The statistics tell their own story of Arsenal’s domination of English women’s football in the first two decades of the game’s league system.

Under the management of Vic Akers, who founded the team in 1987, the Gunners won an incredible total of 32 major trophies between the WFA National League’s inaugural 1991-92 season and Akers’ retirement at the end of the FA Premier League’s 2008-09 campaign.

Eleven league titles were won along with 10 FA Cups and 10 League Cups, plus the Uefa Women’s Cup – later retitled the Champions League – in a memorable 2006-07 season that saw Akers’ team become the first ever (women’s or men’s) British team to complete a quadruple of trophy triumphs.

“We changed the face of women’s football in England,” said Akers as he looked back at his team’s long list of achievements during the two decades which followed the establishment of the country’s nationwide league system.

A former professional footballer whose career included spells at Watford and Cambridge United, the then 41-year-old Akers formed the women’s team – originally known as Arsenal Ladies – while heading up the club’s Community section, concurrently working as kit man for the men’s Premier League side.

“I was pushed to form a women’s team by girls I met through my work in the Community sports centre,” recalls Akers. “A young lady who worked for me, Alisha O’Grady, played for a team and I had long conversations with her about leagues that were running and the possibilities of forming an Arsenal team.

“When we decided to go for it a lot of girls heard we were starting a team, and because of the pull of our name we got loads of interest. We started getting players coming to us from established clubs like Millwall Lionesses, and we even took over Islington Ladies to enable us to have two teams.“We started out in the Home Counties League, and by the time the National League was set up we were more than ready for it – in fact I was disappointed to be put in the Southern Division that first season, because I felt we had the potential to do really well in the top division.” 

Akers’ team soundly proved that potential. They not only won the division to earn promotion but also collected the first of their major trophies, beating top flight Millwall 1-0 in the final of the League Cup. 

The trophy haul was given an immediate boost as the Gunners, in their debut Premier Division season, became the first team to win the treble as they became League champions and winners of both the FA and League Cups.

Thereafter almost every season was marked with at least one trophy as the ambitious Akers started moves to put his players on to a semi-professional footing by helping them obtain jobs at the club.

He said: “I went to (Vice-President) David Dein and said ‘some of these girls haven’t got work and so, for us to keep them around, it would help if we could get them into the club in some way by getting some work for them.’ 

“David agreed and we got whatever jobs we could for them – in the club shop, marketing department, laundry. They weren’t playing professionally, but it took them on to a part-time basis and helped with their life-style.”

By the end of the century the Arsenal trophy cabinet was beginning to bulge, 12 League and Cup titles having been won in nine seasons. More, many more, were to follow with the zenith arriving in the quadruple winning 2006-07 campaign.

In addition to completing the domestic treble for the third time the Gunners became European champions, winning the Uefa Cup with a 1-0 victory over two legs in a hotly contested final against Swedish team Umea. “In that season,” said Akers, “to do what we did was unbelievable – we made history.”

By the time Akers ended his managerial career two years later even more history had been made. In the process of winning yet another treble in that final season in charge, his team won a sixth successive League title. Amazingly, from October 2003 to March 2009 they had gone unbeaten in 108 matches – including a spell of 51 straight wins between November 2005 and April 2008. 

“We were The Invincibles,” said Akers. “The girls I had in my teams over those 20 years were fantastic and I’m so proud of what they achieved for the club. They put a marker down and paved the way for the women’s game to become so successful in later years.”

The Premier League was won with a 100 per cent record; the League Cup was lifted by beating Leeds United 1-0 in the final; the FA Cup triumph came courtesy of a 4-1 final victory over Charlton Athletic; and in the final of the Uefa Cup – later rebranded the Champions League – the quadruple was completed with an aggregate 1-0 win over two hard-fought legs against Swedish team Umea. 

An away goal by England right back Alex Scott in the first leg gave Arsenal a slim advantage going into the return fixture at Borehamwood, where in front of a crowd of just 3,467 they just about held out to claim the trophy.

Akers said: “We had the opportunity to play at the (men’s team’s) Emirates Stadium but turned it down. We’d not been beaten at Borehamwood for a very long time, we had an unbelievable record there, so I put it to the girls and they felt they had the best chance there – and that was my thought as well.

“But at the end of the day we were fortunate, very fortunate. They hit the bar and post on three of four occasions. On one of them, the ball hit the bar then the post and hit (goalkeeper) Emma (Byrne) on the back of the head and went backwards towards the goal but just missed the outside of the post. 

“That was the point where I said, ‘We’ve won this – they’re not going to score,’ and of course they didn’t. So, fortunate yes, but you have to have a bit of luck somewhere along the line and that was where we had it. In that season, to do what we did was unbelievable – we made history.”

It was a formula based on footballing beliefs – on and off the pitch – that his players always bought into, as long serving defender Kirsty Pealling testifies.

England international Pealling, one of the club’s longest ever serving players, played under Akers’ management from 1987 to her retirement in 2006.  

“With Vic the game was never over complicated,” she says. “It was all about getting the ball on the floor, keeping possession, expressing yourself – we always had discipline but at the same time we had a sense of freedom because we were encouraged to be creative. At times it was a bit like playing with your mates. 

“But we were always super competitive and the mentality going into every match was, ‘we’ve got to win.’ Win or lose though, Vic instilled into us that we had to conduct ourselves properly – ‘remember who you are,’ he’d say, ‘and remember you’re representing Arsenal Football Club.’

“So we were gracious in victory or defeat. That was the mentality we had throughout my time with the club. We always had a group full of good characters, all of us passionate about Arsenal as well as winning matches and trophies.” 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Images from Catherine Etoe, Gavin Ellis/TGSPHOTO and The Football Association\The FA via Getty Images.