Herbert Chapman: The Man Who Made Arsenal

2 May

For the Kroenke’s, Glazers’ and Perez’s of this world, the motivation to seek footballing success is only there because achieving it adds a few more digits to the annual intake. In the past this criticism has either been slapped aside or denied outright by owners of the big clubs, but in recent weeks that criticism has been proven to be all too true. I’m referring of course to the European Super League (ESL), which was rejected by fans in Britain and around the world. To use a term the owners would understand, they failed to respect football’s USP – competition. More than that, it is competition with more competitors than in any other team environment, sport or otherwise. I’m an Arsenal fan, but the idea that Leicester City can go from licking their wounds after relegation to League One to Premier League Champions in just seven years makes me genuinely smile. Can’t stand them now mind, but that just goes to show they’re a top team these days. In 1978, in their first season back in the First Division (England’s top league at the time), Nottingham Forest finished as champions. Their reputation suggested they had no right to do that, just as Leicester had no right to win the league in 2016. But competitive football doesn’t care about reputation, it cares about how good you are on the day. That is why the fans watch week in week out.

I’ve discussed the USP of football as a whole, I’m now going to discuss Arsenal’s USP. It’s the club’s history. Arsenal have not been relegated from topflight football since the 1912-13 season. Only Everton have avoided relegation for longer – a team Kroenke agreed were unworthy of a place in the ESL. They were back up again for the 1919-20 season, the first one after World War One (a promotion that will be covered briefly in a blog later this month). This is a remarkably impressive achievement. There have been some close shaves, but for over a century our performances have determined that we have remained at the top table of English football. If Kroenke ‘got’ Arsenal, as the owner of the club, he would not have gone along with any proposals that would remove that element of football from any league we participated in. As for improving Arsenal’s standing in world football, Kroenke and the rest of the Arsenal board made another naïve judgement. As much as I and every other Arsenal fan hate seeing how average we’ve become over recent seasons, I’d rather watch a bore draw in the Premier League than witness Bernd Leno swearing in German as picks the ball out of his net for the fifth time in twenty minutes, as Barcelona take what would quickly become the customary three points from us.

Arsenal is a club with a proud history, built on by decades of a success. Success that was earned through skill, passion and a little bit of fortune, not through inexcusably high ticket prices or merchandise sales. The most recent of those successful decades occurred under Arsène Wenger, but the first of them came thanks to Herbert Chapman.

Born in January 1875, Chapman grew up in Kiveton Park, a village close to Sheffield. Being a mining village, most men in Kiveton Park were destined for a career down the mines. Chapman himself trained as a mining engineer, but the dream was always to turn his football passion into a profession. In 1901 that goal was reached as he signed for Northampton Town. His professional football career was uneventful, although in his first full season at Northampton he did finish as the club’s top scorer with 14 goals in 22 games. The following year he was off to Sheffield United. He would go onto play for Notts County (a move that would include a loan spell back at Northampton Town) and then Tottenham Hotspur (we’ll skip over this). In 1907 he returned to Northampton to complete his Cobblers hattrick, taking up a role as player-manager, a position that would allow him to display his managerial ability for the first time. A spell as secretary-manager at Leeds United would follow. It was the next move, to Huddersfield Town, which would elevate his reputation immeasurably. It was there he developed the ‘WM’ formation that would eventually revolutionise English football.

In 1925, Chapman was after a new challenge. He spotted a job advert in the Athletic News newspaper. The advert had been placed by Arsenal’s chairman, Sir Henry Norris, asking for applicants to the recently vacated Arsenal Team Manager position. In the 1924/25 season Huddersfield finished as champions, seeing them defend their first ever league title win the previous season. In contrast to the highs of Chapman’s Huddersfield, Arsenal finished 19th in the 1924/25 season which meant they had avoided relegation by a hair’s breadth. It makes Chapman’s decision to take up the job offer all the more surprising. Nonetheless, Chapman made the bold promise to bring success to Arsenal club within five years.

