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"The position which Herbert Chapman built up as a manager in the football world was unique. Like any strong man, he had his opponents, like any successful man, his detractors but his honest devotion to duty and obvious ability made him respected by everyone."
Arsenal Football Club currently are recognized as one of the premier clubs in the world. Its reputation is not surpassed by many and that reputation will only continue to grow in years to come. Take a trip back to the 1924/25 season and Arsenal had come perilously close to relegation. Changes were required to prevent the club from slipping in to the second division and into obscurity. The club decided to go after the best man in the business and to much surprise they got him. Herbert Chapman came to Arsenal who's greatest honor had been winning the London Senior Cup in 1891 with a vision to turn Arsenal into the greatest team in the world. He fulfilled that dream.
"Arsenal Football club is open to receive applications for the position of Team manager. He must be experienced and possess the highest qualifications for the post, both in ability and personal character."
This ad appeared in the paper however Herbert Chapman had already been offered the job. Arsenal offered him a record $2000 pound a year contract. Huddersfield Town who Chapman had taken from 1st division newcomers to back to back champions matched Arsenal's offer. Despite this Chapman left champions Huddersfield for 1st division strugglers Arsenal and that is something we can all be thankful for.
Nine years on Herbert Chapman had achieved his dream. He came with a promise to win Arsenal its first major trophy within five years. The changes to the offside rule in 1925 allowed Chapman to showcase his tactical shills and he took the club from 20th spot the previous season to coming runners up just 5 points behind Huddersfield who completed there league hat trick. Chapman continued to build up his Arsenal side bringing in some of the greatest names to ever play the game to Arsenal. Then in his 5th year at Arsenal he fulfilled his promise as Arsenal won the FA Cup for the 1st time defeating Chapman's former club Huddersfield 2-0 in the final. This proved to be just the beginning as under Chapman’s reign Arsenal would go on to win three of the next four league titles and when Chapman passed away in 1934 he left Arsenal Football as one of the best clubs in the world which is a position it still holds today.
Chapman was the first true football revolutionary. Chapman wanted a white ball to be used. The FA were shocked. Chapman wanted games to be played under floodlights. The FA said no way. Chapman wanted players to wear numbers on there backs and once again the FA gave a emphatic no. He was to make changes to Arsenal's name insisting that the club should be called just Arsenal instead of The Arsenal. This was said to ensure that Arsenal were on top of the alphabetical list. He even managed to get Gillespie Road Station renamed to Arsenal Station a amazing and costly feat at the time. The Red and White kit is something people all over the world immediately associate with Arsenal and once again we have Chapman to thank for that. Previously Arsenal had a all red kit but Chapman believed that his players would find it easier to pick each other out if white sleeves were added to the kit and the famous red and white kit was born.
He had amazing faith in his ability in picking and finding the players that he believed would turn Arsenal in to a unstoppable force. Perhaps his greatest signing was the Scotsman Alex James who Chapman beat a number of other clubs to bring the mercurial Scotsman to Highbury for the grand sum of $9,750 pounds. The little man in the baggy shorts came to Arsenal with a amazing reputation however he struggled at first and Chapman made one of the biggest and most courageous decisions in his career. He decided to drop Alex James from the first team at Highbury a move which shocked the football world.
His recall to the Arsenal team would be just as spectacular. One Sunday morning Chapman visited the James household and literally hauled the Scotsman out of bed and told him to get down to Highbury to train. A crunch FA Cup tie against Birmingham was looming and Chapman believed that James was the best man for the job. It was one of Chapman’s greatest assets, the ability to install confidence in his players and that is what he did with James. He converted him from his role as a goal scoring forward to a midfield playmaker which proved to be a masterstroke and Alex James goes down as one of the greatest ever players to play for Arsenal.
He had the knack of switching players positions in order to get the best out of them. Cliff Bastin moved to the right wing despite not having played there since he was nine. By the time Bastin was 21 he had won every honor there was to be won in the game and he still holds the record for most goals scored by a winger knocking in 31 goals in Arsenal's first championship winning season.
