Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger with the Premiership and F.A.Cup trophies as Arsenal celebrate winning the double. Islington, London, 12/5/2002. Credit : Stuart MacFarlane / Arsenal Football Club.
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Opinion

Mr. Wenger I once thought you owned Arsenal; and in my heart you always stayed as the owner

By barakbulletin

1998- Brazil VS France World Cup Final, it was the first time I ever saw a football match on TV. I was eight-year-old, and was supporting France along with my father, my mother was rooting for Brazil. Three of us were watching the biggest day of the biggest event on earth- the Zidane-Ronaldo battle on a 14 inch black and white Uptron TV. France had won the match and lifted the trophy in their own backyard… A year later, around in 1999, at my maternal uncle’s place, I saw my first Premier League match. It was Arsenal playing Manchester United. I do not remember the result what I remember is two names- one Thierry Henry and other Arse´ne Wenger. Since then Thierry Henry has been my favourite player, and I became a gunner.

Back then there was no Internet; at least I could not reach a system that had access to it. Newspapers and Prannoy Roy’s ‘world this week’ used to be the only source of information and whatever a restless me could gather from the two mediums about Arsenal was, it is an English club managed by Arse´ne Wenger. The similarity in Arse´ne and Arsenal made me believe that he owns the club in which my favourite player Thiery Henry played. Arsenal won leagues, FA Cups, defeated Real Madrid and reached Champions League Final and the most famous The Invincibles, where, Viera, Pires, Henry and company did not lose a single match the entire season, the achievements are plenty. From an ordinary establishment in Highbury, to one of the best stadiums in London, Arsenal journey under Wenger has been a journey from sorry to sublime, from underdogs to favourites.

It’s not only trophies and the stadia that makes Wenger such a legend, it is not the dedication that he gave 22 years of his life to the club, and in the process denied opportunities to manage giants like Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern and many others. What makes him a true legend is the legends he has created out of nothing. Thierry Henry, all time greatest Arsenal footballer, was a winger, he had won the World Cup as a winger but Wenger saw something in Henry and asked him to play center forward, Henry has 228 Arsenal goals under his belt. Cesc Fabregas, Robin Van Persie, Walcott, Chamberlin, Rambo, Wilshere and many others who were never in the big money club, when they first surfaced are all international icons today… Wenger in his 22-year regime has created heroes who later went on to rule the footballing world and that is what makes the Frenchman one of the biggest football managers in world history.

Wenger joined Arsenal in 1996 he was a lean man, wearing the Gandhi or Bob Dylan type specs, and was considered as an outsider with an inevitable early departure written on the wall. In fact, in one of his early interviews he said the biggest bet in UK those days was on how long will Wenger last in English football. Before joining Arsenal he had a successful stint with French club Monaco, where he won both league and cup during his six years stint. He then went on to manage Japanese league team Nagoya Grampus Eight and won titles with them too. Soon after joining Arsenal, the modest player proved he is an exceptional coach, in two years time he won league and cup double, 2004 he won the The Invincibles title, he managed Arsenal for 823 matches and won 473 of them, he won three league titles and seven FA Cups.

Coming back to my story, we do not have that black and white Uptorn TV any more we have a much bigger one now, we have cable connection at our own home and over 100 channels. In fact the house where my father, my mother and me watched the 1998 world cup, we don’t stay there any more either. Now days, I stay far away from my parents and we don’t get to watch TV together anymore. Last winter, when I visited home I forced away the remote control from my cricket crazy father who was watching highlights of some old match at 12:15 in the night, as I wanted to watch Arsenal play. I tuned in to Star Select and saw Wenger struggling with the zip of his coat on his way to the dugout. My father in his late sixties ecstatically screamed “oh wow this old man is still there, this man has some passion, how can he coach one team in one league for so long…” that is probably the most appropriate way to define Wenger, “A passionate man”.

Love you Wenger for everything, even Cambridge Analytica does not have any data of me using the Wengerout hashtag, I know not what will happen to Arsenal after you, I know not, who will manage the club next, I know not if the stadia will get renamed after you… Mr. Wenger, I only know that you had given me a wonderful brand of football to cherish, love and admire. Yes, it was my illiteracy that I felt that Arséne owns Arsenal, but even after I came to know he does not, in my heart somewhere, it was Wenger who owned Arsenal…

— An Arsenal fan.

 

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