Monday, February 14, 2011

About My Favourite Football Club ( Arsenal FC )


Red shield with large gold cannon below the word "Arsenal" in white letters. Thin white and blue stripes line the shield's left and right edges.
Full nameArsenal Football Club
Nickname(s)The Gunners
Founded1886 as Dial Square
GroundEmirates Stadium
(Capacity: 60,355[1])
OwnerArsenal Holdings plc
ChairmanEngland Peter Hill-Wood
ManagerFrance Arsène Wenger
LeaguePremier League
2009–10Premier League, 3rd

Assalamualaikum,
As promised,i'll tell you guys about my favourite football team that is Arsenal...
Hope this information can attract you to support Arsenal just like me hehe... I'm a die hard fan of Arsenal you know... Enjoy :)
Arsenal Football Club is a professional English Premier League football club based in North London. One of the most successful clubs in English football, they have won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups. They hold the record for the longest uninterrupted period in the English top flight and are the only side to have completed a Premier League season unbeaten.
Arsenal was founded in 1886 in Woolwich and in 1893 became the first club from the south of England to join the Football League. In 1913, they moved north across the city to Arsenal Stadium in Highbury. In the 1930s they won five League Championship titles and two FA Cups. After a lean period in the post-war years they won the League and FA Cup Double, in the 1970–71 season, and in the 1990s and first decade of the 21st century won two more Doubles and reached the 2006 UEFA Champions League Final.
Arsenal have a long-standing rivalry with neighbours Tottenham Hotspur, with whom they regularly contest the North London derby. Arsenal are also the third most valuable Association football club in the world as of 2010, valued at $1.2 billion.[2]

History
Woolwich Arsenal (in dark shirts) playingNewcastle United (in striped shirts) in an FA Cup semi-final — the club's first ever — at the Victoria GroundStoke.
Arsenal Football Club started out as Dial Square in 1886 by workers at the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich, south-east London, and was renamed Royal Arsenal shortly afterwards.[3] The club was renamed again to Woolwich Arsenal after becoming a limited company in 1893.[4] The club became the first southern member of the Football League in 1893, starting out in the Second Division, and won promotion to the First Divisionin 1904. The club's relative geographic isolation resulted in lower attendances than those of other clubs, which led to the club becoming mired in financial problems and effectively bankrupt by 1910, when they were taken over by businessmen Henry Norris and William Hall.[5] Norris sought to move the club elsewhere, and in 1913, soon after relegation back to the Second Division, Arsenal moved to the new Arsenal Stadiumin Highbury, North London; they dropped "Woolwich" from their name the following year.[6] Arsenal only finished in fifth place in 1919, but were nevertheless elected to rejoin the First Division at the expense of local rivals Tottenham Hotspur, by reportedly dubious means.[7]
Arsenal appointed Herbert Chapman as manager in 1925. Having already won the league twice with Huddersfield Town in 1923–24 and 1924–25 (see Seasons in English football), Chapman brought Arsenal their first period of major success. His revolutionary tactics and training, along with the signings of star players such as Alex James and Cliff Bastin, laid the foundations of the club's domination of English football in the 1930s.[8] Under his guidance Arsenal won their first major trophies – victory in the 1930 FA Cup Final preceded two League Championships, in 1930–31 and 1932–33. In addition, Chapman was behind the 1932 renaming of the local London Underground station from "Gillespie Road" to "Arsenal", making it the only Tube station to be named specifically after a football club.[9]
Chapman died suddenly of pneumonia in early 1934, leaving Joe Shaw and George Allison to carry on his successful work. Under their guidance, Arsenal won three more titles, in 1933–34, 1934–35 and 1937–38, and the 1936 FA Cup. As key players retired, Arsenal had started to fade by the decade's end, and then the intervention of the Second World War meant competitive professional football in England was suspended.[10][11][12]
After the war, Arsenal enjoyed a second period of success under Allison's successor Tom Whittaker, winning the league in 1947–48 and 1952–53, and the FA Cup in 1950. Their fortunes waned thereafter; unable to attract players of the same calibre as they had in the 1930s, the club spent most of the 1950s and 1960s in trophyless mediocrity. Even former Englandcaptain Billy Wright could not bring the club any success as manager, in a stint between 1962 and 1966.[12][13][14]
Arsenal began winning silverware again with the surprise appointment of club physiotherapist Bertie Mee as manager in 1966. After losing two League Cup finals, they won their first European trophy, the 1969–70 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. This was followed by an even greater triumph: their first League and FA Cup double in 1970–71.[15] This marked a premature high point of the decade; the Double-winning side was soon broken up and the following decade was characterised by a series of near misses. Arsenal finished as First Division runners-up in 1972–73, lost three FA Cup finals, in 1972, 1978 and 1980, and lost the 1980 Cup Winners' Cup final on penalties. The club's only success during this time was a last-minute 3–2 victory over Manchester United in the 1979 FA Cup Final, widely regarded as a classic.[12][16]
The return of former player George Graham as manager in 1986 brought a third period of glory. Arsenal won the League Cup in 1986–87, Graham's first season in charge. This was followed by a League title win in 1988–89, won with a last-minute goal in the final game of the season against fellow title challengers Liverpool. Graham's Arsenal won another title in 1990–91, losing only one match, won the FA Cup and League Cup double in 1993, and a second European trophy, the Cup Winners' Cup, in 1994.[12][17] Graham's reputation was tarnished when he was found to have taken kickbacks from agent Rune Hauge for signing certain players,[18] and he was dismissed in 1995. His replacement, Bruce Rioch, lasted for only one season, leaving the club after a dispute with the board of directors.[19]
The club's success in the late 1990s and first decade of the 21st century owed a great deal to the 1996 appointment of Arsène Wenger as manager. Wenger brought new tactics, a new training regime and several foreign players who complemented the existing English talent. Arsenal won a second League and Cup double in 1997–98 and a third in 2001–02. In addition, the club reached the final of the 1999–2000 UEFA Cup (losing on penalties to Galatasaray), were victorious in the 2003 and 2005 FA Cups, and won the Premier League in 2003–04 without losing a single match, an achievement which earned the side the nickname "The Invincibles";[20] in all, the club went 49 league matches unbeaten, a national record.[21]
Arsenal finished in either first or second place in the league in eight of Wenger's first eleven seasons at the club, although on no occasion were they able to retain the title.[12] As of 2009, they were one of only four teams, the others being Manchester United, Blackburn Rovers andChelsea, to have won the Premier League since its formation in 1992.[22] Arsenal had never progressed beyond the quarter-finals of theChampions League until 2005–06; in that season they became the first club from London in the competition's fifty-year history to reach the final, in which they were beaten 2–1 by Barcelona.[23] In July 2006, they moved into the Emirates Stadium, after 93 years at Highbury.[24]



