The Making of Modern Arsenal Part Three - 2005 - 2012 - The Early Emirates Years
THE MAKING OF MODERN ARSENAL - PART THREE - 2005 - 2012 - THE EARLY EMIRATES YEARS
Vieira was proving impossible to replace and suddenly Arsenal were getting bullied away from home. If the club was hoping for a title challenge to end the Highbury era then it was to be very disappointed.
In the end it was a very inconsistent league campaign, the worst under Wenger to date, and Arsenal only sneaked into the top four on the final day thanks to Tottenham Hotspur losing at West Ham United after half their team had come down ill on the morning of the match.
AFTER THE RATHER fortunate FA Cup success at the end of the 2004/05 season, Arsene Wenger knew he had to rebuild. With club captain Patrick Vieira off to Juventus, his first job was to find a way of replacing him. But with transfer funds now tied up in the new stadium that would be no easy task.
In fact this would prove to be a crossroads for the club and would present Wenger with the biggest challenge of his Arsenal career.
Thierry Henry was named as the new captain and Vieira's departure would give more responsibility to Spanish teenager Cesc Fabregas, a smaller, more technical player who had broken through in fine style the year before.
The direction Wenger was taking the club was illustrated even further with the arrival of Belarusian midfielder Alexander Hleb from Stuttgart for £12 million; another small, technical player rather than a strong, powerful midfield presence.
So just two years after the Invincibles season had begun, Wenger's team was very much in transition.
The final season at Highbury began with defeat to champions Chelsea in the Community Shield and Arsenal then lost at Stamford Bridge in the league two weeks later.
In the end it was a very inconsistent league campaign, the worst under Wenger to date, and Arsenal only sneaked into the top four on the final day thanks to Tottenham Hotspur losing at West Ham United after half their team had come down ill on the morning of the match.
So instead it was the Champions League that became the main focus after a majestic performance against Real Madrid in the first knock out round on 21 February 2006.
Henry's goal in the Bernabeu sealed a 1-0 win but that only told half the story of Arsenal's dominance.
The team that won that night in the Spanish capital was almost completely unrecognisable from the one which had finished the unbeaten season just 18 months earlier: Lehmann, Eboue, Flamini, Toure, Senderos, Ljungberg, Fabregas, Silva, Hleb, Reyes, Henry.
The team that won that night in the Spanish capital was almost completely unrecognisable from the one which had finished the unbeaten season just 18 months earlier: Lehmann, Eboue, Flamini, Toure, Senderos, Ljungberg, Fabregas, Silva, Hleb, Reyes, Henry.
It was essentially a 4-4-1-1 formation with Jose Antonio Reyes supporting Henry, and Fabregas the play-maker in midfield.
The quarter final matched Arsenal with Juventus and a quick return to Highbury for Vieira. In the game's most memorable moment it was Pires winning the ball from his former captain that set up Fagregas for the opening goal in a 2-0 Arsenal success.
With shades of George Graham's side from 1994, a 0-0 draw in Turin sent Arsenal into their first ever Champions League semi final and a meeting with Villarreal.
The first leg at Highbury on 19 April 2006 was the last European match to be played at the famous old stadium and a tense night was decided by a first half goal from Kolo Toure.
In the second leg a week later, a last minute penalty save by Jens Lehmann to deny Juan Roman Riquelme secured the vital 0-0 draw that sent Arsenal through to the final.
That clean sheet was Arsenal's 10th in a row in Europe, a Champions League record, and all completed without injured full backs, Ashley Cole and Lauren.
The final against Barcelona in Paris on 17 May would be the swansong for this last great Wenger side. Robert Pires, Dennis Bergkamp, Sol Campbell, Reyes and Cole had all left before the start of the following season, while others such as Henry and Freddie Ljungberg were now past their peak.
Ten days before the final the curtain had finally, sadly, come down on Highbury. Henry scored a hat-trick, the final goal at the famous old stadium coming from the penalty spot, as Arsenal beat Wigan Athletic 4-2 to pip Spurs for that final Champions League spot.
It was an emotional day as the club said goodbye to its home of the previous 93 years. A home that had brought so much success and so many great memories. But the future now lie one mile away at Ashburton Grove. The Marble Halls would be no more...
Before that was the small matter of the Champions League final and Paris would provide the coup de grace. After Lehmann's early red card for a foul on Samuel Eto'o, Campbell incredibly headed the 10 men in front. But their joy would not last.
