Charlie Buchan

Who was Charlie Buchan?

Charles "Charlie" Murray Buchan was an English football player and writer.

Buchan's playing career started with Arsenal before he moved to Leyton, and then onto a prolific fourteen-year period with Sunderland: he was Sunderland's leading scorer for seven of his nine seasons with the club, and remains the club's all-time record League goalscorer. He won the Football League First Division with Sunderland in 1913 and was a losing finalist in the 1913 FA Cup Final. During his period with Sunderland Buchan served with the Sherwood Foresters after the outbreak of the First World War, being awarded the Military Medal.

He re-joined Arsenal in 1925 and was a losing finalist again in Arsenal's first FA Cup final in 1927. Buchan was responsible, along with Herbert Chapman for Arsenal's adoption of the WM formation which eventually brought Arsenal significant success in the 1930s. He was capped six times by the England national football team, scoring four goals.

After retiring from football Buchan became a football journalist with the Daily News, wrote one of the first coaching manuals, and also commentated for the BBC. In 1947, he co-founded the Football Writers' Association, and from September 1951 until his death, he edited his own football magazine, Charles Buchan's Football Monthly, which was published until June 1974.