As usual at this time of year the long-suffering Arsenal supporters start protesting about Arsene Wenger’s lack of trophies over the last decade, and just like every other season, Wenger and the Board just shrug it off as a “tiny minority” of real Arsenal fans.
Wenger seems to get questioned every week about whether he is thinking of standing down or retiring, but Le Prof seems to have made it unequivocally clear that he is not tired of his job, and has no intention of standing down in the near future. He was asked if he thought that he could carry on managing long enough to match Sir Alex Ferguson, who was the Man Utd boss for an incredible 26 years. “Ferguson has some other interests in life and he was older than I am today. He was four years older, he retired at 71 and I’m 67.” Wenger said.
So is he intending to keep going until he is 71? “Maybe more, maybe less, I don’t know,” he said.
“Everybody is different on that front and I do not want to take anything away from Ferguson, he was an absolutely unbelievable manager but he had enough, he had enough, and I’m not at that stage.”
To be fair, Wenger is more than used to listening to all this criticism at this time of every season, so it is probably just water off a duck’s back. If he continues to keep the Gunners in the Champions League every single season I can’t see him retiring until he is 80!
Maybe this is the season where it is the most difficult target to meet, but if anyone is used to the pressure, it’s Arsene!
Sam P