• For most of the club’s history, the players wore red shirts with white sleeves and white shorts. The choice of red was in recognition of a donation from Nottingham Forrest, Dial Square founding members Fred Beardsley and Morris Bates could not find a kit so they wrote to their home asking for a donation and received a set of kits and a ball. The shirts were redcurrant a colour that resembled burgundy, white shorts and blue socks.

• In 1933 Herbert Chapman wanted his players to be dressed distinctly so he introduced white sleeves to the shirts and changing the shade of red to be brighter. Red and white shirts have to characterize Arsenal as a team although in 1966-1967 season the shirts were all red which proved to be menacingly unpopular so white sleeves returned the following season. Also in their last season at Highbury the players wore a one off season redcurrant shirts similar to the first kit they wore in 1913 in the new stadium.

• The away colours have always been blue and yellow although in 1982 and 1984 the away kit was green and navy. The away kits are generally two tones of blue or variations on the traditional yellow and blue. The 2007-2008 away kit broke away from tradition with players wearing white shirts, redcurrant shorts and hoped white and redcurrant socks, and their third kit which is redcurrant and obsidian hoops.

Arsenal F.C

Arsenal-the gunners

Arsenal Gangsta Gunners

Dennis Bergkamp

Ian Wright Wright Wright!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thierry Henry Compilation

Patrick Vieira

Captain Tony Adams

Arsenal – Sevilla (3-0) Champions League 2007/2008 Group H

Arsenal Stunners – Stunning goals from Arsenal Football Club

1. Tony Adams

• The youngest ever player to captain Arsenal, twenty one years of age in 1988 and went on to captain the side until 2002. One of the most reliable centre backs to ever grace the English game, he was a towering figure in the back for Arsenal.
• He was one of the ‘famous four’ (aging defenders including Martin Keown, Lee Dixon and Nigel Winterburn) renowned for their discipline and reliability at the back.
• Adams could be called the perfect player but his career was slightly blighted by alcohol problems. During the early 90’s he was in trouble with the law for drink driving where he was found four times over the limit when he crashed his car into a wall plus various drunken brawls in clubs. In 1996 he finally admitted that he was an alcoholic and immediately turned for help, with the arrival of Arsene Wenger Adams’s recovery clicked into place.
• He was one of those defenders with a no nonsense attitude, putting his body on the line for his team, a true leader and an incredible fighter.

2. Ian Wright

• ‘Ian Wright Wright Wright’ used to be a famous chant for hardcore Gooners to show their love and respect for the greatest player with the no.8 on his back. Week in week out Wrighty did what he does best, score cracking goals, his goals came with amusing celebrations that will always be remembered by Gooners.

• Signed for a then club record fee of £2.5m from Crystal Palace, he was worth every penny of it. On his debut against Leicester City in a League Cup Tie and scored a hat trick on his League debut against Southampton. He won the Golden Boot in his first season with Arsenal and went on to be the club’s top goal scorer in six seasons in a row, it would not be lie to label him as a goal scoring machine. Wrighty scored in every round of the Cup Winners’ Cup in the 1995 campaign but in that year was somewhat a bad year for him.

• With the man who had tremendous faith in and signed him, George Graham, being sacked new manager Bruce Rioch did not see eye to eye with the Highbury legend. Having been forced to play on the wing (not his natural roll at all) and disagreements with Rioch, Wright handed in a transfer request which he later withdrew. The arrival of Arsene Wenger was somewhat a positive factor for Wright, because at that time he was 33 years old but Wenger still had faith and respect for a figure that would forever stand tall in the name of Arsenal Football Club.

• On 13^th September 1997 in a match against Bolton Wanderers, Wright was short of three goals to break Cliff Bastin’s all time goal scoring record for Arsenal Football Club, he got all three against Bolton that afternoon. The name will forever live amongst the club and supporters.

3. Dennis Bergkamp

• The Iceman was the first ever world class signing for Arsenal Football Club and is seen as the driving force behind attracting world class players to the club also.

• After two unhappy seasons at Inter Milan, where he could not adapt to the defensive style of play, Bergkamp was brought to Arsenal by Bruce Rioch for a measly £7.5m not much for a player of such caliber. It took the Iceman eight games to score for his new club but as time went by his figure and reputation grew greater and greater.

