09 December 2023 , 12:02
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Dennis Bergkamp has revealed how Arsene Wenger dragged Arsenal into the 20th century by banishing the Gunners’ greasy spoon culture.
The Frenchman felt compelled to revolutionise the club’s refuelling habits before he could implement his philosophy on the pitch when he succeeded Bruce Rioch as manager in 1996. Wenger got rid of the infamous Tuesday Club drinking sessions that would see his players go on all-day benders - but Bergkamp reckons there were other changes that made a huge difference.
Bergkamp recalled: “When Arsene came in then things did change, to put it mildly. Arsenal turned from a defensive team, often defending a 1-0 lead, into a very attractive club - and it is nice that I have been part of that.
“In my first year, before he came, we still had pre-match meals which I didn't think were possible. I had just come from Inter, where things were already businesslike. But in England, they ate everything. Greasy fried things and baked beans - tomato ketchup went on everything.
“And there was also plenty of snacking, especially jelly beans. We travelled for hours in the bus with microwaveable meals, which were served. None of that exists now.”
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Bergkamp is looking to break back into coaching after a six-year hiatus after leaving the backroom staff at Ajax. And it is clear that Wenger continues to have a huge influence on the Dutchman.
Bergkamp said: “I saw more and more why he trained us in a certain way. What I regretted terribly, and especially when I became a coach myself, was that I never wrote down all his drills.
“All the training sessions I did in those years were so valuable. I really regretted that so much. When I first became a coach, I sat in a little room for two or three weeks and mulled it over. How did that Arsene drill go and how did that training go?
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"They were great training sessions, where only later I realised ‘oh, so that's how he was achieving this and that with us.’ In Arsene's first weeks, we did shadow play. That was 11 against zero, just as a team without an opponent!
“You should have seen the Englishmen. ‘What are we going to do now? 'That guy is crazy!' But with everything he did, the team got better and better. It was a strange sensation. There was an idea behind everything with Arsene.”
Bergkamp added: “I think Arsene is a huge fan of football and doesn't want to miss anything. But I never saw the translation of how much time he put in outside the club. Not even in tactical talks or video analysis. That was all very brief.
“He once told me a pre-match talk should last between seven and 11 minutes at most because then you still have players' attention. Anything you tell after 11 minutes, you lose the group.
“As an assistant coach, I started paying attention to that. I would sit at the back of the room and, damn, the first five or six minutes they listen.
“Then one will turn, the next one will sit or watch differently. It was forever clear to me, you're never going to keep these guys in for more than six minutes. After that, nothing goes in.”
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