HERBERT CHAPMAN BANNED FOR LIFE FROM FOOTBALL - The History of Arsenal 26 SEPTEMBER 1919
by Tony Attwood In an event of supreme importance in relation to what happened in the future, in September 1919, second division Leeds City FC were summoned to a meeting with the Football League and ordered to hand over their accounts. Leeds refused to do so on the grounds that the Commission had no legal right to demand them. The League then removed Leeds City from its membership of the league, and banned five officials for any involvement in football for life. Among those five was their manager, Herbert Chapman. Herbert Chapman had managed Leeds prior to the war but like so many others had taken up war work in industry during the conflict. He had returned to Leeds City and resumed his work after the war, but before the League commenced in August 1919 he resigned, moved to Selby and gave up football to become a superintendent at an oil and coke works. We have no explanation from him as to why he did this – and it is notable that this action occurred d...