I was watching the Wenger Documentary last night on his tenure at Arsenal, and I thought that the story of one of the most iconic coaches in Premier League history had a myriad of life lessons to take note of.

When he came to England to coach Arsenal in 1996, he was an outcast. A foreigner who managed a team in Japan the year prior, who would come with iconoclast methods, tall and lanky, with the look of an academic. He was not the typical British Bloke managing the usual bunch of thugs on the pitch.

People were wondering who he was. "Arsene who?"

If you are into symbolism, he is one perfect example with a scarce first name that sounds like the team he coached. In the same way, Jurgen Klopp became a legend at Liverpool's Kop. Some stories are almost predestined to happen.

His arrival came in soon after the Bosman ruling in December 1995, where the European Court of Justice decided that Clubs cannot limit the number of EU nationals in their squads, as this was deemed to violate the EU’s principle of free movement of workers.

This enabled him to bolster his squad with many French nationals and expatriates from Continental Europe.

However, when a foreigner comes and their ways start to take a turn for the better, the locals will begin to try to bring them down, because it highlights the deficiencies of some parts of their culture. Regardless, he stood firm and garnered the respect of English Fans, turning Arsenal into the main rival of Manchester United's Golden Generation. Titles came, and the popularity of Arsenal as a team grew.

He eventually took under his wing and shaped what most observers will later call the best Premier League player ever, Thierry Henry, who now has a statue next to the Emirates Stadium.

He brought on a new philosophy of play, differentiating himself from what was commonplace, and he achieved something that has yet to be replicated: making a team invincible through the course of the whole Championship Season.

Eventually, he became the victim of his own success; the team became so popular that the former stadium could no longer accommodate all the wannabe ticket holders. Arsenal had a waiting list of 50,000 fans who wanted to become season ticket holders. Hence, they had to implement the new stadium project, which was approved to go from Highbury to the Emirates Stadium.

It was the evidence of the growth he enacted at Arsenal, yet it would start the downfall of his career.

What started as a reasonable endeavour that the club could afford eventually became too steep, as construction costs eventually doubled against the initial projection. This forced Arsene to sell his best players to cover the cost, and Arsenal to become a feeder club even to their direct rivals. Instead of fighting for the top spot, they were now fighting for the Top 4 to secure Champions League Place to ensure the competition's monies to keep on paying the stadium debt, whilst operating shrewd transfer policies of buying young and cheap to develop the players and sell them to the financial mastodons that oil and gas money brought to the League.

Fans, although understanding of the situation, started to lose patience with the results, being halfway competitive in European Leagues and National Cup Competitions. While most managers were just in charge of the team's strategies and tactics, Wenger was the Head Scout, Financial Analyst, and Manager. Not only did he manage to come out with a surplus during each transfer market, making great gambles on future talents at the expense of big names that the fans wanted, but he also kept his football philosophy, keeping the club relevant for big competitions.

This made him question to this day whether he did the right thing to renew his contract in 2007, when there was dissension on the board, when the new stadium was ready and leaving the club that enabled him to make a name for himself, when the guy who took a chance on him, David Dein, was leaving the club. This chap told him to stay, when he could have had the top top clubs such as Real Madrid, or even the English and French National Teams.

It was a tough decision, but he remained faithful to the fans and to the club in an environment full of mercenaries. Football was his passion, and Arsenal eventually became his nagging wife. To his admission, he neglected his family because his obsession with football drove him to become the legend he is today. The tunnel vision he had made him selfish, ignoring the people around him. This is one of the tradeoffs he appreciated he had to make, and now he has to make up for it since his retirement from managerial duties.

For another 10 years, he managed to keep Arsenal in the Top 4 with all the restrictions he had. The last two years, he did not, which eventually led him to step down. The atmosphere in the remaining years was toxic, with the 'Wenger In' and 'Wenger Out' crowds. Arsenal Fans TV had some epic and hilarious clips. For all of his achievements, what started as love turned into stark dissensions which went beyond the Channel. I remember trading an A-League (Australian Football League) game, and one person was holding a banner Wenger Out in an entirely unrelated match. I had to take the picture and send it to my friend, because the situation had become such a joke.

