Thierry Henry says that his ambition to manage Arsenal is unchanged, despite having left the club recently due to a conflict with his punditry work.
Arsene Wenger offered Henry a full-time coaching position with the U18s but his unwillingness to give up his work with Sky Sports meant that the club’s record scorer had to pass up on that opportunity.
He said he respected the decision of the manager in that regard, but still harbours ambitions over the top job at some point in the future.
“I would be lying if I said it wasn’t a wish that I have because I love Arsenal,” he told The ***.
“The game is my passion and always will be. I would like to manage but I am far from it. Although I am able to manage any team now I would still like to pass my Pro License that I’m working on to give me a better all-round knowledge.
“I am in the process of doing that.”
And he admits there’s a lot of work for him to do, even if it won’t be at Arsenal.
“There is a massive difference between a wish and doing it,” he said. “I felt I could add something to the kids and I could also gain valuable experience myself.
“If it’s not to be there, then so be it. I have to respect the situation and that is the way it is. I will continue to support the team and wish them all the best for this season.”
It’s a shame he didn’t see the job at Arsenal as the most important, but then it’s also unlikely to pay him £4m a year. Ultimately though, it won’t change his affection for the club or the manager, and the whole thing is something of a storm in a teacup.
Or a mild breeze in a thimble. Or something.
Really don’t see what the big deal is. Financially, it makes sense for him to stay with Sky, I know I know, he’s a multi millionaire already, but let’s be real, turning down £4 million a year would be tough for anyone, regardless of their affection for a club. And Arsene is right, the managerial game/process should be a full time one, not to mention the conflict of interest in the other career he is pursuing. Respect both of the stances on this, doesn’t mean the end of Thierry for Arsenal by any means. Good luck to him, and we… Read more »
Actually, from the monetary perspective it might be smarter to take the coaching role instead, at least if he believed that he would become a top coach. I don’t see him doing punditry on that salary for more than a few years, while he can coach for 20+ years and the top coaches will be getting over 10m per year very soon.
On the other hand, if he invests the money he makes now up front as a pundit…
In any case, I’d hope the decision wasn’t only down to money for a man who’s already made quite a bit of it. He’s free to make his own decisions, but when he says on one hand he’d love to manage Arsenal, and on the other hand that he prefers a job with Sky over being part of the team at Arsenal, it’s hard to be sure where his priorities lie.
It’s certainly hard to be sure, although with all the evidence pointing one direction, it’s pretty easy to make a guess.
Personally, I think he’s a bit naive he can postpone coaching and land such a job whenever he want, because when he decides it’s time, there might not be an opening. But maybe it’s just me being naive and he’s perfectly aware of where he stands and has informal offers from several clubs. But still, it looked a bit like closing the Arsenal door to me.
I’d guess (only a guess) that he can do a year with a championship club U18s to finish his ‘badges’, whilst still earning the Murdoch money.
I imagine being a pundit is a lot easier way to make a living than coaching the U18’s. That’s what I think he meant when he said: “There is a massive difference between a wish and doing it.”
If he was serious about being a top coach (Henry never had a problem with self belief in his playing career @ Arsenal) he could make shitloads more than £4m a year if he one day became Arsenal manager. I don’t want a guy managing Arsenal who’d rather be chatting on TV. It requires insane grind.
Being U18 assistant coach is not better than being manager of a parking lot. Why giving up 4 millions for that. Don’t we want those who exercise good judgment around the club?
Im just disappointed our all time goal scorer preferred to put on makeup and ride his high horse on TV rather than put his money where his mouth is and actually coach the club he claims he loves. For everyone criticizing Arsenal, what pundit is coaching one of the big clubs part time? And we’re not talking about the guy that gathers the footballs at the end of the session, we’re talking about assistant manager of u18s. No matter what you think about that level, IT IS A DEMANDING JOB. Loved him as a player, but I support Arsenal FC,… Read more »
Stop being jealous about his millions. You and I still have the option of buying lottery tickets.
