FORMED in 1886, the London club became the first from the south of England to join the Football League when they were invited, along with another future giant of English football, Liverpool, to join the Second Division for the start of the 1893/94 season. Three years earlier they had made their first appearance in the FA Cup First round, when as Royal Arsenal they went out by two goals to one to Derby County. Further appearances in the competition as both a non-league and league side would see them fail to progress any further until the start of the next century. Entering the league as Woolwich Arsenal, they similarly failed to show any progression in the closing years of the nineteenth century steadfastly remaining a mid-table side until in 1903/04, as runners-up to Preston, they gained promotion to the First Division for the first time. In so doing, they also became the first ever Southern club to play in football's top flight.

Despite their elevation, the club did not immediately rise to the top of the division and for the next nine seasons failed to establish themselves as one of the country's top sides. Their highest finish in this period came in 1908/09 when the side mustered a placing in sixth place. During that nine-year period the club had more success in the FA Cup; where on two occasions, in 1906 and 1907, they reached the semi-finals of the competition. In the penultimate season before the outbreak of World War One the club found itself subject to its first ever relegation when they finished ten points adrift of safety at the bottom of the First Division. The following season saw the club dropping the Woolwich from their name as they moved North of the Thames into a new ground at Highbury. The newly residing North Londoners nearly saw them making a swift return as they finished level on points with Bradford Park Avenue, but an inferior goal average saw them remain in the lower division as the league went into hibernation for the course of the war.

As the league recommenced the club would curiously, and controversially, find itself back in the top flight. With Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham all playing in the Second Division, the Football League was worried that the new league programme would start without a Southern club in the ranks of the First Division. Both Chelsea and Spurs had been relegated in the season before the start of the war and it was expected that both clubs would keep their places in the First Division when the league started again. However, Arsenal's wealthy and influential chairman, Sir Henry Norris, exerted pressure in the right places and with the right people to leapfrog his side over the more valid claims of their new North London neighbours to take a place in the First Division. With that decision Arsenal entered the First Division and to this day have never left it.

That they owed their First Division status to the efforts of their chairman as opposed to the team itself was amply demonstrated in the six seasons. The side would manage to finish no higher than ninth in the league and in 1925 game close to relegation with a poor twentieth place. They would never again plumb such depths. In the weeks leading up to the start of the 1925/26 campaign, the destiny of the club would alter dramatically with the appointment of Herbert Chapman as manager, a man who had taken Huddersfield, in previous seasons to successive league titles. His impact was almost immediate, as despite losing his opening game in charge one-nil to Tottenham, Arsenal moved into unfamiliar territory close to the top of the table, eventually finishing as runners-up to Chapman's former Yorkshire charges. The initial optimism of Chapman's debut season in London faded over the course of their next few league campaigns with several mid-table finishes, but all the time the manager was slowly assembling a side capable of capturing the League Championship. Players of the calibre of Charlie Buchan, Alex James and David Jack were brought in to bolster the team. The purchase of Jack from Bolton Wanderers smashed the transfer record with Chapman paying, the then scandalous sum of, £10,810 for the player's services. In 1930 the first silverware went into the Highbury trophy cabinet when the side made its first ever FA Cup final. Their opponents were a Huddersfield side, a shadow of the team Chapman had built at the Yorkshire club, and with goals from Jack Lambert and Alex James the investments made by the London club slowly started to bear fruit as they lifted the trophy, victors by two goals to nil.

With their first trophy now secured, the Arsenal side started the 1930/31 programme a more comfortable side and it was not until the middle of October that they were to be beaten in the league, losing four-two at Derby. As the season progressed they maintained their early form and kept their lead at the top of the table. The potency of Arsenal's forward line would prove to be their making, as over the course of the season, the side would notch up one hundred and twenty-seven goals in the league. All but sixteen of the goals came from either the boots or heads of just four players - Cliff Bastin, David Jack, Joe Hulme and Jack Lambert. How they needed those goals as they, somewhat curiously, went until the end of March without keeping a clean sheet and conceded almost sixty goals in a campaign that saw them eventually losing just four matches. At the close of the season the side were six points clear of their nearest rivals, Aston Villa, to take the title to the south of the country for the first time. For Chapman history was also made by his side's success, as he became the first ever manager to guide two different clubs to league titles.