Wenger became the epitome of "either you die a hero or you live long enough to become the villain."

Despite his departure, to most people and long-time Arsenal fans, he is a legend of the game. Still, he is not as uncontested as his main managerial rival, Alex Ferguson, who left at the top, being the last manager to lead Manchester United to winning the league before taking his retirement. This is to show how your departure is as relevant as your length of tenure in the era of managerial musical chairs in Football. Both have over 20 years of experience in command of their clubs.

Although Mourinho felt competitive in the contest, he called Wenger a "specialist in Failure" soon before the 6-0 drubbing his team, Chelsea, inflicted on Arsenal, who were going through a nine-year trophy drought. The FA Cup Wenger won later that year was a small consolation prize, as the symbolism of the spanking mentioned above was his 1,000th Game as Arsenal's manager.

Wenger decided to avoid the easy option of leaving the club that had put its faith in him, when no other English Club would. Still, he had to pay for the abuse and underappreciation of the short-term winning mentality, which governs modern football, yet to this day, he is still nostalgic about the first half of his career and the folklore of the old stadium and the rivalry with Manchester United and early success, only tainted by the second half of frustrations, which took an end for the better with the last show of grattitude with where he enjoyed a guard of honour and delivered a heartfelt farewell speech at the Emirates.

The irony behind it all is that Arsenal's competitiveness to this day is owed to Wenger and how he had to shoulder the transition at his own expense; now that new managers can benefit from the latest windfall from higher revenues generated by the stadium that Wenger helped pay for.

Lessons:

1) Innovation invites resistance

Wenger was mocked as “Arsène Who?” and criticised for his foreign ways, yet his science-driven approach (nutrition, tactics, scouting abroad) reshaped English football.

Lesson: If you challenge norms, expect pushback. Actual change takes conviction and time.

2) Timing matters as much as success

Ferguson left United as a champion and is remembered almost unanimously as a legend. Wenger, staying through the decline, became divisive despite immense achievements.

Lesson: In careers and leadership, how you leave can define your legacy as much as what you built.

3) Vision vs. pragmatism

Wenger clung to his philosophy of beautiful football, even when rivals spent heavily and pragmatism might have won more silverware.

Lesson: Principles inspire loyalty and identity, but rigidity can limit results.

4) Sacrifice of personal life for professional obsession

Wenger admitted to neglecting his family for the sake of football. His tunnel vision made him great, but also lonely.

Lesson: Passion can bring greatness, but unchecked, it extracts personal costs.

5) Loyalty can be costly

Turning down Real Madrid, national teams, or a graceful exit at Highbury to stay loyal to Arsenal tied him to both glory and decline.

Lesson: Loyalty is noble, but it can also mean missed opportunities.

6) Success changes the game and creates new pressures

His early triumphs (doubles, Invincibles) raised expectations sky-high. Once Arsenal became financially cautious about the stadium, fans compared him not to reality, but to his own golden past.

Lesson: Achievements set new benchmarks. Growth brings new challenges.

7) Leadership is more than tactics

Wenger was not just a coach: he was a scout, an economist, a visionary, and a guardian of the club’s survival during the stadium debt years.

Lesson: Leadership often requires wearing hats beyond your job title, especially in tough times.

8) The paradox of staying too long

Wenger “lived long enough to become the villain.” His devotion blinded him to the fact that sometimes the bravest choice is to step away.

Lesson: Knowing when to walk away is as important as knowing how to fight.

9) Legacy is complex

Despite late struggles, Wenger modernised English football, shaped legends like Henry, created the Invincibles, and kept Arsenal competitive against oil-rich giants.

Lesson: Don’t judge a career only by the final chapters. A lifetime’s work must be seen in its entirety.

10) Foundations often outlast recognition

Wenger bore the burden of Arsenal’s stadium move, sacrificing trophies and goodwill so the club could secure financial stability. Later, managers now benefit from the revenues and infrastructure he helped deliver.

Lesson: True leadership sometimes means building for a future you may never personally enjoy. Planting trees under whose shade others will sit.