uh, wrong answer. Some Austrian messed up the world at that time. 1938 was his last real season and he was only 27. That final season was blighted by a leg injury which effectively finished his career. He only played 7 times after the war and of course, probably only got his game on his reputation and the death of so many stars during the war. So, it is fair to say that he would have got much more goals if he had been able to play after 27. Henry got 75 goals for us after 27 and Ian Wright got all his 189 over the age of 27. Are we starting to see that Mr Bastin was a bit useful?
David Jack 124 goals
He only needed 11 more to catch Wrighty and 40 more to catch Henry. 250 surely was not unreasonable and he would have been well out in front. And did I mention he wasn’t a striker?
The Boy Wonder
Another feat of his was being, at 19, a league winner, an FA cup winner and a full England cap and he is still the youngest to do that, although some of our academy guys might just pass him out. Of course, poor Ian had no chance of such an achievement not even being a professional until much later and drifting in a bad environment until finally getting his chance at Palace in his twenties. Henry didn’t come to Arsenal until his twenties either although he got a league title at Monaco and a full French cap in 1997 at 19.
Wrighty could argue he was the greatest
All three were penalty takers but unfortunately I couldn’t find out how many the Boy Bastin scored from the spot, however, penalties were a bit more rare in those days (no diving) and Wright on 26 and Henry on 24 suggest we could give him similar as all three had a fairly similar amount of years to garner spotkicks. So none had any great advantage from the white circle.
He must have been the assist king
We can probably suggest that his assists could well have been higher than the other two as that was his job and the boys around him are among Arsenal’s top scorers. In fairness both Henry and Wright had lots of assists but surely logic dictates that Bastin was higher? 4 players got into our top ten as opposed to none that could be attributed to Wright or Henry.
Joe Hulme 125 goals
One other point is top flight goals. Bastin had 150 and that was the record until Henry overtook him in 2006. So Bastin is still second on that metric. He was mightily impressive, you have to admit.
Yes, Ian Wright could argue that he got his figures from far less games at 288 games and 189 goals giving 65.63%. Henry had 228 goals from 377 games giving 60.5%. Bastin had the least goals from the most games at 178 from 396 giving 44.94%. That leaves Mr Wright Wright Wright the clear winner. And I am sure he would have his champions out there among you as your favourite player. He will always have a great spot in my heart.
Different eras but his greatness shone out
In truth, the bare figures don’t give a true comparison as it was different eras, different opponents, different roles and different training but still I think we can take one thing for pretty much certain, that injury at a heartbreaking 27 stopped Cliff Bastin being our top scorer to this day and maybe forever. I remember interviewing Alan Smith last year and he spoke about how devastating it was to have to walk away at only 32 and you could see the hurt in his face as he recounted the darkest time of his football career. I would have loved to interview Cliff Bastin and to talk about how different his life would have been without the injury, and Mr Hitler if the injury had cleared up plus the combination of circumstances which conspired to make him just another of Arsenal’s great players and not the greatest.
Ted Drake 139 goals
So, all hail Cliff Bastin, a true candidate for our greatest ever goalscorer and assister. Up to 1991 you could have gone into his pub in Exeter and reminisced about the old days. And hey, let’s get that statue up at the Emirates to praise a man who only circumstances deprived us of being our king of kings. And yes, we would all love such a player today.
