As Wenger gears up for his farewell parade,
pulling the curtain down on an era of football
management, Manchester United fans might be
caught in nostalgia. For once, animosity may
make way for empathy when Manchester United
face Arsenal. It would probably be apt as two
clubs that withstood the rise of football's
unforgiving order pay tribute to the last of their
kinds.
With the final chapter of this great rivalry in this
era in the offing, here is a look at two of the
Premier League's longest serving managers and
how their achievements stack up against one
another.
Basic comparison
Both Wenger and Ferguson managed their
respective clubs for over 1000 games. However,
the United boss has a greater win percentage
(61.95 - 57.97) when compared to the Arsenal
gaffer. Out of the 1209 matches that Ferguson
managed at the Old Trafford club, he won 749
and lost 208. Meanwhile, Wenger has won 694
out of the 1197 he has been in charge of the
north London side so far.
In the Premier League, Ferguson has a win
percentage of 65.18 compared to 57.52 that of
Wenger. In Europe too, the Scot scores over the
Frenchman with a win percentage of 52.06 that
is almost 3 percent more than Wenger.
In their personal head-to-head, Ferguson has a
slight upper hand, having emerged on the
winning side on 23 of the 49 occasions the two
managerial stalwarts crossed swords in all
competitions.
Impact
In terms of impact Wenger was quicker to his
first major trophy than Ferguson. Unlike the
Scot, the Frenchman needed just 18 months to
lift his first Premier League title and immediately
followed that up with a FA Cup, thus becoming
the first foreign manager to win the league and
cup double.
Ferguson won his first major trophy in his fifth
season in charge of the club. While the Gunners
boss oversaw improvement almost immediately,
the United manager overcame many lows before
getting hands on his first silverware. At the start
of the triumphant 1991 FA Cup campaign, many
journalists and fans felt United needed to change
their manager to progress. However, the FA Cup
triumph in 1991 was the beginning of a glorious
era at Old Trafford.
Wenger also got Arsenal playing a more
attractive brand of football and his teams were a
stark contrast from the "1-0 to the Arsenal" side
that characterised the club.
So in terms of achievements and style of play,
Wenger made a bigger impact, but it has to be
noted that he inherited a much stable and strong
Arsenal side, than what Ferguson did. The Scot
took United from relegation strugglers to FA Cup
winners within five years, but moreover
established a strong ecosystem for sustained
success by completely revamping the club's
coaching and scouting systems.
Wenger too made revolutionary changes to
Arsenal's training regimes and diet that had a
direct impact on their game. The Frenchman's
methods were widely appreciated and eventually
accepted as norm. Wenger is
credited with abolishing the drinking culture in
English football, that helped the nation's clubs
compete with its European counterparts in a
better way in future and also enhance the overall
standard of the English league.
So on this front, Wenger probably edges
Ferguson but only by the very skin of the teeth.
Consolidation years
After making a mark in their initial years,
Ferguson and Wenger fared very differently in
the years the two consolidated themselves at
their respective clubs for the long haul. While
the former Aberdeen manager never looked back
after winning his first league title in 1992,
Wenger's Arsenal were inconsistent. They blew
hot and cold in the years after their first league
victory under Wenger.
The title success of 'The Invincibles' in 2004 was
the epitome of Frenchman's coaching abilities,
but Ferguson was able to deliver success on a
more regular basis in almost equally spectacular
fashion. Under the Scot, United thrice won three
back-to-back titles and it only once went through
a prolonged period without the champions'
crown from 2003 to 2007.
Wenger threw the first challenge to Ferguson's
United juggernaut but he almost immediately
found an answer, winning their title back in
1999. Similarly, when Jose Mourinho threatened
to alter the pecking order in English football with
his ruthlessly efficient Chelsea side, Ferguson
was able to find a way to be a champion again.
After 2004, when Mourinho's ways changed the
Premier League just like it did with Wenger's
arrival, the Frenchman failed to produce a
counter force, the way Ferguson did in 2007.
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