George Male was a reserve right wing. Chapman saw something he liked in him and believed he would be better off at right back. A young Male protested but Chapman was sure and convinced him to give fullback a shot. Before long Male believed that not only was he a good fullback but he was the best in the country.
While Chapman wasn’t afraid to bring out the chequebook to spend big money on transfers he was also known for the ability to pluck a player from obscurity and turn him into one of the best going around. Eddie Hapgood was a 19 year old milkman who had been rejected by Bristol Rovers but Chapman saw something he liked in the young lad. Hapgood went on to captain Arsenal and eventually become the captain of England.
His Arsenal sides were made up of lightening wingers and strikers with rocklike defenders playing a style of football that eventually become known as the Arsenal style. One of his greatest abilities was to pick the 11 that would win him that particular game and the 11 that were picked to play would believe that they were the best players in England in there position. People originally had a go at Arsenal for being to defensive. 127 goals in Arsenal's first league winning season shut those critics up. That smashed the previous record by 20 goals. Everybody wanted to see The Arsenal play.
On the 6th of January 1934 just 12 hours before kickoff against Sheffield Wednesday Herbert Chapman passed away aged just 56. His dedication to Arsenal was just to great as he ignored doctors advice to rest after catching a bad cold. Chapman continued to press on immersing himself in football and continuing to pursue excellence however that cold quickly turned into pneumonia and football lost its greatest ever manager. Massive crowds filled the streets to give Chapman his final send off. Arsenal players James, Jack, Hapgood, Hulme, Lambert and Bastin were the pallbearers and the tributes to Chapman flooded in from all over the country.
70 years on since his death many of his ideas that received a firm no have now been put into place. His abilities as a manager can be questioned. Wherever he went success followed. By far his two most famous stints were at Arsenal and Huddersfield where he took two struggling clubs and placed them up above the rest. They said he should have been Prime Minister but Chapman would have nothing of that. His place was in football and his place in football was at Arsenal. These days everything Arsenal does is with style and class and its important to remember that it first began with Herbert Chapman.
Arsenal Football Club currently are recognized as one of the premier clubs in the world. Its reputation is not surpassed by many and that reputation will only continue to grow in years to come. Take a trip back to the 1924/25 season and Arsenal had come perilously close to relegation. Changes were required to prevent the club from slipping in to the second division and into obscurity. The club decided to go after the best man in the business and to much surprise they got him. Herbert Chapman came to Arsenal who's greatest honor had been winning the London Senior Cup in 1891 with a vision to turn Arsenal into the greatest team in the world. He fulfilled that dream.
"Arsenal Football club is open to receive applications for the position of Team manager. He must be experienced and possess the highest qualifications for the post, both in ability and personal character."
This ad appeared in the paper however Herbert Chapman had already been offered the job. Arsenal offered him a record $2000 pound a year contract. Huddersfield Town who Chapman had taken from 1st division newcomers to back to back champions matched Arsenal's offer. Despite this Chapman left champions Huddersfield for 1st division strugglers Arsenal and that is something we can all be thankful for.
Nine years on Herbert Chapman had achieved his dream. He came with a promise to win Arsenal its first major trophy within five years. The changes to the offside rule in 1925 allowed Chapman to showcase his tactical shills and he took the club from 20th spot the previous season to coming runners up just 5 points behind Huddersfield who completed there league hat trick. Chapman continued to build up his Arsenal side bringing in some of the greatest names to ever play the game to Arsenal. Then in his 5th year at Arsenal he fulfilled his promise as Arsenal won the FA Cup for the 1st time defeating Chapman's former club Huddersfield 2-0 in the final. This proved to be just the beginning as under Chapman’s reign Arsenal would go on to win three of the next four league titles and when Chapman passed away in 1934 he left Arsenal Football as one of the best clubs in the world which is a position it still holds today.
