Arsene Wenger : Era Of Rejuvenation

Back in 1992, the English First Division has been rebranded and renamed the Premier League. After that almost three decades of the Premier League era have been witnessed by the masses. In these three decades, many high profile coaches from around the world have graced the English pitch and competed with English coaches. And you can name the most successful coach of them with your eyes closed, Scottish Sir Alex Ferguson. But who will get the second position is quite the debate. Some will say Portuguese Jose Mourinho, some may say the name of Italian Carlo Ancelotti, most will probably say the name of Arsene Wenger. Personally, I would put Wenger in second place. Wenger has coached London's most domestically successful Premier League club Arsenal for more than two decades, winning all possible trophies in England but no luck in Europe. Arsenal have played under him in the Champions League for 20 consecutive seasons.

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In mid 1996, Wenger was having a good time with the Japanese club Nagoya Grampus Eight, winning the league's Manager of the Year award the previous year. He had to stay in Japan for the time being. Meanwhile, overseas, the situation of a club called Arsenal in London, Europe, a few thousand miles away, was completely opposite. In August 199, Arsenal sacked Bruce Rioch as from club's coach's duty. After a positional dispute with the Arsenal board, Rioch's position became paralyzed and his relationship with the club deteriorated. To deal with the situation immediately, Arsenal hired Stuart Houston at first and then Pat Rice to take charge of the first team, although they wanted to be permanent. Meanwhile, in Spain, Johan Cruyff was planning to leave Barcelona at the time and Arsenal's fans and people around the club wanted him as their future manager. But David Dean, Arsenal's then co owner and vice chairman, had his eye on this certain Frenchman working in Japan. Way outside Europe. Arsene Wenger, who was grinding success. Dean has tried to convince the board many times since early 1998, but they have refused. Eventually when they couldn't get hold of Cruyff, they also matched Dean in ‘yes’.

Wenger is still under contract back them at the Nagoya Grampus. So the appointment was delayed for a few weeks because Nagoya wanted time to make the final decision. Meanwhile, the Arsenal board also kept the identity of their next manager secret, but it became clear that Wenger would be the next manager when they signed French midfielders Patrick Vieira and Rami Garde to Arsenal. After much speculation, on 22th of September 1997, Nagoya Grampus officially released Wenger and then he was named the new manager of Arsenal. He officially took charge of Arsenal on October 1, 1996. He has held Arsenal to his side for almost 22 years until 2016.

However, Wenger's arrival at Arsenal was not well received well by some of the club's players, supporters and local media, although he was supposed to be a future member of the Football Association (FA), he is still a relatively unknown name in English football. Reacting to Glenn Moore's report on Wenger in The Independent on 24 September 1998 wrote about Wenger's appointment, many supporters joked, "Arsene WHO!" If only they knew what Arsenal's achievements would look like today, almost two and a half decades later, after knowing Arsene Wenger's contribution to Arsenal's success, those fans would not have been so arrogant to say "Arsene WHO". Even the then Arsenal captain and club legend Tony Adams did not shy away from making fun of him. He himself doubted about who this Frenchman was, whether he actually knows anything about football or not, raising a question. Arsene naturally told reporters at his first press conference since entering England that the main reason he came to Arsenal is because he loves English football. And that he like the dedication of those players and Arsenal itself. He liked the spirit of the club and believed that this club had the potential to win the world.

Over time, the names of Arsenal and Arsene Wenger seem to have become synonymous with each other. Many of us millennials have often mistook by assuming whether Arsene Wenger has something to do with the club's name or ownership or anything of that sort. Thi guy has always been calm, a gentle genius. His intelligence and his contribution to modern day foorball makes the love for this calm man different.