Arsenal FC

Arsenal FC is a redirect to this article. For additional meanings, see Arsenal FC (disambiguation) .

Arsenal FC
Basic data
Surname	The Arsenal Football Club PLC
Seat	London , England
founding	1886 as Dial Square
Colours	Red White
owner	Stan Kroenke
Board	Chips Keswick
Website	arsenal.com
First soccer team
Head coach	Mikel Arteta
Venue	Emirates Stadium
Places	59,867
league	Premier League
2019/20	8th place
home Away

The Arsenal Football Club - also known as Arsenal , Arsenal FC , (The) Arsenal , (The) Gunners (German translation: "Protect" or "gunners"), or in German-speaking and Arsenal called - is an established in 1886 football club from the district Holloway of North London district Islington . With 13 English championships and 14 FA Cup victories, the club is one of the most successful English football clubs.

In 1886 the union was founded by workers in Woolwich as Dial Square . Under coach Herbert Chapman , the club won in 1930 for the first time the FA Cup , the year after it was first English champion. A total of five national championships and twice the FA Cup were won in the 1930s. The club won the first double under Bertie Mee . In the 1980s and early 1990s, George Graham led the club to two championships, a double from the two domestic cups FA Cup and League Cup and a title win in the European Cup Winners' Cup . Under coach Arsène Wenger , Arsenal won two more double wins from the English championship and the FA Cup in one season and did not lose a single game in the league during the entire 2003/04 championship season . In the 2005/06 season , Arsenal moved into the Champions League final for the first time in its history . With 14 wins, Arsenal is the record winner of the FA Cup, the last one being won in 2020 .

The club has played its home games since 2006 in the Emirates Stadium, which currently has 59,867 seats . Previously, the Highbury in the district of the same name had been the home of the Gunners since 1913 .

history

Early period (1886–1910)

Royal Arsenal team photo for the 1888/89 season

season	Position (league)	Points and goal quotient
1893/94	9/15 (2)	28 / 0.945
1894/95	8/16 (2)	34 / 1.293
1895/96	7/16 (2)	32 / 1.405
1896/97	10/16 (2)	30 / 0.971
1897/98	5/16 (2)	37 / 1.408
1898/99	7/18 (2)	41 / 1.756
1899/00	8/18 (2)	36 / 1.419
1900/01	7/18 (2)	36 / 1.114
1901/02	4/18 (2)	42 / 1.923
1902/03	3/18 (2)	48 / 2,200
1903/04	2/18 (2)	49 / 4.136
1904/05	10/18 (1)	33 / 0.900
1905/06	12/20 (1)	37 / 0.969
1906/07	7/20 (1)	44 / 1.119
1907/08	14/20 (1)	36 / 0.810
1908/09	6/20 (1)	38 / 1.061
1909/10	18/20 (1)	31 / 0.552

Woolwich Arsenal (here in dark shirts) in the FA Cup semi-finals - the first in the club's history - against Newcastle United (in striped shirts). Newcastle won the game at the Victoria Ground in Stoke-on-Trent on March 31, 1906 with 2-0 goals.

Arsenal was founded in 1886 as Dial Square by a group of workers who were employed in the workshop of the same name at the arms manufacturer " Royal Arsenal " in Woolwich in south-east London . The team was led by the Scotsman David Danskin , who also bought the first ball for the club . With Fred Beardsley also met a former goalkeeper from Nottingham Forest to the team and got later his new team from his old club a set of red jerseys , this color of the shirt is used even today.

Dial Square played its first game on December 11, 1886 against the Eastern Wanderers on an open field on the Isle of Dogs and won it 6-0. The club was renamed Royal Arsenal a short time later , which according to historical records took place on Boxing Day. Royal Arsenal initially played on a generally accessible course in Plumstead and moved to nearby Manor Ground in 1888 . As early as 1890, the club moved on to the neighboring Invicta Ground before returning to the Manor Ground three more years later.

Royal Arsenal was able to win its first titles during this time, such as the "Kent Senior Cup" in 1890 and the "London Senior Cup" just one more year later. Royal Arsenal took part in the FA Cup for the first time in 1889, but where the big difference in performance between the club and the professional teams from northern England became clear. Another danger was the aggressive poaching of their own amateur players by professional clubs, which eventually led to Royal Arsenal becoming a professional club itself. At the same time, the club changed its name to Woolwich Arsenal .

Woolwich Arsenal's rise to the professional club was disapproved of by many amateur clubs in the south of England, which resulted in the club being banned from local competitions. When you could only play friendlies and matches in the FA Cup, the club tried to create a southern counterpart to the Football League . This project did not succeed and led to the club facing an uncertain future. The Football League saved Woolwich Arsenal: In 1893, as the first club in southern England, it was initially allowed to participate in the second-rate Second Division in professional league operations.

In the Second Division, Woolwich Arsenal completed eleven seasons and occupied mostly a midfield position before Harry Bradshaw was signed in 1899. Through some spectacular new signings - including the first England international Arsenal, goalkeeper Jimmy Ashcroft , and team captain Jimmy Jackson - the promotion to the First Division was realized in 1904 . Before the club had even played a major league game, Bradshaw moved to Fulham FC . Despite some respectable successes in the FA Cup, when you could reach the semi-finals in 1906 and 1907, the club developed negatively from then on.

The main reason for the decline was the persistent financial problems that accompanied the club despite the boom in English football in the early 20th century. The problems were also due to the club's geographic location, which resulted in low attendance numbers and low revenue due to the underpopulated area in Plumstead . In order to remain liquid, Woolwich Arsenal had to sell its best players such as Ashcroft, Tim Coleman and Bert Freeman and thereby placed themselves lower and lower in the table, which in turn made the financial situation even worse. This led to a situation in which the club was on the verge of bankruptcy , which could only be averted by the purchase of the businessman Sir Henry Norris in 1910.

Moved to Highbury (1910-1925)

season	Position (league)	Points and goal quotient
1910/11	10/20 (1)	38 / 0.837
1911/12	10/20 (1)	38 / 0.932
1912/13	20/20 (1)	18 / 0.351
1913/14	3/20 (2)	49 / 1.421
1914/15	5/20 (2)	43 / 1.683
1915-1919	Break: First World War
1919/20	10/22 (1)	42 / 0.966
1920/21	9/22 (1)	44 / 0.937
1921/22	17/22 (1)	37 / 0.839
1922/23	11/22 (1)	42 / 0.984
1923/24	19/22 (1)	33 / 0.635
1924/25	20/22 (1)	33 / 0.793

Aware of the troubles and the connection with the Woolwich Arsenal location, Norris acted desperately to increase the club's revenue side. First he intended a merger with Fulham FC, especially since he was involved in the management of both clubs. After this project was prevented by the Football League, Norris gave up this plan and looked for a move. In 1913, when the club was relegated to the bottom of the table in the Second Division, Woolwich Arsenal moved from south-east London to the Highbury in the north of the city. Despite major objections from both Woolwich-based club supporters and residents of the Highbury borough , Norris stubbornly pushed through the move, accompanied by a donation from the Arsenal owner of presumably £ 125,000 for the construction of the new stadium. As an additional side effect, the move meant that Charlton Athletic, also based in south-east London, became a professional club.

After the club had put the addition "Woolwich" off in 1914, he appeared from then on as "The Arsenal" and took part again in the First Division in 1919, although he only played in the second division in the last season before the First World War 1914/15 had occupied fifth place. The reason for this was the expansion of the First Division from 20 to 22 participants, which led to two more clubs being selected for the First Division at the General Assembly of the Football League. One of the additional places was awarded to Chelsea , who should have been relegated as nineteenth in the First Division. As a further candidate for second place, Tottenham Hotspur, the originally bottom of the table, and the third and fourth-placed clubs from the Second Division with Barnsley FC and Wolverhampton Wanderers, were up for grabs.

However, the Football League put historical reasons over sporting success and therefore decided on only fifth-placed club The Arsenal. Norris had argued that Arsenal deserved promotion due to its longstanding service to league football and as the first league club from the south. The responsible committee of the Football League agreed with this opinion and voted with 18 votes against only eight against votes in favor of Arsenal over Tottenham, which in the further history should be partly responsible for the long rivalry between the two clubs. Arsenal was accused of having bribed behind the scenes and in the person of Sir Henry Norris. Also at the process was critically viewed that Norris maintained a personal friendship with John McKenna , who was also chairman of Liverpool FC and the Football League. While no reliable evidence has come to light, other aspects of Norris' various financial transactions that were not directly related to the Ascension issue have sparked much speculation on the matter. Since the resumption in the top division, Arsenal has remained in this league without interruption and is thus the record holder in terms of length of membership in the English elite league.

Although the move to Highbury resulted in greater audience participation and significantly improved financial prospects, Arsenal's return to the First Division was not immediately crowned with success. Under Leslie Knighton , Arsenal never finished better than in ninth place and was threateningly close to relegation in the 1923/24 season. In the following season, despite a fairly comfortable seven-point gap to the relegation zone, 20th place in the table was a renewed disappointment and Norris dismissed Knighton in May 1925 to sign Herbert Chapman, the former coach of Huddersfield Town in his place .

The Chapman era (1925–1934)

Herbert Chapman's successes were recognized by this bronze bust, which is located in the interior of the Emirates Stadium.

season	Position (league)	Points and goal quotient
1925/26	2/22 (1)	52 / 1.381
1926/27	11/22 (1)	43 / 0.895
1927/28	10/22 (1)	41 / 0.953
1928/29	9/22 (1)	45 / 1.069
1929/30	14/22 (1)	39 / 1.182
1930/31	1/22 (1)	66 / 2.153
1931/32	2/22 (1)	54 / 1.875
1932/33	1/22 (1)	58 / 1.934
1933/34	1/22 (1)	59 / 1.596

Chapman carried out numerous reforms at Arsenal, especially modernizing training and physiotherapy . Furthermore, it was due to him that numbers were added to the jerseys for the first time and the colors changed so that the sleeves now contrasted with the previously pure red shirts. Also in Chapman's tenure, the association dropped the "The" article and the pioneer was allegedly behind the renaming of the London Underground station "Gillespie Road" to " Arsenal ". Chapman was now able to dispose of a significantly higher transfer budget for new players, which was justified by the increased income after the move and a new philosophy of Henry Norris. Norris, previously a cautious club chairman, now instructed to invest more.

Chapman's first player engagement was veteran Charlie Buchan from Sunderland FC , who played an important role both on and off the field. After a 7-0 defeat against Newcastle United in October 1925, Buchan suggested a change in the tactical direction of the team in response to the changed offside rule and recommended a switch to the so-called " World Cup system ", which, among other things, strengthened the Defensive meant after the retreat of the center runner into the defensive formation and protection from opposing attacks on the flanks by the full back . Later on, Chapman developed the formation and put emphasis on a fast-paced attack line with wingers who pulled inward, as well as a creative midfielder who should show himself responsible for the ball distribution. Chapman's ability to fill these positions with adequate players ensured that a team slowly developed that began to dominate football in England.

In Chapman's first season, Arsenal won the runner-up, which was the best result in the club's history at the time. However, this upward trend could not be continued at first and Arsenal always moved in the midfield of the league. Chapman fundamentally rebuilt the team and signed new players, including winger Joe Hulme , striker Jack Lambert and defenders Tom Parker and Herbie Roberts , whom he immediately built into his new team. Arsenal reached the FA Cup final for the first time in 1927 and lost 1-0 to Cardiff City after Arsenal goalkeeper Dan Lewis slipped a seemingly harmless shot through his arms. Cardiff became the only non-English club in history to win this trophy.

Chapman was not deterred by this and increased the team further with the future team captain Eddie Hapgood as well as with the three other powerful offensive players David Jack , Alex James and Cliff Bastin . Above all, Alex James was hailed as a playmaker in midfield for his support of the wingers and the assault line as the engine of the team. Three years later, Arsenal made it to the FA Cup final again, which became known for the appearance of the low-flying German airship Graf Zeppelin . Arsenal beat Chapman's old club Huddersfield Town 2-0 on goals from James and Lambert, earning their first major title in history.

