Arsene Wenger believes it’s a huge honour to have managed Arsenal Football Club for 19 years and reminisced about his first week in charge.

When the boss joined us in 1996 from Monaco, the Frenchman didn’t know how structured a big club like Arsenal was. He didn’t realise that players would be of such a high standard either.

“I was surprised [in my first week at Arsenal] because of the structure of the club with a size like this one,” he said. “I was surprised that I was quite welcome inside the club, how humble people were and I was also surprised by the quality of the players.

“I expected the players not to be as good as they were because I didn’t have the right image of them. The players were of quality when I arrived here and that was a good surprise.”

Speaking about his tenure in charge of the Gunners, the boss described what an honour it’s been so far and how, although he’s not exactly getting any younger, he wouldn’t change it.

“I was a new manager with a lot of ambition, a lot of desire and a huge desire to do well and show that I had the quality to take this club further,” Wenger said.

“Nineteen years later I’m still here so that doesn’t make us younger but it is a fantastic part of my life and a great honour to have guided this club for such a long time.

“It is amazing because it’s a rarity in our job. I’m conscious of the size of the club, the expectation level, so the pressure is even bigger than the first day I arrived.”

As a fan, I feel intensely lucky to be able to have Wenger as a boss. The way he’s built our club into something that’s sustainable and pure in comparison to most of our title rivals is nothing short of miraculous.

He’s currently the longest serving manager in the Premier League by a long way and will go down in history as not only one of the best Arsenal managers, but best football managers of all time.