Angry Wenger lashes out ahead of Arsenal's Champions League tie
An angry Arsene Wenger told journalists at his press conference to preview Arsenal’s Champions League meeting with Bayern Munich that “you will miss me when I’m gone,” the Daily Mirror has reported.
Wenger was riled by newspaper stories that said he was to be offered a new two-year contract by Arsenal, with his current deal set to end in 2014. The manager also reacted angrily to questions regarding the team’s FA Cup loss to Blackburn Rovers on Saturday and called for more respect to be shown to him by pundits and members of the press.
He described the claims of a contract extension as “false and lies”, adding sarcastically: “I am sure you would miss me when I am gone. I am not sure you are interested. When we lost at home to Blackburn I am not sure you are worried. My contract ends in 2014.
“I will have completed 30 years without interruption at top level; football demands a lot of commitment - I may not be quality, but commitment for sure. I think I have shown my commitment to this club and one day I will give you the list I have not signed for and you will see that I am committed to this club.”
Wenger went on to discuss the perception that standards at the club had fallen from the halcyon days Arsenal regularly won the Premier League and FA Cup, to the point today that it is eight years and counting since they claimed a trophy.
“You can criticise me and say I’m a bad manager. I’d never come back to you on that. When you criticise (about being too far behind) on that then it is true. I can only say I am sorry, you are right, we are far too far away from Manchester United. We are of course criticised for that. But we are not the only ones.”
Wenger added that there are teams who have spent substantially more money than Arsenal that are also behind United. He continued: “I am not a conspiracy theorist. I am 30 years in this job and if I was paranoid you would know it already. I just think that when I worked for 16 years in the country I expect a certain respect.”
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