.png) Graham in 1970 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | George Graham[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1944-11-30)30 November 1944 (age 80)[1] | ||
| Place of birth | Bargeddie, Scotland[1] | ||
| Height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)[2] | ||
| Position(s) | Midfielder,forward | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1959–1961 | Aston Villa | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1961–1964 | Aston Villa | 8 | (2) |
| 1964–1966 | Chelsea | 72 | (35) |
| 1966–1972 | Arsenal | 227 | (60) |
| 1972–1974 | Manchester United | 43 | (2) |
| 1974–1976 | Portsmouth | 61 | (5) |
| 1976–1977 | Crystal Palace | 44 | (2) |
| 1978 | California Surf | 17 | (0) |
| Total | 472 | (106) | |
| International career | |||
| 1964–1965 | Scotland U23 | 2 | (0) |
| 1971–1973 | Scotland | 13 | (3) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1982–1986 | Millwall | ||
| 1986–1995 | Arsenal | ||
| 1996–1998 | Leeds United | ||
| 1998–2001 | Tottenham Hotspur | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
George Graham (born 30 November 1944) is a Scottish formerfootball player andmanager.
Nicknamed "Stroller",[3] he made 455 appearances in England'sFootball League as amidfielder orforward forAston Villa,Chelsea,Arsenal,Manchester United,Portsmouth andCrystal Palace. Approximately half of his appearances were for Arsenal, and he was part of the side that won the Football League Championship andFA Cupdouble in 1971. Graham also made 17 appearances forCalifornia Surf in theNASL in 1978.
He then moved to the coaching staff at Crystal Palace, before joining former PalacemanagerTerry Venables as a coach atQueens Park Rangers. As a manager, he won numerous honours with Arsenal between 1987 and 1995, including two league titles (in 1989 and 1991), the 1993 FA Cup, twoFootball League Cups (in 1987 and 1993), as well as the 1994European Cup Winners' Cup. He also managedMillwall,Leeds United andTottenham Hotspur.
He was one of the most successful managers in Arsenal's history, remaining in charge for almost a decade until he was sacked by the club's board after being found guilty bythe Football Association of taking money from transfers. Graham was banned despite paying back the money, which he always claimed was an "unsolicited gift".[3]
The youngest of seven children, Graham was born at Dykehead Road,Bargeddie, nearCoatbridge on Thursday 30 November 1944. He grew up in poverty and was raised by his mother, Janet (26 April 1908 – 27 March 1977), after his father, Robert Young Graham (born 22 June 1900), died oftuberculosis andheart failure onChristmas Day 1944, when George was not yet a month old.[4] His elder sister also died of tuberculosis on 22 February 1950.
While growing up, Graham showed considerable promise as a footballer, andNewcastle United,Chelsea andAston Villa displayed an interest in signing him.[5]
Graham received offers fromAston Villa,Chelsea andNewcastle United aged 15, in 1959, and visited all three clubs to see their facilities.[3] He chose Aston Villa mainly as he and his family liked managerJoe Mercer, initially playing for their youth side, he signed professionally in 1961, on his 17th birthday.[3] He spent five seasons at theBirmingham club, but only made ten appearances – though one of them was the club's1963League Cup final loss toBirmingham City.[6]
Chelsea signed Graham in July 1964 for £5,000. He scored 35 goals in 72 league games for the club and won a League Cup medal in1965 but he, along with several other Chelsea players, increasingly clashed with their volatile managerTommy Docherty. This culminated in Graham and seven others being sent home and disciplined by Docherty for breaking a pre-matchcurfew in 1965.[4]
Bertie Mee'sArsenal were looking for a replacement forJoe Baker, and paid £50,000 plusTommy Baldwin in 1966 to bring Graham toHighbury.[7] He made his debut on 1 October 1966 at home toLeicester City, and although the result was a 4–2 defeat he immediately became a regular in the Arsenal side. He was Arsenal's top scorer in both1966–67 and1967–68, having started out as acentre forward for the club, but later moved back into midfield as aninside forward withJohn Radford moving from the wing to central striker.
