Arsenal were the team to beat throughout the 1930’s. The key figure during this era of the clubs history was, without a doubt, their manager Herbert Chapman. Arsenal were flirting with relegation before he took the reins in 1925. He single handedly set about reinventing the team with immediate effect. The 1930’s saw Arsenal reach new heights. They won their first F.A. Cup under Chapman at the dawn of that decade, in a final that was remembered for being ‘buzzed’ by the enormous German airship Graf Zeppelin . Arsenal where not distracted by the sight, defeating Huddersfield Town 2-0.  This victory signaled the start of Arsenals dominance of British football for almost a decade before WWII reared its head.

 

With recent signings Cliff Bastin and Alex James on board, Arsenal quickly became the envy of the footballing world. They romped to their first league title with ease in 1931, racking up a record breaking 66 points and 127 goals. Chapmans influence even extended to the teams kit. Noticing a groundsman wearing a sleeveless jumper and liking the look, he decided to add white sleeves to the teams uniform, creating the now famous red with white sleeves kit that Arsenal has worn ever since. He also championed innovations like floodlighting, European club competitions and numbered shirts (Arsenal were the first team to wear numbers on their backs, in 1928). However, tragedy struck the club in 1934. Chapman contracted pneumonia and passed away in the early hours of January 6th. However, the tragedy did not spell the end of Arsenals success.

 

The club paid their respects to their late manager by building upon his foundations, winning the First Division title (then the highest league in English football) three times in a row, in 1933, 1934 and 1935.  The first two titles came under Chapman, and the latter under their new manager George Allison. Arsenal were at their attacking best in 1935, with Drake alone scoring a club record 42 goals.  The team swept aside all before them, thrashing Wolves 7-0, Liverpool 8-1 and Leicester City and Middlesborough 8-0. Arsenal were so strong, that 7 players who played in the England team that defeated world  champions Italy 3-2 in the ‘Battle of Highbury’, were Arsenal players. The Gunners took out the F.A. Cup again in 1936, and ruled the Charity Shield with five wins between 1930 and 1938.

 

The only dark spot on an incredible record is an infamous loss to Walsall in the 1933 F.A. Cup, considered one of the biggest F.A. Cup upsets of all time. To be fair however, Arsenal had 5 players out with injury or illness and had to replace them with reserves. Despite being somewhat a shadow of their former selves towards the end of this era, weakened by the retirement of Alex James and the long-term injuries of several key players, they still managed to pip Wolves, on the final day of the season, to a fifth title in 1938. It took nothing less than the outbreak of World War 2 to stop the rampant Arsenal, with all first-class football suspended and Arsenal’s Highbury Stadium turned into an Air Raid Precautions station.

Achievements: English First Division – Champions x5
                         FA Cup – Winners x2
                        FA Charity Shield – Winners x4

Star player: Cliff Bastin, 14 March 1912, Heavitree, England

Bastin was spotted as a 17 year old by Herbert Chapman while playing for Exeter, and signed with Arsenal that season. Remaining loyal to the Gunners for the entire rest of his career, he formed an integral part of the side that would dominate the English game in the 30’s. Bastin’s Arsenal career ran from 1929 to 1947, and in that time he made 395 appearances for the club and scored 150 goals. He possessed deadly precision in front of goal, and his scoring feats are all the more remarkable in that he played as a left winger and not a centre forward. By the time he was 19, he had won a league title, the F.A. Cup and represented England, the youngest player to ever achieve all three. He played in the famous ‘Battle of Highbury’ against Italy, as well as the notorious match against Germany in Berlin in 1938, when the England team was ordered to give the Nazi salute prior to kick-off. After retiring, Bastin returned to Exeter and ran a pub. He passed away in 1991 at 79 and was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2009.