The Rise of Arsenal Football Club

In the beginning, Arsenal FC was founded as Dial Square in 1886 by workers at the Royal Arsenal FC in Woolwich. The club was then renamed to Royal Arsenal FC shortly afterwards. They renamed themselves again to Woolwich Arsenal FC after turning professional in 1891. The club was then known by fans as the Woolwich Reds, although they played their games in nearby Plumstead. Woolwich Arsenal entered the Football League in 1893, becoming the first southern squad to do it.

The Gunners started out in the Second Division, and won promotion to the First Division in 1904. But the club's geographic isolation, and the resulting low attendances, led to the club becoming mired in financial problems. In 1913, soon after relegation back to the Second Division, they moved across the Thames to the new Arsenal Stadium in Highbury, north London. They dropped "Woolwich" from their name the After year. Arsenal FC only finished in fifth place in 1919, but nevertheless were elected to rejoin the First Division at the expense of local rivals Tottenham Hotspur, by reportedly dubious means.

In 1925, Arsenal appointed the highly successful Herbert Chapman as manager. Chapman had won the league with Huddersfield Town in 1924 and 1925, and he brought Arsenal FC their first period of major success. His new and effective tactics and training, along with star players such as Alex James and Cliff Bastin, laid the foundations of the club's domination of English football in the 1930s. Between 1930 and 1938, Arsenal FC won the First Division five times and the FA Cup twice, although Chapman did not live to look at all of these achievements, as he died of pneumonia in 1934. In addition, Chapman was reportedly behind the 1932 renaming of the local London Underground station from "Gillespie Road" to "Arsenal FC", making it the only Tube station to be named after a football club.