• He played just behind the main striker who at that time happened to be Ian Wright and the two formed a deadly partnership with Bergkamp providing the chances for Wright to execute. Bergkamp himself was a scorer but he was also known for his technique and intelligence, providing killer passes for his team mates to seal the deal. In his Arsenal career the Iceman assisted 166 goals making him the top three assist makers in the Premier League’s history.

• Bergkamp was renowned for his aviophobia or fear of flying, which started in the 1994 World Cup in America. During his time at Arsenal the best goal he scored, acclaimed by many, was the turn and shoot against Newcastle United, or his hat-trick against Leicester City which made him the first and only player to win Match of the Day top three goals of the month. He may have been the Non-Flying Dutchman to many but to true Gooners will always hold them dear to their hearts as the Iceman.

4. Patrick Vieira

• Many refer to this man as Captain Fantastic, and rightly so. Arsenal’s bitter rival Manchester United had Roy Keane, Arsenal had Patrick Vieira.

• The never say die attitude, the unwillingness to give up, the determination to win was what this man was all about for the Gunners. Arsene Wenger insisted Arsenal bought him before he himself signed a deal, which they did for a fee that would be laughed at today, £3.5 million. He had it all for a central midfielder, the height, the physical strength and the stamina of a bull meant that life in England suited his style of play.

• He formed a deadly partnership with compatriot Emmanuel Petit and the two were not midfielders to mess around with. Both, especially Vieira, had disciplinary problems at the start of their Arsenal career with their temper and willingness to win the game. He was sensationally sent off in two consecutive games, one the opener of the 2000-2001 season but when he came back he went twenty eight matches without receiving a booking.

• A driving force in the middle of the park for Arsenal over the nine years he spent there, success for Arsenal during the late 90’s and from the millennium onwards was partly down to this man and his famous no.4 shirt.

5. Thierry Henry

• No introduction needed for this man, to many football fans his name says it all about him. Critics say that he is the best foreign player to ever grace the Premiership, with his fast pace style of play, his speed, dribbling skill, abilities to shoot from almost anywhere, Henry was every manager’s dream striker. He is also known as a free kick specialist, scoring the most beautiful of free kicks, one of the most notable was the one against Juventus in the Champions League.

• When he came from Juventus in 1999, his reputation was nothing compared to what it is today and at first had a difficult time adapting to the English style of play. After his first season, Henry proved to be the engine for the Arsenal team, scoring and assisting important goals.

• During his time at Arsenal he became the club’s top scorer in almost every season. He is adored by Gooners but despised by opposing fans for terrorizing their defense with his pace and skill. He would get a lot of stick from opposing fans, in a game where he is heavily jeered by the opposition’s fans if he scored it would only natural for Henry to put his hand next to his ear as a way to taunt them back, or even blow kisses to the opposing fan.

• He is deemed by many as arrogant or moody but he says it is just his willingness to play at his best and his wish to win games. He is the current record holder for Arsenal’s all time goal scorer having surpassed Ian Wright’s record. His total amount of goals for Arsenal stands at 226 in all competitions and 174 in the League. He is by far the most prolific player to have ever played for Arsenal Football Club.

• The record for most matches played by an Arsenal player is held by Irishman David O’Leary in his time at Arsenal from 1975-1993 raking up 772 appearances.

• Coming in second is the former great captain Tony Adams who collected 669 appearances and also became the club’s youngest ever captain in 1988 at the age of 21 and would continue to be captain for the next fourteen years.

• The most appearances for a goal keeper belongs to former England international David Seaman who scooped up 563 appearances during his time at Arsenal.

• As for goal scorers, the most goals scored is held by Thierry Henry who in his time at Arsenal from 1999-2007 bagged a total of 226 goals in all competition and 174 goals scored solely in the league.

• The former record holder was Ian Wright who scored 185 in all competitions, he broke the record in style with a hat-trick against Bolton Wanderers in September 1997 surpassing Cliff Bastin’s 178 goals in al competitions.

• Regarding attendances, Arsenal’s record for a home game is 70,707 in a UEFA Champions League match against the French side RC Lens, although the match was played at Wembley due to Highbury’s limitations on Highbury’s capacity.

