Arsenal F.C.

Arsenal Football Club (also known as Arsenal, The Arsenal or The Gunners) are an English professional football club based in north London. They play in the FA Premier League and are one of the most successful clubs in English football. Arsenal have won thirteen First Division and Premier League titles, ten FA Cups and in 2005-06 became the first London club to reach the UEFA Champions League final. Arsenal are also members of the G-14 group of leading European football clubs.

Arsenal were founded in Woolwich, south-east London, in 1886, but in 1913 they moved north across the city to Arsenal Stadium, Highbury. In May 2006 they left Highbury, moving to their current home, the Emirates Stadium in nearby Ashburton Grove, Islington. Arsenal have a long-standing and fierce rivalry with neighbours Tottenham Hotspur, located four miles away in Tottenham, whom they play in the North London derby.

History

Arsenal were founded as Dial Square in 1886 by workers at the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich, but were renamed Royal Arsenal shortly afterwards. They renamed themselves again to Woolwich Arsenal after turning professional in 1891. The club joined the Football League in 1893, starting out in the Second Division, and won promotion to the First Division in 1904. However, the club's geographic isolation resulted in lower attendances than those of other clubs, which led to the club becoming mired in financial problems. In 1913, soon after relegation back to the Second Division, they moved across the Thames to the new Arsenal Stadium in Highbury, north London. They dropped "Woolwich" from their name the following year. Arsenal only finished in fifth place in 1919, but nevertheless were elected to rejoin the First Division at the expense of local rivals Tottenham Hotspur, by reportedly dubious means.It has been alleged that Arsenal's promotion, on historical grounds rather than merit, was thanks to underhand actions by the then Arsenal chairman, Sir Henry Norris (see History of Arsenal F.C. for more details). No firm proof has ever been offered, though Chapter Two of Rebels for the Cause (listed below) and this webpage present plenty of supporting evidence.

In 1925, Arsenal appointed the highly successful Herbert Chapman as manager. Chapman had won the league with Huddersfield Town in 1924 and 1925, and he brought Arsenal their first period of major success. His revolutionary tactics and training, along with the signings of star players such as Alex James and Cliff Bastin, laid the foundations of the club's domination of English football in the 1930s. Between 1930 and 1938, Arsenal won the First Division five times and the FA Cup twice, although Chapman did not live to see all of these achievements, as he died of pneumonia in 1934. In addition, Chapman was reportedly behind the 1932 renaming of the local London Underground station from "Gillespie Road" to "Arsenal", making it the only Tube station to be named specifically after a football club.

Following the suspension of English professional football during World War II, Arsenal won the league in 1948 and 1953 and the FA Cup in 1950. However, their fortunes began to wane; unable to attract players of the same calibre as they had in the '30s, the club spent most of the 1950s and 1960s in trophyless mediocrity. Even former England captain Billy Wright could not bring the club any success as manager.

Arsenal's second successful era began with the surprise appointment of club physiotherapist Bertie Mee as manager in 1966. After losing two League Cup finals, they won the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, their first European trophy, in 1970. This was followed by an even greater triumph: their first League and FA Cup double in 1971. However, the following decade was characterised by a series of near misses. Arsenal finished as First Division runners-up in 1973, lost three FA Cup finals (1972, 1978 and 1980) and lost the 1980 Cup Winners' Cup final on penalties. The club's only success during this time was an FA Cup win in 1979, with a last-minute 3–2 victory over Manchester United that is widely regarded as a classic.

The return of former player George Graham as manager in 1986 brought a third period of glory. Arsenal won the League Cup in 1987, Graham's first season in charge. This was followed by a League title win in 1989, won with a last-minute goal in the final game of the season against fellow title challengers Liverpool. Graham's Arsenal won another title in 1991, losing only one match, the FA Cup and League Cup double in 1993 and a second European trophy, the Cup Winners' Cup, in 1994. However, Graham's reputation was tarnished when it was revealed that he had taken kickbacks from agent Rune Hauge for signing certain players,Graham was banned for a year by the Football Association for his involvement in the scandal after he admitted he had received an "unsolicited gift" from Hauge. As one of the few football corruption cases where wrongdoing was proven, it is often referenced in the press (e.g. in this Observer article), and is given a detailed treatment in Broken Dreams by Tom Bower (ISBN 0743440331). and he was sacked in 1995. His replacement, Bruce Rioch, lasted for only one season, leaving the club after a dispute over transfer funds.

