The Velvet glove
THERE was something quite remarkable about Arsenal’s pivotal local derby at Highbury against Tottenham last April in the Premiership.It wasn’t the bizarre penalty decision awarded against David Seaman with 10 minutes remaining, nor the equally inexplicable decision by ref Mike Halsey to grant the Gunners a reprieve (and a 2-1 victory) by way of an equally dubious penalty five minutes later.
Only when Arsene Wenger virtually shook with relief at the full-time whistle did the 38,000 supporters and millions of TV viewers conclusively determine that it is blood, not ice, that courses through the veins of the most cerebral manager in the Premiership.
However, those in his inner circle have long recognised the rich personl and tactical talents of a man who opened up the closed minds and doors of the Premiership to the concept of foreign and fresh coaching ideas.
Ingredients, as any educated palate can confirm, are no good without a master chef. Wenger is Arsenal’s Patrick Gilbaud but there’s something else which makes him unusual. The players at Highbury love him.
“There is a mystique about Arsene, but I could tell you why he has this aura, he generates thought processes in players with ideas from afar, having initially moulded the characters he wants,” explains the now retired Lee Dixon.
“There were times, Tony Adams and I talked about this, when we felt things should have been said after games, but he does not believe in saying things in the heat of the moment,” added Dixon.
“Even on a Monday after a poor Saturday, when we were waiting for him to say something, nothing would be said. That silence often said more, Using the art of auto suggestion, something he learnt in Japan, he left it to you to figure out.”
“The manager has been perfect to me,” Ashley Cole, the left-back, adds. “He gives me confidence. He gave the whole team confidence by saying we could do the double last season. I can’t think of a calmer manager.”
“He’s a brilliant manager,” the red-streaked wonder, Freddie Ljungberg, says. “He never confuses a player. He keeps advice simple and never screams at us.”
Cool, calm and collecting trophies, Wenger handles inquisitors with equal composure and humour. Where Alex Ferguson greets discomforting questions with 1,000-yard stares and a blast of the verbal hairdryer, Wenger resorts to levity. Asked to divulge last Sunday’s Community Shield team in advance at Friday’s press conference, Wenger replied “Arsenal Football Club.”
“If I said I was always calm, I would be lying - you can look calm without being calm. But what takes my nerves away is knowing my team are hugely motivated and will give everything to win.”
Tony Adams, who has also left the Highbury happydome (though the club has not, as reported, retired the No 6 jersey in his honour), spoke of the emotional moment in June when Wenger rang him and asked to meet him personally to thank Adams for everything he had done at the club.
“There have been some really special people over the years I have loved to bits. Arsene is one of them,” Adams says. “I thanked him too for the last six years and we hugged. It was very moving and I was holding back the tears. I said ‘I hope our paths cross again because you are a really lovely man’.”
Adams also reconises Wenger’s nod to the Highbury past. Arsenal’s head of youth development is Liam Brady, Gary Lewin, a former apprentice at Arsenal, is the physio. Arsenal’s ex-pro and celebrity XI regularly stars Peter Marinello, Steve Williams and Eddie Kelly.
Keeping things in the family, the grandson of goalkeeping coach Bob Wilson was mascot at Old Trafford in last season’s FA Cup semi-final. Kid-gloves Louis is already a promising keeper but also ponders a career in music, inspired by his favourite band, The Who. Louis is seven. They mature early at Arsenal.
Wenger appreciates all this. He makes mistakes, of course. His unwillingness to gamble on Brady’s hugely talented tyros, Cole excepted, frustrates many within Highbury.
However the manager brought in young Ivory Coast sensation Koulo Toure in Cardiff on Sunday and has indicated that this season, Jermaine Pennant, Jeremie Alladiere and Sebastien Svard will also get their opportunity.
Sure of his own judgement, Wenger gives newcomers time to settle in.
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