adminLONDON. – Arsene Wenger says thoughts about retirement send him into panic.
The Frenchman is entering his 20th year at Arsenal and, despite approaching his 66th birthday, he is dreading the idea of stepping away from the game, believing for the first time in recent years that they can win the title.
Wenger says the thought of following old rival Sir Alex Ferguson into retirement brings him out in a cold sweat.
“Retirement crosses my mind sometimes, but for no longer than five seconds because I panic a little bit.
“When we played at Man United, Sir Alex Ferguson came to meet me after the game. I said, ‘come on, you don’t miss it?’ He says ‘no’. He had enough. He goes to every game. But he has horses. I have no horses.”
Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis would happily give Wenger a job for life. The man himself feels differently. “Every three days you are questioned,” he said. “You have an exam every three days. You have no way to look back. You have to prepare the next exam and come out of it with success. So it always demands 100 percent commitment.”
But he genuinely believes Arsenal, bouyed by the arrival of £10 million goalkeeper Petr Cech, can win the Premier League title this season. If they do, perhaps this will be his last season.
“I want to do well for the club and, as well, when I leave one day, leave the club in a position where the club can go on and on,” he said.
Gazidis and many Arsenal fans alike believe his greatest achievement in his two decades were keeping them among the elite during the “stadium years.”
But he still has his detractors and the lunatic fringe of the “Wenger Out” brigade got their moment of fame when they verbally assaulted him at Stoke Station after a shock 3-2 defeat last December.
That result effectively ruled out another title tilt with the New Year hardly in sight and was something even Wenger was not fully prepared for, even though he can forgive. – AFP.
Online Reporter