Sports / Feature and Column
Wenger marks 10 momentous years at Arsenal
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-09-26 12:33
LONDON, Sept 26 - Ten years after being greeted by the headline "Arsene
who?", Arsenal's hugely successful manager Arsene Wenger will certainly
be able to savour the milestone which awaits him on Thursday.
Unknown in north London before his arrival on September 28 1996, the
56-year-old son of an Alsace restaurateur can look back on a decade that
has brought his club three Premier League titles, four FA Cups and an
historic unbeaten season in 2003-04.
In May, they were just 14 minutes away from being crowned champions of
Europe in Paris.
The Frenchman has transformed Arsenal in terms of the football they play
and, off the pitch, has been a driving force behind their modern training
complex and the new 60,000-seater Emirates Stadium.
Long tagged as 'boring, boring Arsenal' for the dour, defensive triumphs
before his arrival, the biggest criticism now levelled at Wenger's team
is that they over-elaborate in search of the perfect goal.
Bespectacled, urbane and looking very much the French intellectual on his
arrival after two years in Japan, Wenger wasted little time ringing the
changes from Bruce Rioch's reign.
His attention to detail in terms of players' diet, fitness regime and
lifestyle went well beyond simply banning chocolate bars in his first
week in charge. His approach set new standards for the English game, let
alone for Arsenal, whose then captain Tony Adams subsequently admitted to
being an alcoholic.
REAL FLAIR
Wenger took Adams's disclosures in his stride, standing by the player and
going on to build a side that combined a vastly experienced defence with
real flair going forward.
Arsenal gradually evolved into a side of fluid passing and movement,
inspired by some shrewd moves on the transfer market that were topped by
the signing of Thierry Henry from Juventus in 1999.
Going nowhere during a short spell in Turin, Wenger signed Henry as a
left winger and promptly converted him into one of the deadliest centre
forwards of his generation and the Premier League's top scorer in four of
the last five seasons.
Dutch forward Dennis Bergkamp, already signed by Rioch, was able to
flourish in a 'French revolution' which put a premium on individual
technique, while the grit came from Patrick Vieira, signed at Wenger's
request before he had even arrived.
Striker Nicolas Anelka provided the goals before leaving in 1999 for Real
Madrid, who paid more than 22 million pounds ($41.86 million) for a
player who had cost only 500,000 pounds two years previously.
Wenger's ability on the training pitch and in the transfer market paid
dividends in his first full season, 1998, when Arsenal won the league and
FA Cup Double -- a feat they went on to repeat in 2002.
They added two more FA Cups in 2003 and 2005, along with that unbeaten
league title in 2004 -- English football's first since Preston's
"Invincibles" in the inaugural 1888-89 season.
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