Arsene Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson have become the first two managers to be inducted into the Premier League’s Hall of Fame.
It’s fitting that their inductions should coincide as for many fans their rivalry in the late nineties and early noughties defined English Football.
It made Arsenal Vs Man United box office hits, with both squads generally believing they were the best and having disdain for each other.
You could argue the biggest insult was when both coaches became (not quite friends) but respectful towards each other.
In reality there was a period when Sir Alex didn’t view Mr Wenger as a threat anymore.
Many Gooners divide the Frenchman’s legacy into two parts, the first half when he won three titles and took us the closest we ever been in our history to the Champions League trophy, the second – where he claimed top 4 was a trophy.
The man himself would later reflect, ‘Highbury was my Soul, the Emirates my suffering’.
Despite that he views the number of times he qualified for the Champions League while working on a restricted budget and having to sell his best assets as his best achievement. A body of work that left the club in a financially strong position.
My own stance at the time was only when he left North London would we realise how hard it was to finish 4th under his current employers.
Almost to prove that point, we are in our 5th season since the 73-year-old left and only now are we finally about to return to UEFA’s top table.
There are current readers who would mock Mr Wenger for ‘only finishing 4th’ who would later call 5th progress.
Fans who would verbally abuse the greatest boss in our history for ‘only finishing 4th’ who would then defend 8th position, our worst finish in quarter of a century.
Mr Wenger is unique compared to his peers. Of course, he wants to win but it was never ‘win at all costs’ like a Jose Mourinho.
Mr Wenger had a vision, a way he believed the sport should be played, his dream to produce a team who could play beautiful football while being successful.
He used his knowledge of the World’s game to bring in hidden gems and develop into world class talent. Talent who either lifted trophies or were assets who made a huge profit for the club.
Vieira, Ljungberg, Anelka, Fabregas, Toure, Clichy, Vanpersie, Nasri, Adebayor, Giroud, Cazorla just to name a few.
Yet he didn’t stop at just being able to identify a diamond in the rough, he had a vision.
He could identify a player’s strengths and convince them that the strength even existed in the first place.
Thierry Henry was brought as a left winger who had won the World Cup so couldn’t understand why he was being asked to be a striker.
Lauren was talked into making right back his permanent position.
Tony Adams was replaced by Toure, not a traditional centre back.
A teenager was trusted to take Vieira’s place.
Just like a teenager replaced Ian Wright.
Not bad for a coach without much tactical understanding. One of many bogus theories to downplay his efforts. Another being that he was simply lucky to inherit the back 5 he did.
Which of course doesn’t make sense given that the same defence hadn’t come close to lifting the title since they last lifted it.
It was their new mangers training regime, dietary methods and exercise techniques which extended the careers of Dixon, Adams, Keown.
Those who accuse Mr Wenger of not knowing how to build a defence also fail to ignore that none of our first choice back 5 who made up the Invincibles were at the club before him.
Mr Wenger’s greatest strength in many ways was his biggest weakness…. his love for the Gunners.
Many say they love the badge and don’t mean it.
Helped by the uniqueness of the job where he had control in the majority of the aspects of the club, Mr Wenger was proud of the values and principles he had helped set.
Yet when the scale of building the Emirates became apparent others in his position would have left.
To pay off loans and having spent money that was owed to them, the business model was to ensure Champions League revenue, while selling their best talent every summer. Under those criteria, The Gunners could forget about being title contenders.
Of course, they could never admit that to their customers who they needed to buy merchandise and tickets.
Due to loyalty, Mr Wenger became the shield for Billionaire owners who refused to invest a single penny of their own wealth into the club, and yet resisted when others wanted to.
Mr Wenger has since admitted a ‘who’s who’ of teams offered him work and that he regrets not listening.
If he was purely being judged on how many medals, he won he could have just bolted to a PSG or Bayern Munich.
Yet repayment plans were being agreed by banks on the provision that he commit to the club.
Maybe naively Mr Wenger believed that the love and loyalty would work two ways? For that not to happen is a reflection on a section of our fanbase.
Instead of seeing how restricted he was in his role they took top 4 for granted, thinking they had a divine right for CL nights.
He warned in his last year that as fans, there was a portion who were in danger of sacrificing the principles he had helped set for the club.
The irony won’t be lost on him that having been forced out the club for the two seasons he failed to make top 4, Emery and Arteta would be defended for …. failing to make top 4.
If you never watched his movie, go and watch it. It’s a sad story.
A man who sacrificed everything for Arsenal, including his family, and never quite got the same love back.
He never would have thought that some would thank his loyalty by protesting, swearing down a camera, putting up banners, filming him slipping over at train stations, hiring planes to fly over grounds, etc.
Others will sing his name forever.
Mr Wenger won three titles, 7 FA Cups, played beautiful football, brought the greatest players we ever witnessed, and most of all captured our hearts.
Not just he deserves his place in the hall of fame, he should have his own wing.
Dan
Watch our brilliant Arsenal Women beat Bayern Munich to reach the Champions League Semi-Finals (World class strike from Frida Maanum!)
Highlights Arsenal 2-0 Bayern Munich. Gunners in Women’s Champions League semi-finals
CALLING ALL ARSENAL FANS! Anyone who would like to contribute an Article or Video opinion piece on JustArsenal, please contact us through this link…
Wenger is an Arsenal and Premier League legend! One deserving of such an accolade.
Many others have won the league, but none redefined English football in the way Wenger did.
He left around 8 or 9 years too late in my opinion, and by the end it felt like a lame horse needing to be put out to pasture.
Sad how it ended, but nothing can take away from the amazing memories he gave us, which will last a lifetime.
How I miss the days of Fergie and Wenger battling out! True sports entertainment of the highest order.
SAF and AW ae worthy of being inducted into the hall of fame.
I feel Wenger should have left in 2014 (not 2009 -2010) just after ending the trophy drought.
I have said this before. From 1996 – 2004 he was ahead of the game by changing the culture of the club. Britain had an empire built courtesy of the Industrial Revolution. But from 2004 – 2012 everyone else had caught up and we were selling our best players to fund the stadium whilst MU and Chelsea were investing big time.
2013 was when I felt he had lost his mojo by bringing in Ozil instead of Higuain or Sanchez. We needed a striker to win the league that season.
Ozil would have been a correct purchase had he been brought in when Van Persie was playing as he had an equivalent brain in terms of moving into the right space at the right time. Instead we had Ozil feeding Giroud or Walcott (both good players) but not Ozil level players.
Injuries also played a big part under Wenger’s tenure. After 2005 its like he was building a new team so now look at 2007-2015 and you’d realise that injuries always came at the critical time and to the best player(s) anytime Arsenal was competing for the EPL. Wenger would definitely have won the league again if not for injuries at critical moments.
