George Graham (soccer player)

George Graham
Graham (1970)
Personnel
birthday	November 30, 1944
place of birth	Bargeddie ,  Scotland
position	Central midfield
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1961-1964	Aston Villa	8 0(2)
1964-1966	Chelsea FC	72 (35)
1966-1972	Arsenal FC	226 (60)
1972-1974	Manchester United	43 0(2)
1974-1976	Portsmouth FC	61 0(5)
1976-1977	Crystal Palace	44 0(2)
1978	California Surf	17 0(0)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
1971-1973	Scotland	12 (3)
Stations as a trainer
Years	station
1982-1986	Millwall FC
1986-1995	Arsenal FC
1996-1998	Leeds United
1998-2001	Tottenham Hotspur
1 Only league games are given.

George Graham (born November 30, 1944 in Bargeddie , Lanarkshire , Scotland ) is a former Scottish football player and coach . He is best known for his engagements with the English club Arsenal , for which he celebrated successes both as a player in the early 1970s and as a coach in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Player career

Despite his Scottish origins, George Graham played almost without exception in England. At the age of 17 he joined in 1961 Aston Villa on, was three years for this club in Birmingham active, but was ultimately only eight inserts - one of them in the final defeat of the club in the League Cup against Birmingham City in the year 1963rd

For a transfer fee of 5,000 British pounds, Chelsea FC committed Graham in July 1964. There he scored 35 goals in 72 championship games and won the English League Cup in 1965. However, there were ever greater disputes with the then coach Tommy Docherty , in which not only Graham but also numerous teammates were affected. When Graham and seven other players of the club ahead of a Test match to them imposed curfew ignored the coach spoke of far-reaching disciplinary measures. For £ 75,000, the club let Graham go in the direction of London rivals Arsenal, in exchange a year later - as part of the transfer - Tommy Baldwin moved from Arsenal to Chelsea. Graham started there initially in the position of the center forward , but was later used a little behind the central attacker. In 1971, Graham achieved his greatest success as an active player at Arsenal FC when he won the English Cup and Championship double . However, when Alan Ball joined Arsenal, Graham was ousted from the regular lineup and finally resold to Manchester United in December 1972 for £ 120,000 .

Graham spent two years at United, where he was team captain when the club had to move into the second-rate Second Division . The last club stations of his footballing career were Portsmouth FC and Crystal Palace . In the summer of 1978 he also played in the United States for California Surf in the NASL .

For the Scottish national team Graham came in the period between 1971 and 1973 on a total of 12 internationals.

Coaching career

After retiring as an active player, Graham moved into the coaching business and gained his first experience as a cotrainer at Crystal Palace and the Queens Park Rangers . On December 6, 1982 he committed to Millwall, the then bottom of the table of the third division Third Division as head coach. Graham still managed to stay up and in 1985 the team even rose to the second-rate Second Division . The management of his old club, Arsenal FC, then decided on May 14, 1986 to employ Graham as their coach in the future. Arsenal had not won a significant title since 1979 at this point, which should change significantly for the better under the new coach. In the eight-year tenure of coach Graham, the team won two English championships, twice the League Cup, one-time FA Cup and the European Cup Winners' Cup , making them one of the best teams of the late 1980s and early 1990s and Graham brought a number of above average good players such as David Seaman , Nigel Winterburn , Lee Dixon and Ian Wright . In its later phase, the Graham era was also marked by numerous incorrect purchases, including the names Eddie McGoldrick , Glenn Helder and Pål Lydersen . The last-named player, alongside John Jensen in particular , was the reason for Graham's dismissal on February 21, 1995. Graham had illegally received black money of 425,000 British pounds in connection with the purchase of the two players from the Norwegian player's agent Rene Hauge , which, in addition to the dismissal, resulted in Graham being suspended for one year by the English football association FA .

Graham returned to coach Leeds United in September 1996 . Although his team had scored fewer goals than all other clubs in the Premier League with just 28 goals , they managed to stay safe with their 13th place in the table. Just a year later, the team even finished in fifth place and qualified for the UEFA Cup .

When he moved to Tottenham Hotspur , Graham's tenure in Leeds ended in October 1998. With his new club, Graham celebrated straight away successes and led the team to win the League Cup and the UEFA Cup qualification with it after a final victory against Leicester City . Since the performance in the championship but never went beyond a certain mediocrity in the further course of his employment, Graham was dismissed in March 2001. The specific reason for this, however, was that Graham had fallen out with the new club owner Daniel Levy . Although Graham had won the club's first title in eight years with the League Cup, his past with bitter local rivals Arsenal FC had never really been popular with a large part of the supporters, which had always weakened his position in the club.

After his last engagement in Tottenham, Graham has not accepted another coaching position to this day. For a while he works as a football expert for the British broadcaster Sky Sports .

successes

As a player

• Fair cup winner: 1970
• English champion: 1971
• FA Cup Winner: 1971
• English league cup winner: 1965

As a trainer

• European Cup Winner: 1994
• English champion: 1989, 1991
• FA Cup Winner: 1993
• English league cup winner: 1987, 1993, 1999
• Football League Trophy Winner: 1983

swell

1. ↑ "Football's original exercise scandal" (BBC Sport)

Web links

• Photo of George Graham (as a player)