One unsung way that Wenger revolutionised football culture in the UK

Football is often associated with masculinity and a drinking culture. by Alfie Culshaw

Well, Arsenal fans. Football has forever been portrayed as the sport in which, the hard, tough men would use as forum for ‘lad culture’. Get up early on Saturday, then down the pub for a few pre-match beers with your mates, all wearing the same Nike trainers, walk into the stadium drunk, mouthing abusive chants to the opposition, return to the pub after the game and down a few more pints before getting in a scruff with another fan in the streets. This is still the pattern of several fans match day experience up and down the country today. Take the England fans in Amsterdam in March; “get your tits out for the lads” they sang to the only woman present at that specific lock in the Red Light District. This is a perfect representation of the stereotypical football fan.

However, the arrival of Arsene Wenger at Arsenal in 1996 may have altered this forever, enlarging the football fan base, particularly in the UK. The Frenchman created a whole new variety of British football fans, establishing a community of the more intellectual and analytical kind within the game.

Like me for example. Although not an outright nerd, and certainly not part of the stereotypical type, I may not have been a football fan was it not for Arsene’s intervention in English football and culture. He made the game beautiful. He showed how eloquent football could be, combining this style of play with his class and mannerisms, he revolutionised English support, widening it to a larger audience, and introducing a whole new type of football fan to Britain. He opened the eyes of those who may not have previously been interested, those who would’ve rather induced their thoughts into Politics or Economics, but were presented to another form of social science in Football.

This ultimately meant that the game benefited substantially by the creation of a new breed of fan, one that would look at the game potentially in a different way, but with the same passion. It also may have reduced this masculinity within football, widening the sport to a greater female or homosexual fan base. Although football has always been a very inclusive sport, popular and available to enjoy amongst any class or ethnicity, Wenger increased this inclusiveness dramatically in this country.

Personally, having been born after Wenger was appointed manager of Arsenal Football Club, I am not to know whether I would’ve been a football fan with or without him. But, as I have eluded to previously, it is likely that I may not have been so devoted and enthralled by the game without his presence. So for as much as I have criticised him in the past few years, I will forever be grateful for this, more than the titles and success’ of his first ten years, as these occurred too early in my life to remember.

This is why Arsene Wenger changed football in this Country forever.

Alfie

43 Comments

  1. Yes, Wenger’s Arsenal football style dragged me to see more Premier League games, when Lega Calcio’s Serie A was dominating the world football at that time

    His football style looks similar to the current France World Cup team’s, but with fewer technically gifted footballers, lack of communication and lack of motivation

    I think he could get major trophies again, if supported by large transfer funds and starts fresh at a new big club. In my opinion, Spain national football team’s style is more suitable to Arsenal now

    1. As I brought to you guys yesterday we were in talks with Stephan Litchsteiner and that the deal should go through I can 100% tell you that deal is done.
      He will sign on a 2 year contract.

      DONE DEAL!!!! Stephan Litchsteiner

    2. Alfie, my sentiments exactly and more. His influence was global. Here in Nigeria his class and style of football brought in new fans for the club and expanded the interest base in English football. He divided opinions of course, but his contributions will never be forgotten. Merci le prof!

      1. You can say that again. You can downplay or ignore AW contribution to the global football. The stories and history will linger for ever. Merci Arsene

  2. The scoundrels here can’t agree Wenger revolutionized foot in UK.All they can think of now is how Emery is a miracle man.He was was a free many would talk of how he flopped at PSG in Europe with all the money he will never get to work with here,how he lost the title to Jardim despite jardim having to work With a small budget.Emery would be job less now not until he came to beg for a job at arsenal and we like free things. He was not in the picture no one here regarded him until he was appointed he became the best for arsenal since the sliced bread. We will judge him by the players he brings in,how he selects the team and how he gets the best from our players oh and the substitutions also, he maybe the masterpiece ,but I will not be carried away I will sit back and wait for results now that we all accept him as the bosss

      1. Council,
        Please stick to the article and give your opinions on that.
        Very good article that should have been released in about a years time in my opinion.
        Our fanbase is still trying to unite and support the new manager.
        Why do we keep having blogs that are obviously looking for more fans disagreement?
        I think that makes four articles recently that have carried our
        ex manager’s name in the title.
        Come on Phil, what about an article from you regarding our away fans designated areas versus those we offer at the Emirates? Your insight following our club all over Europe would be really interesting.
        What about standing areas? North bank or clock end?
        Or is it just me getting completely fed up with the continual bit###ng of late?
        Or even wether Kev really does have a mole inside the Emirates?

