One man alone in a teeming crowd. One man isolated in a multitude.
There you have it. Twenty years of Arsene Wenger.
As familiar as Fergie, as analysed as Jose, yet a coach who has ploughed his own, unique furrow through two decades of English football.
The journey officially began on October 1, 1996 and no one really knows when it will end… because no one really knows Wenger.
That might be the most remarkable thing. How do you remain a mystery after 20 years at the very top of the world’s most popular sport?
But while the barrier to Wenger the man might still be up, Wenger the manager has been laid wonderfully bare over the past two decades.
Bold
English __football must have been an intimidating environment for a foreign manager when Wenger – unknown to all but footballing obsessives – took the Arsenal job.
Look at the list of managers he was joining in the Premier League on that first day of October, 96.
Brian Little, Ray Harford, Ruud Gullit, Ron Atkinson, Jim Smith, Joe Royle, George Graham, Martin O’Neill, Roy Evans, Alex Ferguson, Bryan Robson, Kevin Keegan, Frank Clark, David Pleat, Graeme Souness, Peter Reid, Gerry Francis, Harry Redknapp, Joe Kinnear.
A formidable collection of characters, but hardly a cosmopolitan bunch.
Innovative
Sounds ridiculous now, but Wenger was a trailblazer when it came to diet and preparation for games, introducing personal programmes for players and, of course, being a stickler for ultra-healthy eating – long since taken as a given.
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Wenger broadened Arsenal’s – and the Premier League’s – transfer horizons. Patrick Vieira started work at Highbury before Wenger – he was an Arsene buy, though – and was an instant credit to his manager’s judgement.
A collection of brilliant signings helped Arsenal to the double in Wenger’s first full season in charge (97-98).
History-making
No team has been more chronicled than the Invincibles of 2003-04. Maybe Wenger’s biggest achievement was motivating those players to remain unbeaten AFTER they had already clinched the title.
He reflects: “It was very difficult to motivate the guys for those last few games of the season. I had to motivate the team highly … I said: ‘Look, guys, what you are doing now is going from being champions to being immortal’.”
What is often lost in the glare of that achievement is that it was actually just the centrepiece of a remarkable first half of Wenger’s Arsenal career. Between 1996 and 2006, he won the Premier League three times, the FA Cup four times and reached the final of the Champions League.
Combative
A specialist in the verbal spat, his rivalries with Ferguson and Mourinho were heated at best, bitter at worst.
Did he let characters such as Sir Alex and Jose get under his skin too easily and too often? Maybe.
Practical
He has been a company man, accepting the financial implication of building and moving to the Emirates Stadium and then managing the transfer budget accordingly.
Essentially – to find the £400million for the new home – Wenger became a selling manager for a selling club.
He invested in youth and, for a while, a brave new era looked as though it beckoned, but after the FA Cup success in 2004-05, Wenger went eight seasons without lifting a trophy.
Reliable
In a top-four way. Every single season. As an achievement, some might laugh at this, but in an era when the major clubs have become financial powerhouses, it is a remarkable feat.
Obstinate
Still reluctant to spend the company cash, he rails against the financial obscenity of the transfer market.
Idealistic
If there is one thing that has been certain for the past 20 years, it is that Arsenal under Arsene Wenger have always been a pleasure to watch.
And that might be his simplest, greatest legacy.