Mr Wenger had played football for four clubs: Mutzig, Mulhouse, ASPV Strasbourg and RC Strasbourg, and then before coming to Arsenal he managed Nancy, Monaco, and Nogoya Grampus Eight in Japan.
Of course you’ll know a lot about him already, including perhaps that he won more league titles than any other manager at Arsenal (Chapman, Allison, and Whittaker each won two) and more FA Cups than anyone else in history (seven) – and that includes those managers who won during the time when only a handful of clubs entered the FA Cup!
But perhaps what you might not know is how successful our recent managers have been, despite all the negativity in the media and from some fans groups. This list excludes managers of under 40 games.
| Manager |
Joined |
Left | Games |
Won |
Drew |
Lost |
%win |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Herbert Chapman | 11 June 1925 | 6 January 1934 | 411 | 204 | 97 | 110 | 49.64 |
| Harry Bradshaw | 30 June 1899 | 30 April 1904 | 235 | 118 | 44 | 73 | 50.21 |
| Thomas Mitchell | 30 March 1897 | 10 March 1898 | 45 | 23 | 8 | 14 | 51.11 |
| Unai Emery | 23 May 2018 | 29 Nov 2019 | 78 | 43 | 16 | 19 | 55.13 |
| Mikel Arteta | 22 Dec 2019 | Present | 135 | 75 | 22 | 38 | 55.56 |
| Arsène Wenger | 1 October 1996 | 13 May 2018 | 1,235 | 707 | 280 | 248 | 57.25 |
Of all the men who have managed Arsenal since the club started only three managers (all on short term non-permanent contracts) have beaten Mr Wenger. Of these the most successful was Joe Shaw, who took over the management of Arsenal after the sudden death of Herbert Chapman and managed the club for 23 games with a win percentage of 60.87%.
Above even that, between March and April 1898 Arsenal were managed by someone whose name we have never discovered. He ran the club for eight games, and Mr Unknown got a win ratio of 66.67%!
And then finally, top of the tree is Pat Rice, who managed the club for four games while waiting for Mr Wenger to arrive from Japan. He won three of his four games, giving him an unassailable 75% win ratio.