        1. Kev already said that his source was Moley on Twitter. Here is a few of his latest tweets:

          The Football Mole @moleyfootball
          May 18
          So now ornstein has spoke perhaps some of you will start to believe me. Arteta AND allegri still in the mix. Decision is not made. Like I said if allegri agrees to OUR terms he will get the job. If not Arteta will get the job. #AFC

          The Football Mole‏@moleyfootball
          May 20
          Mikel Arteta will become the new manager of Arsenal FC. Expect an announcement by Wednesday. #AFC

          The Football Mole@moleyfootball
          May 21
          Don’t know where this emery talk has come from.. I got told arteta had a meeting and everything was agreed. Contract to be signed in coming days and announcement. #AFC

          The Football Mole@moleyfootball
          May 21
          Emery to become next arsenal manager!? I’m lost for words I really well and truly am I can not believe it ???? I hold my hands up I didn’t hear a single thing about this WHATSOEVER. Must mean arteta turnt us down ??‍♂️

          Great source Kev!

      2. So now anyone with a different opinion to you is a “scoundrel”. May I refer you to the works of Voltaire.

        1. “Two wrongs don’t make a right” but I didn’t hear you call out Phil when he called Counsel a fool in a previous article simply because he too had a different opinion. You actually supported Phil’s comments in the said article.
          Counsel is wrong to insult a fellow gunner and so are other posters on here like Phil and my old foe Jon Fox (have to say Jon’s remarks are less insulting but still condescending)

    1. He won several UEFA Cups with Sevilla, I think that was a huge achievement. He managed mega stars at PSG, I think that was not easy either

      I agree that Jardim might be better suited for Arsenal’s transfer budget, but he is not free. And Wenger definitely revolutionized English football, whether some people want to deny it or not

    2. Maybe he’s better at using smaller budgets to achieve great things. Whatever, please let’s support him to do well please

  3. I think we all apriciate what he did to Arsenal and to football in England and possibly around the world but example can a 80 yo Pele play footbal in EPL team NO Pele is one of the worlds most respected ex players but because of his past achievements we canot let him play now and that’s the same with AW

    1. For 100th time I’m not Resources or Remember Resources.He’s probably hiding or reading our comments day after day.

        1. Litchsteiner is a done deal.He’ll be signing for 2 years.I’m not Resources btw.

          DONE DEAL!!!Stephan Litchsteiner.

  4. English football would have evolved
    exactly the same if Wenger
    had not come.
    Ferguson won 13 titles.
    Mou has won 3 titles in 8 years (Wenger 3 in 22 years)
    Abramovitch at Chelski buying 5 titles
    UAE at Man Sheiky have bought 3 titles.
    TV power has changed the game.
    In the 70’s only whites played football in the football league.
    Now blacks dominate.
    England has gentrified and the population has aged.
    Football is no longer the default choice of millions of have not males.
    In fact the poor are out priced from watching top teams.
    Overseas players, black players, overseas ownership has changed the game.
    Wenger had an influence in the winning years 1998 -2004.
    Since then Arsenal has faded with a decade of nostalgia
    the only thing for Gunner fans to savour.
    Leicester fans would say 2016 changed English football for ever
    Utd Chelsea City would claim their winning teams shaped English football.
    Liverpool fans still maintain they are the best 30 years after their last title.
    Its all subjective and fans have a heavy bias toward their own team.
    Didn’t the Spuds shape English football in 1961?

    1. barryglik, Best post I have ever read from you. For once, some real and mostly accurate perspective. Though I cannot agree with your comment(in effect) that Wenger had NO long term(post 2004) influence on English football evolvement. It was a massive influence but other , wider developments, which you list had greater influence still. Nor that black players now DOMINATE, which is not accurate , despite an average of 30-40% black players in most top teams. But massive and welcome advancement of ethnic players, for sure. But a good post, all the same.

