How Long It's Been: Arsenal Played for a Manager Other Than Arsène Wenger

Arsène Wenger and Pat Rice

Tomorrow, Arsenal Football Club will open the 2018-19 Premier League season, hosting defending Premier League Champions Manchester City at the Emirates Stadium in North London.

It will be the 1st competitive game for new manager Unai Emery. Which means it will also be the 1st competitive game for Arsenal under a manager other than Arsène Wenger since September 28, 1996.

At the time, Wenger was under contract with Japanese team Nagoya Grampus Eight until September 30, so, between the firing of 1995-96 manager Bruce Rioch and that date, Pat Rice, former star right back, Captain of their 1979 FA Cup winners, and a longtime assistant coach at the team, was caretaker manager -- or, as North American sports would put it, "interim manager."

That September 28 game was played at Arsenal's previous home field, the Arsenal Stadium, nicknamed Highbury for its neighborhood. It was a 2-0 win over Sunderland, from Wearside in the North-East of England. It was scoreless late, until John Hartson, later better known for playing for Glasgow team Celtic, scored in the 73rd minute, and Ray Parlour added an insurance goal in the 88th.

With an international break following this match, Wenger's 1st game in charge wasn't until October 12, against Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park in Blackburn, Lancashire. (Yes, Beatles fans, the city with 4,000 holes in the song "A Day in the Life.") That game was also a 2-0 Gunners win, with Ian Wright scoring both goals, in the 3rd and 51st minutes.

So it's been just under 22 years since Arsenal last played a competitive (non-exhibition) match under a manager other than Wenger. How long has that been?

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That season, the Premier League included the aforementioned Sunderland and Blackburn, plus South London team Wimbledon, Birmingham team Aston Villa, West Midlands team Coventry City, East Midlands teams Derby County and Nottingham Forest, and Yorkshire teams Leeds United, Sheffield Wednesday and Middlesbrough. None of those teams are in the Premier League this season, and some haven't been in it for most of that time.

Of the 20 teams in the League that season, 8 have built new stadiums: Arsenal, Sunderland, Derby, Middlesbrough, East London team West Ham United, Leicester City, Hampshire team Southampton, and, presuming they get it open this season like they say they will, Arsenal's North London arch-rivals, Tottenham Hotspur. And Wembley Stadium has been demolished and replaced with a new stadium of the same name on the same site.

There are 8 current Arsenal players who weren't born yet: Forwards Eddie Nketiah and Reiss Nelson; midfielders Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Matteo Guendouzi, Emile Smith-Rowe and Joe Willock; and centerbacks Krystian Bielik and Konstantinos Mavropanos.

Ronaldinho and Steven Gerrard were 16 years old; John Terry, Iker Casillas and Hope Solo were 15; Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Landon Donovan, Petr Cech and Carli Lloyd were 14; Clint Dempsey and Franck Ribery were 13; Luis Robles was 12; Wayne Rooney, Heather O'Reilly, Cristiano Ronaldo, Bradley Wright-Phillips, Megan Rapinoe and Mario Gomez were 11; Marta and Manuel Neuer were 10, and Oliver Giroud turned 10 in the interregnum; Jamie Vardy, Luis Suarez, Dax McCarty, Leonardo Bonucci and Lionel Messi were 9; Sergio Aguero and Robert Lewandowski were 8; Diego Costa, Mesut Özil, Alexis Sanchez, Alex Morgan and Gareth Bale were 7; Toni Kroos was 6; Aaron Ramsey, Eden Hazard and Antoine Griezmann were 5; Jack Wilshere, Neymar and Mario Götze
were 4; Paul Pogba and Harry Kane were 3. Dele Alli was a baby (okay, he sort of still is), while Christian Pulisic and Gianluigi Donnarumma weren't born yet.

Soccer legends Helenio Herrera, Ferenc Puskas and Stanley Matthews were still alive. Manchester
City hadn't won the League since 1968, or any trophy since 1976. That is no longer true. Chelsea hadn't won the League since 1955. That is no longer true. Tottenham hadn't won the League since 1961, or the FA Cup since 1991. Those facts... are still true.

In North American sports, Major League Soccer was playing its 1st season, and most Americans didn't know the Premier League even existed. The Arizona Diamondbacks, the Tampa Bay Rays, the Houston Texans, the New Orleans Pelicans, the Nashville Predators, the Atlanta Thrashers, the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Minnesota Wild, and the Vegas Golden Knights hadn't begun play yet.

