Arsene Wenger's 1,000th Arsenal game: Watch exclusive video of Fabregas, Adams, Vieira, Seaman and Co pay tribute to boss



Ahead of his 1,000th match in charge of Arsenal - a daunting Saturday lunchtime trip to Chelsea - Sportsmail tracked down 19 former players and asked them to lift the lid on the real Arsene Wenger. Here's what they had to say about the legendary Gunners boss in an exclusive video for MailOnline Sport....

VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: Arsenal stars pay tribute to Wenger (full version)

Arsene Wenger's 1,000th game VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: Arsenal stars' tribute to Wenger (short version)

IT'S ARSENE WENGER DAY! To celebrate Arsene Wenger's 1,000th game in charge at Arsenal MailOnline Sport has declared today 'Arsene Wenger Day' .

Follow all the fun as we honour the French man all day long on our Twitter channel.

CLICK HERE to join the action @MailSport

DAVID SEAMAN

Arsenal 1990-2003; 564 appearances



We were travelling to Aston Villa. We were in the hotel and Arsene is so obsessed with his football that we watched it every time we had a meal. This time, he went up to get his dessert - he put his apple pie on his plate — and as he has turned away from the table he’s watched the football and carried on walking, but what he didn’t know was that his apple pie had slipped on to the floor.

We all saw this but he walked back, looking at the TV. He then got to his seat, put his plate down and then, as he’s looked, he’s gone 'AHHHH' in shock.

Dream team: Seaman (left) and Wenger share a joke at Arsenal's Colney training ground HQ in 2003 Right-hand man: Wenger and Seaman line up prior to the 2003 FA Cup final with Southampton at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff Pep talk: Wenger issues instructions to Seaman from the dug-out during Arsenal's 1-0 Champions League defeat by Bayern Munich in March 2001

WILLIAM GALLAS



2006-2010; 142 appearances, 17 goals



After a defeat, we had a meeting at the training ground and some players were late. Arsene was furious. And then he started his meeting, started to talk to us, and then one more player arrived late in the dressing room and he was still furious. He started to speak again about how badly we played.



And then one more player arrived in the dressing room and he could not be angry any more so he started to laugh. All of the players started to laugh as well and it was a really, really funny situation.

You beauty! Wenger hugs William Gallas after the defender scored a last-minute equaliser against Manchester United in November 2007 A HISTORY OF EXCELLENCE

1996-97 - League position: 3rd , top scorer: Ian Wright (30)

1997-98 - League position: 1st , tr ophies: Premier League, FA Cup , top scorer: Dennis Bergkamp (22)

1998-99 - League position: 2nd , t rophy: Community Shield, top scorer: Nicolas Anelka (19)

1999-2000 - League position: 2nd , t rophy: Community Shield , top scorer: Thierry Henry (26)

2000-01 - League position: 2nd , to p scorer: Thierry Henry (22)

2001-02 - League position: 1st , trophies: Premier League, FA Cup, t op scorer: Thierry Henry (32)

2002-03 - League position: 2nd , trophies: FA Cup, Community Shield , top scorer: Thierry Henry (32)

2003-04 - League position: 1st , trophy: Premier League , t op scorer: Thierry Henry (39)

2004-05 - League position: 2nd , t rophies: FA Cup, Community Shield , top scorer: Thierry Henry (30)

2005-06 - League position: 4th , top scorer: Thierry Henry (33)

2006-07 - League position: 4th , top scorer: Robin van Persie (13)

2007-08 - League position: 3rd , top scorer: Emmanuel Adebayor (30)

2008-09 - League position: 4th , top scorer: Robin van Persie (20)

2009-10 - League position: 3rd , top scorer: Cesc Fabregas (19)

2010-11 - League position: 4th , top scorer: Robin van Persie (22)

2011-12 - League position: 3rd , top scorer: Robin van Persie (37)

2012-13 - League position: 4th , top scorer: Theo Walcott (21)

2013-14 - Current league position: 3rd , t op scorer: Olivier Giroud (18) EMMANUEL PETIT

1997-2000; 118 appearances, 11 goals



We were travelling by train from London and I had a big problem in my personal life.



