Weekend Coming, Adebayor 'Suspended Ban' and 13 Years of Wenger

Good morning everybody, it's Friday and while all the other Arsenal Blogs do something special, I'll be doing the same old same old.  I'll have to work out some kind of Friday thing but in the mean time here's the blog.

We'll start with the Adebayor business.  He's been given a 25,000 pound fine and a 'suspended ban' of 2 matches because the FA are full of inept morons who couldn't tell the difference between Adebayor's spin heavy interviews and the truth, or their assholes from their ear holes.   25,000 pounds won't be going anywhere useful either, surely into the pockets of the board.  They've sighted the fact that they want to cut out abusive chants so they don't feel an immediate ban is necessary.  Idiots. 

We've got the Anti-football Walrus and Blackburn on Sunday but we'll have more on that in the next couple of days.  If you're in Atlanta like me, hopefully I'll see you at the BrewHouseCafe, the best football pub in the country, it's an Arsenal pub too, there's a link to the right.

And now onto Wenger becoming our longest serving manager a couple of days ago.  What can you be except perfectly happy and passionately respectful.  The man is one of the best managers there ever was and we're lucky to have him.  He came around when we were an Aston Villa type of club and not only turned our club around but completely changed the premier league.  There's no manager that has had such a profound influence on football in England ever and that alone makes him a living legend.

He took over in a surprising and risky move as Bruce Rioch was doing a fine job of improving the team, particularly with the signing of Dennis Bergkamp.  Wenger was an unknown manager having been sacked by Monaco, albeit for no particular reason, and was managing in Japan when David Dien recommended him for manager after sacking Rioch.

'Arsene Who?' read the headlines but looking at his record he was the perfect man for the job.  He grew up in Strasbourg where his parents owned a spare car parts shop and a pub, which they lived above.  He attributes his football knowledge to this:

There is no better psychological education than growing up in a pub... I learned about tactics and selection from the people talking about football in the pub - who plays on the left wing and who should be in the team.

He played amateur football until he was scouted and played limited professional football, making just 12 appearances for RC Strasbourg.  The defender didn't last long as he was named youth coach just 3 years after his debut.  By then he had earned a degree in Electrical Engineering, a Masters' Degree in Economics and a managers Diploma.

He managed a few teams in France after climbing the ladder and was later named Monaco manager.  He enjoyed success at Monaco and made big name signings like Hoddle, Weah and Klinsman.  He won the French league and when he was about to be hired by Bayern Munich his move was blocked and then he was sacked.

He took a job in Japan managing Grampus Eight from Nagoya.  He turned the club around, taking them from relegation trouble to runners up as well as winning the Japanese version of the FA Cup.  Then David Dein, who had become friend with Wenger somewhere along the way made him our manager and he's been the man ever since.

He's turned around the English game opening the doors for foreign players, who now make the league so competitive so as to make it the best team in the world, making England a national team to be reckoned with as well.  He changed training sessions, became personally involved with the players, acting mentor as well as boss.  He bossed the press and kept business quiet.  He controlled the players' diets.  He's the only foreign manager to have won the double, having won it twice, he was the only manager to go the entire season unbeaten away in 2002 and then became the only invincible manager in 2004.

He made Arsenal the best team in the world on several occasions, he speaks English, French, Italian, Spanish, German and Japanese, he is Arsenal, he is Arsene Wenger.