Wenger’s 19th anniversary by Sam P.
Last week was Arsene Wenger’s 19th anniversary at our great club, but it practically went unnoticed amongst the clamours for his removal after the loss to Olympiakos. But now we have beaten Man United and are sitting pretty in second place in the League, maybe it’s time to appreciate his achievements.
Le Prof is undeniably the most successful manager Arsenal have ever had. He has won more FA Cup Final’s than any other manager in English history. He won us the third of our famous Doubles. He has never finished out of the Top Four in the Premier League, despite presiding over our expensive upheaval in building the Emirates Stadium. He is the only manager ever to get Arsenal to a Champions League Final, and of course he is the only manager in history to go a full season unbeaten with the “Invincibles”. He has won hundreds of personal accolades and was named Manager-of-the Decade in 2010.
This week he has been reminiscing about his arrival at the club 19 years ago, and believes the pressure is even more intense nowadays than when he first came to England. “I was a new manager with a lot of ambition, a lot of desire and a huge desire to do well and show that I had the quality to take this club further,” he said on the official Arsenal website.
“Nineteen years later I’m still here so that doesn’t make us younger but it is a fantastic part of my life and a great honour to have guided this club for such a long time.
“It is amazing because it’s a rarity in our job. I’m conscious of the size of the club, the expectation level, so the pressure is even bigger than the first day I arrived.
“I was surprised [in my first week at Arsenal] because of the structure of the club with a size like this one. I was surprised that I was quite welcome inside the club, how humble people were and I was also surprised by the quality of the players.
“I expected the players not to be as good as they were because I didn’t have the right image of them. The players were of quality when I arrived here and that was a good surprise.”
We had good players when he arrived, and we will have good players when he retires. There is little chance of the Arsenal Board ever sacking him. He will decide for himself when his time is up, and looking at his personal fitness he could easily last at least another five years as the Boss. He has won the last two FA Cups and I believe that we are now poised to start winning more trophies on a regular basis.
Long live Arsene! Long live Arsenal!
Sam