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

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was the top division of the Football League in England from 1888 until the end of the 1991–92 season, when its teams broke away to form the Premier League. From 1992 to 2004, the name First Division was g ...

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

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

, 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), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...

in the quarterfinals. Arsenal were knocked out of the League Cup in the fourth round by

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

. In the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

, 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 Association football, footballer who won every domestic honour in the game with Arsenal F.C., Arsenal and Liverpool F.C., Liverpool in the 1970s and early 1980s. Kennedy playe ...

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

Frank McLintock Francis McLintock (born 28 December 1939) is a Scottish former 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 football with Shawfiel ...

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 pla ...

as manager

Bertie Mee Bertram Mee (25 December 1918 – 21 October 2001) was an English footballer and manager. After his playing career was cut short by injury, he later became a manager and led Arsenal to their first Double win in 1971. Playing career Born in Hig ...

's hands-on coach. He was replaced with Steve Burtenshaw. 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 originator 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, 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 status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

at a price of £100,000. Arsenal began the season with a convincing win over Chelsea, followed up by beating

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees 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 confl ...

. 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 an area of North London, England, in the London Borough of Islington. Highbury Manor Highbury was once owned by Ranulf, brother of Ilger, and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads. The manor hou ...

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 that ...

, 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 p ...

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

Peter Storey Peter Edwin Storey (born 7 September 1945) is an English former 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 1960s and 1970s. ...

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''; : wolves), also known as the grey wolf or gray wolf, is a canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, including the dog and dingo, though gr ...

. 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 port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

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 district in north London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, ...

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 Grasshopper Club Zurich (GCZ), commonly referred to as Grasshopper Club or simply just GC, is a professional multisports club based in Zurich, Switzerland. They are nicknamed the ''Grasshoppers'' or sometimes just ''Hoppers''. The oldest and b ...

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

Johan Cruyff Hendrik Johannes Cruijff (25 April 1947 – 24 March 2016), internationally known as Johan Cruyff (), was a Dutch professional Association football, football player and Manager (association football), manager. Regarded as one of the greatest ...

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) is a Scottish former football player and manager. Nicknamed "Stroller", he made 455 appearances in England's Football League as a midfielder or forward for Aston Villa, Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester Unite ...

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

Swindon Swindon () is a town in Wiltshire, England. At the time of the 2021 Census the population of the built-up area was 183,638, making it the largest settlement in the county. Located at the northeastern edge of the South West England region, Swi ...

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

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club in Derby, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. One of the 12 founder members of the English Football ...

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

Baseball Ground The Baseball Ground was a stadium in Derby, England, that 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 1997. The club's reserve and yo ...

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 referring to the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of the term ''Occident'', which refers to the Western world. In English, it is largely a meto ...

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

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, the cl ...

, 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 Bob Wilson may refer to: Association footballers *Bob Wilson (footballer, born 1867) (1867–?), Irish international footballer of the 1880s *Bob Wilson (footballer, born September 1898) 1920s, Scottish footballer with Third Lanark and Fall Ri ...

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 the London Borou ...

, in front of the

Queen Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...

and

Prince Philip Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 19219 April 2021), was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he was the consort of the British monarch from h ...

. 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 ...