George Graham & the Championship:

Following the double, Arsenal failed to regain the form of 1970-71, their highest league position of 2nd in 1972-73. When they finished 16th in 1976 Bertie Mee resigned. His successor, Terry Neil, from Spurs became the youngest ever manager of Arsenal. Neil's first acquisition was Malcolm (SuperMac) Macdonald for £333,333.

Neil's Arsenal were the first ever British team to achieve three successive FA Cup finals (and only the 3rd ever to achieve the hat trick of finals) in 1978, '79 and '80, only winning the 1979 clash against Manchester United (3-2). It was this win that put Arsenal into the Cup Winners Cup in which Arsenal travelled to Brussels to tackle Valencia in the final.

The game ended 0-0 and Arsenal lost on penalties; they did however achieve one record that season ... an amazing 70 games in one season!

In November of 1983 Neil was replaced by Don Howe (having served as coach for 14 years). It was this period that saw (for the first time since Chapman's days) attendance's fall below 20,000! On 22nd March, 1986 Howe resigns and is replaced by George Graham.

George Graham brings Alan (Smudger) Smith from Leicester and places faith in the youngsters Merson and Adams (who is named Young Player of the Year). The centenary year sees Arsenal bring home the Littlewood's (League) Cup (beating Liverpool 2-1) and finish 4th in the championship.

Prior to the championship year of 1989 Graham's only achievement is to reach the Littlewood's final again in 1987 (losing to Luton). In 1989 Steve Bould arrives and the season starts well with Arsenal topping the league on Boxing Day (where they stayed for 13 days). On the 15th April at Hillsborough the Liverpool / Nottingham Forest FA Cup Semi Final is abandoned following the appalling scenes in which 95 Liverpool fans were to lose their lives. By the end of the (extended) season the championship could belong to either Liverpool or Arsenal.

To achieve the championship Arsenal need to beat Liverpool by two clear goals. The kick off on 26th May is delayed due to Arsenal fans held up in traffic (how different to the 1998 FA Cup Semi Final at Villa Park!). There are 52 minutes of tense football before Winterburn's free kick is headed past Grobbelaar by Smudger. By full time it appeared Arsenal had failed to achieve the required scoreline, when (with the Kop frantically whistling for full time) Lukic's clearance was intercepted by Dixon, on to Smudger who slotted the ball perfectly onto Thomas who with perfect timing flicked the ball over Grobbelaar ..... 2-0 ... Arsenal had won the League with seconds of the season remaining!!

The following year it was Liverpool who started and ended the season as victors, beating Arsenal in the Charity Shield and topping the league (Arsenal finished fourth).

The 1991 season was most famous for Arsenal having two points deducted by the FA for the infamous brawl at Old Trafford, Arsenal still managed to win the league and only missed out on another FA Cup Final after losing to Spurs in the semi final (after extra time) at Wembley. 1992 the rebuilding of the new North Bank (and the famous mural - which had to be repainted following complaints that ALL of the crowd were white) saw Arsenal knocked out of the European Cup in the second round and no trophies were forthcoming.

How different 1993 would be, despite a poor league campaign (finishing 10th), Arsenal took home the FA Cup and the Coca-Cola Cup (the FA Cup now infamous for the Adams/Morrow celebration that left Morrow with a broken arm!).

Whilst 1994 was disappointing for league, FA Cup and Coca-Cola Cup performances, 1994 will be remembered for the year of the European triumph, with Arsenal beating Parma in the final of the Cup Winners Cup in Copenhagen.

1995 saw the end of Graham, with his dismissal by the board on 21st February 1995 for his involvement in the Rune Hauge/Jensen "bung" scandal. And so another chapter in Arsenal's history ended.

History Overview

In the beginning, 1886, the team played at and were referred to as Dial Square. Later switching to Woolwich they became known as Woolwich Arsenal. In 1903 Woolwich Arsenal gained promotion to the first division. After a disastrous season in 1919, the team moved to Highbury and dropped the "Woolwich" from their name. Sir Henry Norris did some amazing dealings to get Arsenal promoted back to the first division (at the expense of Spurs), where Arsenal have remained ever since. Between 1925 and 1934, Chapman took the helm and Arsenal adopted the famous 3-4-3 formation and the ubiquitous red and white shirts. On Chapman's death Allison took over and held the club in the first division, during this period Cliff Bastin established a goal scoring record of 178 goals (a record not broken until 50 years later when Ian Wright scored his 179th against Bolton Wanderers). Tom Whittaker took the reins from Allison and despite some lean years lifted the fa cup and won the division. Like Chapman, Whittaker died young whilst in command of Arsenal. Following Whittaker came some unmemorable years, before Bertie Mee took the helm in 1966, Mee's most famous achievement would be the double in 1970. After Neil and Howe's years in control, George Graham (himself a player of the double season) took over, until the infamous bung scandal that cost him his job in 1995. Eventually, Arsenal would see the arrival of Arsene Wenger who achieved the unbelievable in his first full year, Arsenal's second double.

Arsenal's full honours