Today is officially the 18th anniversary of Arsene Wenger’s appointment as manager of Arsenal. Speaking about the milestone, the manager was keen to acknowledge it, but played down its significance in what’s going to be a busy week for his team.
“It’s a great honour and privilege to be in charge of such a big club for such a long time,” he said, “but I have no time to look back right now, I will do it at another time.
“I never look back. What is always your target is to take the maximum potential out of the team.
“The only thing I would say this season is that this team has huge potential and it has to come out. At the moment I am more worried about that.”
An Arsenal win tonight and he should allow himself a half-glass of wine though.
And via @OldSchoolPanini (why aren’t you following already), here’s his squad for his first season in charge. Click for big.
Hope tonight turns out better than his 1000th game COYG!!!
it couldn’t, if it did I will run naked through North London
And what a squad…
Faces the wrath of the fans ..Week in week out.. because he spoiled us by the Brilliant Football against the best Manchester United against teams in the Late 90s to the early 00’s .#49 game Unbeaten streak #Emirates Stadium #HENRY #ONEARSENEWENGER #WENGER18 #Economics Genius #gunner Arsene Made a lot of what Arsenal Football Club stands Rite now
Happy anniversary arsene wouldn’t change any thing we have been through together
What. A. Squad. Also, what amazing hair he has!
#InArseneWeTrust
Did the then-refrees confuse between Winterburn and Dixon? They look quite similar
Four centre backs, one world class forward, Ian Wright Wright Wright, two solid never got injured full backs, one classy experienced goalkeeper, a good mix in midfield.
Is that squad better than the current one!?
It’s got Bergkamp….so yes
As I was scrolling down I was half-expecting that Panini album to have 18 different stickers of Wenger over the years.
he may never look back, but fans can. What an achievement. I didn’t know anything about the Arsenal before Wenger, or in his early years (that may be because I was a bit young back then) For some of us, international fans especially, he put Arsenal on the map. A team to compete with Utd, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich. Wenger has helped build us a club to be proud of, with it’s own ideals, with it’s own principles of success and a team that is associated with flair and style. When he gets his own statue outside the… Read more »
Got, got, need, got, need, got, got, got, need, got
18 years!!!
Woa
Wenger brought a lot to our club.
And do you know who is the second longest manager in the same club in the Premier League?
Alan Pardew!!!! try not to laugh!!!
Not for long….
Allardyce is third… if Pardew’s sacked tonight he’s still got six months in second
The original HFB.
Exciting footie years plus invincibles, yes mr. Wenger along time any manager would jump in ya boots for management of gunners team, nice to see the team have plans and time to strengthen team in games with gd timing as injuries have been big probs so to us gunners, gooners and goonerettes coyg.
One Arsene Wenger!
Now let’s make year number 18 the year in which we win the Champions League! 😀
(ps. I know it won’t happen but for all the brick-shitting to qualify, I’m going to allow myself some carried-away forum posts for a while).
We can be harsh on this man and this man can be frustrating at times but deep down it is all love! Arsenal will never be the same without him.
Alongside Chapman, the best Arsenal manager ever.
LOL look how fat Winterburn(ing the BBQ) is, and Hartson’s desperate attempt to keep his hair looking full! Man this is too much. What an alckie back four too. All I can think of is how many pints they are all necking. But no disrespect – total legends. Keown, Bould, Dixon, Adams, Seaman … legends. Vieira looks so young too … that is crazy. At that time nobody knew how influential he would be to the point people now use his name to reference a big central midfielder. Wenger looks crazy young too. Ahhhhhhhhhhh those were the days.
With God in his side how could he fail?
Fun fact. Paddy’s head has been photoshopped onto Ian’s body.
Anyone else notice Vieira’s head stuck on Ian Wright’s body with some awesomely primitive photoshopping skills?
Anybody else notices how the defenders have such mean faces? Maybe that’s what we need to have a mean defense!
That was the exact point that Arsene told them all that there were to be no more Mars bars
Legend!
At least he has a fresh cup to drink the wine in.
Last year, he drank the 17th ann. wine with an eight year old cup. Hope he gets a new cup for his 19th.
He’s been a great servant of the club. Kudos to him.
I love how Steve Bould has aged about ten minutes in the last 18 years.
And those 10 minutes only concentrated on his hair!!!
That’s why he’s our 4th choice CB.
Congrats Arsene, let’s win tonight and beat the living daylight out of that loud mouthed bus driver on sunday. COYG
Yeah we had good squads in the past. An invincible one mind you.
