1944–45 Arsenal F.C. season explained

The 1944–45 season was Arsenal Football Club's sixth season playing wartime football during World War II. They finished eighth the Football League South, their poorest performance of the wartime era. Arsenal reached the semifinals in the Football League South Cup.

Club:Arsenal
Season:1944–45
Manager:George Allison
Chairman:Robin Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 8th Marquess of Londonderry
League:Football League South
League Result:8th
Cup1:Football League South Cup
Cup1 Result:Semi-final
Prevseason:1943–44
Nextseason:1945–46

Background

Arsenal played their home games at White Hart Lane, as Highbury had been transformed to support Air Raid Precautions.[1]

Arsenal had a poor start to the league and failed to recover, finishing eighth in the Football League South. Arsenal's most reliable scorer Reg Lewis was unavailable due to his military service. Stan Mortensen, a guest player from Blackpool, scored 18 goals for Arsenal in 12 games.[2] Ted Drake, another reliable scorer, was injured with a slipped disk and his career came to an end.

Arsenal reached the semifinals of the Football League South Cup but did not reach the finals, losing to Millwall.[3]

Results

Arsenal's score comes first[4]

Legend

WinDrawLoss

Football League South

Selected results from the league.

DateOpponentVenueResultAttendanceScorers
2 September 1944 Tottenham HotspurA0–4
21 October 1944 West Ham UnitedH0–327,800
28 October 1944 Crystal PalaceA3–4
25 November 1944 ChelseaA1–2
9 December 1944 Tottenham HotspurH2–3
23 December 1944 BrentfordH5–218,527
24 February 1945 ReadingH0–2
24 March 1945 Crystal PalaceH1–0
2 April 1945 BrentfordA1–3
28 April 1945 ChelseaH3–0
5 May 1945 West Ham UnitedA1–19,000
ReadingA1–3

Final League table

Football League South Cup

!Round!!Date!!Opponent!!Venue!!Result!!Attendance!!Goalscorers
GS3 February 1945 ReadingA3–1
GS10 February 1945 Clapton OrientH5–0
GS17 February 1945 PortsmouthA4–2
GS24 February 1945 ReadingH3–0
GS3 March 1945 Clapton OrientA3–1
GS10 March 1945 PortsmouthH2–4
SF17 March 1945 MillwallN0–1

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Soar, Phil . Arsenal: Official History . Tyler . Martin . Hamlyn . 1995 . 0600588262 . London . 98 . en.
  2. Web site: Attwood . Tony . 2 December 2019 . The man who scored 18 goals for Arsenal in just 12 games . https://web.archive.org/web/20220702203325/https://blog.woolwicharsenal.co.uk/archives/20926 . 2 July 2022 . 21 November 2023 . The History of Arsenal.
  3. Web site: Cooper . Vince . 10 May 2023 . The War Cups . https://web.archive.org/web/20230729173842/https://readtheleague.com/the-big-feature/the-war-cups . 29 July 2023 . 28 November 2023 . The League.
  4. http://www.statto.com/football/teams/arsenal/1944-1945/results