MANAGER: Mikel Arteta

OWNERS:  Kroenke Sports & Entertainment (KSE)

CAPTAIN: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

NICKNAME: The Gunners

STADIUM: The Emirates Stadium

RIVALS: Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United, Chelsea, West Ham United

Nicknamed “The Gunners”, Arsenal FC is one of the most successful clubs in English football having the won the English First Division title 13 times and the FA Cup a record 14 times.

Arsenal has one of the largest fan bases in the world. The club has won the third-most league titles in England including 3 in the Premier League era. The Gunners were the first South London club to join The Football League in 1893.

The club was promoted to the First Division in 1904 and is the team that has the longest streak in the top flight of English football. Arsenal has only been relegated once in its history, in 1913. The club has won the second-most matches in English football’s first division behind Manchester United.

Arsenal completed the 20th century with the highest average league position in English football. The Gunners played their football at Highbury for the longest time before moving to the bigger Emirate Stadium in 2006.

The motto of the club is Victory Through Harmony (“Victoria Concordia Crescit”).

History of Arsenal FC

Royal Arsenal – Founded by munitions workers in Woolwich, Kent

In October 1886, David Danskin along with 15 fellow munitions workers in Woolwich, Kent (South East London), founded Dial Square Football Club. The team changed its name to Royal Arsenal later on.

Royal Arsenal’s first home ground was Plumstead Common but they played most of their games at Manor Ground. In 1891, Royal Arsenal became the first London club to turn professional.

The story of the newly named, Woolwich Arsenal

In 1893, Royal Arsenal underwent a name change once again as they changed to Woolwich Arsenal. Woolwich Arsenal was the first southern club of the Football League. The club started out in the Second Division of English football and was promoted to the First Division in 1904.

Unfortunately, the team was unable to attract crowds and due to the financial difficulties of the team members, the club became bankrupt in 1910. However, the club found messiahs in the form of Henry Norris and William Hall who decided to buy the club.

In 1913, after relegation to the Second Division, Woolwich Arsenal moved to the Arsenal Stadium in Highbury, North London. In 1914, finally, the team name was changed to The Arsenal.

1919 – Arsenal’s Promotion to the First Division at Tottenham’s expense

In 1919, Arsenal was voted into the First Division of English football by the Football League, ahead of North London rivals – Tottenham Hotspur. The reason this was done was that the First Division expanded its league size to include more teams.

Many claims have been made that Arsenal earned this spot through some questionable means. The Arsenal started dropping “The” from its name soon after, on official documents to become just Arsenal FC.

Herbert Chapman

After moving to Highbury and being a part of the top flight of English football, Arsenal attendances doubled and the club’s budget grew rapidly as well. Arsenal appointed Herbert Chapman as their manager in 1925. Chapman signed stars – David Jack and Alex James. They also spent heavily on the new coaching staff and 2 young players – Cliff Bastin and Eddie Hapgood.

Due to this record-breaking spend, Arsenal started to be known as the Bank of England Club. Chapman led Arsenal to its first major trophy – the FA Cup, in 1930.

Arsenal then went on to win the League Championships in 1930-31 and 1932-33. Arsenal and the football world lost the great Herbert Chapman as he passed away due to pneumonia in 1934.

Joe Shaw and George Allison took over Arsenal FC and the Gunners went on to complete a hat-trick of trophies as they retained the trophy in 1933-34 and 1934-35. They also won the 1936 FA Cup and League once again in 1937-38.

Arsenal was the most successful English club in the 1930s. After World War II, Arsenal won the league once again. This time, in 1947-48. Tom Whittaker won the league in his first season as manager of the club.

The Gunners went on to win a 3rd FA Cup in 1950 and their 7th league title in 1952-53. At this point, Arsenal became the most successful team in English football.

Struggles Post World War II

Arsenal lost more players than any top-flight club due to World War II. They also had major debt from the reconstruction of the North Bank Stand so struggled financially.

The club failed to win the league and cup for 18 years! Arsenal had become a mid-table side in the 1950s and 1960s. The Gunners were in such a mess that they appointed club physio Bertie Mee as their acting manager in 1966! This, however, paid off in a big way.

Mee led Arsenal to the League Cup final in consecutive campaigns (1967-68 & 1968-69). In the 1970-71 season, Arsenal managed to do the Double by winning the League and FA Cup in the same year.

Terry Neill took over from Bertie Mee in 1976. At 34, he became Arsenal’s youngest ever manager to date. He signed players Malcolm Macdonald and Pat Jennings to add to the talent already on display in Liam Brady and Frank Stapleton.

