Herbert Chapman was born in Kiveton on 19th January 1878 - died 1934 aged 55.

He played for:
Kiveton Park, Ashton North End, Stalybridge Rovers, Rochdale, Grimsby Town, Sheppey United, Worksop, Northampton Town, Sheffield United, Notts County, Tottenham Hotspur.

He managed: Northampton Town (1907-12), Leeds City (1912-19), Huddersfield Town (1921-25) - Huddersfield were champions in 1923-4 and 1924-5 and won the F A Cup in 1922, Arsenal 1925 - 1934.

There's an Arsenal fan site with a huge tribute/profile to him ('the man who made Arsenal great') at www.arsenalarsenal.co.uk/Chapman.htm

. In 1998 a book was written about him - click left to buy it from WH Smith.

He was one of England's best pre war football club managers who won 3 league titles.
He won one league title with Huddersfield Town.
Also he managed Leeds Town, who were disbanded for "financial irregularities" in 1919 (so they are not the current Leeds United, and it also shows that dodgy footie deals are not exactly a new development either!).
Herbert Chapman won one title with Arsenal, he died half-way through the second of a run of Arsenal's three consecutive title's in the 1930's. He apparently persuaded London Transport to rename Gillespie Road tube station to the "Arsenal" tube station.
The "Official History of Arsenal 1886-1996" has an entire chapter on this Kiveton luminary and he features prominently in their club museum .
Arsenal play in Red and White just like Sheffield United FC (SUFC - 1889) one of the local teams Herbert played for. There's another local team, but they don't play in red and white, but they lost to Arsenal in two cup finals in 1993. They are Sheffield Wednesday FC (SWFC - 1883) who play in Blue and White.
The official SWFC archive lists one Harry Chapman born Kiveton Park 1879 who played 298 games for Sheffield Wednesday between 1901 and 1911 - he was Herbert's brother. Herbert was the tactician and leader, Harry the onfield do-er but they were a very successful duo by any standard.

In March 2000 in a survey of all time great UK football managers Harry was voted 18th all time best manager, listed alongside Brain Clough, Alex Ferguson, Alf Ramsey, etc. There really should be a statue put up for Harry Chapman somewhere in Kiveton! If anyone can tell me the exact address where Herbert was born I'd be grateful.

Brian Richerby of Bradford UK also emailed me with the following message: In the info on Herbert Chapman you miss that he was manager of Northampton Town prior to Leeds City. He recruited my grandmother's 1st husband, Frederick Lessons from Notts Forest circa 1907. Fred Lessons succeeded as manager when Chapman departed in 1913.

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