Compiled by Tony Attwood. For more details of Arsenal Independent Supporters Association please see here.
A full index of all the July anniversaries of Arsenal appears here
28 July 1901: Bill Seddon born in Clapton. After playing junior football he moved to Gillingham, and had an unsuccessful trial with Villa before coming to Arsenal in December 1924.
28 July 1920: The first ever women to serve on a jury in the Quarter Sessions in the UK (the Crown Court) were sworn in.
28 July 1937: There was an assassination attempt on King George VI in Belfast by the IRA.
28 July 1951: Ray Kennedy born. He was initially rejected as an apprentice by Stanley Matthews, when he was manager at Port Vale, being told at the age of 16 that he was “too slow to be a footballer”.
28 July 1962: 74 years after the Football League was formed the German FA agrees to create a national league to replace regional leagues which had existed until this time. Bayern Munich did not make it into the new league, they protested, but their protests were turned away.
28 July 1970: A pre-season friendly away to Gothenburg Alliance started the season that no one who was there could ever forget. Arsenal won 4-2 with goals from George (2), McNab and Graham.
28 July 1972: David Price signed professional forms having joined Arsenal in 1970, and made his first team début aged 17 in the end-of-season game against Leeds on 9 May 1973.
28 July 1975: Arsenal had a 2-1 win over Notts County, Hornsby and Kidd getting the goals. Then, in a further sign of cutting back, and the decline in Arsenal’s standing in football, rather than go to Europe, the club did a three match tour of Scotland.
28 July 1978: First game for goalkeeper Paul Barron (friendly v B. Dortmund) which Arsenal won 1-0. Barron came on as a sub for Pat Jennings.
28 July 1979: First game for John Hollins (friendly v Munich 1860). Hollins came on as a substitute for David Price in a 1-1 draw. It was noted that Macdonald was not playing, and indeed the following day he retired from football.
28 July 1989: Sigurður Jónsson known as Siggi signed from Sheffield Wednesday for £475,000 but his time with Arsenal was plagued with injury and he only made 8 appearances. He was subsequently voted one of the 10 top Icelandic players.
28 July 2000: Overmars and Petit signed for Barcelona. At €40.6 million Overmars was the most expensive Dutch player of all time but injuries inhibited his style and he rarely showed the quality that he had delivered at Arsenal. Including wages he cost Barcelona around £4,000,000 a game.
28 July 2002: Arsenal signed Gilberto Silva for just £4.5m. The low fee came because Atlético Mineiro had not paid their players, were banned from transfer deals, and there were problems getting the work permit despite the fact he went on to captain Brazil.
28 July 2008: In a knock about pre-season friendly against Burgenland XI, Bendtner scored four in the first half and Vela three in the second as Arsenal won 10-2
28 July 2009: Kolo Toure sold to Man City for £14m thus making Arsenal a profit of £13,850,000. He played 82 games for City before being transferred on to Liverpool on a free – thus costing Man City £170,731 per game.
28 July 2014: Alex Forbes died. After finishing as a player he had worked with the coaching team at Arsenal training the reserves and A team, before emigrating to South Africa where he coached school children. He was the last survivor of the 1950 FA Cup team.
28 July 2014: Calum Chambers signed from Southampton for £16m. He came as a full back, but there was soon talk that he could also play central defender or defensive midfield. He played 23 times for Arsenal in his first season – more than in his entire Southampton career before this.
28 July 2019: The Emirates Cup returned after a one year break caused by building work extending club level, but Arsenal failed to win the Cup for the first time since 2014. The Cup was then abandoned again because of the coronavirus pandemic. Indeed in 2020 the FA Cup final had still not been played (it was finally on 1 August).
28 July 2023, Arsenal unveiled a bronze statue of Arsène Wenger to add to the set of statues of Tony Adams, Dennis Bergkamp, Herbert Chapman, and Thierry Henry, as suggested by AISA Arsenal History Society at a meeting with Ivan Gazidis in the summer of 2007. Only the statue of Sir Henry Norris was not included, being replaced by a statue of Ken Friar.
Elsewhere
The 1919 Affair: How Arsenal were promoted to the first division – the only complete and detailed history of Arsenal’s election.
Day by Day the videos – An Arsenal video for (almost) every day of the year in order.
Day by Day the stories– a key moment in Arsenal and footballing history for each day of the year
Henry Norris at the Arsenal: There is a full index to the series here correcting 100 years of rumour and false allegations.
Arsenal in the 1930s: The most comprehensive series on the decade ever
Arsenal in the 1970s: Every match and every intrigue reviewed in detail.
