Arsenal, pah!

[Freddie Goodwin.]

April 10th 1982 and we beat them 2-1 in a fairly mundane Div 1 fixture. I can't enen remember the details. being good back then was so, well, ordinary.

English First Division 1981/1982
Historical league standings at 10th Apr 1982
Pld Home Away Overall Pts GD
W D L F A W D L F A W D L F A
1 Liverpool 33 10 3 4 31 13 10 3 3 34 13 20 6 7 65 26 66 39


2 Ipswich Town 33 12 1 2 34 17 7 3 8 24 26 19 4 10 58 43 61 15
3 Swansea City 34 11 3 3 29 11 7 3 7 20 28 18 6 10 49 39 60 10
4 Southampton 35 14 1 3 41 22 3 7 7 19 30 17 8 10 60 52 59 8
5 Manchester United 33 8 6 3 21 9 7 5 4 25 17 15 11 7 46 26 56 20
6 Arsenal 34 10 4 2 17 10 5 6 7 16 19 15 10 9 33 29 55 4
7 Tottenham Hotspur 29 9 1 5 29 18 7 5 2 19 10 16 6 7 48 28 54 20
8 West Ham United 34 8 7 2 34 22 5 6 6 21 20 13 13 8 55 42 52 13
9 Manchester City 34 8 6 4 29 19 5 5 6 15 20 13 11 10 44 39 50 5
10 Brighton & Hove Albion 34 7 7 4 28 22 5 6 5 10 14 12 13 9 38 36 49 2
11 Everton 34 8 6 3 27 18 4 6 7 17 23 12 12 10 44 41 48 3
12 Nottingham Forest 33 6 6 5 16 16 6 5 5 17 20 12 11 10 33 36 47 -3
13 Aston Villa 33 6 5 4 19 18 5 5 8 25 27 11 10 12 44 45 43 -1
14 Notts. County 33 6 5 4 22 22 5 2 11 26 30 11 7 15 48 52 40 -4
15 West Bromwich Albion 31 5 6 4 19 15 3 5 8 18 25 8 11 12 37 40 35 -3
16 Coventry City 34 6 3 7 23 22 3 5 10 17 32 9 8 17 40 54 35 -14
17 Stoke City 33 6 1 10 19 25 3 5 8 16 26 9 6 18 35 51 33 -16
18 Leeds United 32 5 8 3 16 12 3 1 12 8 31 8 9 15 24 43 33 -19
19 Birmingham City 33 7 6 5 27 22 0 5 10 14 28 7 11 15 41 50 32 -9


20 Wolverhampton Wanderers 35 6 4 7 11 15 2 4 12 11 38 8 8 19 22 53 32 -31
21 Middlesbrough 33 4 7 6 17 20 1 5 10 9 22 5 12 16 26 42 27 -16
22 Sunderland 33 2 5 10 10 25 4 4 8 12 20 6 9

 

[Captain Haddock]

17 points off top!

Equivalent of Spurs in 5th at the moment....although was 2 pts for a win then, wasn't it?

But still, Everton / Birmingham territory circa Apr '10 not bad!

 

[Freddie Goodwin.]

Yep, 2 points for a win but we were a pretty dull team.

Had some good away wins with our defencive play.

 

[The Grockle]

I have to say FG I bloody love these threads, where did we finish this season?

 

[Easy 10]

Blimey, I didn't think we'd EVER beaten Arsenal.

 

[wigman]

I can remember beating them at the Goldstone (was an evening match)
Always thought it was 2-0 though.
I must be getting old as my memory is slipping.

 

[Freddie Goodwin.]

I have to say FG I bloody love these threads, where did we finish this season?

I'm sure somebody could look it up. the season rather tailed off abit and I imagine it was somewhere about 16th.

We were as high as 6th and beat saints 2-0 at the Dell to stop them going top before Xmas. Trouble was, we were so defencive away that it was as if we played for the 0-0 and if we conceeded then we might just as well have packed up and gone home.

It's quite a paradox that being one of the best sides in Albion's history was also one of the most boring and the crowds were well short of what we would expect. mind you, football crowds as a whole were pretty low in the early 80's.

 

[Freddie Goodwin.]

Just checked the book, we finished 13th but, after the Arsenal win we played 8, lost 7 and the only win was 2-0 v relegated Wolves in the last home game infront of just 10,000.

I remember that game because the Falklands War was on and the breaking news was that HMS Sheffield had been hit and lives lost. Very strange atmosphere, a bit like when we played saints on that fatefull 9/11.

We also won at Spurs and at Liverpool, who won the league. many crowds were below 20k even away, with junder 18k at Arsenal.

 

[rool]

I used to go to all the games back then and could recall the goal scorer, the build up, what time it was scored and who was number one in the charts at the time of the match.

Nearly thirty years on I can't recall a single shred of memory of those years.

It's scary getting older

 

[Freddie Goodwin.]

My memory sticks in the 67-77 period, after that it's a void.

I did look it u and Richie & Robinson scored.

 

[jezzer]

I remember that game and it was a good game, great standing on the terrace with my mate who supported arsenal and if memory serves me correct, arsey went 1-0 up then we came back and won 2-1 and I`m sure thats the game that Andy Ritchie was great and did a brilliant dummy in front of the west stand that was sublime. shame none of these games have any footage left.

 

[ShandyH]

This was the day I first remember supporting Brighton. I was young and my older brother is a gooner so took great pleasure in the mighty Albion winning. It will happen again.

 

[Robot Chicken]

Here you go:

http://www.statto.com/football/teams/brighton-and-hove-albion/history/modern

 

[Gwylan]

My memory sticks in the 67-77 period, after that it's a void.

I did look it u and Richie & Robinson scored.

I'm like you FG, I remember games from the 70s brilliantly but games later than 1979/80 are a blur.

I'm sure I was at that Arsenal game but I remember cock-all about it. But then, I can scarcely remember any games from that season. Which is weird as it was our best season in Albion history.

 

[portslade-by-sea]

I remember all the punch up's back then, but not the games.

Was this the arsenal night game they took the northstand? i got a right kicking!

 

[1234andcounting]

Thanks FG for prompting more memories. It is strange that 81-82 is, in theory, the most successful in the Albion's history, certainly in terms of final finishing position. But my memory of it is also of one of the most boring. A combination of penury and the ever lurking presence of mindless violence had meant I had more or less stopped going to away games. The football we played under Mike Bailey was efficient (for a while) but just dull. Apart from the Liverpool (3-3) and Oxford (FA Cup, 0-3) I can remember absolutely nothing about any of the matches from that season.