@Kev
I completely agree about injuries, and it always bugs me that people say that is just an excuse when managers lose their best players, at the worst time. Imagine if Haaland was missing 6 months of this season for City. Or if we hadn’t lost both our fullbacks and Partey at the same time last season -4th would have been ours.
Although one must add, that Wenger did hold on to injury prone players for far too long, essentially handicapping himself every season.
@Jen
I always say the same.. Wenger should have left after his last FA trophy win. To this day it hurts me the way our fans turned and started booing him, Wenger Out posters, Planes flying over the stadium with Wenger out banners etc.. You could tell that it was hurting him after all he had done for us..
But at the same time you can understand the frustration that people were experiencing season in season out with him not changing his ways. We were going absolutely nowhere anymore, everything had been stagnant and stale. And he still would not just call it in like Fergie did when he read the atmosphere at Old Trafford..
To me all that could have been avoided if was wenger himself was not too wrapped up into his own bubble.. Should just have read the atmosphere in the room and called it a day.. But waited and waited and waited.. until the whole thing had become so toxic that ended in the fans disrespecting him and higher ups pushing him out due to fans pressure..
Vilified by the fickle’d, this man should have been KNIGHTED for services provided to the EPL and how his methods revolutionised the league into the powerhouse it is today! Sir Arsene Wenger, you will always be a GREAT regardless of being inducted into a “hall of fame”
The integrity he showed whilst representing our beloved club… his LOYALTY, intelligence nd charm was probably up there with the best nd most of all, putting our club back on the pedestal with the best where we belong!
I for one will be forever grateful for the work he’s done at The Arsenal!!!!!
COYG
They couldn’t knight him (being French), but he did get an honorary OBE, also the Freedom of Islington, and probably a season ticket (should he want one).
Greatest Arsenal manager of all time ,no one will ever come close to what he did for this club and for the prem in general .
@Dan
No one can predict the future. But apart from that Wenger is Mr Arsenal. He is the reason we are a globally supported, loved and respected club.
Gooster I presume you are far tooyoung to realise that Arsenal were a globally loved, supported and respected football club , long before any one in Britain had EVER HEARD the name of Arsene Wenger. Plain truth!
He is the first manager to be inducted in the hall of fame, that only should say something to anyone with a little bit capacity of thinking. Just a little bit.
Instead you are here in an article celebrating the legendary man trying to dirty his name not that you can anyway.
You are a thimble of a man the great Arsene is both in achievement and capacity of thinking.
You will write until your fingers stop responding, you will talk until your tongue drags on the floor and saliva dry in your mouth but you are never going to tarnish his legacy nor convince anyone with a little bit capacity of thinking to disregard such a great man.
And to add you don’t have to bring up Chapman every single time Wenger’s achievement are celebrated and acknowledged.
One can acknowledge both for what they brought to the club and football in general. Chapman cannot be said to have made Arsenal the global force. How in 1930s? How many countries were following Arsenal in 1930s? Or is England alone a global according to you?
Wenger too cannot be credited to have made Arsenal a global force in its own. He was in an era where the Premier League had just started to be followed and accessible in every corner of the world. What he did was making Arsenal appealing to hundreds of millions of followers it has today.
Youing HH,its such a shame for you personally that you have not the intellect to understand that manyof us who thought Wenger a truly great manager for many years , could ALSO see the many weaknesses he had, which showed increasingly after 2007/8.
His lack of love for PROPER DEFENDERS, esp CB’s who could defend PROPERLY and his wilful refusal to even properly attempt to replace the inimitable Gilberto with another top class DCM, instead of making do with such pale imitations as Song and Coquelin etc.
Wenger came to believe style was more important than results and that WAS A FATAL WEAKNESS, easily understood by those among us who kept a sense of perspective about AW and who did not hero worship him, as those like you, especially YOURSELF, regularly do in your hymns of praise to a man you rather immaturely regard as a GOD!
HE IS INSTEAD, A TALENTED AND THOROUGHLY DECENT HUMAN WHO, UNFORTUNATELY, HAD A NUMBER OF FOOTBALL FAULTS!
When a team is said to have a good defense it is always because they defend well as a team
HH, sorry to but in on your spat with jon, but Wenger is jointly one of the first 2 managers to be inducted into the Premier League Hall Of Fame, and there was before this an original Hall Of Fame into which other football managers have been inducted, so not quite the first.
@Jon
To be honest. In my opinion, I do think that before Wenger came to Arsenal we did not have the global reach and support that we have had since he joined. Just take some time and look back before 1996 in Europe, Africa, South America, Asia, North America etc. We were not as popular and well supported around the world as compared to the likes of Madrid, Man United, Bayern, Liverpool, Milans, Juventus etc around the world.
But I feel that when wenger joined, we went from a normie big national (British) football club to a massive global giant competing with the European loyalty (Madrid, Bayern, Man United, Liverpool, Barcelona, Ac Milan, Juventus etc) in supporter base. We went from “1-0 to the Arsenal (George Graham) to Arsenal being synonymous with playing beautiful, attractive attacking football that absolutely pulled in 10’s of millions of fans around the world. We blew us up globally. We started making globally recognised and idolised superstars that attracted massive global followings. Wenger introducing a multi cultural squad full of players from all sorts of nationalities introduced us to new global markets and fans. To me Wenger is the man that took us from being a normal massive British club to being a massive global club (force) we are today.
He got us to be compared to Champions League winning clubs like Bayern, Liverpool, Madrid, Man United, Ac Milan, Inter Milan, Juventus etc even if we had never won that massive trophy. But he got us to be classed amongst those European giants.
We were consistently ranked the 4th most valuable club in the world in the first 15 or so years of Wenger. That’s Arsenal constantly being ranked above the likes of Bayern, Liverpool, Juvetus, the Milan clubs etc, only Madrid, Man United and Barcelona always came ahead of us during that time.
I do feel like we were on Rangers / Celtic kind of global reach and support before Wenger took over. And ever since that we blew up and have not looked back..
That’s my opinion of course.
😊👍
Goonster, prior to the TV coverage of football, particularly since the inception of the Premier League, the “global reach” of all clubs was previously based on expatriots living overseas or people following the progress of their players at European Clubs.
In my case in Australia following English football was restricted to scores on radio, Match of the Day on the weekend ABC late at night and reading “Shoot” and “Goal” magazine (weeks out of date by the time they reached our newsagent).
The TV coverage of the EPL is the major factor in “the global reach” of all clubs.
Goonster Oh I agree with you!
Undoubtedly , since the PREM first began,in 1992, and its televised games were shown globally, ALL top clubs then existing have massively increased their global reach and worldwide support, including us. That cannot be sensible denied and I DO NOT TRY TO DO SO.
