Permanent Arsenal Managers with the Highest Win Percentage

Arsenal have had some truly outstanding managers over the years. From the pioneering trailblazer Herbert Chapman to multiple trophy winner Tom Whittaker, and from surly Scot George Graham to refined Frenchman Arsène Wenger, the Gunners have enjoyed the services of many gifted managers.

Despite many former bosses having risen to the status of club legends, it is the current boss, Mikel Arteta, who has the best win percentage of any permanent manager at the north London club (at the time of writing). The Spaniard’s win rate was just under 60% after 310 games in the Arsenal dugout, which is more than 2% better than his nearest rival. In this article, we’ll first list the top 10 (permanent) Arsenal managers in terms of their win percentages. We’ll then delve a little deeper to see if they converted those win ratios into silverware.

Top 10 Arsenal Managers Based on Win Percentage

*Arteta’s statistics correct as of 2nd December 2025

Some of those who missed out on the top 10 include George Allison, who led the Gunners to two league titles and the FA Cup in the 1930s, and Wolverhampton Wanderers and England legend Billy Wright (whose managerial career didn’t really live up to his exceptional playing days). Bertie Mee, who led Arsenal to their first-ever double in 1970/71, also doesn’t quite make the top 10 with his win percentage of 44.71%.

Arteta Playing Catch-Up on the Trophy Front

Over the course of their illustrious history, Arsenal have won the top-flight title on 13 occasions, putting them in third place behind Manchester United and Liverpool, who have won it 20 times each. The Gunners have more FA Cups than any other side, however, with 14 in the trophy cabinet, compared to 13 for Man United and eight apiece for Chelsea, Liverpool, and north London rivals Tottenham. They have two League Cups and a UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup in the bag too, but no other European trophies since 1993/94.

If we ignore the Community Shield (which, let’s face it, many football fans do), table-topping Arteta has only won one trophy as Arsenal boss: the FA Cup in the 2019/20 campaign, his first season in charge. So let’s see how others in the top 10 compare in terms of silverware.

Arsène Wenger

The man responsible for a good proportion of that silverware is Arsène Wenger. He led the Gunners to three Premier League titles and seven FA Cups, completely professionalising the culture at the club and arguably in English football in general. As things stand, he’s second in the table behind Arteta based on his win percentage, but he’s miles ahead of the Spaniard when it comes to filling the trophy cabinet, and he is the benchmark against which Arteta – and any future Arsenal bosses – will be ultimately judged.

Wenger has also been in charge of far more Arsenal games than any other manager. His total of 1,235 matches in the dugout is more than double his nearest rival (Bertie Mee on 539 games, with George Graham, Tom Whittaker, Terry Neill, and Herbert Chapman the others in the 400+ club).

Herbert Chapman

Interestingly, the three Arsenal managers in positions three to five in terms of win percentage – Unai Emery, Thomas Mitchell, and Harry Bradshaw – didn’t manage to win a single trophy between them. When it comes to Arsenal silverware, though, Herbert Chapman was the man who got the ball rolling, and then some.

He had a somewhat stuttering playing career that took in more than a dozen clubs, including Grimsby Town, Sheffield United and Tottenham. Then he became a successful manager, first with Northampton, then with Huddersfield Town, with whom he won the First Division title twice. Shifting to Arsenal, he led the Gunners to their first-ever major trophy: the FA Cup in 1929/30.

After that, the trophy floodgates opened and under Chapman, Arsenal won the First Division twice, another FA Cup, and the Charity Shield three times. Sadly, Chapman died of pneumonia midway through the 1933/34 season, but his side went on to win the title in his honour. Chapman was a real footballing pioneer and arguably one of the first true football managers in the sense that he fully oversaw all team matters (previously, board members would often pick who played!). His legacy at the club lives on almost a century after his death, and he has a commemorative statue outside the Emirates.

George Graham

Graham didn’t always endear himself to Arsenal fans or indeed the wider public with either his style of play or his occasionally brash manner, but he was an exceptional manager who knew how to get results. His Arsenal side won the First Division title twice: 1988/89 and 1990/91. The 1988/89 title came in particularly dramatic fashion as Michael Thomas’s injury-time goal at Anfield gave Arsenal the 2-0 they need to win the title… with Liverpool having to settle for the runners-up spot on goal difference!

Graham also led the Gunners to the FA Cup in 1992/93, the League Cup in 1986/87 and 1992/93, and the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup in 1993/94. He is still the only Arsenal manager to have led the north Londoners to a major European trophy (no, the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup victory of 1969/70 does not count).

Tom Whittaker

With eighth-placed William Elcoat not landing any trophies, the next on the list to fill the cabinet is Tom Whittaker, who was highly successful with the Gunners in the 1940s and 1950s. Another boss to win the top-flight title twice (1947/48 and 1952/53), he also won the FA Cup in 1949/50 as well as two Charity Shields.

Completing the top 10, Bruce Rioch failed to win anything. Just a fraction behind him in terms of win percentage comes George Allison, the man who replaced Herbert Chapman. He lived up to his predecessor’s legacy, adding two more First Division titles, one more FA Cup, and two Charity Shields.