Late in the second half, after Henry and Ljungberg had both missed presentable chances to seal the trophy, Eto'o and Juliano Bellini scored the goals for Barcelona to leave Arsenal heartbroken.
The team that started the final showed the transitional nature of the season: Lehmann, Eboue, Cole, Campbell, Toure, Hleb, Fabregas, Silva, Pires, Ljungberg, Henry.
It was the start of the now fashionable 4-3-3 formation with Pires and Ljungberg supporting Henry.
In the final it was Pires who was sacrificed after Lehmann's red card, a sad way to end what had been a fantastic Arsenal career.
The midfield power and strength, such a feature of Wenger's early years, was now gone and scoring goals had become a problem.
The stadium move, it seemed, had come just as the team was slipping into decline.
And so the first season at the newly named Emirates Stadium would prove to be a difficult one.
With Bergkamp now retired, Pires off to Villarreal, Cole signing for Chelsea in controversial circumstances, and Campbell moved to Portsmouth, the team which opened the Premier League campaign at home to Aston Villa on 19 August 2006 was a much changed line up -
Lehmann, Eboue, Hoyte, Toure, Djourou, Ljungberg, Fabregas, Silva, Hleb, Henry, Adebayor.
It was a return to Wenger's favoured 4-4-2 formation with Togolese striker Emmanuel Adebayor, signed from Monaco for £3 million the previous January, partnering Henry, while 19 year old Frenchman, Abu Diaby, on the bench in this match, was seen by many as the eventual replacement for Vieira.
Other new arrivals saw skillful midfielder Tomas Rosicky arrive from Borussia Dortmund, while a few weeks into the season William Gallas would join from Chelsea as part of the deal that saw Cole move in the opposite direction.
But in what would become a recurring theme over the next few years, a lack of leadership and consistency, plus a series of terrible injury problems, would see Arsenal fall from being genuine title contenders into a constant struggle to finish in the top four.
Although they initially found life at their new home to be very productive, losing just once in all competitions in the first season, again it was the away form that was causing concern.
Wenger's side had now developed a soft underbelly and they would lose 10 times away from home in 2006/07, a far cry from 2001/02 and 2003/04 when they lost none.
However, much like the latter years under Graham, this Wenger side was still capable of getting a result in the one-off nature of cup competitions, and Arsenal would reach the final of the League Cup for the first time since 1993; their sixth cup final appearance in the previous seven seasons.
The semi final victory over Spurs was something to savour. Brazilian striker Julio Baptista, signed on loan from Real Madrid, had scored four times in the quarter final win at Anfield and twice in the 2-2 draw in the semi final first leg at White Hart Lane.
The second leg on 31 January was the first big night at the new stadium and Arsenal won 3-1 after extra time to reach the final where they would face Chelsea in Cardiff.
Wenger opted for a youthful looking side in the final; Almunia, Hoyte, Traore, Toure, Senderos, Walcott, Denilson, Fabregas, Diaby, Aliadiere, Baptista. With an average age of just 21 it was the youngest ever side to start a major English cup final.
Teenager Theo Walcott, signed from Southampton the previous January, scored his first goal for the club to give Arsenal the lead but in what would become a familiar tale throughout the next few years, they were beaten by two goals from Didier Drogba.
The match ended in controversy as Toure and substitute Adebayor were both sent off along with Chelsea's John Obi Mikel, following a altercation involving all 22 players.
Arsenal finished the 2006/07 season in 4th place again, 21 points behind champions Manchester United, and the break up of the Invincibles side was almost complete when Henry left for Barcelona in the summer of 2007 after 369 appearances and a record 226 goals.
Another big departure in 2007 was that of vice Chairman, David Dein, who sold his shares in the club to Red and White Holdings, an investment vehicle for Russian metal billionaire, Alasher Usmanov and business partner, Farhad Moshiri.
Dein had been instrumental in the appointment of Wenger and always backed his judgement in the transfer market.
Joining the board in 1983, there is little doubt that without Dein's influence the club would not have enjoyed half of the success it had and his loss is still heavily felt at the club today.
It really was the end of an era.
Wenger announced that his new captain was to be Gallas, while Henry's replacement in the quest for goals was 24 year old Croatian striker, Eduardo da Silva from Dinamo Zagreb for £7.5 million. French right back Bacary Sagna also arrived from Auxerre.
