Monday, March 9, 2009

My Arsene Wenger


I believe that your eyes are really the window of your soul and because of that, the first time i set my eyes on Arsene Wenger's piercing eyes, squinting at his players on the training ground, my feet turned jelly, my heart melted like a roll of butter on hot pan.

I am sure you've known about his sterling performance as Arsenal Manager that I wish to share his IQ and EQ sides of this special gentleman :P, which is rare in his chosen field of soccer.

Dubbed as The Prof by Uncle Fergie, 60-year old Mr Wenger has a degree in Engineering and a Master in Economics from Strasbourg University, Germany. Speaks some Italian and Japanese as he spent time coaching the clubs there, he is fluent in English, his mother tongue German, Spanish and French. In his meetings, you'd find graphs, statistics and minute-by-minute analysis of each player.

Unlike other managers who are tactical in their coaching, Mr Wenger adopts a laissez-faire approach that he prefers the players to learn instead of being told to as he believes "success is attained by thinking back over what we have achieved".

Most players who have trained under him thinks that his greatest influence is off the pitch. He never take side, judges his players by their quality and attitude, instead of passports, skin colour and faith (so, can i say he won't be gender-biased if he is a leader in an organisation like mine). He stands by his players when they were at lowest points in their life (Tony Addams' alcoholism) and encourages them to act as mentors to new players. He brought in a doctor to advise the team on appropriate diet regime and to caution them on the dangers of excessive drinking.

Mr Wenger is so forward-thinking, he built the club's youth sponsorship scheme and invested in the club's infrastructure (look at its magnificient Emirates Stadium). This is the man who gave us Thierry Henry. All in all, I got to say this - Arsene Wenger is so father-licious (i mean so fatherly, something to-die-for in a hubby :P)

I love these words of him, which made him a football legend, who knows how to make Arsenal keep challenging for honours with a shoestring budget: -

1. Success - I make it, I don't buy it

2. Who's my motivator? I just look in the mirror

3. I care about each of my players

4. No one gets left behind. If someone falls, we must pick him up

5. You can only change people who want to change

You may want to check out this exclusive interview with the Master himself, taken from The Arsenal Opus, a 850-page book on Arsenal, costing GBP3,000 and there are only 1,500 copies in circulation, here - "Why Wenger fears his dark side" and "All around entertainer".

I know my affection for him isn't too much as you can see from this commentary, even the men - yeah, like you lads out there, like him :)

"It was Wenger who made the analogy about having the most beautiful wife at home: even if you think she’s gorgeous, you can appreciate the finer points of other women or, in my case, men. And if we are going to start talking about attraction, something needs to be said about Arsène Wenger.

Ladies, you might just be missing something when it comes to Wenger. OK, so the anorak may take away something from the sartorial elegance and the face is one of character as opposed to cheeky-chappy good looks (Mourinho) but there is more to Wenger than a cashmere jumper and a good haircut.

I once saw him in a question and answer session at an expensive charity dinner and he stole the show; quick-witted, generous, charming and a fabulous raconteur (wink wink must-have traits for THE ONE). The next day I was at Arsenal’s training ground to interview Henry. Wenger popped in to say hello and I complimented him on his performance the night before. “Oh,” he said bashfully, “did you enjoy it?”

And that’s the attraction of the man – and his team. For his Arsenal, it’s about winning, of course, but it’s also about having a very good time, and this lends itself to an irresistible combination for those watching. Think about it, ladies – and gents – isn’t there something far more appealing in that than the brash, in-your-face appeal of others?"

How sexy a man can be...that's my Arsene Wenger...

6 comments:

ian yusof said...

heheheh ... this kind of entry makes my day ... tqvm for sharing. Still remembered the paper-cutting of Wenger :) at your cubicle in the old building ...

Fi-sha said...

Bro..hehhehe...i still keep it in my drawer because my publicity to liking Mr Wenger has triggered rumuours i try to 'kipas' Rizal Wong, which is not that good.
((((:!!!!Sigh!!!!!!:))))

ian yusof said...

people people .... Since RW is no longer ard, probably u shud put it up again .. give it a nicely self-crafted clay frame which you can get it from Toys R Us for less than RM30. I bought boxes of these for Ariana.

Fi-sha said...

Bro, i like that idea :))))

zewt said...

now i know why he can pick up players for cheap and then sell them for a bomb! he has masters in economics... haha!

hey, ther are plenty more stories about melbourne to come!

Fi-sha said...

Dear Zewt, I cant wait for more 'the pasture is greener on the other side of the world' stories from you...keep them coming bro!