The following season would see the side maintaining their position of pre-eminence as they made their assault on achieving the first ever League and Cup double. However, their pursuit on two fronts would ultimately see them losing out in both competitions as they were pipped to the championship by Everton and left Wembley as losing finalists in the FA Cup, going down two-one to Newcastle.

That the attempt for the Double had hindered their chances of league success was clearly demonstrated in the next season. The side had had an indifferent first half of the 1932/33 season though they had kept pace with the leading sides in the division. However, when they famously lost their third round FA Cup tie against Walsall, the distraction of two competitions was removed and Arsenal slowly regained championship form to eventually take their second title in comparative comfort, clear of Aston Villa in second place by four points. If their domination of English football was disliked, by way of their perceived buying of success; it could not be disputed as the 1933/34 season started with Arsenal retaining the form that that taken them to the championship the season previously. However, their season threatened to go badly awry when in the first week of 1934 Herbert Chapman died suddenly. The loss of such an inspirational figure could have seen, in the short term, the failure of his side to retain their title and, in the long run, the break up and demise of the country's top side. Fortunately for Arsenal neither scenario occurred. Responsibility for the side was passed over to the managing director of the club, George Allison, and the side steadied itself to retain their title. History was made the following season as the title was won, for the third successive time, a feat only achieved previously by Chapman's Huddersfield side. In 1936, the FA Cup was lifted, for the second time, with a Ted Drake goal giving them a one-nil win over Sheffield United. Their attempts at an unprecedented fourth successive title in that season failed with a sixth place finish, but a third place the following year gave notice that the side were far from on the decline. The 1937/38 season was as close as is possible with just seven points separating the top seven sides and Arsenal went into their final match of the season in second place behind Wolves a point behind. However, a one-nil defeat for Wolves at Sunderland, together with a five-nil win for the Gunners at Bolton secured the London side top spot for the fifth time in eight glorious and historic seasons. In order to continually develop the side that he had inherited from Chapman, George Allison followed in the footsteps of his more famous predecessor when he, prior to the start of the 1938/39 season, broke the existing transfer record with the purchase from Wolves of Bryn Jones for £14,000. The addition of the Welsh international player to the side did not result in the side retaining its league title as they finished in a fifth place, twelve points behind the eventual champions, Everton.

The out-break of the Second World War, whilst halting Arsenal's pursuit of a sixth league title did not stop the side from lifting further silverware as they lifted three of the regional championships that had been set up in those war years. In 1946, the league programme reverted to its original pre-war form. However, in that first season back it appeared that in the years lost to the war there had been a significant diminishing of Arsenal footballing powers, as the side finished in the bottom of the table for the first time since 1930. With the apparent failure of his side, George Allison stepped aside to be replaced as manager by Tom Whitaker. The change in personnel paid immediate dividends as the Gunners started the 1947/48 season in ominous form going unbeaten for eighteen games. Key to Arsenal's success this season was the continued presence in the side of Joe Mercer. The future England manager had been persuaded by Whitaker not to retire from the game at the start of the season, and his contribution, together with that of the two Compton brothers, Denis and Alec, ensured that the title was heading to Highbury long before the season's finish. They eventually finished seven points clear of their nearest rivals, Manchester United, to take their sixth league championship title.

