Ten years of Wenger (1 Viewer)

[Chxta]

Stolen from today's Fiver...

Today is the tenth anniversary of Arsenal Wenger replacing Bruce Rioch as Arsene manager, so it's a day of wild celebration for Gooners. Which, given that two fans were ejected from the Emirates Stadium last Saturday for the grotesque crime of singing, probably means gathering around a turned-off iPod and whispering "for he's a jolly good fellow". Still, it would be churlish of us not to mark the occasion by listing the Frenchman's impressive achievements. . .

Since arriving at Highbury in 1996, Wenger has led the Gunners to three Premierships, four FA Cups, two European finals and 4,768 red cards. More than that, he has transformed the team from a boring bunch of grinders into a sensational amalgam of gifted artists, elite athletes and Justin Hoyte. In 2003-04, his side was the first English side to go a whole season unbeaten in over a century, and they built on that by finishing 12 points behind ch€£$k¥ the following year.

Some of these feats were pulled off despite stringent financial constraints imposed by the club's switch to a new ground, and this is where the economics graduate's famed mastery of the transfer market came into play. Ingenious bargain buys include Nicolas Anelka, Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira, Freddie Ljungberg and Cesc Fabregas, not to mention Nelson Vivas, Pascal Cygan and Franny Jeffers. No seriously, not to mention them. That's exactly what the man everyone thinks is Arsenal chairman but actually isn't, David Dein, didn't do today, when he again hailed Wenger as a hero and said he'd have a job at Arsenal for life. "We want him for the rest of his career," gushed the media-hungry vice chairman. "If he wanted to give up the tracksuit he'd be invaluable in the boardroom in a technical role."

All of which means that even Lahn's Lahn Evenin Stannah, who famously greeted the Frenchman's arrival from Nagoya Grampus Eight with the headline 'Arsene Who?', must agree that Wenger is the greatest thing to come from Japan since beer-pumping robotic chopsticks with built-in coffee-maker and skis. Or something.

 

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[sateeh]

apparently they want him for 10 more yrs, never liked the guy's attitude though...but hes a good manager i will give him that.

 

[Lucia]

Wenger makes me laugh, intelligent but looks like a paedophile

 

[Respaul]

Crap manager, born Whiner...

 

[sateeh]

Crap manager, born Whiner...

yeah the only way to describe him.

 

[Elvin]

Coolass guy

 

[Elvin]

Wenger makes me laugh, intelligent but looks like a paedophile

I know eh

 

[Badass J Elkann]

Wenger makes me laugh, intelligent but looks like a paedophile

btw hey lucia

 

[.zero]

i like arsene, thats one cool mofo!

 

[Geof]

Stolen from today's Fiver...

Since arriving at Highbury in 1996, Wenger has led the Gunners to three Premierships, four FA Cups, two European finals and 4,768 red cards. More than that, he has transformed the team from a boring bunch of grinders into a sensational amalgam of gifted artists, elite athletes and Justin Hoyte. In 2003-04, his side was the first English side to go a whole season unbeaten in over a century, and they built on that by finishing 12 points behind ch€£$k¥ the following year.

Well, credits to the man. I still don't really like him, but I started to respect him.

 

[Omair]

I wonder why don't they have these long-term managers in the Italian league ...

Like Wenger ... Great with his team, a master mind and rusting in Arsenal ...

I remember once i hoped Lippi would be our rusting big chief ... but he has done everything a Juve fan would like ...

 

[bugvengeance]

they had these long servant coaches becos that is the best they can get
n sadly they cant find any good english coaches to replace this foreign coaches

 

[V]

has a nose to spot quality youngsters. probably his best quality.

 

[Elvin]

they had these long servant coaches becos that is the best they can get
n sadly they cant find any good english coaches to replace this foreign coaches

Word.

 

[ĵџvє_вãвγ]

Wenger makes me laugh, intelligent but looks like a paedophile

 

[Boudz]

Plays attractive football, great coach, a real asset to the Club. He deserves all the credit

 

[ZhiXin]

Master of complaints, no plan B

 

[Intro]

Positive:
- The man who revolutioned Arsenal
- His team still probably the best footballing team in England
- Still continues to develop great players and demonstrate shrewd economics
- Finally shows more flexibility in systems (no longer just one plan i.e. 4-4-2)

Bad:
- Lack of ambition (how have Arsenal become the No.4 team in England?)
- How they lost their way after the 'Invincibles' season
- That last point highlights Wengers biggest weaknesses

 

[Omair]

Positive:
- His team still probably the best footballing team in England
Bad:
- Lack of ambition (how have Arsenal become the No.4 team in England?)

:faq1:


Best footballing team no.4 in england ... hehe

 

[ReBeL]

I liked this article in an Arsenal site:

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Vive le evolution! 10 Years of Arsène


Ten years ago, having already had to deal with the news that lionhearted club captain Tony Adams was an alcoholic and the sacking of manager Bruce Rioch on the eve of the new season, Arsenal fans everywhere were waking up to headlines like "Arsène who?". An air of uncertainty shrouding the Marble Halls as fans wondered just who the hell the mysterious Frenchman who had made an Emperor Palpatine style appearance on the Highbury Jumbotrons was. I think it's fair to surmise that on the night of the Jumbotron introduction, the performance of the Arsenal team and one substitute in particular, against Sheffield Wednesday on the September 16th 1996, may have assuaged some doubts in the minds of the massed Gooner ranks. But it would take a while before the media fully realised just what an effect Arsène Wenger and his future captain- substitute that night Patrick Vieira- would have on the English game.

