The history of Arsenal Football Club from 1966 to the present day covers the third, fourth, and fifth periods of success in Arsenal's history, including three Doubles, a Cup Double, and success in European football, and an unbeaten league season.
Following Bertie Mee's appointment in 1966, Arsenal won the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, their first European trophy, in 1969–70, and their first League and FA Cup double in 1970–71. The Double-winning side, however, was soon broken up and the following decade was characterised by a series of near misses: Arsenal lost three FA Cup finals (1971–72, 1977–78, and 1979–80) and the 1979–80 Cup Winners' Cup final on penalties. The club's only success during this time was an FA Cup win in 1978–79 against Manchester United.
After stagnation in the 1980s, 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, the Football League Centenary Trophy in 1988, two League title wins in 1988–89 and 1990–91, the FA Cup and League Cup double in 1992–93 and a second European trophy, the Cup Winners' Cup, in 1993–94. However, Graham's reputation was tarnished when it was revealed that he had taken kickbacks for signing certain players and he was sacked in 1995.
Arsenal's fifth period of success came with the appointment of Arsène Wenger in 1996. Under him, Arsenal won a second league and cup double in 1997–98 and then a third in 2001–02. In addition, the club were victorious in the 2002–03 and 2004–05 FA Cups, and won the Premier League in 2003–04 without losing a single match. In 2005–06 Arsenal became the first London club to reach the UEFA Champions League final, but lost 2–1 against Barcelona. During the following close season, they left their longstanding home of Highbury to the new Emirates Stadium nearby. They started in their new home with a seven-year trophy drought, followed by winning three FA Cups in the next four seasons.
The first Double (1966–76)
After Arsenal's manager Billy Wright was dismissed in June 1966, club physiotherapist Bertie Mee was appointed as acting manager. Mee, a former winger whose playing career was cut short by injury, joined the Royal Army Medical Corps, where he trained as a physiotherapist before joining the club. Mee sought to undo the effects of Wright's dismal tenure and reinvigorate a team that hadn't won a major honour in over 13 seasons, marking the club's most unsuccessful period since the 1920s. The duo signed several players, including inside-forward Colin Addison, full-back Bob McNab from Huddersfield Town, and forward George Graham, who joined from Chelsea as part of an exchange involving the departing Tommy Baldwin. Arsenal finished seventh at the end of the 1966–67 season, showing an impressive improvement from its 14th-place finish in Wright's final season. It was also the first season Arsenal played in the Football League Cup. They exited the competition in the third round after a 3–1 defeat to West Ham United at Highbury.
Don Howe was chosen to replace the outgoing chief coach Dave Sexton the following season. Arsenal lost two successive League Cup finals in 1968 and 1969. In the second loss, the club were infamously defeated by Third Division side Swindon Town. After leading Arsenal since the 34th minute, a Swindon goalkeeping mistake pounced upon by Bobby Gould extended the match into extra time. Two goals from Don Rodgers meant that Swindon completed an unprecedented upset against Arsenal who were humiliated. However, that season was not a total disaster for Arsenal; they had also finished fourth, which won them a place in Europe for the 1969–70 season.
In turn, this led to the club collecting their first silverware in seventeen years and also their first European trophy, the 1969–70 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. Arsenal beat Ajax 3–1 on aggregate in the semi-finals, and then staged a famous comeback against Anderlecht in the final. Arsenal were 3-0 down after 74 minutes of the first leg at Stade Émile Versé, but Ray Kennedy got a late away goal to give the Gunners a glimmer of hope; in the second leg in front of a packed Highbury, inspired by captain Frank McLintock, Arsenal won 3–0 with goals from John Radford, Eddie Kelly and Jon Sammels, to win the tie 4–3 on aggregate.
The same season, Arsenal had only finished 12th in the league, perhaps distracted by their European campaign, and did not look like league contenders. Yet the following season, 1970–71, Arsenal went on to become only the second club of the 20th century to win the FA Cup and League Double, the club's first. After a bright start Arsenal looked to be out of the title chase with a 5–0 loss to Stoke City in September. However, Arsenal recovered and put in a strong run (they did not lose again in the league until January), and as the season closed they became involved in a tight race with Leeds United.
Arsenal were pushed all the way – after being defeated 1–0 by Leeds in April, they needed to beat or draw 0–0 with North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane on the last day of the season to take the title on goal average. An 87th-minute goal by Ray Kennedy gave Arsenal a 1–0 lead, and despite Spurs' desperate attempts for an equaliser, Arsenal hung on to win and take the title. In the meantime, Arsenal had also reached the FA Cup Final, following a titanic semi-final battle with Stoke which saw them come from 2–0 down to force a replay and eventual victory. In the final, five days after the win at Tottenham, Arsenal beat Liverpool 2–1 at Wembley; Arsenal went 1–0 down early in extra time, before Eddie Kelly's 101st-minute equaliser from close range.George Graham also claimed the goal, though Kelly is officially credited with it. Reference: Ten minutes later, Charlie George scored the winner from the edge of the penalty area to win the game, and the Double, for Arsenal.