Whitaker, like Allison before him, had proved capable of maintaining the tradition and system laid down by Chapman fifteen years earlier and whilst they failed to add to their record number of titles in the next four seasons the side were always placed in the top six. Their solitary success being their FA Cup win over Liverpool in 1950. In 1950/51 they had seen their closest rivals, Tottenham, lifting the title for the very first time, whilst a year later, they had been squeezed out of the runners-up berth by the White Hart Lane side. However, revenge would not be long in coming as the club's seventh title headed for Highbury in 1953. The climax to the championship saw a two horse race between Arsenal and Preston North End with the outcome not decided until Arsenal's last match of the season. Having been beaten by Preston in their penultimate match, the Gunners at home to Burnley needed the two points to make certain of lifting the title. Goals from Forbes, Lishman and Logie gave the Londoners a three-two win to put them level on points with Preston, though marginally ahead on goal average to take the trophy for the seventh time. That title, however, would be the last trophy the club would collect for the next eighteen years. The closest they would get to a trophy was as finalists in the FA Cup final, eventually losing one-nil to Newcastle United.

By Arsenal's standards the next few years saw the club failing to establish themselves as league challengers. After Whitaker had stepped down as manager, he was replaced by Jack Crayston and then by George Swindin who both failed to bring any trophy back to Highbury during the course of their reigns. In March 1962, after successive league failures by Swindin, the Arsenal board appointed the former England captain, Billy Wright as the new team manager in the hope of bringing the good times back to Highbury. Wright, however, was to remain in the job for just four years as he too failed to repeat the accomplishments of earlier generations.


After the high profile appointment of Wright it was anticipated that another big-name would be brought in too bring back the good times, but the appointment of the then club physiotherapist, Bertie Mee, was the complete antithesis of that. Mee himself was surprised by his appointment, but it was not the first time the club had appointed the physio as manager, as Tom Whitaker had previously performed that role, and was as successful a manager as is realistically possible.

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The next taste of success was to come in the 1969/70 season. Mee had now been in the job for three seasons and had slowly brought about the changes necessary to mount a concerted challenge for the honours, after nearly two decades in relative obscurity. The domestic programme did not go that well during the season with only a twelfth place finish in the league and a third round exit from the FA Cup. However, in the Inter Cities Fairs (UEFA) Cup the side had made it into the two-legged final against Anderlecht. A three-one defeat in the first leg in Belgium gave Mee's side an uphill task for the second leg but a goal apiece from Samuels, Radford and Kelly gave the Highbury a four-three aggregate win and their first ever European success.

With the drought over Mee's side moved into the 1970/71 season, a season that would ultimately prove to their most successful of all time. However, as the season was at the halfway mark it looked as if the barren run in the league would be going into its nineteenth year, as Leeds United looked to be running away with the title with a lead of around seven points over the Highbury outfit. Slowly Mee's side started to overhaul the Yorkshire side's advantage whilst at the same time made good progress through the rounds of the FA Cup until the end of the season saw them with a chance of managing their first ever league and cup Double. The first half of which was completed on the final Saturday of the league season when Arsenal had to travel the short distance to White Hart Lane, needing just to either win or draw to lift their eighth title. On eighty-seven minutes with scores locked at nil-nil, Arsenal's Ray Kennedy was on hand to score and give his side victory and the league title. The following Saturday the side travelled the short distance to Wembley to meet Liverpool in the cup final. At full-time the scores were level at nil-nil, but after just two minutes of extra-time were on the clock Liverpool opened the scoring with a Steve Heighway goal. Arsenal replied through Eddie Kelly to level the scores and keep alive the hopes of the Double and with just eight minutes left on the clock, Arsenal favourite, Charlie George blasting home a Peter Radford pass to complete the club's first league and Cup double. The barren spell was over, for the moment at least, and Mee had achieved something that not even the great Herbert Chapman had managed to accomplish.

