On Friday night, as part of Esquire Townhouse 2020 with Breitling, legendary Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger sat down with broadcaster Mark Chapman to discuss how he became one of the most respected and influential managers in Premier league history.
He was in charge of the Gunners for twenty-two trophy-laden years, which is particularly impressive when you consider that modern managers barely last two years on average. The 70-year-old's success can be put down to the way that he regularly revitalised and revamped his teams, tactics and general approach, often under difficult circumstances.
Still, one man can only motivate a team so much. Sometimes they need to seek alternative sources, and Wenger revealed that he would often bring inspirational figures from a wide range of different professions, including explorers and dancers, to the Arsenal training ground in a bid to improve his players' mental fortitude.
"Every two months I invited somebody to talk to the players – somebody who did something special," he told us during the discussion. "The guy who went to the North Pole, a guy who was a dancer with Madonna, and they talked about their experience. A guy who was a world champion in skateboarding."
He was just as interested in understanding what made them tick, so that he could apply it to his interpersonal approach with players. He soon discovered that they all shared many of the same attributes.
"The four common things that came out were: 1. What is your dream? 2. How can you make it happen? 3. Get rid of the negative thoughts that come automatically with it, because sometimes you’ll think ‘I’ll do it next year’, or ‘maybe I’m not good enough at the moment to do it.’ And 4. Commit completely. All the people who had special things that I met in my life, they had these four ingredients.”
He also spoke about how he introduced psychologists to the Arsenal set-up, so that his talented squad could discuss their problems and discover the right mindset. Not that Wenger ever had any problems with that – his obsession with football and winning was total.
“I must say, I led a monastic life. Completely dedicated to what I did, and now I am a bit scared to say that because people look at me and think this guy is completely mad, you know?" he told us. "But it was my passion. I have interest in life, but my passion is to understand the world and how to get human beings better, and to understand them well. Human beings, in general, arrive quite early in life at a very good level, but they don’t move a lot after. Because we like to do what is easy, and not what makes us better always."
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