Arsene Wenger is well known for how he changed the landscape at Arsenal and the Premier League as a whole when he switched focus to player preparation and fitness.
Under the Frenchman, the Gunners went on to win plenty of Premier League titles and FA Cups, while they went close to landing a Champions League.
Arsene Wenger managed this while transforming the fitness regime and the diets that Arsenal players were preparing.
While it meant many of the squad were able to perform at their athletic peak, it didn’t always mean they were happy, as outlined by Ian Wright.
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Arsene Wenger banned tea at Arsenal but Ian Wright snuck some in
The diet dramatically changed upon Wenger’s arrival as Arsenal manager, with plenty of focus on preparing physically to perform at the top level.
For a while, it gave the Gunners a clear edge as they competed well with Manchester United for the Premier League title over many years.
It would later be something the league as a whole would take up to gain a competitive edge, but it wasn’t without its sacrifices.
For Arsenal legend Wright, there were some frustrations as he told The Graham Norton Show in 2021: “Arsene Wenger came in and we’re talking about having to eat that in its form as there’s no salt, no anything.
“All we could do is drink water and eat food like the chicken was literally just boiled and it just looks wrong.
“Everything was just for fuel… We couldn’t have tea, we couldn’t have anything.
“I remember there was a time I used to share a room with Dennis Bergkamp and Dennis is the greatest player I’ve ever played with and we shared a room and we were total opposites, chalk and cheese in personalities.
“Once we started doing it, Dennis was doing it [the diet] right to the max. If the boss said you drink a quarter-pint of water, that’s what he would do, I’d drink a pint of water.
“I remember I snuck in some tea bags and I remember Dennis, he was just on the bed cause we were sitting there watching the telly and he said ‘Is that tea bags?’
“I said yeah, he said ‘Well the boss doesn’t want us to drink tea,’ I said yeah but he doesn’t know.
“Ok, so he said ‘Ok but the whole team is doing it but you’re not going to do it so when we need you most, you’re probably going to let us down because you’re letting us down’.
“So in the end I didn’t have the tea.”
It shows just how granular the detail of such a plan was for Arsenal and their players, with the discipline needed beyond just the coaching staff to keep them performing at their best.
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Paul Merson on Arsene Wenger diet change at Arsenal
It wasn’t just Wright who was shocked by the changes made by Wenger at a time when footballers changed into the professionals we see today.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Paul Merson has also explained the difference he saw, stating: “I played under him for just under a year. It was the fittest I’ve ever been.
“The vitamins, the diet, everything we were doing was like clockwork. You’d walk in, the physio would be there. Orange juice: bang. Creatine would go in: bang. Stir it, drink it, walk off. It was a machine.
“He wouldn’t let you do it, he wouldn’t trust you to do it, just in case you forgot. He got us to buy into that, in a very, very strong dressing room.”
It was something that clearly made an impact at Arsenal and leaves behind a legacy of success at the club as well as a change in English football as a whole.
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