June 11, 2025 marks 100 years to the day that Herbert Chapman became Arsenal manager – thereby launching a new era for the club that laid the foundations for all that has followed since.
The visionary manager brought our very first major honours to the club, helped revolutionise the way football is seen and played in this country, and put Arsenal well and truly on the map – literally in regards to the London Underground.
Chapman was our manager for eight and a half years, taking charge of 403 games and remaining in the post until he died from pneumonia in January 1934.
Here we recap that glorious period in the 1930s that Chapman instigated, and look at the ongoing impact he made on the club as a whole.
Before arsenal
Long before he became a world-class manager, Herbert Chapman was a well-travelled footballer, albeit with a modest playing record. Born in Yorkshire on January 19, 1878, as one of 11 children, he began his career at local club Kiveton Park, while his first senior team was Grimsby Town in the Second Division, during the 1898/99 season.
Playing as a right-sided forward, he then had a host of other clubs in a nomadic early career, though didn’t establish himself at any of them, as he moved round the country finding work. He had qualified as a mining engineer from Sheffield Technical College, which supported his life as an amateur player.
He was hospitalised with serious internal injuries after an incident while playing for Sheppey United at the start of the 20th Century, and as his football career appeared to flounder, he continued to study. He soon turned professional, signing for Northampton Town, and later joined Tottenham ahead of the 1905/06 season. After two seasons with Spurs, he decided to call time on his playing days, aged 29.
Not long afterwards though, in April 1907, he returned to Northampton, this time as player-manager. In 1909, he finished playing completely to concentrate purely on management. In 1912, he took on his next job in management at Leeds City, though he also helped the war effort during this time as manager of a munitions factory. He left Leeds in 1918, and was soon after banned from football by the Football League as part of their investigations into financial irregularities, despite not being in situ at the time.
The ban was lifted a year later in October 1920. He returned to football as assistant-manager at Huddersfield Town in February 1921, before becoming manager shortly afterwards. In his first full season he won the FA Cup, following it up with back-to-back league titles in 1924 and 1925. Before he could oversee the unprecedented third-successive title in 1926 though, he had been lured to Arsenal. Those trophies Huddersfield won under Chapman were the first in the club’s history, and since completing that hat-trick of titles in 1926, they have not won another major honour.
Season by Season
1925/26
Chapman was installed as Arsenal manager on June 11, 1925 – a couple of weeks after Leslie Knighton had been sacked at the end of the 1924/25 season in which we finished one place above the relegation zone in Division One. Chapman, by now aged 47, became the seventh full-time permanent manager in our history, and set about resurrecting our fortunes – just 12 years after we had crossed the River Thames to find a new home in north London.
He had a five-year plan to bring success to the club, and his first signing was Charlie Buchan, an England international forward who signed from Sunderland, having began his career in the reserves at Woolwich Arsenal.
He top scored for us with 20 goals that season, helping to guide us to second place in Division One (behind Chapman’s former side Huddersfield). It was a remarkable improvement on the previous season, and our highest-ever league finish at the time. We also reached the last eight of the FA Cup, and set a new club record attendance of 71,446 during the campaign, as the good times came to Highbury.
1926/27
Chapman really began to exert his authority on the club during his second season in charge. He continued to reshape his squad, adding the likes of striker Jack Lambert to the line up, and guided us to our first ever FA Cup final.
We met Cardiff City at Wembley, and despite going into the game as marginal favourites, slipped to a 1-0 defeat to our fellow Division One opponents. Our league form dropped off from the previous season, and we just about finished in the top half, but by reaching the FA Cup final, Chapman had overseen the two most successful seasons in the club’s history within his first two years in charge – as we finished runners-up in both of the available competitions.
1927/28
Despite the upheaval off the pitch at the club – with chairman Henry Norris (the man who had appointed Chapman in 1925) – being banned from football by the FA, the team continued to make steady progress.
We reached the semi-final of the FA Cup, losing to Blackburn Rovers, and finished 10th in Division One. Future England captain Eddie Hapgood made his debut during the campaign, and the season ended with a 3-3 draw away to champions Everton. Dixie Dean scored a hat-trick for the Toffees to make it a record-busting 60 goals for the season, as Charlie Buchan played his final game.
