Arsene Wenger "changed the face of football"

The Big Question

30Sep

Arsene Wenger “changed the face of football”

Forget that these are rather stodgy times over at the Emirates, because today marks the fifteenth anniversary of Professor Wenger’s arrival on these shores. Then an unknown football boffin with a brand new set of rules, the Life’s A Pitch panel are absolutely without reserve when it comes to lavishing praise upon the Arsenal boss.

So says Adrian Clarke of the Red White & Blue podcast: “He’s having a hard time at the moment, but Arsene Wenger has been one of the greatest managers in the history of English football – the greatest Arsenal have ever had. He walked through the door as a virtual unknown. I was there at the time – the players hadn’t heard of him, his methods were very different to the old school ones that we’d been used to under George Graham and Bruce Rioch, but once we realised how much sense he talked, we all embraced it, and the rest of football has followed Arsene Wenger.”

The years that followed came with a whirlwind of trophies, the famous Invincibles team that went a whole season unbeaten, and along the way Wenger introduced the world to the likes of Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira, and Cesc Fabregas. Plus many many more.

“Arsene came along and changed the whole face of the club,” enthuses John Cross of the Daily Mirror. “He probably changed the face of the game.”

“If you ask Alex Ferguson, or look at Liverpool, they now model themselves on what Arsenal did,” adds Janine Self of The People.

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Tim

Invincibles-this, invincibles that. Lost to Chelsea in Champions League that year. Some unstoppable team. Winning a treble is a much more impressive achievement.
Anonymous

sour grapes, Timmy. heaven forbid anybody but United get praised for their achievements. You’d think United NEVER get praised for winning the treble, right?

And btw, Timmy – going unbeaten for a whole season is MUCH more impressive than winning a treble because it’s ONLY BEEN DONE ONCE BEFORE IN ALL OF ENGLISH FOOTBALL – and the only other time was in the 19th century!! Winning trebles in comparison is a far FAR more common achievement in football. Barca, Inter, Bayern and several other clubs have all done it.

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