Arsène and Arsenal were one in the same

IT’S hard to imagine one without the other. It’s equally hard to remember what each was like before the other.

For most of us the first time we heard of Arsène Wenger was when he rocked up to Highbury in the mid to late nineteen nineties. Back then Arsenal was the most quintessentially English of all clubs. All reserve and stiff upper lip behind the scenes. 4-4-2 on the pitch. Boring, boring Arsenal was both an insult and a point of pride for Gooners. It was a world away from what they would become under the French man’s tenure.

He imbued the club with the best of himself. The rigour, the discipline, the scientific best practice and, of course, a certain amount of Gallic flair. The club became Arsène’s and Arsène became Arsenal’s. Two sides of the side coin for twenty two years... for better and for worse.

For the first decade of his tenure it was for better. The Gunners were the most ascetically pleasing team on the planet and hugely successful with it. The Invincibles were the culmination of a beautiful obsession. Little wonder neither side of the partnership was keen to end it even when it because blatantly obvious by about six or seven years ago that it had run its course. Arsenal was (is!) the club of Wenger’s life as he so eloquently put it some years back. Letting go was never going to be easy. Thankfully now he has. Even after a decade of stasis his legacy is assured.