A FAME OF TWO HALVES
Wenger leaves the Gunners tomorrow admitting the second part of his reign was made impossible by the demands of building the club’s new stadium
ARSENE WENGER admits that Arsenal lost a “special spirit” when they left Highbury.
Wenger, 68, became more accountant than football manager when Arsenal moved to the Emirates and the 22-year reign which ends tomorrow can be divided into two parts. The glorious first 10 years, which included three Premier League titles and two Doubles, and the latter spell of frustration, trying to pay off a mortgage and no longer seen as serious contenders for the big trophies.
But the final leg of Wenger’s farewell tour will be tinged with sadness about the good old days when he was seen as a revolutionary rather than a figure of ridicule.
“I believe Highbury had a special spirit. It’s a cathedral, a church,” said Wenger. “You could smell the soul of every guy who played there. So it will always be special for me.
“The Emirates was like buying a new house. It took us a while to feel at home there. It’s a fantastic stadium but there was something special at Highbury that you could never recreate when building something new.”
Wenger, despite winning a record seven FA Cups, could never recreate that early magic, a magic lost with the departure of his great friend and former Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein.
Dein went 11 years ago and his exit amid a boardroom fall-out was as significant as the stadium move because gone was the mastermind behind transfers and half of one of English football’s best double acts.
Wenger has been very pointed in thanking Dein in the past few weeks but there has been no mention of any of the current board as, clearly, they have forced him to leave the love of his life.
Wenger also reflected upon the impact of the stadium as Arsenal
went from buying the likes of Robert Pires (right) to downscaling to Gervinho.
“Ideally I would have loved to continue working with him (Dein),” said Wenger. “I think it was down to the fact that the football world has changed and that you build a stadium. I signed for five years accepting the resources would be more limited. When you have that you have fewer good players.
“That (Wenger signing a new contract) was one of the requests the banks had. I didn’t want to walk out in the middle because I accepted the challenge. That is an important part of my life that I am very proud of.
“The only thing I can say is that I turned everybody down, all the big clubs, so people cannot question my loyalty to this club.
“Then we had a double handicap. We had to pay back the debt and had to face the competition when clubs had even more resources than they usually have.
“The transfer fees of players have tripled or quadrupled. A £10million player when we built the stadium was huge. Today a guy like Kane, I don’t know for how much they can sell him, £100m?
“But we had to move. There is no club that can turn away people who want to attend the game. At the time I thought we were a bit too ambitious with a 60,000-seater stadium but at the end of the day it worked. “Moving to Wembley was a possibility at the time because we didn’t find a site for a long time. And finally we found a site near Highbury which was ideal. At some stage we wanted to come out here to the M25. But people had their habits already.” Wenger was angry and emotional in the weeks and days after the announcement of his departure was made but now seems much calmer, having come to terms with his impending exit. He is also feeling the love from Arsenal fans who have barracked him and also from opposing supporters.
Frenchman Wenger intends to stay at his home in north London and, even if his next job takes him abroad, he will keep his base in England where he has become an adopted Englishman. Wenger added: “My home is here. I have lived here for 22 years, my daughter has spent her whole life here, she is going to university here. I feel at home here.
“When you say I like London, I honestly don’t know how you get to the centre. You have to teach me that because in 22 years I’ve never been unless with a driver. My way was Totteridge-London Colney. I don’t know where London is. It’s not far but…”