Wenger angrily refutes contract extension rumours & recent criticism

Reports had been circling that Arsene Wenger was in line for a 2 year contract extension but when the subject was raised at his press conference, Wenger strongly denied it to be the case.

The press conference was being held ahead of Arsenal’s Champions League match against Bayern Munich and it wasn’t long until the assembled team of journalists quizzed the Arsenal manager about the claims but Wenger was far from amused.

That is the wrong information. I’ve worked for 16 years in England and I think I deserve a bit more credit than wrong information with only one intention – to harm.

Wenger decided to sign his current deal at Arsenal during his final year on his previous contract and it looks as if he is taking a similar approach this time round;

If it’s good information that comes from nowhere, it’s alright. But this is the wrong information that comes from nowhere. It’s completely wrong.

Earlier in the day there had been a section of Arsenal supporters who were frustrated by the rumours of a contract extension. Arsenal were knocked out of the FA Cup last weekend Blackburn Rovers along with being dumped out of the Capital One Cup by Bradford City but Wenger saw no correlation between his press conference and another season likely to be devoid of silverware.

Wenger angrily retorted when a journalist began to bring up the weekend’s performance by stating;

Can we get some questions about tomorrow’s game? That would be very nice. This is a pre-match conference for the Champions League. If you want to talk about Saturday, that press conference has been made after the game.

The Arsenal manager who is clearly upset by recent criticism, went further by saying;

I’ve been accused of not taking the FA Cup seriously. I won the FA Cup four times. Who has won it more? Give me one name. The second thing, we were accused of not putting a strong team out. That’s an insult to the players who started the game – there were 11 international players. We accept we have to take the blame, but the rest you have to put into perspective.

Quotes taken from televised press conference highlights on ESPN/Sky Sports News Channels