This victory marked the beginning of a hugely successful decade in which Arsenal became the dominant club in England. Under Chapman, the club won the English championship for the first time in the 1930/31 season and scored 127 goals in the course of the season. The following year Arsenal lost the controversial FA Cup final to Newcastle United. Arsenal had already taken a 1-0 lead after a goal from Bob John until a ball was shot far into Arsenal's half of the field and had already crossed the goal line, which should have resulted in a goal kick. Nevertheless, Newcastle winger Jimmy Richardson crossed the ball back onto the field and Jack Allen was able to use the ball to equalize. Another goal from everyone ensured the eventual 2-1 victory of the "Magpies". Arsenal suffered another setback in the championship when, after a very weak start to the 1931/32 season, the club was able to catch up consistently, but ended up in second place just two points behind the new champions Everton .

Just a year later, Arsenal won their second championship trophy in the 1932/33 season. This season was also marked by a weak start to Arsenal, as well as a constant race to catch up, which was crowned in April 1933 with the 5-0 home win against second-placed Aston Villa and the title secured with it. In the meantime, the first generation of Chapman's player engagements was getting on in years, and the successful coach began to invest in the future with the transfers of George Male for Tom Parker and Ray Bowden for David Jack. During this time one of the biggest sensations in the history of the FA Cup fell when Arsenal lost to third division club FC Walsall . Despite the loss of five players who had to pause due to influenza , the team had enough player quality, but still lost 2-0. Tom Black , who was responsible for the penalty that led to the 2-0 draw, was sold to Plymouth Argyle within a week by an angry Chapman .

The "Championship Hat Trick" (1934–1939)

season	Position (league)	Points and goal quotient
1934/35	1/22 (1)	58 / 2,500
1935/36	6/22 (1)	45 / 1.625
1936/37	3/22 (1)	52 / 1.633
1937/38	1/22 (1)	52 / 1.750
1938/39	5/22 (1)	47 / 1.341

After a solid start to the 1933/34 season, the club suffered a stroke of fate in January 1934 when Herbert Chapman suddenly died of pneumonia . The interim coach Joe Shaw took over the team management and defended the championship title with the club, although Hulme and James had to sit out the majority of the season due to injuries and Arsenal thus came relatively few goals due to the weakened attack with 75 meetings. In the previous season, Arsenal had scored 118 goals.

George Allison - formerly active in the club's management - was appointed as the new full-time head coach , who added fresh blood to the team with the further signings, including midfielders Jack Crayston and Wilf Copping as well as striker Ted Drake . With these new players, Arsenal could find their way back to their old strength on the offensive, with Drake scoring 42 goals in the 1934/35 season. With big wins such as the 7-0 win against Wolverhampton Wanderers, the 8-1 win against Liverpool FC and the two 8-0 wins against Leicester City and Middlesbrough FC , Arsenal achieved their third championship title in a row. The extraordinary performance was also shown in the fact that in November 1934 seven Arsenal players were in the English national team when they played against the reigning world champions from Italy . England won this game 3-2, which went down in football history as the " Battle of Highbury ". To date, seven players mean a record for most players from one club in the starting line-up of an English national team.

Arsenal's continued success drew ever larger crowds, so the club's home ground has been continually remodeled. The grandstands originally built by Archibald Leitch were torn down and replaced by new ones in the modern Art Deco style, which still exist to this day. The north and “clock end” stands were also covered. In the new stadium, the club reached its current record number of visitors on March 9, 1935 with 73,295 spectators in the game against Sunderland FC .

Arsenal's period of great dominance came to an end with the Cup victory in 1936 when Sheffield United were beaten 1-0 by a Drake goal. From then on, sporting performance developed backwards after Alex James resigned and players like Bastin had already passed their zenith. Nevertheless, Arsenal won the fifth league title in the club's history in the 1937/38 season.

The Second World War (1939-1945)

With the outbreak of World War II in 1939, gaming in the British professional leagues was discontinued. From then on, the Highbury served as a so-called ARP station to protect civilians from air raids, which operated a blocking balloon behind the Clock End grandstand . During the Blitzkrieg , a bomb weighing around 1.5 tons hit the north stand, destroyed the roof and caused a fire at this point. Arsenal played their home games during the war on White Hart Lane , which is usually home to Tottenham Hotspur. The games during the war had no official character, mostly only took place in the context of regional competitions and clubs usually did not finish the season that had started. Many footballers served in the army as trainers or instructors and were therefore not available to their clubs in the long term and only appeared sporadically as "guest players" at other clubs. Arsenal won the so-called " Football League War Cup South" in 1943 and also regional championships in London and in southern England in 1941, 1943 and 1944.

In November 1945, Arsenal played one of the most extraordinary and controversial games in the club's history when Dynamo Moscow was on tour in the country. Since many regular players still served in the army and thus left a large gap in the team, Arsenal added six guest players, including Stanley Matthews and Stan Mortensen . This led Dynamo to classify the opponent as an English national team, despite the fact that Arsenal's starting line-up included three Welsh players . The game itself took place in thick fog and the more technically skilled Dynamo team won the game 4-3 after Arsenal had already led 3-1 at halftime. Although the final score is as clear as possible, further detailed information about the actual course of the game deviates from each other. According to English reports, Dynamo has now deployed twelve players and also tried to get the referee to abandon the game when the club was behind. In turn, the Soviets accused Arsenal of playing unfairly. The allegation that George Allison bet money on the outcome of the game was later dropped. Because the fog hid most of the action on the field - even the identities of the goalscorers are controversial - as well as the existing language barriers and mutual suspicions - the game took place during the emerging Cold War - the exact events will probably also be continue to remain hidden.

The post-war period (1945–1966)

season	Position (league)	Points and goal quotient
1946/47	13/22 (1)	41 / 1.029
1947/48	1/22 (1)	59 / 2.531
1948/49	5/22 (1)	49 / 1.682
1949/50	6/22 (1)	49 / 1.436
1950/51	5/22 (1)	47 / 1.304
1951/52	3/22 (1)	53 / 1.311
1952/53	1/22 (1)	54 / 1.516
1953/54	12/22 (1)	43 / 1.027
1954/55	9/22 (1)	43 / 1.095
1955/56	5/22 (1)	46 / 0.984
1956/57	5/22 (1)	50 / 1.232
1957/58	12/22 (1)	39 / 0.859
1958/59	3/22 (1)	50 / 1.294
1959/60	13/22 (1)	39 / 0.850
1960/61	11/22 (1)	41 / 0.906
1961/62	10/22 (1)	43 / 0.986
1962/63	7/22 (1)	46 / 1.117
1963/64	8/22 (1)	45 / 1.098
1964/65	13/22 (1)	41 / 0.920
1965/66	14/22 (1)	37 / 0.827

The war ended the careers of many important Arsenal FC players, including Bastin and Drake. In addition, due to the stadium construction costs and the repairs to the war damage, the club carried a great financial burden, which Arsenal had to contend with after the resumption of play. In the third round of the FA Cup Arsenal lost in the 1945/46 season after two games with a total of 1: 6 goals against West Ham United. When the championship resumed, Arsenal finished in a disappointing 13th place in the final table. George Allison announced his resignation at the end of this season and was replaced by his assistant Tom Whittaker , who had also worked under Herbert Chapman.

The move to Whittaker brought the club immediate success by winning the English championship in the 1947/48 season. The team was led by the captain Joe Mercer and with the accuracy of the two attacking players Reg Lewis and Ronnie Rooke , Arsenal took over the championship lead in October 1947, which was not surrendered until the end of the season. Long-term success was not to be expected at this point, as the Arsenal team was already a bit out of date and had decisive players in Rooke and Mercer who were already over 30 years old. The response was that Whittaker added new young players to the team in the form of Doug Lishman , Alex Forbes and Cliff Holton . Although this did not achieve enough quality to intervene again in a championship fight, this refreshment of the squad ensured that the FA Cup was won again in 1950. Reg Lewis scored the two goals for a 2-0 final win over Liverpool FC.

In the 1951/52 season, Arsenal played for the double for a long time , but ultimately ended the season disappointingly after a series of injuries in the late phase of the season made the goals a long way off. Arsenal lost their last two championship games, including the away game against eventual champions Manchester United on the final day of the match, and ended the season tied with Tottenham in third place. A week later, Arsenal faced Newcastle in the FA Cup final with many previously injured players. When Walley Barnes twisted his knee in the 35th minute of the game and had to be taken off the field, Arsenal continued to play with ten men, as substitutions were not allowed at the time. Newcastle took advantage of this advantage and won the game 1-0.

Regardless of these setbacks, Arsenal won their seventh championship in the 1952/53 season after Preston North End was relegated to second place in one of the most exciting decisions, tied on points and only because of the better goal quotient, which was then used instead of the goal difference that is common today . This championship trophy was to be Arsenal's last title win for the next 17 years and from then on the sporting development curve pointed downwards when it was no longer possible to hire new, strong players. Tom Whittaker died unexpectedly in 1956 and apart from a third place in the 1958/59 season, Arsenal only occupied mid-tier positions in the league. Even in the FA Cup, Arsenal did not celebrate any more successes after reaching the finals in 1952 and did not make it through the quarter-finals until 1971.

The two former players of the club Jack Crayston and George Swindin succeeded Whittaker in his office, but could not build on his success. In 1962, Arsenal took a bold move by signing English football legend Billy Wright , as Wright had no previous coaching experience. Like its immediate predecessors, Wright did not lead Arsenal to similar successes in the past, despite the fact that Arsenal premiered in a European club competition under his aegis. In seventh place, Arsenal qualified for the trade fair cup in the 1962/63 season. In his last coaching season, Arsenal had their 14th place in the table, their worst placement in 36 years and, with 4,554, the lowest attendance in the history of Highbury. The only top player at Arsenal at the time was George Eastham , who was in the squad for the 1966 World Cup in his own country, but was not used in any game there.

The first double (1966–1976)

In a surprising decision, the association promoted the physiotherapist Bertie Mee in the successor role of Wright. This should pay off quickly, with a younger generation of players helping him, who had won the FA Youth Cup for the club in 1966 . There, talented attacking players such as Charlie George , John Radford and Ray Kennedy were recommended for the first team. Mee supplemented these strengths on the offensive with some experienced forces, including team captain Frank McLintock , who was supposed to ensure security in the central defensive formation, as well as Peter Storey, a defensive midfielder who had great strengths in tackling . With this newly formed team, Mee achieved his first notable successes in the league cup finals in 1968 and 1969 . In both finals, Arsenal lost 1-0 to Leeds United , who was then coached by Don Revie , and then sensationally 3-1 to third division Swindon Town .

season	Position (league)	Points and goal quotient
1966/67	7/22 (1)	46 / 1.234
1967/68	9/22 (1)	44 / 1.071
1968/69	4/22 (1)	56 / 2.074
1969/70	12/22 (1)	42 / 1.041
1970/71	1/22 (1)	65 / 2.448
1971/72	5/22 (1)	52 / 1.450
1972/73	2/22 (1)	57 / 1.326
1973/74	10/22 (1)	42 / 0.961
1974/75	16/22 (1)	37 / 0.959
1975/76	17/22 (1)	36 / 0.887

Despite this bankruptcy against Swindon Town, the season ended with partial success when Arsenal qualified again for the trade fair cup due to fourth place in the championship. Arsenal also won this competition in 1970, winning the first European trophy and title in seventeen years. The club beat Ajax Amsterdam in the semifinals and after a 3-0 defeat in the final first leg at RSC Anderlecht , Ray Kennedy shortened to 3-1 shortly before the end of the game. By the 3-0 in the second leg after goals from John Radford, Eddie Kelly and Jon Sammels , the match was turned into a victory.

The greatest success of this era was winning the first double of the FA Cup and the English Championship in the 1970/71 season. Although Arsenal started the season weakly with a 5-0 defeat against Stoke City in September, the team acted at a consistently high level and delivered a close title race with Leeds United. To win the championship and leave Leeds behind, Arsenal had to win at Tottenham on the final day of the match. This was achieved with a 1-0 win after a goal by Ray Kennedy. Just five days later, Arsenal beat Liverpool 2-1 at Wembley in the cup final . Arsenal had to accept the 0-1 deficit in extra time , but were able to equalize through substitute Eddie Kelly and win the game with the decisive goal from Charlie George.