The club's success in the late 1990s and 2000s owes a great deal to the appointment of manager Arsène Wenger in 1996. Wenger brought new tactics, a new training regime and several foreign players who complemented the existing English talent. Arsenal won a second league and cup double in 1998 and a third in 2002. In addition, the club reached the final of the 2000 UEFA Cup (losing on penalties to Galatasaray), were victorious in the 2003 and 2005 FA Cups, and won the Premier League in 2004 without losing a single match, which earned the side the nickname "The Invincibles"; in all, the club went 49 league matches unbeaten, a national record.

Arsenal have finished in either first or second place in the league in eight of Wenger's ten seasons at the club. They are one of only four teams (along with Manchester United, Blackburn Rovers and Chelsea) to have won the Premier League since its formation in 1993, although they have failed to retain the title each time they have been champions. Until recently, Arsenal had never progressed beyond the Champions League quarter-finals; in 2005-06 however, they reached the competition's final, becoming the first club from London to do so in the competition's fifty year history. Arsenal lost the final 2-1 to FC Barcelona; having gone down to ten men early on, with goalkeeper Jens Lehmann sent off for a professional foul, they went 1-0 up through a Sol Campbell header. However, Barcelona came back with late goals from Eto'o and Belletti to win.

Crest

Royal Arsenal's first crest, unveiled in 1888, featured three cannon viewed from above, pointing northwards, similar to the crest of the Borough of Woolwich. These can sometimes be mistaken for chimneys, but the presence of a carved lion's head and a cascabel on each are clear indicators that they are cannon. In 1922, the club adopted its first single-cannon crest, featuring an eastward-pointing cannon. This crest was only used until 1925 when the cannon was reversed to point westward, its barrel was slimmed down and the club's nickname, The Gunners, was inscribed to the left of it. In 1949, the club unveiled a modernised crest featuring the same style of cannon, the club's name set in blackletter above the cannon, and a scroll inscribed with the club's newly adopted Latin motto, Victoria Concordia Crescit (meaning "victory comes from harmony"). For the first time, the crest was rendered in colour – red, green, and gold – which varied slightly over the crest's lifespan.

Because of the numerous revisions of the crest, Arsenal were unable to copyright it; although the club had managed to register the crest as a trademark, and had fought (and eventually won) a long legal battle with a local street trader who sold 'unofficial' Arsenal merchandise, Arsenal sought a more comprehensive legal protection. Therefore, in 2002 they introduced a new crest featuring more modern curved lines and a simplified style, which was copyrightable. The cannon once again faces east and the club's name is written in a sans-serif typeface above the cannon. Green was replaced by dark blue. The new crest received a mixed response from supporters; some claimed that it had ignored much of Arsenal's history and tradition with such a radical modern design, and that the club's fans had not been properly consulted on the issue.

Colours

For much of Arsenal's history, their home colours have been bright red shirts with white sleeves and white shorts, though this has not always been the case. The choice of red is in recognition of a charitable donation from Nottingham Forest, soon after Arsenal's foundation in 1886. Two of Dial Square's founding members, Fred Beardsley and Morris Bates, were former Forest players who had moved to Woolwich for work. As they put together the first team in the area, no kit could be found, so Beardsley and Bates wrote home for help and received a set of kit and a ball. The shirt was a darker shade of red than the club's modern-day colours, similar to burgundy, and was worn with either white or dark red shorts.

In 1933 Herbert Chapman, wanting his players to be more distinctly dressed, updated the kit, adding white sleeves and changing the shade to a brighter pillar box red. The team have stuck with the combination since, aside from two seasons. First, in 1963–64 the kit reverted to all red, but this proved unpopular and the white sleeves returned the following season. Second, as 2005–06 was the last season that Arsenal played at Highbury, the team's shirts temporarily reverted back to the original burgundy, or "redcurrant", to reflect the colour worn in the first season at Highbury, in 1913. The club returned to their usual colours for the 2006-07 season.