My second wife was pregnant and she didn’t want to keep the baby for difficult reasons.

I was very quiet and Arsene came to me on the train as he’s known me for a long time.



Then he asked me what was my problem and I told him the truth.

He said: ‘Life is more important than football so if you have to go and miss the game, I give you the permission to go back to France’.

I really appreciated that.



He said: ‘I’ll let you go and take all the days you want. If you want to stay for one week, two weeks, you regroup your problems and you come back with a free mind’.

FREDDIE LJUNGBERG

1998-2007; 328 appearances, 72 goals



I see him as a very intelligent and respectable man, I almost see him as my own father figure.

I think it’s funny when I see Arsene — who has such a calmness — throw his water bottle when he gets annoyed on Match of the Day.

I always giggled because it’s not really his personality when you talk to him normally.

JENS LEHMANN

2003-2011; 200 appearances



We drew at Villarreal and I saved a penalty in the last minute.



We were cheering in the dressing room, and he came out and said: ‘Well, Jens, if you always make saves like that I should take you out the team more often’.

He was referring to the time one-and-a-half years before when he took me out of goal.

Down on one knee: Emmanuel Petit celebrates a goal against Leeds in a 3-1 win during the 1998-99 season

Favourite: Freddie Ljungberg made over 300 appearances for the Gunners during his nine years in north London

Bend: Ljungberg scores in the 2002 FA Cup final against Chelsea at the Millennium Stadium Champion: Ljungberg holds the Premier League trophy aloft at the end of the 2001-02 season

MARTIN KEOWN

1981-2004

449 appearances; 8 goals

I always felt the boss left an indelible mark on people. I was once wearing a stripy shirt and he said to me: ‘You cannot wear that shirt again tomorrow. If you wear a plain shirt you can wear it as many times as you want because no one will recognise it. Keep your life simple, you don’t need lots of jewellery, you don’t need lots of cars or houses. Keep your life simple, take that on to the pitch and you’ll play that way with your football. '

LEE DIXON

1988-2002

619 appearances; 28 goals

Arsene called me into the office one day and apologised to me on behalf of Arsenal football club because he’d seen my wages on my contract. Not long after he’d been there, he checked all the players' contracts and realised that in recent years, me and Nigel (Winterburn), the two full backs, tended to get left out when it came to wage rises. He looked at our wages and said: ‘That’s not right, it’s a team game’, and he improved our contracts.

ALEX SONG

2005-2012; 204 appearances, 24 goals



I always think about that the first day I trained with him when he said to me, ‘Look how good your first touch is’. And he was still talking about that five years later. Hopefully this year, for the 1,000th game, you will win a trophy because it’s very important.

Full stretch: Jens Lehmann tips a volley from Wayne Rooney over the crossbar

On the march: Alex Song in action against Marseille in the Champions League

NIGEL WINTERBURN

1987-2000; 584 appearances, 12 goals

On a pre-season trip to Austria, we had a very small hotel in the middle of nowhere. We were sitting down for our lunch one day in little groups of tables. All of a sudden we were watching the staff table and we could see Arsene Wenger shuffling around on his seat and he looked outside and saw him waving to this guy. The guy was gesturing back to Arsene that he couldn’t really make out what he was saying, so Arsene said, ‘Wait there, I’ll come and just open the window and speak to you’. Well these were these massive windows – they must have been four foot by four foot. They had these dual aspect handles on them so you turned them down to make the window swing open, and then you turned them the opposite way back up on themselves and the window opened to the inside. Arsene gets up from his seat and walks up to the window and his friend starts coming closer to the window. He goes to open the window and he opens it the wrong way round, so rather than the window coming open where you can peer through, the window just came straight back at him and literally smashed him straight across the forehead! All the players on the table I was on literally were just rolling around on the floor. We were hiding underneath the tables so that he didn’t realise that we were laughing at him, but he turned round and obviously saw our table. He turned round to our physio Gary Lewin and said: ‘Gary, are they laughing at me?’



EDUARDO

2007-2010; 67 appearances, 21 goals



Arsenal were playing away to Bolton and we won 2-0. I made two assists and then the next day in the restaurant before training he came to me and told me: ‘For me, the most important thing is assists rather than for you to score’.

