Herbert Chapman at the Arsenal: Success did not come at once

By Tony Attwood

It is sometimes thought that the moment Herbert Chapman came to Arsenal, then success followed at once. But this is not the case.

It is true that as we saw in the last episode Chapman brought comparative success to Arsenal in his first season. And indeed when we look at this, it is quite extraordinary that such success could be achieved. In 1924 Arsenal had just missed relegation with Knighton as manager, and then in 1925 under Chapman, Arsenal came runners-up.

Of course we can say that Chapman was a genius manager who had taken Huddersfield, who were a small-town club, up to the top of the 1st Division. And so obviously he could do the same with Arsenal who had a much bigger stadium and thus more money and a much greater capacity to attract new players.

But such a simple explanation doesn’t really explain what happened, because although Arsenal did leap from near relegation to near Champions in one season, they didn’t build on that. In fact, in Chapman’s first four seasons, Arsenal finished 2nd, 11th, 10th and 9th. True having reached the runners’ up spot in Champman’s first season, the club reached the FA Cup final in Chapman’s second season, but in that season the club sank to mid-table, where they stayed for the two following seasons.

So Chapman’s first four seasons at Arsenal can be summarised as two near misses (one in the League, one in the FA Cup) and then two seasons for mid-table security with slowly declining cup fortunes (one semi-final defeat, one quarter-final defeat).

Thus by 1928/29 (in which Arsenal finished 9th in the league and had that quarter-final elimination in the FA Cup) Arsenal had had four seasons under Chapman, and had been runners-up in the cup and the league, but were by 1928/29, showing no signs of winning either trophy

And I think this is important to point out, rather than skim over, becuase it sometimes seems to be assumed that Chapman came to Arsenal and the glory years began. Yes, Arsenal were a lot, lot better than they had been under the management of Knighton, but Chapman is quoted as saying when he arrived that it would take five years to get the club to the top, and in fact he was right.

Now what we should not forget at this point is that by the time Chapman came to Arsenal he was a very experienced football man. He had retired as a player in first-class football, in January 1909 having been player-manager from 1907 onwards. He continued as manager of Tottenham until 1912, when he moved to Leeds City.

As we have noted, Leeds were thrown out of the league for refusing to hand over financial documents which the Leeds board claimed were confidential to the club, and Chapman was banned from football for life. However on being offered the job of manager at Huddersfield in 1921 he successfully applied for the ban to be lifted, and in subsequent years won the FA Cup and the league twice (all done with a club that had never won a trophy before.) Then in the midst of his success at Huddersfield he moved to Arsenal in 1925, while the team he left behind at Huddersfield went on to win the league for a third successive season. Indeed, that FA Cup win and the three successive 1st division titles are the only major trophies Huddersfield Town have ever won, and although the third league title was indeed won after Chapman had departed for Arsenal, it was in effect his team, playing in his way, which won the League for that third and final time.

But by 1928/9 Huddersfield had sunk to 16th in the First Division, and although they did recover to come runners up in 1933/4 that improvement proved to be short-lived and the following season they dropped back to 16th once again.

When football resumed after the war in 1946, Huddersfield spent five years in the lower reaches of the league, twice missing relegation by just one place, until ultimately their luck ran out and they were relegated in 1952. They returned to the top tier after one season but only survived three more campaigns before descending to the second tier once more.

Huddersfield had to wait until 1970 to rise up to the top league once again, and so did play Arsenal during the 1970/1 season when Arsenal won their first Double. Huddersfield finished 15th.

But rather than this being the start of a new era of success it turned out to be the reverse as relegation in 1972 to Division 2 was followed immediately by relegation to Division 3, and after just two years there, the final igonomy arose of relegation to Division 4. It was not until 2017/18 that Huddersfield made it back to the top league, They lasted in the Premier League for two seasons, thus playing Arsenal four times (Arsenal winning each time), but then were relegated once more. In 2023/24 they were relegated from the Championship and this season (2024/25) they are in League One.

But to return to the days of Chapman, his extraordinary success in giving unfancied, and in effect poorly supported, Huddersfield Town, the FA Cup and two league titles, made him a target manager for several clubs. Chapman clearly knew that he could take Huddersfield no further, not just because of the success he had had but also because of the impossibility of attracting bigger crowds, the impossibility of attracting top players to come and live in Huddersfield, and the impossibility of competing in the developing transfer market for new players.

London however held its attractions for players, and north and east London between them had three Divison 1 clubs: Arsenal, Tottenham and West Ham United, meaning four London derby games a season, which added to the excitement. (There was also Chelsea and Fulham in Division 2, and although no one expected much from Fulham, there was a regular expectation that Chelsea might make its way back into the top tier, thus giving Arsenal six London derby games a season – something that was not only unprecedented in the post-war era but also considered extremely exciting.

Thus the sucess of Chapman at Huddersfield and the dire failure of Leslie Knighton as manager at Arsenal (resulting in the view that Arsenal would be favourites for relegation if Knighton stayed one more year) meant everything was set for Chapman to move south. Huddersfield were doing brilliantly and massively exceeding expectations, but even then could not attract the crowds that would allow the club to compete in the transfer market, while Arsenal attracted the crowds even when not doing well. What’s more, Highbury stadium was built, and the Avenall Road underground station sat opposite the ground to bring in the crowds from across the capital.

And indeed the success Arsenal immediately had under Chapman showed that they had every right to do this.

In fact subsequent history also proves the point, for the rest of Knighton’s career as a manager consisted of no trophies but rather a fair number of failures, no matter where he went. Gradually he worked his way down the leagues and ended up managing Shrewsbury Town then of the Midland league, between 1945 and 1948.

Indeed Kngiton is now only remembered for his scurrilous autobiography in which he blames his failures on everyone but himself – and in particular on Sir Henry Norris who stood by Knighton while the club’s debts were paid off and Knighton took the club perilously close to relegation.

Chapman was, on the other hand, a manager who knew a lot about handling teams across all divisions, and throughout his career he had had significant success, starting with the time when, as Southern League champions, Northampton played in the FA Charity Shield match, which they lost narrowly to Newcastle United. Knighton was clearly not the man to take Arsenal forward, now that the debts accrued through the building of Highbury were paid off. Chapman, Sir Henry Norris decided, was the man he needed at Arsenal.

And of course, he was right – Arsenal having just missed relegation in Knighton’s last season finished runners-up in Champman’s first season.

The series continues…

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