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®Êby PAUL BROWN

ARSENE WENGER admits Arsenal took a huge gamble when they first appointed him in 1996.

A relative unknown at the time, plucked from Japanese club Grampus Eight, Wenger became only the third foreign manager to take charge of a Premier League club.

Crashed

Since then he has guided Arsenal to 15 trophies, 20 consecutive top-four finishes and a Champions League final, as well as masterminding their historic unbeaten ‘Invincibles’ league season in 2003-04.

He is now the most successful – and longest-serving – overseas manager this country has ever known.

But he admits he faced huge opposition when he first arrived at the Gunners, from