But he told me that, ‘For you Eduardo it is most important to score than the two assists’.

CESC FABREGAS

2003-2011; 303 appearances, 57 goals



I just want to say congratulations. You made such a big impact on so many players’ careers, especially on mine. I owe you everything.

PATRICK VIEIRA

1996-2005; 406 appearances, 33 goals



What was quite really impressive with Arsene is that I would go in his office really upset, really frustrated, wanting to make a point. I knew that I was right, so my ideas were clear about what I wanted to tell him. I would go into his office but when I came back out, it was always him who was right! He was really good at trying to change your mind and he did it in a calm, laid-back way.

RAY PARLOUR

1988-2004; 466 appearances, 32 goals



Arsene didn’t have a go at you too often, but when he did he used to get you in the dressing room at the training ground.

On one occasion, he tried to tell us off and, all of a sudden, three phones went off all at once.

He was going mad, saying: ‘Whose phone is this? Whose is phone is this? Next phone goes off gets a £10,000 fine’.

Two days later we were all sitting in a room strecthing ahead of a game and it was always very quiet. All of a sudden, a phone goes off.

It just kept ringing and everyone was diving into their pockets saying ‘Whose phone is this? They’ve got a £10,000 fine!”

It kept ringing and ringing, and ringing and ringing. All of a sudden Arsene walked over to his bag, opened it and his phone was going off. He said, ‘£10,000 to me’ and he started laughing.



Blast: Ray Parlour scores from long range against Chelsea in the 2002 FA Cup final in Cardiff

Product: Cesc Fabregas came through the ranks at Arsenal before rejoining his old club Barcelona

Force: Patrick Vieira and Petit dominated the midfield area for Arsenal during their time together Drought: Vieira lifts the FA Cup in 2005, Arsenal's last major trophy

KOLO TOURE

2002-09; 326 appearances

I was coming on trial and was desperate to stay, and everything I could’ve seen I was ready to smash. I remember we were playing a game, attack against defence. The ball went out and Mr Wenger went to get the ball back. Instead of waiting, I was so keen to show I was ready to fight in this game. I just carried on running and made a big tackle on Mr Wenger. Afterwards all the players were smiling, joking and I was really, really scared.

I thought it was going to be the end of my days at Arsenal. Maybe that tackle made the change because he realised the power I had in the tackle.

TONY ADAMS

1983-2002; 669 appearances, 47 goals

I had a conversation about God with him once over a cup of tea. It was kind of really enlightening and very spiritual and very moving. He was kind to me and people don’t really see that — in a working relationship it’s very rare but he is very open and a lovely man.

GRAHAM STACK

1998-2006; 5 appearances



I think we played in Moscow and we’d got back to Luton in the very early hours of the morning. We’d won, got back to the training ground, dropped off our boots and I remember leaving in the car park, it must have been close to three in the morning. As I walked past the manager’s office, I just had a quick look through the office and he was sitting there watching the game that we had just played in. He is just a total, total football man, a perfectionist.

Kings: Tony Adams lifts the Premier League and FA Cup after Arsenal's double-winning 2001-02 season

ARSENE WENGER BY NUMBERS

180 - The number of players used by Wenger in his time at Arsenal Wenger's league of nations

The Frenchman has used players from 46 countries. Here are his top five:

11 - Trophies won by Wenger: three Premier League titles, four FA Cups and four Community Shields 57.96% - Wenger’s win percentage in his 999 matches as Arsenal manager 49 - League games unbeaten from start of 2003-04 season 228 - Goals scored by Thierry Henry under Wenger 1,845 - Goals scored by Arsenal in all competitions under Wenger 17 - Consecutive years Wenger has led Arsenal to a top-four finish

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AND THE MAIL MAN'S VIEW



NEIL ASHTON



The moment he halted the press conference before last season’s Champions League clash with Bayern Munich and said: ‘Why are you looking at me.’ I said the first thing that entered my head - ‘because it’s your press conference’ - and am just grateful that was my response. He was under huge pressure before a big game and he had forgotten I worked for the Mail, the paper he reads at home, and mistakenly believed I had written a story about his future as Arsenal manager.







