Green Gunners - Stephen McGarrigle

Stephen McGarrigle approaches the history of Arsenal FC by linking the club to its Irish connections in this book about the Irish at Highbury. This study traces the vital role that Irishmen have played in shaping one of the world's greatest football clubs, in a relationship that stretches from 1893 when the club first became part of the Football League, right up to the present day. The book details how it was that an Irishman, Tommy Shanks', 24 goals in the 1903-04 season were enough to take the Gunners into Division One for the first time and how another Irishman, David O'Leary, led his team to victory in the 1991 League Championship.;Identifying 36 players of Irish origin who have worn the red and white strip of Arsenal, the author shows how each man progressed from the early days in small teams such as Glenavon and Home Farm, to the glory of Highbury and, in many cases, to international football. Early Arsenal heroes such as Joe Haverty in the 1950s, Kevin O'Flanagan in the 1940s and Jimmy Dunne from the 1930s are featured as well as later stars such as Rice, Jennings and O'Leary from the 1970s and 1980s.