My post, which said we were a massively supported club globally, long before Wenger came is ALSO true
THOSE TWO TRUE THOUGHTS ARE PERFECTLY COMPATIBLE.
jon, unfortunately too many people on here appear to not know the history of the Arsenal. Similarly they appear to believe that football started with the Premier League and Arsenal FC with Arsene Wenger. For example in the mid 1930’s under Herbert Chapman, Arsenal were arguably the best club side in the world.
They need to use there computer skills to “Google” managers like Herbert Chapman, “the Battle of Highbury”, Bertie Mee and the 1970/71 treble (Fairs Cup, League and FA Cup), George Graham etc.
Congratulations to both Arsene Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson on the well deserved honours bestowed on them by the Premier League.
“their computer skills” – fat fingers/auto correct.
OG Plainly, that is all TRUE!
Ozzie, did you know that there are at least another seventeen football clubs world wide named Arsenal, most of which were formed in the 1930’s/40’s & 50’s. Speaks plenty of how famous a club we were at a time when very little filmed or televised content was available.
Jax, yes I was aware of that and agree with you that mentioning it would strengthen the point I was trying to make. Thank you.
When I chose the Arsenal as the English First Division club I would follow from Australia, I was certainly no “glory hunter” because in 1961/62 Arsenal finished in 10th place and was knocked out of the FA Cup by Manchester United in the 4th round.
So many ups, downs and good times ahead!
@g Goonster
👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
Absolute insulting nonsense. Arsenals greatest manager was immortalised in marble, and his likeness grace highbury until the club left. Without Chapman’s genius there would have been no modern arsenal for wenger to manage. Unlike wenger, Chapman died leaving an unblemished legacy, and with Chapman having introduced changes that were to be influential decades after his death. Wenger’s tinkering with diets and, what is increasingly seen as disastrous emphasis on athleticism over footballing fitness, are not in the same league.
Maybe because they were disappointed about missing the top four finish, more than one decade without a major trophy and the same boring formation for many years
He is our greatest manager, but I think he stayed too long
Haterz are always going to find something to “Mitch” about.
Regardless of if he stayed too long, or whatever it is some will cherry pick to dump on him for, he gave his all for the club and did what he thought was best for it. Big Ups to him. I’ll always be an admirer…👏🏾
I believe that the true Arsenal supporters showed their feelings for Arsene, when he was captured on camera during his first visit back to The Emirates since his departure.
The capacity crowd IMMEDIATELY started to sing “One Arsene Wenger, there’s only one Arsene Wenger” and the great man smiled and shyly waved back.
True to form, those same supporters then sang out Mikel Arteta’s song and, at that moment (for me anyway) the baton had been truly passed on and Arsene became part of our history.
It is ironical that Arsene put forward Mikel’s name to be considered as his successor, only for Kronkie and Gazidis to ignore him and the rest is history.
Of course he made many mistakes and should have left after our fa cup win against chelsea, but the way he changed the game, not only at The Arsenal, but throughout the PL, will be his legacy.
We now have another dynamic manager, who after a dismal first couple of seasons, is showing just why Arsene recommended him and I urge people to read what the boss says about his predecessor – perhaps then, the few fans who still villify Arsene, will understand just what he brought to our club.
Well done Arsene and Sir Alex, you both deserve the recognition bestowed upon you.
@Ken.
But can you see that the vast majority of our fans don’t hate our greatest manger Wenger im history? He is loved and revered by more than 90% of our fanbase in my opinion. Just a tiny negligible percentage that profess to hating him have no rationality in my opinion. You will always have that type in any walk of life.
I never condone booing or disrespectful behaviour towards any individual that was not disrespectful to the club. Wenger did not deserve the disrespect.
So can you now see that it’s the same crowd that had started the protests, stopped attending games in protest, Wenger Out posters, started booing Wenger in his last season? I think it was all out of the frustration and irritation at the direction the club was heading into. Wenger happened to be the face of that downward spiral at the time. So people took their frustrations out on him. Which was very sad and unfortunate. But it’s also the same crowd you are referencing that was singing Wenger’s name when he returned to the club for the first time. Not a single fan booed him or was protesting his first appearance back at the club. The whole Emirates crowd sang his name.
What does that tell me? It’s tells me that the fans were just frustrated and irritated by the direction wenger was going taking us at the end. I always wished he would just step aside out of his own accord well before it got toxic for him. I saw it coming, we were praying and hoping that he would just step aside on his own instead of waiting / overstaying until he was sacked or until the majority of our fanbase turne on him. You could sense that the longer he held on instead of stepping aside our fans would turn against him our of irritation and frustration. We did not want to see him tarnishing his lovely relationship with our fanbase.
Should have step aside a few years before, moved. upstairs or taken on some sort of ambassadorial role for the club but not as manager anymore as he had run of our ideas.
Now that he stood aside our fans clearly showed that they don’t hate him. They just wanted a complete change away from him due to where the club was heading back then.
Goonster, I have said before that, in my opinion, Arsene should have resigned after our cup win against chelsea, but I didn’t want him to have an accident, didn’t boo him while he was still manager, didn’t confront him in public, didn’t try to organise failed black bin liner protests – instead I supported him and his players and was rewarded with attacking football, CL involvement and FA cup wins.
What was not considered by those who chose to do the opposite, were the same restraints that both UE and MA were later to also be judged by, rather than acknowledging the pressure he was under and supporting him.
For nearly five years, the “complete change” that fans wanted has been shown for what it was, a complete denial of what Arsene had achieved under such negative conditions.
The award that Arsene has received, being inducted into the PL Hall of Fame, is just reward for those of us who stayed loyal, while those who didn’t (like AFTV fanatics) should hang their heads in shame.
Arsene is now a part of our history, both the good and bad parts of his time and this recognition, along with the promised statue, will be enough for me at least.
Time is a great healer and, apart from one poster, the fanbase has come together on this article.
Now let’s give Mikel the support HE deserves and who knows what celebrations he will bring to our fanbase.
@Ken
It feels like you are just being purposely obtuse like always on the wenger issue.
You clearly keep saying it yourself that the Emirates crowd that booed wenger in his latter years were the same crowd singing his name when he returned. Not a single person in tha crowd was booing, was there?
So this notion that fans hate and don’t appreciate wenger and his accomplishments for himself and for our club is moot from the way his name was sang when he came back. Again it’s obvious that the vast majority of us even you @Ken included thought that he should have stepped aside well before he did. As always you have the same booing crowd that will do it to anyone when they feel frustrated. They booed Eboue to tears. Constantly booed Xhaka. Booed Wenger. Booed Emery. Constantly booed Gazidis. Booed the Kroenke’s up until this season. Booed Mustafi on a consistent basis etc.
