UK Edition
Arsene Wenger becomes longest serving manager in top seven English divisions
Did you think Arsene Wenger was the longest serving manager in English football? If the answer is yes then you would have been wrong... until now.
While Wenger has been at the Arsenal helm since 1996, that pitiful 20-year and 324-day reign pales in significance when compared to Gordon Bartlett's career.
The school teacher took charge of Wealdstone FC back in 1995 when the club were languishing in the third division of the Ryman League.
Since then he has guided them up the ladder to the National League south (the sixth tier of the English league structure), only to announce yesterday that he was stepping down after 22 years in the role.
Moving away from his managerial position, Bartlett - who made a handful of appearances for Portsmouth, Denver Dymamos, Slough Town and Brentford in the 1970s before his playing career was cut short by injury - will take on a new role as head of youth development.
"Looking back, I have a huge amount of pride on the success and progress we have made since my arrival in 1995," said Bartlett.
"I move on with some brilliant memories and the knowledge the club is in a far better place than when I took over.
"My ambition was to take the club back to the top of non-league football and although we may have finished one short of the objective, I can’t really say I haven’t had a fair crack at it."
Wenger has been in charge at Arsenal almost twice as long as the next longest serving manager in English league football (which encompasses the top four tiers) - Paul Tisdale, who took over at Exeter City in 2006.
Eddie Howe (Bournemouth), Sean Dyche (Burnley) and Mark Hughes (Stoke City) are the only other Premier League managers to have been in their roles for more than four years.