  5. Liverpool all the way! they need to stamp their authority today as the giants of England to add another star on the shirt,because I bet they are likely to even win a premier league title before man utd.I hate utd are the greatest crap yet they play boring football

  6. Yes Wenger was great but failed badly later on. In recent years we spent a lot of money on Ozil, Zhaka, Lackazard, Mustafi, Aubamenyan and yet he continued to perform poorly. It was a basket case gearing towards mid table club despite spending tons of money in recent times.

    The most annoying, he thought he was the club as he deflected promptings for him to leave. He was only interesting in extending his stay whether the club was failing or not.

    We were paying him handsomely gut he was not delivering. Arsenal became a charity for him and kept players like Diaby and Rosicky on payrole even though he knew they couldn’t play again and signed long term contracts with players like Flamini who wasn’t a player we needed

    Am very happy because its a good riddance. Let’s get Emery full support

    1. aubayemang and lacazette juz joined this season…its unfair to judge with this 2 players…

      ozil is a great disappointment

  7. Arsenal fans complained about Wenger not being given funds but he was funded and bought expensive players he still failed. Leicester won with very little budget. Both Liverpool and Spurs have preformed well with a fraction of our budget so the main failed. He spent 22years and won only 3 titles, nothing special to shout from our roof tops. He failed.

    1. @Howard…I cannot but wonder who you are and where you are from. But I take solace in that fact that you cannot be wiser than those millions of great achievers who are already celebrating Wenger. It takes a deep-thinking person and a true achiever to appreciate what Wenger has accomplished. I am not sure you will win any trophy if you have had to operate under same conditions AW operated in. By the way, I can ever be surprised…here you are celebrating Spurs that has won zero trophies in the last several years…and I cant even remeber the last time they played in a final of any competition. I give credit to Liverpool but if they win tonight (and I really wish they do), it will be the first trophy in several years…meanwhile, AW has been decorated a few times in the last few years. Where are the other managers who also operated under same low budgets in the last 22 years. Please mention 3 of them that have won 3 titles in the EPL. You can then measure your judgements….But take it or leave it. AW is already GREAT. The great pepple are the ones celebrating him…and we dont need the likes of you to join in appreciating ahievements of AW.

    2. So Howard, what have Leicester achieved since winning the title? Please remind me how many trophies Spurs have won in the last 10 years?

  8. On topic in reply to this article-So you were born AFTER Wenger was appointed manager.So let’s say you are 22 in age.So for the first TWO years of your life I cannot believe you understood too much about football.Dont worry.It was not your fault.@Counsel is a lot older than you and STILL doesn’t know anything about football(or anything else interesting for that matter) But I understand he is very very close to a particular Goat in his village that he has named Arsene.
    Anyway I digress.
    So if we say you were FOUR before you really understood football that would have you in 2000-01 season.We won NOTHING that season and were second best to United all season.2001-02 saw us win the double when you were FIVE.2002-03 Was an FACUP win when you were SIX.The invincible season of 2003-04 had you at SEVEN and trust me that was some achievement for the Club.I seriously doubt that with the level of competition in the Premiership this feat will ever be repeated again.This was also the year I’m informed that @Counsel was starting to show more than a passing interest in the Goats roaming in his village ? but you were far too young at that age to know about things like that so we will leave @Counsel alone with that for the moment.
    2004-05 when you were EIGHT Saw an FA CUP win over the Mancs.2005-06 saw us loose in the Champions League final to Barca in which we were very unlucky.This would have you as NINE.
    After this-NOTHING.IN Wengers own words finishing FOURTH was the equivalent of winning a Trophy as it gave us Champions League football and a hefty pile of cash.
    So if I assume that at say FOURTEEN you bring us to the 2010-11 season ou would be understanding more about the game as you got older.You will also know we were NEVER going to win the League that year and would not get further in the Champions League than the round after Group Qualification.
    This was a very frustrating time for all and around the time @Counsel was showing an ever increasing interest in a particularly cute looking Goat that was in his village.This too was out of frustration but at your age of FOURTEEN I would hope you at least found it more fulfilling to kick the neighbours cat ?.Its healthier to relieve the frustration (although not for the cat).
    So over the following seasons we won a few Cups but sold most of our best players.The Football was becoming poorer the Champions League made way for the EUROPA CUPbecause our Board and Owner kept faith with a manager that was obviously not competent to do his job properly any more.
    Now at this time you would have been 20-22 years old.You were old enough now to appreciate what football was all about.You were witnessing some DIRE football from a team Coached(sic) by an Manager who was simply incapable of getting us out of the pile of F***ING S**T he had taken us to.
    What we were seeing was not a thing of Beauty as you describe.I was not singing ALL THINGS BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL on the way home from playing away games at SWANSEA STOKE BRIGHTON WATFORD BOURNEMOUTH NEWCASTLE LEICESTER and NOTTINGHAM F***ING FOREST.
    You are simply jumping on the wave of sentiment of Wenger leaving by posting fabricated articles that are completely wrong.
    Like @Counsel-you are old enough to know better

