The Life and Times of Herbert Chapman

by Patrick Barclay

Herbert Chapman, the boss of the all-conquering Arsenal side of the 1930s, was the father of all soccer managers, arguably the greatest of all time, and certainly the most imaginative. Many of the game's furniture, including floodlights and numbered shirts, were designed by him—even the tradition of a manager leading his team out at the FA Cup Final at Wembley—as were tactics that survive to this day and which can be detected in the great Barcelona team that has dominated European competition in recent years, three quarters of a century after his premature death in 1934. Working mostly for clubs in the north of England, including playing for Worksop, Northampton, Sheffield United, and Notts County, he retired from playing at the age of 29 to become a manager at Northampton. He moved to Leeds in 1912, then left to work in a munitions factory for the duration of the war, leaving under a cloud of scandal, later proved innocent. He managed Huddersfield for a time, where he built a team that was to win three English championship titles in succession. He then left for Arsenal and won three in four years. He died before the third title arrived at Highbury, but no one doubted to whom the credit was due. This book weaves Chapman's life into the times through which he lived, combining the narrative with both soccer playing and social history of the inter-war years, the dramatic era of the general strike, and the Depression of the 1930s. Among those who will testify to his soccer legacy are his successors at Arsenal: George Graham, who made a close study of his life, and Arsene Wenger, who knew of Chapman's special place in the pantheon even before taking over at Highbury.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Football, History

305 pages, Hardcover

First published January 9, 2014

About the author

Patrick Barclay was a British journalist and sportswriter.

Reviews

[Baba · Rating 4 out of 5]

Debatably the greatest ever British football (soccer) team manager, from his humble beginnings in a Northern coalmining town to being immortalised in Bronze in Arsenal Emirates stadium in the 21st century. Not only was Chapman the first truly hand's-on training, buying etc. manager he was the first, or one of the first to promote the use of a white ball, tactical gameplay, numbered shirts, floodlights, physiotherapy for players, fan experience, and English clubs playing European football!

At times an enlightening read that truly shows how deep the relationship between football and the working class truly was. it reveals that there were Black British players back in the early 1900s. It reveals the unbelievable sacrifices made by footballers as the majority of them fought in the World Wars. Herbert Chapman took two up and coming clubs to the top of English game, an astounding feat. only ever matched and technically surpassed by Brian Clough nearly fifty years later. One of the lovers of English football, which I am, so a Four Star, 8 out of 12 shot for me.

2025 read

[Mahlon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm shocked at the number of bad reviews this book has received on Goodreads. Herbert Chapman's Life was cut tragically short at the age of 55, which naturally means that in A longer biography such as this, there will be more focus on the times rather than the life of the subject. Thankfully, Patrick Barclay Is a good enough writer that his tangents rarely feel like padding. Granted, this is not a 4-star book, but surely it deserves more than it's current 2.5 star average rating?

I for one am grateful for a new Herbert Chapman biography, if for no other reason than to remind millennial's that there were great managers well before Sir Alex, Jose, or Arsene Wenger.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not much is known about Chapman's personal life or views. This is more a history of the football world that he was involved in. Truly one of the first great managers. I'm sure he would have gone on to manage England had it not been for his untimely death.

[Paul Fulcher · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh dear

I'd love to be able to give this book 5 stars - because I would actually encourage anyone interested in football but unfamiliar with Herbert Chapman to at least skim read it.

Chapman is undoubtedly one of the greatest managers in English football history - a man who built two teams (Huddersfield and Arsenal) both of which went on to win 3 consecutive league titles - and that in a time when the league was far more competitive than today. And a visionary on tactics (e.g. the W-M formation, and the importance of what we now call the "transition" phase) and a big supporter of innovations such as numbering on shirts (which the authorities promptly banned for 10 years), floodlights, artificial pitches, foreign players, European competition, transfer windows etc - most of which came to pass only after his untimely death.

The best quote about Chapman is the book comes not from the author, but taken from an unpublished memoir by a Guardian journalist who died in the Munich air crash: "In [Herbert Chapman's] view, every device used by the industrialist to speed up the production of goods could be used equally well to speed up the production of goals".

So why 1 star?

The problem is that there is very little source material for Patrick Barclay to work with on the man himself - we don't have for example the rich treasure trove of letters that informs Reiner Stach's brilliant biography of Franz Kafka which I read earlier this year.

In reality, other than simply recounting achievements and football results, there is little about Chapman in the book - and the available material would have made a say enjoyable but brief 50 page "biographyella".

But people don't pay £20 RRP for 50 pages, so the other 250 pages of the book are padded out with spurious detail and anything that the author can vaguely link to Chapman - and "spurious" and "vaguely" are being generous.

To give some examples:

We learn that the "pit offices where he queued with his father to receive wages are [now] put to good use" - followed by a 2 long paragraphs of detail such as how they are now "the studio of Redroad Radio, a community station awarded a five-year licence in 2010 and designed to appeal to the musical tastes of local young people".

Or "1899, as Herbert Chapman wondered how life would treat him in Swindon, it smiled on Edward Elgar" serves to introduce 4 pages on the composer with no connection with Chapman whatsoever.

