Herbert Chapman

Who was Herbert Chapman?

Herbert Chapman was an English association football player and manager. Though he had an undistinguished playing career, he went on to become one of the most successful and influential managers in early 20th-century English football, before his sudden death in 1934. Football-historically he is most notable as creator of the WM-formation.

As a player, Chapman played for a variety of clubs, at League and non-League levels. His record was generally unremarkable as a player; he made fewer than 40 League appearances over the course of a decade and did not win any major honours. Instead, he found success as a manager, first at Northampton Town between 1908–12, whom he led to a Southern League title.

This attracted the attention of larger clubs and he moved to Leeds City, where he started to improve the team's fortunes before the First World War intervened. After the war ended, City were implicated in an illegal payments scandal and were eventually disbanded. Chapman was initially banned from football but successfully appealed, and then took over at Huddersfield Town, winning an FA Cup and two First Division titles in the space of four years.