Unfortunately for the club, the triple successes of 1970 and 1971 were not to continue. Their hopes of retaining the league title slowly dissipated throughout the course of the next season with a fifth place finish their eventual reward. However, they did manage to progress through to the FA Cup final where they met Leeds United, but that trophy was also wrestled from their grasp as Don Revie's side captured the silverware in a one-nil win. As league champions the previous season, the club made its first foray into the European Cup and prevailed in the competition until the quarter-final stage when they were knocked out by Ajax three-one on aggregate.


Mee's failure to maintain his side's success of the early 1970s was to inevitably result in a new manager being appointed to the job. By the 1975/76 season Mee's stock had fallen so low that the club finished in the depths of the First Division in seventeenth place and the Arsenal board acted to bring in Terry Neill, the former Tottenham manager.

The new face made an immediate impact, as the next season the club finished in the more respectable climes of eighth place. The improvement continued into the 1977/78 season as the league position improved to fifth place, with a visit to Wembley thrown in for good measure. That they eventually lost in that final, one-nil, to Ipswich became almost irrelevant as the following season Neill lifted his side to beat Tottenham in their league match, five-nil (the side eventually finished in seventh place), and to another FA Cup final this time against Manchester United. With just five minutes remaining in the match it looked as if Neill's side were coasting to their first domestic trophy in eight years as is side led Tommy Docherty's United side by two goals to nil. Brian Talbot and Frank Stapleton had given the Londoners the advantage with both goals coming in the first half. However, Arsenal's two goal advantage vanished as Neill made the mistake, in a move that completely unhinged his defence, of substituting David Price for Steve Walford. Capitalising on the error United quickly scored twice to level the game through Gordon McQueen and Sammy McIlroy and the match looked to be heading for extra-time.


With a final flourish, Liam Brady, the creator of Arsenal's two opening goals, laid the ball out to Graham Rix on Arsenal's left wing. Rix, on spotting the onrushing Alan Sunderland at United's back post, crossed the perfect ball over the top of the United defence and onto the boot of Sunderland. Three-two to Arsenal and before United could attempt their own last ditch effort, the end of the game was signalled and the FA Cup trophy headed to Highbury for the fifth time in the club's history.


The following year saw one of the longest seasons on record for the club with over seventy first-team matches played in five competitions. A fifth place finish in the league was their highest placing since 1972 and for the third successive year, they visited Wembley to make an appearance in the FA Cup final. Earlier in the season Arsenal had lost, in controversial fashion, to Valencia on penalties in the two-legged UEFA Cup final. They were to also come away empty-handed from Wembley, where against West Ham, the game was settled by a first-half goal by Trevor Brooking.

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Neill's reign as manager continued for a further three seasons. In that time, he succeeded in placing with two fifth place finishes but in the 1982/83 season the club could only finish in tenth place and the writing was on the wall for Neill. The following season saw the side failing to improve and on December 16th with the club languishing in sixteenth place the Arsenal board sacked the Irishman. In as caretaker manager came Don Howe who, after steadying the side to an eventual sixth place, was awarded the post full-time. However, Howe's period in charge at the club was a comparatively short one, and one in which his sides failed to win any trophies.