I am not for booing any individual that was not actively provocative to the fans or our club.
But the so called failed protests did not fails if we are to be honest. You constantly saw empty seats in nearly very match. The atmosphere was toxic. We were already labelled “The Library” and it even got worse. And at the end the fans that you claimed failed seem to have got what they wanted. They showed their frustrations and irritation about the whole situation back then, pressured and forced the club to have a word with Wenger about him stepping aside as manager. And that was exactly what happened in the end.
But after all that toxic situation the same fans seem to have separated love and respect for wenger from the job he was doing. We all love and revere Wenger. But that does not mean we become shallow biased thinkers that only want to hear good things about those or that that is very close and dear to us..
We can separate our biased emotions from any given situation. Objectivity is what it is all about. But to me some of you just seem to let your personal emotions cloud any situation that we are meant to be objective. Can criticise your loved ones constructively and objectively. I think that’s where me and some of you differ. Because I am okay with my loved ones criticising me constructively / objectively. That’s how life is supposed to be. Being cuddled and consistently being told whatever you want to hear all the time can only lead to problems for you in the future when you have to face this world that does not care about your personal entitlement or feelings.
I can love and revere Wenger, Arsenal FC etc but that does not mean turning into a braindead zombie that just want to hear only positives about those two. I can adore wenger as a man and as a football legend but also be objective enough to point out his massive flaws, be objective enough to criticise him when warranted. Can be okay for him to step aside from being the manager so we could move forward as a club but also still respect his achievements objectively.
The majority of us wanted that in the end, wanted wenger to get out of his own bubble and read the atmosphere at that time. Things were getting toxic and worse, so he should have had that self awareness in the first place. Some fans went over the top with their methods, as always we have a very sensationalistic fanbase like every other club.
But even today if you put up a POLL or a SURVEY asking all those same fans that protested against wenger back then, ask them “Do you think Wenger is our greatest manager? Do you think Wenger deserves a Status outside our stadium? Do you think Wenger deserves to be one of the first 2 managers to be inducted in the EPL HALL OF FAME? I would bet my life saving that the vast majority l am talking 80% plus would answer with a resounding “YES”.
But if you asked them today “Would you want Wenger back as manager?”. I bet you the vast majority would still vote with a resounding “NO”.
What does that say? It says to me that they appreciated and appreciate what he did for our club but thought he had overstayed.
There is going to come a time where ARTETA might go through the same thing. He might do so well that he chooses to challenge himself at one of the other Top big clubs.
But if he stays and things don’t keep on the up in the coming seasons then the fanbase will start showing it’s dissatisfaction towards him. If he becomes a “Lets just make Top 4” manager then trust me I will be first one calling for him to walk away. I will be here asking for him to step aside. Everyone needs to know when they have run their course.. Don’t drag on. Have that self awareness..
Goonster, Sincere congratulations and my admiration for perhaps the best ever single and PROFOUNDLY TRUE post I have read on JA concerning Arsene Wenger.
I truly believe you speak for almost the entire Arsenal worldwide fanbase , excluding only the few brainwashed hero worshippers of AW who cannot BEAR even the slightest criticism.
The club is ALWAYS far more important than ANY individual, no matter whom!
I love and admire him to this very day, but would be gutted if he came back as our manager. I would have said the same even in the dying days of Emerys time here too.
Goonster
You obviously make some good points. The more considered view of Wenger’s tenure is more nuanced than the binary nonsense of the article and the perspective put forward by certain fans.
Most fans laud him for what he did in his early years with Arsenal. For that he deserves being inducted into the Hall of Fame.
However, he lacked insight into his own limitations and the evolution of the game. Whilst it was sad that he was eventually hounded out it was increasingly clear that he had to go.
Who on earth has suggested that Arsene should return as manager?
Don’t believe what others say a out another, read what the person themselves are saying.
There are ways to show one’s disapproval, but wishing your manager I’ll health, booing players and the manager during a game, confronting the manager in a public area and attacking fellow supporters who have a different opinion, in my view, opens the club to ridicule and that’s exactly what happened, AFTV being a classic example.
You seem to believe that it was a majority of fans who wanted Arsene out, but the dismal black bin protests showed that was not the case.
As I said, Arsene deserves this recognition and I am more than happy that he has been recognised.
The Great Arsene Wenger.
The finest and the most intelligent manager in the history of football.
Wenger and Fergie are synonymous with the EPL.. You can’t talk about the Premier League with those 2 men popping up in ones head.
Stayed loyal to their clubs for more than 20 years. Nowadays a managers life span is between 1 to 3 years on average.. 3 years nowadays is such a long time.
Fergie and Wenger are absolute EPL legends..
Respect to the 2 men..
👍👌
He made a big mistake staying at Arsenal after 2008. He is one of the best managers ever when it comes to getting the best out of players and that is why I always say majority of the players who left Arsenal whether average or world class never reached the heights they did under him. Add to that, Wengerball ball had this flexibilty and randomness which meant that Arsenal played beautiful football even when the system didn’t look so organised. He is now old but assuming he was younger, in a star studded team his football would’ve worked really well and dangerously.
We have a lot to be thankful for that AW came to Arsenal and revolutionised English football not just with us, but for the benefit of the league itself.
The football was just wonderful to watch.
Like several of those who have commented, circumstances changed and other clubs caught up and then overtook us and he didn’t look as though he had the answers in the end. However, Bergkamp and the French Collection were magnificent and totally unforgettable
Personally speaking, I’d have rather AW hadn’t sacrificed his family for the club.
Wenger was our fantastic manager, and it was sad for me to see things end on such a sour note. He was magnificent with Dein, and that pair took us to such heights in the PL.
After Dein left and with all the responsibilities put on Wenger, the shine inevitably began to wear off.
In hindsight, winning that FA cup would have been the perfect time to bow out for him and the club.
I choose to focus on the good he did for the club, the direction he steered us, and the character to lead us into the future.
In many respects DANS IS A FINE PIECE. But as so often, DAN ‘S piece is let down by thefact he chooses not to, or simply cannot bring himself to write, BALANCE!.
My friends, I found it easy to concur with all the achievements AW did and he is CERTAINLY a true legend, outdone in our managerial history only by Herbert Chapman , who in nine short years,( ended only by his untimely and early demise) built an unremarkable club and team into the worlds very best
But Dan chose not to mention the many minuses that held AW back from truly rivalling Fergie as the worlds best manager of his time.
AW never GOT the vital need for a top defence, though he did have two in hs 22 years here. The one inherited from George Graham AND the Invincibles one , built entirely by himself.
