ARSENE WENGER

Arsène Wenger

Personal information

Date of birth 22 October 1949 (1949-10-22) (age 59)
Place of birth Strasbourg, France
Height 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Playing position Sweeper
Club information

Current club Arsenal (Manager)
Youth career
0000–1969 FC Duttlenheim
1969–1973 AS Mutzig

Senior career*
Years Club Apps (Gls)†
1973–1975 Mulhouse 039 0(7)
1975–1978 ASPV Strasbourg 080 (20)
1978–1981 RC Strasbourg 011 0(0)
Total 130 (27)

Teams managed
1984–1987 Nancy
1987–1994 AS Monaco
1995–1996 Nagoya Grampus Eight
1996– Arsenal

Arsène Wenger, OBE was born on 22 October 1949 in Strasbourg. He is a French football manager who has managed English Premier League side Arsenal since 1996.[3] He is the most successful manager in the history of Arsenal in terms of trophies and is also the club's longest-serving manager in terms of matches played (having passed the 700 mark in December 2008).[3][4] Wenger is the only non-British manager to win the Double in England, having done so in 1998 and 2002. In 2004, he became the only manager in FA Premier League history to go through the entire season without defeat. Wenger is widely regarded as one of the world's best managers after the success he has enjoyed at AS Monaco and Arsenal. Wenger has a degree in Electrical Engineering and a master's degree in Economics[5] from Strasbourg University and is fluent in French, German, Spanish and English; he also speaks some Italian and Japanese

Early career

Wenger spent much of his youth playing football and organizing matches at the village team, FC Duttlenheim, where he made the first team at 16 and was subsequently recruited to nearby third division club AS Mutzig by the team's manager Max Hild, who would go on to become his mentor, advising Wenger on managerial decisions later in career, and whose team had been noted for playing the "best amateur football" in France. Wenger's playing career was modest. He played as a defender for various amateur clubs while studying at the Institut Européen d'Etudes Commerciales Supérieures de Strasbourg of Robert Schuman University, where he completed a master's degree in 1971. Wenger turned professional in 1978, making his debut for RC Strasbourg against Monaco. He only made twelve appearances for the team, including two as they won the Ligue 1 title in 1978-79, and played once in the UEFA Cup in the same season. In 1981, he obtained a manager's diploma and was appointed the coach of the club's youth team. After his stint at Strasbourg, Wenger joined AS Cannes as assistant manager in 1983

Managerial career

Wenger's first senior job was at Nancy, which he joined in 1984, but he enjoyed little success there: during his third and final season in charge, Nancy finished 19th and were relegated to the second tier of French football (now Ligue 2). His managerial career took off when he became the manager of AS Monaco in 1987. He won the league in 1988 (his first season in charge) and the French Cup in 1991, and signed high-calibre players such as Glenn Hoddle, George Weah and Jürgen Klinsmann. He also signed 23-year old Youri Djorkaeff from Strasbourg; the future World Cup winner finished joint top goalscorer in Ligue 1 (with 20 goals) during Wenger's final season in France. Wenger was shortlisted for the managerial role at Bayern Munich, but could not take the job due to Monaco's board refusing to allow them to talk with Wenger, only to release Wenger several weeks later after the post was filled.

He moved on to a successful 18-month stint with the Japanese J. League team Nagoya Grampus Eight, with whom he won the Emperor's Cup, the national cup competition. He also took the club from the bottom three to runners-up position in the league.At Grampus, he hired former Valenciennes manager Boro Primorac, whom he had met during the 1993 match-fixing scandal involving Olympique de Marseille, as his assistant. Wenger, who'd long held the view that Marseille was acting improperly, fully supported the Yugoslavian coach when he attempted (ultimately with success) to clear himself from any wrongdoing. Primorac would remain Wenger's "right-hand man" for years to come, and still held that position in 2009.

Wenger had in the meantime become a friend of the then Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein, after the two had met when Wenger attended a match between Arsenal and Queens Park Rangers in 1988. After Bruce Rioch was sacked in August 1996, Gérard Houllier, the then technical director of the French Football Federation, recommended Wenger to David Dein in the summer of 1996. Arsenal confirmed his appointment on 28 September 1996, and he officially took up the reins on 1 October. Wenger was Arsenal's first manager from outside the UK. Though he had previously been touted as a potential technical director of the Football Association, at the time Wenger was a relative unknown in England, where The Evening Standard newspaper greeted his nomination with the headline 'Arsene Who?'.

A month before Wenger formally took charge of the team, Wenger requested that the club sign French midfielders Patrick Vieira and Rémi Garde. His first match was a 2-0 away victory over Blackburn Rovers on 12 October 1996. Arsenal finished third in Wenger's first season, missing out on second place (occupied by Newcastle United), and hence the Champions League qualification, on goal difference.

In his second season (1997-98), Arsenal won both the Premier League and FA Cup, the second Double in the club's history. Arsenal had made up a twelve-point deficit on Manchester United and secured the league title with two games left. Key to the success was the inherited defense of Tony Adams, Steve Bould, Nigel Winterburn, Lee Dixon and Martin Keown, along with striker Dennis Bergkamp and a blend of Wenger's new signings, Emmanuel Petit as a partner for Patrick Vieira, winger Marc Overmars, and teenage striker Nicolas Anelka.


Honours

Player

Strasbourg

* Ligue 1: 1978–79

Manager

Monaco

Winner

* Ligue 1 (1): 1987–88
* Coupe de France (1): 1990–91

Runner-up

* UEFA Cup Winners' Cup (1): 1991–92
* Ligue 1 (3): 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93

Nagoya Grampus

Winner

* Emperor's Cup (1): 1996
* J-League Super Cup (1): 1996

Runner-up

* J. League (1): 1996

Arsenal

Winner

* Premier League (3): 1997–98, 2001–02, 2003–04
* FA Cup (4): 1997–98, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2004–05
* FA Community Shield (4): 1998, 1999, 2002, 2004

Runner-up

* UEFA Champions League (1): 2005–06
* Premier League (5): 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2000–01, 2002–03, 2004–05
* FA Cup (1): 2000–01
* League Cup (1): 2006–07
* FA Community Shield (2): 2003, 2005
* UEFA Cup (1): 1999–2000


Individual

* French Manager of the Year: 1988, 2008
* J. League Manager of the Year: 1995
* Officer of the British Empire: 2003
* Onze d'Or Coach of The Year: 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004
* FA Premier League Manager of the Year: 1998, 2002, 2004
* LMA Manager of the Year: 2001–02, 2003–04
* BBC Sports Personality of the Year Coach Award: 2002, 2004
* Freedom of Islington: 2004
* FWA Tribute Award: 2005
* English Football Hall of Fame: 2006
* Premier League Manager of the Month: 10 times (March 1998, April 1998, October 2000, April 2002, September 2002, August 2003, February 2004, August 2004, September 2007, December 2007