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Citing such reasons as foreigners coaching the English team and the
alleged egalitarian nature of club football, Arsenal coach Arsène
Wenger has stated that international football is effectively irrelevant
to him, having recently been destroyed...
Speaking to the Daily
Star on Sunday, the former Nagoya Grampus Eight boss said that the
proliferation of smaller states was partially to blame for the downfall
of the international scene.
"I'm not a big fan of international football as they destroyed it," he boomed.
"Take Russia – once it was one country, now it’s 21. Yugoslavia was one and now is six.
"Then you add countries like Andorra, Faroe Islands and San Marino and suddenly three out of four games are of no interest."
He
also stated that the nature of a national team means that some of the
finest players may never be afforded the recognition they deserve on
the big stage.
"Ryan Giggs never played in a World Cup. If
Maradona was born in Luxemburg he would never have played in a World
Cup – but he still would have been the best player in the world," he
argued.
"In club football you get to put the best players in the world together – that is justice."
While
he felt that this representation of players was unfair, it is the
movement of managers across borders that seems to irritate him the most.
"The national team should be managed by an English guy," said the knight of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.
"I remember Sven Goran Eriksson playing against Sweden with England. The national anthem is played and what do you do?"
Wenger, 59 years old, speaks seven languages.
Ewan Macdonald, Goal.com
alleged egalitarian nature of club football, Arsenal coach Arsène
Wenger has stated that international football is effectively irrelevant
to him, having recently been destroyed...
Speaking to the Daily
Star on Sunday, the former Nagoya Grampus Eight boss said that the
proliferation of smaller states was partially to blame for the downfall
of the international scene.
"I'm not a big fan of international football as they destroyed it," he boomed.
"Take Russia – once it was one country, now it’s 21. Yugoslavia was one and now is six.
"Then you add countries like Andorra, Faroe Islands and San Marino and suddenly three out of four games are of no interest."
He
also stated that the nature of a national team means that some of the
finest players may never be afforded the recognition they deserve on
the big stage.
"Ryan Giggs never played in a World Cup. If
Maradona was born in Luxemburg he would never have played in a World
Cup – but he still would have been the best player in the world," he
argued.
"In club football you get to put the best players in the world together – that is justice."
While
he felt that this representation of players was unfair, it is the
movement of managers across borders that seems to irritate him the most.
"The national team should be managed by an English guy," said the knight of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.
"I remember Sven Goran Eriksson playing against Sweden with England. The national anthem is played and what do you do?"
Wenger, 59 years old, speaks seven languages.
Ewan Macdonald, Goal.com