Arsenal's home colours have been the inspiration for at least two other clubs. In 1909, Sparta Prague adopted a dark red kit like the one Arsenal wore at the time; in the 1930s, Hibernian adopted the design of the Arsenal shirt sleeves in their own green and white strip. Both teams still wear these designs to this day.

Arsenal's away colours are traditionally yellow and blue, although they wore a green and navy away kit for a short while in the early 1980s. Since the 1990s and the advent of the lucrative replica kit market, the away colours have been changed every couple of seasons. Generally, they have been either yellow and blue, or two-tone blue designs, although there was a metallic gold and navy strip for the 2001–02 season. However, many Arsenal fans feel that the blue shirts bring bad luck – all three of the club's recent Premier League titles have come in a season where the team wore yellow or gold away. The away colours for 2005–06 and 2006–07 are yellow and dark grey.

Arsenal's shirts have been sponsored since 1982, when the club agreed a deal with JVC, which lasted until 1999. Since then, the club shirts have advertised SEGA Dreamcast (1999–2002), O₂ (2002–06) and current sponsors Emirates (2006–). The shirts themselves have been manufactured by Nike since 1994; before that Umbro (1978–86) and Adidas (1986–94) were responsible for clothing the team.

Stadium

Arsenal Stadium, widely referred to as Highbury, was Arsenal's home from September 1913 until May 2006. The original stadium was designed by the renowned football architect Archibald Leitch, and had a design common to many football grounds in the UK at the time, with a single covered stand and three open-air banks of terracing. In the 1930s, the entire stadium was given a massive overhaul, with new Art Deco East and West stands constructed, and roofs added to the North Bank and Clock End terraces. At its peak, Highbury could hold over 60,000 spectators, and had a capacity of 57,000 until the early 1990s. The Taylor Report and Premier League regulations forced Arsenal to convert Highbury into an all-seater in time for the 1993-94 season, reducing the capacity to just under 39,000 seated spectators. This capacity had to be reduced further during Champions League matches to accommodate additional advertising hoardings, so much so that for two seasons (1998-99 and 1999-00) Arsenal played Champions League home matches at Wembley, which could house more than 70,000 spectators.

Expansion of Highbury was restricted because the East Stand had been designated as a Grade II listed building and the other three stands were close to residential properties whose owners objected to expansion. These limitations have prevented the club from maximising the revenue that their domestic form could have brought in recent seasons. After considering various options, Arsenal decided in 1999 to build a new 60,000-seater stadium at Ashburton Grove (since renamed the Emirates Stadium), about 500 metres south-west of Highbury. The project was initially delayed by red tape and rising costs, but construction was completed in July 2006 and the stadium is ready for the start of the 2006-07 season. The stadium is named after its sponsors, the airline company Emirates, with whom the club signed the largest sponsorship deal in English football history, worth approximately £100 million over the term of the deal. As a part of the deal the stadium will be known as Emirates Stadium for at least until 2021, and the airline will be the club's shirt sponsor from 2006 until the end of the 2013–14 season. The first game to be played there will be Dennis Bergkamp's testimonial match against his former club, Ajax, on July 22 2006.

Supporters

Arsenal have a large and generally loyal fanbase, with virtually all home matches selling out; in 2005-06, Arsenal had the sixth-highest average attendance in England (38,184). Arsenal fans often refer to themselves as "Gooners", the name being derived from the team's nickname, "The Gunners". The club's location, adjoining both wealthy areas such as Canonbury and Barnsbury, mixed areas such as Finsbury Park and Highbury, and largely working class areas such as Holloway and Stoke Newington has meant that Arsenal's supporters have come from across the usual class divides. Arsenal have the highest proportion (7.7%) of non-white attending supporters of any club in English football, possibly because of the high proportion of ethnic minorities in north London.

Like all major English football clubs, Arsenal have a number of domestic supporters' clubs, including the Official Arsenal Football Supporters Club, which is affiliated with the club, and the Arsenal Independent Supporters' Association, which maintains an independent line. The club's supporters also publish fanzines such as The Gooner, Highbury High, Gunflash and the less cerebral Up The Arse!. In addition to the usual English football chants, Arsenal's supporters sing "One-Nil to the Arsenal" (to the tune of "Go West") and "Boring, Boring Arsenal", which used to be a common taunt from opposition fans but is now sung ironically by Arsenal supporters when the team is playing well.

