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Club History:
Arsenal Football Club
began life when a group of workers at the Woolwich
Arsenal Armament Factory decided to form a football
team in late 1886.
The Club played under
the name of Dial Square. Their first match was a 6-0
victory over Eastern Wanderers, on December 11th,
1886. Soon after, the name Royal Arsenal was adopted
and the Club continued playing in friendlies and local
cup competitions for the next few years. In 1891 the
Club turned professional and changed its name to
Woolwich Arsenal, finally joining the Football League
in 1893.
Following the First
World War, the First Division was extended to 22 teams
and Arsenal was voted into the top division, a
position it has held ever since.
During the 1930s
Arsenal won five League Championships (including a
hat-trick) and two F.A. Cups and had some of the
game's greatest players on its books: Alex James, Ted
Drake, Cliff Bastin, David Jack, Eddie Hapgood and
George Male were just the pinnacle of one of the
greatest sides ever to play in the Football League.
Sadly, manager Herbert Chapman died in 1934, but
others continued what he had started and only the war
stopped Arsenal in its tracks.
In 1947, Tom Whittaker
became manager and more success followed. Arsenal were
Champions in 1947/48 and 1952/53; F.A. Cup winners in
1950 and runners-up in 1952.
The '60s provided
little in the way of silverware at Highbury, with two
losing appearances in the League Cup Final in 1968 and
1969 being the closest thing to success. However, the
decade did witness Bertie Mee's appointment as manager
of the Club in 1966 and in the following decade he was
to achieve one of the most significant landmarks in
Arsenal's history.
In 1970/71 Mee took the
Gunners to the League and F.A. Cup 'Double' for the
first time, coming from behind in the Cup Final to
beat Liverpool 2-1 at Wembley. Later in the decade,
Terry Neill took Arsenal to three consecutive F.A. Cup
Finals, winning the 1979 game 3-2 against Manchester
United after a truly memorable last five minutes.
The Gunners also
reached the 1980 Cup Winners' Cup Final, with a team
that included Graham Rix, Frank Stapleton, Pat Rice,
David O'Leary and Liam Brady. In the summer of 1986,
former midfield star of the 'Double' winning team
George Graham became manager and another spell of
success followed.
The catalyst for future
triumphs came in 1986/87 when Arsenal became the
inaugural winners of the Littlewoods Cup. It was the
first time the Club had won the League Cup in any of
its guises. League Championships followed in 1988/89
and 1990/91; the domestic Cup 'Double' in 1993 and,
finally, the Cup Winners' Cup victory against Parma in
1994.
Graham's departure from
the Club was followed by a brief spell at the helm for
Bruce Rioch before (in September 1996) Frenchman,
Arsene Wenger arrived at Highbury, becoming the Club's
first ever manager from outside the British Isles.
In 1997/98, Wenger's
first full season at Highbury, Arsenal achieved the
domestic 'Double', for the second time in the Club's
history. The Frenchman also picked up the Carling
Manager of the Year Award. A tremendous season was
rounded off perfectly for French Internationals
Emmanuel Petit, Patrick Vieira, Thierry Henry and
Robert Pires as the Gunners stars played their part in
France's victorious World Cup campaign.
The Club also said
goodbye to striking legend Ian Wright, who left
Arsenal as record goalscorer with 185 goals in all
competitions. 1998/99 saw Arsenal win the Charity
Shield but finish runners-up in the Premiership and
the following season they recorded a similar Charity
Shield/runners-up combination.
With Thierry Henry,
Davor Suker, Silvinho, Oleg Luzhny and Stefan Malz
joining the Club, 1999/2000 started well with the
Charity Shield victory over Manchester United but
finished with disappointing defeat in the UEFA Cup
Final at the hands of Galatasaray.
But the summer did see
success for Arsenal's French contingent, current
players Patrick Vieira ,Thierry Henry, Sylvain Wiltord
and Robert Pires were all involved in France's Euro
2000 success, along with former stars Manu Petit and
Nicolas Anelka.
More international
stars, Pires, Lauren, Wiltord and Igors Stepanovs,
joined in time for the 2000/2001 season, and once
again Arsenal pushed Manchester United hard in the
Premiership, finishing second for the third
consecutive year.
The Gunners also made
it to the Quarter-Finals of the UEFA Champions League
for the first time, but were eliminated on the away
goals rule by eventual finalists Valencia.
The season was to end
in disappointment again, as Liverpool turned around a
1-0 deficit to beat the Gunners 2-1 in the first ever
F.A. Cup Final held at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.
Another busy summer of
transfer activity at Highbury has given reason for
optimism for the 2001/02 campaign. Giovanni van
Bronckhorst, Francis Jeffers, Richard Wright and
Junichi Inamoto have been added to the squad, but most
of the headlines belonged to England centre-back Sol
Campbell, who arrived at Highbury following a nine
year spell with north London rivals Tottenham Hotspur.
2001-02 Saw the Gunners
write a new chapter in their illustrious history with
a third 'Double'. We clinched the F.A. Cup in style
with a 2-0 win against Chelsea at the Millennium
Stadium. And won the Title at the sweetest of venues,
Manchester United's Old Trafford
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