Although Arsene Wenger was officially signed by Arsenal on the 30th September 1996, he did not pick his first starting XI until today, the 12th October, and we ended up with a 2-0 away win at Blackburn Rovers, who were bottom of the table at the time.
The Gunners finished third that season, and the rest, as they say is history! The other day Mikel Arteta gave his thoughts about working under Wenger to the Online Gooner. He could not praise Le Prof any more: “It is a privilege, you learn a lot from a guy who has such a big spirit and believes in football.
“I think the way he treats everybody and the way he looks after the club, it’s very rare to see in this world. When he’s been here for such a long time, it’s not only because he brings trophies, he brings success or he brought something different to England. He’s a special man.
“He is one of the most loyal people I’ve seen in football. He works incredibly hard. He’s completely obsessed about football and then he’s got a passion about developing players. He’s patient, he understands. He seeks things out that other people don’t see in young talent and he’s a person that you can learn a lot of things from and I would say he’s one of the most intelligent people I’ve come across.”
Well, what he could we say about Wenger that could improve on that description of him. The fans may criticize from the sidelines, but there are very few people who know him as well as Arteta, so I am going to take him at his word.
Wenger is a genius…