  
  

• The record attendance at Highbury stands at 73,295 in a match against Sunderland in 1935 (no seats in that time) and the record at the Emirates Stadium stands at 60,132 in a match against reading in 2007. The maximum capacity at the Emirates is restricted to 60,432 so an all time record will not be broken anytime soon.

• Another prestigious record help by Arsenal Football Club is the amount time spent in top flight football, marking 80 consecutive years in the 2006-2007 season.

• Most notably is the record of the longest run with a defeat, 49 games played without losing from March 2003 to October 2004 including all 38 league matches in the 2003-2004 season.

• They are only the second club to having gone through a whole season without a defeat, the first was Preston North End in 1888-89, though Preston only played 22 games.

• Furthermore, Arsenal hold a record in the UEFA Champions League for having the longest run of matches without conceding a goal, ten in total. This was broken in 2005 Champions League Finals by Samuel Eto’o who equalized for Barcelona, Arsenal went on to lose that match.

• Arsenal Football Club has a rather large and loyal fan base from all over the United Kingdom and the rest of the world. In their first season at the Emirates Stadium (2006-2007) their home games were practically sold out with the average league attendance of 60,045 spectators per home game which is 99.8% of available capacity. This is calculated to be the second highest average league attendance and fourth highest attendance of all time.

• Arsenal fans refer to themselves as ‘Gooners’ a name originated from the club’s nickname, The Gunners. Like most clubs, Arsenal fans come from all social class in England and when compared to other English clubs Arsenal have the largest non-White attending fans.

• Common amongst the big clubs in England, Arsenal have a domestic supporters clubs such as Official Arsenal Supporters Club which is connected to the club, there is also an independent supporters’ club like Arsenal Independent Supporters’ Association. Supporters also publish their own fan magazines such as ‘The Gooner’, ‘Highbury High’, ‘Gun Flash’ and a somewhat less intellectual but amusing ‘Up the Arse!’

• Supporters have their own chants to push on their teams but the main ones are “we love you Arsenal we do” and “Wenger’s red army”, opposing fans have their own chants for Arsenal too, “boring boring Arsenal” which they use to taunt the players and supporters, though Arsenal fans use that chant when the team are playing well or winning as a taunt of their own.

• As we move into modern day society, fans’ loyalty do don’t depend on the geography as much as the older days, Arsenal have fans all over the United Kingdom and all across the globe. With the invention of satellite TV, their fan base grew larger than ever, a 2005 report by Granada Ventures (who at the time held 9.9% shares of the club) estimated that the total fan base of Arsenal Football Club totals approximately 27million, the third largest in the world.

• Before the move to Highbury in 1913, the matches were played at Manor Ground in Plumstead. Manor Ground was originally just a plain pitch but the club decided to install stands and terracing in time for their first match in the Football League, this would be their home for the next two decades.

• In September 1913 The Arsenal Stadium or better known as Highbury became the home of Arsenal Football Club until May 2006, ending ninety three legendary years. Highbury was designed by the famous architect Archibald Leitch with the design being very common to other grounds in the U.K with a single covered stands and three open air banks of terracing.

• During the 1930’s a very popular international design movement known as Art Deco was applied to the East and West Stands, roofs added to the North Bank and Clock End terraces.

• During the 1990’s adhering to the Taylor Report and Premier League regulations, Highbury had to become an all seater stadium, decreasing the capacity to 38,419 seated spectators. Expansion was planned but never got under way due to the fact that the East Stand was allocated as a Grade II building and the three other stands were very close if not right next to residential properties with their owners objecting an expansion.

• So, in 1999 Arsenal Football Club planned a new 60,000 seater stadium in Ashburton Grove, a ten minute walk from Highbury. The new stadium finished in 2006 and was named after its main sponsor, The Emirates Stadium.

• The first crest was revealed to the public in 1888 during the days of Royal Arsenal. It featured three cannons, each carved with lion’s head, pointing upwards.

• In 1913 the move to Highbury led to changing of the original crest and in 1922 Arsenal adopted their first single cannon crest with the cannon pointing east with the club’s nickname The Gunners inscribed along side it.

