WENGER’S FINAL CHANCE
Season of woe could end with a Cup record
NOTHING illustrates the contrasting outlook for Chelsea and Arsenal quite like the situation surrounding the futures of the two men who will lead them out into the Wembley sunshine this evening.
Arsene Wenger splits opinion among the club’s fanbase, a mixed mood which persuaded him to let uncertainty fester and create the ‘ horrendous’ atmosphere that has stifled his players.
Antonio Conte, meanwhile, is the darling of Stamford Bridge and supporters who serenade him will be thrilled to learn he is ready to sit down after the FA Cup final and sign a new contract at Chelsea.
Conte is expected to agree a two-year extension, a commitment to 2021, worth £9.5million a year.
He will take a short break after the final before returning for meetings. He plans to move his wife and daughter to London during the summer and for more advanced English lessons.
‘My situation is very clear,’ said Conte. ‘I have two more years’ contract with the club. Then, if the club give me the possibility to stay here and to extend my contract, for sure I am available to do this.
‘We have the same idea about the future, the way we have to do things to improve the squad and the team. This year we had a base of 13-14 good players, next year with the Champions League we have to increase in numbers and in quality. The base is here, now we must put on the cherries.
‘I am happy about this season and I am happy to stay here. I hope to stay here for many years.’
Conte has rejected an approach from Inter Milan to instead continue the project which has started so well at Chelsea — and a big part of the negotiations has been about the players he can target in the transfer market.
‘We will complete the team to be ready for Champions League,’ said Conte in an interview with Italian newspaper When Wenger won the Double in his first full season in English football, Conte was in the midst of his playing career, winning the Italian title with Juventus and losing to Real Madrid in the Champions League final.
Back then, the Arsenal boss could do no wrong as he revolutionised English football and collected the big prizes by the armful.
He clinched his second Double in 2002, beating Chelsea in the FA Cup final in Cardiff. Fifteen years on and no manager has won the Cup more. Tony Adams, in his new book, said he saw his former boss throw his medal in the bin after losing the FA Cup final in 2001.
‘Don’t trust too much what Tony Adams says,’ was Wenger’s response. He will not be rushing out to buy the latest book of Adams’s revelations but he has no idea what happened to the medal.
It certainly was not cherished. ‘I don’t know, I don’t remember,’ said Wenger. ‘I have no medal at home anyway, from anything. I always give them away. There’s always a guy at the club who did not get a medal, a member of staff. I have given it to him.’
Not even a discreet memento from the unbeaten season in 2003-04? ‘Nothing.’ Photographs on the wall? ‘No.’ A personal diary, perhaps? ‘No.’
‘I am not a back-looker,’ said Wenger. ‘I am always forward. What is next? If you came to my home you would not guess I was a football manager apart from the fact that a football game is on.’
Two years ago, when Conte was manager of Italy, he wrote to four London clubs to ask if he could see their managers at work. He was invited to meet Mauricio Pochettino at Tottenham, Sam Allardyce at West Ham and Jose Mourinho at Chelsea, but there would be no insight into the Wenger way.
‘They were very busy at the time and I didn’t have this possibility,’ said Conte. ‘I saw the Arsenal against Monaco game, when they lost at home, but I didn’t have the opportunity to see Wenger. I would have liked to.’
Since Arsenal last won the Premier League, in 2004, Chelsea have changed the landscape with their relentless pursuit of trophies funded by Roman Abramovich.
Eden Hazard explained how this FA Cup final might keep Arsenal in their place and set the tone for next season. ‘The last 10 years at Chelsea, it’s been great,’ said Hazard. ‘They won a lot of trophies and now it’s like a new generation. Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba and Ashley Cole are finished. John Terry now.
‘Even for next season, this is a good opportunity to put pressure on them and all the opponents. If we win, it is good preparation for next season.’
Always looking forward, like Wenger, who is expected to remain in charge of Arsenal. He refuses to look back but if his team win today he will set a record, winning the FA Cup for a seventh time.
It will bring him level with Chelsea. But with no medals to show for it.