Born: October 22, 1949 Birthplace: Strasbourg, France

After years of success with Arsenal, culminating in the 'invincibles' campaign of 2003/04, Arsene Wenger has been forced to take stock and build for the future. Uneasy at investing in over-priced players, Wenger has instead opted to pack the club full of some of the best young players from around the world in the hope they will  develop to realise their undoubted potential. Wenger's name was known to few when he took over at Arsenal in September 1996, but his studious style of management brought prolonged glory and hero status. Wenger was never covered in glory as a player, only making his professional debut as a 28-year-old with Strasbourg after playing most of his career in the semi-pro game with Mulhouse and Vauban. It would be as a coach that Wenger would make his name, starting off with Strasbourg's youth team in 1981. With a growing reputation as a man with an astute footballing mind, he moved to Cannes in 1983 to be their assistant manager.Wenger's first move into management came a year later when he accepted a post with Nancy Lorraine, but his big break would come in 1987 as Monaco moved to make him their top man. Within a year Wenger won the French championship and was named Manager of the Year.Several years of success would follow at the Stade Louis II stadium and, in 1994, Wenger turned down the chance to coach the French national team and also Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich to continue with Monaco. Unfortunately for Wenger, Monaco's finish of ninth that season was below par and he was dismissed. It was then that Wenger's love affair with the Japanese game began. A year after leaving Monaco he was named coach of Nagoya Grampus Eight in what was still the fledgling J-League. Wenger's managerial acumen transformed the club's fortunes and saw them climb from the bottom three to runners-up spot in just one year. He would win the Super Cup before the chance to coach in the Premiership came along. Wenger was something of an unknown quantity in England as he arrived as Bruce Rioch's replacement in September 1996. It was clear that the deal had been in the pipeline for some time, as Wenger had insisted that Patrick Vieira and Remi Garde were bought before he put pen to paper - the duo had been signed a month earlier. Arsenal would win the Double in his first full season in charge, 1997/98, which prompted Wenger to sign a new three-and-a-half year contract. For the following three seasons, however, the Gunners would be known as the bridesmaids and never the bride. However, Wenger would bring the Double back to Highbury in 2002, and many pundits believed his brand of exciting attacking football would lead to an era of domination for Arsenal. He was then considered one of the best coaches ever to grace the English game. He came in for much criticism after Arsenal failed to win the Premiership in 2003, but the loss of the championship was offset by a 1-0 victory over Southampton in the FA Cup - the club's third successive appearance in the final. Arsenal then regained the Premiership crown in 2003/04 - in outstanding fashion. They went the entire season undefeated, the first club to achieve the feat since Preston in the 1800s. As Wenger stated, it left his Arsenal 'immortal'. Despite failing to beat Chelsea to the title in 2004/05 and another poor Premiership performance in 2005/06, Wenger's side finally had the chance to banish their demons in Europe as they made it to the Champions League final in Paris and a date with Barcelona. Having gone 1-0 down, however, Barca came back strongly in the second half and won the final 2-1, breaking the Gunners fans' hearts.

Many claimed that Wenger's squad was still under-strength to put forward a realistic challenge for the title. With the club's future in the hands of youngsters like Theo Walcott, Cesc Fabregas, Emmanuel Eboue and Philippe Senderos, Wenger was forced to work more of his magic to improve on a disappointing 4th place finish in 2006. When David Dein left the Arsenal board in April 2007 rumours surrounding Wenger's future went into overdrive. Compounded by the departure of Thierry Henry in the summer, Wenger silenced his doubters and eventually agreed to sign a new three-year contract at Arsenal in September. Another trophyless season in 2007/08 saw the pressure build. With Man Utd winning the double, Wenger admitted the club had become 'a selling club' in order to finance the £24million a year debt from the new stadium and fans were keen to see some new faces arrive. But Wenger has a job for life at the Emirates and, although he'll be building for the future again, few would bet against the Frenchman breaking his dry spell soon enough.