Despite the many changes Arsenal actually enjoyed their best season since the Invincibles. Unbeaten in their opening 21 matches in all competitions, and a club record 28 in total, Arsenal led the table until February 2007. Then it all went spectacularly wrong.
In the match away at Birmingham City on 23 February, Eduardo suffered a horrendous broken leg following a late challenge from Martin Taylor and their title hopes quickly faded. Gallas sulked on the pitch after the concession of a late penalty and was eventually replaced as captain by young Fabregas.
In the end Arsenal finished the 2007/08 season in third place but they lost just three times and accumulated 83 points, more than enough to win the title on many previous occasions. But if this was seen as the start of new era of success under Wenger it would prove to be a false dawn.
The 2008/09 season would mirror many over the next few years. An inconsistent league campaign was littered with some magical cup performances as Wenger's team finished 18 points behind champions United but reached the semi finals of both the FA Cup and the Champions League.
In the FA Cup it was rematch with Chelsea, this time at the new Wembley, but the match would end in similar fashion to the League Cup final defeat two years earlier. Walcott would again give Arsenal the lead but a late goal from Drogba sent Chelsea through.
The Champions League semi final would show exactly how far Arsenal had fallen behind United. In the first leg at Old Trafford on 29 April 2009, Wenger's side was fortunate to escape with only a 1-0 defeat, and the second leg at the Emirates saw a Ronaldo-inspired United romp to a 3-1 victory.
The next three seasons all appeared to be Groundhog Day. Arsenal briefly threatened a title challenge before falling away in the spring while throwing in the odd decent cup performance.
The underlying reason for this was an horrendous run of injuries and the fact that Wenger was unable to hold on to his best players, with the club continuing to pay back the stadium debt.
Another problem was also finding a top class goalkeeper to replace Lehmann, who left in the summer of 2008. Those brought in included Manuel Almunia, Lukas Fabianski, Wojciech Szczesny and Vito Mannone.
While they were all decent enough goalkeepers, none were of the quality required and that continuously held the team back as the goals against column kept growing.
Having conceded just 31 in 2007/08, Wenger's team would concede 41 in 2009/10, 43 in 2010/11 and 49 in 2011/12.
It was not just the goalkeepers that were the problem. A lack of leadership at the back and bite in midfield was also becoming more and more of an issue.
The highlight of this period was a thrilling comeback victory over Barcelona in the Champions League at Emirates on 16 February 2011 that harked back to better days.
Second half goals from Robin van Persie and Andrei Arshavin saw Arsenal win 2-1, but in keeping with the inconstant nature of the team at that time, just 11 days later they would lose by the same score at Wembley to relegated Birmingham City in the final of the League Cup.
Arshavin had arrived the previous January from Zenit St Petersburg to a huge fanfare, having been one of the stars of the Euro 2008 tournament.
Following an incredible four-goal haul at Anfield in April 2009 the little Russian had struggled to settle and this goal against Barca would be a rare highlight of his two and a half year spell in North London.
Van Persie on the other hand was proving to be the natural successor to Bergkamp, at least when he was fit. Every time he looked to be getting into a decent run of form he would again succumb to injury, often while away on international duty with the Dutch side.
Van Persie scored the equaliser in the League Cup final and then over the following 18 months, finally injury-free, he would emerge as the finest player in the country.
Of course that would lead to only one outcome, and in the summer of 2012 he was controversially allowed to sign for United, claiming he wanted to win trophies.
After the League Cup final defeat in 2011, the third cup final defeat in a row since 2005, the team fell apart. Only one win in the final 13 matches of the season saw Arsenal go from title contenders to just about scrapping into fourth place ahead of Spurs again.
With trophies now harder and harder to come by, Wenger lost both Samir Nasri and Fabregas over the summer of 2011.
Nasri had been outstanding since his arrival from Marseille for £12 million in the summer of 2008 but Arsenal were unable to hold on to him following interest from FA Cup holders Manchester City in August 2011.
Fabregas was an even bigger loss. Still just 24, the little Spaniard had developed into one of the finest midfield players in Europe and he was a vital cog in Wenger's team. In the end the temptation to go back to Barcelona proved a little too much and Fabregas left in a deal worth more than £30 million.