With Arsenal, Graham was a runner-up in both the1968 and1969 League Cup finals, before finally winning a medal with the1969–70 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. He followed it up with being an integral part of Arsenal'sDouble-winning side of1970–71, and even had a claim to scoring Arsenal's equaliser in theFA CupFinal againstLiverpool, althoughEddie Kelly is officially credited with the goal.[4][8]
Winning the Double brought the attention ofScotland and Graham was selected for the national side for the first time againstPortugal on 13 October 1971.[4] He would go on to win twelve caps over the next two years for Scotland, scoring three goals, his final one coming againstBrazil on 30 June 1973. By then, however, Graham was no longer an Arsenal player. The arrival ofAlan Ball midway through1971–72 had made his place in the Arsenal side less assured. In total, he played 308 matches for Arsenal, scoring 77 goals. His final appearance was on 4 November 1972 when he came on as a substitute against Coventry City.
Graham moved for £120,000 toManchester United in December 1972, where he was soon reunited with Docherty. He spent two years at United and was relegated toDivision Two in 1974. He was sold to Portsmouth during the 1974–75 season.
Graham saw out his career in England atPortsmouth andCrystal Palace. He played the summer of 1978 in America for theCalifornia Surf.[9]
After retiring from playing in 1978, Graham became the youth team coach[10] atCrystal Palace[4] and then from October 1980Queens Park Rangers. On 6 December 1982, he was appointed manager ofMillwall, who were then bottom of the oldThird Division. Graham turned the side around in a short period of time—they avoided relegation that season on the final match of the season with a 1–0 win at Chesterfield. The following season they finished 9th and in1984–85 they were promoted to the oldSecond Division. After Graham left the club in 1986 when Millwall finished mid table, they went on to win the Second Division and win promotion to the First in1987–88.
Graham's achievements at Millwall attracted attention from First Division clubs, and with the resignation ofDon Howe as Arsenal manager in March 1986, their directors first offered the job toFC Barcelona coachTerry Venables, but he rejected their offer and Arsenal switched their attention toAlex Ferguson, theAberdeen manager, as their new manager with Graham as his assistant. However, Ferguson (then in temporary charge of theScotland national football team following the death ofJock Stein the previous September, and still in charge of Aberdeen) had decided to wait until after theWorld Cup that summer before deciding on his future. Graham himself had never even applied for the Arsenal position[11] but on 12 May 1986 his chairman at Millwall, Alan Thorne, told him that Arsenal wanted to speak to him about the manager's job. After an interview withPeter Hill-Wood,David Dein andKen Friar at Hill-Wood's home, the Arsenal directors appointed Graham as their new manager on 14 May 1986.[12] A month after arriving atHighbury, Graham was himself linked with theScotland national team, possibly combining it with the Arsenal manager's job,[13] but that role went toAndy Roxburgh instead.
Arsenal had not won a trophy since the FA Cup in1978–79, and were drifting away from the top teams in the League, having not finished in the top five during any of the previous four seasons, during which the major honours were picked up by an all-conqueringLiverpool as well as the likes ofManchester United andEverton.
Graham quickly discarded the likes ofPaul Mariner, who already had been released on a free transfer,Tony Woodcock,Stewart Robson andTommy Caton, and replaced them with new signings and youth team products. He also imposed much stricter discipline than his predecessors, both in the dressing room and on the pitch and told the team he expected them to be dressed in club blazers on match day.[4] Arsenal's form immediately improved, so much so that the club were top of the League at Christmas 1986, the club'scentenary, for the first time in a decade. However, Graham said he knew the team weren't ready to mount a sustained title challenge.[14] This was proven to be correct as Arsenal finished fourth in Graham's first season in charge, but they went on to win the1987 League Cup, beating Liverpool 2–1 at Wembley on 5 April. The key players in the upturn were young defenderTony Adams and high-scoring wingerMartin Hayes.