Besides Thierry Henry always fulfils his contracts ?
Would he buy us a striker?
With £4m?
One suspects The Great Communicator’s team-talks will induce as much bewildered head-scratching as his incoherent ramblings on Sky.
He might have been a great player, one of the best, but he will never be an elite manager.
“Never be an elite manager”
Come on, how do you know?
Jog on.
His apparent lack of any tactical acumen and constant inability to translate even the most basic concepts into coherent sentences tells me all I need to know.
😀 You seem like a good pundit yourself
That’s the contrary of what I’ve heard about his involvement with Arsenal youth so far.
Unfortunately he’s picking up from the rubbish English pundits (no offence to English people, I love you guys) who think if you win a match its because you have passion and desire, and if you lose, you lack passion or you didn’t want it enough. What a load of rubbish. Only honest one is Tony Adams, he said honestly if our team played today we’d probably get relegated. The fitness and tactical level all players in the top European league have is higher than its ever been. The game is all about being composed and sticking to a game plan.… Read more »
I agree with your points on the whole, but regarding “mentally weak” players, no-one called Roy Keane that when he was fighting every opponent in sight and breaking a kneecap or two. Gabriel also doesn’t fit that characterisation.
Zidane is a very bad communicator, Guardiola does not even talk to players he wants out. Those two are elite managers.
Write off his managerial career before he manages 1 game because you’re ability as a pundit has always been the barometer to success
Alan Shearer, anyone?
Look, I love Thierry, and I’d love him to go on and prove me wrong. But if he wants to manage the Arsenal, he needs to go out and do it somewhere else first.
If he wanted to become a manager he’d have dropped the telly out and continued coaching. I hate to do this but… FACT.
Hate to be pedantic, but this is the first time I’ve seen the word “you’re” for “your”. Usually, all over the internet, its the other way around.
Auto correct. Be as pedantic as you want
if you hate to be, don’t be. if you want to be, just be so, not apologetically.
Don’t be so pedantic.
It’s.
Agree with Harsh, being a pedant is great!
How long did you smugly admire your post about grammar and usage before you realized you’d cocked up “it’s”?
I don’t know about his management abilities, but if leadership is one of the required qualities, then his pretty terrible team captaincy might suggest he’s unsuited to the role?
I absolutely adore Henry, by the way, and if he could be a great manager, I’d be cheering him on (apart from when his team played us of course!).
I want Wenger out so much that I’d take the chance with unexperienced Henry. Still I’d prefer somebody like Koeman or Hiddink.
Tsk tsk tsk, come on Dave!
Henry prowling the touchline and giving underperforming players the death stare could rival diego simeone’s dugout shenanigans.
‘he told The ***’
He told who? My guess is Robbie Savage.
If it was four letters my guess would have been John Terry. 😉
Very sorry to the thumb downers…bloody internet!
Imagine the day when Terry becomes a pundit.
“awrite, the problem here is that while he goes for the ball he could actually be giving the defense some of the old racist abuse, you know to put them off a bit, and then if that fails you bring over Costa to fake being attacked and roll on the floor like he’s be shot, you know, to get someone sent off and then…”
He was great for us as a player, more than great in fact, but im kind of fed up with him talking about Arsenal as if he has some unbreakable bond with the club. He’s just another player that flew the nest in favour of glory at Barca for a start, sold out became a pundit and slagged our players off, and now turned down the opportunity to coach and nurture the clubs future players in favour of a handsomely paid but BS role with Sky. Loved him while he was banging the goals in, but not a club/fans legend… Read more »
Thierry Henry not an Arsenal legend? Really ? Do we have any at all then ?
Madness.
No, Madness never played for Arsenal. They did once play at Finsbury Park though.
ROFLMAO
Giroud and Chamack will become your Arsenal legends. I guess.
Giroud and Chamakh in the same bracket? Now, you’re being harsh!
Depends on what you deem worthy of legend status – its completely subjective. Ive explained why in my eyes he isn’t. He’s not a Tony Adams, for example.
