"Good Old Arsenal" was a single released by the English football team

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

in 1971. It reached number 16 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

History

In the 1960s and 1970s, several football clubs released records. After being inspired by " Back Home" by the

England national football team The England national football team has represented England in international football since the first international match in 1872. It is controlled by The Football Association (FA), the governing body for football in England, which is affiliat ...

in 1970, Arsenal players were urged by football pundit

Jimmy Hill James William Thomas Hill, OBE (22 July 1928 – 19 December 2015) was an English footballer and later a television personality. His career included almost every role in the sport, including player, trade union leader, coach, manager, director, ...

to create an anthem for Arsenal that could rival

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

's "

You'll Never Walk Alone "You'll Never Walk Alone" is a show tune from the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical ''Carousel''. In the second act of the musical, Nettie Fowler, the cousin of the protagonist Julie Jordan, sings "You'll Never Walk Alone" to comfort and enco ...

". ITV held a competition for fans to create an Arsenal anthem. However, none of the entrants were selected as the stronger candidates were seen as "too wordy". Hill then approached Arsenal's manager

Bertie Mee Bertram Mee OBE (25 December 1918 – 21 October 2001) was an English footballer who played as a winger for Derby County and Mansfield Town. Mee was also a manager, noted for leading Arsenal to their first Double win in 1971. Playing career Born ...

for permission to write his own anthem for Arsenal. Hill wrote "Good Old Arsenal" to the tune of "

Rule, Britannia! "Rule, Britannia!" is a British patriotic song, originating from the 1740 poem "Rule, Britannia" by James Thomson and set to music by Thomas Arne in the same year. It is most strongly associated with the Royal Navy, but is also used by th ...

" and it was performed by Arsenal's first team squad for their

1971 FA Cup Final In the finale to the 1970–71 FA Cup season, the 1971 FA Cup Final was contested by Arsenal and Liverpool at Wembley on 8 May 1971. Arsenal won 2–1 after extra time, with all three goals coming in the added half-hour. Steve Heighway opened ...

song. This was the first record ever released to be performed by a football team's squad to commemorate them reaching the

FA Cup Final The FA Cup Final, commonly referred to in England as just the Cup Final, is the last match in the Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the most attended domestic football events in the world, with an official atten ...

. "Good Old Arsenal" was initially disliked by some Arsenal fans who felt that it was bland and predictable. However, it did at first gain popularity with younger Arsenal fans because they found it was easy to learn. Following Arsenal's win in the final, the second part of their first

double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * Th ...

, "Good Old Arsenal" became widely accepted and popular at Arsenal and continued to be sung by Arsenal supporters and is viewed as a classic football song.

Charts

"Good Old Arsenal" was first released into the UK Singles Charts in May 1971 and remained in the charts for seven weeks. Its highest position was 16.

References

{{Arsenal F.C. 1971 singles Arsenal F.C. songs Association football songs and chants