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Desert Island Discs

Arsène Wenger, former football manager

Desert Island Discs

BBC

Society & Culture, Music Commentary, Music, Personal Journals

4.413.7K Ratings

🗓️ 22 November 2020

⏱️ 49 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Arsène Wenger was the manager of Arsenal FC for 22 years, becoming the longest-serving and most successful manager in the club’s history. He was born in Strasbourg in 1949 and grew up as the youngest of three children in the nearby village of Duttlenheim, where his parents ran a bistro. There he listened in to the daily conversations about football, which preoccupied the men of the village. After playing for his local team and studying for a degree in economics, Arsène made a career as a footballer in France for a decade, before moving into management. He coached in France, Monaco and Japan before joining Arsenal in 1996. At that point he was a complete unknown in English football, but soon proved his doubters wrong. He took a declining mid-table side to Premier League glory within two years, going on to win two further Premierships and a record number of FA Cups. In 2003-4 his so-called Invincibles achieved a record-breaking run of 49 matches without defeat. He also won a reputation as an innovator, changing his players’ diets and contributing to the globalisation of soccer by signing overseas players and scouting young talent from across the world. He was instrumental in building a new home for Arsenal, when the club moved from Highbury to the brand new Emirates Stadium Arsène retired from Arsenal in 2018 and took up a post as FIFA’s head of Global Football Development the following year. He is separated from his partner Annie Brosterhous. They have one grown-up daughter, Léa. DISC ONE: Could You Be Loved by Bob Marley And The Wailers DISC TWO: Imagine by John Lennon DISC THREE: Avec Le Temps by Léo Ferré DISC FOUR: Your Song by Elton John DISC FIVE: Évidemment by France Gall DISC SIX: The Wonder of You by Elvis Presley DISC SEVEN: Ne Me Quitte Pas by Jacques Brel DISC EIGHT: My Way by Frank Sinatra BOOK CHOICE: Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne LUXURY ITEM: A ball CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Avec Le Temps by Léo Ferré Presenter: Lauren Laverne Producer: Cathy Drysdale

Transcript

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0:00.0

BBC Sounds Music Radio Podcasts

0:04.7

Hello, I'm Lauren LeVern and this is the Desert Island Disks podcast.

0:08.4

Every week I ask my guests to choose the eight tracks, book and luxury they'd want to take

0:13.1

with them if they were cast away to a desert island.

0:16.4

This is an extended version of the original Radio 4 broadcast and for right reasons the

0:21.5

music is shorter than the original broadcast.

0:24.4

I hope you enjoy listening.

0:46.9

My cast away this week is Arson Venger.

0:49.5

He spent his life in professional football first as a player, then as a manager

0:54.0

known for his extraordinary staying power and equally extraordinary success.

0:59.4

Most coaches tenure last a few seasons, he led Arsenal for 22 years through 1235 matches,

1:07.5

transforming the club and British football in the process.

1:11.4

His upbringing on the French border with Germany in the Shadow of World War II instilled

1:15.3

both his legendary discipline and his passion for sport.

1:19.3

Football was a pleasure and escape and the non-stop topic of conversation at the bistro his parents

1:24.7

ran.

1:25.7

A thinker as well as a player by the time he became a professional manager he'd studied

1:30.0

politics and economics and spoke several languages, none of it went to waste at Arsenal.

1:35.8

His revolutionary approach to conditioning famously brought ballet and broccoli to the

1:39.8

gunners.

1:40.8

He challenged the Premier League's inward looking culture, recruiting new talent from

1:44.8

all over the world.

...

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