It’s 20 years since Arsene Wenger was unveiled as Arsenal manager*…and what a ride it’s been since.

To celebrate we’ve picked out 20 moments that have defined his time in North London.

Feel free to share your favourite moments in the comment section below. Enjoy.

*He officially started work on 1 October 1996.



1. Vieira Signs

Wenger’s fingerprints were all over Vieira’s signing even though it was pushed through five weeks before his own arrival.

Paddy quickly became the fulcrum of the Gunners midfield making 406 appearances in nine years and winning three Premier League titles and four FA Cups.

2. The 97/98 Double

Arsenal were 12 points behind reigning champions Manchester United at the end of February, before a winning streak of nine matches ensured we won the championship with a 4–0 win over Everton on 3 May 1998.

“And it’s Tony Adams put through by Steve Bould…would you believe it? That sums it all up!”

Well almost. We then went and beat Newcastle 2-0 to secure a first Double since 1971.

3. The French Connection

Wenger’s unrivalled knowledge of up and coming French talent proved rather useful in the early years.

First Anelka was signed, promoted and sold for a £21.5 million profit, then the boss snaffled World Cup winner Thierry Henry, then struggling at Juventus, and forged a legend.

4. Arson Wenger?

Out with the Mars bars, in with broccoli. That was step one. Step two was using £10 million from the sale of Anelka to create a state of the art training facility, opened in 1999, suitable for attracting and honing the skills of world class athletes. Nobody ever found out who burnt down the ramshackle buildings that the Gunners had been using on UCL’s land…

5. Double, Double, Double…

10 months after stealing Sol Campbell on a free from Sp*rs, the Arsenal secured their third Double. After a tight fight at the top we cruised to victory, scoring in every game, remaining unbeaten away, finishing the season with 13 successive wins and clinching the title at Old Trafford in our penultimate game.

Four days previously, the FA Cup had been sealed in Cardiff.

Pires, Ljungberg, Bergkamp, Wiltord, Kanu, Henry, the list goes on…

6. The Battle Of Old Trafford

A red card for Vieira, a last-gasp penalty miss by Ruud van Nistelrooy, Martin Keown’s reaction, handbags everywhere…and then fines and bans.

This 0-0 against Fergie’s United had everything…but goals. Having choked in the title race the season before, the single point galvanised the Gunners and formed the bedrock of our race to the title.

7. Fergie Mind Games

Relations thawed over the years but at the height of Arsenal’s rivalry with Manchester United the two managers went at each other like rutting stags.

“Everyone thinks they have the prettiest wife at home,” said Wenger in response to Ferguson’s 2002 claim that United had been the best side in the Premier League after Christmas despite Arsenal being crowned champions. The best of the rest can be read here.

It’s a mark of respect that Wenger played along at all. Whenever Jose Mourinho’s name is brought up by the press, the Frenchman’s eyes squint and he tries to change the subject.

Break his face Jose? You’re having a laugh.

8. Invincible

Very few managers have suggested that their team can go unbeaten. Fewer still have delivered on the ambition.

We don’t really need to write much here…The Gunners were simply awesome in 2003/04, winning 26 games and drawing 12 on the way to a 90-point haul. Oh…and did we mention we won the league at White Hart Lane? Again.

9. Forty-Nine, Forty-Nine, Undefeated

The unbeaten run stretched into a third season as the Gunners started the 04/05 campaign in swaggering style. The gung-ho 5-3 victory over Middlesbrough on 22 August 2004 was a particular highlight as Wenger’s men battled back from 3-1 down to equal Nottingham Forest’s all-time League record sequence.

It took Wayne Rooney’s cheating in October’s Battle of the Buffet to finally end the most remarkable undefeated stretch in English football. Worth singing about, if you ask us.

10. Shootout In Cardiff

Patrick Vieira’s parting gift – a successful spot-kick to beat United on penalties after a turgid 120 minutes in Cardiff – proved to be a real line in the sand.

The Frenchman left for Juventus, the break-up of the Invincibles started in earnest and a trophy drought began. All this at a time when Roman Abramovich was reshaping the financial landscape of the transfer market.

11. Pain in Paris

It may have ended in heartbreak, but the run to the Champions League final in 2006, including wins over Juventus and Real Madrid and THAT Lehmann penalty save against Villarreal, will live long in the memory.

