|
Arsenal F.C. (also known as Arsenal, The Arsenal or The Gunners) is a north London football team founded in 1886. They play at Arsenal Stadium, Highbury.
History
Early years Arsenal were originally called Dial Square. The club later changed its name to Woolwich Arsenal, and then to Royal Arsenal, then back to Woolwich Arsenal again (the original founders were employed in the "Dial Square" area of an armaments factory in Woolwich, south London). In 1893 they were the first southern team admitted to the Football League, a move partly caused by the refusal of other southern teams to play them after they turned professional. From 1893 to 1904, Woolwich Arsenal played in the second division of the Football League. They were promoted to the first division in 1904.
Arsenal wear a mostly red home kit, in recognition of a charitable donation from Nottingham Forest. Dial Square's founding members, F. W. Beardsley and A. J. Bates, were former Forest players who had moved to Woolwich for work. As they put together the first team in the area, no kit could be found, so Beardsley and Bates wrote home for help and received a set of kit and a ball.
Woolwich Arsenal were relegated in 1913, the same year they moved from their south London home to Arsenal Stadium (often referred to as "Highbury") in north London. With the move came the change of name to "The Arsenal" (the definite article, you might say). The club rejoined the first division by foul means in 1919 and have remained in the top division since that time, a unique feat in England.
This unbroken stretch of top-flight football has come much to the chagrin and longstanding enmity of Tottenham Hotspur (or "Spurs" for short) and their supporters, who lost their first division place to The Arsenal. The first division was due to be expanded and the decision to promote The Arsenal (who came fifth in the final league season before the war) rather than Barnsley or Wolves (third and fourth place, respectively), or to not relegate Spurs (who finished bottom of the first division), has been linked to dubious back room deals by The Arsenal's chairman, and mastermind of the move from Woolwich to Highbury, Sir Henry Norris.
1930s to 1960s In 1925, Huddersfield Town manager Herbert Chapman took over at The Arsenal. Under his leadership, a successful drive to rename the local tube station, Gillespie Road station, to Arsenal took place (the old name can still be seen picked out in tiles on the wall of the station). Chapman's Arsenal won the FA Cup in 1930 and the League in 1931. Arsenal dominated the league in the 1930s, winning five league titles including a hat-trick. In November 1934, Arsenal players made up seven of the eleven England players who beat World Champions Italy 3-2. It was also during Chapman's era that the club lost the definite article from its name, becoming just "Arsenal". It has been suggested by some that Chapman instigated the change so that Arsenal would be at the top of the League's alphabetical list, a position they maintain among the 92 top clubs today (however, should Accrington Stanley gain promotion from the Conference, they will lose it).
At the outbreak of war in 1939, Arsenal Stadium was requisitioned as an ARP station, with a barrage balloon operating behind the Clock End. The stadium continued to operate as a football ground for the armed forces, often with two or three games on it every day. During the Blitz, a 3,000lb bomb fell on the North Bank stand, destroying that stand's roof and setting fire to the scrap that was being stored on the terrace. Arsenal played their wartime home games at White Hart Lane, courtesy of their local rivals Tottenham Hotspur. After the war, the Arsenal board presented the Spurs board with a cannon as a gesture of thanks. During the postwar era, Arsenal won several more trophies under the management of Tom Whitaker, but the club declined from the late 1950s through the 1960s.
1970s to mid-1980s Arsenal's performance in the 1970s was characterized by a few moments of brilliance, separated by long spells of disappointment. The highlight during this period was their first "double" win in 1970/71. One need only read Nick Hornby's novel Fever Pitch for a taste of the life of an Arsenal fan, or "Gooner" (after the team's nickname, "The Gunners"), during the late 1960s through the mid-1980s. In 1978 Arsenal began a record-equalling spell in which they reached three FA Cup finals in a row, beating Manchester United 3-2 in the 1979 final, with Alan Sunderland scoring late on to secure a famous victory.
The George Graham years At the end of the 1985-86 season, Millwall manager George Graham (a former Arsenal player) was appointed as the club's new manager and it was a beginning of a golden era of Highbury. He led the club to victory over Liverpool in the League Cup final during his first season in charge and at the end of his third season (1988-89) the club won its first league title since 1971 in dramatic fashion. Needing two goals to secure the league championship against Liverpool, an injury time goal by midfielder Michael Thomas (who, ironically, later became a Liverpool player) gave Arsenal a 2-0 win to secure the league title. Another league title came in 1991, with Arsenal losing just one out of 38 league fixtures, although they had 2 points deducted in October 1990 after all 11 of their players were involved in a brawl with 10 Manchester United players in a match at Old Trafford.