Not saying i dont love him, one of the greatest ever to don the shirt. But he’s not the Arsenal through and through man he tries to make himself out to be.
Sky and The Sun, would say his judgement and pursuit of money is suspect at best. Historically not really a good fit for an Arsenal manager as he said to the club when he was given the opportunity to work there. Thanks, but no thanks.
Vieira, Bergkamp and Overmars are living proof that you can continue your PATH to management independent of Wenger. I wouldn’t have given up the Sky gig either especially not if it was paying me £4m (half of what Wenger is reported to earn) and let’s face it the only people that have a problem with Henry’s punditry are some Arsenal fans that think the manager and players are above criticism.
If the game was his passion he would of left sky and took the job at Arsenal !! I love Henry but yet again wengers loyalty has been proven stronger than others
Would have
Played!
Fuck off
Arsenal fans are meant to be intelligent classy folk, like our players and boss. Let’s not use John Terry levels of grammar.
Nice one Mizog.
Fuck have?
so would you quit your I dont know 80k per year job to do it for free? (yes Henry was doing the coaching thing for free) yep he earns 4millions, and facing the fire he wasnt a cunt and respected his former boss/father. and most importantly the man is clubs greatest ever player with his statue outside. when injured for Barcelona he flew back from Spain to London and watched Arsenal not his current team Barca. so if youre telling me Arsenal isnt his passion (sorry Arseblog rules but) fuck you mate
I don’t know whether he WAS doing it for free or not, but AFAIK it was not an official employment, but part of the process of getting badges, so it’s possible.
But regarding this offer, he would have been getting a normal U-18 (assistant?) coach salary, it’s just HE offered to do it for free – which was actually refused be Wenger.
You can’t blame Wenger for highlighting the conflict of interest. You just cannot have a member of the coaching staff criticizing the team on national TV. The stuff he said about Giroud was unhelpful to say the least. I wonder how much this affected the BFG.
Perhaps a middle ground could have been found. Continue working for Sky, but not punditing on the Arsenal games?
*acronym fail* acronym fail*
Ahem, HFB, not BFG.
Well, it MIGHT have affected the BFG as well…. he’s not been in tiptop form of late 😉
except none of them decide to take coaching and media work same time , they spend 100% of their time learning to coach and its working out for them , when gary neville took over valencia he took a break from the media work ….capice ?
Neville took a break from assistant coach of the English national team, right?
I do find it odd how aw continually speaks of the mental strength of this squad but they are so sensitive that they can’t accept valid criticism from a coach who works with the kids? who has the first hand experience to be honest and give a good assessment. What happened to reacting to criticism and wanting to prove people wrong?
Tell me, which working club (or relationship for that matter) talks between them about their problems through media?
most German teams, Bayern Munich for one. criticism is almost a necessarity when underachieving, specialy when there have been underachievement for so long.
I don’t see any reason for public criticism, what’s so beneficial or healthy about it? Might work if you are not respected in the dressing room though. But feel free to make an argument about the benefits.
Second, this good old definition of underachieving by which all most of the top clubs are underachieving never gets old, right?
the underachieving isnt the important part (although I failed to find a top club whom havent won a CL or league title since 2004, our level of underachievement) the important part is we are the one club that is underachieving (even if we consider they all are as you wish) AND doesnt do anything to change it. (one year a club out of top Chelsea and Manchester teams won the league and now they all have new top managers) was it hard to take when Henry said we needed CM and a striker couple years back? or was it the… Read more »
You have to think that the people running the club are complete idiots if you think they need a) a former player to tell them b) are too `stubborn’ to do that. Like seriously? (Because yeah, they were not trying to sign suarez and higuain because they are not listening to Henry….) Maybe it’s you who should open the eyes and realize that for a company like Arsenal it’s about what value you assign to which performance targets and how much money you are going to bet on the rather small probabilities of winning. Just because all fans are `all… Read more »
Nailed it! At last someone who speaks sense.
guys I think I found Stan Kroenke :))
“realize that for a company like Arsenal it’s about what value…”
btw as an unambitious man youre trying too hard to convince people to be like yourself and ask for nothing than what youre given. but guess what all successful people are ambitious no matter what platform. so stay at home and pray your gods for what theyve given you while men do stuff with a goal of a better world and better things to have
Make no mistake, I don’t care what you think, it’s just your opinions will not be taken seriously if you don’t even realize that Arsenal is run as a company, regardless of (surprise surprise) what you or I think about it.
