A lean period followed until success under Bertie Mee, once the club’s physiotherapist, whose move into the dugout led to Arsenal’s first European trophy, the Fairs Cup in 1970, and a year later, to their first league and FA Cup Double.
George Graham’s tenure in the late 1980s and early 1990s was not to everyone’s liking, but his style of football which inspired the chant “One-nil to the Arsenal”, brought six trophies in eight seasons, including league titles in 1988-89 — famously won by Michael Thomas’s goal against Liverpool in the last minute of the final game at Anfield — and 1990-91 when Arsenal lost only once.
In 1996, Wenger, then an unknown Frenchman, arrived at Highbury, to cries of “Arsene who?” from fans and players alike. An expansive style of football, far removed from the Graham era, and exciting imports including Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira and Dennis Bergkamp led Arsenal to three league titles in seven seasons — two league and FA Cup Doubles (1997-98 and 2001-2002) and the Invincibles of 2003-04 when Arsenal became the first team since Preston North End in 1888-89 to go through an entire campaign unbeaten.
Since moving to the Emirates Stadium a decade ago, however, Arsenal have become the nearly men — perennial top-four finishers and Champions League qualifiers but yet to add to their haul of league titles, although they have won the FA Cup twice in the last three years to set a mark of 12 only matched by Manchester United.
Great players
Ted Drake scored 136 goals from 182 games for Arsenal before the Second World War and was a key member of their title-winning sides under Chapman. Similarly prolific, with 178 goals in this period, Cliff Bastin was for a long time the club’s all-time leading scorer.
The Double-winning team of 1970-71 contained several players who assumed legendary status. Frank McLintock, the captain, was a tough-tackling defender and true leader, while his fellow Scot, Graham, who would later manage the club, was a lynchpin in midfield. Charlie George, scorer of the winner in the FA Cup final against Liverpool that season, provided the glamour, with his languid playing style and long, flowing locks.
Later in the decade, Liam Brady, the Irishman with a wand of a left foot, brought flair to the midfield, a tradition continued in the 1980s by youngsters Paul Merson and David Rocastle. They were both members of Graham’s teams alongside Tony Adams, a defensive giant and an inspirational leader in the McLintock mould, and, later, Ian Wright, a natural born goal scorer who overtook Bastin’s long-standing record.
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