Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis has made a hart-warming tribute to Arsene Wenger, following the announcement that the Frenchman will be leaving the club after 22 years of service.
Obviously, it's massive news for Arsenal fans; and strange for some who have never known of their club without Wenger being in charge.
At a press conference, Gazidis spoke warmly of the 68-year-old manager and insisted that the club now faced their biggest test and that the process of this has "began today."
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"Arsene changed the game. He set a totally new standard. A new ambition. An ambition not just to win, but to win while achieving perfection. To make art out of football. And he was always brave enough to be true to that extraordinary ambition and incredibly he achieved it with Arsenal's Invincibles season."
People these days use the words 'football philosophy' lightly. But Arsene truly has a football philosophy and he's been brave enough to live by it and in doing that he's reinvented the game and played some of the best football we've ever seen," Gazidis said.
Wenger's tactial blueprint in the 90s reinvented how English football is played today. The early period of the 00s was where he and Arsenal found their peak, playing beautiful football full of intricate passing and slick goals to match.
"Arsene often said his aim was to leave the club in a better position than when he found it. Well, we're in a better place today than we could ever have imagined 22 years ago. The foundations of this club have never been stronger and this gives me great confidence as we begin to chart the path ahead."
Arsenal have been on a downward spiral in the last few years of Wenger's reign but, in the greater respect of things, he will be leaving the club as one of the biggest sides in the Premier League, with players in the roster to challenge for a title.
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