And your faint attempts to deduce anything about me are laughable.
He’s well within his rights to choose the Sky job over Arsenal, but he makes it sound like he wanted the job and was turned down ,when he was offered the job and passed on it.
Technically he was offered the job by joncker he accepted and then aw had his input
I’m sorry, but I somehow missed this – is this just your opinion or a fact?
Makes no difference. AW was right.
He can’t do both.
You’ve missed it then. Look at all the press releases and statements
+1 for ‘The ***’
F*cking shit paper.
Wenger gets and deserves special treatment from the club. The club keeps him whatever happens because he has been so significant to Arsenal. The player who is as much significant is Henry. Ironically, Wenger denied him the special treatment he deserves imo even though Wenger himself got so much special treatment from the club.
This is like the PR he did when left for Barca. Self-serving bollocks.
Fair play.
He definitely stand at the end of long Q involving former arsenal players who possesses by far better manager’s material like Vieira, Arteta, Bergkamp, Overmars…etc..
And don’t get me wrong, I like this guy, but sometimes he can be real A** hole.
I would take a job at Arsenal over anything. You can rattle on all you like about the 4 million Sky job. You can seel your soul for any price but loyalty can’t be bought. I have lost a little of the respect I had for this guy as an adolescent, I won’t lie. He’ll always be a great for his time with us though, and the tears he inspired with that goal in his comeback; beautiful. I find it sad though that the same people willing to disrespect Wenger are using this, Wenger has never sold out Arsenal for… Read more »
If you loved Arsenal so much there’s no DOUBT you would have taken that job or the Sky scum. What better way to manage Arsenal, I mean really? IN ARSENAL? I’m sad!
*over the Sky scum
He has grown accustomed to a certain lifestyle and it needs funding. Also it is a principle to be allowed to have your own opinions. I personally like Henry for being a straight talker. To many people speak in riddles and It is a bore having to decipher what people are actually saying half the time. Also unlike most at Arsenal Henry is not afraid to have his own opinion. Wenger seem to prefer to surround himself with sheep who all want nothing more than his approval. Difference of opinions and room for arguing and discussion is healthy in any… Read more »
Are they his opinions? Or are they the things he needs to say to keep that 4m rolling in from Sky?
Fine if it is the latter, that’s his choice. But that all the more says he’s got no business inside the club.
You are getting a lot of thumbs up from the Wenger-lie followers. Anyway, he’ll soon retire thank god
Fortunately though, we ‘the followers’ still out number the rest.
Good day sir
This is the comment of the year for me.
Spot on m8. I sense this be a new directions happen there soon ONCE Wenger butt out of the club.
It is everyone’s right to speak freely and I respect everyone’s right to do so. But it takes common sense to not speak utter rubbish that you know will have a negative impact on the team you claim you love. I can understand if some of us may not realize the negative impact it has on the squad, but if he doesn’t realize than how can he even think of being manager? How can criticizing your only striker after every game not have a negative impact? Yes I understand they’re professionals and should know how to react to such pressure… Read more »
We slowly creep towards August and the start of the season and whilst our rivals strength in areas they need strengthening, the talk around our mighty team is about how our team will be further weakened by resting our weary tournament players.
If he doesn’t strengthen and serves us regurgitated crap about there being no players out there who will improve our squad, he needs to leave before the season begins.