And the line "although it is not known whether young Herbert took note of momentous events (the rise of football aside)" serves as an excuse to basically to comment on any political and historical event in his lifetime - 1878 to 1934 - and indeed beyond (Margaret Thatcher and Arthur Scargill feature on page 2).

It's not that any of this is badly written - it's just that the majority of the book is completely irrelevant to the ostensible topic.

[Paul Miller · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really disappointed by this. I heard an interview with Paddy Barclay and it whetted my appetite. I'm an Arsenal fan without a real understanding of why Herbert Chapman was great...I still haven't. What really annoyed me was the way that the "life" was completely lost to the "and times". The book really wants to show off Patrick Barclay's trivia about what happened at the same time as Chapman was alive.

[James Tidd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Patrick Barclay has done wonders with this biography of the first modern football manager. Barclay takes the reader from his birth in a small mining community, Kiveton Park near Rotherham, through his journeying time as a footballer, where he played for Grimsby, for whom his brother Thomas played for and another brother Matthew was a director He would also play for Northampton Town, for whom he would later manage, Sheffield United and Tottenham amongst others.

Chapman's time as manager began at Northampton. At Leeds City he would end up being suspended indefinitely after failing to prove a financial irregularity, this ended up with City being wound up and the now famous Leeds United forming. After being approached by Huddersfield, they backed his appeal against his ban, he was able to prove that he wasn't even working for Leeds City, he was working at a munitions factory at Barnbow, at the time when the financial irregularities occurred. His ban was overturned and his work at Huddersfield is now legendary, winning back to back titles in 1923-24, 1924-25. Huddersfield would win a third in a row in 1925-26.

In the close season 1925 he answered an advertisement for the Arsenal job, where his time as manager would become even more legendary. Despite losing the 1927 FA Cup final to Cardiff City, Arsenal's first major trophy came in 1930 with the FA Cup, the first of five league titles coming in 1930-31, the second following in 1932-33, that season included an embarrassing defeat at the hands of Walsall of Third Division North in the FA Cup Third Round. Chapman would become arguably England's first professional manager in May 1933, although he wouldn't have any say as to how the team was picked, he was manager when England drew 1-1 with Italy and when they beat Switzerland 4-0 a week later.

Unfortunately Chapman would not live to see Arsenal's dominance of the remainder of the 30s. After celebrating the New Year with his family, he went on a scouting trip to watch Bury play Notts County, on the following day he went to see Sheffield Wednesday then spending a night in his birthplace. Returning to London nursing a cold he watched Arsenal's third team. His illness suddenly took a turn for the worse, a doctor diagnosed pneumonia. Without the aid of penicillin, still a few years away, Chapman died on 6th January and was buried in the churchyard of St Mary's, Hendon.

Chapman left a legacy that future managers such as Matt Busby and Alex Ferguson with Manchester United, Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley of Liverpool, Stan Cullis of Wolves, Jock Stein of Celtic, Brian Clough of Derby County and Nottingham Forest, Bill Nicholson of Spurs, Don Revie of Leeds United, Alf Ramsey of Ipswich Town and England, Arsene Wenger of Arsenal and Jose Mourinho of Chelsea, would build on. The majority of those managers would succeed in Europe. Many people wonder what if Chapman had survived, would he have been the first England manager that picked the team himself, a feat never given to any England manager until Alf Ramsey. Chapman is described in the book as the best manager to never become full time manager of England, many say that Brian Clough should be included too. What if Chapman become England manager in 1934, would he have got England into FIFA, they had stayed clear of until after the Second World War, and took them to World Cup success in 1938? We can only assume as Chapman died and Clough was rejected for Don Revie and his successors.

[David Meldrum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent biography of one of the formative figures in football history; focussing on more than just him, it takes in football's place in the wider culture and social trends. A couple of reflections the book inspired me - the richest clubs have always 'bought' success, it's just the source of the money has changed. The sheer nastiness of key rivalries (in this case, Arsenal/Spurs) is relatively new - not that the clubs weren't rivals, but the nastiness and bitterness of these fixtures is comparatively recent. And traditionalists in sport (or any walk of life, to be fair) always resist innovation.

[John Newcomb · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is arguably as good as sporting biographies get. What makes it really interesting is that Mr Barclay puts Chapman firmly into the society of the day, so whilst at school the ripper murders are occurring. As a young player, Liverpool and the two Sheffield teams are building stadiums and the Boer War’s bloody Spion Kop was fought naming stands in the stadiums, the Titanic sinks as Chapman scores. It is very well done.

[Joti Stratton · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a fan of Arsenal this is a great history of a man and the club he is associated with. As a wife of a stalwart Arsenal fan, it gave me me a better understanding of the club and the ethos behind what it means to support Arsenal.

[Ian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dry, but if you love FA you might enjoy it more

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

the book was more the times of Herbert chapman and a general book even not a lot about chapman himself

[Sean Willis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not just a review of the life and success of the great Herbert Chapman, but also revealing the social climate of the time.
A good read for true football fans.

[Vuk Trifkovic · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am being very generous. Rambling, lacking focus and withe very little insight.

[John O'Malley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not so much a book about Herbert Chapman but the times he lived in.