1928/29
For the third season in a row, we improved our finishing position in Division One, as Chapman continued to invest heavily to assemble a squad capable of winning the major honours. In pre-season the manager brought in Wales international and future Gunners captain Charlie Jones for a club record fee. A few months into the campaign, Chapman smashed the club record transfer fee again, and also set a new world transfer record, signing David Jack from Bolton for £10,647.
Jack’s arrival kick-started the season, and he would end as our top scorer with 26 goals that term. We finished seven points behind champions The Wednesday, and reached the quarter-final of the FA Cup. The 1930s – and the start of our period of dominance - were just around the corner. But Chapman almost left the club that summer. He received an offer to return to Huddersfield, but after consideration, believed he had unfinished business at Highbury.
1929/30
Chapman had pledged to bring success to the club within five years of arriving, and he was as good as his word. The first ever piece of major silverware for the club was delivered by Chapman at Wembley Stadium on April 26, 1930 – and fittingly it came against Huddersfield Town.
We beat Chapman’s former club 2-0 in the FA Cup final, with goals from Alex James and Jack Lambert. James had only arrived at the start of that season, along with Cliff Bastin, and the two would prove to be spectacular, transformative additions to the squad who would both go on to have legendary careers with us.
The latter would become our record goalscorer, an honour he held until Ian Wright took over the mantel in 1998. The 1930 FA Cup final was the first in which both teams entered the pitch side by side, in honour of Chapman’s achievements in the game to that point, primarily with Huddersfield. We had beaten Chelsea, Birmingham City, Middlesbrough, West Ham United and Hull City on the road to Wembley, before captain Tom Parker received the trophy from the king on a red letter day in our club’s history.
Read more When did Arsenal win the FA Cup?
1930/31
We became Champions of England for the very first time, losing just four league games in the 42-match season, securing the title with two games to spare with a 3-1 home win over Liverpool. Our final total of 66 points (in those days of two points for a win) was the highest any team had ever recorded at that time, and we also racked up an incredible 127 league goals, which remains a club record. It was the first team a London side (indeed any side from the south) had won the league, and was the culmination of years of team building by Chapman.
The manager had created a formidable outfit, and his counter-attacking tactics took the rest of the country by storm. The rest of the league were simply unable to cope with the speed of our transitions into attack, as our lethal forwards poured forward at every opportunity. Jack Lambert, David Jack and Cliff Bastin scored 97 league goals between them, and we hit four or more in a game on newer fewer than 17 occasions.
That included a 9-1 home win over Grimsby Town that remains our record top-flight victory. Another milestone for the club that season was winning out first ever Charity Shield, beating Sheffield Wednesday 2-1. At the end of the triumphant season, Chapman celebrated by having knee surgery, to remove cartilage that had caused him pain since his playing days 20 years earlier.
1931/32
The famous Arsenal clock was installed at Highbury this season (originally at the north end of the stadium on the Laundry End), after Chapman had successfully negotiated with the FA that it should be allowed in the stadium, after the previous season’s 45-minute timer had been banned.
On the pitch we just missed out on the honours, reaching our third FA Cup final, but losing to 2-1 to Newcastle United after taking the lead. And we finished as runners-up in the league too, failing to retain our title, ending two points behind Everton. We did retain the Charity Shield however, with a 1-0 win over West Bromwich Albion.
1932/33
By now our status as the country’s foremost club was well and truly established as we won the Division One title again, finishing four points ahead of Aston Villa after netting 118 league goals. The title was wrapped up at Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge with a 3-1 win on April 22, 1933. Off the pitch we were making giant strides forward too, and on October 31, 1932 the Gillespie Road underground station on the Piccadilly Line was officially renamed ‘Arsenal’, at Chapman’s insistence.