The current is arguably less good. But what happens when Wilshere, Ox, Ramsey, Walcott, Özil, Sanchez, Welbeck, Chambers reach their full potential? I believe we’ll be unplayable in a totally different way.
I DO remember what came before Arsene Wenger, from the Terry O’Neill years on. Some good times, but a lot of bad times and some very very functional football. It’s funny how people’s memories change to suit their argument. I hear people wax lyrical about George Graham yet call Wenger a thief in the same sentence. Very selective memory. People say if it wasn’t for the defence he was left, Wenger wouldn’t have won any titles because he can coach teams to defend..conveniently forgetting the back 4 that went a season unbeaten was a completely different back 4 from the… Read more »
Spot on
Hey Al, the currency here is a thumb up/down, but you have instead earned my respect.
Wonderful stuff!
Thats one of the best comments ive seen in a very long time, #respect! Some fans do not apreciate this wonderful manager, they will call you a wenger ass kisser, a loyalist and what not. wenger loves this club, like you said you could have moved to Narcelona or real madrid, and earn much more, but he didnt, he choose to stay with Arsenal, any club would love to have him as their manager, whilst some idiots fans out there want him out…
Well said. Sure we could have stayed at Highbury and perhaps grabbed a few more trophies in this last decade, but we would likely be a mid table club by 2020 if not allready. But Wenger saw the writing on the wall and knew what was coming and he Basically rebuilt the whole club from the ground up adding a world class stadium, facilities, key staff etc and put us in a position where our future looks bright and the sky is the limit and we are actually capable to take up the fight with the Mega clubs that has… Read more »
He has been the manager of Arsenal for almost my whole life (I’m 21). He is the only Arsenal that I know… Although at times in the latter years there have been moments where he just made me be like, “the fuck?” I’ll never ever be able to fully disrespect this man. What other manager could have done what he did when we had no money to build a squad? Incredibly underrated by the media and pundits etc but sadly also our fans… He isn’t perfect but he is certainly one of the greatest managers of all time… Would love… Read more »
A fantastic first decade then a lousy eight years. The saddest thing about Wenger’s tenure is that It’ll probably end in disgrace, with him being sacked after we drop out of the top four. Had he walked away after that Champions’ League Final defeat against Barcelona then he would have been remembered by everyone as the perfect Arsenal manager. Now he’ll be remembered as much for the 8-2, 6-3, 6-0 and 5-1 defeats as he will for the Invincibles and the two doubles. It’s almost tragic watching the brilliant young manager who walked into the old stadium 18 years ago… Read more »
Air your thoughts/views if you like, but don’t be pompuous and presumptuous that those views represent “everyone”, “us”, “we”…
“Hurt the club”???!!! You probably should ask the fans of leeds, Rangers, bkackburn what “hurt” means
Read Al Gilmore’s comment above, espescially the last line. What do you think would have happened to Arsenal without Wenger in charge when we moved to the Emirates, and who would you have had instead as Arsenal’s manager by the way?
FG, do you remember the shock 3-2 loss against Luton in the 88-89 season, the 3-1 loss to Tottenham in the 90-91 season or the loss to Wrexham in the 91-92 season, all under Graham? Maybe you remember the rather large bung he took from Rune Hauge which lead to his sacking. Or do you in fact remember a staunch defence and ability to win 1-0 and the defence that Arsene inherited?
It’s easy to pick and choose your facts to support your argument but, as stated above, don’t lump all supporters in with your blinkered views.
I think it’s only half fair to pin the last 10 years on Wenger. It’s a difficult period, no doubt about that and he got us through finishing in Champions League places. And he will always have that invincible season, that was a really great thing. But this season, somehow with the shackles off a bit, with money to spend, I’m not sure of his way of squad building anymore. Yes we are not Barcelona, selling off 10 players and then bringing in 12 but he has stuck out his neck too long for rubbish players that he signed as… Read more »
Fatgooner, you really do have no idea. We may have gone 9 years without winning anything but look at the position that Arsenal are in now. Do you really think that without selling our soul (like city and chelski) that Arsenal would still be a top 4 club and one of the most respected outfits in europe without Wenger? Arsenal, like all other clubs, do not have a god given right to win things. What Wenger has done is guide us through 8/9 years of financial difficulty (while always making top 4) and left us in a position where we… Read more »
Could do with some of those defenders
I have that exact team poster on my wall, gosh cant believe its 18 years old.
I’ve been lucky enough to only really know araenal thought the good times. First with graham where just to see arsenal win titles was amazing and then with wenger where we have seen some of the best football, best teams and best players to grace our club. All thanks to Mr Wenger.
Today I was also lucky enough to get here in time to read a @fatgooner post before it was deleted, happy days 😀