Arsene Wenger celebrated his 20th anniversary as Arsenal boss this month. The Frenchman’s first game in charge of the London side was on October 12, 1996, a match in which the Gunners beat Blackburn 2-0 on that day.
Wenger is the Premier League’s longest serving manager and has held the title ever since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013.
There will probably be quite a bit of fanfare around the Emirates when Arsenal play their next home game. Wenger’s achievement is no small feat. He’s given us the invincibles, beautiful football and many a laugh.
This list, however, will focus on the gaffer’s less memorable moments. Here are five of them below.
#5 Zipper Fails
The manager’s long-standing enmity with his coat zippers is well documented. Wenger has fought with the nasty little things for years, and somehow always gets caught on camera at the very moment he’s comically trying to zip them up.
He has had several rivals throughout his career as Gunners boss. His spats with Jose Mourinho are quite entertaining, and he has also been at Loggerheads with the legendary Ferguson. Alan Pardew, David Moyes and Sam Allardyce are some notable names he’s gone up against.
He came out on top of each of those managers at least once, but he just can’t seem to break the zipper hoodoo.
Fortunately, Puma has come to his rescue with a specially designed coat just for him. But you never know with Arsene.
#4 His knack for passing up on superstars
If there’s one thing Wenger is good at, it’s spotting young talent. Or at least that’s what Arsenal would have us believe.
Sure, the Frenchman has blooded in a host of talent during his 20 years as boss. But what about those he could have signed but didn’t, who have blossomed into the Zlatans, Ronaldos, Toures and Martials of today’s game?
And it does not stop there. Wenger once said that he could have signed Didier Drogba for a meagre fee of just £100,000 when the striker was at Le Mans. Apparently, he didn’t feel, the now Chelsea legend, was good enough for Arsenal.
To date, no one has scored more goals against Wenger’s Gunners than the Ivorian.
#3 He can’t keep the talent he does secure
Every Arsenal fan probably remembers Emmanuel Adebayor running the length of the pitch to celebrate in front of them after scoring a goal for Manchester City.
Or how Robin van Persie moved to Manchester United because of some little boy inside of him who wouldn’t shut up?
There’s also Cesc Fabregas signing for one of Arsenal’s biggest rivals, Chelsea, after deserting them to return home to Catalonia.
It would seem that Wenger has a hard time keeping his stars in the club. Thierry Henry, one of the most legendary figures to ever play for the Gunners, left for Barcelona as well. Samir Nasri and Gael Clichy also moved to Manchester City a few years back.
(Video Courtesy: Fox Sports YouTube Channel)
Even more hurtful, is the fact that all of these players – save Adebayor – went on to win major trophies upon leaving Arsenal.
Certainly, something to forget for Gunners fans as much as Wenger?
#2 Losing 8-2 to Manchester United
Surely a very embarrassing scoreline for any top manager to ever have to be on the losing end of. But Wenger has been there.
Even Sir Alex admitted that he wanted his team to stop scoring that day, as he couldn’t stand to see a coach held in such high regard humiliated in such a manner – that’s how bad it was.
(Video Courtesy: MANUTDcomps7 YouTube Channel)
"Of course you feel humiliated when you concede eight goals," he said after the unfortunate rout. "It was a terrible day."
It wasn’t the only time poor Arsene would lose by a six-goal deficit, though. The 66-year-old suffered a 6-0 defeat to Mourinho and Chelsea two years ago. And what’s worse is that the embarrassing loss came on his 1000th match in charge.
#1 The league trophy drought
This is certainly Arsenal’s season to win the title. But then, so was last season, and the season before that, as well as the season before that. And don’t forget that other season when they really should have won the league but didn’t.
As a matter of fact, the Gunners should have won the title every year since 2004.
But two FA Cups and a Community Shield are all they’ve managed to win since then. As good a manager as he is, Wenger must know that going 11 years without winning the Premier League trophy is unacceptable.
What’s even more unacceptable is the fact that Leicester City won it when he had his best chance to out of all these past seasons.
But at least he finished above Tottenham. And that always counts for something in North London.
