Source: Daily_Mail
Wenger puts his Arsenal glories down to speaking to the boys in the boozer
Arsene Wenger has put his success at Arsenal down to hours spent in the pub.
But the Frenchman, who has been in charge of the Gunner since 1996, managing some of the biggest names in the game and winning three Premier League titles and four FA Cups, has not been spending his days off in the watering holes of north London.
Wenger's parents ran Le Croix D'Or in the village of Duttlenheim outside Strasbourg and the 59-year-old insists growing up in a bar was the perfect preparation for a life in football.
He said: 'There is no better psychological education than growing up in a pub when you are five or six because you meet all different people and hear how cruel they can be talking to each other like saying "you're a liar".
'From an early age you get a practical psychological education to get into the minds of people. It is not often that a boy of five or six is always living with adults in a little village.
'I learned about tactics and selection from the people talking about it in the pub - who plays on the left wing and who should be in the team.'
Wenger started his managerial career with Nancy and had spells at Monaco and Nagoya Grampus Eight before moving to England.
And he admitted there were times in the early days when he was convinced he was on the wrong career path.
'The key as a manager is to survive disappointment. How does a manager feel when he's lost a game? It is a disastrous feeling. To survive that and act like nothing's happened you need a special motivation and our job is to survive disappointment,' he added at the League Managers Association's Annual Management Conference.
'I started at 33 as a manager and sometimes I felt I wouldn't survive, physically I was sick.
'At a big club like Arsenal you lose zero to five, six or seven games, zero is the exception. At a small club you lose between 10 and 15 games and you are tested with your resolve to bounce back and that's difficult.
'You have to do it because you don't accept losing. You want to win. We all fight in life to show ourselves we are good enough and show others we are good enough. We are always questioning whether you have that quality.
'I didn't know I wanted to be a football manager because when I started to play I couldn't imagine my life as a player would stop. But it was others who told me to think about it and gradually I realised I was for management and it was the only way I could keep going in football.
'I said I would stop at 50. Only other people know if you aren't good enough anymore. I don't believe in retiring unless you have to.
'I never have days where I think I can live without it. But I know someday I will do something different.
'Management is our life. It's a competitive world. You never know how good you are. Even if you win the title you think someone can be better than you.'
Wenger is famous for smart moves in the transfer market and brought the likes of Patrick Vieira, Emmanuel Petit, Nicolas Anelka, Sol Campbell, Thierry Henry and Robert Pires to Arsenal.
The Gunners boss insists signing a big-name player is the easy part.
'Footballers work like a computer. You make your name on your performances. We try to identify players before they have a name. When a player has a name it's easy to buy.
'You don't need a special manager to buy (Zinedine) Zidane. Ask anyone in the street they would say he was a great player.
wenger and ferguson
Big guns going at it: Wenger has had some titanic battles with Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson over the years
'But at 18 he was highly criticised and everybody had doubts about him. I saw (Michel) Platini in training and many people questioned him but he became a great player.
'You have talent then motivation and intelligence. Take a player at 20 and then at 25 and there will be a huge gulf with ones who don't have motivation and intelligence and the ones who do.
'The most important thing in our job is to understand early what's important in life. If you don't understand how to live at 20 you are finished.
'You can go out on Thursday and Friday with all the girls or stay in and have a fantastic game on a Saturday. It's not easy.
'I can tell about a player when they are 18 or 19. People are the same where motivation is concerned at 19 at 55 and at 75. They have the same motivation.
'You have to have the inner drive and not be in the comfort zone they are always pushing themselves. Those who have the inner drive don't accept mediocrity but very few people have that. It's in the genes. Successful people have a high level of motivation.'
And sometimes, a pub upbringing.