    1. On a mathematical point , he was born after Wenger first signed. So he cannot possibly be 22 til next October at the very earliest. Far more likely to be around 18-20 right now, I believe, which would make him remember nothing much of Wengers glory years. Second hand knowledge of glory years is hardly the same emotional pull, I say. In any case, why on Earth are we STILL analysing past Arsenal history on here when there is so very much to look forward to and discuss? And on an historical note- since we are in history discussions- there is an old Monty Python book that says 1974 was not a good year for goats at all. A quiz question in that book asked this: Who was the England fast bowler who destroyed the Ausseis in the Bodyline Series in the 1930’s? A/ Harold Larwood? B/ a Goat? C/Not a goat at all? Counsel is bound to know the answer.

      1. And jon Harold Larwood was so poorly treated by the MCC establishment when he returned home, that at the end of his career he emigrated to Australia where he passed away a well respected elderly gentleman.
        Bill Voce wasn’t bad either.

        1. Ozzie, Harold was far too loyal to Douglas Jardine who treated the Notts paceman worse than some would treat a horse. But your countrymen knew the truth, even if most Brits did not.

      2. Jon,
        I so agree with your sentiments regarding moving on.
        We all have our views/memories of the past but surely it’s the future that counts?
        Are you having any luck with your season ticket hunt?
        Phil you old goat, come on over to the other side, the sun’s shining and the future beckons….washed my Merci Arsene shirt and some of the lettering came off.
        Now it reads merci ars**!!!

        1. Ken, I don’t expect to ever be able get a season ticket again. But I will be coming along next sesason. I have contacts who will get me tickets, at least most games and thanks for the interest. I knew when I gave it up that it was the last time I would ever have one. Ways and means though Ken. I will be offering an article soon, on here, about how huge money has both harmed and improved our game. Pros and cons sort of thing.

    2. @Phil You can downplay or ignore AW contribution to the global football. Try as you may want all day long – you CANNOT erase the fantastic record AW has left behind. . The stories and history will linger for ever. Merci Arsene.The new Manager is welcome to spend 50M per season ans compete with MC et al abd bring the CL CUP home

      1. Lexxynal,
        Nobody wants to erase our history and nobody can.
        So move on and let’s hear your views on current Arsenal happenings.

        1. Thanks for accepting that. We are already moving forward and there is no question about that.

  9. Yawn! looking back to the past ONCE AGAIN. I prefer looking forward. Why not analyse Herbert Chapman’s influence on Arsenal as well, since this article writer, and some others too, seem obsessed wtih the past! Ancient history , almost! The past is GONE! Look forward , for Gods sake!

    1. Since you are hunted with the past…and the true celebration of the achievements of the GRERAT AW, you can choose to ignore it. You dont have to comment on the posting of those who are looking forward but will never uindermine or despise the achievement of the past. That is why SAF is being given a rightful place in MU today …not because of the future….the past mate.

      1. Jon Fox
        Jon, the name seemed not to have printed, so my question about the season ticket was directed to you..any luck!

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