In recent times, a supporter's attachment to a football club has become less dependent on geography, and Arsenal now have many fans not just from London but all over England and the world. While there have always been small pockets of supporters abroad, Arsenal's support base has widened considerably with the advent of satellite television, and there are now significant supporters' clubs in Scandinavia, South East and East Asia and the United States. A 2005 report by Granada Ventures, which owns a 9.9% stake in the club, estimated Arsenal's global fanbase at 27 million, the third largest in the world.

Arsenal's longest-running and deepest rivalry is with their nearest major neighbours, Tottenham Hotspur, with matches between the two being referred to as North London derbies. Matches against other London sides, such as Chelsea and West Ham United are also derbies, but the rivalry is not as intense as that between Arsenal and Tottenham. In addition, Arsenal and Manchester United have had a strong on-pitch rivalry since the late 1980s, which has intensified in recent years when both clubs have been competing for the Premier League title.

Ownership

Arsenal's parent company, Arsenal Holdings, operates as a public limited company. However, Arsenal's ownership is considerably different from that of other football clubs. Only 62,000 shares in Arsenal have been issued, and they are not traded on a public exchange such as the FTSE or AIM; instead, they are traded infrequently on OFEX, a specialist market. As of December 2005, Arsenal's market capitalization value is £290m, and the club made a pre-tax profit of £19.3m in the 2004-05 financial year.

Currently, the club's largest shareholders are Danny Fiszman (a London diamond dealer) and Nina Bracewell-Smith (a descendant by marriage of former chairman Sir Bracewell Smith), who hold 25.2% and 15.9% respectively. Vice-chairman David Dein holds 14.6% while club chairman Peter Hill-Wood owns less than 1%. Arsenal's board of directors hold the majority of the club's shares, but in recent years, with Arsenal becoming a significant media asset, outside organisations have bought into the club. These include entertainment firm Granada Ventures (a subsidiary of ITV plc) (9.9%) and hedge fund Lansdowne Partners (2.7%); Lansdowne used to have a stake in Manchester United before selling it to Malcolm Glazer.

Arsenal in popular culture

As one of the most successful teams in the country, Arsenal have often featured when football is depicted in British culture and have appeared in a number of media "firsts". On January 22 1927, their match at Highbury against Sheffield United was the first English League match to be broadcast live on radio. A decade later, on September 16 1937, an exhibition match between Arsenal's first team and the reserves was the first ever football match to be televised live.

Arsenal also formed the backdrop to one of the earliest football-related films, The Arsenal Stadium Mystery (1939). The film is centred on a friendly match between Arsenal and an amateur side, one of whose players is poisoned whilst playing. Many Arsenal players appeared as themselves, although only manager George Allison was given a speaking part.

More recently, the book Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby was an autobiographical account of Hornby's life and relationship with football and Arsenal in particular. Published in 1992, it formed part of, and may have played an active part in, the revival and rehabilitation of football in British society during the 1990s. The book was later made into a film starring Colin Firth, which centred on the club's 1988–89 title win. The book also inspired an American film adaptation, about a fan of Major League Baseball's Boston Red Sox.

Arsenal have often been stereotyped as a defensive and "boring" side, especially during the 1970s and 1980s; many comedians, such as Eric Morecambe, made jokes about this at the team's expense. The theme was repeated in the 1997 film The Full Monty, in a scene where the lead actors move in a line and raise their hands, deliberately mimicking the Arsenal defence's offside trap, in an attempt to co-ordinate their stripping.

The club have also been mentioned in several Monty Python's Flying Circus sketches, and in Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, where a barman remarks that the impending end of the world is a "lucky escape" for Arsenal. Additionally, in the 2004 film Ocean's Twelve, the main characters don Arsenal tracksuits as a disguise, in order to escape from a hotel during one of their European heists.

Arsenal have featured in popular music as well; Joe Strummer wrote the song "Tony Adams", dedicated to the then Arsenal captain, which appeared on his 1999 album Rock Art and the X-Ray Style. Additionally, Arsenal (along with arch-rivals Tottenham Hotspur) receive a mention in The Pogues song "Billy's Bones", which appears on the band's second album, Rum, Sodomy and the Lash.

