We all know Arsene Wenger has now been with our club for fifteen years, mind you it seems like only yesterday that the unknown man arrived looking happy and relatively young-looking, for his age. 😉

Youngish and looking happy.....

We all wondered who the heck he was but it didn’t take long for us to realise David Dein had got us a very special man. It wasn’t long before the pair of them were celebrating getting Arsenal back on the ‘trophy map’.

The next few seasons in the life of a Gooner was pretty good, we soon won the Premier League, the FA Cup and went one season unbeatable. We were the side that every other feared, they hated travelling to Highbury so much, even Paul Scholes once told Fergie he ‘wasn’t up to travelling’ for an away game. What did that say about the formidable side Wenger had built together with the great players he had inherited?

The confidence oozed amongst the squad, even Roy Keane couldn’t get the better of Paddy in the tunnel ‘face off’ – Oh those were the days eh??

David Dein had taken a gamble on Wenger, it paid off and both were happy…

Told you to trust me, says Dein...


Wenger has now become our longest-serving manager and he’s also the most successful manager we have had too with a 57.7% win ratio.

The breakdown is:

859 matches in charge with 496 victories.

During those matches, we have scored 1,583 goals at a rate of 1.84 per game – the overall goal difference is +770.

Arsène Wenger’s full Arsenal record

P W D L F A
League 569 328 144 97 1,070 529
FA Cup 78 53 14 11 143 59
League Cup 54 34 3 17 112 70
Europe 152 77 37 38 247 150
Charity Shield 6 4 0 2 11 5
Total 859 496 198 165 1,583 813

So, how does Wenger compare to previous managers?

Top ten win ratios

Manager Played Won Win ratio
Arsène Wenger 859 496 57.7%
Harry Bradshaw 189 96 50.8%
Herbert Chapman 403 201 49.9%
George Graham 460 225 48.9%
Tom Whittaker 428 202 47.2%
Don Howe 117 54 46.2%
George Allison 280 280 46.1%
Terry Neill 416 187 45%
Bertie Mee 540 241 44.6%
Phil Kelso 152 63 41.4%

So his record is the best on paper but look at the next bunch of stats.

Wenger’s year by year record
Pld W D L F A Win ratio
1996/7 36 16 11 9 56 33 44.4%
1997/8 54 33 13 8 89 46 61.1%
1998/9 54 31 15 8 84 38 57.4%
1999/00 59 33 11 15 112 66 55.9%
2000/01 59 32 13 14 99 62 54.2%
2001/02 60 39 11 10 119 62 65%
2002/03 59 34 15 10 119 58 57.6%
2003/04 59 38 14 7 114 48 64.4%
2004/05 57 37 13 7 117 51 64.9%
2005/06 59 33 11 15 96 43 55.9%
2006/07 59 30 17 12 98 53 50.8%
2007/08 58 36 15 7 113 52 62.1%
2008/09 61 34 16 11 113 54 55.7%
2009/10 55 33 8 14 116 63 60%
2010/11 58 31 13 14 119 64 53.4%
2011/12 12 6 2 4 19 20 50%

Many think it was David Dein leaving that caused our decline but he left in 2007, the season after was one of Wengers best and 2009/10 was not too bad either but we still won nothing.

Wenger’s successful years were:

Premier League:

1997-98  – 61% win ratio

2001-02 – 65% win ratio

2003-04 – 64% win ratio

FA Cup:

1997-98 –  61% win ratio

2001-01 –  65% win ratio

2002-03 –  57.6% win ration

2004-05 –  64.9% win ratio

Overall, I think Wengers stats show him to be a successful manager but sadly, our win ration for this current season sits at just 50%, last season it was just a tad better at 53.4 over the entire season and we secured Champions League football.

That low percentage was down to a run of dreadful results in the second half of the season, something which we really need to improve on this season if we are to secure Champions League qualification next time around. We need to start winning games and winning them well otherwise we all know what will happen, but….

The reality is folks, since Christmas last year, we have done nothing other than decline……

And that is being very generous to Arsene……

So, is 57.7% enough, bearing in mind his first season averaged just 44.4%?

Finally, The Daily Mail reports that Denilson could be on his way back a bit earlier than expected. He has already annoyed the fans of Sao Paulo after picking up two red cards in three appearances. The fans want him and their manager gone so we’ll have to see what happens….

I knew I shouldn’t have written yesterday’s post about him…. 😉