But apart from those he brought a longline of dismally and woefully inept defenders into our club , beginning with Senderos and going through such dreadful non defenders as Cygan, Schillachi, Silvestre, Djourou, Almunia, Santos, Lughny(forgot how to spell his name), Mustafi, Sokratis and many other plain rotten and near useless defenders over many ,many years
It is a truism throughout top football that all top teams are built from the back. AW, finally having lost the superb Gilberto , NEVER SERIOUSLY EVEN TRIED to replace him with another quality DCM and how we suffered as a direct result.
How AW allowed that AWFUL joke of a keeper Almunia to stay THREE LONG DREADFUL YEARS was an utter disgrace.
Chapmans many innovations are the stuff of club legend and folklore and need not be listed by me. Anyone who does not know them is lacking in Arsenal knowledge, though it is easily found out IF you want to know.
I could write far more but it would only be a repeat of what many of us who loved Wenger, but who could also see his obvious distaste for a solid defence THROUGHOUT HIS WHOLE TIME, was costing us dearly, have already stated countless times.
What I HAVE said is “balance”, but I have given up ever expecting the always biased DAN SMITH TO ALSO TRY IT SOMETIME!!
Jon, perhaps you should take a leaf out of your own book and BALANCE why Arsene signed the players you mention – I’ll jog your memory for you :
1. The building of The Emirates.
2. The sacking of David Dein.
3. The introduction of the Kronkie’s.
4. The need to sell our better players year after year after year.
5. The introduction of Russian roubles to chelsea and oil backed city seeing ANY top player being seduced by money, while our club insisted we had to be a self sufficient club.
6. Even with the players you mention, we remained a top four club until his last two seasons.
7. Forgetting to mention players such as Cazorla, Rosicky, Giroud, Hleb, RVP, Song, Fabregas, Adebayour, Aubameyang, Ozil, Koscielny, Lehmann, Mertesacker, Sanchez, Szczesny and Nasri show how YOU are not giving a BALANCED view.
8. All the above in my list, we’re signed DESPITE the power of city and chelsea in the PL and, along with the list you paraded, kept us in the top four for two decades.
9. While accepting that Mr Chapman was a brilliant and revolutionary manager, he never had the likes of clubs with the spending power of city and chelsea to contend with.
10. Finally Jon, Ferguson had the complete backing of his club, never had financial problems when dealing with the transfer market, has his own bad transfer dealings and, if one is REALLY truthful, knows that a club that goes through decades without having a penalty awarded against them at their own ground, at the very least, were getting referees decisions.
So to start telling Dan he is not a BALANCED fan, then providing a reply that is so UNBALANCED, it’s falling off the page, is hypocrisy at it’s best.
No KEN! Once again you traducde what I ssai tosuit your personal agenda. I specifically wrote that I concur with all that dan a said about AW ‘s achievenmenrtt and DAN mentione d,many of our ;legendry players. Apart from Ozil, I concur withthen ALL. That is therefore MENTIONING them!! SPECSAVERS PERHAPS, OLD SON!
I do NOT accept ALL in YOUR list asGREAT players , not by a long chalk however.
I will ignore your own well documented anti United bias, which most of us, myself included, share, though at least I recognise it as BIAS! What vis thr REAL TRUTH is that you have never beeb able to stomach even the slightest criticism of your hero AW and resent truth being told about him.
What I said, including that I concurred with DANS POSiTIVE ACHIEVEMENTS BY AW, was true balance , which is WHY YOU NOW FALSELY ACCUSE ME OF LACK OF BALANCE.
It is YOU who cannot abide TRUE balance, Ken!
No Jon, your list of players that you defined as not good enough kept us as a top four club, despite the ten facts I listed above.
Why did YOU not list the excellent players he signed?
Your post was a brief acknowledgment of Dan’s points, followed by your usual negativity and then bringing in a manager, who can never be judged in the same way as Arsene has been over the years.
You ask for true balance and then COMPLETELY IGNORE everything that was happening in the PL from the chelsea takeover in 2005 by Abramovitch – how dishonest and unbalanced is that?!?!
As I said in my original post, Arsene made many mistakes, but you choose to ignore that in order to make your ludicrous statement that I “cannot stomach even the slightest criticism of him” and you ask others for a balanced article???
It is rewarding that up to now, yours is the only post that tries to make negative points from a manager who is acknowledged throughout the footballing world as a genius and has been recognised for being just that that.
As Mikel Arteta said, when asked to sum up Arsene in one word, his reply was “CLASS” and so say most sensible Arsenal supporters throughout the world.
Ken Though you are too pig headed to see it, let alone admit it, I have and have always had enormous respect and admiration for AW and always will.
I am however NOT IN PERSONAL LOVE wih him, as you seem to be. Any unbiased fan can both praise and criticise as appropriate and I do so.
I am sorry for you personally being unable to accept that I AGREE WITH ALL Dan said about his achievements and therefore did not consider it necessary to simply repeat Dans long and true list.
As I am NOT in personal love wIth him but with my own missus instead, I cannot understand your intense emotional attachment to AW , albeit a non homosexual love , I feel sure.
He is and will always remain a true and special ARSENAL LEGEND.
BUT HIS TIME AS MANAGER HAD COME TO AN END, LONG BEFORE IT WAS POINTED OUT TO HIM, BY THOSE ABOVE HIM, THAT WE FANS HAD, BY AND LARGE, MORE THAN ENOUGH.
REALITY KEN, even though you plainly do NOT DO REALITY!
Jon, what a childish, immature post from someone who says he is educated.
So now I’m in “love” with Arsene Wenger? Honestly, you sound like a silly old boy, who tries to browbeat anyone who sees things differently to you.
From what you’ve written about Mikel Arteta, you must be having a full blown affair with him, if that’s how you base being in “love” with someone.
It’s worth pointing out that great as Wenger was in re-establishing Arsenal as a team of world fame, Herbert Chapman as mentioned by jon was at least his equal in creating a side admired across the globe and introducing innovations put into practice in English & world football.
I don’t suppose there are many still around to testify on Chapman’s behalf, but the claim that Wenger was “the greatest boss in our history” is not nessessarily completely accurate.
Jax, Thanks for standing up for those achievements competed before any of us were born. I grew up being told all about HC by my Father and Grandad, both of whom regularly attended in the 1930’s and my Grandad used to go to watch us when at Woolwich(or Plumstead to be quite accurate).
The problem we all have with greatest ever lists is that only the most recent, or at least not along time ago, are generally quoted.
EG: I have not once ever seen Alex James or Cliff Bastin, nor Hapgood, Drake and many more far older times players even being mentioned in our best ever lists. NO REALIST can honestly give a BEST EVER list unless he or she has lived throughout our history. And not a single humam being ever has. REALITY!
Jax, correct me if I’m wrong, but this article was about Arsene Wenger being inducted into the PL Hall of Fame was it not?
Why mention any other Arsenal manager, unless it’s to muddy the waters?
