Arsene Wenger's 18th anniversary at Arsenal is a remarkable but rare achievement in contemporary game

Weird and wonderful: Arsene Wenger is an example of the benefits of stability and patience

It was 30 September 1996 and winter was fast approaching. Fog had struck, distorting the vision, but the headline emblazoned onto the London Evening Standard was perfectly visible, such was its visual appeal. “Arsene Who?”, it mockingly read.

18 long years later, the London Evening Standard has its answer. Arsene the trailblazer. Arsene the master. Arsene the youth developer. Arsene the “Invincible”. The list is continuous.

Wenger’s achievements in football are extraordinary, from feats such as the 2004 “Invincibles” Premier League triumph to his unerring faith in youth and their integration into the first-team. The luminous likes of Cesc Fabregas and Jack Wilshere would attest.

In becoming the first foreign manager to secure league title glory, the Frenchman, opposite to Jose Mourinho’s splenetic “specialist in failure” jibe, is a trailblazer and a global icon of stability and its importance. His 18th anniversary at Arsenal is both weird and wonderful in the contemporary climate, one of brutal and unsagacious decisions taken by tycoons without compunction.

Such is the temperamental impatience of current owners that the soaring rate of manager sacking is encapsulated by the League Managers Association’s insightful findings. The 10th longest serving manager in English football is Sam Allardyce, his standing earned courtesy of three seasons at West Ham. Alan Pardew, so dangerously on the brink at Newcastle, is ranked at 6th as merit for four terms in charge at St James’ Park.

Wenger, ten seasons clear of his closest rival, Paul Tisdale of Exeter City, sits proudly at the summit. The modern game needs more like Wenger and less like incredibly wealthy tycoons aspiring for, frankly, unrealistic instant success.

Into the unknown

Yet when Wenger arrived in English football, at September’s culmination in 1996, the Frenchman was more than a relative unknown. Arriving from Japanese club Nagoya Grampus Eight, Wenger had enjoyed spells in his native France as head coach of Monaco and Nancy-Lorraine. The eptiome of stability, Wenger spent three years at Nancy and seven at Monaco. One more year in the Cote d’Azur and the Frenchman would have equalled Paul Tisdale as the second-longest serving manager in English football.

When he did arrive, however, his considerable obscurity was not the solitary adversity confronted by Wenger. Not only was the Frenchman doubted by the media and the general football public, he was almost ridiculed by his own players, and more importantly, his own captain in Tony Adams.

At first, I thought “What does this Frenchman know about football?,” said Adams. “He wears glasses and looks more like a schoolteacher. He’s not going to be as good a Geogre (Graham). Does he even speak English properly?”.

Yet Wenger was unruffled, transforming the identity of a historic and illustrious club. In encouraging discipline, Wenger brought serenity and calm – The Frenchman regarded his composure as one of his greatest assets. “If you showed emotion in Japan, they would laugh at you,” he famously claimed, referring to his time in charge of Nagoya Grampus Eight.

His first season at Higbury was reflective of his approach, guiding Arsenal to the second league-cup double in the club’s history. Strictly speaking, it was a remarkable achievement, further embellished by the media storm which engulfed the Frenchman.

Wenger – Man for all seasons

Wenger, however, almost inevitably, will always be linked to his failures and his triumphs,. The seasons post-double were arduous and difficult, a winning mentality replaced by one of sorrow and despair. Losing the UEFA Cup final to Galatasaray (2001) and the FA Cup final to Liverpool (2002) in consecutive years, it may have seemed that Wenger had relinquished his polished winning touch.

Yet, with Wenger, that will never be the case. The Frenchman is an ardent believer in graft and audacity. The Frenchman refused to be daunted by three barren years and two successive major finals defeats, preaching patience to his receptive players and reminding them of their mercurial excellence, that form was temporary and class was permanent. His man-management was examined to the extreme yet he was calming and soothing, ultimately reaping the lucrative rewards.

Wenger refused to relinquish his unerring football philosophy, his unstinting faith in how the game should be played and promoted. The Frenchman is a purist dedicated to individual and collective technical quality and Arsenal’s double-winning season in 2001/02 was reflective of that.

Wenger finally won a trophy in 2014 – nine years after winning the last trophy.

Yet, frankly, a casually under-mined asset to Wenger’s management is his versatility. Although a believer in expansive, free-flowing football, Wenger's tactical sagacity has enabled him to assemble teams intended to produce disciplined performances, the 2005 FA Cup final victory over Manchester United an adequate example.

In the final at Cardiff, some would have decided to unleash Cesc Fabregas, Dennis Bergkamp and Robert Pires to impose their mercurial excellence on the final. Yet Wenger, exuding logic, was aware of Manchester United’s supremacy over his, admittedly, gifted assembly of stars, and instructed Fabregas to track Paul Scholes, Bergkamp monitored Cristiano Ronaldo and Pires ran himself into the ground in a gallant attempt to thwart Roy Keane.

A tight league title race in 2003 followed, Arsenal narrowly losing out to United, but Wenger encouraged his players ,demanding they return reinvogorated and strengthened by their near-miss experience. Not only did they return exuding sanguineness, they returned securing a golden Premier League winners’ medal, one of invincibility. It was a testament to Wenger’s skilled motivation of his players.

The Frenchman may, unfairly though, be remembered for his nine years without a trophy, or the 6-0 obliteration at Stamford Bridge on his 1,000 match in charge at Arsenal.

Yet Wenger must be revered for tearing history apart and proving his doubters wrong. He must be remembered for his influence on the permanent landscape of football management. Wenger, in essence, changed football forever in a rare but remarkable achievement in the contemporary game.