While Arsenal lost theLeague Cup final the following year (a shock 3–2 defeat toLuton Town), they remained consistent in the league. Graham's side featured tight defensive discipline, embodied by his young captain Tony Adams, who along withLee Dixon,Steve Bould andNigel Winterburn, would form the basis of the club's defence for over a decade. However, contrary to popular belief, during this time Arsenal were not a purely defensive side; Graham also built up an impressive midfield containingDavid Rocastle,Paul Davis,Michael Thomas andPaul Merson, and strikerAlan Smith, whose prolific goal-scoring regularly brought him more than 20 goals per season.[4]
At the end of Graham's third season (1988–89), the club won their first League title since 1971 (when Graham had been an Arsenal player), in highly dramatic fashion, in thefinal game of the season against holders and league leaders Liverpool atAnfield. Arsenal needed to win by two goals to take the title; Alan Smith scored early in the second half to make it 1–0, but as time ticked by Arsenal struggled to get a second, and with the 90 minutes elapsed on the clock, they still needed another goal. With only seconds to go, a Smith flick-on found Michael Thomas surging through the Liverpool defence; the young midfielder calmly lifted the ball overBruce Grobbelaar and into the net, and Arsenal were League Champions. However, there was no chance to enter theEuropean Cup just yet for Graham's team, as the ban on English clubs in European competitions (which was imposed byUEFA in 1985 following theHeysel disaster) continued for another season.
After finishing fourth in1989–90, Graham signed goalkeeperDavid Seaman and Swedish wingerAnders Limpar in the close season; both players proved vital as Arsenal won a second title in1990–91 and reached the FA Cup semi-finals, losing to arch-rivals Tottenham Hotspur. They lost just one league game all season - their 24th match of the league campaign againstChelsea on 2 February.
Arsenal finished ahead of runners-up Liverpool in the race for the league title that season; in February 1991 the Liverpool managerKenny Dalglish had suddenly announced his resignation as manager, and Graham's name was among those mentioned by the media as a possible successor to Dalglish. However, Graham was quick to rule himself out of the running, and the job instead went to another Scot,Graeme Souness.
In the autumn of 1991, Graham went on to sign a striker who would break the club's all-time top scoring records,Ian Wright fromCrystal Palace, and led the club into their first entry in the European Cup for twenty years. However, the continental adventure was short-lived: Arsenal were knocked out byS.L. Benfica in the second round and failed to make the lucrative final stages. 1991–92 brought more disappointment when theGunners were knocked out of theFA Cup in the third round by lowlyWrexham, though Arsenal did reasonably well in the league, finishing fourth.
After this season, Graham changed his tactics; he became more defensive and turned out far less attack-minded sides, which depended mainly on goals from Wright rather than the whole team. Between1986–87 and1991–92, Arsenal averaged 66 League goals a season (scoring 81 in 1991–92), but between1992–93 and1994–95 only averaged 48;[15] this included just 40 in 1992–93, when the club finished 10th in the inaugural season of theFA Premier League, scoring fewer than any other team in the division.[16]
Graham's Arsenal became cup specialists, and in 1992–93 they became the first side to win the FA Cup and League Cup double, both times beatingSheffield Wednesday, 2–1 in theLeague Cup Final and 2–1 in theFA Cup Final replay. The next season they continued in the same vein, winning theUEFA Cup Winners' Cup, their second European trophy; in thefinal Arsenal beat favourites and holdersParma 1–0 with a tight defensive performance and Alan Smith's 21st-minute goal from a left foot volley.
The 1994 Cup Winners' Cup proved to be Graham's last trophy at the club. It was on 21 February 1995 that Graham, who had led Arsenal to six trophies in eight seasons, lost his job after a Premier League inquiry found he had accepted an illegal £425,000 payment from Norwegian agentRune Hauge following Arsenal's 1992 acquisition ofJohn Jensen andPål Lydersen, two of Hauge's clients.[4] Graham was eventually banned for a year by the Football Association for his involvement in the scandal, after he admitted he had received an "unsolicited gift" from Hauge.[17] At the time, Arsenal were struggling a little in the league, had lost a League Cup quarter final to Liverpool, been dumped out of theFA Cup after a third round replay by Millwall, and (as Cup Winners' Cup holders) had also lost theSuper Cup toAC Milan. Regardless, Graham's sacking was more down to the illegal 'brown envelopes' of money, as the word "bung" embedded itself in the football lexicon.