It is impossible to compare a manager from the 1930’s to a manager of today, so why try?
By doing so, one is taking away the achievements of both men and, perhaps you should ask yourself why would one want to do that?
Ken, I was pointing out that Dan’s claim that Wenger was “the greatest boss in our history” might not be correct. I have no issues with him being inducted into the Premier League Hall of Fame in the same way as Chapman was in the Football Hall of Fame before him, and hope one day to see him have a statue at the Emirates alongside Chapman’s
Chapman was our greatest manager. Modern arsenal would not exist without him. Its arguable that wenger is more important graham. The former inherited a side used to success with unarguably the finest defence in english football. The latter inherited a dispirited club, a poor disjointed side, and supporters at a lower ebb even than the mid 70’s. Wenger took a winning side into terminal decline due to his obsession with ‘winning only with youth’ and escapes crticism for his rather large mistakes. By contrast graham is still practically a hate figure among many arsenal fans, yet without his hard work, where would be now?
The facts definitely support your opinions. Wish there was some film so that we could see those famous old names.
Is it significant that there is no Wenger statue yet (to go with the Chapman one)?
There probably is, in the BBC archive on pathe news. It’s impossible from this distance, to understand just how massive arsenal were in the 30’s. I found some old 30’s newspapers while working on a job in Kensington, and the sports section was dominated by us in everuvsports section – even though the dislike of arsenal was evident. Interestingly, the newspapers in question (Express and daily mail) also had an unhealthy liking, reflected in the headlines, for a certain Austrian chap who dominated the news for a very different reason! Sadly, I only managed to eventually scan the front pages (I needed them for a course I was running) and forgot to scan the back pages until it was too late!
That legendary Frenchman, Arsne Wenger is the greatest manager ever grace the league not just because of what he has done at Arsenal but for football in general across England.
He may have lost his appetite mid way through his tenor, but his legacy lives on.
Unfortunately the record of one Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United is hard to better.
Ozziegunner, one can also add Bob Paisley to the list.
Please dont mention bob paisley! Or liverpool. Liverpool under paisley were duller than a Saturday night in Dorking, and the amount of questionable decisions (polite version) that were season changing, and trophy winning, were so enormous if you built a pile they’d end up a mountain! What’s funny is that one Alex ferguson complained bitterly about liverpools questionable decisions – and then became the bully of refs to gain as much time as utd needed to score, ie fergie time, and the beneficiary of many iffy decisions.
True, but up until Fergie, Paisley was the most successful manager in England.
He was indeed. Like Ferguson though, it’s a tainted legacy. Nw reds fans wonder why other fans dislike them so much, and sadly, as both managers sides were unarguably the best in their day, its down to those endless, weary sigh inducing, decisions. It says it all though, that english footballs two most successful managers came from the same background, and had the same outlook on life.
HD, the issue is that unfortunately the great Liverpool Managers Shankley and Paisley (as with Herbert Chapman, who died “in office”) retired before the English Premier League began in May 1992.
The award is apparently restricted to performances in that competition. The old First Division is considered “pre-history”.
It is indeed. The epl and its media mates do their best to portray pre 92 football as played by club wielding primatives, clad in loin cloths, smoking 40 a day, necking 12 pints a night, and having diets that consisted of 90% meat pies. Stadiums were ‘all’ run down crap holes, managers tactics consisted of ‘hit and hope’ and the passing game emerged around the time utd won their first double. Fans were all knuckle dragging hoolies, who spent every game making racist and far right chants. 1990 was the ‘watershed’ season and football only really begins, like a butterfly emerging from its football league cocoon in 1992. And if any fan believes a single word of that- then theres no hope for them.
👍 Marge, beautifully written! Couldnt agree more.
Yes Ozziegunner, the way Sky Sport go on about it you’d think that football only started in 1992. They harp on that the greatest end to a season was when title challenging Man City played relegation threatened QPR. Anyone with an IQ bigger than their shoe size knows darn well that it was May 26 1989.
HD, “Fever Pitch” a great book to read, or the film to watch recommended to all on JA who aren’t aware of them.
Yes Ozziegunner, Fever Pitch was a good read, which didn’t just concentrate on the ’89 season.
I like reading autobiographies, and one of the best that I’ve read is True Storey, by Peter Storey. He doesn’t hold back on anything, even on getting into trouble with the law.
Not by we older fans NOT, OG. So many mere kids have no idea at all of our gloriolus and almost century long history since winning out first trophy in 1930. Those kids now ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about our truly great players going right back to my Grandads time.
I myelf am71, which gives you a good idea of when HE followed us!
I knew about our founding members in1886,and the great thirties era too, well before I was even seven years old.
Wenger=Legend.
Only one Arsene Wenger….Greatest Arsenal manager of all time
Dan Smith, Henry was a striker, who in his youth in Paris, was playing in teams 2 years above his age, and was scoring goals for fun. It was only after Wenger was sacked at Monaco that Henry was played outwide. Once he signed for us, Wenger gradually integrated Henry back into his natural position.
Wegner deserves to be up the with Herbert Chapman as the most influential figures in our club’s history. That is simply fact, but why go on and on in making the man s martyr. His final two years were failures, short of ideas with no way out of the slump. Only the most fie hard Wegnerites could not see that. He should have bowed out gracefully himself the previous season. What was the point of his staying on? It just set the rebuild back further. I have no regrets that the club came to its senses.
Joe.S, agreed, Wenger & Chapman could be spoken of in the same breath for their influence on world football (while generations apart), but I do think Wenger is a worthy inductee, even when taking the later period of his tenure into consideration.
Yes, Jax of course he is more than worthy of his legendary status.. The only qualms I have is the assumption from the writer that those of us who wanted Wegner out should now feel repentant and now before the great man’s statue three times while chanting, ” we are not worthy”.
Joe.s. yeah, know how you feel. Sometimes I feel that the writer is Ankle Tapping Dan Smith in disguise, returned to torture us.
Great well written article Dan. Job well done.
Fantastic article Dan. I for one consider Wenger almost divine for what he did for my beloved club. He built a tradition, a way of playing football which identified Arsenal throughout the world, he brought millions of fans round the globe to love Arsenal, he sacrificed everything personally, he built teams with the minimum of investment, there wasnt much help from the owners, when the new stadium was built he sacrificed going elsewhere to be loyal to the club although we were in financial trouble, the list is endless. Personally speaking, I became a beloved Arsenal fan for their unique style of football, simple and pure in the mid 90’s and I owe all this to Wenger. Congrats to Wenger for having been selected in the Hall of Fame, you deserve it and have indeed made Arsenal proud.
Wenger has cwertainly been the greatest manager in the 50+ years, I have followed Arsenal, and he truly deserves the honour.
As such the article is a nice tribute.
