Arsene Wenger admits he 'panics' when thinking about retiring or leaving Arsenal and has spoken to Sir Alex Ferguson about calling it a day
Some Arsenal fans called for Wenger to leave last season only for the Frenchman to win a record-equalling sixth FA Cup during his time in North London
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Your support makes all the difference.Not many things make Arsene Wenger panic. The Arsenal manager can be seen to be visibly angry, jubilant or frustrated during matches, but rarely does he show signs of panic. Until he starts thinking about retirement, that is.
"Retirement? Yes, it crosses my mind but for not longer than five seconds because I panic a bit,” the 65-year-old Frenchman said.
“I have spoken to Alex Ferguson about it. When we played at Manchester United he came to meet me after the game.
“I said: ‘Come on, you don’t miss it?’ and he said ‘no’. He had had enough. He still goes to every game but he has his horses and I have no horses. Can I imagine managing another club? With difficulty.”
Leaving Arsenal has cropped up more and more in recent years at the Emirates Stadium. A large proportion of the Arsenal support still have faith in Wenger following his near-19-year reign at the club, but some believe that his time in charge should be nearing an end.
Last season Wenger was verbally abused as the Gunners made their way back to London following the ddefeat to Stoke, where his side found themselves 3-0 down inside the first half and ended up with 10-men following Calum Chambers’ dismissal.
The calls returned when Arsenal were eliminated from the Champions League by Monaco – the side that most clubs wanted to face in the last-16, and more and more questions were asked of the Arsenal manager when his side slipped out of the title race and handed the trophy along with Manchester City to Chelsea.
However, the Gunners went on to retain the FA Cup and claim a record-beating 12th success in the competition, giving Wenger his sixth triumph that is matched only by former Aston Villa manger George Ramsay back in the late 18th century and early 1900s.
With the squad ending the season on a high and new signing Petr Cech expected to strengthen the club at the back, Wenger appears mildly confident that this could be the year they end their wait for the Premier League title – one that will stretch to 11 years come the end of the season. With his contract up in 2017, the club are more than likely to offer Wenger a new deal, but the question will be whether he wants to sign it.
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