Lol. Keep dreaming. Wenger respect his contract unlike Henry. The last time I checked, transfer window closes 31st August and we are one top top striker away from completing our transfer window, so what is the whining about? As for Henry, he has forgotten the common saying that you cannot eat your cake and have it. Henry should keep dreaming about replacing wenger. I laugh. I believe after wenger leave, Guardiola to be assisted by Arteta will be the next Arsenal manager. As usual, Guardiola will spend 3 years and leave. Then wenger with his influence and Guardiola will recommend… Read more »
A cb too please!
Wow, Arteta more of Arsenal legend than Henry for spending more than a year on treatment table. I guess Everton fans are denigrating Arteta the same way you are doing to Henry.
You don’t need to be a legend to be a good manager. Statistically speaking, the number of successful managers that didn’t have the most successful careers outnumbers those that did.
I couldn’t agree any more. Being a good footballer doesn’t mean you’ll be a good manager. Completely different skill set.
Everyone that talks about arteta say they can see him being a successful manager. The impact he had on our squad behind the scene is really underrated. What a great opportunity for him after all those years under wenger to get the opportunity to work under guardiola. He loves Arsenal and I can see him managing us in the future. Doubt we’ll see that happen within the next 10 years though.
This is like damage control after Henry chose his Sky pundit job over the Arsenal youth setup. Maybe he can apply again after his lucrative contract runs out. Or not. I don’t really care.
Oh that’s right. I don’t either. I just wanna watch the Arsenal play football again.
There is no reason to think that the next Arsenal manager has to come from its rank of ex players let alone a legend. This rarely happens. Sure Simeone, Conte, Guardiola etc but there have also been massive flops and the bulk of managers are average players at best in careers. Speaking of ex-players, though, I think the next gaffer needs to share some of the common ethos of Wenger’s so we continue to leverage in the good that he has built. We need to tweak for success, no point reinventing the entire wheel or short term puncture fixes. But… Read more »
And the next time you pay heed to pundits, remember Gary Neville, perhaps the more sensible voice out there.
Most pundits employed have next to no experience managing top clubs let alone operating in the transfer window.
Young Gary (good on him) decide to put his money where his mouth is. He found out that it isn’t as easy putting theories into practise. Players are not widgets.
😉
You should check out Rio Ferdinand’s Vlog with poet and that other dude. He let them talk all the shit they wanted and at the ended of it had a game of two touch with them just to show them how much easier it looks on the telly. It’s easy to criticize, that’s why most pundits we see now rarely go into management, except of course the legend that know it all….Alan Shearer!
4 years is nothing. Arsene has more than 20 years in management on Henry.
No big deal. I love em both.
From the moments of joy they have both brought to my life over the years I’m pretty sure they love me too.
I’m away back outside to play for a while. Give me a shout when we sign a striker.
Peace
He had a decision to make and he made it.Arsene has been in the job for years , sorry to see my fav player could not follow that.
Everyone’s acting like he was doing Arsenal a favor coaching us… WE DID HIM A FAVOR! How many coaches were able to start at the level Henry did? Tony Adams had to go to lower leagues in foreign countries to prove himself and work his way up. Henry was hooked up with the FA Wales role thanks to wenger, and got the coaching role under Andres Jonker THANKS TO WENGER. He’s utterly disrespectful, and if he loved Arsenal, he’d come running after us and not the other way. So many ex Arsenal players wanted coaching roles at the club and… Read more »
Some fans hate all of our greatest players (Henry, RVP, Fabregas). At least, RVP and Fabregas proved to be Judas at different levels. Don’t worry, you will find a way to hate Alexis and Ozil too. Just a question of time.
No I won’t, jog off with your irrationality.
Ps, I respect fabregas, he left us for Barcelona not Chelsea, not his fault when he wanted to come home we didn’t have a place for him. At the end of the day he’s a professional trying to better his career.
You muppet.
Am I the only one really disapointed by Henry’s behaviour? Like he won’t drop his (bad) punditry to start as a trainer?
Speaks of huge ego there.
Even Zidane started with the young ones, and then landed the Madrid job.
Seriously, were it not Henry I’d say some bad words.