Unfortunately Dan Smith can’t help himself in taking the usual digs at other fans, and they are based on wrong or false points.
1)
Wenger was a manager more or less above the rest with his methods in the first half of his tenure. The reason we couldn’t compete for more than Top 4 in the second half of his tenure, is only partly because of lack of investment in the team. The facts show clubs like Liverpool and even Spurs spent less than us, but still managed to overtake us in the league, because they had a better plan and better mangement at the time. Wenger was no longer above the rest. So, while it was of course an achievement to make Top 4 so many years in a row, it was also a sign, that we needed something else, if we were to compete for the title again. Many fans recognized this early on (not me), and they should not be criticized for that recognition.
2)
No matter, how many times DS repeat it, it is still a lie, that some of us fans have celebrated the league positions achieved by Arteta in his first 2 seasons. What we have done is recognizing the rebuilding Arteta was doing. A rebuilkd which is the very foundation for waht we are seeing now.
How sad, DS can’t see or admit it.
I thought top4 was like a trophy but never held it against Wenger that another league win was eluding him, rather that the big money owners were spreading the chances of success to more clubs than the ManU/Arsenal two horse race. He ended up being addicted to Arsenal which I believe was unhealthy at a personal and professional level.
What did become clear to me was that finishing 5th was the precursor to more difficult times ahead and so it proved. Dan and a couple of others are almost in denial that AW was losing out to this new generation of managers and club owners by then expecting Arteta – or any other manager appointed after AW and UE to click their fingers and reclaim a top4 position immediately.
Arsene Wenger gave us all so much that he was always going to be a hard act to follow but I’m not sure it’s helpful going forward to keep harping back to another time. The spectre of Fergie has hung over Old Trafford for even longer so to use Allanball08’s analogy Onwards and upwards is the way to go for me
Exactly.
When we first dropped out of Top 4 with AW, I am sure he, the owners and many fans believed, he could quickly “restore” things with us back in top 4. When we then finished 6’th, there was no longer confidence in him to do it.
Emery was then appointed to get us back into Top 4 quickly, and he nearly manged it in his first season, and he was close enough to be given another go. When it was apparent, he wasn’t going to do it in his sceond try neither, he was let go, because he didn’t live up to expectations.
Only then, did the oewners and many others truly realise, we were in a situation where Top 4 could not be expected, and a more comprehensive plan was needed. A plan which included patience.
Apparently some have never quite understood this.
Sorry about the misspellings..
The issue is partly that some such as this author and other fans on this forum are not willing to accept that Wenger left a bloated squad that was simply not good enough to consistently challenge for major honours.
That it is a manager that they have consistently sought to undermine that has rebuilt the squad and reshaped the ethos at the club is also difficult for them to take.
They are still, to an extent, in denial.
🤢@David
Your simping for Arteta is weird .
Anders Such truth and what top class context too!
Oh god, here we go again. The gap between the supporter (someone who actually shells out to trudge through rain, freezing cold, good times and bad) and the ‘fan’, those who watch games on telly, wear the shirt, clutch the badge after a goal, and when arsenal are poor are nowhere to be seen. The former largely supported Wenger even when it was obvious he’d lost the plot, the latter spout drivel about him being ‘the greatest manager of all time’ and slip the blinkers on when it comes to the sides decline literally from mid 2004 onwards.
In 2005 a Monaco supporter said to me, ‘you need to get rid of wenger right now’. Too which I replied (more politely) are you mental?? He said, ‘you will not win the league or challenge for european honours again. You might win more cups, but that will be it’. Why I asked? ‘Because, at every club Wenger has managed, the same thing happens. He inherits good players, gets the team to play good football, wins honours – then becomes obsessed with the idea of winning teams only with youth’. He must have been fucking clairvoyant.
Blaming the board for Wenger’s fantasy is both cowardly and deceitful. Yes, the club was strapped for cash, but wenger didn’t want to spend it. It’s also noticable how the clubs fortunes sharply declined when pat rice, the link between Georges defensive genius, and Wenger’s more reckless approach was broken. Bould was ignored, wenger did what he wanted, he therefore should man up and do something he never has – accept the blame for the mess we ended up in.
In Wenger’s later years arsenal have ended up with several unwanted records; our worst defeat since the 19th c, 2-8 to utd. Until spurs topped us, the worst defeat by any English club, on aggregate in the European cup against Bayern. Our worst defeat to a london side (0-6 to Chelsea) since ww2. Our worst defeat in a domestic cup final (0-3 to city). Regular thumpings at the hands of liverpool, city and losing to utd. Yes, we qualified for the cl year in year out, but it was a cause for dread as come the knockout stage, out we went early on, to increasingly weaker sides.
Wenger was the first epl manager guilty of playing weak sides in the fa cup, and youth sides in the flc. Not that there was any point, as only a handful of those players made it – and we still didnt win the league. By the end the team he handed over was so poor even a manager of emerys quality could do nothing with it. Yet hes being lauded to the skies. Lets compare a few things shall we? When graham arrived we had a very poor team. Low in confidence, overly reliant on ageing mercs and youth players. 1985-86 summed up our 1980’s lot, going nowhere, trophies a million miles away. Yet after one season George had a trophy on the sideboard, within two had won our first title in nearly twenty years in seemingly impossible circumstances. By the end though, george was taking massive stick despite winning two titles and four cups. Something no-one would have believed possible during the misery of the mid 80’s. Wenger by contrast inherited a side used to success, and a strong youth policy, one largely ignored by wenger who preferred young, and too often not very good, overseas players. Yes he brought in some early greats, but that fizzled out and the rubbish buys eventually easily outweighed the stars.
Now, having said all that wenger was a breath of fresh air when he arrived. His early teams played great football, and some our greatest ever players turned out for him. But effectively that was all over by 2007. The defence became progressively weaker, making mistakes that probably had george kicking the telly out of the window. Increasingly half arsed European challenges became the norm, losing any final bar the fa cup a fact of life. The league cup final defeat against Birmingham was an all time low, topped only by Swindon in 69′ for sheer humiliation. Yet even with a that, had wenger stepped down after beating Chelsea for the second time he’d still have gone out on a high. He didn’t. Conceit overcame common sense, and even supporters like me, who, despite all the above was British enough to ‘stick with the old chap’ had seen enough by the end of the following season. Blaming the board, Emery and even arteta for the mess wenger left is both blinkered and unrealistic. Remember and honour the good times, but be honest about a rather large amount of bad, and stop putting him on a pedestal.