The double turned out to be an early peak in a decade that turned out to be a chain of narrowly missed opportunities. Despite the commitment of world champion Alan Ball , Arsenal started the 1971/72 season on a weak level, lost three games in August and had to fight hard to catch up with the leading group. Arsenal ended the season in fifth place in the table. The debut in the European Cup started promisingly until Arsenal lost in the quarter-finals to Ajax Amsterdam , which, led by Johan Cruyff, was at its peak. Arsenal reached the FA Cup final again and lost 1-0 in a partially unfair and undisciplined game against Leeds United.

This was followed by a runner-up in the 1972/73 season, but the team of the double winner broke up within a year and Mee tried in vain to rebuild. The sporting development deteriorated dramatically and Arsenal delivered in the following two years with the 16th and 17th place in the table, the worst results for more than 40 years. The resigned Mee was followed by Terry Neill , a former Arsenal player, the coach of Tottenham, although he had never been able to lead the Spurs into the upper midfield.

Changing times under Neill and Howe (1976–1986)

season	Position (league)	Points and goal difference
1976/77	8/22 (1)	43 / + 5
1977/78	5/22 (1)	53 / + 23
1978/79	7/22 (1)	48 / + 13
1979/80	4/22 (1)	52 / + 16
1980/81	3/22 (1)	53 / + 16
1981/82	5/22 (1)	71 / + 11
1982/83	10/22 (1)	58 / + 2
1983/84	6/22 (1)	63 / + 14
1984/85	7/22 (1)	66 / + 12
1985/86	7/22 (1)	69 / + 2

With Neill, the return to the top half of the table succeeded, with the up-and-coming Irish top player Liam Brady played a key role in this upward trend. Brady was part of a large Irish faction on the squad that also included Pat Rice , Frank Stapleton , Pat Jennings and the young David O'Leary . Although the dominance of Liverpool FC could not be broken at this time, Arsenal continued to underline the signs of a sporting consolidation with good results in the FA Cup towards the end of the decade. The club reached three finals in a row between 1978 and 1980, but could only win the middle one against Manchester United. Another very good game by Brady gave Arsenal a 2-0 lead after goals from Brian Talbot and Frank Stapleton and already looked like the sure winner five minutes before the end of regular time. United, however, equalized with a one-two to 2-2, followed in stoppage time by Alan Sunderland's winning goal to 3-2 after a cross from Graham Rix .

The subsequent 1979/80 season was very exhausting when Arsenal reached a record number of 70 compulsory games by reaching two Cup final games, in the connection of which Arsenal nevertheless remained without countable success in the end. Disappointing was the 1-0 defeat against the second division side and outsider from West Ham United in the FA Cup final, which was sealed by a header from Trevor Brooking . In the meantime, Arsenal had also reached the final of the European Cup Winners' Cup and faced the Spanish club Valencia CF with the decisive goal by Paul Vaessen in the semi-final victory against Juventus Turin . The final ended goalless in regular time and Arsenal lost the match on penalties in which Brady and Rix missed their penalties.

Liam Brady left Arsenal for Juventus in the summer of 1980 and Arsenal entered another period of stagnation. The club was among the top four English teams at the beginning of the 1980s, but was never able to seriously intervene in the championship or repeat past successes in the FA Cup. The best FA Cup series took place in the 1982/83 season, when they only had to admit defeat to Manchester United in the semi-finals.

During his tenure, Neill always had problems with the team management and fell out with many of his players such as Alan Hudson and Malcolm Macdonald and could not get the alcohol problem in the squad, as it still prevails in many English teams today, not under control . In addition, many new signings, including Charlie Nicholas , did not directly contribute to the quality improvement. Neill was dismissed in December 1983 after a bad start to the season - with the low point of a sensational defeat in the league cup against the lower class FC Walsall .

The new coach at Arsenal was Don Howe , who had already served the club in several functions, including as a player, but with Arsenal did not come close to winning the title. Although the club under Howe with the sixth and seventh place in the championship did not have an excessively bad record, he lost again surprisingly in the FA Cup of the 1984/85 season to a third division club - in this case against York City . The supporters began to express their disappointment at the lack of success and the audience numbers fell below the 20,000 mark. When Howe learned in March 1986 that the Presidium was negotiating with Terry Venables to coach Arsenal, he resigned.

The years under George Graham (1986-1995)

season	Position (league)	Points and goal difference
1986/87	4/22 (1)	70 / + 23
1987/88	6/21 (1)	66 / + 19
1988/89	1/20 (1)	76 / + 37
1989/90	4/20 (1)	62 / + 16
1990/91	1/20 (1)	83 / + 56
1991/92	4/22 (1)	72 / + 34
1992/93	10/22 (1)	56 / + 2
1993/94	4/22 (1)	71 / + 25
1994/95	12/22 (1)	51 / + 3

In the summer of 1986 the club signed George Graham, a former Arsenal player and the former coach of Millwall FC, as his successor for Howe. This laid the foundation for the next successful era, as Graham sorted out many of the club's old players and replaced them with new signings and increased sponsorship of young Arsenal talents. Increasing discipline both on and off the field was one of Graham's first tasks. As a result of these measures, Arsenal's form curve pointed straight up and the club was at the top of the table for the first time in this decade on Christmas Day 1986, which was also symbolically a favorable time given the club's centenary.

In addition to the fourth championship course in Graham's first season, he immediately won the League Cup 1986/87 with his new club , although the team had turned many games that were believed to be lost. Arsenal were already two goals behind in the semi-final second leg against Spurs before two of their own goals forced a play-off. In this Tottenham again took a 1-0 lead, which Arsenal converted into a victory with two late goals from Ian Allinson and David Rocastle . In the final, Charlie Nicholas turned an interim 0-1 deficit with two goals into a win, ensuring that Arsenal won the League Cup for the first time.

Although Arsenal lost the next League Cup final to a surprise defeat to Luton Town , the performances in the English championship improved continuously. Graham's team developed an extraordinarily disciplined defense embodied by Tony Adams , Lee Dixon , Steve Bould and Nigel Winterburn , which in this form formed the basis of the line of defense for an entire decade. Despite the different opinion of the public, Graham's team was not exclusively defensively oriented and produced high-performing midfielders such as David Rocastle , Michael Thomas and Paul Merson , as well as striker Alan Smith , who always had a goal rate of over 20 goals per season.

At the end of Graham's third season, Arsenal dramatically won their first championship since 1971 in 1989. After Arsenal had topped the table since Christmas 1988, Liverpool overtook Arsenal after losing to Derby County and drawing against Wimbledon in May. Arsenal seemed to have already gambled away the championship when the club went to the showdown at Anfield Stadium on May 26th . Arsenal needed a two-goal win and Liverpool were the new FA Cup winners as favorites to win the double. After Alan Smith scored the 1-0 early in the second half, Arsenal were unable to match the necessary second goal even after the 90 minutes had expired. Only a few seconds remained in stoppage time when Smith passed the ball to young Michael Thomas, who then calmly lifted the play equipment into goal over Bruce Grobbelaar and thus helped Arsenal to the championship.

Arsenal failed to defend their title the next season and ended the season in fourth place behind new champions Liverpool, Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur. Due to the suspension for English clubs in the wake of the Heysel disaster , Arsenal was also not allowed to take part in European club competitions.

Graham continued to strengthen the squad, signing goalkeeper David Seaman and Swedish winger Anders Limpar . Both players fit into the team and won the championship again with Arsenal in the 1990/91 season, although the club had suffered two setbacks over the course of the year. Two points were deducted from Arsenal in October 1990 after ten of the club's players were involved in a brawl with Manchester United opponents. In addition, Tony Adams was sentenced to four months' imprisonment in December 1990 for drunk driving. However, this did not prevent Arsenal from consistently performing well in a season in which the club lost only one championship game. Arsenal also reached the FA Cup semi-finals, facing Tottenham Hotspur there. After just five minutes, Paul Gascoigne scored the opening goal with a free kick from a long distance and Tottenham were able to prevent Arsenal's double with a 3-1 win.

In October 1991, undertook arsenal of Crystal Palace with Ian Wright to henceforth second best scorer in the club's history and moved into this season for the first time since the 1971-72 season back to a European country champion competitive one. There they lost in the second qualifying round of the Champions League against Benfica Lisbon and missed access to the group games. The season continued to develop mixedly after Arsenal lost in the FA Cup to the lower-class AFC Wrexham and finished fourth in the championship.

After this season, Graham made a change of tactics and played more defensively. This more cautious team alignment meant that the team relied almost exclusively on Wright goals and the other parts of the team less offensively oriented. After Arsenal had scored an average of 66 championship goals between 1986 and 1992 - 81 in the 1991/92 season alone - there were only 48 between 1992 and 1995. The minimum was the 40 goals in the 1992/93 season when Arsenal played in finished tenth in the first Premier League season and scored fewer goals than any other club in the league.

Arsenal's form in the league was disappointing, but the club performed significantly better in the cup competitions when it was the first club to win the "FA and League Cup double" in the 1992/93 season. In the League Cup final, Arsenal faced Sheffield Wednesday and won 2-1, led by Merson, after a 1-0 deficit by a decisive goal from Steve Morrow . In the FA Cup semi-finals Arsenal won against Spurs and thus took revenge for the defeat in 1991. In the final, Sheffield Wednesday waited again for Arsenal, which equalized a goal by Wright by Chris Waddle . When no further goal had been scored after 120 minutes, a header from Andy Linighan after a corner kick decided the game and brought Arsenal FC the cup double.

In the 1993/94 season Arsenal won its second European trophy, with the team in the final of the European Cup Winners' Cup with the injuries of key players John Jensen and Martin Keown and the suspension of Ian Wright to fight. Nevertheless, the defending champions and favorites AC Parma were defeated 1-0 in Copenhagen with a very defensive performance by a volley left-footed shot by Alan Smith in the 21st minute. That success would be George Graham's last title win, as the Scot was sacked after nine years with Arsenal the following February. It was found that in 1992 he had received an illegal payment of £ 425,000 from the Norwegian gaming agent Rune Hauge in connection with the purchase of the players Pål Lydersen and, above all, John Jensen.

Bruce Rioch - The Intermediate Period (1995-1996)

season	Position (league)	Points and goal difference
1995/96	5/20 (1)	63 / + 17

By the end of the 1994/95 season, Stewart Houston, the former assistant coach, temporarily took over the team management. Arsenal were in a disappointing twelfth place in the table at the end of this season, but reached the final of the European Cup Winners' Cup again after a semi-final win on penalties against Sampdoria Genoa - both teams had previously won a game 3-2 after each regular season. There they faced the Spanish representative Real Saragossa , whose opening goal was equalized by Juan Esnáider from John Hartson for Arsenal, before the midfielder Nayim decided the game for Saragossa with the last action in the 120th minute with a shot from the center line. David Seaman, who had triumphed in the semifinals by winning penalties, could not rush back into his case fast enough and only touched the ball lightly with one hand as it fell into the goal. The final defeat thus represented a low point in a weak overall season.

In June 1995 Arsenal signed Bruce Rioch , who had just led the Bolton Wanderers into the league cup final and back to the English top flight, as the new coach. The purchase of the Dutch striker Dennis Bergkamp from Inter Milan for £ 7.5 million broke the record in English football that had been in place until then. From then on, Bergkamp formed the profitable attack with Wright in a team that rehabilitated itself by reaching the semi-finals in the League Cup. Fifth place in the championship also allowed them to take part in the UEFA Cup competition and gave rise to hopes of being able to intervene again in the title race in the future. The "Rioch era" ended prematurely in August 1996 after Rioch fell out with the club management due to the transfer policy, which resulted in months of unrest. Stewart Houston took over the reins for a month on an interim basis before stepping down to join the Queens Park Rangers . Until the signing of the French Arsène Wenger in September, the youth coach Pat Rice took over the leadership of the team for a few games.