Current NYCFC manager Domènec Torrent was managing Palafrugell in Spain. Islanders coach Barry Trotz was head coach of the minor-league Portland Pirates of Maine. Pat Shurmur of the Giants was an assistant coach at Michigan State University. Todd Bowles of the Jets was working in the Green Bay Packers' front office. Knicks coach David Fizdale was an assistant coach at the University of San Diego. Rangers coach David Quinn was an assistant coach at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

Unai Emery was playing for Real Sociedad in Spain. Current Red Bulls manager Chris Armas was playing for the Los Angeles Galaxy. Kenny Atkinson of the Nets was playing in Spain's basketball league. Katie Smith of the Liberty was playing for the Columbus Quest of the American Basketball League, a short-lived women's league. Aaron Boone of the Yankees and Mickey Callaway of the Mets were in the minor leagues. John Hynes of the Devils was playing at Boston University.

The defending World Champions were the Atlanta Braves (they haven't been since), the Dallas Cowboys (they haven't been since), the Chicago Bulls and the Colorado Avalanche. The Heavyweight Champion of the World was Mike Tyson, and he was set to fight former Champion Evander Holyfield, and was expected to clobber him. It would be the other way around.

The Olympics have since been hosted in America, Canada, Australia, Greece, Italy, China, Britain and Russia. The World Cup has since been hosted in France, Korea, Germany and South Africa. Japan and Brazil have since hosted both.

The President of the United States was Bill Clinton, about to get re-elected. No one had yet considered that First Lady Hillary Clinton might run for office. Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter attended that Series as guests of Braves owner Ted Turner and his then-wife, Jane Fonda. They are still alive today. So are George and Barbara Bush. Still alive then, but not anymore, were Gerald and Betty Ford, and Ronald and Nancy Reagan. George W. Bush was Governor of Texas. Joe Biden was a Senator from Delaware. Donald Trump was on Wife II, and the idea of doing a TV show, let alone a Presidential campaign, with him was ridiculous.

Only 3 Justices then on the Supreme Court are still there: Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer. Hardly any American had ever heard of Monica Lewinsky or Osama bin Laden.

The Governor of the State of New York was George Pataki, the Mayor of the City of New York was Rudy Giuliani, and the Governor of New Jersey was Christine Todd Whitman. Andrew Cuomo was an Assistant Secretary of Housing & Urban Development, Bill de Blasio was an aide to Congressman Charles Rangel, and in Clinton's 2nd term, Cuomo would be promoted to full Secretary, and de Blasio would be one of his aides. Chris Christie was a member of the Board of Freeholders in Morris County, New Jersey.

Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo and José Manuel Ramos-Horta were about to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, for their work to end the civil war in East Timor. (Ramos-Horta later served as its President). The Pope was John Paul II. The Prime Minister of Canada was Jean Chrétien, and of Britain John Major. The monarch of Britain was Queen Elizabeth II -- that hasn't changed. Manchester United had recently won "The Double": The Premier League and the FA Cup in the same season.  

Major novels of 1996 included Joe Klein's Primary Colors (which he had published under the name "Anonymous"), David Baldacci's Absolute Power, Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones' Diary, John Grisham's The Runaway Jury, Stephen King's The Green Mile, Dean Koontz' Intensity, Terry McMillan's How Stella Got Her Groove Back, Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club, Jeff Shaara's Gods and Generals, and David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest.

Also published that year were the 1st installments in the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Philospher's Stone -- known as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in America) and the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin (A Game of Thrones, giving its name to the TV series based on the book series).

Major non-fiction books included Stephen Ambrose's telling of the Lewis & Clark story, Undaunted Courage; and John Berendt's story of the weird happenings in Savannah, Georgia: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

Major films released in the Autumn of 1996 included That Thing You Do!, The Glimmer Man, The Long Kiss Goodnight, Michael Collins, William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet (actually Baz Luhrmann's present-day version), Set It Off, The Mirror Has Two Faces, The English Patient, Jingle All the Way, Star Trek: First Contact, a live-action version of 101 Dalmatians, and the Michael Jordan-Bugs Bunny team-up Space Jam.

Major TV shows debuting that season included 7th Heaven, Everybody Loves Raymond, Judge Judy, Spin City, The Pretender, Suddenly Susan, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Early Edition, Profiler, Millennium, Arthur, Hey Arnold! and, introduced by new network Fox News Channel, The O'Reilly Factor. Some of these shows were more animated than others. Some were more cartoonish than others.