• In 1925 the crest was changed yet again, this time the cannon pointed westward and the barrel made slimmer. The year 1949 saw the first modernized and coloured (red, gold and green) crest, same style cannon with the club’s name in black above the cannon with a Latin motto saying ‘Victoria Concordia Crescit’ meaning ‘Victory comes from harmony’.

• In 2002 a new crest was introduced, this time with the cannon pointing eastward with the club’ name in sans-serif typeface above the cannon, the colour green was replaced by dark blue.

Arsenal Football Club was founded in 1886 by workers at the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich, south east London. Although at first the club was known as Dial Square but soon after it was changed to Royal Arsenal. In 1891 Royal Arsenal turned professional and again changed their name to Woolwich Arsenal. The year 1893 saw Woolwich Arsenal join the Football League, starting out in the Second Division but earned promotion to the First Division in 1904. After having joined the First Division the club experienced financial problems due to the club’s geographic isolation, which meant that the crowd attendances where not up to standard, in 1910 it declared bankruptcy. A takeover bid was proposed by Henry Norris, soon after Norris was granted his proposal and took over the club as chairman. Norris wanted to move the club somewhere else, after making a comeback in the Second Division in 1913, the club moved to the Arsenal Stadium in Highbury, London. This was when they changed their named once more, this time dropping Woolwich and leaving the name to be Arsenal Football Club. In 1919 Arsenal finished fifth on the table and was enough to send them into the First Division yet again at the expense of Tottenham Hotspur. In 1925 Arsenal appointed Herbert Chapman as their manager and it was Chapman who introduced Arsenal to their first period of success. Many believed it was his radical tactics and training which brought success to the club and clever signings of stars such as Alex James and former record holder Cliff Bastin. Under Chapman Arsenal won their first major trophy. The FA  in the 1929-1930 season and two League Championships in 1930-1931 season and the 1932-1933 season. Arsenal Football club are currently the only football team to have a London Underground station named after them as in 1932 the local underground station was renamed, from Gillespie Road to Arsenal. In 1934 Chapman unexpectedly died of pneumonia but Joe Shaw and George Allison continued his work, under Shaw and Allison, Arsenal won three more titles during the 1933-1934, 1964-1935 and 1937-1938 and an FA Cup in 1935-1936. Towards the end of the decade, with the war fast approaching, professional football was suspended due to World War II.

After the war, Tom Whittaker was appointed as manager and brought Arsenal to their second period of success, winning the League in the 1947-1948, 1952-1953 seasons and an FA Cup in the 1949-1950 season. After this spell Arsenal went somewhat downhill in the 1950’s and 1960’s, an era of winning not a single trophy due to the club’s lack of appeal to sign stars of the same talent as the ones in the 30’s. In 1966, to the nation’s surprise, physiotherapist Bertie Mee was appointed as manager. He won Arsenal their first European trophy (Inter-Cities Fairs Cup) in 1969-1970 season. The season after was more magical for the Gunners as they won their first Double (winning the League and FA Cup) and went on to win the FA Cup again in the classic match between Manchester United in 1978-1979 season. In 1986 Arsenal Football Club saw the return of George Graham but this time round as manager, he was the man that brought Arsenal to their third period of success. In his first season in charge Graham won the League Cup for Arsenal with further League titles in 1988-1989, 1990-1991, an FA Cup and League Cup double in 1992-1993 and their second European trophy, Cup Winners’ Cup in the 1993-1994 season. After having discovered the fact that Graham had taken certain amount of money from an agent for signings of several players, he was sacked in 1995. His successor Bruce Rioch left after one season over a dispute about transfer funds, but left his own legacy by signing one of Arsenal’s biggest stars, Dennis Bergkamp. In 1996, an unknown to many, Arsène Wenger was appointed as manager. Wenger brought in new tactics, training regimes and several foreign players which revolutionized the club and making it great as it is to this day. Wenger brought the club its’ second double in the 1997-1998 season and a third in the 2001-2002 season, an FA Cup in the 2004-2005 season. Something even greater was waiting for Arsenal, winning the league in the 2003-2004 season with exceptional style, going through the whole season without defeat. This earned them the nickname The Invincibles.