“Whoever heard of Gillespie Road? It’s Arsenal around here,” our visionary manager told the Underground Electric Railways Company of London. Despite the administrative and logistical headaches caused by the renaming, Chapman got his way. Two months later our new state-of-the-art West Stand was officially opened by the Prince of Wales, and this season also marked the first time we played in our now familiar red and white kit. Previously the shirts were all red, but Chapman himself added the white sleeves in March 1933, and they are still with us today.
Read more When did Arsenal win the league at Stamford Bridge
1933/34
In early 1934 Chapman returned from a scouting mission to Sheffield feeling unwell, and was ordered to rest by the doctors. But instead, the ever-diligent manager – whose advice to his players had always been 'service before self' – attended an Arsenal third-team match. By the time he did eventually return home, his condition had deteriorated and he died of pneumonia in the early hours of January 6, 1934. The football world was plunged into shock.
Arsenal played Sheffield Wednesday later that day, and the stunned Highbury faithful stood in his honour as the Last Post was played before kick off. The players too, were devastated by the news. Chapman had been a master tactician, a disciplinarian, but was also hugely supportive of them when needed.
The fact that the club were able to pick up the pieces and continue the fine work that Chapman had started, was also down in part to him. Chapman had established a boot room, entrusting a select group of men to help build and run the system, and it was one of these men, Joe Shaw, who took over on a caretaker role. He held the job until the end of the season, and guided the club successfully to another title, again wrapped up at Stamford Bridge. Another of Chapman’s lieutenants, George Allison, took the job on a permanent basis ahead of 1934/35, and led the team – built mainly by Chapman – to a third successive league championship win.
Innovations
As well as everything Chapman achieved on the pitch, he was also a trailblazer away from it, and was years ahead of his time in all manner of areas. A few examples of innovations that can be credited to the great man are as below:
• The introduction of the white ball• Artificial playing surfaces• We are the only club to have renamed an underground station• Innovative treatment of injuries using newly devised equipment• The 'WM' formation • Stadium improvements long before this was a conventional part of the manager’s remit• Championed the use of floodlights. Though this concept was already in motion, Chapman made it much more practical by installing lights on the new West Stand• Numbered shirts. Arsenal were the first to wear numbered shirts in a competitive English game in 1928• Pioneered the introduction of a public clock inside the stadium (after the FA banned the initial timer clock)• Suggested and backed promotion and relegation• Championed the introduction of nursery/feeder teams• Our first ever oversees player, Gerry Keizer, signed for us under Chapman• Popularised playing foreign opposition in friendlies• Also popularised seaside training breaks
Read more Herbert Chapman - The great innovator
Today's legacy
The hallmarks of Chapman’s reign can still be seen around the club today. Supporters can visit the Herbert Chapman statue, as he stands proudly in front of the Arsenal clock at the south end of the stadium on the podium.
A bust of Chapman has sat proudly in the Marble Halls at Highbury since the 1930s. It has remained in the listed building since we left the stadium in 2006, though a replica is also to be found in the Diamond Club at Emirates Stadium. Another replica is on display at Huddersfield Town’s John Smith’s Stadium.
Emirates Stadium is also home to the WM Club on Club Level – a homage to our former manager and the successful formation that he instigated, leading to our first great successful period. And the next time you are in the Arsenal Museum, be sure to take a look at Chapman’s iconic bowler hat.
Herbert Chapman's Arsenal Career
Season
Played
Won
Drawn
Lost
Goals For
Goals Against
League
FA Cup
Charity Shield
1925/26
48
25
10
13
96
68
2nd
Quarter-final
N/A
1926/27
49
22
10
17
89
93
11th
Final
N/A
1927/28
47
17
15
15
96
92
10th
Semi-final
N/A
1928/29
47
19
14
14
82
74
9th
Quarter-final
N/A
1929/30
50
20
13
17
91
70
14th
Winners
N/A
1930/31
46
30
11
5
135
65
Winners
Round 3
Winners
1931/32
49
28
10
11
111
53
2nd
Final
Winners
1932/33
43
25
8
10
118
63
Winners
R3
N/A
1933/34
24
15
6
3
44
20
Winners
Quarter-final
Winners
TOTAL
403
201
97
105
864
598
3
1
3
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