Arsenal is a football club in the Premier League, and it has been around since 1866, when the workers of Woolwich Arsenal Armament Factory ended up forming the club. At the start of 1989, Arsenal had suffered from several disagreements and scandals. Besides their troubling seasons, their reputation soon rose when a man named Arsène Wenger arrived.
Wenger was born on October 22, 1949. He is a former French football manager and player, who is currently serving as FIFA’s Chief of Global Football Development. From 1996 to 2018, he was also the manager of Arsenal. He built the team into one of the most successful clubs in the history of the Premier League.
Wenger was confident that he could return Arsenal to the top, but he was frequently asked, “Who is Arsène?” However, that wasn’t enough to stop him from continuing to develop the players and the team. Unless they adopted his training and nutrition schedule, Wenger’s top priority for the club was to gain the respect of every player and contribute to the extension of their careers.
The sports media had big doubts about Wenger’s time as head of Arsenal, and they didn’t expect him to change the team in any way, shape or form. The commonly held perspective was that Wenger would be the first manager to be sacked as a rookie, but soon after the first month of the season, all doubts were turned around.
In his first year as manager, Wenger helped Arsenal move up from 12th place to 3rd place in the league. This improved showing occurred, despite the conditions he faced in the beginning.
It was Wenger’s first official summer season, and he wanted a bigger and better change for Arsenal, which he provided. Since he had incredible experience with the French market, it was easier for him to sign players to the team. He brought in numerous athletes, who were mostly French and Dutch league players, and he held painstaking training camps in Austria. Wenger had an open and positive mindset for their season, but unfortunately, it didn’t exactly turn out how he had planned.
In any event, the 1997-98 season was the most successful one for Wenger, as he became the first foreign manager ever to win the Premier League. The following season, Arsenal lost the championship to their bitter rivals, Manchester United.
Arsenal suffered again for many years, and several players left to join Manchester United and Barcelona for a better chance to win. For a while, Arsenal was a typical runner-up to the league title.
Eventually, Arsenal was able to stay undefeated and win the Premier League championship once again with Wenger. After a particular win over Leicester, they got a new nickname: “The Invincibles”.
Under the management of Arsène Wenger, Arsenal was one of the best and most successful clubs during those years, with three Premier League titles, seven FA Cups, and forty-nine victories. Before Wenger’s arrival, Arsenal suffered through all kinds of losses, issues, and scandals, but everything changed once he entered the stadium. He was truly the greatest coach in the history of the Arsenal franchise and the greatest coach ever in the Premier League.
Towards the end of Wenger’s era, on April 20, 2018, it was time for him to step down as the Arsenal manager. A year later, Mikel Arteta became the head coach of Arsenal on December 20, 2019. He was a former Arsenal player, who had worn number five for five seasons as a midfielder.
Arteta was born on March 28, 1982 in San Sebastián. He is a Spanish football manager, and he was an assistant coach for Manchester United from 2016 to 2019. He has been the manager of Arsenal since 2019.
Whenever Arteta entered their kingdom, Arsenal started making goal after goal and putting other teams in the net. Arteta wanted to create a strong coordination to bring back players to beat the other teams. Unfortunately, during that first season, Arsenal ended up losing to Manchester City, and they finished in eighth place in the FA Cup Final.
Arteta finally got the players he hoped would create a dominant team. Sadly, that didn’t go as planned for Arsenal, and they started losing so badly in the beginning that they were in 15th place, before finishing back in the 8th position. That still wasn’t good enough for Arsenal to qualify for the FA Cup, and they missed the cut for the first time since 1996.
Arteta was disappointed with the result for Arsenal, but he didn’t give up on the team yet. The next summer, he was prepared to rebuild the team again and make them undefeated. The only way he felt comfortable with the team was to sign more players and to have secure coordination on the field.
As Arsenal was improving on the scoreboard, they ended up being first in their division, with twelve wins. Even though Arteta has not yet won the Premier League championship with Arsenal, he has still guided them to many successful seasons.
Arteta is still the manager for Arsenal for the 2023-24 season, and so far he is sitting in 3rd place in the Premier League. Let’s hope this year will be Arsenal’s year to win the Premier League title with Mikel Arteta!
Recently, however, there have been a ton of conversations about who has been the better manager for Arsenal: Arteta or Wenger. But there is no question that Wenger is the all-time best.
During Wenger’s twenty-two seasons with Arsenal, they were the top team, with undefeated seasons and three Premier League titles. Not only was Arsenal the dominant team during his tenure, but Wenger made them bigger and better. Before he arrived, they were known as a boring team, but under his management, they were The Invincibles.
If you have enjoyed reading this article about these two great coaches, you should check out this video about Arsène Wenger’s career. There is also a great documentary series called All or Nothing: Arsenal.
