Wenger enters the world of advertising but with a touch of class

By 1970’s Gooner

It was only a matter of time I suppose. Arsene Wenger is a world renowned figure, a perfectionist who excels at his chosen profession producing an output that is considered top top quality.

In the business world these are the attributes that chief Executive Officers are made of.

But if you want to advertise and promote your company then associating your company’s products with Mr Wenger is the next best thing.

Castrol of the lubricant’s brand fame is one of the major sponsors of UEFA's Euro 2008 championships.

They plan to use Wenger as their headline ambassador across a range of marketing activities including customer relations, TV, other media, PR, advertising and promotion.

However true to his class Arsene will be combining this activity along with assuming another major role.

That of developing a data base of a new performance index based on player speed, efficiency and performance in matches played in the euro 2008 championships.

Other notable Castrol ambassadors for this exercise will be Emilio Butragueno, Ottmar Hitzfeld and famous ex referee Pierluigi Colina.

I had a look at the format of this data base and it looks quite interesting. It is the type of player performance data that every manager would like to have at his fingertips. If you are interested check out the Castrol site.

Wenger of course is well known for relying heavily on such information not only in deciding when its time to let a player go to pastures green but also whether to go for a player in the transfer market:

“I’m addicted to these kind of statistics. You can assess strengths and weaknesses – how many passes a player makes, how many sprints, how many interceptions, assists etc.

I’m conscious that if I am wrong when bringing in a player, no matter how good my work is afterwards, I will stay wrong”

Well he has not been that wrong in his eleven years at Arsenal F.C has he?


Out of the walkway and onto the motorway. Can Eduardo propel Arsenal to the title starting today against Bolton?