Charlie Buchan

Sunderland and Wartime A tall, elegant centre forward, Buchan was highly successful at the Wearside club. Sunderland won the 1912–13 First Division title and narrowly missed out on the Double - losing the FA Cup final 1–0 to Aston Villa. Frequently described as the best footballer in the country, Buchan was Sunderland's leading scorer for seven of his eight seasons at the club. This tally excludes the World War I seasons, when full competitive football was suspended. He is Sunderland's all-time record League goalscorer, with 209 goals. Buchan was also capped by England - his debut coming against Ireland on 15 February 1913.

During the First World War, Buchan served with the Grenadier Guards and then the Sherwood Foresters. He was awarded the Military Medal and on 11 September 1918 was promoted to temporary second lieutenant for the final months of the war.

In 1925, Buchan left Sunderland. He was replaced by Dave Halliday, who scored at least 35 league goals in his four full seasons at Sunderland, becoming the most prolific goals-to-games performer in the club's history.

While at Sunderland, Buchan also played cricket for Durham in the 1920 Minor Counties Championship.

Arsenal Buchan was re-signed by Arsenal. Sunderland manager Bob Kyle initially demanded a £4,000 fee, but Arsenal manager Herbert Chapman bargained him down to £2,000 plus £100 per league goal scored by Buchan during his first season. Buchan made his debut in a North London derby against Tottenham Hotspur on 29 August 1925. He ultimately scored nineteen league goals during that first season.

Just as important as his goals was his contribution to Arsenal's tactics. Along with Chapman, Buchan contributed to Arsenal's development of the WM formation to fully exploit the relaxation of the offside law. Buchan's idea was to move the centre half from a roaming position in midfield to a "stopper" position in defence, with one forward brought back into midfield. This meant the offside trap was no longer the responsibility of the two full-backs, but the single central defender, while the full backs were pushed wider to cover the wings. Eventually the change in tactic would bring Arsenal great success in the 1930s.

Buchan was a regular at Arsenal for three seasons. He captained Arsenal to their first ever Cup final in 1927, which they lost 1–0 to Cardiff City. Buchan finally retired at the end of 1927–28, having scored 16 league goals that season despite being 36 years of age. In all he scored 56 goals in 120 matches for Arsenal. Upon his retirement after scoring 258 league goals, (which would have been more had the First World War not intervened) he was the second highest goalscorer in the top flight, only Steve Bloomer had scored more, 314 for Derby County and Middlesbrough. Today he is ranked 6th as the all time top flight top scorer, and in the Football League's all-time top scorer list, he is ranked 33rd.

International England score listed first, score column indicates score after each Buchan goal

Honours Sunderland Football League First Division: 1912–13

England British Home Championship: 1912–13

Individual First Division Golden Boot: 1922–23 English Football Hall of Fame: 2013