Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger become first managers inducted into Premier League Hall of Fame

Alex Feguson and Arsene Wenger: The greatest Premier League managers of all-time (Photo: PA)

Manchester United and Arsenal legends Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger have become the first managers to be inducted into the Premier League Hall of Fame.

The pair are widely considered to be two of the greatest managers of all-time and have been recognised as such in the third year since the Hall of Fame was set up.

Ferguson managed the Red Devils from 1986 to 2013 and is by far the Premier League’s most successful coach, with 13 titles and 528 wins from 810 matches.

Wenger, who managed the Gunners from 1996 to 2018, is the league’s most experienced manager with 828 games under his belt, winning 476 of them plus three titles, the last of which coming in 2003/04 when the ‘Invincibles’ went the whole season unbeaten.

Though fierce rivals throughout their careers, the Scotsman and the Frenchman have enormous respect for each other, with Ferguson saying: ‘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!’

The Man Utd and Arsenal legends won 16 titles between them (Photo: Getty)

Wenger added: ‘To share this with Sir Alex is a great honour for me. It’s like two boxers, you fight like mad and go the distance together.

‘At the end of the day, you have respect and it will be a great opportunity to meet with him, share a good bottle of wine and memories of our old battles.’

Given how successful the pair’s teams were, many of their former players are among the 16 names already inducted into the Hall of Fame.

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This includes United legends like David Beckham, Paul Scholes and Wayne Rooney and Arsenal heroes Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp and Patrick Vieira.

On Thursday, the Premier League will unveil a shortlist of 15 new nominees for fans to vote for, with the three most popular to be inducted later this year.

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