Arsène came to our club fresh from Japan, a place where mental strength was a necessity (I can vouch for this, my sister having lived there for a year as a 17 year old). Whilst Alex Ferguson may have snidely commented that Wenger knew nothing of the English game, what he may not have known is that Wenger has an encyclopaedic knowledge of football and that just because Wenger had spent time in Japan, that didn't mean Wenger was some green coach with cloth where his grey matter should have been. As the signing of Vieira should have denoted, perhaps Fergie was busy "refuelling" when this happened- who knows? Furthermore, the mental strength of Wenger, enhanced by his Japan sojourn would surely have been tested by the descent of the British media, like rats on the Piccadilly Line, to N5 on Wenger's first day in office. A visit grounded in baseless and malicious rumours, Wenger had them slinking off with their tails between their legs in quick time. How often have we seen this since? Clue: Quite a lot in the last three years- how the media laughed when Arsène suggested we could win the league unbeaten. How the media laughed when Arsène reiterated his faith in last year's side, how stupid they're starting to feel now.

Talk at the time was that Wenger was not neccessarily a "progressive" manager and nor was he a particularly lucky one. Well, I think we know now that only one of those claims could be considered to be true! Arsenal have gone from a team with two previous Champions League/ European Cup appearances in their entire history- to Champions League football now being considered the norm at Highbury. Oops, I mean Ashburton Grove. And that's another thing, Wenger has managed to keep Arsenal in the Champions League- taking us so close to winning it- whilst finance at Arsenal has been directed, in the latter half of Wenger's decade, towards building the palatial residence that Arsenal Football Club now occupy just around the corner from Highbury.

And that's not forgetting the fact that when Arsène arrived, Arsenal didn't even own their own training facility, they just shared one with University College London. Wenger changed that at a stroke when he sold troublesome Nicolas Anelka for £23m, freeing up finance for the training complex at Shenley- designed just so. And Thierry Henry.

And therein lies the genius of Wenger, the financial smarts, the strength of character (stubbornness?) would mean nothing if Arsène was unable to spot a player. £8m must have seemed like great business for Juventus for a player underperforming on the left hand side of a 3-5-2 formation all the way back in 1999. Seven years and 217 goals later, all the money in the world wouldn't part Thierry Henry and Arsenal. As Barcelona found out this summer. Patrick Vieira- signed for £3m- sold, nine years later with his best years behind him having been a major influence in Wenger's 3 title winning sides, for £13.

Just out of interest, and as a catalyst for this article, I had a look at the 16 players that started Arsène's first game in charge away at Blackburn Rovers. The famous five were all in place at the back, joined by another legend Martin Keown (in an English Super Six?). The midfield saw Patrick Vieira anchoring David Platt and Paul Merson, with John Hartson and Ian Wright up front. On the subs bench were John Lukic, Andy Linighan, Matthew Rose, Ray Parlour and Paul Shaw.

This week, Arsenal went into a Champions League game with this team; Lehmann, Eboue, Hoyte, Gilberto, Touré, Gallas, Fabregas, Rosicky, Hleb, van Persie and Henry. On the bench were Almunia, Song, Ljungberg, Baptista, Walcott and Adebayor. That 14 lions of St George plus a Welshman and a Frenchman have been replaced by two young English talents (yes, I believe in Justin Hoyte!) and a veritable league of nations is a cause of consternation in the media. But it is a tribute to Wenger's knowledge and scouting network that the football played by this current generation would be most likely be beyond the class of 96. In Henry and Fabregas, Arsenal have two of the world's most coveted players. As good as Ian Wright was, I don't remember AC Milan ever being interested in him. And then there's players like Rosicky (who apparently had 70 clubs interested in him before he signed for us), Hleb, Touré, Gallas and Lehmann who have all helped lift Arsenal a level or two.

The ultimate tribute comes from Wenger's players I guess. Not only did Arsène manage to extend the careers of the back six when most of them were believed to be on their last legs when he arrived, but in players like Henry, Vieira, Bergkamp and to a lesser extent someone like Robért Píres we see the benefits of having a manager who manages for the players rather than the club. Other clubs have had their foreign stars, indeed a club just down the road from us have recently acquired two of the biggest stars in the world game, but I don't think there's a club out there than boast the length of service from their estrellas extranjeras that Arsenal have had from the four players mentioned, who let's face it could have written their own paychecks at most football clubs in the world.

But we know Arsène isn't one for looking back into the past, the double success of 2002 is just a pleasant memory now, the Untouchables proved to be, as Frank Nitti would have it, "touchable" after all and knowing le boss, as we must all feel we do after 10 years, the only memory he will be focussing on is the memory of how we all felt at 10pm on May 17th, 2006. Arsène wants the Champions League make no mistake about it, and what better way would there to celebrate ten years in charge? Then, there would surely be little argument about the greatest manager in Arsenal's history.

Allez le boss!