Two more doubles (1996-2003)

The players and supporters of Arsenal FC celebrate winning the championship in 2004 with a parade.

season	Position (league)	Points and goal difference
1996/97	3/20 (1)	63 / + 30
1997/98	1/20 (1)	78 / + 35
1998/99	2/20 (1)	78 / + 42
1999/00	2/20 (1)	73 / + 30
2000/01	2/20 (1)	70 / + 25
2001/02	1/20 (1)	87 / + 43
2002/03	2/20 (1)	78 / + 43

The team improved quickly under Wenger's leadership, finished third in the championship and qualified for the UEFA Cup, although they missed participation in the Champions League only because of the worse goal difference. Wenger built a number of mostly little-known French players into his squad. Among them were the talented Patrick Vieira , who was still at the beginning of his great career, as well as Nicolas Anelka and Emmanuel Petit . Wenger also signed Marc Overmars, a highly talented Dutch winger, in the summer of 1997 . These new players merged with many established "old guard" players, including Adams, Dixon, Winterburn, Keown and Bould. Wenger appointed Pat Rice as his assistant coach.

Wenger won his first title with Arsenal in the following season, when he became the first foreign coach to win the English championship and expanded it to become the second double in the club's history. In the championship race in December, Arsenal seemed to have said goodbye prematurely after a 3-1 home defeat to Blackburn Rovers . The team finally caught up 12 points behind leaders Manchester United and in the end secured the trophy before the penultimate matchday after a 4-0 home win against Everton on May 3. On May 16, Arsenal beat Newcastle United 2-0 in the FA Cup final. In addition, Ian Wright surpassed the former club scorer Cliff Bastin and left the club after 185 goals in the summer of 1998.

Despite the purchase of Freddie Ljungberg in 1998 and Thierry Henry a year later, the club expected another period of no title wins in the following years, although several opportunities were narrowly missed. In the 1998/99 season, Arsenal led the table for a long time until the club was overtaken by Manchester United after a 1-0 loss to Leeds United. Despite a last-day win against Aston Villa, United's victory over Tottenham Hotspur meant that Arsenal FC were only runner-up. Arsenal also lost to their rivals from Manchester in the FA Cup semi-finals, with Bergkamp initially missing a penalty and Ryan Giggs scoring the decisive goal in stoppage time after a solo through Arsenal's entire defense. Arsenal's return to the Champions League after seven years also ended in disappointment as the club failed to make it through the group stage.

Arsenal also finished runner-up in the 1999/2000 season, never seriously endangering Manchester United in the title race and ranked 18 points behind the old and new champions. In the Champions League, expectations were once again not met, with third place in the group games at least allowing further participation in the UEFA Cup. There the team made it to the finals and met Galatasaray Istanbul in Copenhagen . The game ended with little action with a 0-0 after extra time. Arsenal lost the penalty shoot-out after Davor Šuker and Patrick Vieira missed their penalties.

Another runner-up was waiting for Arsenal in the 2000/01 season, in this case just ten points behind Manchester United. The title race had been open until February 2001, when Arsenal's 6-1 defeat at Old Trafford resulted in a preliminary decision. The club then concentrated more on the cup competitions and defeated the Spurs in the FA Cup semi-finals to face Liverpool in Cardiff in the final . Arsenal were mostly game-determining. Liverpool's Stéphane Henchoz blocked a ball that would have resulted in a goal with his hand, but the referee did not take action. Nevertheless, Arsenal took a 1-0 lead with a goal from Ljungberg, but lost 2-1 after two late goals from Michael Owen . In the Champions League, the club made it to the quarter-finals, where they only lost to the eventual finalists Valencia CF due to the away goals rule . Nevertheless, being among the last eight teams represented the best result in the most important European club competition since 1972.

Wenger was now forced to rebuild a large part of his double-winning team from 1998 after Anelka, Overmars and Petit had moved to Spanish clubs for high transfer fees and the renowned defense formation was clearly showing its age. Bould and Winterburn had already left the club and Adams and Dixon should only act for one more season until their resignation. Wenger filled the positions on the defensive with players like Sol Campbell and Lauren and promoted Ashley Cole from his own youth department to the first team. The coach strengthened the midfield with Robert Pirès and signed his compatriot Sylvain Wiltord for the offensive, while Thierry Henry had meanwhile got used to the English style of play and developed into one of the best strikers in the Premier League.

The offensive was now without a doubt Arsenal's showpiece and the team won the third double in the club's history in the 2001/02 season, setting the record in this regard in English football. The "Gunners" were the only team that scored at least one goal in every game and remained undefeated in all away games. Up until February 2002 the battle for the championship was exciting and the four best teams were separated by only three points. Arsenal then pulled away with an eleven-game winning streak and secured the championship seven points ahead of Liverpool, with a 1-0 away win at Manchester United on the penultimate matchday after a goal by Wiltord had brought the decision. The weekend before, Arsenal had already clinched their eighth FA Cup title in club history with a 2-0 final win against Chelsea, with Ray Parlor and Ljungberg providing the goals.

Arsenal became the first club in over 20 years to defend the FA Cup title in the 2002/03 season after beating Southampton FC 1-0 in the final with a goal from Pirès. The joy about it was clouded by the narrowly missed championship. Arsenal had already led the table with eight points ahead of eventual champions Manchester United, but the form deteriorated significantly towards the end of the season. After a 2-0 lead at Bolton Wanderers , Arsenal ultimately only played 2-2 and lost the title in the following home game against Leeds United with a 3-2 defeat.

The "Invincibles" and a Champions League final (2003-2006)

Arsenal team captain Patrick Vieira lifts the championship trophy after winning the title in the 2003/04 season.

season	Position (league)	Points and goal difference
2003/04	1/20 (1)	90 / + 47
2004/05	2/20 (1)	83 / + 51
2005/06	4/20 (1)	67 / + 37

That loss to Leeds, however, would mark Arsenal's last in the championship for over a year. The 2003/04 season was a record with 26 wins, 12 draws and no defeat. Preston North End was last in the 1888/89 season without defeat. Arsenal ranked eleven points ahead of runner-up Chelsea, who in turn returned the favor in the Champions League quarter-finals. Arsenal also lost in the FA Cup semi-finals to Manchester United. After these setbacks, Arsenal rehabilitated themselves in the subsequent game against Liverpool after a temporary 0-1 and 1-2 deficit, won with a total of three goals from Henry 4-2 and then secured the championship with a 2 : 2 away at Tottenham Hotspur.

Arsenal failed to defend their title in the 2004/05 season and were twelve points behind Chelsea in second place. Nevertheless, the Gunners expanded the English record of undefeated games to a total of 49 games. First, the record was set by a thrilling 5-3 win over Middlesbrough FC after a 3-1 deficit at halftime, then exceeded with a 3-0 win against Blackburn Rovers and by the 2-0 defeat against Manchester United ended. After that, form deteriorated and Arsenal lost decisive ground in the title race until another positive series, sealed by a spectacular 7-0 win against Everton FC, secured the runner-up. Arsenal were again unlucky in the Champions League and lost after the group stage against FC Bayern Munich with a total of 2: 3 goals on both legs. Nevertheless, Arsenal ended the season with a title win when the team won the penalty shootout against Manchester United 5-4 after a goalless regular time and thus won the third FA Cup in four years.

Weakened by the sale of team captain Patrick Vieira to Juventus Turin in the summer of 2005, the 2005/06 season turned out to be relatively disappointing, and Arsenal did not enjoy any success in the domestic cup competitions either. In the championship, the weak form in away games meant that Arsenal, despite some good home results - including a 5-0 against Aston Villa and a 7-0 against Middlesbrough FC - were mostly only in fifth place or even worse in the table and it looked like that for the first time since 1997 qualification for the Champions League would fail. After winning their last three games, including a 4-2 win against Wigan Athletic in their last game in Highbury, the Spurs' defeat at West Ham United on the last day of the game ensured that Arsenal finished fourth and thus access succeeded in the Champions League.

In significant contrast to the weak domestic form, Arsenal showed significantly better performance in Europe and in 2006 reached the final in the Champions League for the first time in its history and as the first London club ever. Arsenal won their group in front of Ajax Amsterdam , FC Thun and Sparta Prague and beat Real Madrid in the subsequent qualifying matches , where they were the first British team to win at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium , Juventus Turin and Villarreal , to then after a record of to face FC Barcelona in the final ten games without conceding a goal . Arsenal played there early with only ten men after goalkeeper Jens Lehmann was sent off the field after an emergency brake . Nonetheless, Arsenal took the lead with a 37th-minute header from Sol Campell and maintained that lead for a long time until Samuel Eto'o and Juliano Belletti scored Barcelona with two late goals to win them 2-1.

In June 2006, following a request from FIFA , the Football Association opened an investigation into Arsenal's relationship with KSK Beveren . The request came in response to allegations made by the BBC on Newsnight . There had been speculation that Arsenal's payment of a million pounds to a consortium that was bidding for the purchase of the Belgian club might have violated the FIFA statutes. On June 23, 2006, the FA acquitted Arsenal of the allegation and announced that they had found no evidence of a violation of the FA or Premier League rules with regard to an improper community of interests or cooperation between the two clubs.

Relocation to the Emirates Stadium (since 2006)

season	Position (league)	Points and goal difference
2006/07	4/20 (1)	68 / + 28
2007/08	3/20 (1)	83 / + 43
2008/09	4/20 (1)	72 / + 31
2009/10	3/20 (1)	75 / + 42
2010/11	4/20 (1)	68 / + 29
2011/12	3/20 (1)	70 / + 25
2012/13	4/20 (1)	73 / + 35
2013/14	4/20 (1)	79 / + 27
2014/15	3/20 (1)	75 / + 36
2015/16	2/20 (1)	71 / + 32
2016/17	5/20 (1)	75 / + 33
2017/18	6/20 (1)	63 / + 23
2018/19	5/20 (1)	70 / + 22
2019/20	8/20 (1)	56 / + 8

Despite the numerous successes in the 1990s and 2000s, the stadium capacity was always very limited, especially due to the restrictions imposed by the Taylor Report with 38,500 seats in Highbury. As a result, the association was never able to maximize the revenue side in this segment. After an expansion of the Highbury Stadium had proved impossible, in 1999 Arsenal informed the public of the plans to move to the neighboring Ashburton Grove and build a new stadium there. Construction of the stadium began in December 2002. After completion, the Emirates Stadium was opened in July 2006 and opened for use from the 2006/07 season.

Although the team started the new season promisingly and was only four points behind the top of the table, Wenger said in November 2006 that it was not possible to intervene in the championship race. As the season progressed, Arsenal were still among the top four teams, but Wenger relied more and more on players from the reserve and youth teams, especially in the league cup, and even reached the final, in which they lost 2-1 to Chelsea . In the other cup competitions, Arsenal were less successful, lost in the round of 16 of the Champions League against PSV Eindhoven after a two-way leg with 1: 2 goals and also failed in the fifth round of the FA Cup at the Blackburn Rovers .

In 2007, speculation about two possible takeover scenarios increased. First, the American sports tycoon Stan Kroenke took over a large part of the shares and owns 12.2% of the shares as of August 2007, after he had taken over the majority of them in April of the same year from the ITV subsidiary Granada Ventures. As a result, David Dein , who owned 14.6% of the shares and was considered a sympathizer of Kroenke, withdrew from the board on April 18 due to "irreconcilable differences". Dein later sold his shares to the "Red & White Holdings", which is owned by the Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov and the London businessman Farhad Moshiri , and became president of this company in return. In a statement, however, the chairman Peter Hill-Wood stated that no other board member would be willing to sell their own shares, which total 45.45%, until at least April 2009. In addition, all members of the Management Board had options on the other shares until October 2012 .

From a sporting point of view, a number of experienced players had already left the club within the 2006/07 season and immediately after with Ashley Cole , Sol Campbell , Lauren , Freddie Ljungberg and above all long-time captain and top scorer Thierry Henry . The team started the season with just three players that had won the previous championship four years earlier. With a new generation of young players including Cesc Fàbregas , Robin van Persie , Emmanuel Eboué and Gaël Clichy , the rebuilt team got up and running surprisingly quickly and remained undefeated between April and November 2007. This also meant a new record for all compulsory competitions. The team led the Premier League for a long time, eliminating defending champions AC Milan in the Champions League round of 16 (making them the first English team to win in San Siro ) before passing Manchester United and Chelsea FC in the league had to leave.