Arsenal's Manager 


Arsenal's First Team Squad
18FranceDFSébastien Squillaci
19EnglandMFJack Wilshere
20SwitzerlandDFJohan Djourou
21PolandGKŁukasz Fabiański
22FranceDFGaël Clichy
23RussiaMFAndrei Arshavin
27Côte d'IvoireMFEmmanuel Eboué
28EnglandDFKieran Gibbs
29MoroccoFWMarouane Chamakh
35GhanaMFEmmanuel Frimpong
52DenmarkFWNicklas Bendtner
53PolandGKWojciech Szczęsny
 

Arsenal's Stadiums

Emirates Stadium
( Current Stadium )

Highbury Stadium
( Old Stadium )


Arsenal's Crest



Arsenal's first crest from 1888

A version of the Arsenal crest used from 1949 to 2002

HONOURS
                     Domestic
Winners (13)1930–311932–331933–341934–351937–381947–481952–531970–711988–891990–911997–982001–022003–04
Runners-up (8): 1925–261931–321972–731998–991999–20002000–012002–032004–05
Runners-up (1): 1903–04
Winners (10)1930193619501971197919931998200220032005
Runners-up (7): 1927193219521972197819802001
Winners (2)19871993
Runners-up (4): 1968196919882007
Winners (12)19301931193319341938194819531991 (shared), 1998199920022004
Runners-up (7): 1935193619791989199320032005

European

Runners-up (1): 2006
Winners (1)1994
Runners-up (2): 19801995
Winners (1)1970
Runners-up (1): 2000
Runners-up (1): 1994
Arsenal's tally of thirteen League Championships is the third highest in English football, after Liverpool and Manchester United,[121] while the total of ten FA Cups is the second highest, after Manchester United.[122] Arsenal have achieved three League and FA Cup "Doubles" (in 1971, 1998 and 2002), a record shared with Manchester United,[12][123] and in 1993 were the first side in English football to complete the FA Cup and League Cup double.[124] They were also the first London club to reach the final of the UEFA Champions League, in 2006.[125]
Arsenal have one of the best top-flight records in history, having finished below fourteenth only seven times. Arsenal also have the highest average league finishing position for the period 1900–1999, with an average league placing of 8.5.[126] In addition, they are one of only six clubs to have won the FA Cup twice in succession, in 2002 and 2003.[127]

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