by Lewis Ambrose

Entering season number 20 in charge of Arsenal, there’s no stopping Arsène Wenger just yet.

The manager is still on the training pitch each and very morning, follows the same diet as his players, and consequently isn’t in the shape of someone his age. Wenger is able to carry on for the foreseeable future and, with two years left on his deal, doesn’t have any plans to leave Arsenal just yet.

“Retirement? Yes, it crosses my mind sometimes but for no longer than five seconds because I panic a little bit,” said Wenger.

“When we played at Man United, he (Ferguson) came to meet me after the game. I said: ‘Come on, you don’t miss it?’ He says: ‘No.’ He had enough. He goes to every game. But he has (race) horses. I have no horses.”

That may be the one thing that keeps Wenger going longer than Ferguson. If the Arsenal manager were to leave his role he would want to continue a life in football; there’s no doubt that Wenger would continue working in football if he was no longer Arsenal boss.

Long before retiring Sir Alex Ferguson was already delegating on the training pitch but Wenger is still just as involved in his job as he was in 1996, if not more so. Doing the same things every day hasn’t been an issue so far and doesn’t threaten to be any time soon.

“Enthusiasm? That is not a problem, honestly. I am more committed than ever for that. I just think the number of times you have done it doesn’t count. It is how much you love what you do that counts.

“And the love of what you do is not necessarily diminished by the number of times you’ve done it. Football is new every day. That’s a big quality. It makes you question.”

Football is constant and it doesn’t stop. There is always another game to plays, there are different players to work with. Wenger constantly faces a fresh challenge.

“With every defeat people say: ‘What is this guy doing?’ Every three days you are questioned. You have an exam every three days. You have no way to look back. You have to prepare for the next exam and come out of it with success. So it always demands 100 per cent commitment,” explained the Arsenal manager.

There are two years to go on Wenger’s current contract but, by the sounds of things, the Arsenal manager isn’t yet planning on life away from the touchline.