Wenger will be impossible to replace
TWENTY years ago this week, Arsene Wenger took over as Arsenal manager.
John Major was Prime Minister, the Spice Girls had just had a No.1 with Wannabe and Newcastle United were top of the Premier League.
Much has changed in politics, music and football but, 1129 games later, the Frenchman is still there.
The London evening paper typified the reaction of most with the headline: “Arsene Who?” when the club appointed a virtual unknown rather than Johan Cruyff to take over from Bruce Rioch.
In the years since, Wenger has become Arsenal. He runs the club from top to bottom in the way his great rival Sir Alex Ferguson ran Manchester United.
He is the last of the great patriarchal managers. There will never be another like him. Yet Arsenal fans are divided. For a man who revolutionised the culture of English football in terms of diet and training, it’s ironic that his critics believe he’s failed to move with the times.
They say he’s become too stubborn. That he treats the club’s cash as his own. That he settles for second best and paints it as success.
Few consider the Gunners to be title contenders this season. Yet nobody expects they will finish outside the top four. Same old same old.
After winning seven major trophies in his first eight full seasons, the last 11 have brought just two FA Cups.
He has taken his team into the Champions League 20 times yet reached only one final.
Those who support Wenger agree when he argues that such remarkable consistency represents success, particularly when huge overseas investment in other clubs has skewed the playing field.
Wenger has called it “financial doping” as if he considers buying expensive players as cheating. If he’s going to win something, he’ll do it the right way.
That extends to Arsenal’s playing style. Wenger is criticised for fielding too many lightweight midfield ball-players and ignoring the need for the steel.
Wenger is 67 next month and in the final season of his current contract. If he leaves next summer without winning either the Premier League or the Champions League most will judge his later years harshly.
Even so, like Ferguson, he will be impossible to replace because he has shaped every aspect of the way the club works.
Since Fergie retired United have had three managers and two failures to qualify for the Champions League. That prospect would scare the Arsenal board to death!