The 1971–72 season was Arsenal Football Club's 46th consecutive season in the

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

. Arsenal finished fifth in the league. In Cup play, Arsenal featured for the first time in the

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

, but went out to defending champions

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Greek ...

in the quarterfinals. Arsenal were knocked out of the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

in the fourth round by

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

. In the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

, Arsenal reached the final, their fifth cup final in five years. However, the team couldn't follow up on the previous year's victory and lost 1-0 to Leeds United.

Ray Kennedy Raymond Kennedy (28 July 1951 – 30 November 2021) was an English footballer who won every domestic honour in the game with Arsenal and Liverpool in the 1970s and early 1980s. Kennedy played as a forward for Arsenal, and then played as a le ...

was the top scorer in both the league and in all competitions.

Frank McLintock Francis McLintock MBE (born 28 December 1939) is a former Scotland international footballer, football manager and businessman. He also worked as a sports agent and football pundit in his later life. He began his career in Scottish Junior footba ...

served as captain. In June 1971, the club saw the exit of

Don Howe Donald Howe (12 October 1935 – 23 December 2015) was an English football player, coach, manager and pundit. As a right back Howe featured for clubs West Bromwich Albion and Arsenal together with the England national football team in his play ...

as manager

Bertie Mee Bertram Mee OBE (25 December 1918 – 21 October 2001) was an English footballer who played as a winger for Derby County and Mansfield Town. Mee was also a manager, noted for leading Arsenal to their first Double win in 1971. Playing career Bor ...

's hands-on coach. He was replaced with

Steve Burtenshaw Stephen Burtenshaw (23 November 1935 – 17 February 2022) was an English football player and manager. Burtenshaw played as a wing half for Brighton & Hove Albion. As a manager, he was at the helm of clubs Sheffield Wednesday, Everton, Queens ...

. In December, midfielder Alan Ball joined Arsenal to strengthen the squad.

Season summary

Following up the 1970-71 Double was always going to be difficult. On June 15, that proposition was made even harder by the departure of Don Howe, the hands-on second-in-command to Bertie Mee who was widely considered the architect of the Double. Howe accepted an offer to become the manager of West Brom. Two other Arsenal staff, George Wright and youth coach

Brian Whitehouse Brian Whitehouse (8 September 1935 – 16 January 2017) was an English professional footballer who played as a forward for West Bromwich Albion, Norwich City, Wrexham, Crystal Palace, Charlton and Leyton Orient. He was top scorer for Palace in ...

, also moved to West Brom. Steve Burtenshaw was appointed to Howe's previous position. Arsenal's only other summer transfer news was that Jon Sammels left the club for

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

at a price of £100,000. Arsenal began the season with a convincing win over

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

, followed up by beating

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into ...

. The dynamic

Charlie George Frederick Charles George (born 10 October 1950) is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward. George began his career as a youngster with Arsenal and was part of their 1970–71 League and FA Cup Double-winning team, ...

missed the opening of the season with cartilage trouble. However, Arsenal's fortunes soon turned and they were defeated three times in a row, including a loss to newly promoted

at home, Arsenal's first loss at

Highbury Highbury is a district in North London and part of the London Borough of Islington in Greater London that was owned by Ranulf brother of Ilger and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads. The manor house was situ ...

in 19 months. Arsenal's inconsistencies prevented them from being serious title contenders. Injuries left John Radford, Charlie George,

Peter Marinello Peter Marinello (born 20 February 1950) is a Scottish former footballer. Career Hibernian Marinello started his career at Hibernian, and could play either as a centre forward or right winger. He was regarded as being talented enough there tha ...

, and

Bob McNab Robert McNab (born 20 July 1943) is an English former footballer who played as a defender. McNab featured for clubs Huddersfield Town, Arsenal, Wolverhampton Wanderers, San Antonio Thunder, Barnet, Vancouver Whitecaps and Tacoma Stars in his pla ...

out of the squad for parts of the seasons, and other players such as

Peter Simpson Peter Simpson may refer to: * Peter Simpson (film producer) (1943–2007), often credited as Peter R. Simpson, a British-Canadian film producer and advertiser *Peter Simpson (Scottish footballer) (1904/05–1974), Scottish football striker who play ...

and

Peter Storey Peter Edwin Storey (born 7 September 1945) is a former England international footballer. Able to play at full-back or more commonly as a defensive midfielder, he picked up a reputation in the Football League as an aggressive player in the 1960 ...

suffered from poor form. In December, Mee paid a Football League record fee of £200,000 for Everton's Alan Ball in order to strengthen the squad. Despite some of these issues, midway through the season, Arsenal went on a 14-match unbeaten run after a dismal 5-1 loss to

Wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; plural, : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large Canis, canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of Canis lupus, subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been reco ...