Arsenal reached the FA Cup final in 3 consecutive years from 1978 to 1980. They also made the 1980 European Cup Winners’ Cup final to lose on penalties against Valencia. The only trophy the Gunners won during this period was the 1979 FA Cup when they beat Manchester United 3-2 in the final.

George Graham

George Graham became Arsenal manager in 1986. He led the club to their first League Cup victory in 1987 and by 1988, Lee Dixon, Steve Bould and Nigel Winterburn joined Arsenal’s one and only – Tony Adams, in defence to create the Famous Back Four as they came to be known.

The Gunners won the 1988-89 League title to beat Liverpool to it with a last-minute winner to secure the title. Arsenal won the title once again in the 1990-91 season, losing only 1 game in the league. They also did a domestic double in 1993 when they won both – the League Cup and FA Cup.

Arsenal won the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1994, however, George Graham was then sacked in 1995 when he was found to have taken money for signing players of a certain agent.

Bruce Rioch then took over but only lasted a season after a falling out with the Board of Directors.

Arsene Wenger and the Incredible “Invincibles”

One cannot speak about Arsenal FC without mentioning Monsieur Arsene Wenger. The Frenchman is considered one of the greatest managers of all-time and rightfully so. He was brought in by Arsenal in 1996 from Monaco with hopes of overhauling the entire football system at the club.

Wenger did just that. He brought in attacking football that was fun to watch and started a new fitness and diet regime for the players to play at the highest level. Arsene was considered a miser by many when it came to transfers but he was always efficient with his signings.

After the acquisition of legends – Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry, Arsenal won the Premier League and FA Cup double in 1997-98. The Gunners reached the final on the UEFA Cup in the 1999-2000 season. They did the League and FA Cup double once again in 2001-02.

Arsenal won the FA Cup again in 2003 but the season after is all that people will always talk about. In the 2003-04 season, Arsenal won the Premier League after going undefeated! They did not lose a single game in the Premier League that season. This is a feat that has never been repeated in the Premier League and is highly unlikely to ever be repeated either. This Arsenal team came to be known as “The Invincibles”.

The Gunners went 49 league games unbeaten from 7 May 2003 to 24 October 2004. Arsenal finished either 1st or 2nd in the Premier League in 8 of the first 9 seasons under Arsene Wenger. He was a genius. Unfortunately, Arsenal never managed to retain the League title under the Frenchman and that was because of one man and one man only – Sir Alex Ferguson.

Arsenal never managed to qualify beyond the UEFA Champions League Quarterfinals stage up until the 2005-06 season when they became the first London club to make it to the Champions League final. They fell short, however, as they lost 2-1 to Barcelona.

Arsenal reached the League Cup final in 2007 and 2011, losing both. Arsenal went through a dry spell post-2005 up until 2014 when Mesut Ozil inspired an Arsenal side to lift the FA Cup in 2014. The Gunners made it back-to-back Cup wins when they beat Aston Villa 4-0 in the 2015 final.

Although Arsenal failed to compete for the League, they were successful in the FA Cup. They won the FA Cup once again in 2017 by defeating Chelsea 2-1. This win saw Wenger become the first manager to win 7 FA Cups. This season was the first time that Arsenal finished outside the top 4 under Arsene Wenger as they finished 5th.

In 2018, Wenger decided to resign from Arsenal FC after spending 22 years as the manager of the club.

Post-Wenger Era

Unai Emery was appointed as Arsenal manager after Arsene Wenger left the club. Emery became Arsenal’s first-ever Head Coach and only second manager outside the UK.

Arsenal finished 5th under Unai Emery in the 2018-19 season and lost the Europa League final to Chelsea. The following season was a nightmare for the Gunners, which led to the Spaniard getting the sack in November 2019 as Arsenal was languishing in the bottom half of the Premier League table and were winless for 7 games in all competitions.

Mikel Arteta was brought in as the club’s new Head Coach. Arsenal finished 8th in the 2019-20 season, which was the club’s worst finish since 1994-95. They did, however, manage to win the FA Cup once again for an English record – 14th time to go 2 ahead of 2nd placed, Manchester United, in the competition.

Arteta is now officially the Manager of Arsenal FC.

Club Records

MOST APPEARANCES: DAVID O’LEARY (722)

TOP GOALSCORER: THIERRY HENRY (228)

FIRST DIVISION LEAGUE & PREMIER LEAGUE TITLES: 13

FA CUP TITLES: 14

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE TITLES: 0

LEAGUE CUP TITLES: 2

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE TITLES: 0

FIFA CLUB WORLD CUPS: 0

CHARITY/COMMUNITY SHIELDS: 16