The departure of two of their best players saw a disastrous start to the new season for Wenger's team. After an 8-2 thrashing at Old Trafford on 28 August 2011, the club's heaviest top flight defeat in nearly 50 years, many fans felt the Frenchman's days were numbered.
The advent of fan's internet platforms such as AFTV, brought forward an agenda against the manager, and the fans, spoiled by success, became angry at the direction the club was heading. Wenger bore the brunt of their frustrations and soon the chants of 'Wenger Out' would become louder.
With van Persie now installed as the new club captain, he was proving to be every bit as important as Henry had been a few years earlier. The Dutchman scored 37 times in the 2011/12 season and was named PFA Player of the Year as Arsenal recovered from that terrible start to finish third.
But the Dutchman would be another to leave in acrimonious circumstances in the summer of 2012.
Henry made an emotional return to the club in January 2012, during the off-season in the United States where he was now playing for New York Red Bulls, scoring the winner against Leeds United on his second debut in the FA Cup on 9 January, and a late winner at Sunderland in his farewell appearance for the club the following month to extend his record tally to 228 goals.
Wenger had now been at the club for 16 years, the longest reign of any manager in the club's history, but he had not won a trophy for the past seven seasons. It was clear that the team needed rebuilding if they were to compete for honours again, while the departures of Fabregas and van Persie were the last link to that glorious past.
With the club finally able to spend some money again after years of having to sell, would Wenger be able to build another great team? Or would he prove to be, as many fans were suggesting, past his sell by date?
Coming up in the final part, I look back at the last years of Wenger's reign, a time of FA Cup success and an emotional farewell. Look out for that coming soon.
With shades of George Graham's side from 1994, a 0-0 draw in Turin sent Arsenal into their first ever Champions League semi final and a meeting with Villarreal.
The first leg at Highbury on 19 April 2006 was the last European match to be played at the famous old stadium and a tense night was decided by a first half goal from Kolo Toure.
In the second leg a week later, a last minute penalty save by Jens Lehmann to deny Juan Roman Riquelme secured the vital 0-0 draw that sent Arsenal through to the final.
That clean sheet was Arsenal's 10th in a row in Europe, a Champions League record, and all completed without injured full backs, Ashley Cole and Lauren.
The final against Barcelona in Paris on 17 May would be the swansong for this last great Wenger side. Robert Pires, Dennis Bergkamp, Sol Campbell, Reyes and Cole had all left before the start of the following season, while others such as Henry and Freddie Ljungberg were now past their peak.
Ten days before the final the curtain had finally, sadly, come down on Highbury. Henry scored a hat-trick, the final goal at the famous old stadium coming from the penalty spot, as Arsenal beat Wigan Athletic 4-2 to pip Spurs for that final Champions League spot.
It was an emotional day as the club said goodbye to its home of the previous 93 years. A home that had brought so much success and so many great memories. But the future now lie one mile away at Ashburton Grove. The Marble Halls would be no more...
Before that was the small matter of the Champions League final and Paris would provide the coup de grace. After Lehmann's early red card for a foul on Samuel Eto'o, Campbell incredibly headed the 10 men in front. But their joy would not last.
Late in the second half, after Henry and Ljungberg had both missed presentable chances to seal the trophy, Eto'o and Juliano Bellini scored the goals for Barcelona to leave Arsenal heartbroken.
The team that started the final showed the transitional nature of the season: Lehmann, Eboue, Cole, Campbell, Toure, Hleb, Fabregas, Silva, Pires, Ljungberg, Henry.
In the final it was Pires who was sacrificed after Lehmann's red card, a sad way to end what had been a fantastic Arsenal career.
The midfield power and strength, such a feature of Wenger's early years, was now gone and scoring goals had become a problem.
The stadium move, it seemed, had come just as the team was slipping into decline.
And so the first season at the newly named Emirates Stadium would prove to be a difficult one.
With Bergkamp now retired, Pires off to Villarreal, Cole signing for Chelsea in controversial circumstances, and Campbell moved to Portsmouth, the team which opened the Premier League campaign at home to Aston Villa on 19 August 2006 was a much changed line up -
Lehmann, Eboue, Hoyte, Toure, Djourou, Ljungberg, Fabregas, Silva, Hleb, Henry, Adebayor.
