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‘Arsene Wenger was football’s supreme artist’

Hindustan Times | BySidin Vadukut
Apr 21, 2018 11:30 AM IST

If football could be art, then Arsene Wenger was the supreme artist, writes Sidin Vadukut

After 22 years at the helm of one of the great clubs in world football, Arsene Wenger will step down as Arsenal’s manager at the end of the ongoing season. In a sport that is famous for its lack of patience with managers, Wenger’s longevity may never be surpassed. Just one other manager in the top four levels of English football has held his job for more than a decade; most are lucky to make it through three seasons. In a statement posted, with little warning or fanfare, on the club’s website, Wenger said that he felt this was the right time to leave the job.

Arsene Wenger will leave Arsenal at the end of the ongoing season.(Reuters)
Arsene Wenger will leave Arsenal at the end of the ongoing season.(Reuters)

Few fans of the North London club will disagree with this assessment. There had been rising clamour for the Frenchman’s exit over the last two seasons. As the other top teams in English football powered ahead in their efforts to win trophies at, quite literally, any cost, Wenger’s Arsenal faced accusations of a somewhat splendid stagnation -- putting in an exhilarating performance one weekend, followed by bewildering capitulation the next. Increasingly the term ‘Wengerball’, which once meant mesmeric, expressive, fluid football, had turned into a synonym for a certain naivete -- art without the artifice.

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The team’s position in the league table confirms this scepticism. After 20 straight years of qualification for the Champions League, last season Arsenal finished outside the top four for the first time in Wenger’s reign. This season, again, they could finish as low as seventh place, behind tiny Burnley. Nothing to scoff at in the larger scheme of the Premier League.

But under Wenger’s expert tutelage, Arsenal turned into one of the wealthiest clubs in world, let alone English, football. The team was 6th in the 2018 edition of the Deloitte Football Money League, with annual revenues of 487.6 million euros, ahead of clubs such as Paris St. Germain, Chelsea and Liverpool. It has the resources to compete with any club in any league, and indeed in recent years Wenger has broken the club transfer record several times. However even as it built formidable reserves and infrastructure, the club developed a reputation for being excessively cautious with recruitment -- in many ways, Arsenal seemed to become the least successful super-club in the world. Wenger no doubt craved trophies, but not at the cost of his beautiful, sustainable football.

Thus many fans will welcome his departure.

But few will celebrate it.

READ | Arsenal FC manager Arsene Wenger’s departure sees tributes flow in from football world

Because if football could be art, then Wenger was the supreme artist.

For the first decade or so of his reign at Arsenal, Wenger transformed everything about the way Arsenal and England played football. Arsenal players, especially of an older vintage, frequently testify to the transformative effect Wenger’s arrival had on their approach to the game. Out went the fish and chips, aimless training sessions, and cigarettes in the shower. In came the grilled fish, meticulous drills, and strict lifestyle regimen. Wenger even taught his players how to stir sugar into a cup of tea to ensure optimal dissolution. Players, including those critical of the latter half of Wenger’s reign marked by little success and simmering disquiet in the stands, vouch for the man’s passion for bringing the best out of his players.

The results of this new approach introduced in October 1996 were instantaneous. Arsenal played scintillating football, bringing together some of the world’s great footballers -- Dennis Bergkamp, Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira. It culminated in the ‘Invincibles’ season of 2003-04, when Arsenal were crowned league champions without losing a single match.

READ | Arsene Wenger: The Arsenal FC manager’s best moments

Since 2006, however, when Arsenal lost a Champions League final to Barcelona in heartbreaking circumstances, Wenger has had little silverware to show for all his consistent principles and optimistic football. The 2014 FA Cup triumph was Wenger’s first trophy in nine years. Many at the time hoped Wenger would leave after that victory, head held high, leaving behind a club wholly equipped for the future.

But Wenger stayed, hoping, perhaps, for a final shot at league glory. It was not to be (though a Europa League triumph this season is well within reach).

Wenger leaves Arsenal a club with enviable resources. It has a state-of-the-art stadium, world-class training facilities, excellent financial heft, and a global base of fans who care deeply. But this is not unique to Arsenal, nor are these things difficult to acquire at the right price.

No, Arsene Wenger’s greatest legacy at the club is his approach to how football should be played, how footballers should be nurtured, and how a football club should serve its fans, its community, and the world at large. His successors, for there will be many, will have to find a way not just to win, but to win without jeopardising this remarkable legacy.

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