Arsenal and transfers have long been uncomfortable bedfellows..

Arsenal and transfers have long been uncomfortable bedfellows. This is something that seems very much part of the clubs DNA, probably stemming from its origins in the dark mists of time and its struggles as a Southern outpost of the embryonic Football League in Woolwich, Kent.

Back in the days, over a 100 years ago, the Woolwich Arsenal crowd was mostly made up of munitions workers, at the whim of the national need for any world event which involved the British military and the Royal Arsenal factory. The Boar War had a similar effect on the club in the 19th century to what happened with the modern Arsenals move to the Emirates, financially crippling it.

Back in the late 1890’s the employers were required to carry out extra hours at the Royal Arsenal and therefore the attendances at the Manor Ground dropped. The loss of income and the rise in club debt led to the sale of club assets, its most valuable assets, in order to stay in existence. Therefore top players were sold, including star midfielder Andy Ducat to Aston Villa and goalkeeper Jimmy Ashcroft to Liverpool.

All this was like an echo of more recent times and the need to sell the likes of Samir Nasri, Robin Van Persie and Cesc Fabregas.

These struggles didn’t end until the arrival as owner of Henry Norris, who as Chairman was the 1910’s version of Stan Kroneke. Norris was not a make-believe cowboy like Kroenke, but he initially shared the American billionaires distaste in spending vast amounts on transfer fees. It was Norris who engineered the clubs move from its outpost in Kent to a sleepy suburb of North London. Norris wasn’t interested in skimming off of the profits, like Kroenke, he was a visionary and saw Arsenal as a major player an English football which was booming.

Kroenke arrived after the move to the Emirates was completed, unlike Norris who was very much involved in Arsenals move to the new stadium and the clubs development. Norris was as important a figure in Arsenal history, as was Herbert Chapman…

The Arsene Wenger of that time was Leslie Knighton and he worked miracles for the club on a strict budget from the end of the First World War until 1925 when his relationship with Norris deteriorated and he left. Even under the restrictions he’d been forced to work under, Knighton still managed to bring in quality players who were the basis of Chapmans early teams and beyond. Players like Jack Butler, Alf Baker, Jimmy Brain and Bob John.

In came Chapman and things were never the same afterwards. It was Chapman who said:

It is my policy to keep the finest footballers in the game at Highbury, whatever the cost, and therefore keep Arsenal on top of the football world.

There are definite similarities between Herbert Chapman and Arsene Wenger, that’s for sure, but Chapman never held back when it came to transfers.

One of his first moves in the market was to bring Charlie Buchan back to Arsenal and in came big names like Alex James, David Jack, Joe Hulme. The crowds rose, the income flooded in, Highbury was redeveloped and even more money was spent on new players.

Henry Norris left the club following financial irregularities and an FA ban and was replaced by the Hill-Woods and Bracewell-Smiths.

Herbert Chapman died in 1934, but the course he had set the club on, continued.

Under George Allison more big names arrived, Alf Kirchen, Jack Bowden, Ted Drake, Wiff Copping, Jack Crayston, all were or became England Internationals.

Between 1930/31 and 1937/38 Arsenal won 5 Championships. The connection between player investment and success is clear to see and go hand-in-hand.

It remain the same today, but you need ambition, and that ambition comes from the top of the club and has to be put onto the field by ambitious managers.

The Second World War put Arsenal back into the kind of debt, relatively, that they had worked under in Woolwich. That old Woolwich mentality returned to the club as the Hill-Woods and Bracewell-Smiths tightened up spending. The club, under those two families, have been tight-fisted ever since.

Both Man United and Liverpool spent big in those pre-Premier League days and both enjoyed huge domestic and European success. Again the connection between player investment and success is clear. Meanwhile Arsenal never wavered from their tight-fisted Woolwich mentality.

The odd successful period under Tom Whittaker, Bertie Mee, George Graham and Terry Neill was inter-spaced with long periods of tedious underachievement with the same people at the head of the club. In the words of Peter Hill-Wood “Our club”…

David Dein shook things up, briefly. He was ambitious and wanted to see the potential of the club released from its shackles and to rival the biggest clubs in Europe. But Hill-Wood and Fiszman soon saw him off and that Woolwich mentality returned as the club’s transfer policy stagnated.

Today we have Stan Kroenke at the head of the club. Mediocrity personified, a true believer in that Woolwich mentality. A Billy Bean advocate.

Stan Kroenke – well he would have hated Herbert Chapman…

Written by AllezKev.