Sutton look to pile the pain on defiant Wenger
ARSENE WENGER says he could be ready to manage for another four years, though he is unsure whether it will be with Arsenal.
Speaking in the wake of the 5-1 defeat at Bayern Munich and before tomorrow’s FA Cup fifth-round tie against Sutton, Wenger expanded on his desire to keep coaching, even if he quits Arsenal this summer.
He said: ‘Alex 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.’
Asked whether that meant he could have four more years, he replied: ‘Maybe more, maybe less, I don’t know. Everybody is different on that front.
‘Alex Ferguson was an unbelievable manager but he had enough and I’m not at that stage.’
Meanwhile, former Arsenal youth player Roarie Deacon believes he has a point to prove against his old club when nonleague Sutton host the Gunners tomorrow night.
Deacon spent a decade at Arsenal, and the picture of him signing professional terms for the Premier League club, in which he is flanked by Wenger and his parents, still takes pride of place in the family home.
But the 25-year-old, who represented England Under-19s on three occasions, failed to make a single appearance for the first team and was released in the summer of 2011.
‘I signed when I was nine and left when I was 19,’ said Deacon, who is one of four former Arsenal players now representing Sutton in the fifth tier of English football.
‘My contract came to an end and I just had to move on which a lot of the young players had to do. Trying to bridge the gap from the reserves to the first team did not happen for me.
‘You could say I have a point to prove. I always want to prove people wrong and want to do well and show everyone what I can do, so it is just another chance for me to do that against a fantastic team in front of the television cameras.’
Arsenal will head to the humble surroundings of Gander Green Lane on Monday night following that humiliating second-half collapse against Bayern Munich.
The 5-1 rout at the Allianz Arena all but ended their hopes of qualifying for the last eight. The dismal showing has once again placed Wenger’s future at Arsenal in the spotlight.
‘Wenger is a great manager and Arsenal are a great team,’ added Deacon. ‘It is football at the end of the day and results don’t go your way sometimes.
‘Managers always have to deal with pressure and they have that pressure on their shoulders, but Wenger is such a great manager that he will most likely come through smiling on the other side.’
A defeat for Wenger’s Arsenal at Sutton, 17th in the Vanarama National League and playing in the fifth round of the FA Cup for the first time in their history, will be regarded as the greatest upset in football’s oldest club competition.
But Deacon insists the minnows are capable of creating shockwaves and sending the 12-time winners crashing out of the tournament.
‘We do think we can win,’ added Deacon. ‘We are not going into this game thinking we want this FA Cup run to end. It has brought so much attention to such a great club with a great fanbase.
‘We just have to go out there, do what we do and not be overawed by the occasion.’