. The run left them just four points from the top. However, they were to find rather less success with the rest of the season. They still affected the title race, as a 0-0 draw with

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

in the penultimate game of the season handed the league championship to Derby County. Arsenal ended the season with a 2-0 home defeat to

Tottenham Tottenham () is a town in North London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, bordering Edmonton to the north, Waltham ...

and finished fifth. Arsenal featured in the European Cup for the first time, reaching the quarterfinals. Ball joined the team too late to be eligible for Arsenal's quarterfinal matchup. After beating Stroemsgodset 3-1 in their first game and 4-0 at home in the next, Arsenal faced

Grasshopper Club Zurich Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are among what is possibly the most ancient living group of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago. Grasshoppe ...

, winning 5-0 on aggregate. Arsenal faced European Cup holders Ajax in the quarterfinals, playing against

Johan Cruyff Hendrik Johannes Cruijff (, internationally known as Johan Cruyff; 25 April 1947 – 24 March 2016) was a Dutch professional football player and manager. As a player, he won the Ballon d'Or three times, in 1971, 1973 and 1974. Cruyff was a ...

and other great young players. They lost 2-1 away, meaning a 1-0 victory at home would take Arsenal to the semifinals. Instead, Arsenal lost 1-0 thanks to a

George Graham George Graham (born 30 November 1944), nicknamed "Stroller", is a Scottish former football player and manager. In his successful playing career, he made 455 appearances in England's Football League as a midfielder or forward for Aston Villa, Ch ...

own goal. New signing Ball was especially influential in Arsenal's FA Cup run. Facing

Swindon Swindon () is a town and unitary authority with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Wiltshire, England. As of the 2021 Census, the population of Swindon was 201,669, making it the largest town in the county. The Swindon un ...

in the third round, Ball provided first a goal and assist to help Arsenal ease past their opponents. Arsenal then muddled 2-1 away past

Fourth Division Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

in the fifth round took three games. The first was a 2-2 tie away at the

Baseball Ground The Baseball Ground (sometimes referred to as the BBG) was a stadium in Derby, England. It was first used for baseball as the home of Derby Baseball Club from 1890 until 1898 and then for football as the home of Derby County from 1895 until 19 ...

in which George netted twice, the field described as a "bog" and the game extremely tough. Then, the two teams tied 0-0 at Highbury. Arsenal won the second replay with a goal from Kennedy. In the quarterfinals, Arsenal faced

Orient The Orient is a term for the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of ''Occident'', the Western World. In English, it is largely a metonym for, and coterminous with, the c ...

and beat them 1-0 away. Arsenal's semifinal opponents were again

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

, with Arsenal fielding nearly an unchanged side from the same game the year before. Ball was included in place of Kennedy, all other starters from the previous season remained. After Armstrong opened the scoring, Arsenal's goalkeeper Bob Wilson was injured but left on the field. A mistake from Simpson trying to protect his goalkeeper led to an own goal and a tie. Wilson was pulled off the field for Kennedy, and Radford took to the goal to help his team stay in the Cup. Arsenal beat Stoke in the replay with goals from George and Radford, and faced Leeds United in the final. It was a tough match at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

, in front of the

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

and Prince Phillip. Arsenal were outplayed and lost due to a headed goal from Allan Clarke. Arsenal followed up their stellar Double season with disappointment in a fifth-place league finish and finalists medals in the FA Cup. The FA Cup final had been their fifth Cup final in five years.

Final league table

Results

''Arsenal's score comes first''

Legend

Football League First Division

FA Cup

League Cup

European Cup

Squad

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1971-72 Arsenal F.C. season Arsenal F.C. seasons

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...