Arsene Wenger set for landmark
When Arsene Wenger walked into English football with that statuesque gait and professorial manner the headlines were unanimous: 'Arsene Who?'
On Thursday, Wenger clocks up 4,749 days in charge of Arsenal, eclipsing the reign of George Allison in the 1930s and 1940s to become the longest-serving manager in the club's history.
On the way he has won three Premier League titles, four FA Cups and taken Arsenal to the Champions League final.
Unquestionably he is the most successful foreign manager to have plied his trade in English football. He is also the most articulate, the most astute, the most obsessive, the most stubborn and, some would say, the most short-sighted.
You could count on the fingers of one hand the times Wenger has actually admitted seeing the on-field indiscretions of his own side and that is during 13 years in which 76 red cards have been handed out to Arsenal players.
He has also defended players such as Patrick Vieira against the indefensible and had running battles with Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson which down the years must have produced enough column inches to stretch around the coastline of Great Britain.
But no-one has done more to enhance the pleasing nature of the 'Beautiful Game.'
No teams have played prettier and more intricate patterns than Arsenal. No sides have embraced the notion of football as a thinking man's game.
It did not exactly start that way. On Day One he strode into Highbury and shrewdly recognised the worth of meticulous organisation and the solidity of a defence which included captain Tony Adams, Steve Bould, Nigel Winterburn and Lee Dixon.
All ageing, all past their best. All who might have been moved on swiftly by another coach. But all Arsenal through and through and prepared to give the last drop of sweat and blood, if necessary, for the cause. And, more importantly, for a manger they knew little about.
They became the foundations of the Wenger dynasty, one to which he added fripperies as the years went by.
Wenger's greatest quality, however, is his ability to spot bargain talents who fit into the Arsenal way. From Vieira, a snip at £3.5m from AC Milan in 1996, to Robert Pires, a £6m bargain from Marseille in 2000 to current playmaker Cesc Fabregas, who cost nothing from Barcelona in 2004.
It is also his ability to build a team around men such as Thierry Henry, £10m in 1999, who was converted from a winger with potential into the striker supreme.
Cristiano Ronaldo might be some people's idea of the greatest player to grace the Premier League for his 42 goals in a single season, but surely no-one lit up the league as consistently brilliantly for as long as Henry.
No, Wenger does not share a drink with other managers' at the end of the match. He has become increasingly tense and eccentric on the touchline in recent years - note his Basil Fawlty impressions - as his attempt to topple Manchester United and Ferguson increasingly has failed.
There is little love lost between the two even now, with Wenger weeks from turning 60 and Ferguson nearer to 70.
Until Wenger is able and prepared to spend on the scale of United and Chelsea, however, it is unlikely Arsenal fans will celebrate another league title anytime soon.
For fans that must be frustrating. For Wenger, however, it will always be about managing his way to success rather than buying it and in a world where money rules and often ruins everything that is commendable.
His greatest success? Arsenal's 'Invincibles' who went unbeaten in the league in 2004, a feat which might never be repeated.
His biggest let-down? Two actually. Losing 2-1 to Barcelona in the Champions League final of 2006 and being dismantled by Manchester United in the semi-final at the Emirates last season.
It is that inabilty to land Europe's top trophy which stands in Wenger's way of greatness.
No-one, however, can deny Wenger was the trailblazer for a coterie of foreign managers such as Jose Mourinho, Gerard Houllier, Rafael Benitez and Carlo Ancelotti who have brought colour and rich variety to the Premier League. Without Wenger they might never have come.
That perhaps is his greatest gift to English football.