In as his replacement on May 14th 1986 came the then manager of Millwall, George Graham, a player from the double winning Arsenal side of the early 1970s. An improvement was almost immediately made as in his first season in charge Graham lifted his side to success in the 1987 "League" Cup and a fourth place league finish. Graham continued apace with his rebuilding of the club and that transitional phase translated the following season to a poor finish in sixth place and an appearance as losing finalists to Luton Town as they attempted to retain their "League" Cup trophy. All was not to be in vain though. In the 1988/89 season Graham's side stormed to the top of the table and a position which few in the game thought they would surrender by the season's close. However, over the course of the winter months their advantage was slowly whittled away and, as the season drew to its conclusion the Gunners found themselves three points behind Liverpool. To capture the title Graham's side had to travel, on the last day of the season, to Anfield, a ground they had not won at for fifteen years, and win the match by two clear goals. Liverpool, on the other hand, could afford to lose the game by one goal and still end up as champions, but the outcome of the title moved into the balance when seven minutes into the second half, Alan Smith headed Arsenal into the lead. With time ticking away it looked as if the Londoners would miss out on the title, until with two minutes off injury-time on the clock, Michael Thomas broke clear of the Liverpool defenders and delivered the ball past Grobbelaar to seal his side's second goal, the game and championship. It was the closest finish for the title in over one hundred years of league history and brought the club its first title in eighteen years. In pursuit of retaining their title, the following season Arsenal's form slipped and they failed to make the necessary impression and eventually finished in fifth place. However, for the 1990/91 season Graham's side came good again to take their tenth league title. In winning the title Arsenal scored seventy-four goals, one more than in their previous success, but it was from their defensive capabilities that their success was ultimately derived. Graham had assembled a defence that over the course of thirty-four league matches had conceded just eighteen goals, a league record, and half of their total from the 1988/89 season. Once again, Arsenal failed to retain their title in the following season and it was not until the 1992/93 programme that they lifted silverware again when they reached the finals of both the FA and League Cups, beating Sheffield Wednesday on both occasions by two goals to one. The club would sack Graham just two seasons later. Despite having just lifted the European Cup Winners Cup, Graham's fate would be determined by an FA inquiry into the alleged acceptance by Graham of illegal payments from transfers at the club. On the eve of his side's final league match of the season against Nottingham Forest, the Arsenal board, learning that Graham had been found guilty of the charges, moved to replace him as manager.

Continuing the work of Graham would be no easy task and his replacement, Bruce Rioch soon found that the expectations of both club and fans were not easily satisfied and after just two seasons the club replaced him with the Frenchman Arsène Wenger. Wenger had long been sought as manager by the club, after successfully managing Monaco, and was brought in to establish a new era at the club. Despite initial scepticism at the appointment of Wenger his credentials were not long in being established as he led the side to an unexpected, but deserved, domestic league and cup double in the 1997/98 season, the first time the club had achieved the feat since the days of Bertie Mee.



The Club also said goodbye to striking legend Ian Wright, who left Arsenal as record goalscorer with 185 goals in all competitions. 1998/99 saw Arsenal win the Charity Shield but finish runners-up in the Premiership and the following season they recorded a similar Charity Shield/runners-up combination.

With Thierry Henry, Davor Suker, Silvinho, Oleg Luzhny and Stefan Malz joining the Club, 1999/2000 started well with the Charity Shield victory over Manchester United but finished with disappointing defeat in the UEFA Cup Final at the hands of Galatasaray.

But the summer did see success for Arsenal's French contingent, current players Patrick Vieira ,Thierry Henry, Sylvain Wiltord and Robert Pires were all involved in France's Euro 2000 success, along with former stars Manu Petit and Nicolas Anelka.

More international stars, Pires, Lauren, Wiltord and Igors Stepanovs, joined in time for the 2000/2001 season, and once again Arsenal pushed Manchester United hard in the Premiership, finishing second for the third consecutive year.

The Gunners also made it to the Quarter-Finals of the UEFA Champions League for the first time, but were eliminated on the away goals rule by eventual finalists Valencia.

The season was to end in disappointment again, as Liverpool turned around a 1-0 deficit to beat the Gunners 2-1 in the first ever F.A. Cup Final held at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.

Another busy summer of transfer activity at Highbury has given reason for optimism for the 2001/02 campaign. Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Francis Jeffers, Richard Wright and Junichi Inamoto have been added to the squad, but most of the headlines belonged to England centre-back Sol Campbell, who arrived at Highbury following a nine year spell with north London rivals Tottenham Hotspur.

2001-02 Saw the Gunners write a new chapter in their illustrious history with a third 'Double'. We clinched the F.A. Cup in style with a 2-0 win against Chelsea at the Millennium Stadium. And won the Title at the sweetest of venues, Manchester United's Old Trafford.