After serving his ban, Graham's return to football management came withLeeds United in September 1996. After the fifth game of the season he replaced the long-servingHoward Wilkinson. Graham was swiftly appointed but found himself unable to make an immediate impact, leading Leeds to five losses from his first six in the league and another defeat to Aston Villa in the League Cup.
Going into November, Leeds hovered just above the relegation zone with the worst defensive record in the league, having just lost 3-0 to an Arsenal team now coached byArsene Wenger. Thereafter, however, Graham's defensive-minded strategies began to bear fruit; Leeds keps six clean sheets in their next seven matches, including a club-record five in a row. This was followed by a run of eight clean sheets in nine matches between 11 January and 12 March 1997, albeit with the sole exception being a 4-0 defeat atAnfield. By the end of the season, Leeds had climbed to 11th, having scored just 28 goals (the joint-lowest of any Premier League team to have escaped relegation[18]) yet conceded just 38, fewer than eventual championsManchester United, as well as accumulating 20 clean sheets, a club record for a 38-game season.
In the1997–98 season, by contrast, Leeds scored 57 goals, in a season that laid the groundwork for their success in the following seasons.Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink was signed in the summer of 1997, scoring 16 Premier League goals and 22 in all competitions, as Leeds finished 5th in what would prove to be Graham's solitary season in charge.[19]
Graham left Leeds in acrimonious circumstances, returning to London to take over at Tottenham on 1 October 1998. Following Leeds' UEFA Cup first-round penalty shootout victory over Portuguese sideMaritimo on 29 September 1998, Spurs chairmanAlan Sugar telephoned Leeds chairmanPeter Ridsdale, who admitted that after a brief telephone conversation a deal was done, with compensation agreed which would allow Graham to fulfil his wish of returning to London. Graham had made no secret of his desire to head back to the capital following Leeds' 3–3 draw with Tottenham three days prior, citing family and personal reasons.[20]
Five months after taking charge ofTottenham Hotspur, he guided the club to victory overLeicester City in the1999 League Cup Final, and with it a place in the1999–2000 UEFA Cup. Despite guiding the club to its first trophy in eightseasons, Graham could not achieve a finish higher than tenth in the Premier League.
Tottenham reached the last four of the2000–01 FA Cup with a 3–2 victory over West Ham United on 11 March 2001 and Graham was looking forward to pitting his wits against his former club Arsenal in the semi-finals. He was sacked five days later, on 16 March 2001, soon after the club had been purchased byENIC, for alleged breach of contract.[21] The club stated that Graham had been issued "several written warnings prior to his sacking for giving out what was deemed by the club as being private information" before, earlier that week, apparently informing the media he had "a limited budget" for new players and expressing his disappointment with it. This led to his being summoned to a meeting with Spurs executive vice-chairman David Buchler, after which he was dismissed. Buchler subsequently questioned whether Graham had the interests of the club at heart and described his conduct in the meeting as "aggressive and defiant". Graham's legal representatives issued a statement expressing he was "shocked and upset to have been sacked and could not believe such a flimsy excuse was given". It went on to say that Graham "believes ENIC always intended to sack him."[21][22]
After Spurs, Graham never returned to management. He was a pundit on Sky TV for several years, in particular theirPremPlus channel. He also commentated on the 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2005 FA Cup Finals featuring Arsenal.