Chapman had an immediate effect over his new side, taking them to second in the division and the quarter final of the FA Cup in his first season at Highbury. The following season the league campaign was underwhelming. He did reach the FA Cup final though, where they were beaten 1-0 by Cardiff City, the only time a non-English team has won the trophy. Chapman had to wait until the thirties before the groundwork he put into those early years would bear fruit, but when success finally came it proved to be worth the wait. The first of Arsenal’s thirteen FA Cup wins came in 1930 in front of 92,486 people. Arsenal’s opponents at Wembley on 26 April 1930 were Huddersfield Town, Chapman’s old club. Despite it being five years since Chapman departed the Terriers, they still adopted Chapman’s ‘WM’ formation. It would not save them from a 2-0 defeat, with Alex James and Jack Lambert getting on the score sheet to give Arsenal Football Club their first ever trophy. Within five years, Chapman had brought them the success he’d promised.

Herbert Chapman’s revolutionary ‘WM’ Formation

If the 1929/30 season had given cause for Arsenal fans to celebrate, those celebrations would have nothing on the festivities to come the following season. Chapman’s side scored 127 goals in 42 matches on the way to their maiden league title, a goal scoring record that remains the highest in the club’s history. There were plenty of high scoring games for Arsenal on the way to the title, including a 7-1 beating for Blackpool, a grim 9-1 hiding for Grimsby Town and a 7-2 loss for Leicester. Not only did Arsenal’s first league title make them the first London side to win the first division, it made them the first side south of Birmingham to lift the trophy. That season saw Arsenal complete another first, as Gerry Keyser, a Dutch goalkeeper, became the first overseas player to sign for the Gunners. He made 12 appearances to aid Arsenal’s title challenge. The league title confirmed the belief that many football fans held; Arsenal had become a force to be reckoned with. It was the first of 5 league titles won in eight years. Arsenal’s period of dominance could only be halted by the outbreak of war.

The period between 1925-39 is regarded by Arsenal fans as the Herbert Chapman era, because of the influence his tactics had over the sides over that time. In that time Arsenal won the league three seasons in a row, 1932/33, 1933/34, and 1934/35. In doing so Arsenal became the second side to do so, the first being Huddersfield Town, the first being won in Chapman’s last season with them. Since Arsenal did it, only Liverpool and Manchester United have managed to achieve three top division titles in a row. Sadly though, Chapman was not the manager for the entirety of the Chapman era. In early January 1934 Herbert Chapman was watching an Arsenal 3rd Team game against Guildford City. Already nursing a cold, his condition quickly worsened and on 6 January 1934 he passed away with pneumonia. His funeral was attended by thousands of Arsenal fans, with a number of his players being his pallbearers.

Chapman’s legacy on the field is well known, but he had a huge impact off it too. Arsenal’s iconic white sleeves were Chapman’s idea. He believed they would make identifying teammates on the pitch easier. He was also instrumental in the implementation of a PA system to get fans up to speed with line ups, substitutions, and goal scorers. He also championed electronic turnstiles and the use of flood lights. Chapman was integral in the decision to change the name of Gillespie Road tube station to Arsenal tube station. His argument for the name change being, ‘whoever heard of Gillespie Road? It’s Arsenal around here.’ After plenty of lobbying, Arsenal station came into being on 31 October 1932. It remains the only London Underground station to be named after a football club.

Chapman is cemented as an Arsenal legend, but he would no doubt have been the first to say he was nothing without his players. A statement that would undermine his own influence, but of course it doesn’t matter how good you are as a manager if your players aren’t up to scratch. Of all Chapman’s players, the most well-known by current Arsenal fans would probably be Cliff Bastin. He currently sits third on the all-time Arsenal goal scorers list with 178 goals in 395 games. Chapman signed him at just seventeen years old from Exeter City after being suitably impressed by the youngster’s performance for the Devonshire side. By the age of 19 he had a league title, FA Cup win and England cap in the bag – the youngest to achieve these three accolades at the time. Had a world war not intervened, Bastin may have gone on to achieve a goal tally not even the lethal Thierry Henry could have reached.

The other big name of the Chapman era was Ted Drake, who sits sixth on Arsenal’s all-time goal scorer list with 136 goals in 182 games, he scored a record 42 goals in the 1934/35 title winning season. The following season he scored 7 goals in a 7-1 demolition job of Aston Villa on 14 December 1935. Unsurprisingly he was the club’s top scorer in each of his five seasons at Arsenal.

