The Kings of London in the '90's

Our very own ‘Nam

In contemporary American folklore, Vietnam (The ‘Nam) has a unique place. Many soldiers came back traumatised or got attacked for having been there in the first place. It was an unpopular war and the ‘Nam has a grim place in American folk memory. But we here at Arsenal have our own ‘Nam – Totten-Nam! But as we will see here, In contrast to the American one, they have a happy place in our folk memory. And why? Because they were mostly crap and we flew high above them. I will take a look at the 90’s this time and our position versus London clubs and the ‘Nam. It is good reading.

Even their badge is a cock on a ball. What were they thinking? What cocks!

As I have mentioned before in these pages, most of the time I have been an Arsenal supporter, The ‘Nam were second best. The only real times The ‘Nam were better than us was when both were struggling. The ‘Nam have not won the league since I became an Arsenal supporter (1969) whereas we have won it six times. They have won the FA cup 3 times compared to our 10. The League cup is better for them at 4 times to our 2. They won the Uefa cup twice compared to our one and European cup-winners cup one apiece. Overall we are very clearly ahead up to the end of the 90’s.  The same is true of the other London clubs, Chelsea, West Ham, Crystal Palace, QPR, Watford, Fulham, etc.

3 Immense managers

Mr Chapman, you gave us so much class

I think it is fair to say that Arsenal have had 3 great managers: the incomparable Herbert Chapman, who brought titles, innovations, marble halls, physiotherapy, training, and an Arsenal way of doing things that oozed class. You could be proud of Arsenal. George Graham took on the mighty Liverpool, then undisputedly the best team ever in English football, and cut them down to size. He won many trophies and brought a level of onfield organisation that has never been seen before or since. And of course the magnificent Arsene Wenger, who comes close to matching Chapman in how he organised the club off the pitch, with his superior stadium, training and medical facilities. And he, of course, surpassed the previous 2 in terms of trophies, although he did get a lot longer.

Graham and Wenger coexisted in this decade, the 90’s, and that is unusual, to have 2 superlative managers in the same decade. So we were easily the kings of London in this decade as The ‘Nam were pretty good by their standards , as also were Chelsea, and other London teams were popping up and sometimes doing good things but we were well ahead. For the previous 2 decades I made a case that we were the best as we were the only team to win the league, which is the ultimate domestic trophy. But in the nineties, I do not have to make a case for Arsenal. We were the best. Not the best in England, as Man Utd had that distinction, but Kings of London for sure.

A little stutter at the start

4, 1, 4, 10, 4, 12, 5, 3, 1, 2 was our final league standings giving us 2 league titles, one better than the previous decades. We had 2 Fa cups compared to The ‘Nam one. We both had one league cup but we had 3 Charity Shields to their one. The emerging Chelsea won the Fa cup once, League cup once, Cup-winners cup once and Uefa Super cup once. West Ham had 2 promotions from the second tier in this time. Promotion was the best for the others.

But let’s take it year by year. 1989-90 we were 4^th, the ‘Nam 3^rd and Chelsea 5^th with the rest down the table. Palace were 15^th but got to the final of the FA cup to be beaten by Man Utd.  So the ‘Nam in the lead but waiting for us to knock them down again as we always did.

But then we took off

Bye, bye, Spuds

1990-91 we were top, Palace were 3^rd, the ‘Nam, Chelsea and QPR were 10^th, 11^th and 12^th respectively. The ‘Nam won the cup but now us clearly in the lead. Can you even see us? We can sell you binoculars.

1991-92 we were 4^th but Palace were next in 10^th, QPR 11^th, Wimbledon 13^th, Chelsea 14^th, The ‘Nam 15^th and West Ham had come up but went straight back down. Further into the lead. We can offer you a telescope.

1992-93 10^th but we did the double of both domestic cups. QPR 5^th, The ‘Nam 8^th, Chelsea 11^th, Wimbledon 12^th, and Palace relegated. I say further into the lead. A long range telescope might help.

1993-94 4^th. Wimbledon 6^th, QPR 9^th, West Ham 13^th, Chelsea 14^th, Tottenham 15^th. Chelsea got to the FA cup final but we won the Cup-Winners cup. Again further into the lead. A space telescope might be needed.

1994-95 12^th. Tottenham 7^th, QPR 8^th, Wimbledon 9^th, Chelsea 11^th and Palace relegated. The ‘Nam got to FA cup semi and Palace got to both domestic semi’s. But we got to the Cup-Winners Final. Maybe we moved back a tiny bit.

1995-96 Again top London team at 5^th. The ‘Nam 8^th, West Ham 10^th, Chelsea 11^th, Wimbledon 14^th and QPR relegated. A semi in the League Cup fpr us as well means back out in front. By now the ‘Nam need to start tracking us by satellite. We are that dot in the sky laughing down at you.

1996-97 We were 3^rd, Chelsea were 6^th, Wimbledon 8^th, Tottenham 10^th and West Ham 14^th. Chelsea won the FA cup. Possibly a little bit back this year because of Chelsea but still well out on front over the ‘Nam. They need to get on to the Space Station telescope to see where we are.

We put a rocket up our Arse

1997-98 Ah, but now Mr Wenger had properly come and we nearly did a domestic sweep winning League and Fa cup and being beaten by Chelsea in the semi of the League Cup which they won. Chelsea 4^th, West Ham 8^th, The ‘Nam 14^th, Wimbledon 15^th and Palace up and back down.  We had flown so far ahead at this point no other London team was remotely close. The poor old ‘Nam now needed the Hubble telescope to find us.

This could help you, Spuds

1998-99 Arsenal 2^nd, Chelsea 3^rd, West Ham 5^th, the ‘Nam 11^th and Wimbledon 16^th. We got FA cup semi-final and Chelsea Cup-Winner cup semi. Further away from the pack for us. Oh, what fun we had as the ‘Nam went down to Greenwich observatory begging for advice to see where the stars of Arsenal were, and will they ever be able to get into our orbit again.

Spuds scurried down to Greenwich to find where we were

Ah, we had a great big laugh

No London team got close to us in the 90’s as you can see. Chelsea had started the investment process and were moving closer. The ’Nam and the rest were nowhere near. I have to say that was the case for me regarding the ‘Nam, they were mostly well behind us. I never hated them as they were very rarely serious challengers when we were good. I think that is why they always seem to hate us more, because we were much better. And we had a habit of humiliating them on their own ground. And they couldn’t afford space telescopes.

And we had got the magical Wenger. The guy we didn’t know we wanted was our saviour. He transformed Arsenal, we had great great players, he was to give us a magnificent stadium, unbelievable training and medical facilities, an exhilarating style of play, lots of trophies, 2 doubles, an unbeaten season, oh, the wonder of it all.

We still needed to be better

In fairness, though, yes, we were clearly kings of London but not of England as the Millennium approached. We had a good decade and in most other decades it would have been a great one but Manchester United had an unbelievable decade. They had to be our target. The ‘Nam were a joke by comparison and Chelsea were still well behind us.

We needed to be Arsenal and we needed to send the Mancs scurrying home north crying all the way. We could not, and should not accept second best. Having a laugh at the ‘Nam was good fun but that was easy, getting on top of the Mancs was harder.