If you want to waste some money today then bet on Arsène Wenger to
be next Premier League manager to leave his job.
Paddy Power, Arsenal.coms official betting partner, rate that
particular option at 100/1. That is the longest odds for any
top-flight boss. However, in reality, you could probably add a good
few noughts to that ratio given that Wengers vibrant young side
will reclaim top spot in the table with a two-goal victory at
Reading this evening.
However it was not always this way. The Arsenal manager feels the
best piece of luck he had in his career was NOT to start at a big
club and, he argues, the only relegation of his coaching life
taught him much.
It is always difficult measure how lucky I have been, he said.
To start as a youth team coach in a low first division club [in
France] and finish here? Certainly with bad luck it doesnt happen
but its difficult to compare the situations.
Dont think anybody came to me and said here is the red carpet
for you into a special job and gave me a big club straight away. I
know the biggest luck I have had is that I didnt start at Arsenal,
I had to fight.
Wenger certainly had to battle at Nancy, his first job in
management. The small side from the Lorraine region plucked him out
of Cannes youth set-up in 1984 and were immediately rewarded when
he guided them to a healthy 11th place in his first season. In his
second season they finished third from bottom and survived via a
play-off but, a year later, they succumbed to the seemingly
inevitable demotion. However his relative success had alerted the
attention of Monaco.
Yes, I experienced [relegation] when I was quite young, said
Wenger. It was a good learning process as I was on my own
completely without any assistants.
The pressure at the bottom is different to pressure at the top. At
Nancy we made miracles every year because we where always
favourites to go down. When I left they offered me the chance to
take over at the club completely. They offered me a contract of
five years. But at the time I was only 36 and I decided then to go
to Monaco. It is a miracle I had big clubs to go to. But that still
happens now, big clubs always look for good young managers.