However, he was linked with several managerial vacancies after leaving Tottenham. In October 2001, following the dismissal ofPeter Taylor atLeicester City, he was linked with that vacancy, but it was filled byDave Bassett instead.[23]
Thefollowing season, withGlenn Roeder under fire at the helm of aWest Ham United side heading for Premier League relegation, Graham's name was mentioned as a possible replacement,[24] but Roeder actually lasted until the opening weeks of the2003–04 season and this time there was little mention of Graham's name in the hunt for a successor, which ended with the appointment ofAlan Pardew. In the 2003 close season, the resignation ofGraham Taylor atAston Villa saw Graham's name mentioned by the media as a possible successor, but again nothing came of it, with this vacancy being filled byDavid O'Leary, who had played under Graham at Arsenal and worked as his assistant at Leeds.[25] He and O'Leary had both been mentioned as candidates for the job atSunderland twice during the 2002–03 season following the departure ofPeter Reid in October[26] andHoward Wilkinson in March.[27]
On 16 September 1967, Graham married model Marie Zia atMarylebone Register Office; his close friendTerry Venables acted as hisbest man and the two players took to the field the same afternoon for opposing teams in aNorth London derby; the groom's team won 4–0.[28][29] The couple had two children. The marriage ended in 1988.[30]
Graham married Susan Schmidt on 13 December 1998[31] inMarlow, Buckinghamshire, and live inHampstead, London.[3][30][31][32]
Graham revealed in 2009 that he suffers fromarthritis. "I love my golf but because of my arthritis, I've not played much in the last two years, if any. When I was a player, when I had a lot of time on my hands, I got down to an eighthandicap. But when I was manager, I went back to 12. I've just taken up tennis and have to say I'm not very good."[33]
| Club | Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Europe | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Aston Villa | 1961–62 | First Division | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | |
| 1962–63 | First Division | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 4 | 1 | ||
| 1963–64 | First Division | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 6 | 1 | ||
| Total | 8 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 2 | ||
| Chelsea | 1964–65 | First Division | 30 | 17 | 5 | 0 | 7 | 4 | — | 42 | 21 | |
| 1965–66 | First Division | 33 | 17 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 3 | 50 | 23 | |
| 1966–67 | First Division | 9 | 1 | — | 1 | 1 | — | 10 | 2 | |||
| Total | 72 | 35 | 11 | 3 | 8 | 5 | 11 | 3 | 102 | 46 | ||
| Arsenal | 1966–67 | First Division | 33 | 11 | 4 | 1 | — | — | 37 | 12 | ||
| 1967–68 | First Division | 38 | 16 | 5 | 0 | 8 | 5 | — | 51 | 21 | ||
| 1968–69 | First Division | 26 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | — | 32 | 4 | ||
| 1969–70 | First Division | 36 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 11 | 5 | 53 | 14 | |
| 1970–71 | First Division | 38 | 11 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 57 | 14 | |
| 1971–72 | First Division | 40 | 8 | 9 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 59 | 10 | |
| 1972–73 | First Division | 16 | 2 | — | 3 | 0 | — | 19 | 2 | |||
| Total | 227 | 59 | 27 | 2 | 29 | 9 | 25 | 7 | 308 | 79 | ||
| Manchester United | 1972–73 | First Division | 18 | 1 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 19 | 1 | ||
| 1973–74 | First Division | 24 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 26 | 1 | ||
| 1974–75 | Second Division | 1 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | |||
| Total | 43 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 46 | 2 | ||
| Portsmouth | 1974–75 | Second Division | 19 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 20 | 3 | |
| 1975–76 | Second Division | 39 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 1 | — | 47 | 3 | ||
| 1976–77 | Third Division | 3 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | — | 4 | 0 | |||
| Total | 51 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 61 | 6 | ||
| Crystal Palace | 1976–77 | Third Division | 23 | 2 | 3 | 1 | — | — | 26 | 3 | ||
| 1977–78 | Second Division | 21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | — | 25 | 1 | ||
| Total | 44 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 51 | 4 | ||
| California Surf | 1978 | NASL | 17 | 0 | — | — | — | 17 | 0 | |||
| Career total | 472 | 106 | 48 | 6 | 49 | 16 | 36 | 10 | 605 | 138 | ||
| Team | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | W | D | L | Win % | |||
| Millwall | 6 December 1982 | 14 May 1986 | 201 | 91 | 51 | 59 | 045.3 |
| Arsenal | 14 May 1986 | 21 February 1995 | 460 | 225 | 133 | 102 | 048.9 |
| Leeds United | 10 September 1996 | 1 October 1998 | 95 | 37 | 27 | 31 | 038.9 |
| Tottenham Hotspur | 1 October 1998 | 16 March 2001 | 108 | 40 | 30 | 38 | 037.0 |
| Total | 844 | 373 | 241 | 230 | 044.2 | ||
Chelsea
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Tottenham Hotspur
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