Ray Parlour talks about Szczesny and Wenger

On Szczesny's supposed fine:

I can’t believe he was smoking in the shower. Lots of players these days probably do smoke behind the scenes. Whether it’s right or wrong - that’s what managers have to deal with. He'll have a meeting with Wenger but he’s a very confident lad. I don’t think mistakes affect him.

It’s all about performances. I was hoping he’d get tested against Hull in the FA Cup and that could have kept him in the side against Stoke. I think he will play again but Wenger will speak to him and hopefully he’s learned his lesson.

On Wenger's lack of bite:

He didn’t like confrontation. There wasn’t a lot fining back then. It wasn’t his style to have a go. I remember on a Monday after a poor performance he was trying to have a go at a few players and three or four phones went off. And he was panicking. He was fuming. He said it would be a £10,000 fine for the next phone that went off.

Two days later we were getting prepared for the next game. We were stretching in a quiet room and a phone started ringing. It kept ringing and Wenger wanted to know whose phone it was. He got up, walked to his bag and it was in there. 'That’s £10,000 to me' he said and started laughing.

On Szczesny being made a scapegoat:

Szczesny was just caught at the wrong time. Wenger had the hump after the Southampton defeat and Szczesny took the brunt of it. I’m pleased I never smoked - that’s a lot of money for a pack of fags!