In a purely English quarter-final, the "Gunners" also failed with a total of 3: 5 goals at Liverpool FC. Even in the 2008/09 , 2009/10 and 2010/11 seasons , the young team was not able to consistently play for the top spots after promising starts. Rather, the highlights were to be found again in the Champions League, when the team failed in 2009 and the following year in the semi-finals and quarter-finals at the respective defending champions Manchester United and FC Barcelona . Hopes for a first title after six years were also disappointed in the league cup in 2011 ; here the "Gunners" surprisingly failed 2-1 in the final at the later relegated Birmingham City . After the departure of some key players in mid-2011, such as Cesc Fàbregas and Samir Nasri and under the impression of an 8-2 defeat by Manchester United on August 28, 2011, Wenger hired four players with Per Mertesacker , Mikel Arteta , André Santos and Yossi Benayoun Day of the transfer period. The performances finally stabilized and Arsenal finished after initial placement in the lower half of the table or the third position . Further modifications followed in 2012 in the form of the departure of the goal scorer Robin van Persie and the signing of players such as Lukas Podolski , Olivier Giroud and Santi Cazorla . A year later, Arsenal signed Mesut Özil for a new club-internal record transfer fee. The results in the Premier League remained constant with the fourth place in the final table in the 2012/13 and 2013/14 seasons . The longed-for title win after nine years, however, was achieved in the FA Cup after the outsider Hull City was defeated in extra time in the final on May 17, 2014 . By winning the cup, Arsenal qualified for the Community Shield , which they won 3-0 on August 10, 2014 against league winners Manchester City . After a weak start, Arsenal ended the 2014/15 season thanks to a strong second half of the season in third place and reached the direct and eighteenth consecutive Champions League qualification. On 30 May 2015, the successful followed title defense of the English Cup with a 4: 0 against Aston Villa . Arsenal FC became the sole record winner of this trophy for a short time, before Manchester United drew level again in terms of titles the following year.

The short era of Unai Emery
For the 2018/19 season, the Spanish coach Unai Emery, who had already successfully coached Valencia CF for four years, Seville FC for three years and, most recently, Paris Saint-Germain for two years, succeeded the resigned after 22 years in office Arsene Wenger committed. In his first season he reached 5th place in the Premier League with Arsenal, so the participation in the UEFA Champions League was again missed and had to be satisfied with the UEFA Europa League again. In the Europa League he reached the final in 2018/2019, which he lost to rivals FC Chelsea 4-1. In its second season, the club fell short of expectations. In the Premier League they were only 8th and were already ten points behind the Champions League places. After a 2-1 defeat in the UEFA Europa League against Eintracht Frankfurt and recently poor performance in the Premier League, he was dismissed after almost one and a half years in November 2019. The former Arsenal player Freddie Ljungberg took over as interim coach for 6 games. But even under the Swedes, the success did not come back and the club was not on track, so it did not become a permanent solution at Arsenal FC.

The Mikel Arteta era
Thus, at the end of December 2019, Arsenal signed the former assistant coach of Pep Guardiola at Manchester City, Mikel Arteta. He already played as an active football player for Arsenal FC. It was also traded at the traditional club Everton, but the Liverpool team opted for former FC Bayern Munich and SSC Napoli coach Carlo Ancelotti.

Club crest

Arsenal FC used this emblem between 1949 and 2002.

Arsenal FC's first club crest from 1888

An emblem that was sewn at chest height on Arsenal FC jerseys from around the 1930s

Arsenal FC unveiled its first coat of arms in 1888, which features three north-facing cannons viewed from above and is arranged in a manner similar to the coat of arms of the Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich . The cannons are sometimes mistaken for chimneys , with the carved lion head and button on the back of a cannon indicating that they are cannons. In 1922, the association developed its first coat of arms, which only showed a cannon pointing east. In 1925 it was replaced with a variant with the cannon pointing west. In addition, the barrel of the cannon was significantly narrower and the nickname "The Gunners" appeared on the left. In 1949, the association modernized this coat of arms, keeping the basic cannon style, but now placed the association name above it and added a scroll on the bottom with the new Latin association motto "Victoria Concordia Crescit" (meaning "Success comes from harmony", literally: "Victory grows with unity"). Below the cannon is the coat of arms of the London borough of Islington . For the first time, Arsenal FC developed a colorful coat of arms in red, green and gold, which was only changed in detail during its period of use until 2002.

Due to the numerous changes in the coat of arms, Arsenal FC was unable to establish a copyright on it for a long time , despite the club attempting to have it protected as a trademark and a long legal battle against a local street vendor who was selling “unofficial” Arsenal merchandise , could win. In order to obtain more extensive legal protection, the association introduced a new coat of arms in 2002, the simplified style of which - with rounded edges - seemed more suitable for this purpose. The cannon was now pointed again to the east and the club name was placed above it in a sans serif font . In addition, the designers replaced the green color with a dark blue. These changes led to very changeable reactions among the club's supporters. A majority criticized the fact that the history and tradition of the club had been ignored in favor of a radical modern design and that the opinions of the supporters were not sufficiently taken into account.

Club colors

The teams of Arsenal FC mostly wore red jerseys with white sleeves and white shorts at home games, although this tradition has shown gaps over time. The red color was set shortly after the club was founded in 1886, in recognition of the donation of the first kit from Nottingham Forest . With Fred Beardsley and Morris Bates, two of the founding members were former players of this club and later moved to Woolwich for work. When they put together a team and could not procure playing clothes, the two asked for help in writing from their homeland and received the desired jersey sets and a ball. The color was initially currant red and, compared to the jerseys known today, resembled a burgundy dark red. The first teams also wore white trousers and blue stockings.

Herbert Chapman aimed for a modernization in 1933 and advocated a more concise color scheme. On the red jerseys, the sleeves now contrasted with white and the red from then on looked more like the one used for the mailboxes of the British Royal Mail . The origin of the idea for the white sleeves has not yet been fully reconstructed, although two possible inspirations are mostly speculated. The first variant tells of a grandstand spectator whom Chapman saw and who was wearing a white shirt under a sleeveless red sweater. The other story goes that Chapman was inspired by similar clothing worn by the famous cartoonist Tom Webster , with whom the Arsenal manager occasionally played golf .

Arsenal FC subsequently wore this combination apart from two seasons. The first deviation was in the 1966/67 season, when the team wore pure red jerseys again, but this was heavily criticized by the supporters and after only one year the jersey design returned to the white sleeves. The club most recently wore all-red jerseys last season at Highbury Stadium in 2005/06, reminiscent of the outfit from 1913, the first year at the venue. For the 2006/07 season, the club returned to its now traditional colors.

The home colors of Arsenal FC were the template for at least two other important clubs. In 1909, the Czech club Sparta Prague took over the dark red shirt color that Arsenal wore at the time. In the 1930s, Scottish club Hibernian Edinburgh embraced the concept of removing white sleeves, adding to the green jerseys used there. Both clubs use these designs to this day.

The away colors of the Arsenal shirt are traditionally yellow and blue, although a green and navy outfit was chosen between 1982 and 1984. Since the beginning of the 1990s and the beginning of the commercialization of jersey sales, the colors of the away jersey have changed continuously. An unofficial rule is that the jerseys are redesigned after each season and that the outdated kits are used as "third choice" jerseys. The general trend, however, is a yellow-blue design or a design with two different shades of blue, although a strikingly different color scheme of metallic gold and navy blue was also used in the 2001/02 season. The away clothing consisted of yellow jerseys and dark gray shorts between 2005 and 2007. This broke the one-season rule, which was seen as compensation for the short existence of the "retro home kit" of the 2005/06 season. For the 2007/08 season, the club again deviated from its usual color orientation with the away jersey and presented white shirts and chestnut-colored shorts.

Arsenal FC has been advertising on their jerseys with their current main sponsor since 1982. Until 1999 this was initially the company JVC . This was followed by SEGA Dreamcast from 1999 to 2002 and O₂ from 2002 to 2006 . The current sponsor has been the airline Emirates since 2006 ; the current contract runs until the end of the 2018/19 season. The jersey shirts have been made by Adidas since 2019 . Before that, Umbro until 1986 , Adidas until 1994, Nike until 2014 and Puma until 2019 were responsible for the team's equipment.

Venues

The North Stand of Highbury

Emirates Stadium (May 2009)

When the club was still based in south-east London, Arsenal FC played mostly in the Manor Ground in Plumstead , with the exception of the years between 1890 and 1893 in the neighboring Invicta Ground . Although the Manor Ground originally only comprised a field of grass, the club continuously expanded this home ground. Even before the first league football was played in September 1893, Arsenal FC had built grandstands and terraces there. Until the move to the north of the city in 1913, the Manor Ground was the sporting home of Arsenal FC.

Between September 1913 and May 2006, Highbury , officially Arsenal Stadium , was the club's home ground. The stadium was designed by the famous architect Archibald Leitch and featured a design that was typical of British venues at the time: a single covered grandstand and three open-air terraces. In the 1930s, the Highbury was completely renovated with the construction of a new west and east grandstand in Art Deco style . The two north and south stands were roofed over, the latter getting its name Clock End from the large clock that was installed there. The Highbury had a capacity for over 60,000 spectators, which was reduced to 57,000 by the early 1990s. The results of the Taylor report on safety in stadiums after the Hillsborough disaster indicated that standing should be converted into seating in all football stadiums. And so the capacity was drastically reduced to 38,419 seats at the beginning of the 1993/94 season. This capacity had to be further reduced for Champions League games due to marketing requirements for advertising space, so that the club played the seasons 1998/99 and 1999/2000 in this competition at Wembley Stadium, which offered space for over 70,000 people.

A fundamental expansion of the Highbury was ruled out as an option, because on the one hand the east stand had been placed under a preservation order and three other stands were too close to residential areas, the owners of which were strictly against expansion plans. These restrictions prevented the club from being able to maximize spectator income in view of its performance and after examining alternative solutions, the club management announced in 1999 that a new all-seat stadium for 60,000 people was to be built in Ashburton Grove - around 500 meters southwest of Highbury . The construction project was delayed due to bureaucratic problems and increased costs, but was completed in July 2006 in time for the start of the 2006/07 season. The Highbury Stadium was partially demolished (north and south stands) and partially rebuilt (east and west stands). A garden with urn fields for Arsenal fans was created on the old playing field. Emirates airline signed a sponsorship deal with Arsenal FC for around £ 100 million, one of the largest in English football history. Part of the agreement was the renaming of the Ashburton Grove Stadium to “ Emirates Stadium ” until at least 2012 - the contract for the official stadium name was extended from 2012 to 2028. In the supporters - especially among the opponents of the stadium renaming - the new stadium is still referred to as "Ashburton Grove" or "The Grove" for short. Opposing fans jokingly refer to the Emirates as The Library , as they believe that it is much quieter here than in Highbury.

Average attendance since the 1975/76 season

The highest average attendance of the Gunners comes from the Premier League season 2012/13 with 60,079 visitors. The lowest average was achieved in the First Division in 1985/86. Only 23,813 fans came to the Highbury per game.

