LONDON: Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger (pic) received a death threat when he was coach of French championship side Monaco, the Frenchman revealed yesterday.
Wenger’s revelations come in the same week that Liverpool announced their manager Gerard Houllier and England striker Michael Owen had been threatened in the light of the club’s poor results this season.
Wenger said that he had been sitting in his hotel room on the eve of a match with bitter rivals Marseille when he got a phone call.
“The person rang my hotel room and said: ‘I know where you are and do not come to the stadium’,” he told the Sun.
“The best response is to carry on even though it is difficult. If you stop your job then people think they can get you out by writing a letter. Even if it is only a joke.
“I did not try to reason with the caller. I kept the conversation short, very short,” added Wenger, who coached Monaco from 1987 to 1995.
The Frenchman said he could not understand the mentality of the fans who would go to such lengths.
“When you know the fine line between winning and losing, it is unbelievable that some people do this.
“Sometimes I look at fans’ faces on TV and you see guys who are really angry.
“You think he must go home, watch himself on TV and think how horrendous he looks.
“But for a guy to go home, put a pen to paper and still not calm down is difficult to believe.” – AFP
Wenger’s revelations come in the same week that Liverpool announced their manager Gerard Houllier and England striker Michael Owen had been threatened in the light of the club’s poor results this season.
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