Arsenal Ladies

Arsenal Ladies are the women's football club affiliated to Arsenal. Founded in 1987, they turned semi-professional in 2002 and are one of the most successful teams in English women's football today. They are managed by Vic Akers, who is also kit manager for the men's side, and play in the FA Women's Premier League; Arsenal Ladies are currently reigning champions, having won their eighth title in 2006. They also won the FA Women's Cup seven times, the Women's League Cup eight times, and have reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Women's Cup twice, the furthest any English women's club have ever got. While the men's and women's clubs are formally separate they have quite close ties; Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein is president of Arsenal Ladies, and they are entitled to play once a season at Highbury (they usually play their home matches at Boreham Wood).

Statistics and records

David O'Leary holds the record for Arsenal appearances, having played 722 first-team matches between 1975 and 1993. Fellow centre half and former captain Tony Adams comes second, having played 668 times. The record for a goalkeeper is held by David Seaman, with 563 appearances.

Current Arsenal captain Thierry Henry is the club's top goalscorer with 214 goals in all competitions (as of May 7, 2006), having surpassed Ian Wright's total of 185 in October 2005. Wright's record had stood since 1997, a feat which overtook the longstanding total of 178 goals set by winger Cliff Bastin in 1939. Henry also holds the club record for goals scored in the League (164, as of May 7 2006), a record that had been held by Bastin until February 2006.

Arsenal's record home attendance is 73,707, for a UEFA Champions League match against RC Lens on November 25, 1998 at Wembley Stadium, where Arsenal formerly played home European matches because of the limits on Highbury's capacity. The record attendance for an Arsenal match at Highbury is 73,295, for a 0-0 draw against Sunderland on 9 March 1935. The planned capacity of Emirates Stadium is 60,000, so it is unlikely that these records will be broken in the foreseeable future.

Arsenal have also set records in English football, most notably the most consecutive seasons spent in the top flight (79, as of 2005-06) and the longest run of unbeaten League matches (49 between May 2003 and October 2004). This included all 38 matches of the 2003–04 season, making Arsenal only the second club ever to finish a top-flight campaign unbeaten, after Preston North End (who played only 22 matches) in 1888–89.

Arsenal also set a UEFA Champions League record during the 2005-06 season by going ten matches without conceding a goal, beating the previous best of seven set by A.C. Milan. They went a record total stretch of 995 minutes without letting an opponent score; the streak finally ended in the final against Barcelona, when Samuel Eto'o scored Barcelona's equaliser in the 76th minute.

Current squad

As of July 16, 2006. Numbers are provisional.Shirt numbers have been taken from the Arsenal FC Online Store (link) and have not yet been officially confirmed by the club or the Premier League.

Players out on loan

For recent transfers, see the "Transfer Deals" section of 2006-07 in English football.

Famous players

Listed according to year of Arsenal first-team debut (year in parentheses):

1920s: Jimmy Brain (1924), Joe Hulme (1926), Eddie Hapgood (1927), David Jack (1928), Cliff Bastin (1929), Alex James (1929).
1930s: Leslie Compton (1930), Ted Drake (1934), Wilf Copping (1934), George Swindin (1936), Denis Compton (1936), Reg Lewis (1938).
1940s: Walley Barnes (1946), Jimmy Logie (1946), Joe Mercer (1946), Laurie Scott (1946), Doug Lishman (1948).
1950s: Cliff Holton (1950), Dave Bowen (1951), Jack Kelsey (1951), Jimmy Bloomfield (1954), David Herd (1954).
1960s: George Armstrong (1962), Bob Wilson (1963), John Radford (1963), Frank McLintock (1964), Peter Simpson (1964), Sammy Nelson (1965), Bob McNab (1966), George Graham (1966), Pat Rice (1967). Charlie George (1969), Ray Kennedy (1969).
1970s: Liam Brady (1973), Frank Stapleton (1975), David O'Leary (1975), Pat Jennings (1977), Graham Rix (1977).
1980s: Paul Davis (1980), Kenny Sansom (1980), Tony Adams (1983), Martin Keown (1984), David Rocastle (1985), Paul Merson (1986), Michael Thomas (1986), Steve Bould (1988), Lee Dixon (1988), Nigel Winterburn (1988).
1990s: David Seaman (1990), Ian Wright (1991), Ray Parlour (1992), Dennis Bergkamp (1995), David Platt (1995), Patrick Vieira (1996), Emmanuel Petit (1997), Marc Overmars (1997), Nicolas Anelka (1997), Fredrik Ljungberg (1998), Thierry Henry (1999), Davor Šuker (1999).
2000s: Ashley Cole (2000), Lauren (2000), Robert Pirès (2000), Sol Campbell (2001), Kolo Touré (2002), Gilberto Silva (2002), Jens Lehmann (2003), José Antonio Reyes (2004), Robin van Persie (2004).

