Charles Murray Buchan (22 September 1891 – 25 June 1960) was an English footballer, sporting journalist and commentator.
Buchan served with the Sherwood Foresters during the First World War and was awarded with the Military Medal for his service.
Along with Herbert Chapman, Buchan was a pioneer of Arsenal's adoption of the WM formation, which brought significant success for the club in the 1930s.
Whilst he impressed in reserve games, disagreements with manager George Morrell over his expenses caused Buchan to decline to sign a professional contract.
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.
[5] He was awarded the Military Medal and on 11 September 1918 was promoted to temporary second lieutenant for the final months of the war.
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.
Along with Chapman, Buchan contributed to Arsenal's development of the WM formation to fully exploit the relaxation of the offside law.
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.
Buchan finally retired at the end of 1927–28, having scored 16 league goals that season despite being 36 years of age.