I noticed a trend is setting in whenever Gooners choose to praise Arsene Wenger.
Even those lucky enough to meet the man in person are patronised if you refer to the Frenchman as the greatest manager in our history.
We are told it’s because we grew up with him and therefore didn’t know what came before.
While it’s true I wasn’t alive when Herbert Chapman was our coach, I know my respect for the Frenchman isn’t based on nostalgia.
I will often refer to the 72-year-old as our most successful manager simply because it’s a factual statement.
We live in a world where the meaning of language needs to be protected.
In 2021 everyone has a voice and an opinion.
Yet some things are simply factual.
It doesn’t matter if it’s not what you want to hear or doesn’t fit into your agenda, you can’t change stats and data no matter how much you wish to protest.
The grass is green!
The sky is blue!
No man has won more trophies then Arsene Wenger.
Normally in sport, the medals, the trophies, etc is the metric used to measure teams’ success.
If you wanted to use a different criteria (why would you?) then even, then the subject is unrivalled.
The style of play he brought to England is world renowned, players have credited him for prolonging their careers thanks to his training and dietary methods, tactically he taught talent new positions, he countless times spotted a gem who either went on to win things or made a huge profit
Financially he left Arsenal a richer club then the one he found.
Why does it matter?
Why can’t we celebrate both historic figures?
Of course, we can.
I have zero issue with anyone celebrating Mr Chapman’s accolades.
I simply will not have a next generation of Gooners wrongly educated.
It’s wrong that a young fan thinks saying ‘Mr Wenger is our most successful manager’ is based on his popularity and dismissed as a nod to a childhood.
It dismisses my knowledge and discredits what the man did for us.
So here goes …….
Chapman won 2 titles
Wenger won 3
Chapman won 1 FA Cup
Wenger won 7
So, it’s not outrageous to say 10 trophies is more successful than 3?
Even if you want to argue that illness meant Chapman’s tenure was 9 years, in Wenger’s first 9 years he still was more successful….
Chapman after 9 years won 2 titles
Wenger won 3
Chapman after 9 years won 1 FA Cup
Wenger won 4
Including other jobs Chapman won 8 major honours in 28 years.
So, with 4 clubs Chapman couldn’t win what Mr Wenger did with one.
For the record, based on their entire career …
Mr Chapman won 8 trophies compared to Mr Wenger’s 14.
Chapman took over a club which had been battling relegation and was seen as an innovator in terms of the systems he introduced.
Yet you can’t use context for one and not the other.
When Mr Wenger arrived in England were not title contenders, had become a cup team, were called boring and had a drinking culture at the club.
Mr Wenger changed all that.
So, in the week that his movie Arsene Wenger: Invincible has been released in select cinemas (on Amazon from 20th), the reason most of us call Mr Wenger our greatest ever manager is simply …. because he is!
Dan