100 years since the arrival of Chapman 3: the Arsenal that Knighton left behind

Next season – 2025/26 – will be the 100th anniversary of the arrival of Herbert Chapman at Arsenal.   In this series we are looking back at the surprise arrival of Chapman, and his time at Arsenal.

By Tony Attwood

Previously in this series:

• 1: Taking over from failure
• 2: Approaching a 100th anniversary at Arsenal of mega-importance.

One of the many problems of Knighton’s reign at Arsenal was that although good players could come through the ranks, they somehow never seemed to develop and maintain their potential.   For example Henry White was top scorer in 1919/20 with 15 goals and as a result of that got a trial with England.

But then in 1920/21, just when Knighton could have developed the team around him Knighton seemed unable to make this happen and White slipped back to just ten goals, and the club slipped to 17th.

Instead Fred Pagnam was stepped up to be the main goalscorer, and in 1920/21 he was top scorer but was then sold to Cardiff City.  The following season Henry White returned to being the main scorer and he was then sold to Blackpool.

Then it was the turn of Bob Turnbull, who was moved from being a defender to an attacker, and he scored 21 in 1921/22 – but then the following season only got six.

At this point Arsenal really had goal scoring problems and for 1922/23 Harry Woods was top scorer with just 12 goals and in 1924/25 Jimmy Brain was top scorer with 15.   Thus over six seasons Arsenal had five different top scorers, their numbers ranging from 12 goals to 22.  Somehow consistency could not be found.

It is unclear from the reports from this era as to exactly what was going on.  20 years after he was fired as manager, Knighton published his autobiography in which in essence he claimed the problem was a lack of money for transfers, and interference from Sir Henry Norris the chairman.

Since Norris left no autobiography we can’t really tell, but a couple of factors do suggest that if finances were restricted as Knighton alleged, he would have known this from the start.  After all Arsenal had just built a new stadium, which they were having to pay for themselves – which was bound to have an impact on spending.

But more to the point, after Knighton left, Arsenal recruited Chapman as manager, a man who was known for being master of the club he managed.  Ineded it was his central role in Leeds City which then led him to being banned from football because of their financial issues.

Knighton’s autobiography is sadly an incredibly unreliable book – not least because it was written over 20 years after his time at Arsenal, and because it was produced for serialisation in a newspaper which obviously required weekly exposures of the dubious dealings of a football club – and Arsenal was the one significant football club that Knighton worked for.

In fact all the stories that from that time onward circulated about Norris’ dubious dealings, his bribing other clubs to vote Arsenal into the top division in 1919 etc etc, all stem from Knighton’s autobiography, written (we might note) not only long after he left Arsenal, but also long after Sir Henry Norris had passed away – thus removing any threat of legal action for libel and misrepresentation.

However Knighton’s account of his time at Arsenal is still used as a basis for writing Arsenal’s history by many football writers, who explain Arsenal’s decline from 10th in 1919/20 to 19th in 1923/4 and 20th in 1924/5 almost totally in terms of Norris’ refusal to spend money.    Quite why he then hired Chapman, who was certain to want to change most of the squad, is then not explained.

But to be fair it is true that Arsenal won the London Challenege Cup in 1924, but I think something of the limited interest in this competition can be seen by the fact that there is no firm agreement as to what the score was for the final between Arsenal and Charlton Athletic.  Some say 3-2 to Arsenal, others 3-1.   It was in effect, very much a mid-week filler, aimed solely at earning a few more pennies for the competing clubs who would often slip in reserve players to give them a run out.

But even then in 1924/25, having gained the London Cup the previous season, Arsenal managed to go out in the second round this time around (as well as going out of the FA Cup in the first round (all League teams entering in Round One at that time)

A detailed examination of the situation in “Wartime, Promotion and the pre-Chapman years” (published by Arsenal Independent Supporters Association and written by Andy Kelly, Mark Andrews and myself), shows that Knighton’s autobiography was in fact by and large a self-promotion document written years later with very little reference to the facts.

Knighton had spent money – lots of it in fact – and Sir Henry’s commentary in the advertisement was a jibe against Knighton, whom Sir Henry probably saw as having wasted a lot of money.   For of the players that Knighton had introduced since 1923/4 only Henry Woods and Haden had actually established themselves, Henry Wood, a centre forward, playing 37 matches in the 1924/5 season and scoring 10 goals.

This series will continue in the coming days.   Other series you might enjoy include…

Arsenal in the 1930s: The most comprehensive series on the decade ever

Arsenal in the 1970s: Every match and every intrigue reviewed in detail.