‘It’s a love story, but it can stop’

Arsene Wenger marks 20 years at the Arsenal helm on Saturday. So what are the prospects of him celebrating 25 years in charge in 2021?

According to the boss, it depends on the next chapter of his “love story” with the club.

• 'African players had a massive impact'
• Wenger - It's a privilege for me
• Listen to live audio of the Burnley game
• Wenger on Theo and England
• Scouting Report: Burnley v Arsenal

 “I don’t know [if I’ll get to 25 years],” said Wenger. “I think I have one quality which is a passion for the game, and another quality is that I always have the desire to be better tomorrow than I was yesterday. If I look back, the way I manage today is not the same as it was five, 10, or 20 years ago. How long can I do? I don’t know.

“I rule nothing out because I want to work and I want to do well. I accept that it can finish tomorrow as well. It’s a love story and you always expect a love story to last forever, but it can always stop suddenly.

“What will influence me the most is the fact that I feel I do well and can move this team forward.”

Whatever comes next, the boss appreciates how rare it is for a manager to last so long amid the pressure and expectation of the Premier League.

“It’s very unusual, certainly in the modern world,” he said. “The world wants always to see new faces, new views and the news is new faces, but I think stability is very important as well in the companies and the values, because people carry the values through the generations.

“It’s not always necessarily the manager, but for me, a big club is first about values and its values are its identity. The privilege I have to carry these values is of course very important but very unusual as well in the modern world.

“If you look at the numbers it is quite worrying, because the average [job-life] expectancy of a manager in England is 18 months. That is not very promising.”

More polls to come later in the season!