Ken Friar’s Arsenal career began when he was a schoolboy in Highbury and the club’s manager, George Allison, noticed him outside the stadium and offered him a job running messages on matchdays. Allison was also a broadcaster, one of the first commentators on BBC radio football coverage. He stayed for the next eight decades. Arsenal’s life president died on October 13, 2026, aged 92. That night Mikel Arteta dedicated the club’s Champions League win over Lille to him.
From messenger to managing director
Friar was born on August 13, 1934, and grew up close to Highbury. After his start as a messenger he worked in the box office and the club’s offices through the 1950s and 1960s. He became club secretary in 1973 and managing director in 1983, roles that put him at the centre of Arsenal’s business for the next quarter of a century. He worked with every Arsenal manager from Allison to Arteta and saw the club win every one of its major trophies after the Second World War. Sources differ on exactly when he started, with dates given between 1945 and 1950.
Building the Emirates
Arsenal had played at Highbury since 1913, and by the 1990s its 38,000 capacity left the club far behind its rivals in matchday income. His most lasting work was the move from Highbury to the Emirates Stadium. Friar led the project through years of planning disputes, land purchases and construction, and the 60,000-seat ground opened in 2006. The ground cost around £390 million, a debt that shaped the club’s finances for a decade. One of the bridges leading to the stadium is named after him. He was made an OBE for services to football and was appointed president for life of the club in September 2020.
Mr Arsenal
Inside the club he was known as Mr Arsenal, and players remembered him for kindness away from the pitch. Paul Merson, who struggled with addiction during his Arsenal career, said Friar had saved his life. Arteta called him the soul and heart of the club, and dedicated that night’s win to him. Arsenal said his legacy was extraordinary.
Friar outlasted Highbury, the stadium where he began, by twenty years, and on the night he died the team playing in the ground he helped build won in Europe.