Arsene Wenger
association football player, economist, association football coach, engineer
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All Quotes by Arsene Wenger
“At a young age winning is not the most important thing... the important thing is to develop creative and skilled players with good confidence.”
“What would I do if Alex wasn't around? I would have no one to keep me on my toes or to fight. So of course I am pleased he changed his mind. I enjoy our rivalry. It is good for Arsenal, good for Manchester United and good for both of us.”
“I'm ready to take the blame for all the problems of English football if that is what he wants.”
“He's out of order, disconnected with reality and disrespectful. When you give success to stupid people, it makes them more stupid sometimes and not more intelligent.”
“Any man who concentrates his energies totally on one passion is, by definition, someone who hurts the people close to him.”
“As a non-Arsenal player I would say Ryan Giggs is my Premier League player of the decade because he has combined style with winning. Also I feel sorry he could never attend the World Cup, somewhere where people get a lot of compliments when they do well.”
“He's like a PlayStation. I think he can take advantage of every mistake you make. Barcelona are a very good side but of course they have Messi who can make the difference at any moment in the game. He is very young but he can achieve a lot. There are not many players who can score four goals like he did. He has six or seven great years ahead of him and he can become unbelievable.”
“Everybody has a different opinion in this league and nobody is a prophet. I personally don’t know who will win the league. I managed 1,600 games so, if Nani knows, he must be 1,600 times more intelligent than I am.”
“You ask me: 'Was he a fair player?' I say: 'No, I'm sorry, for me he was not a fair player.' I just think I respect him highly as a quality player. I did not like some things he did on the football pitch and I have the right to say that. It's not because you are older, suddenly, that you are a saint.”
“We were considering him (Ruud van Nistelrooy) and Francis Jeffers and, in the end, we went for Jeffers.”
“It's like you wanting to marry Miss World and she doesn't want you, what can I do about it? I can try to help you, but if she does not want to marry you what can I do?”
“Despite the global warming, England is still not warm enough for him.”
“Spare me the articles about how nice Shawcross is because that was a horrendous tackle. People say we don’t fancy the physical side of it, but this is the result. If you see a player getting injured like that, it’s not acceptable.”
“You weren't world class when Arsenal signed you.”
“Nobody will finish above us in the league. It wouldn't surprise me if we were to go unbeaten for the whole of the season.”
“I am still hopeful we can go through the season unbeaten - a frightening thought.”
“We do not buy superstars. We make them.”
“The background looks like a lot of red cards.”
“When you're dealing with someone who only has a pair of underpants on, if you take his underpants off, he has nothing left - he's naked. You're better off trying to find him a pair of trousers to complement him rather than change him.”
“If I give you a good wine, you will see how it tastes and after you ask where it comes from.”
“Gérard [Houllier's] thoughts on the matter echo mine. He thinks that what the national coaches are doing is like taking the car from his garage without even asking permission. They will then use the car for ten days and abandon it in a field without any petrol left in the tank. We then have to recover it, but it is broken down. Then a month later they will come to take your car again, and for good measure you're expected to be nice about it.”
“If I go into a season and I say, ‘For fuck’s sake, if we don’t win anything, they will all leave,’ I have already lost. The problem of the media is always to imagine the worst. The problem of the manager is always to imagine the best.”
“What is unbelievable is that I am in a position where people reproach me for making a profit. The people who lose money – nobody says a word. Reproach the people who lose money. I do business by managing in a safe way in a healthy way and on top of that you reproach me for making money. It looks like we are in a business where the quality is to lose money.”
“In my job, you expect to suffer. That's why when I go to hell one day, it will be less painful for me than you, because I'm used to suffering.”
“Going back in time, looking back is just as scary. […] there’s not as much to come as what has already been lived… The only way to fight time is to not look back too much. If you do, it can make you feel anxious and guilty.”
“When I first came to Arsenal, I realised the back four were all university graduates in the art of defending. As for Tony Adams, I consider him to be a doctor of defence. He is simply outstanding.”
“Of the nine red cards this season we probably deserved half of them.”
“Young players need freedom of expression to develop as creative players... they should be encouraged to try skills without fear of failure.”
“Football is an art, like dancing is an art - but only when it's well done does it become an art.”
“If you do not believe you can do it then you have no chance at all.”
“Young players need freedom of expression to develop as creative players... they should be encouraged to try skills without fear of failure.”