GUNNER HEAL Wenger ‘won’t retire’ & begs club to unite in search of glory
TONY STENSON
The Frenchman, 67, has been at the centre of a debate about whether he will stay or go since the Gunners’ chances of claiming their first Premier League title since 2004 evaporated.
Wenger claimed after a 3-1 defeat at West Brom before the international break – the same day fans flew two planes over The Hawthorns – that he had made his mind up regarding his future but was not ready to let the world know.
Those banners flown by those planes last month called for Wenger to both stay and go.
There is a two-year deal on the table waiting for The Emirates boss to sign if he wants, although chairman Sir Chips Keswick has said that the decision on whether that happens will also be made in conjunction with the Arsenal board.
And ahead of today’s vital clash at home to Manchester City in the hunt for a Champions League spot, Wenger urged the whole club to come together as one in search of success – and also says he is in no mood to leave.
Obviously still in defiant mood, he said: “I will not retire. Retiring is for young people. For old people, retirement is dying.
“I watch as much football as I did 20 years ago. I find it interesting. International games are less interesting but I did see one good game – Spain against France.
“I am still hungry. Yes, of course I’m as hungry. I carry a bit more pressure on my shoulders than 20 years ago but the hunger is exactly the same.
“When I arrived here we had 70 employees. Today we have 700. When I arrived one share in the club was worth £400. Today it is worth £18,000. And I’ll tell you straight away, I don’t have any shares.
“I am not more fearful now because of crowd reaction.
“I hate defeat and understand the fans that are unhappy with every defeat.
“But the only way to have victory is to stick together with the fans and give absolutely everything until the end of the season, that’s all we can do.
“There’s no fear. My next game is about hope and desire, I hate defeat.”
Reports in midweek suggested that Wenger will use the result of today’s game to ultimately decide whether he signs a new deal at the club.
Win and he will stay, lose and he will leave – or take a seat upstairs at The Emirates.
But to reduce a 20-year reign at one of the biggest clubs in Europe to a win-or-bust situation does not fit with Wenger’s approach to football or the stability he has brought to North London.
And he has dismissed the idea that today’s face-off with Pep Guardiola is one he cannot afford to lose.
He added: “I’ve been in this job for 34 years and I’ve never met somebody who told me, ‘You can afford to lose on Sunday’.
“You can never afford to lose and you’re never in that mode, even if it’s a pre-season friendly.
“Some of the players have not been back from international duty very long but we will be prepared.”
M e a n wh i l e , Arsenal will once again look to bring Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema to London should Alexis Sanche z leave this summer. Th e France star has been a target before for We n g e r and the forward is on his list of potential replacements for Sanchez.