Arsenal celebrate 125 years - Commemorating Legends

Arsenal Football club have honoured three Arsenal greats by unveiling three statues outside the Emirates Stadium.Former manager Herbet Chapman, defensive rock Tony Adams and goal scoring hero Thierry Henry have all been commemorated in bronze statues which were unveiled by Arsenal Chairman, Peter Hill-Wood. The unveiling of the three statues forms part of Arsenal’s 125th anniversary celebrations which is set to continue before todays game against Everton.

Joined by Peter Hill-Wood, Arsene Wenger and Thierry Henry for the event was a large crowd to witness the unveiling around the stadium. The first statue to be revealed was Herbert Chapman who was Arsenal manager between 1925 and 1934. Chapman's Arsenal teams won the league four times in five years whilst his management developed and advanced diets, fitness, tactics and brilliant football. His time, however, at Arsenal was cut short as he died in 1934 aged just 55. Herbert Chapman's statue has been placed underneath the clock close to the Danny Fiszman Bridge and sees him looking towards the Stadium as a symbol of the Club’s achievements and importance whilst he was at Highbury.

Herbert Chapman

The second statue to be unveiled was of defender Tony Adams which has been located outside the Northbank at the Emirates. Adams spent 19 years at the club as he made a total of 669 appearances, becoming Arsenal's second all time appearence maker behind David O'leary. He is also the most successful captain in the Club’s history, leading Arsenal to ten major competition victories.

Tony Adams

The third and final statue to be unveiled was Thierry Henry. Henry is Arsenal's all time leading goal scorer with 226 strikes during his 8 years at the club. Henry won several major honours winning the Premier League and FA Cup twice, the Premier League 'Golden Boot' four times and the PFA Player of the Year award on two occassions. The Frenchman has always been renowned as an Arsenal legend as he also scored the last ever goal at Highbury in May 2006. Thierry Henry's statue has been placed in the south-east corner of the Emirates Stadium, next to the Spirit of Highbury mural.

Thierry Henry

The statues to commemorate these Arsenal legends were designed and created by MDM. They have been cast in bronze and are all life size and a half of the individuals. Having taken around 625 hours to create and weighing approximately 200kg each. The figures were lifted into place on Wednesday, ahead of Friday’s ceremony.

Also to celebrate the Club's anniversary, referee for Arsenal's game against Everton, Howard Webb, will use a sixpence in the coin toss to commemorate how the club started out. A group of workers at Dial Square armaments factory in Woolwich decided to form a football team, each giving a sixpence - two and a half pence in today's money - for the purchase of a football.