A real revolutionary 30 years ago, Arsene was what Pep is now
IT was quite nerve-racking when I flew into Monaco to meet the club’s new manager. Not the meeting itself — it was my first time in a helicopter, on the hop from Nice to the Principality, and that did get my pulse racing.
The trip was more or less a courtesy call. My mind was pretty much made up. I had met Gerard Houllier at Paris Saint-Germain and we had almost agreed that I would be joining them. Monaco, though, were insistent I come.
We were directed up to the penthouse suite at the Beachside Plaza Hotel and waiting for me there was this very young, bespectacled, tall man. He looked impressive, but not like a manager I had seen before. I was 28 and had been used to playing for men like Keith Burkinshaw and Peter Shreeves, from my father’s generation. But this man was only 37, more like an older brother.
When he spoke, he was full of passion, enthusiasm and charisma. What he said made sense. How he saw the game was how I saw it — passing and creative football were the most important aspects. We were on the same wavelength immediately.
Maybe it was the Mediterranean sea, maybe it was the sunshine and the beach. But mostly it was Arsene Wenger who changed my mind and set me on course for some of the best years of my football life with AS Monaco rather than PSG. At the time, I had no idea Arsene had just been relegated with Nancy the previous season. I only realised that speaking to Claude Puel, my Monaco teammate, the other week! Had I known that then, who knows whether I would have been so impressed? But there was something about this young manager. He made you feel you would be a part of something special.
Mark Hateley was also joining from AC Milan and within a week we would get to know the real Arsene and just what he was going to do for us. Pre-season we stayed at a beautiful hotel by Lake Annecy. It was a stunning location. Unfortunately, there were also three football pitches there. And though we English thought we worked hard, to be frank, we were in the dark ages by comparison. I found muscles I never knew I had. I had never worked so diligently, with three sessions a day.
Of course, the big shock was after the first excruciating session. I was walking off and Arsene called me back. ‘Glenn,’ he said. ‘We do the warm-down now.’ I turned to Mark: ‘What’s a warm-down?’ I’d never done one of those at Tottenham. Then there were the stretching exercises, e which had Mark and me looking like old men compared with w other players, who were w like svelte yoga practitioners. Nutrition was rigorously monitored. Our diets changed completely. We had specialists for every area and when I had back problems, he sent me to an expert in Strasbourg.
We didn’t appreciate it all immediately. I did not enjoy enj the post-match warm-down d on a Sunday morning, dragging my heels around the Monaco track while Claude was busy lapping me. But soon I realised I was in the best shape of my life.
All of this seems pretty basic nowadays in the Premier League. But when Arsene arrived at Arsenal, nine years later in 1996, it still had yet to reach England. It was interesting to speak to Claude recently and realise that from his perspective, a lot of the tactics and training methods were new and revolutionary to him as a French player too.
But bear in mind this was 1987, when we won the French League.
It would be another nine years before Arsene got to make his mark on English football and take until about the year 2000 before teams started copying and catching up. Arsene didn’t just pave the way for foreign managers in England, he revolutionised the way we prepared for games and brought us up to speed with the rest of the world. He was a great organiser. Everything, including trips away, were planned by him in meticulous detail. But he was much more than that. He had enormous vision for creative football.
He was born in Strasboug, right on the Franco-German border, and I always felt he embodied the best qualities we traditionally associate with both nations. His football had the flair of the French and his training had the methodical attention to detail of the Germans. As such, he was a Franco-German creation.
Tactically he was smart. Our team had great balance. I was the No10 and was freed from defensive responsibilities. Marcel Dib or Claude would do that work for me. It was a revelation and a system which produced some of my best football. Only then did I realise that this was the position I should have played in all my life.
In England, we were still wedded to the idea of box-to-box midfielders and two strikers. There was so little tactical flexibility in our game.
If you think of a young Pep Guardiola, when he started out at Barcelona in 2008, that is how to think of Arsene back then. A man with enormous charisma, a sharp mind, intelligent analysis and at the cutting edge of all aspects of the game, playing wonderful football. When he brought all of that to England, his teams soon outstripped nearly everyone. At times they looked untouchable.
It took the genius of Sir Alex Ferguson and his ability to adapt and learn, to overhaul him. Later would come the money and determination of Chelsea and Manchester City.
Of all the great moments he has had with Arsenal, there is a goal at Newcastle which epitomises what he brought to our game. It was March 2, 2002 and Dennis Bergkamp rolled the ball along his foot, flicked it past the defender, swivelled round, before he dodged the flailing defender and calmly finished. It was a moment of breathtaking beauty executed sublimely.
That team would grow into the 200304 Invincibles, with Bergkamp, Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira, Gilberto Silva, Freddie Ljungberg, Robert Pires, Sol Campbell and Kolo Toure, which, for me, was his greatest. They would regularly go to the most difficult northern cities, to the heartlands of English football and to hostile environments where it was imagined flair football would wilt and simply play teams off the park.
They probably should have won the Champions League in 2004. They were knocked out by Chelsea and a young manager by the name of Jose Mourinho went on to take the trophy instead with Porto.
Not winning the Champions League will be a regret in his career. His side, reduced to 10 men, were leading Barcelona 1-0 with 14 minutes to play in the 2006 final. It was the closest he would come. That would mark an end of the most glorious years, as the new stadium had to be paid for and so many key players were sold.
Of course, in recent years, with financial strength restored, it appeared that his sides had lost the balance between attack and defence and power and elegance which I felt we had at Monaco and his Arsenal sides once had.
But even during these last four difficult years, he was won three FA Cups, three Community Shields. Most would like as much in their best years. He has been a true great. I doubt we’ve seen the last of him. I dearly hope in six months he is working somewhere — maybe as a national team coach — refreshed and rejuvenated.
But we who saw his best years, will always be grateful for what he gave the English game.