1985–86 Arsenal F.C. season

English football club season November 2020 May 2013 Arsenal F.C. 1985–86 Peter Hill-Wood Don Howe (to 22 March) Steve Burtenshaw (caretaker, for remainder of season) First Division 7th Tony Woodcock (11) Charlie Nicholas (18) FA Cup Fifth round League Cup Quarter-finals _arsenal8485h _arsenal8485h _arsenal8485h _arsenal8283h _arsenal8384hl FFFFFF FF0000 FFFFFF FFFFFF FF0000 _arsenal8384a _arsenal8384a _arsenal8384a _arsenal8384a _arsenal8384al FFFFFF FFFFFF FFFFFF FFFFFF FFFFFF 1984–85 1986–87 The 1985–86 season was Arsenal Football Club's 60th consecutive season in the top flight of English football.https://www.arsenal.com/news/features/48523/behind-the-numbers- All-time Arsenal James Josh 18 June 2013 Arsenal F.C. 22 June 2023 live https://web.archive.org/web/20230622042610/https://www.arsenal.com/news/features/48523/behind-the-numbers- 22 June 2023https://www.rsssf.org/tablese/engall.html English Clubs Divisional Movements 1888–2016 Ross James Heneghan Michael Orford Stuart Culliton Eoin 25 August 2016 Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation 22 June 2023 live https://web.archive.org/web/20230622041929/https://www.rsssf.org/tablese/engall.html 22 June 2023 In this season Arsenal celebrated its centenary, 100 years of footballing history. Arsenal finished seventh in the Football League First Division and saw little success in cup competitions, falling unceremoniously to Aston Villa in the quarterfinals of the League Cup. Arsenal saw a promising group of young talent break into the first team, with Martin Keown, Tony Adams, Niall Quinn, and David Rocastle all making regular appearances. Don Howe resigned from Arsenal in March 1986. Steven Burtenshaw took over from Howe, overseeing a slide from fifth to seventh place. George Graham became manager at the end of the season. Season summary After 4 consecutive wins in a run of 8 wins, 2 draws and 1 defeat in 11 games Don Howe resigned on 22 March 1986. With Arsenal on the fringes of the title race, rumours were abound that the Arsenal board had approached Terry Venables with a view to naming him as Don Howe’s successor. When Howe was unable to get clarity or reassurance from the board, he promptly resigned. Howe was hardly a failure, as the Gunners had not finished lower than seventh in the First Division under his leadership, but in the absence of silverware his exit became inevitable. Adopting a lower public profile than his predecessor, Howe did not invest heavily in the transfer market, preferring to augment his squad by bringing through youngsters such as Tony Adams, David Rocastle and Niall Quinn, but he never attained the desired blend.Soar Phil Arsenal 1886-1986: the official centenary history of Arsenal Football Club Tyler Martin Hamlyn 1986 9780600358718 Twickenham 250–54 en Steven Burtenshaw took over with the club 5th in the league. The momentum was immediately lost and with five defeats in the next seven games Arsenal slipped away from their challenging position. Once again, the domestic cups would see the Gunners fall short.  In the F.A. Cup they fell in the fifth round, losing 3 – 0 to Luton Town at Kenilworth Road after a replay. In the League Cup, another replay saw Arsenal bow out at the quarter-final stage to Aston Villa.Mason Peter 24 December 2015 Don Howe obituary The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/dec/24/don-howeOfficial Arsenal Handbook. On 8 April 1986 Paul Mariner played his last league game for Arsenal against Nottingham Forest.  In his final season he made just 5 starts and 7 sub appearances in league and cup but failed to score. The crowds declined too. On 26 April 1986 when Arsenal met West Bromwich Albion at Highbury just 14,843 turned up. The 2-2 draw made it just one win in eight matches.  On 3 May against Birmingham City Tony Woodcock scored his 11th and final league goal of the season. He was Arsenal’s top scorer, as he was the previous season when both he and Brian Talbot got 10 each. Only 6,234 were in the crowd at St.Andrew's to see it. Two days later Tony Woodcock played his last game for Arsenal, a 3-0 away defeat to Oxford. Then with the season over, Arsenal finishing in 7th, on 14 May 1986 George Graham became manager.Tony Atwood. Arsenal History Society: preserving Arsenal's heritage. Squad yes yes ENG GK John Lukic yes ENG DF Viv Anderson yes ENG DF Kenny Sansom yes ENG MF Stewart Robson yes IRL DF David O'Leary yes ENG DF Martin Keown yes ENG MF Ian Allinson yes ENG MF Paul Davis yes SCO FW Charlie Nicholas yes ENG FW Tony Woodcock yes ENG MF Graham Rix