In this day and age, it is not uncommon to see a Premier League club have three different managers in one season. This season alone, look no further than Chelsea, Nottingham Forest and Tottenham Hotspur. Patience wears thin when the stakes are so high, and most managers operate on a very short lease. Mikel Arteta has been in charge of Arsenal since December of 2019, but entering this campaign his trophy list consisted of just one FA Cup, which came during his first year in charge, and that was just a half-season at the helm.
UEFA Champions League Final
Arsenal vs Paris Saint-Germain
Location: Puskás Aréna, Budapest, Hungary
Kickoff: Saturday May 30, 12 pm EST
Thierry Henry on the nerves he’ll have covering his former team in the UCL Final: go here
Mikel Arteta has also won two Community Shields, if you’re the sort that regards those pieces of silverware as notable trophies. However, there were some lean years early on in his tenure. He took over midway of 2019-20, and that team finished 8th. As did the Gunners of the very next season, which was his first full year in charge.
Then Mikel Arteta led the North London side through the days of “Almostenal FC” which consisted of three straight runner-up finishes in the Premier League. We also saw Arteta lead Arsenal on several deep runs into cup competitions…that ultimately came up short.
That has all changed now, however, as Arsenal clinched the Premier League title in the final week, heading into Championship Sunday.
Arteta bested his tutor, Pep Guardiola, to get there. In getting to lift the trophy on the season’s final day, Arteta has finally gotten over the hump. And now, he can do the big time double if they upset Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League Final.
Thierry Henry, regarded by many to be the greatest player in Premier League history, met the media on a Champions League Final media conference call for CBS Sports.
He was asked about Arteta finally getting it done, after getting off to a slow start.
“You have to think at the time of what you’re doing, at the time that you’re doing it,” Henry said.
“Sometimes people are calling what they see. I always say, I believe in what I see, and when people are not happy with what I see, they’re allowed to say it. And if people are happy, what they see, they’re allowed to say it.
“Also, it took us a good seven years, and putting money on the table to be able to perform, which we did, and so if you look at some of the teams, what they’re doing right now, they don’t give their manager time to be able to show what they’re about, and that’s all it is.”
As Henry pointed out, patience paid off for the big six club, which just ended their 22-year Premier League title drought.
“Mikel arteta had time,” the left-footed Frenchman forward continued. “Then therefore he could go and get his players, they gave him the money to go and get his players. Now he finally delivered.
“It took seven years in order to do that, so it just doesn’t happen, just like that.
You can talk about a lot of managers that at the beginning of the career, they just couldn’t do it.
“That doesn’t mean they’re bad or good, and that’s that’s how it is. Guardiola was getting judged every single time on the Champions League at Man City, like, is that right? No, but that’s how it is.”
This moment is just simply a time for Gunners, Gooners, everywhere past and present, to simply rejoice. They are “Almost Men” no more.
“So now, finally, for the Arsenal Nation, Michael Arteta is answering the call, and that’s about it,” Henry concluded. “And people will call what they’re seeing, which is very good right now.”
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network, Ratings and RG. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes and the Washington Post.