Drink and pasta went out... in came broccoli with everything
BRILLIANT WENGER WAS TRAILBLAZER
WHEN Arsene Wenger first arrived at Arsenal, we all laughed at him.
No-one’s laughing now – he’s a legend.
No other foreign manager has ever come to the Premier League and been so influential.
Jose Mourinho has had massive success. Pep Guardiola is having an amazing season. But not many people are trying to copy them, are they? Everyone copied Wenger though. Clubs up and down the country have taken his ideas on board. They all use his training methods and ideas.
He was way ahead of his time and he blazed a trail for people like Jose and Pep to follow. How many foreign managers would never have got their chance here without him?
We didn’t see it at first, though, when he was appointed in 1996. We all thought, ‘Who the hell is this?’ He didn’t look like a football manager. He looked like a science teacher.
And when he spoke he sounded like Inspector Clouseau. We didn’t take him seriously. We chatted amongst ourselves and were half laughing about him.
When he had us doing stretches we’d never seen before on exercise mats in the ballroom at the team hotel we all thought, ‘This is never going to work’.
But he was a genius. We went away with England and did them and all the other lads were asking what on earth we were doing. But they all do it now.
He changed everything. Alcohol disappeared. Pasta disappeared and everything came with broccoli. All our food was weighed. And we had to chew it slowly. We hated it. But it worked.
I think he won us over with the training more than anything. It was different every day and it was all football.
Before, players would get in at five to 10. But they were in at nine under Wenger and they couldn’t wait to get started. All these things together put three, four, five years on the careers of players like Tony Adams and Steve Bould.
No-one could have the same kind of influence now because everybody does it. But back then it was revolutionary. I have never been as fit as I was then.
He was so far ahead of his time and I don’t think football has caught up with him. I just think the modern world has. Money is more of a factor now, and it’s easier to find players.
Admire
He was so laid back as well. I can remember thinking: ‘I wish I was more like him’ a few times. And I wasn’t the only one.
We lost 1-0 at home to Wimbledon in one of his early games and if that had been George Graham you’d put your towel over your head while he kicked cups around.
But Wenger just said: “I’ll see you tomorrow for recovery.”
Tony Adams couldn’t believe it and said: “Aren’t you going to say anything?”
But Wenger just said, “What do you want me to say? You lost 1-0”, and walked out. He was right too. What can you say? You just had to admire how calm he was.
In many ways his decision to go has come at least two years too late. Arsenal haven’t looked like winning the league for a long time now.
But in a way it’s good timing. I give them every chance against Atletico Madrid in the Europa League semi-final. Fans should get behind him and the team.
People should remember how great he was, all the things he’s achieved. They should appreciate what he’s done for the club.
I think he’s gone because he knows it’s a rebuilding job that could take three or four years, and he won’t be around that long, so why not go now?
But he’s not finished in football. It’s his life. He won’t be going to the horses every other week like Sir Alex Ferguson. He will want to carry on coaching.
I can see him at Paris St-Germain. One last go at a big club, trying to win them the Champions League. He could even come back to haunt Arsenal at some point.
I think his later years will be judged on what Tottenham do now as well. Can they get in the Champions League for the next 10 years in a new stadium? Wenger did. It was a major feat.
Announcing it now also gives Arsenal a few weeks to figure out who replaces him, and that is one of the biggest decisions the club will ever make.
I would give it to Brendan Rodgers. He plays the right sort of football, worked wonders at Liverpool, knows the league and how to deal with the pressure of managing a big club.