IT WAS 20 years ago this week that Arsene Wenger carried out his first Arsenal duties at a Highbury press conference ahead of his official appointment on October 1, 1996.
The arrival of the studious Frenchman was not exactly greeted with universal enthusiasm within the club.
But he won over the sceptics with his revolutionary methods on his way to becoming the first foreign boss to win the title.
The first decade of his reign brought almost unprecedented success, culminating in Arsenal’s ‘Invicibles’ becoming the only team to go an entire league season unbeaten, in 2003-04.
Yet the past ten years have been much tougher for Wenger as Arsenal have struggled to keep pace with Manchester United, Chelsea and Manchester City.
Bitter rivals Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho both left him in the shade and with Wenger in the final year of his current deal, many Gunners fans feel it is time for English football’s longest-serving manager to go.
Here are the thoughts of those who have experienced the good and bad times of his 20 years as Arsenal manager . . .
TONY ADAMS
(Arsenal defender and captain, 1983-2002)
THE name Arsene Wenger meant nothing to me in 1996. He wasn’t a top-of-the-tree British coach with proven experience. He wasn’t a George Graham or an Alex Ferguson.
There was a feeling of ‘who the f*** is he and what is he going to do?’
Before he took charge, we were playing the second leg of a Uefa Cup tie away to Borussia Monchengladbach when David Dein wheeled him into the dressing room, where he was supposed to have no involvement, at half-time.
He changed the team and got us knocked out. I was absolutely livid. I was just about to rip the guy’s head off.
That was my first experience of the man.
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As far as I was concerned, there was no football left in me when Arsene arrived. The way I was going, I was dead.
But together we gave me the chance to play on. I love Arsene dearly but coaching is not his strong point. He hates confrontation. He’ll never b****** you and he’ll never say you’re the best thing since sliced bread.
He spends too much time in his head. I kept on at him, ‘come on, boss, show me some emotions’. He’s frightened to let go.
Arsene considers that George Graham suppressed the ’91 team. I think the ’91 team was as talented as any squad that Arsene ever had.
DAVID DEIN
(Vice-chairman 1983-2007)
HE won’t be a difficult act to follow, he’ll be impossible.
He’s a hybrid. He’s highly intelligent, speaks five or six languages, is cool, calm and collected, a great tactician, and knows a lot about medicine.
I don’t think there’s anybody I’ve ever met who could challenge him for his knowledge of players around the world.
He’s revolutionised the club. We owe him a lot.
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STUART ROBSON
(Arsenal midfielder 1981-86)
WENGER wants to keep everybody happy — but you can’t work at a football club like that because you have to have confrontations, you have to leave people out and criticise players when things aren’t right.
Eventually players have it too easy and that’s been the case for the last six or seven years.
NICK HORNBY
(Author and celebrity fan)
BRUCE RIOCH was sacked and the papers had three or four names of possible replacements.
It was Venables, Cruyff and then at the end it was Wenger.
I remember thinking as a fan: ‘I bet it’s f****** Wenger. Trust Arsenal to appoint a boring one you haven’t heard of.’
BOB WILSON
(Arsenal goalkeeping coach 1974-2003)
IT embarrasses me that Arsenal fans — and some very high-profile ones — have resorted to abusing Arsene because they think he’s past his sell-by date. Wait until he’s gone and we don’t get into the Champions League every year.
For his first eight years, Arsenal were unstoppable. But then Abramovich arrived followed by the oil sheikhs and the whole scene changed.
Yet he signed a new five-year contract even when the directors told him there was no money because of the move to the Emirates.
He could easily have walked away then but showed incredible loyalty.
He helped all the players to realise the absolute limit of their potential. Vieira, Petit and Henry were great players but went to new levels under him. And he hasn’t lost that ability.
He achieved something no other manager in the history of the game could do by going an entire league season unbeaten.
Ferguson, Mourinho, Busby, Shankly — none of them managed that. It was a truly incredible achievement.
LEE DIXON
(Arsenal full-back 1988-2002)
AT some point, every manager will try to be the players’ mate, play a round of golf, join in with the five-a-side game.
Not Arsene. He’s not that kind of man. I don’t think he’s interested in being liked by his players.
There were times when the senior players were privately willing him to have a go at certain players after games for not pulling their weight.
But he does not believe in saying things in the heat of the moment.
The silence often said more. He left you to figure it out.
Every single aspect of the club has changed under Arsene. The team, the facilities, the stadium, the professionalism in the way the club is run — everything is spot on.
DAVID SEAMAN
(Arsenal goalkeeper 1990-2003)
ARSENE told us: ‘This is how I run training and this is how I expect you to eat and look after yourselves’.
Other teams noticed we were still flying after 80 minutes and when we were on England duty the other players started asking what we were taking.
When this got back to Arsene he made a point of warning us not to tell other players exactly what we were doing and taking.
He wanted to keep our edge for as long as possible.
ROBERT PIRES
(Arsenal winger 2000-06)
HE worked so hard on my confidence. He spoke to me a lot and made me aware of my place in the whole environment of my game.
At the beginning he speaks to you a lot. Then he leaves you, lets you relax in your mind and become calm about what you’re doing.
Then, once on the pitch, it’s up to you to demonstrate your worth back to him.
The way he talks, it makes the pleasure of playing come back. He says simple things and they make you want to work for him.
He only took six minutes to announce the team line-up before the game. Any longer and it would have been counter-productive.
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