PHOTO | LEON NEAL Arsenal's French manager Arsene Wenger smiles during
their victory parade in London on May 18, 2014, following their win in
the English FA Cup final football match on May 17, 2014 against Hull
City.
AFP
LONDON
Arsenal
manager Arsene Wenger has agreed a three-year contract extension,
keeping him at the club until 2017, it was announced Friday.
The
Frenchman is the current longest-serving manager in the English Premier
League, having joined the north London side in 1996 and this season
ended the Gunners' nine-year wait for a major trophy by overseeing their come-from-behind FA Cup final win against Hull City at Wembley.
"Arsenal
Holdings plc confirms that Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has signed a
new three-year extension to his current contract with Arsenal Football
Club plc, a wholly owned subsidiary, taking his tenure at the club to
May 2017," said a statement issued by the Gunners' parent company to the
London Stock Exchange.
The Frenchman is the current
longest-serving manager in the English Premier League, having joined the
north London side in 1996 and this season he ended Arsenal's nine-year
wait for a major trophy by overseeing their come-from-behind FA Cup
final win against Hull City at Wembley.
SUPRISE CHOICE
Wenger,
64, was a surprise choice to succeed Bruce Rioch as Arsenal manager
when he arrived at the club's then Highbury headquarters in September
1996 from Japanese club Grampus Eight.
However, he won
three Premier League titles and four FA Cups in the first half of his
17-and-a-half-year Arsenal tenure. But prior to this month's dramatic
3-2 win over Hull, he had not lifted a trophy since the 2005 FA Cup.
The campaign just finished also saw Wenger guide Arsenal to a 17th consecutive season of Champions League football.
Bob
Wilson, the goalkeeper in Arsenal's League and FA Cup 'double' winning
side of 1970/71 and the goalkeeping coach during the first few years of
Wenger's time at the club, told BBC Radio Five: "This is a guy who works
24 hours a day all year around.
"He hates to lose and
revolutionised the game in the country. Some say he has too much power
but a guy who dedicates himself to it like he does, you cherish," added
Wilson of Wenger, who oversaw Arsenal 'doubles' in both the 1997/98 and
2001/02 seasons.
Wilson also praised Wenger for the way
in which he'd dealt with the financial constraints imposed on him as an
initial result of Arsenal's move from Highbury to the nearby Emirates
Stadium.
"Every club who has built a new ground in this
country have all been relegated. Why? Because of the stranglehold of
the debt of a new ground," Wilson said.
"Arsene and Arsenal have got through that stage by still qualifying for the Champions League."
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