• 1975/76 : 26,949 ( First Division )
• 1976/77 : 32,671 (First Division)
• 1977/78 : 35,454 (First Division)
• 1978/79 : 36,372 (First Division)
• 1979/80 : 33,619 (First Division)
• 1980/81 : 32,480 (First Division)
• 1981/82 : 25,593 (First Division)
• 1982/83 : 24,153 (First Division)
• 1983/84 : 28.117 (First Division)
• 1984/85 : 31.211 (First Division)
• 1985/86 : 23,813 (First Division)
• 1986/87 : 29.056 (First Division)
• 1987/88 : 29.903 (First Division)
• 1988/89 : 35,593 (First Division)
• 1989/90 : 33,672 (First Division)
• 1990/91 : 36.907 (First Division)
• 1991/92 : 31.901 (First Division)
• 1992/93 : 24,403 ( Premier League )
• 1993/94 : 30,564 (Premier League)
• 1994/95 : 35,353 (Premier League)
• 1995/96 : 37,568 (Premier League)
• 1996/97 : 37,821 (Premier League)
• 1997/98 : 38.053 (Premier League)
• 1998/99 : 38.024 (Premier League)
• 1999/00 : 38.033 (Premier League)
• 2000/01 : 37,974 (Premier League)
• 2001/02 : 38,055 (Premier League)
• 2002/03 : 38.042 (Premier League)
• 2003/04 : 38.079 (Premier League)
• 2004/05 : 37,979 (Premier League)
• 2005/06 : 38,184 (Premier League)
• 2006/07 : 60,045 (Premier League)
• 2007/08 : 60,070 (Premier League)
• 2008/09 : 60,040 (Premier League)
• 2009/10 : 59,927 (Premier League)
• 2010/11 : 60,025 (Premier League)
• 2011/12 : 60,000 (Premier League)
• 2012/13 : 60.079 (Premier League)
• 2013/14 : 59,487 (Premier League)
• 2014/15 : 59,992 (Premier League)
• 2015/16 : 59.944 (Premier League)
• 2016/17 : 59.957 (Premier League)
• 2017/18 : 59,323 (Premier League)
• 2018/19 : 59.899 (Premier League)

Supporters of the club

The Gooners

Arsenal FC has a large and usually loyal fan base, which is mainly reflected in the fact that home games are usually sold out. In relation to the 2006/07 season, Arsenal FC had the second highest average attendance of an English football club (60,045 spectators, which corresponded to a 99.8% occupancy rate at the Emirates Stadium). Cumulative over all seasons in the history of English football, Arsenal FC received the fourth best popularity, although it must be taken into account that the pre-war figures in particular are based on estimates and cannot be regarded as accurate.

The Arsenal supporters refer to themselves as "The Gooners" in a modification of the club's nickname "The Gunners". Because of the club's geographic location, fans come from the wealthy Canonbury and Barnsbury boroughs , mixed populations of Islington , Holloway and Highbury , and from large working-class areas such as Finsbury Park and Stoke Newington . With around 7.7%, according to a report from 2002 - in relation to all English first division clubs at that time - Arsenal FC has the highest proportion of “not white British” viewers, which in comparison to the total share of only one percent based on all associations, demonstrates a well above-average response from ethnic minorities.

Like many of the major English football clubs, Arsenal FC has a number of official fan clubs that are directly linked to the club, such as the Official Arsenal Football Supporters Club, and supporters' associations that retain their full independence especially the "Arsenal Independent Supporters' Association" should be mentioned. The fan clubs also publish magazines about club activities (" Fanzines "), including "The Gooner", "Highbury High", "Gunflash" and "Up The Ass!" In addition to the usual English fan chants, “One-Nil to the Arsenal” to the tune of the song “ Go West ” and “Boring, Boring Arsenal” can often be heard among Arsenal fans. The last-mentioned chorus used to be used as an insult by the opposing fans in view of the often very defensive style of playing Arsenal from the 1970s to the beginning of the 1990s, but later it was ironically voiced by its own supporters precisely when the team was playing particularly well .

In the recent past, as with other clubs, the regional anchoring of the fans to the respective local clubs has become increasingly clear, which has resulted in the fact that Arsenal FC is gaining ever larger fan shares outside of London in the rest of England and worldwide. Although the club had previously had smaller foreign fan communities, the fan base has expanded rapidly since it was spread via satellite television . In addition, some important new fan clubs have sprung up around the world. The ITV subsidiary “Granada Ventures”, which at the time held a 9.9% stake in the club, estimated the global fan base of Arsenal FC at 27 million, the third highest popularity of a football club.

With Tottenham Hotspur , Arsenal FC has its most traditional and greatest rivalry, also because of the smallest regional distance. The games between these two teams are known as the "North London Derby". The games against other teams from London such as Chelsea FC and West Ham United are also known as derbies . The intensity in these games is significantly lower than in games between Arsenal and Tottenham. Since the end of the 1980s, a great rivalry between Arsenal and Manchester United has developed on the field , which has intensified significantly in the recent past, as the two clubs were often in direct competition to win the English championship.

Financial situation / ownership

As the parent company of Arsenal, "Arsenal Holdings plc" operates as a limited company , whereby the ownership structure differs enormously from that of other football clubs. Arsenal has only issued 62,217 shares, which are also not traded on public exchanges, but rather irregularly on the specialist market “PLUS”. According to the valuation at the turn of the year 2012/13 the company has a market value of 955.7 million British pounds. The "Arsenal Holdings plc" group of companies consolidates eleven subsidiaries, including the football club itself ("Arsenal Football Club plc"), the stadium operator ("Arsenal (Emirates Stadium) Limited") and "Arsenal Overseas Ltd", which is responsible for foreign issues . For the fiscal year ended May 31, 2012, the group posted positive pre-tax earnings of £ 36.6 million and total sales of £ 243.0 million. The business magazine Forbes estimated the team value of Arsenal FC in April 2013 at 1.326 billion US dollars and ranked the club in fourth place among the world's most lucrative football clubs behind Real Madrid , Manchester United and FC Barcelona . The auditing company Deloitte ranked Arsenal FC in sixth place in its “ Football Money League ” ranking in 2013 due to sales of 290.3 million euros in the 2011/12 season . In 2012, its debt was £ 98m and salaries were £ 143m, making Arsenal the fourth-highest player payout of any football club in England.

As of March 2013, the majority of the 62,217 shares are owned by the US entrepreneur Stan Kroenke . For the acquisition of a total of 66.83% of the shares, he required a financing volume equivalent to around 500 million euros. In the same month of March 2013, a rumored anonymous offer from Qatar to Kroenke for around 960 million euros plus a 100% takeover target for around 1.7 billion euros caused a stir. The club management of Arsenal FC denied a corresponding offer.

Arsenal in pop culture

As one of England's most successful football teams, Arsenal was often cited when the cultural life was concerned with domestic football. After an English championship game was broadcast live on the radio for the first time on January 22, 1927 with the home game of Arsenal FC against Sheffield United, the first match televised took place on September 16, 1937 between Arsenal and its reserve team. Even in the first edition of the BBC telecast Match of the Day was Arsenal's match on August 22, 1964 in Liverpool in Anfield to see a summary.

The 1939 film The Arsenal Stadium Mystery is also one of the first of its kind to deal with the topic of football. This film is about a friendly match between Arsenal and an amateur team in which a player is poisoned during the game. Many Arsenal actors play themselves, only George Allison had a speaking role.

In the recent past, the bestseller Fever Pitch , written by Nick Hornby , has achieved worldwide fame, in which the author describes his relationship to football and especially to Arsenal in an autobiographical manner. The literary work, published in 1992 , was partly responsible for the rehabilitation and establishment of football within British society in the 1990s , after it was widely ostracized by large sections of the public in the 1980s due to events such as the Heysel disaster . The book was made into a film in 1997 with Colin Firth in the lead role, with the representation primarily focused on winning the championship in the 1988/89 season. The book also inspired the 2005 US film " A Man for a Season, " which dealt with the life of a major league baseball fanatic, the Boston Red Sox .

Especially in the 1970s to the beginning of the 1990s, Arsenal FC was the target of ridicule in the comedic field due to the defensive and “boring” style of play. The comedian Eric Morecambe stood out in particular . Even back in 1997, a scene in the film All or Not at all referred to a defensive formation of Arsenal FC when the main characters moved in a line, raised hands together , claiming the successful outcome of their offside trap . Another reference to Arsenal's defense is the film Plunkett & Macleane - Against Death and the Devil , where two characters are named after long-time full-backs Lee Dixon and Nigel Winterburn .

In addition, the association was the subject of many sketches in " Monty Python's Flying Circus ". In the book The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams , the barman remarked, in view of the impending end of the world, "Good luck for Arsenal, if it's true." In 2004, the main characters in the gangster comedy Ocean’s wore 12 Gunners' sports suits, especially during theft Escape Europe from a hotel.

Arsenal FC was also frequently represented in pop music. For example, Joe Strummer wrote the song Tony Adams in a dedication to the then team captain , which was part of his 1999 album "Rock Art and the X-Ray Style". Strummer was also known for wearing an Arsenal fan scarf during his appearances - despite the fact that he was a supporter of Chelsea FC . Together with Tottenham Hotspur , Arsenal FC was also mentioned in the song Billy's Bones by The Pogues from the second album Rum, Sodomy & the Lash . The club itself was represented several times at least in the British charts. It has a certain tradition in Great Britain that famous clubs in particular occasionally publish a record . In 1971 Good Old Arsenal reached number 16 in the charts, in May 1993 Shouting for the Gunners came to number 34. In 1998 the greatest musical success was celebrated: The cover version Hot Stuff , originally by Donna Summer , made it into the top 10 with a different text 9th place.

Title / Achievements

National

English championship : 13

• 1931 , 1933 , 1934 , 1935 , 1938 , 1948 , 1953 , 1971 , 1989 , 1991 , 1998 , 2002 , 2004

English Cup (FA Cup): 14 (record)

• 1930, 1936, 1950, 1971, 1979, 1993 , 1998 , 2002 , 2003 , 2005 , 2014 , 2015 , 2017 , 2020

English League Cup: 2

• 1987 , 1993

English Supercup (Charity Shield / Community Shield): 15

• 1930 , 1931 , 1933 , 1934 , 1938 , 1948 , 1953 , 1991 (divided), 1998 , 1999 , 2002 , 2004 , 2014 , 2015 , 2017

International

Trade fair trophy : 1

• 1970

European Cup Winners' Cup : 1

• 1994

player

Squad of the 2020/21 season

As of August 23, 2020

No.	Nat.	Surname	birthday	in the team since
goal
01		Bernd Leno	04th Mar 1992	2018
26th		Emiliano Martínez	0Sep 2 1992	2012
33		Matt Macey	0Sep 9 1994	2013
Defense
02		Héctor Bellerin	19 Mar 1995	2014
03		Kieran Tierney	0June 5, 1997	2019
04th		William Saliba	24 Mar 2001	2019
05		Socratis	0June 9, 1988	2018
16		Rob Holding	Sep 20 1995	2016
17th		Cedric	Aug 31, 1991	2020
20th		Shkodran Mustafi	Apr 17, 1992	2016
21st		Calum Chambers	Jan. 20, 1995	2014
22nd		Pablo Marí	Aug 31, 1993	2020
23		David Luiz	Apr 22, 1987	2019
31		Sead Kolašinac	June 20, 1993	2017
midfield
07th		Bukayo Saka	05th Sep 2001	2008
10		Mesut Özil	Oct 15, 1988	2013
11		Lucas Torreira	Feb 11, 1996	2018
15th		Ainsley Maitland-Niles	Aug 29, 1997	2014
28		Joe Willock	Aug 20, 1999
29		Mattéo Guendouzi	Apr. 14, 1999	2018
34		Granite Xhaka	27 Sep 1992	2016
		Emile Smith Rowe U23	July 28, 2000
		Mohamed Elneny	July 11, 1992	2016
Storm
09		Alexandre Lacazette	May 28, 1991	2017
12		Willian	0Aug 9, 1988	2020
14th		Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang	June 18, 1989	2018
19th		Nicolas Pépé	May 29, 1995	2019
24		Rip Nelson	Dec 10, 1999	2007
30th		Eddie Nketiah	May 30, 1999	2015
35		Gabriel Martinelli	June 18, 2001	2019

^U23 also in the U23 squad

Transfers of the 2020/21 season

Accesses
time	player	Transferring club
Summer 2020	Mohamed Elneny	Beşiktaş Istanbul (Lender)
	Henrich Mchitarjan	AS Roma (loanee)
	William Saliba	AS Saint-Étienne (loanee)
	Willian	Chelsea FC

Departures
time	player	Receiving club
Summer 2020	Konstantinos Mavropanos	VfB Stuttgart (loan)

Former players

→ Main article : List of Arsenal FC players

The following list shows the 20 players with the most competitive appearances and goals in the history of Arsenal FC.

