As you may have read, this season AISA is celebrating 100 years since Arsenal was transformed from a relegation threatened side to a title chasing club through the recruitment of Herbert Chapman as Arsenal’s manager. He joined the club from the then current league champions Huddersfield Town where he had just won the title twice running.
This was an amazing achievement for both Arsenal and its chairman Sir Henry Norris and of course it led on to the glorious achievements of Arsenal in the 1930s where in the space of just nine seasons the club won the 1st Division title five times and the FA Cup twice.
The 100th anniversary of Chapman’s arrival at Arsenal is thus obviously a matter of considerable celebration, but it is not the only 100th anniversary that we are having in the coming season. For as we have previously noticed, at the same time we can celebrate 100 seasons in the top division.
And to show what an incredible achievement that is, it should be noted that our nearest rival in terms of consecutive years in the top league is Everton. They were promoted to League Division One in 1954, meaning that in 2025/26 they will be competing in their 71st consecutive season in the top league of English football. A fine record, as I am sure you will agree, but not quite in the same realm as achieving a century of consecutive seasons.
Tottenham in case you are interested, have been in the top tier for a much shorter spell, being promoted last time around in 1978 – I’ll leave you to work out how many consecutive years that gives them at the top of the tree. But as a clue I could say it is less than half the number of consecutive seasons Arsenal are achieving in this coming campaign.
Now in doing calculations like this I am occasionally asked if Arsenal have ever come close to relegation, and I have to admit it, that yes, just twice Arsenal did nearly slip out of the top league.
That was in 1909/10 when Arsenal came 18th out of 20 clubs in the 1st Division, missing relegation by just two points. The other near disaster was in 1924/25 when Arsenal came 20th out of 22 clubs. That was the season in which the Arsenal chairman, Sir Henry Norris, finally felt he had had enough of the manager Leslie Knighton (who had taken the club to 19th place the season before) and gave him the push.
Knighton, was then in fact replaced by Herbert Chapman, who as you may recall from our earlier article, ultimately went on to make Arsenal Champions, and indeed in the season immediately following Knighton’s near miss with relegation, Chapman took Arsenal to the runners-up position – the highest that Arsenal had ever achieved thus far.
Of course Arsenal have continued to win titles – we have now gained 13 Premier League and League Division 1 titles, behind only Manchester United and Liverpool. And at the same time – although it doesn’t give us cause to celebrate an anniversary this year, we have won the FA Cup more than any other club. In fact Arsenal have won the FA Cup 14 times in all from 21 appearances in the final.
But for now it seems like a good idea to focus on both 100 years since Chapman became manager, and 100 consecutive seasons in the top division – something that no other club can boast.
Indeed it seems rather a good time to have a celebration. Or two.
Tony Attwood – AISA Arsenal History Society