captain yes yes ENG DF Tommy Caton yes ENG MF Steve Williams yes ENG MF David Rocastle yes ENG FW Martin Hayes yes ENG DF Tony Adams yes IRL FW Niall Quinn yes ENG DF Chris Whyte yes ENG FW Paul Mariner yes ENG DF Gus Caesar yes WAL GK Rhys Wilmot Results First Division 1985–86 Football League#First Division First Division y ARS 1 17 August 1985 Liverpool 2–0 Arsenal Liverpool Anfield L 2 20 August 1985 Arsenal 3–2 Southampton London Highbury W 3 24 August 1985 Arsenal 1–2 Manchester United London Highbury L 4 27 August 1985 Luton Town 2–2 Arsenal Luton Kenilworth Road D 5 31 August 1985 Arsenal 1–0 Leicester City London Highbury W 6 3 September 1985 Queen's Park Rangers 0–1 Arsenal London Loftus Road W 7 7 September 1985 Coventry City 0–2 Arsenal Coventry Highfield Road W 8 14 September 1985 Arsenal 1–0 Sheffield Wednesday London Highbury W 9 21 September 1985 Chelsea 2–1 Arsenal London Stamford Bridge L 10 28 September 1985 Arsenal 0–0 Newcastle United London Highbury D 11 5 October 1985 Arsenal 3–2 Aston Villa London Highbury W 12 12 October 1985 West Ham United 0–0 Arsenal Hayes pen. Rocastle London Upton Park D 13 19 October 1985 Arsenal 1–0 Ipswich Town London Highbury W 14 26 October 1985 Nottingham Forest 3–2 Arsenal Nottingham City Ground L 15 2 November 1985 Arsenal 1–0 Manchester City London Highbury W 16 9 November 1985 Everton 6–1 Arsenal Liverpool Goodison Park L 17 16 November 1985 Arsenal 2–1 Oxford United London Highbury W 18 23 November 1985 West Bromwich Albion 0–0 Arsenal West Bromwich The Hawthorns D 19 30 November 1985 Arsenal 0–0 Birmingham City London Highbury D 20 7 December 1985 Southampton 3–0 Arsenal Southampton The Dell L 21 14 December 1985 Arsenal 2–0 Liverpool London Highbury W 22 21 December 1985 Manchester United 0–1 Arsenal Manchester Old Trafford W 23 28 December 1985 Arsenal 3–1 Queen's Park Rangers London Highbury W 24 1 January 1986 Arsenal 0–0 Tottenham Hotspur London Highbury D 25 18 January 1986 Leicester City 2–2 Arsenal Leicester Filbert Street D 26 1 February 1986 Arsenal 2–1 Luton Town London Highbury W 27 1 March 1986 Newcastle United 1–0 Arsenal Newcastle upon Tyne St James' Park L 28 8 March 1986 Aston Villa 1–4 Arsenal Birmingham Villa Park W 29 11 March 1986 Ipswich Town 1–2 Arsenal Ipswich Portman Road W 30 15 March 1986 Arsenal 1–0 West Ham United London Highbury W 31 22 March 1986 Arsenal 3–0 Coventry City London Highbury W 32 29 March 1986 Tottenham Hotspur 1–0 Arsenal London White Hart Lane L 33 31 March 1986 Arsenal 0–2 Watford London Highbury L 34 1 April 1986 Watford 3–0 Arsenal London Vicarage Road L 35 5 April 1986 Manchester City 0–1 Arsenal Manchester Maine Road W 36 8 April 1986 Arsenal 1–1 Nottingham Forest London Highbury D 37 12 April 1986 Arsenal 0–1 Everton London Highbury L 38 16 April 1986 Sheffield Wednesday 2–0 Arsenal Sheffield Hillsborough L 39 26 April 1986 Arsenal 2–2 West Bromwich Albion London Highbury 14,843 D 40 29 April 1986 Arsenal 2–0 Chelsea London Highbury 24,025 W 41 3 May 1986 Birmingham City 0–1 Arsenal Birmingham St Andrew's 6,234 W 42 5 May 1986 Oxford United 3–0 Arsenal Oxford Manor Ground 13,651 L Football League Cup 1985–86 Football League Cup Second round (1st Leg) 25 September 1985 Hereford United 0–0 Arsenal Hereford Edgar Street D Second round (2nd Leg) 8 October 1985 Arsenal 2–1 2–1 Hereford United London Highbury W Third round 30 October 1985 Manchester City 1–2 Arsenal Manchester Maine Road W Fourth round 19 November 1985 Arsenal 0–0 Southampton London Highbury D Fourth round (replay) 26 November 1985 Southampton 1–3 Arsenal Southampton The Dell, Southampton W Fifth round 22 January 1986 Aston Villa 1–1 Arsenal Birmingham Villa Park D Fifth round (replay) 4 February 1986 Arsenal 1–2 Aston Villa London Highbury Lhttps://www.11v11.com/teams/arsenal/tab/matches/season/1986/ Arsenal match record: 1986 FA Cup 1985–86 FA Cup Arsenal entered the FA Cup in the third round proper, in which they were drawn to face Grimsby Town. Third round 4 January 1986 Grimsby Town 3–4 Arsenal Grimsby Blundel Park W Fourth round 25 January 1986 Arsenal 5–1 Rotherham United London Highbury W Fifth round 15 February 1986 Luton Town 2–2 Arsenal Luton Kenilworth Road D Fifth round (replay) 3 March 1986 Arsenal 0–0 Luton Town London Highbury D Fifth round (2nd replay) 5 March 1986 Luton Town 3–0 Arsenal Luton Kenilworth Road L Top scorers First Division ENG Tony Woodcock 11 SCO Charlie Nicholas 10 ENG Ian Allinson 6 ENG Paul Davis 4 ENG Stewart Robson 4 References External links Arsenal 1985–86 on statto.com Arsenal Category:Arsenal F.C. seasons