More than just a Gunner: Charlie Buchan
In 1891 one of the greatest strikers of the ball and later journalist was born, his name is Charlie Buchan.
Buchan commenced his playing days at Woolwich Arsenal (in other words Arsenal) in 1909 as an amateur. After drawing attention to his wonders in reserve matches, arguments with manager George Morrell over money issues saw him turn down professional terms.
He transferred in a hurry to Northfleet United still as an amateur for the rest of 1909/10 campaign, lifting the Kent Senior Cup, clinching the Kent League and Thames Medway Combination awards.
Towards the end of the season he put pen to paper for Southern League outfit Leyton, not long after he was spotted by Sunderland and was picked up in 1911.
Buchan a lean and mean attacker proved to be somewhat of an enigma at The Black Cats. He was involved with Sunderland’s 1912/13 First Division Championship winning campaign, losing the double by a slim margin after Aston Villa stunned Sunderland 1-0 in the FA Cup Final. He was regarded often as the best footballer in the country, where for seven of his eight years on Wearside he was Sunderland’s top-goalscorer. To this day he remains The Black Cats all time top-goalscorer with 209 strikes to his name. During the successful 1912/13 season he also made his England debut versus Ireland, this would be the first of six International appearances in which he scored four goals.
After World War One started in 1914 for the next four years he joined the Grenadier Guards and the Sherwood Foresters. He was later handed the Military Medal in September 1918 and was elevated to second lieutenant for the final phase of the war.
Come 1925 Buchan had re-signed for The Gunners for £2000 and £100 more for every league goal scored. Originally Sunderland manager Bob Kyle wanted £4,000 however legendary Arsenal manager Herbert Chapman managed to bargain hard for the country’s best talisman. Buchan would make his Arsenal debut in the North London derby versus Tottenham Hotspur, throughout the 1925/25 season he pinched 19 goals in the First Division.
The striker, who was also a tactician, helped Chapman form the new WM formation which beat the doziness of the offside law. Buchan’s idea was to turn the centre back from a free moving position in midfield to as described a “stopper” of the back line, witnessing one attacker taken back to midfield. Ultimately this new concept stated that the offside trap was not down to the duty of the two centre backs but down to the responsibility of one defender instead, seeing the centre backs shoved out to secure the wings. The new revolutionary tactic later led to Arsenal’s first real success in the 1930s.
Buchan held a permanent place in the first team for three years, skippering The Gunners to their first ever Cup final in 1927 which they lost 0-1 to Cardiff City.
Come the final stages of the 1927/28 season Buchan retired after having netted 16 times that season at the age of 36.
All in all Buchan had scored 56 goals in 120 games for Arsenal. However, once retired, altogether whilst at The Gunners and Sunderland he found the back of the net 258 times, witnessing him become the second highest goalscorer in England’s top-flight of football. Today he’s slipped slightly down the pecking order slightly sitting sixth in the pile.
After his football days Buchan joined Daily News which later became News Chronicle as a journalist. On top of this he commentated for the BBC. In 1947 he co-created the Football Writers Association. Arguably his greatest achievement as a journalist was making his own football paper called Charles Buchan’s Football Monthly. He also wrote his autobiography in 1955 before dying five years later aged 68 when on vacation in Monte Carlo.
A great footballer and a great man…
Liam Harding
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