It was a return to Wenger's favoured 4-4-2 formation with Togolese striker Emmanuel Adebayor, signed from Monaco for £3 million the previous January, partnering Henry, while 19 year old Frenchman, Abu Diaby, on the bench in this match, was seen by many as the eventual replacement for Vieira.
Other new arrivals saw skillful midfielder Tomas Rosicky arrive from Borussia Dortmund, while a few weeks into the season William Gallas would join from Chelsea as part of the deal that saw Cole move in the opposite direction.
But in what would become a recurring theme over the next few years, a lack of leadership and consistency, plus a series of terrible injury problems, would see Arsenal fall from being genuine title contenders into a constant struggle to finish in the top four.
Although they initially found life at their new home to be very productive, losing just once in all competitions in the first season, again it was the away form that was causing concern.
Wenger's side had now developed a soft underbelly and they would lose 10 times away from home in 2006/07, a far cry from 2001/02 and 2003/04 when they lost none.
However, much like the latter years under Graham, this Wenger side was still capable of getting a result in the one-off nature of cup competitions, and Arsenal would reach the final of the League Cup for the first time since 1993; their sixth cup final appearance in the previous seven seasons.
The semi final victory over Spurs was something to savour. Brazilian striker Julio Baptista, signed on loan from Real Madrid, had scored four times in the quarter final win at Anfield and twice in the 2-2 draw in the semi final first leg at White Hart Lane.
The second leg on 31 January was the first big night at the new stadium and Arsenal won 3-1 after extra time to reach the final where they would face Chelsea in Cardiff.
Wenger opted for a youthful looking side in the final; Almunia, Hoyte, Traore, Toure, Senderos, Walcott, Denilson, Fabregas, Diaby, Aliadiere, Baptista. With an average age of just 21 it was the youngest ever side to start a major English cup final.
Teenager Theo Walcott, signed from Southampton the previous January, scored his first goal for the club to give Arsenal the lead but in what would become a familiar tale throughout the next few years, they were beaten by two goals from Didier Drogba.
The match ended in controversy as Toure and substitute Adebayor were both sent off along with Chelsea's John Obi Mikel, following a altercation involving all 22 players.
Arsenal finished the 2006/07 season in 4th place again, 21 points behind champions Manchester United, and the break up of the Invincibles side was almost complete when Henry left for Barcelona in the summer of 2007 after 369 appearances and a record 226 goals.
Another big departure in 2007 was that of vice Chairman, David Dein, who sold his shares in the club to Red and White Holdings, an investment vehicle for Russian metal billionaire, Alasher Usmanov and business partner, Farhad Moshiri.
Joining the board in 1983, there is little doubt that without Dein's influence the club would not have enjoyed half of the success it had and his loss is still heavily felt at the club today.
It really was the end of an era.
Wenger announced that his new captain was to be Gallas, while Henry's replacement in the quest for goals was 24 year old Croatian striker, Eduardo da Silva from Dinamo Zagreb for £7.5 million. French right back Bacary Sagna also arrived from Auxerre.
Despite the many changes Arsenal actually enjoyed their best season since the Invincibles. Unbeaten in their opening 21 matches in all competitions, and a club record 28 in total, Arsenal led the table until February 2007. Then it all went spectacularly wrong.
In the match away at Birmingham City on 23 February, Eduardo suffered a horrendous broken leg following a late challenge from Martin Taylor and their title hopes quickly faded. Gallas sulked on the pitch after the concession of a late penalty and was eventually replaced as captain by young Fabregas.
In the end Arsenal finished the 2007/08 season in third place but they lost just three times and accumulated 83 points, more than enough to win the title on many previous occasions. But if this was seen as the start of new era of success under Wenger it would prove to be a false dawn.
The 2008/09 season would mirror many over the next few years. An inconsistent league campaign was littered with some magical cup performances as Wenger's team finished 18 points behind champions United but reached the semi finals of both the FA Cup and the Champions League.
In the FA Cup it was rematch with Chelsea, this time at the new Wembley, but the match would end in similar fashion to the League Cup final defeat two years earlier. Walcott would again give Arsenal the lead but a late goal from Drogba sent Chelsea through.
The Champions League semi final would show exactly how far Arsenal had fallen behind United. In the first leg at Old Trafford on 29 April 2009, Wenger's side was fortunate to escape with only a 1-0 defeat, and the second leg at the Emirates saw a Ronaldo-inspired United romp to a 3-1 victory.
