Season 2003/04 saw him become the first manager in English league history to complete an entire 38 league game campaign unbeaten.
Last season he became the first manager to lead Arsenal to the final of the UEFA Champions League. On their way, the club set a new Champions League record for consecutive clean sheets - 10 in all.
In 2003 he was awarded an honorary OBE, a decoration to accompany his Legion d\'Honneur, France’s highest civil honour, which he received a year earlier in 2002.
In October 2004, he was awarded the Freedom of Islington and has two deGREes - one, an economics degree from Strasbourg University and another, an honoury DSc, from the University of Hertfordshire. He is fluent in five languages and was instrumental in the designs, particularly for the first-team dressing room, at Emirates Stadium.