16 November 2020 FourFourTwoI
n the depths of winter, everything
started with A Midsummer Night’s
Dream. Arsene Wenger has broken
into a chuckle, as he thinks back to
what may well have been the most
important game of his life.
This game did not take place on
a football field, but inside a London
house in January 1989. “We played
charades,” smiles Wenger, recalling
the memory to FourFourTwo.
Back then, he was 39 years old,
midway through his second season
in charge of Monaco. His first had
delivered the Ligue 1 title.
Les Monegasques were getting ready to
play a European Cup quarter-final, so, during
France’s winter break, Wenger visited Turkey
to scout opponents Galatasaray. Before his
return to the Cote d’Azur, he fancied seeing
a game in England. He phoned the agent of
Glenn Hoddle, his star man at Monaco, who
suggested an Arsenal fixture at Highbury.
There, at half-time, Wenger met David Dein
for the very first time.
The Gunners’ vice-chairman invited him
to dinner later that evening, at the home ofa showbusiness friend, where a game of
charades broke out. Wenger had to describe
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the William
Shakespeare play written in the 16th century.
Given that charades originated in France,
it probably shouldn’t have been a surprise
that he passed with flying colours. Dein was
impressed by Wenger that night. Whether
the Monaco coach realised it or not, his job
interview to become Arsenal manager had
begun – aided by a game in which he’d said
nothing at all.
“It was an unusual test for a manager to
be successful,” laughs Wenger. “A musical
group hosted us, and it was an interesting
evening. I don’t know how good I was at
charades – I don’t play any more now. But
David always told me, ‘I realised
that night you were
not stupid!’”“YOU’RE KILLIn G
YOUR CAREER”Things could have
turned out differently
for the Frenchman, butfor a pivotal 12 months early in his coaching
career. Just a year before he won the league
with Monaco, Wenger had been relegated.
He’d become a manager for the first time
at 34, after a largely undistinguished playing
career. Wenger grew up in a farming village
in the Alsace region, near the German border,
where tractors didn’t even materialise until
he was 14. He learned to milk cows, but soon
became obsessed with football – developing
a love for his local club, Strasbourg, and the
great Real Madrid team of Alfredo Di Stefano
and Ferenc Puskas.
As a teenager, Wenger was found to have
a hollow at the top of his spine, thought to
be caused by heaving heavy sacks of coal.
Doctors warned him that he
could be in a wheelchair by
40, but he still moved into
amateur football, playing
in midfield for Mutzig while
studying economics at the
University of Strasbourg.
By 28, he’d worked his
way up to boyhood club
Strasbourg, in France’s
top division – althoughBelow Starting out
as a midfielder with
Strasbourg; before
leading Monaco to
French cup successARSEn E
WEn GER