Early career Buchan first played as an amateur for local club
Woolwich Arsenal, joining the club in December 1909. Whilst he impressed in reserve games, disagreements with manager
George Morrell over his expenses caused Buchan to decline to sign a professional contract. Buchan moved to Northfleet United as an amateur for the remainder of the 1909–10 season. He won
Kent Senior Cup,
Kent League and Thames and Medway Combination medals. In the close season he signed for
Southern League club
Leyton. He was spotted by
Sunderland A.F.C. scouts in 1911, and was signed shortly after.
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. ==Later career==