On a soaking wet night in the French capital, Frank Rijkaard’s Barcelona proved a hurdle too far. Down to ten men in the early stages, the Gunners put up a brave fight and even took the lead thanks to Sol Campbell’s thunderous header. Thierry Henry had a chance to double the lead (“harder Thierry, hit it harder!!!”) , before Samuel Eto’o and Juliano Belletti broke our hearts.

Arsene’s quest for European football’s Holy Grail goes on…

Fuck you Wayne Bridge. Fuck you.

12. A New Home

Nobody enjoyed saying goodbye to Highbury, however, with no room to expand capacity the move to a new stadium was inevitable. Pushing for change was far from a one-man job, but with Wenger committing his future to the club when suitors circled he provided a level of stability and forged squads that consistently competed for a top-four finish even without the financial muscle of big-spending rivals.

13. Project Youth

The idea was brave. Sell ageing stars for big money, invest in young talent from abroad and develop a football philosophy that permeates every level of the Academy and forges a newfound club spirit.

The first two thirds of the 2007/08 campaign hinted it might just work, only for inexperience, mental fragility and injuries to cost the club dear time and time again. There was also the issue of holding onto top quality players with the modern game awash with tempting big money contracts. The exits of Fabregas, Nasri and Van Persie were particularly grating, as was the League Cup final defeat to Birmingham.

14. Beating Barca

For one glorious night in February 2011 it wasn’t about winning the Champions League, it was about beating the world’s best side on home turf.

1-0 down at half time to Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona it looked an unlikely feat. Then came two goals in five beautifully frantic five minutes. First Van Persie scored at Victor Valdes’ near post to level things up. Then, with the game ticked towards 90 minutes, Wilshere, Fabregas and Nasri combined on the break for ‘Aaaaaaaaarshavin’ to net the winner. Has there ever been a bigger roar at the Emirates?

Naturally, we got spanked in the second leg.



15. Return Of The King

Arsenal’s 125th anniversary season needed a pick-me-up after the hammering at Old Trafford and it came in the form of Henry’s surprise return. Just days after having a statue unveiled, the club’s record scorer stepped off the bench against Leeds to do what he had done so many times before…find the net with a cushioned right foot effort to the far post.

The Emirates exploded. There were tears of joy, there was hysterical laughter, and there was Henry.

Listen to a mini-documentary about that goal here.

16. THAT Goal VS Norwich

If there’s one goal that sums up peak Wenger-ball, it’s Wilshere’s 18th minutes strike in the 4-1 win over Norwich in 2013.

Words don’t do it justice, so here’s the video…

17. King Of The One-Liner

Facing the press on a week-by-week basis for 20 years can’t have been easy, particularly during the nine years without a trophy, but for the most part Wenger has indulged Fleet Street with a smile on his face.

“I don’t kick dressing room doors or the cat or even football journalists,” he once said.

Quizzed on everything from Bob Marley and David Bowie to Brexit and beyond, the boss always seems to have an answer.

18. To Hull And Back

Finally, a trophy! But bloody hell, didn’t we go about it in the most Arsenal way possible. After a horribly tense shootout victory over Wigan in the semi-final, the Gunners rocked up for the final with Hull as favourites…and then promptly went two nil down inside ten minutes.

Thankfully, while the football world collectively guffawed at our ineptitude Santi Cazorla kept his cool and reduced the deficit with a fantastic free-kick. Laurent Koscielny’s equaliser set up extra-time before Aaron Ramsey wrote his name into the Arsenal annals with his late winner. The relief was palpable.

19. Le Prof In Full Flow…

It’s not often the boss gives in-depth interviews, but when he does (as he did with L’Equipe last year) you’re reminded why he’s so respected…

“I don’t want the will to educate to be opposed to the will to win. That makes the educator sound like an idiot. Any manager’s approach must be to educate. One of the beauties of our job is the power to influence the course of a man’s life in a positive way. You and me have been lucky enough to meet people who believed in us and led us forward. The streets are full of talented people but who didn’t have the luck of finding someone who placed their faith in them. I can be the one that facilitates life, that give an opportunity.”

20. Forever In Our Shadow

Did you know that Arsenal have never finished below Sp*rs in the entire time Arsene Wenger has been in charge? You did, didn’t you…