One lesser-known name is Alex James. Described on the club’s website as the Dennis Bergkamp of his era, James joined the club in 1929. The Scotsman proved to be the missing piece to Chapman’s ‘WM’ puzzle. It is no coincidence that success started to come to Highbury after he joined from Preston. His impact on the side is best described by Sir Matt Busby, the legendary Manchester United manager, ‘Alex James was the great creator from the middle. From an Arsenal rearguard action the ball would, seemingly inevitably, reach Alex. He would feint and leave two or three opponents sprawling or plodding in his wake before he released the ball, unerringly, to either the flying Joe Hulme, who would not even have to pause in his flight, or the absolutely devastating Cliff Bastin, who would take a couple of strides and whip the ball into the net. The number of goals created from rearguard beginnings by Alex James were the most significant factor in Arsenal’s greatness.’ Some praise. He may have only scored 27 goals in 261 appearances, but without him, the goal tallies of most of his teammates would have been significantly reduced.

Another signing who, despite a slow start, made an enormous impact on Arsenal’s performances was David Jack. The prolific Jack scored 124 goals in 204 appearances and included several silverware successes. Despite this record, perhaps Jack’s best Arsenal story came before he had even pulled the shirt on. Before joining Arsenal, Jack played for Bolton. At the time Bolton were in a financially precarious position, forcing the club to make most of their players available for transfer. Initially Bolton’s owners did not include Jack in the transfer listed players. Eventually they did make him available, but for no less the £13,000. Jack was a key target for Chapman, but £13,000 was too much. What Chapman did next is deeply unethical, but it doesn’t make it any less commendable. Chapman arranged a meeting with the Bolton directors in the bar of a hotel. Arriving early with his assistant, he arranged for the waiter to serve G & T’s and whisky and dry ginger when the Bolton owners arrived. Here comes the deceitful(ly genius) bit. He was to take his G & T without the G. His assistant’s drink was to be served without the whisky. Meanwhile, his Lancashire guests would be served doubles. The waiter got a healthy tip for his part. By 2am Jack's price had fallen to £10,890. He was the first player to be bought for five figures, but given his return, it was worth the money.

Herbert Chapman was a giant of a footballing man and rightly received endless plaudits for his managerial abilities. He was named by Reuters as the manager of the 20th century. In 2004, a Sunday Times poll named him the greatest British manager of all time. In 2003 he was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame and in March 2005, a blue English Heritage plaque was placed on his home in Hendon, for his contribution to football. Perhaps the greatest acknowledgement of his impact on English football came less than a year after his passing. On 14 November 1934, seven Arsenal players were selected to play for England against Italy, the world champions. Those players were Frank Moss, George Male, Eddie Hapgood, Wilf Copping, Ray Bowden, Ted Drake and Cliff Bastin. It was a feisty affair, finishing 3-2 to England with Ted Drake getting one goal and the other two going to Manchester City’s Eric Brook. As if the occasion wasn’t enough of an inadvertent nod to Chapman, the match was played at Highbury and, given the bad nature the game was played in, was dubbed the ‘Battle of Highbury’.

The style of football Chapman impressed upon English football was to last for many years. There is no greater testament to this than for seven of his players to be selected to represent their, and his, country. The selection of seven gunners broke the record for the number of players from the same club to play for England at the time; it’s a record that remains intact today. Arsenal is a club with a long history of success, but without Chapman’s ability to transform it from a club destined for the drop to a club challenging at the top, none of the success which has since followed would have been possible. He is rightfully remembered as one football’s greatest, whose influence on Arsenal even now can’t be overstated.

Sources:

Book: Reuters Century of Great British Sport by Mike Newlin & Tim Collings

https://www.arsenal.com/history/herbert-chapman/herbert-chapman-overview

https://www.arsenal.com/history/herbert-chapman/herbert-chapman-is-appointed-manager

https://www.arsenal.com/arsenal-history/herbert-chapman/arsenal-win-their-first-major-trophy

https://www.arsenal.com/history/herbert-chapman/arsenal-win-their-first-league-title

https://www.arsenal.com/history/herbert-chapman/seven-gunners-selected-for-england

https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/blue-plaques/herbert-chapman/

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football-jack-the-jewel-of-highbury-1180416.html

https://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/gunners-greatest-players-46.-alex-james

https://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/gunners-greatest-players-49.-david-jack

https://www.arsenal.com/history/gunners-greatest-players-18.-cliff-bastin