WENGER’S NOT YODA… AND WORLD CUP SPOILING HE IS

THE problem with Arsene Wenger is that nobody has ever told him he is talking cobblers. Not that it’s happened a lot. Most of us would listen to him on football, politics or life for hours. He is extremely engaging company. But on occasions, like any of us, he’s wrong. One example. In 2003, Wenger (below) accused Ruud van Nistelrooy of diving, simply because he had no great desire to be kicked in the nuts by an angry Patrick Vieira, and jerked backwards in anticipation. It was a ludicrous allegation. Yet because Wenger was urbane, charming, polite and clearly intelligent — and because we are suckers for a cultured French accent — he was indulged like one of those old adverts for Ferrero Rocher. ‘Oh, Professeur, you are spoiling us…’ Now Wenger has gone to work for FIFA, come up with some preposterous plan to hold a World Cup every two years and we can see our mistake. This is what happens if you treat a man like Yoda no matter what he says. So Gareth Southgate is right in deciding he does not need to meet Wenger to further discuss his vision of the global calendar. England’s manager took one look at Wenger’s plans and declared them nonsensical. He honed in on the proposal to have just one international window in each season. ‘What if you have a player who is injured in that month, or for however long it’s meant to be?’ Southgate asked. ‘He doesn’t play international football for a year.’ It’s the type of flaw an international manager might spot; and Wenger has never been one. That’s why he is getting rare pushback. Equally, no one trusts his allies. Wenger’s boss is Gianni Infantino, who this week entertained the possibility that countries would not be able to compete in consecutive biennial World Cups. So there would never actually be a World Cup. There would be a Half-a-World Cup and a Half-a-World champion. Imagine a World Cup in which half the greatest names were absent. How can anyone trust Wenger when these guys are his sounding board?