Full name||colspan="2"|Arsène Wenger
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|Date of birth||colspan="2"|October 221949
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|Place of birth||colspan="2"|Strasbourg, France
|-class="hiddenStructure"
|Date of death||colspan="2"|
|-class="hiddenStructure"
|Place of death||colspan="2"|,
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|Height||colspan="2"|
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|-class="hiddenStructure"
|style="padding-right:1em;"|Nickname||colspan="2"|The Professor
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! style="background: #b0c4de;" colspan="3" | Club information
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|Current club||colspan="2"|Arsenal
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|Number||colspan="2"|
|-class="hiddenStructure"
|Position||colspan="2"|Manager
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! style="background: #b0c4de;" colspan="3" | Youth clubs
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|||colspan="2"|
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! style="background: #b0c4de;" colspan="3" | Professional clubs*
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| Years || Club || Apps (goals)
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|1978-81||RC Strasbourg||? (?)
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! style="background: #b0c4de;" colspan="3" | National team
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|||||
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! style="background: #b0c4de;" colspan="3" | Teams managed
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|1983 1984-?? 1987-94 1994-96 1996-||colspan="2"|AS Cannes (assistant manager) AS Nancy AS Monaco Nagoya Grampus Eight Arsenal
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! style="font-size: 80%; font-weight: lighter;" colspan="3" |
* Professional club appearances and (goals) counted for the domestic league only.
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Arsène Wenger, OBE (born October 22, 1949 in Strasbourg) is a Frenchfootballmanager. He is currently the manager of EnglishPremiership club Arsenal.
Wenger's playing career was relatively inauspicious. He began playing amateur football as a defender or sweeper for various minor French clubs, while at the same time studying at the University of Strasbourg, where he completed a master's degree in Economics in 1974. Wenger turned professional in 1978, signing for RC Strasbourg, and making his debut against Monaco. Although Strasbourg won the French league in 1979, Wenger did not feature prominently in the team, playing only three times. In 1981, he obtained a manager's diploma and was appointed the coach of the Strasbourg youth team.
Managerial career
After an unsuccessful spell at Nancy, Wenger's managerial career took off when he became the manager of AS Monaco in 1987. He was initially successful with the club, winning the league in 1988 and the French Cup in 1991, and signing high-calibre players such as Glenn Hoddle and Jürgen Klinsmann. However, he was sacked in 1994 after Monaco finished ninth in the league. Wenger, who had refused an earlier proposal by Bayern Munich out of loyalty for Monaco, moved on to a successful 18-month stint with the Japanese J. League team Nagoya Grampus Eight, with whom he won the prestigious Emperor's Cup.
On September 30, 1996, Wenger joined Arsenal, succeeding the sacked Bruce Rioch. Wenger was a relative unknown in England (though he had been previously been touted as a potential Technical Director of the Football Association), but he had an immediate impact and quickly led the club to success. In his first season at the club, Arsenal finished third and missed out on Champions League qualification on goal difference.
In his second season in charge (1997-98), Arsenal won both the Premiership and FA Cup, the second Double in the club's history; it came after Arsenal made up an twelve point deficit to win the League title with two games to spare. The following few seasons were comparatively barren, although Arsenal did get close, losing the 2000 UEFA Cup final to Galatasaray on penalties and the 2001 FA Cup final to Liverpool 2-1. However, with time the signings of Fredrik Ljungberg, Thierry Henry and Robert Pirès settled and Wenger's Arsenal won the double again in 2001-02.
Arsenal retained the FA Cup in 2003, and the following season made history by winning the 2003-04 Premiership title in 2004 without losing a single match, the first team to manage this feat since Preston North End in 1888-89; the Preston players had been nicknamed "The Invincibles", while Wenger's were dubbed "The Untouchables". A year earlier, Wenger had been derided for saying it was possible Arsenal could go unbeaten in an entire season.Wenger's actual quote was: "It's not impossible. I know it will be difficult for us to go through the season unbeaten. But if we keep the right attitude it's possible we can do it." From:
With another FA Cup win in 2005, in all, Arsenal have won three Premier League titles and four FA Cups under Wenger, making him Arsenal's most successful manager in terms of trophies. However, the UEFA Champions League title still eludes him; the closest Arsenal have come was when they reached the 2006 final for the first time in club history, which they lost 2-1 to FC Barcelona.
Although Wenger has made some big-money signings for Arsenal, thanks to his talent-spotting ability, and the sale of several players for large fees after they had become established, his net spending record compares favourably with the large spending of some other leading Premiership clubs; according to Peter Hill-Wood, Arsenal chairman, "Arsène's basically spent, since he's been with us, £4m to £5m a year net." A noted example of this ability was the purchase of Nicolas Anelka from Paris St Germain for only £500,000, and his subsequent sale to Real Madrid just two years later for £22.3m. More recently, the defence that did not concede a goal to the 'galacticos' of Real Madrid over two legs in the 2005–2006 Champions' League first knock-out round had cost Arsenal less than £5M—less than half of what Real had to pay for central defender Jonathan Woodgate.