The Double proved to be a premature high point of a decade characterised by a string of near-misses. Despite signing World Cup winner Alan Ball for a club record £220,000 in the close season, Arsenal began 1971–72 badly, losing three matches in August, and were forced to play catch-up for the rest of the season, ultimately finishing fifth. Their debut in the European Cup started encouragingly, but they were knocked out in the quarter-finals by a Johann Cruyff-inspired Ajax, who went on to win the trophy as part of a hat-trick of European titles. Arsenal also reached the FA Cup final for a consecutive season; in a repeat of the 1968 League Cup final they lost 1–0 to Leeds United, in an ugly match of few real chances. Arsenal finished as First Division runners-up in 1972–73, but within a year the Double-winning side had been broken up, and Mee was unable to build a new team in its place. The club's form declined sharply, finishing 16th in 1974–75 and 17th in 1975–76, their lowest in more than forty years, which prompted Mee's resignation. Tottenham manager Terry Neill, a former Arsenal player, was appointed in his place, despite never leading Spurs anywhere beyond mid-table, to become Arsenal's youngest-ever manager.
Terry Neill and stagnation (1976–86) Arsenal moved back into the top half of the table, inspired in part by the emergence of Irish superstar Liam Brady. Brady formed part of a large Irish contingent at Highbury, which included Pat Rice, Frank Stapleton, Pat Jennings Sammy Nelson, John Devine and the young David O'Leary. Further to this were experienced signings such as Malcolm Macdonald and Alan Hudson, as well as the return of Don Howe, who had been part of the backroom staff when the Double was won, to the Arsenal coaching setup.
Although they could not challenge the League dominance of Liverpool at the time, towards the end of the decade they proved their mettle in the FA Cup. Arsenal reached three consecutive finals (1978, 1979, and 1980), but won only one, the 1979 final against Manchester United. Largely inspired by Brady, Arsenal went 2–0 up through Brian Talbot and Frank Stapleton and looked to be coasting to victory; with five minutes to go, United scored twice in quick succession to level the match. Extra time loomed, but Alan Sunderland converted Graham Rix's cross in injury time to secure a famous 3–2 win.
The next season, 1979–80, proved to be cruel as Arsenal played a record-breaking 70 matches and reached two cup finals, only to end the season empty-handed. Arsenal were favourites to beat Second Division West Ham United in the FA Cup final, but lost 1–0 to a Trevor Brooking header. Meanwhile, they had also reached the Cup Winners' Cup final against Valencia, after Paul Vaessen's goal had given them a famous victory over Juventus in the semi-finals; the final finished goalless and Arsenal lost on penalties, with Brady and Rix having their efforts saved.
Liam Brady left Arsenal for Juventus in the summer of 1980, and the team entered another barren spell. They continued to finish in the top four at the start of the 1980s, but never really looked like winning the title, and they could not rediscover their FA Cup form either – aside from 1982–83 when Arsenal reached both cup semi-finals only to be knocked out in both by Manchester United. Neill struggled to control his team at times; throughout his tenure, he had fallings-out with many of his players (including Hudson and Macdonald) and he was unable to contain the drinking culture within the squad.: This is perhaps best exemplified by Arsenal's disastrous 1977 tour of Australia that ended with Neill sending Hudson and Macdonald home halfway through after they were caught breaking curfew. His signings to replace the departed Brady and Stapleton failed to make the same impact, and towards the end of Neill's reign the club suffered several embarrassing cup defeats; this included losing to part-timers K.F.C. Winterslag in the 1981–82 UEFA Cup and Third Division Walsall in the 1983–84 League Cup. Neill was sacked in December 1983, soon after the latter result.
Don Howe, Neill's assistant, succeeded him but he could not get the side anywhere near a trophy either. Although Arsenal managed to finish sixth and seventh under him, they never seriously challenged for the title (although they did briefly top the league in October 1984) and were dumped out of the 1984–85 FA Cup by Third Division York City. The fans were getting increasingly disillusioned with the club's muddling performances and attendances started to dip beneath 20,000. In March 1986, after hearing the board had approached FC Barcelona coach Terry Venables as his replacement, Howe resigned. Steve Burtenshaw was briefly caretaker manager but the club decided to look to outside for Howe's long-term successor.
The Arsenal board of directors did contact Scottish club Aberdeen with a view to offering the job to their manager Alex Ferguson (while also drawing up an offer to Millwall manager George Graham to become assistant manager of Arsenal), but Ferguson rejected the offer. However, Ferguson did cross the border six months later to succeed Ron Atkinson at Manchester United.
George Graham and interregnum (1986–96)
In May 1986, Millwall manager George Graham, a former Arsenal player, was appointed as Howe's long-term replacement, and it was the beginning of a new era of success at Highbury. Graham gradually sold off most of the older players and replaced them with new signings and players promoted from the youth team, while imposing much stricter discipline than his predecessors, both in the dressing room and on the pitch. Arsenal's form immediately improved, so much so that the club were top of the League at Christmas 1986.
Players like Kenny Sansom, Steve Williams, Tommy Caton, Charlie Nicholas and Gus Caesar were gradually discarded and a new-look Arsenal side featured players including Lee Dixon, Nigel Winterburn, Steve Bould, David Rocastle, Alan Smith, Tony Adams and Paul Merson.