Marge, great post 👏👏. Regulars on here know my views on Wenger, that’s why this is only my second post on the article. My defending him ended that night we got hammered 5-1 at the swamp in the 2nd leg of the League Cup semi final in ’08. Then the following season in the FA Cup semi final he leaves our inform player ,Arsharvin, on the bench. Asked why, he comes out with a really lame excuse, that Hiddink, the Chelsea caretaker manager, is Arsharvin’s international manager and knows how he plays. Now that would have made sense if Wenger played him in his natural position, as a number 10, but he played him wide on the left.
When it’s brought up that he never won a league title without a George Graham player, the AKBs mention the Invincibles. Well if they had watched the official dvd that the club released at the end of the season they would know that it was Keown’s idea to play Kolo at CB. Keown was also doing his coaching at the club at that time.
People say he was disrespected by the supporters towards the end of his tenure , but he reaped what he sowed by the way he had disrespected the match going supporters. In all of my years, I’ve never known a manager to blame the supporters for a team not winning the league like Wenger did in 2016.
So, now you are Arsene’s hater?
As I’ve said on previously, hate is to strong a word. You see I have a strong dislike for liars and people who blame others for their failure. Both of those can be attributed to Wenger.
Frankly speaking, I don’t know who is Herbert Chapman. So, I google and compile his information.
Herbert Chapman (19 January 1878 – 6 January 1934) was an English football player and manager.
I don’t understand why some people here praise him while they never see him. If you are born in 1934, you are now 89 years old. So your opinion that he is the best manager are based on your parents’ words as I don’t believe any readers here are 100 years old. I don’t understand how can you named someone who you have never seen in real life as the greatest Arsenal manager???
He managed
1921–1925 Huddersfield Town
1925–1934 Arsenal (8 plus years before his sudden death)
He won 4 Football League First Division (1892–1992) titles. 2 are with Huddersfield Town and 2 (1930-31 & 1932-1933) are with Arsenal. So, he still lose out to AW for the number of titles. He won 1 FA cup with Arsenal in 1929-1930 while AW won 3 FA Cups in his first 8 years (total 7 FA Cups). Take note that 1930-1931 is Arsenal 1st title while Sunderland, Aston Villa, Sheffield United, Liverpool, The Wednesday, Newcastle United, Manchester United, Blackburn Rovers, Everton, Huddersfield Town have won more than 2 titles each.
Herbert Chapman, George Allison, Thom Whittaker and George Graham won 2 titles each while AW won the most, 3 titles for Arsenal.
Why AW is the best Arsenal manager in my opinion?
1. He change Arsenal soccer to beautiful soccer and bring competition to Alex Ferguson won consecutive titles before AW’s arrival. If we still stay in Highbury, AW may have more titles than 3 and provide competition to Alex Ferguson. I believe this is the period Arsenal grew global fans due to TV coverage.
2. His talent to discover young talents and groom them to top players.
3. His ability to work on restricted budget (have to sell his best players) to be in top 4 consecutively for 20 years.
4. Arsenal has been profitable when he is the manager. For example, the results for the six-month period ending in November 2014 boasted of a pre-tax profit of £11.1million despite the club dropping £94million on new players in the summer. In addition to this, the club are sitting on a massive cash reserve of £138.8million, as they reap the rewards of the new Puma deal.
5. His superior human relationship management.
6. He gains respect from other top managers especially Alex Ferguson.
7. He bring Arsenal to European’s stage. Please google yourself if you doubt this. Check how much Arsenal’s involvement in European soccer.
However, if time can go back, I hope he leave Arsenal after 10 years and go to either Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Barcelona instead of staying in Arsenal to fully utilise his potential instead of receive hate from low class Arsenal fans. He has suitors who welcome him.
I also hope MA can break AW’s records because records are to be broken and bring GLORY TO ARSENAL if MA is the true gem!
Arsenal club comes before owner, managers or players.
Are you 13 or don’t you really know Arsenal’s history? There are people in thier 50’s/60’s/70’s & 80’s who know very well what Herbert Chapman’s impact on Arsenal and world football was, and ask yourself why he has a statue at the Emirates.
Young Kenny! How disapppointing to hear that kids such as you today know practically nothing about Arsenals greatest ever manager.
You need to educate yourself son and badly too. IF you wish to be regarded as a PROPER and knowledgeable Gooner.
The sooner the better, son!
BTW, I was six and not going yet to going to ARSENALM when I first learned all about the great Herbert Chapman. I am now 71.
I think we may be judging Kenny a bit harshly, as reading his article back it seems as though he’s not even British, so probably would not know Arsenal’s history as we do, and how many GB under twenty year olds know of Chapman anyway, although a few more on this blog now do, despite their resistance.
Jax, I know many overseas Arsenal fans, young and old, who know the history of The Arsenal. Some have read books and some have used the simplest way, the internet.
Kenny, I noticed you left out some of the innovative things that the great Herbert Chapman introduced to not only English football but to football worldwide, like the WM formation, physios and massuers. He also was instrumental in numbers on the players shirts, white sleeves on our all red shirts teams walking out together in FA Cup Finals, floodlights, and the changing of the name of the tube station at Highbury from Gillespie Road to Arsenal.
Yes Wenger changed things at The Arsenal, but those things were already in place on the continent. You mention the 22 years we played in Europe under Wenger, but fail to mention that in all of those years we only got to 2 Finals, which were both lost. I don’t have to check on our history in Europe. I remember us winning the Fairs Cup in ’70, was there in Brussels when we lost against Valencia in the CWC in ’80, was there in Copenhagen when, against the odds, we beat Parma in the CWC in ’94, Paris the following year when we failed to retain it, and again in Paris in ’06 when we lost against Barcelona.
He wouldn’t go to any of the club’s you mentioned, for the simple reason that they all have a DOF, which he won’t work with.
HD HE LEFT THEM OUT AS
HE HAD NO IDEA THEY EXISTED. He is just a kid, still to learn our history.
I was lucky to learn while a tiny boy from my Grandad and Dad, both of whom went to games before we ever won our first ever FA Cup in 1930.
My Grandad used to tell me all about when we were Woolwich Arsenal , so I was lucky to learn whist very young.
But young fans today have a wealth of info all over the net andmany other folk to learn from, so IF they dont know , then it means they are not that keen, TBH.
Kenny, do you understand what a “W” formation is? Can you imagine players playing without shirt numbers? Can you imagine an England team beating Italy (then World Cup winners) 2-1 at Highbury, with 7 Arsenal players in the team and one on the bench?
In your comparison, in fairness, you should have included results from seasons managed.
jf, my Grandad used to watch us at Plumstead, but unfortunately I only met him a few days before his death. His eldest son, my dad, was also an Arsenal fan, as is my son and his 3 sons.
As you say, there’s ways of finding out the history of our great club.
I await the statues of Arsene Wenger, George Graham (achievements as a player and manager at Arsenal) and Bertie Mee (Arsenal’s first double manager 1970/71) at the Emirates.