As well as finding new talent, he has also rejuvenated the careers of several established players who had lost form. Dennis Bergkamp, who had been signed with Arsenal a year before Wenger joined, reached his peak under the latter's management. Wenger stood by captain Tony Adams after the latter admitted his alcoholism in 1996. Wenger's support was a key factor in Adams' rehabilitation and return to form, which extended his career by several years. Wenger's support was rewarded as Adams led the club to two Doubles. Similarly, Wenger also resurrected the career of his former protégé at Monaco, Thierry Henry, who had struggled to cope at Juventus but at Arsenal he became the club's all-time top scorer and captain.
Wenger has also reformed the training and dietary regimes, ridding the club of its drinking and junk-food culture. Wenger had a direct input into the design of the Gunners' new Emirates Stadium and its move to a new training ground at London Colney, of which he is said to have overseen every single detail, including the shape of the teaspoons in the players' restaurant.#redirect [[Template:Fact]]
Arsène Wenger enjoys a great deal of popular support from among the Arsenal fanbase; the club's fans have put tremendous faith in the manager and his vision over the long term, as characterised by the popular saying among Gunners supporters — "Arsène Knows" — which is emphatically repeated many times on the banners seen in the Highbury crowd. For Arsenal's valedictory campaign at Highbury in 2005-06, supporters showed their appreciation for the manager by choosing "Wenger Day" as one of various "Themed Matchdays" proposed by the club in celebration of the team's move away from their historical ground. Wenger Day was held on his 56th birthday on October 22, 2005, during a match against Manchester City.
David Dein, the vice-chairman of Arsenal, has described Wenger as the most important manager in the club's history: "Arsene's a miracle worker. He's revolutionised the club. He's turned players into world-class players. [...] Since he has been here, we have seen football from another planet."
Controversies
Wenger's demeanour is normally mild and unaggressive, however several allegations have tested this perception. His sides have often been criticized for their indiscipline, after they received 52 red cards between 1996 and 2003. However more recently, the Arsenal team's behaviour has improved; in 2003-04 and 2004-05 Wenger's Arsenal topped the Premier League's Fair Play League tables for sporting behaviour.
Wenger offered Sheffield United F.C. a replay of their FA Cup 4th round game immediately after the match finished after Arsenal's winning goal scored by Marc Overmars had resulted from Kanu failing to return the ball to the oppositon after it had been kicked into touch to allow a Sheffield player to receive treatment for an injury. Arsenal won the replayed game 2-1.
He is also well known for his rivalry with Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson, as Arsenal and United were arch-rivals for the Premiership and FA Cup throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s. This rivalry reached its culmination in the infamous "Pizzagate" incident at Old Trafford in October 2004 after a 2-0 defeat, where after the match his Arsenal side threw food at the opposition in the tunnel, though Wenger claimed not to have seen it. Wenger was fined £15,000 for calling United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy "a cheat" in a post-match television interview. Both managers have since agreed to tone down their words in an attempt to defuse the rivalry.
During October and November 2005, Wenger became embroiled in a war of words with Chelsea manager José Mourinho. Mourinho accused Wenger of having an "unprofessional obsession" with Chelsea; he went as far as labelling Wenger a "voyeur", and was quoted as saying, "He's worried about us, he's always talking about us - it's Chelsea, Chelsea, Chelsea, Chelsea". Wenger responded by pointing out he was only answering journalists' questions about Chelsea, and described Mourinho's attitude as "disrespectful". Wenger even hinted he would formally complain to FIFA, though no such action came about. Mourinho has since been quoted as saying that he regrets the "voyeur" comment, and Wenger has accepted his apology.
Wenger has often been criticised by other Premiership managers for not fielding many English players, particularly in the Champions League. West Ham United manager Alan Pardew said that Arsenal's Champions League success was "not necessarily a triumph for British football". Wenger saw the issue of nationality as irrelevant: "When you represent a club it's about values and qualities, not about passports.". Other pundits, including Trevor Brooking, the FA's Director of Football Development, defended Wenger; Brooking noted that a lack of English players in one of England's most successful clubs was more of a reflection of the talent pool in England rather than Wenger himself.
He was involved in further controversy during a Premier League match with arch-rivals Tottenham Hotspur on 22 April2006. Two Arsenal players collided during a Tottenham attack and went down injured. The referee waved play on leading to Spurs continuing play and scoring a goal. Wenger felt the ball should have been kicked out of play. When questioned later about the incident, Spurs manager Martin Jol claimed not to have seen the it. Wenger subsequently refused to shake Jol's hand and accused him of being a liar.
Awards
He was awarded the Legion d'Honneur, France's highest decoration, in 2002. He was awarded an honorary OBE for services to British football in the Queen's Birthday Honours List of 2003. In October 2004, he signed a contract extension that will keep him at Arsenal through the 2007/2008 season.
