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LONDON. — Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger have become the first football managers to be inducted into the English Premier League Hall of Fame.
The legendary duo won 16 English Premier League titles between them while developing a fierce rivalry over the years while managing their respective clubs, Manchester United and Arsenal.
They are also the first to be inducted as part of the “Class of 2023”.
Ferguson (81) is the most successful manager in English Premier League history and has won a record 13 titles — including winning the title for an unprecedented three seasons in a row on two separate occasions — before retiring in 2013.
After arriving at Old Trafford in 1986, Ferguson helped turn the club back into one of English football’s juggernauts where he would eventually go on to dethrone Liverpool as the club with most top-flight English league titles.
Ferguson also won the inaugural English Premier League title in the 1992-93 campaign and he would manage some of the game’s best players during his incredible 27-year spell as Red Devils manager.
Renowned for his brilliant leadership skills and ability to rebuild title-winning teams time and time again, Ferguson’s all-time record stands at 528 wins from 810 matches and 1 752 points accumulated.
He was named manager of the season 11 times and collected the Manager of the Month award on 27 occasions.
Ferguson said: “I’m truly delighted to be inducted into the Premier League Hall of Fame. It’s an honour when you receive recognition like this.
“However, it’s not just about me as a person. It’s about the job at Manchester United and the bond we had over many years, so I’m also proud for the club, the staff and my players.
“My job was to send the fans home happy. United’s history and my own expectations were the things that drove me, and I then had to try and develop all my players with the same expectations and make sure we could go out and achieve them.
“I feel Arsene is a very worthy inductee as he transformed Arsenal Football Club fantastically. They became a tough team to compete with and we both wanted to win, which motivated us further.
“Through the years since retirement, we’d go for dinner together in a little restaurant he knows well in Switzerland. He is a really interesting man and I enjoy his company, but it is still my job to pick the wine!”
Meanwhile, Mikel Arteta has hailed Wenger as a “phenomenal influence in world football” after the former Arsenal boss was inducted into the Premier League Hall of Fame.
Wenger was in charge of Arsenal from 1996-2018 as he managed 1 235 games including 828 English Premier League matches.
The Frenchman won three English Premier League titles with the Gunners and remains the only manager to go through an entire season without defeat after overseeing Arsenal’s “Invincibles” in 2003-04.
And, after he was inducted, Gunners boss Arteta — who played under Wenger for five years between 2011-2016 at the Emirates – heaped praise upon the 73-year-old.
“He opened the English Premier League to the world in a different level to what any other manager has done,” Arteta said.
“I think he’s going to be forever (remembered). I don’t think there is any other managers that has had more impact.
“Some have bought different ideas, characters, competitions but he had a vision that was much wider than any other manager had at time.
“England and the English Premier League has to be very grateful forever to this man.”
Arteta also lauded Wenger for inspiring his Arsenal side to the unbeaten season which saw them avoid defeat for a remarkable 49 league games in total between May 2003 and October 2004.
He added: “It’s an incredible and difficult achievement in this league in particular. It’s only happened once and there’s a reason for it.
“To be with the same staff and players and still have capacity to keep inspiring and keeping them hungry is very extraordinary and it is a rare and special quality.
“Congrats to him. It is an incredible situation and shows how incredible what he’s done is.
“He is inspiring, I think he inspired every player and member of staff he worked with, I think he inspired English football, I think he took English football to a different level, and I think he challenged English football to open doors. “He opened the door for many other foreigners to join the league to make it better. He had a huge impact around world football in the vision he had, the way he spoke, the way he transmitted as a coach and way his teams played.
“I had a phenomenal time with him and learnt a lot and he pushed me to become a coach so he’s a big influence on me.
“He’s been a phenomenal influence in world football.” — mailonline.
Online Reporter