Founded in 1886 as Dial Square, the club soon changed their name to Royal Arsenal in recognition of the employees from the ammunitions factory who founded them.
In 1891, Royal Arsenal turned professional, but changed their name again to Woolwich Arsenal. By 1893, they had joined the English football league and in doing so became the first London based club to join the association, starting out in the Second Division. By 1904, the club had won promotion to the First Division.
Being the only team based in the south of England and isolated from their opponents, Woolwich Arsenal fell into financial difficulties and by 1910 was effectively bankrupt. Henry Norris took them over and instigated a move to Highbury, North London in 1913. One year on the club dropped Woolwich from their name and was known thereafter as Arsenal.
Arsenal Begin to Dominate English Football
In 1925 Arsenal appointed as their manager Herbert Chapman, who had won the English league title the last two years with Huddersfield Town. Chapman led Arsenal through a period of glory, becoming the dominant team in the land during the 1930’s winning the FA Cup once in 1930 and the league title twice in 1931 and 1933. However, at the height of his success, Herbert Chapman died suddenly of pneumonia in 1934.
Arsenal’s success had begun to dry up by the end of the decade, but after the suspension of football in England during the Second World War was lifted, the London club became a force to be reckoned with again under the guidance of Tom Whittaker.
Whittaker led Arsenal to two league titles in 1948 and 1953 and an FA Cup success in 1950. However, the clubs glories were short lived and the rest of the 1950’s and 1960’s were spent without winning any major honours.
Arsenal Come Close to League Title and Cup Success in the 70s
At the start of the 1970s the clubs fortunes were again on the up as manager Bertie Mee helped Arsenal win the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1970, their first trophy won in European competition. The following year they went on to win the prestigious League title and FA Cup double.
The remainder of the 1970’s saw just one more FA Cup win in 1979, with the decade being typified as one of missed opportunities. Arsenal finished as league runners-up in 1973; lost three FA Cup Finals in 1972, 1978 and 1980, and were beaten finalists in the European Cup Winners Cup in 1980.
The appointment of former player George Graham as manager in 1986 brought another era of success to the club. Arsenal won the League Cup in 1987 before being crowned league champions in 1989. Graham went on to lead the club to the league title in 1991, the FA Cup and League Cup double in 1993 and European Cup Winners Cup success in 1994. Despite this achievement Graham was sacked as manager in 1995 when it was revealed he had taken illegal payments from players agents during transfer negotiations.
Arsene Wenger Arrives to Revolutionise English football
Frenchman Arsene Wenger was appointed as manager in 1996 and brought new tactics and training regimes with him. Wenger led Arsenal to a second League and Cup double in 1998 and a third in 2002. They won a further league title in 2004, sandwiched between 2 more FA Cup victories in 2003 and 2005. Wenger also led them to the UEFA Cup final in 2000 where they were beaten by Galatasaray and the prestigious European Champions League Final in 2006 where they were beaten 2-1 by Barcelona.
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