John Cartwright's Short Lived Spell

A few days ago I thought I would pen, sorry type, something about John Cartwright, a coach who had a short lived stay at the Arsenal in the mid 1980s. After my research was done what should I see but a couple of coaches I respect saying good things about the said Cartwright on social media.

Given his short spell with the Arsenal there is little out there about him but it is certainly a surprise to see even his wiki page is light on detail. An almuni of a West Ham side that was known as the academy for the number of thoughtful players and coaches it produced, Cartwright achieved little as a player but made a name for himself with his work at Crystal Palace. He also spent three years in the Middle East with Kuwait and were he to return there today would probably find the infrastructure little changed.

But it  is his time with the Arsenal that is of the greatest interest. It was 1985 and we were going into our centenary season. Don Howe was the manager at  the time having replaced Terry Neill in December 1983. Howe was reknowned as a coaching guru as well as an Arsenal man through and through and having seen the promise of a fine start to the 1984/84 season fade away to huiliation after humiliation, Oxford and York City away, he may well have decided to take a step back from the training and have someone else take up the slack.

Cartwright was a well respected figure having worked with an exciting young Crystal Palace team that was dubbed the Team of the 80s and while I don't recalling having an opinion about him either way I was like other Arsenal fans willing to give him a chance. Surely if he was good enough for Don Howe?

1985 was despite my rose tinted glasses not the best of times for English football. Heysal and Bradford hung heavy in our memories and psyche and attendances were low as fans feared getting a kicking at a game was not worth the expense of a day out watching your favourite team. Not me. I was at the peak of my Arsenal match going experiences and when we played Southampton on a balmy Tuesday night at Highbury I carried with my cheese and onion sandwiches that blind optimism recognised by fans around the world at the first home game of the season.

In the match programme that night Don Howe introduced Cartwright to us all. 'Our new coach ...has worked very hard with the players in pre season training,' he says in his notes. 'His arrival has given me a chance to stand back and watch...John and I both want the ball played forward early, to build our attacks quickly so we can knock the ball around in our opponents half.'

In those days we didn't have Gary Neville or Arsenal Fan TV to tell us what to think but I remember feeling a little concerned. We had Charlie Nicholas and Tony Woodcock up top. Hardly the best duo to go long to. To be fair David O'Leary wrote in his autobiography he knew Cartwright wanted the teenage bean pole striker Niall Quinn to start the season up front but Howe was reluctant to drop either of the established pair.

It was a funny time at the Arsenal. We had experienced internationals like Nicholas, Woodcock, Graham Rix, Viv Anderson, Kenny Sansom, Steve Williams and Paul Mariner while younger players like Martin Hayes, Quinn, David Rocastle and Gus Caser were knocking at the door. Even from the terraces we sensed cliques in the dressing room.

Cartwright was given a page in that opening day programme to introduces himself to the faithful. He said he had been involved in a battle to change attitudes since he arrived as he called for getting the ball forward quicker. An interesting choice of words by the new arrival.

In the excellent Rebels For The Cause by Jon Spurling it seems Cartwright didn't take to kindly to the old pros and the players responded in kind. Williams called him a bastard on more than one occasion while Sansom also let rip after imbibing a bit more than he should have. Nicholas said he learnt 'bugger all' from the experienced coach.

David O'Leary, perhaps with an eye more on tact than headlines, said he got the feeling Cartwright would have been happy if Nicholas, Woodcock and Rix were never in the side. However Nicholas, for all his faults, was the nearest thing we fans had had to a terrace legend for years and the club were loathe to go against the support in that particular case.

While the old hands rebelled at Cartwright, the younger players took to him. Paul Davis had been a target for the boo boys in previous seasons, fans disappointed he hadn't taken over the Liam Brady mantle probably said more about our desperation for quality than Davo's own talents but he credits Cartwright with the turn around in his form. 'John has been a big help. He likes to talk to players individually and he gives you a lot of confidence about what you can achieve.' Can I claim some influence in Davo's return to form? That first home game I was in the heart of the North Bank and before kick off me and my mates started chanting 'Paul Davis Paul Davis. He looked up and waved. It was a chune that hadn't been heard for a while.

