ARSENAL legend David Seaman has revealed how Arsene Wenger revolutionised CHEWING when he first arrived at the club.
The Frenchman, who had previously been in charge at Monaco and Nagoya Grampus Eight in Japan, was virtually unknown when he was appointed in 1996.
Nicknamed Le Proffeseur because of his spectacles and analytical approach to football, Wenger soon won players, fans and media over.
His methods changed Arsenal – and English football – with Wenger winning the Double in 1998 and going unbeaten in 2004 on the way to the ‘Invincible’ title.
He finally left the club in 2018 after 22 years and ten trophies as well as being the driving force behind the development and building of the Emirates Stadium.
And while it is well known that Wenger radically changed the drinking and eating culture at Arsenal, as well as the way the players trained, slept and thought about the game, it is less known that he told his players to CHEW more.
Seaman, who played more than 500 games for the Gunners and won nine major trophies, said: “When Arsene first came to the club, it was a totally different way of playing football, not only did we play a different way, but we trained a different way, everything changed.
“Even to how we ate our food – ‘Chew to Win’ was where he wanted us to make sure we chew our food for longer.
“He was the best, he was brilliant.”
Gunners team-mate Ray Parlour previously revealed it was all to do with digestion.
He said: “When you’re hungry you wolf it down and it takes longer to digest and to be fair the lads would make each other do it, they’d say ‘chew it longer, chew it longer.’”
Seaman was speaking as Pro Direct: Soccer and Adidas Originals launched a new collection of retro-inspired club apparel.
The full collection is available now.