Managers

As of May 18, 2006. Only competitive matches are counted.

Name	Nat	From	To	Record
Name	Nat	From	To	P	W	D	L	F	A
Sam Hollis		August 1894	July 1897	95	43	14	38	213	181
Thomas Mitchell		August 1897	March 1898	26	14	4	8	66	46
George Elcoat		March 1898	May 1899	43	23	6	14	92	55
Harry Bradshaw		August 1899	May 1904	189	96	39	54	329	173
Phil Kelso		July 1904	February 1908	151	63	31	57	225	228
George Morrell		February 1908	May 1915	294	104	73	117	365	412
Leslie Knighton		May 1919	June 1925	267	92	62	114	330	380
Herbert Chapman		June 1925	6 January 1934	403	201	97	105	864	598
Joe Shaw Served as caretaker manager.		6 January 1934	June 1934	23	14	3	6	44	29
George Allison		June 1934	May 1947	283	131	75	77	543	333
Tom Whittaker		June 1947	24 October 1956	428	202	106	120	797	566
Jack Crayston		24 October 1956	May 1958	77	33	16	28	142	142
George Swindin		21 June 1958	May 1962	179	70	43	66	320	320
Billy Wright		May 1962	June 1966	182	70	43	69	336	330
Bertie Mee		June 1966	4 May 1976	539	241	148	150	739	542
Terry Neill		9 July 1976	16 December 1983	414	187	117	112	601	446
Don Howe		16 December 1983	22 March 1986	116	56	32	31	187	142
Steve Burtenshaw		23 March 1986	14 May 1986	11	3	2	6	7	15
George Graham		14 May 1986	21 February 1995	460	225	133	102	711	403
Stewart Houston		21 February 1995	15 June 1995	19	7	3	9	29	25
Bruce Rioch		15 June 1995	12 August 1996	47	22	15	10	67	37
Stewart Houston		12 August 1996	15 September 1996	6	2	2	2	11	10
Pat Rice		16 September 1996	30 September 1996	4	3		1	10	4
Arsène Wenger		30 September 1996	Present	556	320	137	99	1005	507

Honours

First Division and Premier LeagueUp until 1992, the top division of English football was the Football League First Division; since then, it has been the FA Premier League. titles: 13
- 1931, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1938, 1948, 1953, 1971, 1989, 1991, 1998, 2002, 2004

FA Cups: 10
- 1930, 1936, 1950, 1971, 1979, 1993, 1998, 2002, 2003, 2005

League Cups: 2
- 1987, 1993

Charity Shields and Community ShieldsThe trophy was known as the Charity Shield until 2002, and as the Community Shield since then.: 12
- 1930, 1931, 1933, 1934, 1938, 1948, 1953, 1991 (shared), 1998, 1999, 2002, 2004

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (predecessor of the UEFA Cup): 1
- 1970

European Cup Winners' Cup: 1
- 1994

Arsenal's tally of thirteen League Championships is the third highest in English football, after Liverpool and Manchester United, while the total of ten FA Cups is the second highest, after Manchester United. Arsenal have achieved three League and FA Cup "Doubles" (in 1971, 1998 and 2002), a joint record shared with Manchester United, and were the first side in English football to complete the FA Cup and League Cup double in 1993.

Arsenal have one of the best top-flight records in history, having finished below fourteenth only seven times, and never below twentieth. Arsenal also have the highest average league finishing position for the period 1900–1999, with an average league placing of 8.5. In addition, they are one of only five clubs to have won the FA Cup twice in succession, in 2002 and 2003.

Footnotes

References

External links

Official websites

General fan sites

News sites

Fanzines

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