Arsene Wenger: A 1 Man Tribute

True or false: the reason's why we love Arsene Wenger

Let’s play a game. It is called “True or False” and this week’s subject is Arsène Wenger. Here goes . . .

1) Wenger is fluent in five languages, including Japanese.

2) He is 6ft 1in tall.

3) The club he supported in his youth were Borussia Mönchengladbach.

4) He won a French league title as a player with Strasbourg in 1979.

5) He is teetotal.

6) He has a degree in engineering and a masters degree in economics.

7) His late father, Alphonse, was forced to fight for Germany during the Second World War.

8) He has an asteroid named after him.

9) He is on the payroll of Castrol.

10) He is married to Annie Brosterhous, a former basketball player.

11) He fielded three teenagers and only one player over the age of 30 for Arsenal against Manchester United on Saturday.

The point — there is always a point, even when it might seem otherwise — is that, more than 12 years after he was appointed Arsenal manager, Wenger remains an enigma to the British public and the media. We seek to define him, but the labels we stick on him are contradictory: urbane and sophisticated yet one-dimensional, with few known interests outside of football; charming yet a charmless loser; ruthlessly competitive yet Corinthian to a fault; warm and compassionate yet cold and clinical.

We may never fully understand Wenger and in particular his devotion to football philosophy that he described this season, in a rare interview, as “an interesting experiment, an idealistic vision of the world of football”. Idealistic is one word for it; quixotic is another. Some might even go so far as misguided.

In adhering so firmly to his beliefs — in youth, in football as an art form rather than a contact sport — Wenger has left himself open to the kind of criticism that rained down on him until Arsenal struck back by beating United on Saturday. Because his belief in that philosophy is total, every victory is sweeter, every defeat hard to stomach. He is a purist, a hopeless romantic, at times perhaps even a romantic without hope. But, deep down, romantics always have hope. It is why we love them.

OLIVER KAY