Last of a dying breed |
The World of Football is a really funny place, while it
brings us so much joy and happiness, the fans are fickle, the media has short
term memory and paper supersedes
what happens on the pitch. Everybody strives to be the best, to achieve that, your stars have to align.
what happens on the pitch. Everybody strives to be the best, to achieve that, your stars have to align.
“….I believe the target of anything in life should be to do it so well
that it becomes an art”-Wenger
The derogatory manner with which one of the game’s greatest
ever managers name is mentioned is
bothering on disrespect at least. This is a man that was shot into the spotlight as
an unknown and made an instant mark in World football. As he got older, he
became more sentimental but referring to him as an “obsolete” character in the
game like most media outlets describe him to be is simply offensive.
“…..I believe one of the best things about managing people is that we
can influence lives in a positive way. That’s basically what a manager is
about. When I can do that, I am very happy”Wenger
It is not new information that in his first full season as
an Arsenal manager he finished it with a league and FA cup double but that’s
not why he’s so highly revered. The Professor added brain to the brawn that
previously existed in a team that had steely characters like Tony Adams,
Winterburn and brought in players like Viera, Overmars, Bergkamp, and Henry. He
also introduced dieting, as Ian Wright complained that the worst part of Wenger’s
rule was his insistence on players taking broccoli. He also influenced players
life style outside in a bid to shapen the team in his own image, which
culminated in Arsenal going unbeaten for a whole season, a historic feat that
still hasn’t been achieved in modern football history, the simple truth is that
a team playing in Wenger’s image can do this.
“…One of the things I discovered in Japan was from watching sumo
wrestling. At the end you can never tell who has won the fight, and who has
lost, because they do not show their emotion because it could embarrass the
loser. It is unbelievable. That is why I try to teach my team politeness”-Wenger
Time and trends have changed and just like the tides rise
and fall, the old will be replaced by the new, however, In Arsene, we see a man
that instead of simply fitting in with the trend, has constantly remodelled his
blueprint to anul the excesses of the system(Le Chatieler’s Principle, it’s
Chemistry).
A lot has and is still being made of the fact that he hasn’t
lifted the English Premiere league title for 12 years and Gunners faithful are
right to feel aggrieved by this but statements that question if he still has
anything to offer the game are way off the mark, This is a man that’s clearly
driven and hungry to succeed.
The football universe is at a point where winning at all
cost supersedes everything, even if it means ripping out the soul of the game,
the World is trophy-crazy due to the emergence of Pep Guardiola and Jose
Mourinho and the average life span of a top flight manager is somewhere around
18 months. Arsene is the last of a dying breed, the representation of what
football is and should be; “I take pride in the fact that people go
home having felt that for 90 minutes today, life is beautiful-and that’s it,
basically. That’s why Professional football exists”-Arsene Wenger, 2012, there might never be another like you and I'm grateful to have witnessed all you've given us and hopefully more to come.
Happy 20th Anniversary Le
Proffeseur.
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