Calls 1 David O'Leary 1975-1993 722 2 Tony Adams 1983-2002 669 3 George Armstrong 1961-1977 621 4th Lee Dixon 1988-2002 619 5 Nigel Winterburn 1987-2000 584 6th David Seaman 1990-2003 564 7th Pat Rice 1964-1980 528 8th Peter Storey 1965-1977 501 9 John Radford 1964-1976 481 10 Peter Simpson 1964-1988 477 11 Bob John 1922-1937 470 12 Ray Parlor 1992-2004 466 13 Graham Rix 1978-1988 464 14th Martin Keown 1984-2004 449 15th Paul Davis 1978-1995 447 16 Eddie Hapgood 1927-1944 440 17th Paul Merson 1985-1997 425 18th Dennis Bergkamp 1995-2006 423 19th Patrick Vieira 1996-2005 406 20th Frank McLintock 1964-1973 403

Gates 1 Thierry Henry 1999-2007, 2012 228 2 Ian Wright 1991-1998 185 3 Cliff Bastin 1929-1947 178 4th John Radford 1964-1976 149 5 Jimmy Brain 1923-1931 139 Ted Drake 1934-1945 7th Doug Lishman 1948-1956 137 8th Joe Hulme 1926-1938 125 9 David Jack 1928-1934 124 10 Dennis Bergkamp 1995-2006 121 11 Reg Lewis 1935-1953 118 12 Robin van Persie 2004–2012 116 13 Alan Smith 1987-1995 115 14th Jack Lambert 1926-1933 109 15th Frank Stapleton 1974-1981 108 16 David Herd 1954-1961 107 17th Joe Baker 1962-1966 100 18th Paul Merson 1985-1997 99 19th Don Roper 1947-1957 95 20th Alan Sunderland 1977-1984 92

Coach chronicle

Arsène Wenger resigned at the end of the 2017/18 season after 22 years as Arsenal coach; under him the team won 17 titles

Status: end of the 2013/14 season. Only official games were considered.
(P, S, U, N = number of games / wins / draws / defeats; T + / T- = number of hits / goals against)

Surname	nation	From	To	statistics
				P	S.	U	N	T +	T-
Thomas Mitchell		August 1897	March 1898	26th	14th	4th	8th	66	46
William Elcoat		April 1898	February 1899	43	23	6th	14th	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	January 6, 1934	403	201	97	105	864	598
Joe Shaw		January 6, 1934	June 1934	23	14th	3	6th	44	29
George Allison		June 1934	June 1947	283	131	75	77	543	333
Tom Whittaker		June 1947	October 24, 1956	428	202	106	120	797	566
Jack Crayston		October 24, 1956	May 1958	77	33	16	28	142	142
George Swindin		June 21, 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	May 4th 1976	539	241	148	150	739	542
Terry Neill		July 9, 1976	December 16, 1983	414	187	117	112	601	446
Don Howe		December 16, 1983	March 22, 1986	116	56	32	31	187	142
Steve Burtenshaw		March 23, 1986	May 14, 1986	11	3	2	6th	7th	15th
George Graham		May 14, 1986	February 21, 1995	460	225	133	102	711	403
Stewart Houston		February 21, 1995	June 15, 1995	19th	7th	3	9	29	25th
Bruce Rioch		June 15, 1995	August 12, 1996	47	22nd	15th	10	67	37
Stewart Houston		August 12, 1996	September 15, 1996	6th	2	2	2	11	10
Pat Rice		September 16, 1996	September 30, 1996	4th	3	0	1	10	4th
Arsène Wenger		October 1, 1996	June 30, 2018	1009	577	238	194	1864	977
Unai Emery		1st July 2018	November 28, 2019	78	43	15th	20th	158	105
Freddie Ljungberg		29th November 2019	December 21, 2019	6th	1	3	2	8th	10
Mikel Arteta		22nd December 2019		0	0	0	0	0	0

"Arsenal Reserves", "Arsenal Academy" and "Scouting"

The "Arsenal Reserves" are the official second team of Arsenal FC. They have been playing in the associated southern division ("Southern Division") since the founding of the " Premier Reserve League " in 1999 and play their home games at Underhill Stadium at the same time is the sporting home of FC Barnet . Arsenal FC's reserve team usually consists of young players from its own academy who have not yet passed the age of 21. Often, however, this team is also used by established players from the first team, especially when they want to get some match practice after an injury break, for example.

The reserve team is currently being trained by Neil Banfield , who is also assisted by Mike Salmon as an assistant. Liam Brady, the director of the youth academy “Arsenal Academy” (his assistant is David Court ), is responsible for the basic development of the second team .

Since the earliest days as "Royal Arsenal" in Plumstead, the club had a reserve team that won their first title in 1890 with the "Kent Junior Cup". As “Woolwich Arsenal” - as the club was called from 1891 - they joined the “Kent League” in the 1895/95 season, won the championship in 1897 and left this league again in 1900 - or a short time later. After the end of the First World War, the Arsenal reserve team became part of the "London Combination" (later: "Football Combination") and was active there for many years until 1999. In total, the team was able to win 18 championships and added three trophies in the "Combination Cup". The club then co-founded the FA Premier Reserve League and continues to play there to this day. There have been no notable successes so far - apart from winning the runner-up at the end of the 2001/02 season.

The "Arsenal Academy" has had the official status of a football academy since 1998 and accommodates young people between the ages of nine and 21 years. Normally, age selections are formed in the youth teams from U-9 up to U-16, which are currently under the joint control of Roy Massey and are located in the "Hale End Training Center". The former U-17 and U-19 teams and the associated championship rounds were abolished by the FA at the end of the 2003/04 season and instead a U-18 league was set up in which the academy teams of the individual clubs have competed against each other since then. Usually, the Steve Bould- supervised Arsenal U-18 squad train in the same place as the professional team.

Probably the most prominent upstart from academia work is Ashley Cole , who became a regular in the first team in the left defensive position, became an England national player and now plays for AS Roma . With the Danish striker Nicklas Bendtner , who joined the Arsenal Academy at the age of 16, the club produced another player up to the senior national team in his country. In addition, the graduates include (former) England U-21 internationals Stuart Taylor , Jermaine Pennant , David Bentley , Steve Sidwell and Justin Hoyte . In addition, Jérémie Aliadière, a former French U-21 selection player, comes from the Arsenal youth team.

In the field of scouting , Arsenal FC has a global structure for the screening of players. This department is currently headed by Steve Rowley, who has been with the club since 1980 and previously worked in an assistant role for the sighting of youth players. He later made expert reports on upcoming opponents of the professional team. In 1996 Arsène Wenger promoted him to "Chief Scout". Above all, Rowley heads a network of 16 domestic “scouts” who regularly report to him on successful sightings.

successes

(Only the titles of the reserve team are listed.)

• Masters in the "Football Combination" (formerly: "London Combination"): 18 (1923, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1934, 1935, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1947, 1951, 1963, 1969, 1970, 1984, 1990)
• Football Combination Cup winners: 3 (1953, 1968, 1970)
• Winner in the "London FA Challenge Cup": 7 (1934, 1936, 1954, 1955, 1958, 1963, 1970)
• Champion in the "Kent League": 1 (1897)
• Champions in the "West Kent League": 3 (1901, 1902, 1903)
• Champion in the "London League First Division": 3 (1902, 1904, 1907)
• Kent Junior Cup winners: 1 (1890)

Arsenal Women FC

→ Main article : Arsenal Women FC

In 1987 Arsenal Women FC (Arsenal Women FC or Arsenal WFC for short, until July 2017: Arsenal Ladies Football Club or Arsenal LFC) was founded. Vic Akers was the founder of the association . They are the most successful women's football club in England. Arsenal WFC's venue is Meadow Park in Borehamwood , Hertfordshire .

successes

International

• UEFA Women's Cup winner: 2007

National

• FA WSL : 3

2011, 2012, 2018/19

• FA Women's Premier League National Division: 12

1992/93, 1994/95, 1996/97, 2000/01, 2001/02, 2003/04, 2004/05, 2005/06, 2006/07, 2007/08, 2008/09, 2009/10

• FA Women's Cup : 14

1992/93, 1994/95, 1997/98, 1998/99, 2000/01, 2003/04, 2005/06, 2006/07, 2007/08, 2008/09, 2010/11, 2012/13, 2013 / 14, 2015/16

• FA WSL Continental Cup: 5th

2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2018

• FA Women's Premier League Cup: 10

1991/92, 1992/93, 1993/94, 1997/98, 1998/99, 1999/2000, 2000/01, 2004/05, 2006/07, 2008/09

• FA Women's Community Shield: 5

2000, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008

• London County FA Women's Cup: 10

1994/95, 1995/96, 1996/97, 1999/2000, 2003/04, 2006/07, 2007/08, 2008/09, 2009/10, 2010/11