Dean Cain was playing Superman. The Batman franchise had dumped Val Kilmer for George Clooney. Pierce Brosnan was playing James Bond, and Paul McGann had just done a one-shot
Doctor Who film.

No one had yet heard of Carrie Bradshaw, Tony Soprano, Jed Bartlet, Robert Langdon, Master Chief, Jack Bauer, Omar Little, Rick Grimes, Leroy Jethro Gibbs, Michael Bluth, Lisbeth Salander, Bella Swan, Michael Scott, Don Draper, Katniss Everdeen, Walter White, Jax Teller, Richard Castle, Leslie Knope or Sarah Manning.

The Number 1 song in America was still the damn "Macarena" by Los Del Rio. Michael Jackson had just divorced Lisa Marie Presley, married Debbie Rowe, and begun his yearlong HIStory World Tour. Faith Hill and Tim McGraw got married, Madonna had a baby girl named Lourdes Leon, and Prince became the father of a son, Gregory Nelson, who died after 7 days due to a birth defect.

Slash quit Guns N' Roses, and the Stone Roses broke up. Fountains of Wayne released their self-titled debut album, Marilyn Manson released Antichrist Superstar, and Paula Cole released This Fire
(including the songs "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone" and what became the theme to the TV show Dawson's Creek, "I Don't Want to Wait").

Kanye West was soon to become what he would title his breakthrough album: The College Dropout. Katie Holmes, Heath Ledger, Kourtney Kardashian, Alecia Moore (Pink), Michelle Williams (both of them), Ben Savage, Kim Kardashian, Christina Aguilera, Alicia Keys, Hayden Christensen, Jessica Alba, Natalie Portman, Chris Evans, Beyonce Knowles, Britney Spears, Sienna Miller, Prince William, Kate Middleton, Natalie Dormer, Hayley Atwell and Kirsten Dunst were in high school. Matt Smith, Anne Hathaway, Andrew Garfield and Khloe Kardashian were in junior high.

Prince Harry was 12 years old. Lady Gaga and Richard Madden were 10, and Drake and Emilia Clarke were about to turn 10. Kit Harington, Rose Leslie and Rob Kardashian were 9. Kevin Jonas and Rihanna were 8. Emma Stone, Daniel Radcliffe and Joe Jonas were 7. Emma Watson was 6. Sarah Hyland was 5. Louis Tomlinson, Jack Gleeson, Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato and Nick Jonas were 4. Miley Cyrus, Nicki Minaj, Zayn Malik, Ariana Grande, Liam Payne and Niall Horan were 3. Harry Styles and Justin Bieber were 2. Kendall Jenner was about to have her 1st birthday. Sophie Turner was 8 months old, and Abigail Breslin was 6 months. Maisie Williams, Kylie Jenner, Ariel Winter and Rico Rodriguez weren't born yet.

Inflation was such that what $1.00 bought then, $1.60 would buy now. A U.S. postage stamp cost 32 cents, and the fare on the New York Subway was $1.50. The average price of a gallon of gas was $1.29, a cup of coffee $1.79, a McDonald's Big Mac, fries and shake $5.50, a movie ticket $4.40, a new car $18,525, a new house $119,000. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed the day before at 5872.92.

The 1st tablet computer had been introduced, and more and more people were finding out about the Internet. But there was, as yet, no Wikipedia, no iPod, no Skype, no MySpace, no Facebook, no YouTube, no Twitter, no Tumblr, no iPhone, no Pinterest, no Instagram, no iPad, and no Vine. There were birth control pills, but no Viagra.

In the Autumn of 1996, in events unconnected to sports or the Presidential election, the Taliban took over Afghanistan. Kofi Annan was elected by the United Nations to be its next Secretary-General. The last of the infamous Magdalene asylums was closed in Ireland. A cyclone killed over 2,000 people in India. The trial in the wrongful-death civil suit against O.J. Simpson began. The Sands Hotel in Las Vegas was demolished, to make way for the Venetian Hotel.

Former NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle, French tennis legend and shirt designer René Lacoste, and Italian soccer legend Silvio Piola died. Zendaya, and Lorde, and Jerome Sinclair were born.

September 28, 1996. The Arsrenal last played a game under a manager other than Arsène Wenger. But he was on his way, and so was the team.

It's been a little under 22 years. It seems unfair to ask Emery to do in 2 years what Wenger did: Turn Arsenal from a team struggling for 5th place into Double winners and a European power.

But Wenger did leave him a better team than the one that he was left. We shall see.