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1969–70 Arsenal F.C. season

During the 1969–70 English football season, Arsenal F.C. competed in the Football League First Division. Arsenal finished twelfth in the league. However, the team won the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, their first European trophy and first silverware in 17 years. Arsenal beat Ajax in the semifinals and Anderlecht in the finals to raise the trophy.

Arsenal were knocked out in the third round of both the FA Cup and the League Cup.

John Radford was again the top scorer in both the league and all competitions.^[1] Frank McLintock served as captain.^[2]

Arsenal began the 1969-70 season by altering their socks from white and blue stripes to red with a white band on the top.^[3] Along with minor design changes, Arsenal soon saw the departure of defender Ian Ure as he was sold to Manchester United for £80,000.^[4] Mee brought in John Roberts as a potential successor.^[5] Goalkeeper Geoff Barnett was bought from Everton as well.^[6] Bobby Gould was mostly sidelined to the reserves until he was bought by Wolves midway through the season.^[7]

The season opener, a 1-0 home defeat to Everton, saw the debut of 18-year-old Charlie George. George saw his first League goal come in the third match at West Brom. 17-year-old Ray Kennedy also began to feature for Arsenal throughout the season.

Arsenal played in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, having finished fourth in the League the previous season (and first out of the London teams). By the time the cup started, Arsenal had played just eight league games, scoring six goals and winning two matches.^[5] However, Arsenal made it past Glentoran in their first tie of the Fairs Cup; however, in the first round, second leg of that matchup, George was sent off for dissent. In the next round against Sporting Lisbon, Barnett saved a penalty and Arsenal kept a clean sheet to win 3-0.

Arsenal, now that Graham had moved to midfield and George had been sent down to the reserves after his sending-off, struggled to find a regular goalscorer. The defense also took time to adjust to the loss of Ure, with Terry Neill, John Roberts, and Frank McLintock all featuring in the center. Captain McLintock eventually solidified himself at centre-half, having previously played wing-half.^[7] The struggling team went ten matches without a win before winning 5-1 over Crystal Palace.^[7]

In the winter, 19-year-old Peter Marinello joined Arsenal for £100,000 and scored in his first appearance against Manchester United. It was his only goal in fourteen games.^[5] Jimmy Robertson was soon released to Ipswich.^[8] Arsenal faced Rouen in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup and managed to break through with a late goal from Jon Sammels. Arsenal, playing four games in a week, then faced Blackpool in the FA Cup and lost 3-2 after leading by two at half-time, the end of that cup run for the season and the last appearance as a player for Terry Neill.^[5] Such failure was compounded by a 3-0 defeat at home to Chelsea, a match which featured Ray Kennedy's full debut. However, all Arsenal's focus were on their European campaign. They beat Dinamo Bacau 2-0 away and then slammed then 7-1 at home, with Eddie Kelly finding his feet.^[7]

Arsenal faced European Cup winners Ajax in the semi-finals, a tough matchup against a team which included Johan Cruyff and Rudi Krol among their stars. The first match was at home and featured two goals from George: a long-range shot and a converted penalty. Sammels also contributed a goal, leaving the scoreline at 3-0 to Arsenal. Traveling to Amsterdam, Arsenal restricted Ajax to just one goal, meaning Arsenal were through to the finals.^[7]

Arsenal faced Anderlecht in the final, their talented forward Jan Mulder a major threat to Arsenal's defense. After going down 3-0 with Mulder scoring twice against goalkeeper Bob Wilson, Kennedy came on for George and managed to nab one back. McLintock, initially extremely disappointed about the possibility of losing yet another cup final, rallied the dressing room. He believed that Arsenal could exploit Anderlecth's vulnerable defense in the home match at Highbury. In the return match, Arsenal performed admirably and with great energy. Kelly scored a valuable first goal before John Radford found space in the air to head Arsenal's second. Arsenal, ahead on the away-goals rule, had no room to rest as Mulder hit the post. Finally, Sammels added a third goal and Arsenal had won their first European trophy and their first trophy in seventeen years.^[5][7]

The 1970 World Cup meant that the season was compressed to finish in April. Arsenal finished a distant twelfth, having focused on their run in European competition. Manager Bertie Mee had players returning from injury, and players he could trust to take Arsenal to the next level for the upcoming season.^[5] Although the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup was an achievement, it was soon to be overshadowed by the Double which was still to come.

Arsenal's score comes first^[9]

Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Attendance	Scorers
R1 L1	9 September 1969	Glentoran	H	3–0	24,292	Gould, Graham (2)
R1 L2	29 September 1969	Glentoran	A	0–1	13,000
R2 L1	29 October 1969	Sporting Clube de Portugal	A	0–0	40,000
R2 L2	26 November 1969	Sporting Clube de Portugal	H	3–0	35,253	Graham (2), Radford
R3 L1	17 December 1969	Rouen	A	0–0	12,093
R3 L2	13 January 1970	Rouen	H	1–0	38,018	Sammels
QF L1	11 March 1970	Dinamo Bacău	A	2–0	20,000	Radford, Sammels
QF L2	18 March 1970	Dinamo Bacău	H	7–1	35,342	George (2), Graham, Radford (2), Sammels (2)
SF L1	8 April 1970	Ajax	H	3–0	46,271	George (2), Sammels
SF L2	15 April 1970	Ajax	A	0–1	32,000
F L1	22 April 1970	Anderlecht	A	1–3	37,000	Kennedy
F L2	28 April 1970	Anderlecht	H	3–0	51,612	Kelly, Radford, Sammels

[1] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player - GK  SCO Bob Wilson - GK  ENG Geoff Barnett - GK  ENG Malcolm Webster - DF  NIR Pat Rice - DF  SCO Frank McLintock - DF  ENG Peter Simpson - DF  ENG Bob McNab - DF  NIR Sammy Nelson - DF  NIR Terry Neill - DF  SCO Ian Ure - DF  WAL John Roberts

No. Pos. Nation Player - MF  ENG George Armstrong - MF  SCO George Graham - MF  ENG Jon Sammels - MF  ENG Peter Storey - MF  SCO Eddie Kelly - MF  ENG David Court - FW  ENG Ray Kennedy - FW  ENG John Radford - FW  ENG Charlie George - FW  ENG Bobby Gould - FW  SCO Peter Marinello