22-05-2025
Vic Akers: Thierry Henry said Kelly Smith could have played for men's team
Can anyone match the breadth of intimate connections Vic Akers has to the Arsène Wenger era at Arsenal? He may even rival the Frenchman.
Akers spent over three decades at Arsenal, and was the men's team's kit man from Wenger's arrival in 1996 to the great manager's farewell in 2018. In that conduit role between staff and players, he had private chats with 'the gaffer', watched rom-coms with Dennis Bergkamp and mustered a rare bout of anger towards Mathieu Flamini.
But his unique feat came elsewhere. Between 1987 and 2009, Akers was also manager of Arsenal's pioneering women's team, winning 33 major trophies. That's 12 league titles, ten FA Cups, ten League Cups and, most strikingly of all, one Champions League crown as part of
