Arsène Wenger
👤 SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
And I was in that mode of thinking.
And in fairness, I think the club was quite crazy to appoint a guy like me because it was one of the most traditional clubs in England.
And to take a completely unknown guy, I think they were crazy, these guys.
But I had the advantage to benefit from it.
Well, it was players who were all 30, but they were intelligent and they thought if I could extend their career.
By doing what I told them, maybe I would do it.
And they tried, you know.
I remember going to the first game, they chanted at the back of the coach, we want our mouth bars.
And so at halftime, we were 1-0 up and nobody talked.
And it was like at a funeral.
And I said to Gary Lewin, the physio, what's wrong?
Why does nobody say a word in here?
He said, they're hungry.
At the time, yes.
And that is now accepted all over the world, you know.
I told them that you need a global approach.
What is visible, that means on the training ground, and what is not visible is the way you prepare mentally, the way you prepare by sleeping well, eating well, and all that makes performance.
A club is basically there to create an environment that favourises the performance of the players.
It was not always easy, but they understood.
And, you know, I was lucky as well because at the time, Tony Adams had just come out and said, look, I am an alcoholic and I went to rehab and I don't want to drink anymore.