• FA Women's Premier League Southern Division: 1

1991/92

• Highfield Cup: 1st

1990/91

• Reebok Cup: 2nd

1991/92, 1995/96

• AXA Challenge Cup: 1st

1998/99

Statistics and records

• Club records
  • Victories
    • Most championship wins in one season - 29 in 42 games, First Division , 1970-71 season
    • Fewest championship wins in one season - 3 in 38 games, First Division , 1912/13 season
  • Defeats
    • Most championship defeats in one season - 23 in 38 games, First Division , 1912/13 season
    • Fewest championship defeats in one season - 0 in 38 games, Premier League , 2003/04 season
  • Gates
    • Most championship goals scored in one season - 127 in 42 games, First Division , 1930/31 season
    • Fewest championship goals scored in one season - 26 in 38 games, First Division , 1912/13 season
    • Most championship goals conceded in one season - 86 in 42 games, First Division , 1926-27, 1927-28 seasons
    • Fewest championship goals conceded in one season - 17 in 38 games, Premier League , 1998/99 season
  • Points
    • Most championship points scored in one season (2-point rule) - 66 in 42 games, First Division , 1930/31 season
    • Most championship points scored in one season (3-point rule) - 90 in 38 games, Premier League , 2003/04 season
    • Fewest championship points scored in a season (2-point rule) - 18 in 38 games, First Division , 1912/13 season
    • Fewest championship points scored in a season (3-point rule) - 51 in 42 games, Premier League , 1994/95 season
  • Games
    • Debuts
      • First game - friendly against the Eastern Wanderers, December 11, 1886 (6-0)
      • First FA Cup game - first qualifying round against FC Lyndhurst , 5 October 1889 (11-0)
      • First FA Cup main round match - first round match against Derby County , January 17, 1891 (1: 2)
      • First championship game - against Newcastle United in the Second Division , September 2, 1893 (2-2)
      • First first division game - against Newcastle United , September 3, 1904 (0: 3)
      • First game in Highbury - against Leicester Fosse in the Second Division , September 16, 1913 (2-1)
      • First European Cup game - against Stævnet (Copenhagen XI) in the Messepokal , September 25, 1963 (7: 1)
      • First league cup game - against Gillingham FC , September 13, 1966 (1-1)
      • First game at the Emirates Stadium - friendly against Ajax Amsterdam , July 22, 2006 (2: 1)
    • Record victories
      • Biggest championship win - 12-0 (at home against Loughborough Town in the Second Division , March 12, 1900)
      • Biggest FA Cup win - 12-0 (home game against Ashford United , October 14, 1893)
      • Highest first division win - 9: 1 (in the home game against Grimsby Town , January 28, 1931)
      • Biggest Premier League win - 7-0 (home games against Everton FC , 11 May 2005 and against Middlesbrough FC , 14 January 2006)
      • Biggest league cup win - 7-0 (at home against Leeds United , September 4, 1979)
      • Highest away win and highest win in a European Cup away game - 7-0 (against Standard Liège in the European Cup Winners' Cup , November 3, 1993)
      • Biggest win at Highbury - 11-1 (against FC Darwen in the FA Cup , January 9, 1932)
      • Biggest win at Emirates Stadium - 7-0 (against Slavia Prague in the Champions League , 23 October 2007)
      • Biggest win in a European Cup game - 7-0 (away from Standard Liège in the European Cup Winners' Cup on November 3, 1993 and in the home game against Slavia Prague in the Champions League on October 23, 2007)
    • Record defeats
      • Biggest championship defeat - 8-0 (away game against Loughborough Town in the Second Division , December 12, 1896)
      • Biggest home loss - 6-0 (to Derby County in FA Cup , January 28, 1899)
      • Biggest defeat in FA Cup - 6-0 (in the home game against Derby County in the FA Cup , January 28, 1899 and in the away game against West Ham United , January 5, 1946)
      • Biggest first division defeat - 7-0, always in away games (against Blackburn Rovers on October 2, 1909, West Bromwich Albion on October 14, 1922, Newcastle United on October 3, 1925 and against West Ham United on March 7, 1927)
      • Biggest Premier League defeat - 8-2 (away game against Manchester United , 28 August 2011)
      • Biggest league cup defeat - 5-0 (at home against Chelsea , November 11, 1999)
      • Biggest European defeat - 5-1 (in the away game against FC Bayern Munich in the Champions League , November 4, 2015)
      • Biggest home defeat at Highbury - 5-0, (against Huddersfield Town in First Division , February 14, 1925 and Chelsea FC in the League Cup , November 11, 1999)
      • Biggest home defeat at the Emirates Stadium - 1: 5 (against FC Bayern Munich in the Champions League , March 7, 2017)
    • Draw records
      • The highest-scoring draw - 6-6 (in an away match against Leicester City in the First Division , April 21, 1930)
    • Series
      • Victories
        • Series of games won (all competitions) - 14 (September 12, 1987 to November 11, 1987)
        • Series of games won (championship only) - 14 (February 10, 2002 to August 18, 2002)
      • draw
        • Longest series of draws (both in all competitions and only in relation to the championship) - 6 (March 3, 1961 to April 1, 1961)
      • Defeats
        • Series of lost games (all competitions) - 8 (February 12, 1977 to March 12, 1977)
        • Series of lost games (championship only) - 7 (February 12, 1977 to March 12, 1977)
      • Games without defeat
        • Series of undefeated games (all competitions) - 28 (April 9, 2007 to November 24, 2007)
        • Series of undefeated games (championship only) - 49 (May 7, 2003 to October 16, 2004)
    • Attendance records
      • Biggest home crowd - 73,707 (against RC Lens in the Champions League , November 25, 1998 at Wembley Stadium , where Arsenal played their Champions League home games between 1998 and 1999).
      • Biggest crowd at Highbury - 73,295 (against Sunderland in First Division , March 9, 1935)
      • Emirates Stadium highest attendance - 60,161 (v Manchester United in the Premier League , November 3, 2007)
• Player records
  • Individual club records
    • Most competitive players - 722, David O'Leary between 1975 and 1993
    • Youngest player used - Cesc Fàbregas , 16 years, 177 days (v Rotherham United , English League Cup , October 28, 2003)
    • Oldest player used - Jock Rutherford , 41 years, 159 days (v Manchester City , First Division , March 20, 1926)
    • Record missions without a break - Tom Parker , 172 (April 3, 1926 to December 26, 1929)
    • Most competitive goals - 229, Thierry Henry between 1999 and 2007 and 2012
    • Most goals in a season - 44, Ted Drake (1934/35)
    • Most championship goals in one season - 42, Ted Drake , (1934/35)
    • Most goals in a game - 7, Ted Drake (v Aston Villa , First Division , December 14, 1935)
    • Most goals in a home game - 5, Jack Lambert (v Sheffield United , First Division , December 24, 1932)
    • Fastest goal - 13 seconds, Alan Sunderland (v Liverpool FC in the FA Cup, April 28, 1980)
  • International matches
    • First international - Caesar Jenkyns (for Wales v Scotland , March 21, 1896)
    • England first international - Jimmy Ashcroft (v Ireland , February 17, 1906)
    • Record international - Patrick Vieira , 79 appearances for France (while at Arsenal)
    • Record international for England - Kenny Sansom , 77 appearances (during his time at Arsenal)
    • First World Cup competitor - Dave Bowen and Jack Kelsey (for Wales versus Hungary , June 8, 1958)
    • England's first World Cup competitor - Graham Rix and Kenny Sansom (v France , June 16, 1982)
    • First participant in a World Cup final - Emmanuel Petit and Patrick Vieira (as substitutes) (for France against Brazil , July 12, 1998)

literature

• Soar, Phil & Tyler, Martin : The Official Illustrated History of Arsenal 1886–2008 . Hamlyn, 2008, ISBN 978-0-600-61889-8 .
• Spurling, Jon: Rebels For The Cause: The Alternative History of Arsenal Football Club . Mainstream, 2004, ISBN 0-575-40015-3 .
• Alex Flynn, Kevin Whitcher: The Glorious Game - Arsene Wenger, Arsenal and the Quest for Success . Orion, London 2003, ISBN 0-7528-6040-2 .
• Nick Hornby : Fever Pitch . Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 1997, ISBN 3-462-02586-4 .
• Amy Lawrence: Proud to Say That Name: The Marble Hall of Fame . Mainstream, 1997, ISBN 1-85158-898-1 .
• Jem Maidment: The Official Arsenal 100 Greatest Games . Hamlyn, 2005, ISBN 0-600-61376-3 .
• Alan Roper: The Real Arsenal Story: In the Days of Gog . Wherry, 2003, ISBN 0-9546259-0-0 .
• David Tossell: Seventy-One Guns: The Year of the First Arsenal Double . Mainstream, 2002, ISBN 1-84018-589-9 .
• Graham Weaver: Gunners' Glory: 14 Milestones in Arsenal's History . Mainstream, 2005, ISBN 1-84018-667-4 .

Web links

Commons : Arsenal FC  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website (English)
• "Arsenal statistics" (Arseweb)

Footnotes

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l} "England - Football Statistics Archive - League Records" (The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation).
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} At this point in time two points were awarded for every win and one point for every draw. The goal quotient is calculated from the quotient of goals scored by oneself (numerator) and the goals scored against (denominator).
3. ↑ Another football team, whose origins come from the Royal Arsenal company, was founded in 1884 as Woolwich Union . Some Dial Square players, including Fred Beardsley , had previously played for this team. However, club historians generally consider Dial Square to be Arsenal's direct predecessor. (translated into German) Source: Phil Soar and Martin Tyler: The Official Illustrated History of Arsenal . 2005, p. 21-22 .
4. ↑ The number of goals scored by Dial Square is controversial, although the number six is ​​the official record. (translated into German) Source: Soar & Tyler (2005), p. 23.
5. ^ Jon Spurling, Rebels For The Cause: The Alternative History of Arsenal Football Club . 2004, p. 40 .
6. ↑ In 1915, McKenna's Liverpool club was found guilty, along with Manchester United, of postponing a game that United won 2-0. This result meant that United finished the season one point ahead of Chelsea and thus held the class. One theory is that Norris agreed to oppose anything that could result in Liverpool and United being relegated from the major leagues in order to gain the votes necessary to favor Arsenal in return. However, concrete evidence could never be found. Source: "Lucky, lucky Arsenal" (The Guardian)
7. ↑ Norris left the club in 1929 after being found guilty by the FA of financial irregularities. He was caught misusing his expense account; In addition, he enriched himself from the income from the sale of the Arsenals club bus. (translated into German) Source: Spurling (2004), pp. 46–48.
8. ^ "FA Cup Final 1932" ( Memento from March 11, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (FA Cup History (unofficial website))
9. ↑ Arsenal still holds the record for most players in an English national team starting eleven; in terms of the number of players on the field at an independent time, that record is shared with Manchester United after seven United players - including two substitutions - at the end of the game against Albania on March 28, 2001.
10. ^ Spurling (2004), pp. 74-76.
11. ↑ From the 1981/82 season onwards, a winning team was awarded three points in a championship game - instead of two points previously.
12. ↑ Spurling (2004), pp. 133-151, tells of Arsenal's devastating Australian tour in 1977, which culminated in Neill sending the players Hudson and Macdonald back home.
13. ^ Spurling (2004), p. 179.
14. ↑ Arsenal FC was deducted two points this season because ten of the club's players had been involved in a fight with opponents from Manchester United.
15. ↑ Graham was eventually banned from the Football Association for a year because of his involvement in the scandal after admitting that he had received an "unsolicited gift" from Hauge. (translated into German) Source: "Rune Hauge, international man of mystery" (The Guardian).
16. ^ "Fifa to probe Arsenal's feeder-club deal" (The Guardian).
17. ^ "Arsenal face Fifa investigation" (BBC Newsnight).
18. ^ "Arsenal probe finds no evidence" (BBC Sport).
19. ^ "Takeover forces Dein out of Arsenal" (Belfast Telegraph).
20. ↑ "28 Unbeaten: Top men and magic moments" ( Memento of August 29, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (Arsenal.com).
21. ^ "San Siro hero aglow as Arsenal progress" (UEFA.com).
22. ↑ " Arsenal v. Reed in the Court of Appeal ” ( April 8, 2008 memento on the Internet Archive ) (Michael Simkins LLP).
23. ^ "Arsenal go for a makeover" (BBC News).
24. ^ ^{A b} "Arsenal" (Historical Football Kits).
25. ^ "Arsenal Kit Design" (Arsenal.com).
26. ^ "80s Shirts" ( Memento from March 5, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) (Arsenal Shirts).
27. ^ "2000s Shirts" ( Memento from December 21, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) (Arsenal Shirts).
28. ^ "Club Charter" (Arsenal.com).
29. ↑ ^{a b} "Emirates and Arsenal agree new £ 150m deal" ( Memento from November 26, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (arsenal.com)
30. ^ "Arsenal agree £ 30m-a-year deal with Puma in most lucrative kit contract in Britain" (Daily Mail)
31. ^ "Highbury - history" (Arsenal.com).
32. ^ "Arsenal name new ground" (BBC Sport).
33. ^ "The 'E' Word" ( Memento of October 8, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) (Arsenal World).
34. ↑ weltfussball.de: average attendance of the highest English league since 1975/76
35. ^ "Premiership 2006-07 Attendances" (Tony's English Football site).
36. ^ "All Time League Attendance Records" ( Memento from February 24, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (Nufc.com).
37. ↑ "Soccer violence declining say fans" (BBC News).
38. ^ "Boring, Boring Arsenal" (Time).
39. ^ "Arsenal FC - the Premiership's fastest growing football brand" (Granada Ventures).
40. ↑ ^{a b c} "Arsenal Holdings plc" ( Memento from January 26, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (Arsenal.com).
41. ^ "Arsenal Holdings plc" (ISDX).
42. ^ Mike Ozanian: Soccer's Most Valuable Teams. In: forbes.com. Retrieved November 27, 2013 (eng). 
43. ^ "Deloitte Football Money League 2013" (Deloitte).
44. ^ Theguardian.co.uk:Premier League finances: the full club-by-club breakdown and verdict
45. ↑ "Consortium plans record takeover of Arsenal FC" (Kicker.de)
46. ^ "GGM 40: Highbury stages first live broadcast" ( Memento of May 17, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (Arsenal.com).
47. ^ "Happened on this day - September 16" (BBC Sport).
48. ^ "History of Match of the Day" (BBC Sport).
49. ^ "The Arsenal Stadium Mystery" ( Internet Movie Database ).
50. ^ ^{A b} "Arsenal at the movies" (Arseweb).
51. ↑ everyhit.com, search mask: "Arsenal FC" or "Arsenal FA" .
52. ^ Players , arsenal.com
53. ↑ Arsenal , premierleague.com.
54. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} employed as an interim trainer.
55. ↑ Although Wenger's commitment had already been announced before the game against Sunderland on September 28, 1996, Pat Rice was still looking after the team during this game and Wenger did not officially take over the team until October 1, source: " Wenger 1996 to 2006: the French evolutionary “ ( Memento of August 29, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (Arsenal.com).
56. ^ "Woolwich Arsenal Reserves" (Football Club History Database).
57. ^ "Complete Honors List" ( Memento of April 8, 2003 in the Internet Archive ) (Arsenal Pics).
58. ↑ Arsenal defeated Clapton Orient during the Second World War on February 8, 1941 with an even higher score of 15: 2, but this game was not recognized as an official competitive game.
59. ↑ On that day, Arsenal had to play two games on the same day. While the regular lineup against FC Leyton competed in the FA Cup, a reserve selection acted in the league against Loughborough Town, which resulted in a significant proportion of this high defeat.
60. ↑ Arsenal lost 9-0 to Chelsea in the so-called "London Combination" during the First World War . However, the encounter was not recognized as an official competition.
61. ↑ Laurie Scott and George Eastham received nominations in the respective English squad in 1950, 1962 and 1966, but did not come up with a minute.

This article was added to the list of excellent articles on March 25, 2008 in this version .