By the early 1990's, Arsenal had probably the finest squad in the English league. Goalkeeper David Seaman, captain/defender Tony Adams, winger Paul Merson and striker Alan Smith were capable of competing with some of the best players in England if not Europe. The £2.5million addition of Crystal Palace striker Ian Wright in October 1991 further boosted the squad. Arsenal completed a unique F.A Cup/League Cup double in 1993 (beating Sheffield Wednesday 2-1 in both finals) although they finish 10th in the inaugural Premier League and scored fewer goals (40) than any other team in the division.
1994 saw the club win its first ever European trophy, by beating Roma 1-0 in the Cup Winners Cup final with a goal from Alan Smith. But the following February, George Graham was sacked after nearly nine years in charge after he was discovered to have accepted an illegal £425,000 payment from Swedish agent Rune Hauge following the 1992 acquisition of Danish midfielder John Jensen. Assistant manager Stewart Houston took charge until the end of the season, and although Arsenal finished a disappointing 12th in the Premiership they did reach the Cup Winners Cup final again - only to lose 2-1 to a last minute goal from the halfway line by Real Zaragoza midfielder Nayim.
Bruce Rioch, who had just guided Bolton Wanderers to a League Cup final appearances and promotion to the top division after a 15-year exile, was appointed as the club's new manager for the 1995-96 season. He (briefly) broke the English transfer record by paying Inter Milan £7.5million for Dutch striker Dennis Bergkamp, and the new signing formed an impressive partnership with Ian Wright.
Arsenal reached the League Cup semi final and finished fifth in the Premiership at the end of 1995-96, securing a place in the following season's UEFA Cup and giving hope for an eventual title challenge. But just before the start of the new season, Bruce Rioch was sacked by the club's board of directors after a dispute over transfer funds.
Assistant manager Stewart Houston was once again put in temporary charge, remaining at the helm for two months before making way for the 44-year-old Frenchman Arsene Wenger who had guided Monaco to the French league title in 1988. Arsenal finished third in 1996-97, enough to merit a UEFA Cup place, but expensive new signings like Marc Overmars and Emmanuel Petit made Arsenal favourites for the following season's Premiership title.
On 1st March 1998, Arsenal were 11 points behind Premiership leaders Manchester United and had just been knocked out of the League Cup semi finals by Division One Middlesbrough. They were still in the F.A Cup, but the Premiership title race looked dead and buried. But Arsenal had three games in hand, and the following month had taken advantage of those games in hand to overtake Manchester United and go top of the league. A 4-0 home win over Everton on 3rd May 1998 gave Arsenal the title with two matches to spare. This made Arsene Wenger the first foreign manager to win the English league championship. By the final day of the season, defeats for Arsenal and wins for Manchester United had narrowed the gap between champions and runners-up to a single point.
On 16th May 1998, Arsenal beat Newcastle United 2-0 in the F.A Cup final to become only the second club in English football to win the league championship/F.A Cup double twice.
1998-99 saw Arsenal suffer revenge at the hands of Manchester United, first when they lost in an F.A Cup semi final replay to Alex Ferguson's team, and then on the last day of the season. Arsenal won their final Premiership game but it was of little use as Manchester United beat Arsenal's neighbours Tottenham and regained the Premiership title. Arsenal had conceded just 18 Premiership goals in 38 games during the 1998-99 season, the second best defensive record in English league football.
In 1999-2000, Arsenal lost to Galatasaray in the UEFA Cup final and finished runners-up (by 18 points) to Manchester United in the Premiership, thus finished runners-up in two major competitions. In 2000-01, Arsenal again finished runners-up in major competitions when they finished Premiership runners-up (for the third year running) to Manchester United and lost to Liverpool in the F.A Cup final. The F.A Cup defeat was harder to take because Arsenal had led until the final five minutes of the game, when two Michael Owen goals gave the Merseysiders victory.
2001-02 was a record breaking season for Arsenal. They equalled Manchester United's record of winning a third Premiership/F.A Cup double, were unbeaten away from home in the Premiership, scored in all 38 Premiership games and won their final 13 Premiership fixtures. The only disappointment of the season was a failure to progress beyond the group stages of the European Champions League.
