Arsenal find themselves on top of the Premier League table four weeks into the new season and though far too early to assess their title credentials, optimistic fans have their sights set on glory, hoping that Mikel Arteta’s side can secure their 14th top flight championship. It would add to a list of honors starting way back in 1930, but funnily enough a list that may never have existed if not for that first triumph, which in turn may have never come about if not for an unsuspecting newspaper advert.

The advert was for the managerial position at the club in the summer of 1925, and it was answered by a certain Herbert Chapman. Those were the days where board members usually picked the team and most sides never even had tactics, but Chapman’s influence would revolutionize the club. He had already guided Huddersfield to consecutive football league titles, but passed up on the chance to make history by winning three in a row when he moved to the Gunners, a side that flirted with relegation. An advocate of the W-M formation, he turned Arsenal into an exciting, attacking side, taking them to a FA Cup Quarter Final and second place finish in his first year. They would fall short in their first FA Cup Final the following year, but would finally win it in 1930 before clinching the league with a record 66-point tally as well.

Chapman would not only win the league again in 1932/33, but he would culturally transform the club and give them the identity that they boast today. It was his idea to add the white sleeves to the shirt and to change the club’s name from “The Arsenal” to “Arsenal”, so that they appeared top of alphabetical lists. He would also suggest to change the local train station’s name from Gillespie Road to Arsenal, making them the only football club with a Tube station named after them even today.  

Such was Chapman’s contribution to the Arsenal side that we know now, and while he unfortunately fell victim to pneumonia in January 1934, his legacy certainly lives on.