30 Facts About George Graham

George Graham was born on 30 November 1944 and is a Scottish former football player and manager.

George Graham then moved to the coaching staff at Crystal Palace, before joining former Palace manager Terry Venables as a coach at Queens Park Rangers.

George Graham was one of the most successful managers in Arsenal's history, remaining in charge for almost a decade until he was sacked by the club's board after being found guilty by the Football Association of taking money from transfers.

George Graham was banned despite paying back the money, which he always claimed was an "unsolicited gift".

The youngest of seven children, George Graham was born at Dykehead Road, Bargeddie, near Coatbridge on Thursday 30 November 1944.

George Graham received offers from Aston Villa, Chelsea and Newcastle United aged 15, in 1959, and visited all three clubs to see their facilities.

George Graham chose Aston Villa mainly as he and his family liked manager Joe Mercer, initially playing for their youth side, he signed professionally in 1961, on his 17th birthday.

George Graham scored 35 goals in 72 league games for the club and won a League Cup medal in 1965 but he, along with several other Chelsea players, increasingly clashed with their volatile manager Tommy Docherty.

George Graham would go on to win twelve caps over the next two years for Scotland, scoring three goals, his final one coming against Brazil on 30 June 1973.

George Graham spent two years at United and was relegated to Division Two in 1974.

George Graham saw out his career in England at Portsmouth and Crystal Palace.

George Graham played the summer of 1978 in America for the California Surf.

George Graham himself had never even applied for the Arsenal position but on 12 May 1986 his chairman at Millwall, Alan Thorne, told him that Arsenal wanted to speak to him about the manager's job.

George Graham quickly discarded the likes of Paul Mariner, who already had been released on a free transfer, Tony Woodcock, Stewart Robson and Tommy Caton, and replaced them with new signings and youth team products.

George Graham imposed much stricter discipline than his predecessors, both in the dressing room and on the pitch and told the team he expected them to be dressed in club blazers on match day.

However, George Graham said he knew the team weren't ready to mount a sustained title challenge.

George Graham's side featured tight defensive discipline, embodied by his young captain Tony Adams, who along with Lee Dixon, Steve Bould and Nigel Winterburn, would form the basis of the club's defence for over a decade.

However, contrary to popular belief, during this time Arsenal were not a purely defensive side; George Graham built up an impressive midfield containing David Rocastle, Paul Davis, Michael Thomas and Paul Merson, and striker Alan Smith, whose prolific goal-scoring regularly brought him more than 20 goals per season.

Arsenal finished ahead of runners-up Liverpool in the race for the league title that season; in February 1991 the Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish had suddenly announced his resignation as manager, and George Graham's name was among those mentioned by the media as a possible successor to Dalglish.

However, George Graham was quick to rule himself out of the running, and the job instead went to another Scot, Graeme Souness.

George Graham was eventually banned for a year by the Football Association for his involvement in the scandal, after he admitted he had received an "unsolicited gift" from Hauge.

Regardless, George Graham's sacking was more down to the illegal 'brown envelopes' of money, as the word "bung" embedded itself in the football lexicon.

George Graham was swiftly appointed but found himself unable to make an immediate impact, leading Leeds to five losses from his first six in the league and another defeat to Aston Villa in the League Cup.

George Graham left Leeds in acrimonious circumstances, returning to London to take over at Tottenham on 1 October 1998.

George Graham was sacked five days later, on 16 March 2001, soon after the club had been purchased by ENIC, for alleged breach of contract.

The club stated that George Graham had been issued "several written warnings prior to his sacking for giving out what was deemed by the club as being private information" before, earlier that week, apparently informing the media he had "a limited budget" for new players and expressing his disappointment with it.

Buchler subsequently questioned whether George Graham had the interests of the club at heart and described his conduct in the meeting as "aggressive and defiant".

George Graham was a pundit on Sky TV for several years, in particular their PremPlus channel.

George Graham commentated on the 2001,2002,2003 and 2005 FA Cup Finals featuring Arsenal.

George Graham married Susan Schmidt on 13 December 1998 in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, and live in Hampstead, London.