2002-03 saw Arsenal retain the F.A Cup, but they suffered disappointment in the Premiership after being 8 points ahead of Manchester United in early March. Arsenal's form slipped during the final weeks of the season while their northern rivals went into overdrive, and Arsenal surrendered their title with a 3-2 home defeat against Leeds United in the penultimate game of the season.
Another record breaking season came Arsenal's way in 2003-04. They completed the 38-game Premiership campaign unbeaten (26 wins, 12 draws, 0 defeats) and secured their third Premiership title under Arsene Wenger. High scoring centre forward Thierry Henry and tough midfielder Patrick Vieira (both Frenchmen) were now some of the most talented players in the world who were attracted interest from top European clubs. But they lost the chance to win a third successive F.A Cup due to a 1-0 defeat to eventual winners Manchester United in the semi final. Arsenal finally made it to the Champions League quarter finals in 2003-04, only to lose 3-2 on aggreggate to Chelsea.
By the end of January in the 2004-05 season, Arsenal were second in the Premiership and 10 points behind Chelsea, although they were still in the F.A Cup and Champions League. Arsene Wenger has agreed to stay in charge for at least three seasons after this.
Wenger's Arsenal With the advent in 1996 of Arsène Wenger as manager, Arsenal rebuilt their squad with a crop of French players seemingly unknown to all but Wenger. This first batch included Nicolas Anelka and Patrick Vieira. Wenger also decided to keep on Pat Rice as his assistant. The team has improved consistently under Wenger's management, achieving a UEFA Cup place in 1996/97 with six minutes left in the last game of the season. Not satisfied with this, Wenger then led the club to their second ever double in the following season.
A more barren period followed as Arsenal failed to win anything for the next few years: they blew a winning position in the 1998/99 Championship, losing it on the final day, after having lost the last ever FA Cup Semi-Final Replay to Manchester United in extra time (thanks in no small part to Dennis Bergkamp missing a penalty in the last minute of normal time). This incident also began a sequence of Arsenal failing to score penalties, both in normal play and during shoot-outs. This has cost them, among other things, the UEFA Cup Final in 2000, which they lost on penalties to Turkish side Galatasaray; however, the problem has been partly alleviated since Thierry Henry cemented his position. Arsenal also had problems adjusting and improving enough to be able to compete among Europe's best in the UEFA Champions League.
The agonising manner in which Arsenal lost the 2001 FA Cup Final to Liverpool was a blow to the club's ambitions; in that season, Arsenal had finished second but the league was lost to Manchester United a month before the end of the season. Arsenal hit back the following year as the club did the double for the second time under Wenger. They have since won the FA Cup (2003) and Premier League (2004), the latter memorably clinched at White Hart Lane.
The team has yet to register top finishes in the UEFA Champions League, where they have still not progressed beyond the quarter-finals stage. This may have contributed to Thierry Henry's failure to win the FIFA World Player of the Year award in 2003, although he is the third player to win the PFA Player of the Year award in two different seasons (after Mark Hughes and Alan Shearer), and is the first to win the award in two consecutive seasons. So far, Henry and other key players have shown loyalty to the team and its manager by renewing their contracts rather than departing for the likes of Manchester United and Real Madrid, where they would almost certainly be paid greater amounts of money than at Arsenal.
2003-present Men's team parade 2004, Islington, London Women's team parade 2004, Islington, London In the 2003/04 season, Arsenal won or drew all their top-flight league fixtures, something only Preston North End had previously achieved in the inaugural season of 1888/89. Arsenal's feat is regarded as the more impressive, as football today is a far more competitive game than a century ago, and also Arsenal had to play 38 games compared with Preston's 22, and participated in domestic and continental cup competitions as well. To mark this incredible feat Arsenal were awarded a scale replica of the F.A. Premier League trophy, with the gold and silver colours reversed.
The Ladies' team, who have been the dominant force in English women's football since 1992, winning nineteen major trophies to date, lifted both the Women's Premier League and the Women's FA Cup this season. The final game was marked with anticipation, as a win by Fulham would gift them the title, while a draw would hand Charlton Athletic the championship. In the end, Arsenal achieved a double Premier League title and a combined treble.
The club's unbeaten streak in the Premiership stretched to 49 matches, replacing the old record of 42 games set by Nottingham Forest. The Gunners' incredible run finally ended in controversial circumstances at the home of their arch-rivals, Manchester United, where Arsenal were beaten 2_0 on October 24, 2004 [1] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/3727552.stm).