Treading the middle path, O'Leary said he found Cartwright a nice man 'but I think he made enemies. He told it as it was.' Davo and Rocastle both appreciated Cartwright's efforts he added.

At the end of November Cartwright was given another column in the programme for the Birmingham City game, a game where their keeper David Seaman played an absolute blinder. After spending the previous months telling us how important it was to get the ball forward quickly he was now saying it was time to build from the back! I was confuded. Now I admit my experience in the Frimley Subbuteo League and my less than legendary deeds on the playing fields of Aldershot and Farnham didn't really qualify me as a coaching guru but why change horses mid stream? why play long for two strikers who lacked aerial ability for four months then change your mind just like that?

Cartwright says it was the plan all along. 'Last season we'd been too complicated, he said (a dig at Howe?), I want us to have plenty of variety. But it was important we got the direct approach sorted out first - then start to play out from the back.'

'Sometimes you have to belt the ball quickly up front, Other times you need to play it around before you can create a gap.'

Such a big deal had been made about going long, why the sudden turn around? Admittedly he had been denied the only experienced striker with aerial ability for most of the season with Mariner injured much of the time, and Quinn was not felt to be ready despite him actually playing, and scoring, in the next home game. 

The experienced players continued to be upset by Cartwright and his methods and it was reported some of then went to speak to vice chairman David Dein to voice their concerns. Despite being fifth going into the Easter games the club were reportedly actively looking for a new manager with Terry Venables high on their list. He however rebuffed their advances, annoyed at the way the club had gone behind Howe's back and in the programme for the Watford game a curt message from the chairman in the programme told us Howe and Cartwright had been released from their contracts.

At the end of the season Cartwright met O'Leary at the Football Writers' Association dinner. 'What was the point in staying? I knew I was on a hiding to nothing once Don went.'

Today Cartwright is involved with the British Council and still has a reputation for saying it how it is. His Arsenal entry on his CV is but a brief one but while he is thought to have upsent a few players all he was doing was starting a process that was continued by George Graham when he swept in to the marble halls ahead of the 1986/87 season. The old guard were on their way out. Reputations and high salaries were not enough to impress Graham and Woodcock, Mariner were gone before a ball was kicked in anger under the new regime.

Williams, Sansom and Nicholas didn't last much longer as Graham set about moulding a team around the bright young talents of Rocastle, Davis, Adams, Hayes and Quinn as he set about finishing the work Cartwright had started.

Joe Baker's Flurry Of Goals Lighten Up Mid 1960s

Joe Baker was before my time. Well before my time. But I was inspired to do some research about him by a brief exchange on Twitter so here we go. First up, what did I know without delving into the records? Well, he played in Italy, he scored heaps of goals for us, formed a partnership with Geoff Strong, was part of a side that wasn't much cop and played for us at a time when our second kit was white!

The 22 year old Baker signed for the Arsenal ahead of the 1962/63 season. It was to be a new era at the club with ex England skipper Billy Wright appointed as manager and Les Shannon as his assistant. It was also the season Denis Hill Wood took over as chairman after Sir Bracewell Smith had stepped down and Terry Neill was appointed club captain.

The signing of Baker added to this sense of a new era beginning at a club which had been dormant for too long. The English international was playing in Italy with Torino but jumped at the chance to sign for the Arsenal and soon struck up a lethal partnership with Geoff Strong. Considering the record transfer fee handed over the Arsenal programme devoted little space to his arrival, focusing on Hill Wood's elevation to chairman and Wright's appointment, relegating Baker to the final paragraph on page three with a photo on page four. And as for the official club photograph our highly priced recruit was sat on the grass in front of his strike partner Strong.

His debut came away to Leyton Orient, a game I always associate with David Stacey for some reason, in their first season in the top flight and of course Baker scored to ensure a 2-1 win impudently nutmegging a defender and driving home from the edge of the box. Next up was Birmingham City at Highbury and again Baker netted, this time on his home debut, as we beat the Blues 2-0. In fact the programme for the Manchester United game hinted at the need for goal line technology as it writes 'In fact few people in the crowd were certain who had scored because it was one of those occasions where the ball was bobbling about on the goal line and it was not possible to discern from the stands the precise moment at which the ball crossed the line.'

