Arsene Wenger’s life, as he knows it, will look a lot different in a month’s time when he calls an end to his 22-year reign as Arsenal manager.
Richie McCormack was joined by Philip Quinn and Kieran Cunningham on the Sunday Paper Review to discuss a number of pressing issues that are taking up the papers, including the reaction to Wenger’s decision to leave Arsenal at the end of the season.
Wenger’s announcement initiated a wave of instant reaction as well as more considered reflective pieces about the Frenchman’s impact on the English game.
Kieran Cunningham, chief sports writer of the Irish Daily Star, believes Wenger’s influence opened the door for foreign coaches to taste what English football had to offer.
“I think you could make an argument that he’s the most influential figure in the history of the Premier League,” Cunningham said.
“Sir Alex Ferguson clearly won far more than him and [was] far more successful. But Ferguson was very much part of the culture of British football: from that background – west of Scotland, from a working class background and from the mines.
“Jonathan Northcroft lists off the successors and virtually all of them are from the continent – and he says that’s the big change that Wenger [has caused].
“When he came in [1996], Ruud Gullit was the only other manager from outside of England, Scotland or Ireland. Before [Wenger], foreign managers were all treated as joke figures.
“He was the first manager to field 10 outfield black players which was only 10 years after black players were being pelted with bananas at grounds – that was hugely significantly on its own.
“English football was very insular. The suspicion of ideas from abroad was very widespread and it still lingers. You see it with [Pep] Guardiola. The amount of people that wanted to see Guardiola fail because they thought: ‘who’s he coming in with his fancy notions of telling us how to play’?”
Philip Quinn of the Irish Daily Mail shared his appreciation for Wenger’s work during his time in north London and mapped out his potential replacement.
“But people did learn from Wenger. I think his body of work stands up very well [and] he did light the flame for English non-nationals to come into club management,” Quinn added.
“The [suggested] successors here: [Luis] Enrique, [Joachim] Low, [Massimiliano] Allegri and [Carlo] Ancelotti. You don’t have the Brian Clough figures that would have been around when he came in.”
Written by James Hopper