Chapman was the first true football revolutionary. Chapman wanted a white ball to be used. The FA were shocked. Chapman wanted games to be played under floodlights. The FA said no way. Chapman wanted players to wear numbers on there backs and once again the FA gave a emphatic no. He was to make changes to Arsenal's name insisting that the club should be called just Arsenal instead of The Arsenal. This was said to ensure that Arsenal were on top of the alphabetical list. He even managed to get Gillespie Road Station renamed to Arsenal Station a amazing and costly feat at the time. The Red and White kit is something people all over the world immediately associate with Arsenal and once again we have Chapman to thank for that. Previously Arsenal had a all red kit but Chapman believed that his players would find it easier to pick each other out if white sleeves were added to the kit and the famous red and white kit was born.
He had amazing faith in his ability in picking and finding the players that he believed would turn Arsenal in to a unstoppable force. Perhaps his greatest signing was the Scotsman Alex James who Chapman beat a number of other clubs to bring the mercurial Scotsman to Highbury for the grand sum of $9,750 pounds. The little man in the baggy shorts came to Arsenal with a amazing reputation however he struggled at first and Chapman made one of the biggest and most courageous decisions in his career. He decided to drop Alex James from the first team at Highbury a move which shocked the football world.
His recall to the Arsenal team would be just as spectacular. One Sunday morning Chapman visited the James household and literally hauled the Scotsman out of bed and told him to get down to Highbury to train. A crunch FA Cup tie against Birmingham was looming and Chapman believed that James was the best man for the job. It was one of Chapman’s greatest assets, the ability to install confidence in his players and that is what he did with James. He converted him from his role as a goal scoring forward to a midfield playmaker which proved to be a masterstroke and Alex James goes down as one of the greatest ever players to play for Arsenal.
He had the knack of switching players positions in order to get the best out of them. Cliff Bastin moved to the right wing despite not having played there since he was nine. By the time Bastin was 21 he had won every honor there was to be won in the game and he still holds the record for most goals scored by a winger knocking in 31 goals in Arsenal's first championship winning season.
George Male was a reserve right wing. Chapman saw something he liked in him and believed he would be better off at right back. A young Male protested but Chapman was sure and convinced him to give fullback a shot. Before long Male believed that not only was he a good fullback but he was the best in the country.
While Chapman wasn’t afraid to bring out the chequebook to spend big money on transfers he was also known for the ability to pluck a player from obscurity and turn him into one of the best going around. Eddie Hapgood was a 19 year old milkman who had been rejected by Bristol Rovers but Chapman saw something he liked in the young lad. Hapgood went on to captain Arsenal and eventually become the captain of England.
His Arsenal sides were made up of lightening wingers and strikers with rocklike defenders playing a style of football that eventually become known as the Arsenal style. One of his greatest abilities was to pick the 11 that would win him that particular game and the 11 that were picked to play would believe that they were the best players in England in there position. People originally had a go at Arsenal for being to defensive. 127 goals in Arsenal's first league winning season shut those critics up. That smashed the previous record by 20 goals. Everybody wanted to see The Arsenal play.
On the 6th of January 1934 just 12 hours before kickoff against Sheffield Wednesday Herbert Chapman passed away aged just 56. His dedication to Arsenal was just to great as he ignored doctors advice to rest after catching a bad cold. Chapman continued to press on immersing himself in football and continuing to pursue excellence however that cold quickly turned into pneumonia and football lost its greatest ever manager. Massive crowds filled the streets to give Chapman his final send off. Arsenal players James, Jack, Hapgood, Hulme, Lambert and Bastin were the pallbearers and the tributes to Chapman flooded in from all over the country.
70 years on since his death many of his ideas that received a firm no have now been put into place. His abilities as a manager can be questioned. Wherever he went success followed. By far his two most famous stints were at Arsenal and Huddersfield where he took two struggling clubs and placed them up above the rest. They said he should have been Prime Minister but Chapman would have nothing of that. His place was in football and his place in football was at Arsenal. These days everything Arsenal does is with style and class and its important to remember that it first began with Herbert Chapman.
