Dubai: Former Arsenal captain Tony Adams had been famously blunt on the entry of Arsene Wenger as their manager in 1996. “At first, I thought: What does this Frenchman know about football? He wears glasses and looks more like a schoolteacher. He’s not going to be as good as George [Graham]. Does he even speak English properly?” the Arsenal great had wondered after Wenger had been unveiled in October that year.
Today, as one of the Arsenal legends, Adams’s statue adorns the club along with those of Thierry Henry and Herbert Chapman.
Perhaps, the one common element between Adams and Wenger is that both spent, or in this case, will be spending 22 years at the North London club — one as its centre-back and the other as its most successful coach.
Football pundits from across the globe have credited the Frenchman, who turns 69 on October 22, for a revolution in the world of English football with his drastic measures in the late 1990s. Fresh from a season spent with Nagoya Grampus Eight (1995-1996) in the Japanese J-League, no one would have tipped ‘Le Professeur’ to bring anything new to the table.
But, Wenger did. First, he introduced changes in the way the players trained. He went a step further and altered the diet of players.
As a player, Wenger had spent a couple of seasons from 1975 and 1976 with Mulhouse during which time he made 56 appearances for his club. But more importantly, he came under the influence of former French footballer and coach Paul Frantz. The impact between the two was quick and profound — the coach only formalised Wenger’s beliefs on the importance of nutrition, isometrics and working on a player’s strong points.
However, one of his biggest contributions could be his undying belief in youth. Throughout his career, especially at Arsenal, Wenger has emphasised the importance of youngsters carrying forward the core principles of his philosophy.
He did it at AS Monaco.
He’s done it at The Emirates Stadium.
As he bids adieu, all I can say is that Arsenal and Arsene will be spoken with the same breath for a long time.