The next three seasons all appeared to be Groundhog Day. Arsenal briefly threatened a title challenge before falling away in the spring while throwing in the odd decent cup performance.
The underlying reason for this was an horrendous run of injuries and the fact that Wenger was unable to hold on to his best players, with the club continuing to pay back the stadium debt.
Another problem was also finding a top class goalkeeper to replace Lehmann, who left in the summer of 2008. Those brought in included Manuel Almunia, Lukas Fabianski, Wojciech Szczesny and Vito Mannone.
While they were all decent enough goalkeepers, none were of the quality required and that continuously held the team back as the goals against column kept growing.
Having conceded just 31 in 2007/08, Wenger's team would concede 41 in 2009/10, 43 in 2010/11 and 49 in 2011/12.
It was not just the goalkeepers that were the problem. A lack of leadership at the back and bite in midfield was also becoming more and more of an issue.
The highlight of this period was a thrilling comeback victory over Barcelona in the Champions League at Emirates on 16 February 2011 that harked back to better days.
Second half goals from Robin van Persie and Andrei Arshavin saw Arsenal win 2-1, but in keeping with the inconstant nature of the team at that time, just 11 days later they would lose by the same score at Wembley to relegated Birmingham City in the final of the League Cup.
Arshavin had arrived the previous January from Zenit St Petersburg to a huge fanfare, having been one of the stars of the Euro 2008 tournament.
Following an incredible four-goal haul at Anfield in April 2009 the little Russian had struggled to settle and this goal against Barca would be a rare highlight of his two and a half year spell in North London.
Van Persie on the other hand was proving to be the natural successor to Bergkamp, at least when he was fit. Every time he looked to be getting into a decent run of form he would again succumb to injury, often while away on international duty with the Dutch side.
Of course that would lead to only one outcome, and in the summer of 2012 he was controversially allowed to sign for United, claiming he wanted to win trophies.
After the League Cup final defeat in 2011, the third cup final defeat in a row since 2005, the team fell apart. Only one win in the final 13 matches of the season saw Arsenal go from title contenders to just about scrapping into fourth place ahead of Spurs again.
With trophies now harder and harder to come by, Wenger lost both Samir Nasri and Fabregas over the summer of 2011.
Nasri had been outstanding since his arrival from Marseille for £12 million in the summer of 2008 but Arsenal were unable to hold on to him following interest from FA Cup holders Manchester City in August 2011.
Fabregas was an even bigger loss. Still just 24, the little Spaniard had developed into one of the finest midfield players in Europe and he was a vital cog in Wenger's team. In the end the temptation to go back to Barcelona proved a little too much and Fabregas left in a deal worth more than £30 million.
The departure of two of their best players saw a disastrous start to the new season for Wenger's team. After an 8-2 thrashing at Old Trafford on 28 August 2011, the club's heaviest top flight defeat in nearly 50 years, many fans felt the Frenchman's days were numbered.
The advent of fan's internet platforms such as AFTV, brought forward an agenda against the manager, and the fans, spoiled by success, became angry at the direction the club was heading. Wenger bore the brunt of their frustrations and soon the chants of 'Wenger Out' would become louder.
With van Persie now installed as the new club captain, he was proving to be every bit as important as Henry had been a few years earlier. The Dutchman scored 37 times in the 2011/12 season and was named PFA Player of the Year as Arsenal recovered from that terrible start to finish third.
But the Dutchman would be another to leave in acrimonious circumstances in the summer of 2012.
Henry made an emotional return to the club in January 2012, during the off-season in the United States where he was now playing for New York Red Bulls, scoring the winner against Leeds United on his second debut in the FA Cup on 9 January, and a late winner at Sunderland in his farewell appearance for the club the following month to extend his record tally to 228 goals.
Wenger had now been at the club for 16 years, the longest reign of any manager in the club's history, but he had not won a trophy for the past seven seasons. It was clear that the team needed rebuilding if they were to compete for honours again, while the departures of Fabregas and van Persie were the last link to that glorious past.
With the club finally able to spend some money again after years of having to sell, would Wenger be able to build another great team? Or would he prove to be, as many fans were suggesting, past his sell by date?
Coming up in the final part, I look back at the last years of Wenger's reign, a time of FA Cup success and an emotional farewell. Look out for that coming soon.
Comments
Post a Comment