New stadium Limitations at Highbury have led the club to monetary losses in recent seasons despite impressive domestic form. To close the gap with rivals such as Manchester United, Arsenal are currently in the process of building a new 60,000 seater stadium at Ashburton Grove, about 500m southwest, towards Holloway Road (map (http://www.streetmap.co.uk/newmap.srf?x=531250&y=185750&z=1&sv=531250,185750&st=4&ar=N&mapp=newmap.srf&searchp=newsearch.srf)). While this project has been somewhat delayed by bureaucratic red tape and rising costs, the club has secured financing and hopes that its new stadium will enable it to continue to develop and compete at the very highest level of English and continental football. The stadium will be known until the end of the 2020/21 season as The Emirates Stadium after the club signed the largest sponsorship deal in English football history with airline Emirates, worth approximately £100 million over the term of the deal; Emirates will also become the club's shirt sponsor from 2006 until the end of the 2012-2013 season.
Note: For season 2005/06 only, the last season that Arsenal will play at Highbury, the teams' shirts are to be changed to a much darker red, almost purple, to reflect the colour worn in the first season at Highbury, in 1913. The colour is similar to that used by Sparta Prague, who themselves based their shirt's colour on Arsenal's 1906 kit.
Crest Arsenal's crest until 2001 Over the years the Arsenal crest has often been slightly modified, resulting in a crest which had no author who could claim the copyright. At the beginning of the 2001/02 season, Arsenal changed sponsors from Sega Dreamcast to mmO2 and simultaneously introduced a new 'modern' crest. This received a mixed response from fans, some claiming that it had ignored much of Arsenal's history by removing the gothic text, the Latin motto Victoria Concordia Crescit (which means "victory comes from harmony") and coat of arms.
Current first team squad Accurate as of January 7, 2005
Famous players Listed according to when then they first joined or debuted for Arsenal (year in parentheses): - 1960s: Bob Wilson (1963), John Radford (1963), Frank McLintock (1964), Bob McNab (1967?), Ian Ure (1969), Charlie George (1969), Ray Kennedy, (1969)
- 1970s: Liam Brady (1973), Frank Stapleton (1975), Pat Jennings (1977)
- 1980s: Kenny Sansom (1980), Tony Adams (1983), David Rocastle (1985), Michael Thomas (1986)
- 1990s: David Seaman (1990), Ian Wright (1991), John Jensen (1992), Dennis Bergkamp (1995), David Platt (1995), Patrick Vieira (1996), Fredrik Ljungberg (1998), Davor Šuker (1999), Thierry Henry (1999)
- 2000s: Robert Pires (2000), Sol Campbell (2001), Jose Antonio Reyes (2004)
Achievements - FA Cups: 9
- 1930 1936 1950 1971 1979 1993 1998 2002 2003
- Three "Doubles": 1971 1998 2002
- One Domestic Cup Double: 1993
Top scorers As of October 22, 2004: | | | Goals | Games | Average | | 1 | | Ian Wright | 185 | 288 | 0.64 | | 2 | | Cliff Bastin | 178 | 395 | 0.45 | | 3 | * | Thierry Henry | 160 | 268 | 0.60 | | 4 | | John Radford | 149 | 475 | 0.31 | | 5 | | Ted Drake | 139 | 184 | 0.76 | | = | | Jimmy Brain | 139 | 232 | 0.60 | | 7 | | Doug Lishman | 137 | 244 | 0.56 | | 8 | | Joe Hulme | 125 | 374 | 0.33 | | 9 | | David Jack | 124 | 208 | 0.60 | | 10 | | Reg Lewis | 118 | 176 | 0.67 | | 11 | | Alan Smith | 115 | 347 | 0.33 | | 12 | * | Dennis Bergkamp | 113 | 366 | 0.31 | | 13 | | Jack Lambert | 109 | 161 | 0.68 | | 14 | | Frank Stapleton | 108 | 300 | 0.36 | | 15 | | David Herd | 107 | 180 | 0.59 | | 16 | | Joe Baker | 100 | 156 | 0.64 | * = still playing
External links - arsenal.com (http://www.arsenal.com/) - official website
- 4thegame.com's Arsenal page (http://www.4thegame.com/club/afc)
|
Feeds |
Contact
