Arsene Wenger’s tetchy relationship with the press continued during his pre-game press conference today. It’s clear Arsene has become irritated by some lines of questioning, particularly those regarding his coaching staff, and his thinly veiled shots at sections of the media during the Q&A have become something of a regular feature.
Early on he was asked about making additions to the backroom staff. The conversation went like this:
Reporter: Is there still any part of you that would consider strengthening your coaching team … bringing in somebody new?
*pause*
Wenger: No
*awkward pause*
Reporter: Why not?
Wenger: I’m responsible to choose my coaching staff so you have to leave that to me.
Reporter: There was a report today saying you were considering bringing back Dennis Bergkamp
Wenger: I just gave you the answer
Reporter: You can rule that out?
*really awkward pause*
Wenger (now irate): You take my answers for yes or no. If you don’t believe me, it’s no usually
To be fair to Arsene the questions were coming from Sky’s Bryan Swanson, a man who would make being asked for the time more irritating that a crotch full of crabs. It was clear what Wenger was saying and really didn’t need to be clarified.
AW was then asked if he felt the media criticism of him and the team was over the top.
“It’s not down to me to judge that, I just think that’s part of life today”, he said. “Football is a very popular sport and there’s a lot of competition between the medias. Everybody wants the headline. When you’re in a big club you have to live with that and be strong enough to deal with that.
“I always feel it’s a good test but that doesn’t mean that everything that’s said is right”.
And when asked his thoughts on whether or not he thought the title was a two-horse race between the two Manchester clubs, as certain sections of the press seem to believe quite openly, he said, “Well people talk because it’s their job to talk, you can understand that but when you talk a lot, you’re not always right.
“It’s too difficult to be always intelligent when you talk aways. It’s impossible for anybody”.
It’s clear that Wenger’s relationship with the press has deteriorated in recent times. Much of it is related to results, as I suspect he’d be a bit more gregarious on the back an unbeaten, as opposed to nearly always beaten, run, but for further insight into this issue, please listen to today’s Arsecast.
It features an interview with Alex Fynn, co-author with Kevin Witcher, of Arsenal: Making of a modern superclub – and provides more information into why the manager has changed his modus operandi in terms of the press in recent times.
Fair play to Arsene. That cheeky little “why not?” was a dick move from Swanson. Obviously, the results haven’t helped his relationship with the media. But I have to agree with his remark on football’s popularity, and how the press corps circle like carrion birds.
Inter, arguably a bigger club than Arsenal, are in MUCH WORSE shape, on and off the field. But they will face less noise, by virtue of differing circumstances in Italy. And I don’t believe their cross-town rivals have won a game this season, either. That should give us a little perspective.
Inter are definitely a bigger club than Arsenal, were extremely successful much more recently and have done much worse than Arsenal this season. They lost 1-0 at home to Trabonzar or some other side. Sure, no 8-2 for them, but at least we’ve done well in Europe.
I would point out they’re beneficiaries of a sugar-daddy owner, and are in danger of falling victim to FFP as a result. They claimed this would be a transitional season, with young talent getting their chance. Instead, Moratti re-signed Lucio and signed Forlan.
Just double-checked results: they did indeed lose to Trabzonspor at home, and lost 3-1 at Novara, a club that had been out of Serie A for 55 years. Both Milan clubs, and Roma, are winless.
Do you seriously think Inter are a bigger club than Arsenal? I will only quote what the Frimpster said….. Pffffff
In terms of the kind of talent they attract? Yes, Inter are a bigger club. We can’t realistically compete (on the wage front) for guys like Sneijder, Ibrahimovic, Eto’o, Forlan, Cambiasso and Milito. Not right now.
But their revenues are considerably lower than ours: according to Deloitte, we generate about €50m/year more. Inter’s success comes courtesy of Moratti’s money. Anyway… the point: Inter are a “bigger” club, with a better roster, but a much poorer start to the season. It ain’t all doom and gloom for AFC, no matter what the press says.
Eeessh!! The guys at Sky are surely setting the pace in Cuntery. Na$ri must be jealous!
Urgh Swanson, so he does work outside of the transfer window.
Excruciating whimpering little gopher faced sky pest.
Beautifully summed up
where can i watch the video??
[…] I’m aware that the press conference link isn’t actually linking to a video of the press conference at the time of writing, but hopefully it will do at some point. If it still doesn’t then I’ll tell you what happened. Arsene got annoyed at some annoying guy. […]
ONE ARSENE WENGER!
Take that Swanson you fucking little rat cunt.
Fuck the press, fuck every other club with their mug fans, fuck talk shite radio, fuck em all.
OH ARSENAL WE LOVE YOU.
i would lvoe bergkamp to come back. without him i dont think henry would become as good.
I do think ‘gregarious’ is entirely the wrong adjective there – perhaps ‘forthcoming’ or ‘friendly” might be better.
[…] boss has been under pressure somewhat, which may have seen him snapping at reporters. Arsenal needs this win for many reasons, but more than anything else, Arsene needs to regain some […]