Wenger takes a dig at oil-rich clubs, and other quotes from L'Equipe interview

My grandfather used to say "I don’t understand, at the 100 metres, one runs in 10.1 seconds and the other one in 10.2 seconds, both are very fast. What’s the point?" Today, we glorify the one that ran in 10.1 seconds, and not the one that ran 10.2 seconds. But both of them are very fast. That’s dangerous for sports. We have reached an era in which we glorify the winner, without looking at the means or the method. And ten years later we realise the guy was a cheat. And during that time, the one that came second suffered. He didn’t get recognition.

So basically: sure you win a lot of trophies Man City/Chelsea...but you are cheaters and should be recognised as such.

Other nuggets:

An Arsenal fan, when you finish fourth, will say, “Hey, we’ve been in the top four for twenty years. We want to win the league!”. They don’t care that Manchester City or Chelsea have spent 300 or 400 million euros. They just want to beat them. But if you finish fifteenth two years running, they will be happy if you finish fourth after that.

On whether he is staying in London after his time at Arsenal comes to an end:

I haven’t decided yet. One thing is for sure; my link to Arsenal will remain until the end of my days. I’ve had opportunities that I’ve always refused. I don’t see myself as a manager anywhere else.

Wenger is asked if he tries to stay away from the media:

Of course. Do you know someone who wakes up in the morning and says: Hey, I’d like to get fifty whiplashes.

On Alex Ferguson:

For me Ferguson is an example. First off, he always found a way to renew himself, to evolve. He didn’t stay frozen in success. That’s a quality of his I appreciate. He knew how to constantly challenge himself. Even if he did it instinctively. But he had other passions. He like horses. Wine. He knows red wine better than I do. I met him recently and I said: “Alex, don’t you miss it?”. He said “not at all”. I was disappointed and comforted at the same time. It’s a reason to hope.

On having other passions than football:

No. That’s where my anxiety comes from. I’m not Ferguson. I don’t have a substitute and I’m not interested in looking back. Like writing a book on what happened to me. I live it as a suffering when former players come and see me and they’re not fully happy. Being introduced as Mr. X, former Arsenal player, and not for what he is today, that hurts. Being what you were is a suffering. I hope that in my life after football, I can be something else than the former Arsenal manager. Coach kids. Be useful.

On not sticking to the past:

It worries me a bit. If you come to my place, you could never guess I’m a football manager. If you ask me where my last FA Cup medal is, I don’t know. I think I gave it to the team doctor or the kit man.

On rich players:

In the 1960s a coach would say “lads we’re going to do it this way” nobody contested it. Now you have to convince first. The player is rich. The characteristic of the rich man is the need to convince him. Because he has a status. A way of thinking. People nowadays are informed. Therefore they have an opinion. And they think their opinion is right. They don’t necessarily share my opinion, so I have to convince them.

On Real Madrid changing coaches all the time, regardless of results:

They’ve entered the modern path. They need new faces. The addiction to headlines. For me, consistency in the results depends on the cohesion within the club. Throwing everything out, all the time only makes sense if you have hyper unlimited revenue. Then you can win. If not you’re done.

On having long-term plans:

The chairman [of Grampus Eight], Shoichiro Toyoda, told me he wanted to make Nagoya the greatest club in Japan and in the world within 100 years. That negates the pressure of immediacy in a fabulous way. What becomes a loss if you project your destiny on a century? I also found that idea extremely generous. Only being a conveyor belt in history, as a part of a movement that is much larger than you are. Being part of something that is beyond you. Unfortunately, we live too often with the idea that the world is going to stop after us. That is not humanity.