There then followed a run of five losses in six games though Baker continued to find the net, scoring twice in that poor run. After 12 games Arsenal were 15th with three wins and just nine points on the board, this in the time of two points for a win. Then came two phenomenal games when a Baker hat trick inspired us to beat third place Wolves 5-2 and a week later we drew 5-5 with Blackburn away with two more from Baker.

Our new signing ended his campaign with 29 goals in his 39 league games. Not a bad return while his partner Strong his 18. This set the pattern for his career at the club. The following season he hit 26 in 39 as we finished eighth 25 in 42 in 1964/65. His final season was 1965/66. We finished 14th and Baker missed most of the second half of the season, scoring his last goal for the club in a 5-2 win at home to Sheffield Wednesday. He had signed for Nottingham Forest in the February.

With the likes of Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp and Ian Wright it's almost like we take striker hitting 100 goals plus for granted. Baker netted 100 in 156 games, a remarkable achievement in what was arguably a poor side. But as he headed up the M6 to join Forest a new team was coalescing around an Arsenal core with Bob Wilson, Frank McLintock, George Armstrong John Radford, Peter Simpson and Peter Storey gradually getting more game time. And we know what happened to them!

There was one more highlight for Baker in that final season. The club went on a pre season tour to the Caribbean playing a number of games in Trinidad and Jamaica. Arsenal beat Jamaica Sugar estates XI 12-0 with Joe Baker netting six goals. Interestingly manager and assiatnt Wright and Shannon gave themselves run outs while proper Arsenal people Wilson, Armstrong, Don Howe and Terry Neill also played. 

So what kind of player was Baker? Arsenal A Complete Record describes him as a little unpredictable while a feature on Arsenal's top marksmen that was featured in the Arsenal programmes in 1979/80 says his 'tremendous speed and cracking shot were a menace to defenders. He was described as 5 foot 8 inches tall but that didn't stop him kicking off with Liverpool's giant defender Ron Yeats one year. Then there was the time he replaced the injured Jack McClelland between the posts one year, conceding five goals in the process. 

I guess with the emergence of John Radford the club felt there was no longer a need for Baker and hindsight suggests the decisions made proved correct. However at at time when the club was poor on the field his goals in the early to mid 1960s, a time when that lot up the road were in the ascendancy, gave the hard pressed Arsenal fans something to cheer about.

Happy Memories From Goodison Park

I woke up in time for the second half of Arsenal's loss away to Everton last night and wish I hadn't bothered. It seemed to be one of those games we have always been capable of down the years. The apparent like of fight and desire to get among the opponents. From Terry Neill to Arsene Wenger via George Graham I have seen Arsenal teams put in listless shifts like this. I guess it's just a football thing though we do seem to be afflicted more than others and as an Arsenal fan I would of course say that!

It hasn't always been like this of course. There have been some wonderful triumphs at Goodison Park in recent years under Arsene Wenger, though the only time I have seen us there under his tutelege was a 2-2 draw back in 1997 when I felt paying 23 quid for a seat was absolutely scandalous! Again in my defence I had been away a long time!

One game that does stick in my mind was January 1989. We were top of the table at the time, two points clear of second place Norwich City and seven ahead of Millwall. Note the date. This was after all three years before Sky invited football and seven years before Wenger invented Arsenal.

Everton were 10 points behind us in sixth but Goodison was never a trip to be taken lightly. And anyway the Toffees had twice been champions in 1985 and 1987 so were packing a greater recent pedigree going into this game. 

34,825 filed into Goodison Park that winter Saturday, their second biggest home crowd of the season at the time, to see the Arsenal make it six consecutive wins. Paul Merson gave us the lead running on to David Rocastle's diagonal ball. Rocky was provider again when Smith headed home his 17th in all competitions before Kevin Richardson drove the ball home from close range to complete the victory.

We were imperious that day and one of my abiding memories is of the Everton fans applauding our lads off the field at the end of the game. Unfortunately a week later we were held 1-1 by Sheffield Wednesday at Highbury and George Graham responded by taking to team to Bermuda for some sunshine and a couple of friendlies.

The season would end on a high of course as we went to Anfield and won the league, Michael Thomas and all that.