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Ever since a group of munitions workers came together to form a football club in 1886, Arsenal FC have gone through periods of success, failure and mediocrity in equal measure. But none of those workers would have envisioned what a global following the club would have 130 years after they founded it.
Over the decades the club has seen many players come in only to see them leave as legends of the game. The north London club has seen many different eras of trophy-winning players that ultimately shaped the club and now have now found a permanent place on the facade of the stadium.
But who gets in if we try and form a XI of the club's greatest?
Goalkeeper
No goalkeeper has made more appearances for the Gunners than David Seaman. In a 13-year career at Highbury, the Englishman appeared 564 times for Arsenal, winning three league titles, four FA Cups and a League Cup.
The distinctive pony-tailed 'keeper was also a nightmare for penalty takers and his heroics helped the club in penalty shootouts as well.
Bob Wilson and Pat Jennings may have had a shout to get into this XI but Seaman's ability to turn it on in the big moments to ensure Arsenal came out winners in the end - be it saving penalties or his reflexes denying a late equaliser.
While his waning England career failed to elicit the same love from the fans, his form for the club saw him win two doubles under Arsene Wenger before he moved to Manchester City and eventual retirement a year later with over a 1,000 appearance for club and country under his belt.
Centre-Backs
669 appearances, captaining a title-winning squad in three different decades, and an entire career spent at the club he joined at the age of 14; Tony Adams was Arsenal through and through.
His battles with alcoholism aside, he was the model footballer and a true leader on the pitch who led by example and demanded nothing but 100% from his teammates. Marshaling the famous Arsenal back-line that saw conceding goals as an insult to their collective intelligence, Adams led the club to four league titles and three FA Cups.
Wenger called him a 'Professor of Defence', a resilient force who was capable of winning the ball on the ground or in the air and were this special team to take the field, he would be handed the captain's armband. He does have a statue outside the Emirates after all and they don't call him Mr Arsenal for nothing.
Also read: Most Influential Captains of the modern era - Tony Adams
Partnering him is his final partner in defence - Sol Campbell. The defender was signed for free from the club's biggest rivals Tottenham Hotspur. Campbell crossed the north London divide and won the Premier League title and FA Cup in his very first season.
As Adams retired, Campbell took ownership of the central defence and would be one of the club's most integral members in the Invincibles campaign where they were immortalised after an unbeaten season.
Excellent in the air (in both attack and defence), he remains the only player to score for the Gunners in a Champions League final. Not many players had the size and athleticism of Campbell in his peak, making him one of the Premier League's greatest defenders.
Full-Backs
Arsenal have been known to produce a number of quality full-backs in the Wenger years but two of their greatest full-backs were signed from elsewhere and they made a total of 1,170 appearances between them.
Lee Dixon had a long and illustrious 21-year career in England with 15 seasons spent at Highbury in an Arsenal shirt. The right-back made 598 appearances for the club and he is one of few players to make the step up from the lower leagues to the top division in a matter of just two years before he succeeded in cementing his place in the squad.
Dixon was an attacking full-back who loved to overlap and link up with the wingers. Defensively, his positional awareness was what stood out and he did not shy away from a physical battle on the flank.
He retired with four league titles, three FA Cups, a League Cup and a European Cup Winners' Cup to his name.
On the left is his partner in crime, Nigel Winterburn. For 12 years they played in the same side and formed the famous back-line with Adams and Steve Bould that rarely conceded goals. Catching their opponents offside became a habit for them with linesmen being given some good exercise on the touchline in every game.
13 years he spent at Arsenal and never considered the option of moving on in an age when players always looked for better prospects. It was only his age that eventually saw him move to West Ham after 584 appearances.
He, too, loved to get forward and also managed to score a few screamers in his time. While Ashley Cole would have also been a contender for this lineup, the circumstances that led to his switch to Chelsea see him miss out.
Midfield
The age-old excuse for the lack of a leader and a powerful motivator in the team at Arsenal is that they have failed to replace Patrick Vieira in midfield after his departure from the club in 2005. His last kick in an Arsenal shirt delivered them the FA Cup with a win over arch-rivals Manchester United - his sixth major trophy in a nine-year career at Highbury.
When he first burst on to the scene as one of Wenger's first signings, fans were gobsmacked at the ease with which a tall, lanky player commanded the midfield and glided across the pitch to assist in defence and attack.
Vieira soon took over the captain's armband and led the side that would go on to become the Invincibles, fittingly scoring the final goal of the campaign (a winner) that sealed their unbeaten status over the season.
Alongside him is an attacking midfielder who was one of few Irish players who also thrived outside Britain. Arguably the most complete Irish player of all time, he was so revered at the club that his transfer to Juventus at his peak saw a gloom envelop Highbury.
Liam Brady came through the Arsenal Academy and spent seven years in the senior team before his move to Serie A.
With a keen eye for goal, brave on the ball for a creative player and possessing play-making abilities that were rare at the time, there were very few skilled players in England at the time - which is perhaps why Juventus wanted him so badly.
However, after a successful stint in Serie A, he would eventually return to Arsenal to take up the role of Arsenal's Head of Youth Development.
Wingers
Both the wingers in this team are from way back in the day. While I would have loved to go with Robert Pires on the left, there was another player who deserves to be named in this squad.
Cliff Bastin was a goalscorer extraordinaire. Until Ian Wright came along, Bastin was the club's record goalscorer with 178 goals to his name. Nobody had scored 150 league goals for the club either until Thierry Henry eclipsed his mark.
Spotted by legendary manager Herbert Chapman, Bastin was signed in 1929 and he would go on to feature in more than 35 games every season in his first decade at the club. Back then it was the wingers who reigned supreme at Arsenal and Bastin made merry.
Bastin was part of the Arsenal squad that won its first ever league title and he would win five titles in the 1930s alone - the era in which the Gunners dominated English football.
On the right is Joe Hulme who played for Arsenal between 1926 and 1937. He and Bastin combined to devastating effect in the 1930s. The fact that he was also a cricketer at the same time playing for Middlesex only made him all the more remarkable.
In 374 appearances for the Gunners, he scored 125 goals. He also played a part in the 1930 FA Cup final which Arsenal won - their first ever major trophy.
Herbert Chapman certainly knew what he was doing when he signed him from Blackburn Rovers for a then princely sum of £3,500.
Forwards
Do they even need an introduction? Both players revere and respect each other. Both players complemented each other so well on the pitch. Both players were on the same wavelength, much to the opposition's dismay.
And both players have been immortalised outside the Emirates with their own statues. There may never be a strike partnership like Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp ever again for the Gunners.
Henry's supreme athletic ability, searing pace and inventiveness redefined the role of a mobile striker in a 4-4-2 formation while Bergkamp's creativity, eye-of-the-needle passes and all-round technical brilliance saw Wenger's vision of beautiful football come alive.
Also read: Legends of club football - Dennis Bergkamp
Both players not only scored some of the club's greatest goals in memory but they were also very selfless, resulting in some brilliant assists as well.
Henry finished his Arsenal career with 228 goals (including a record four Premier League Golden Boots) while Bergkamp finished with 120 goals.
You'd be hard-pressed to name two better players who wore the red-and-white shirt.
