Petr Cech believes Arsenal’s next boss will struggle to emulate Arsene Wenger’s ‘rare’ endurance
|Petr Cech believes that Arsenal’s next manager will struggle to emulate Arsene Wenger’s ‘rare’ endurance at the helm of the north-Londoners, a position which the influential Frenchman manned for 22 illustrious years through triumph and tribulation.
Wenger, 68, conducted his final game for the Gunners on Sunday from the dugout and bowed out with a 1-0 victory over Huddersfield Town, and though his career at the north-Londoners was tarnished by ill-feelings resonating from a minuscule minority of the club’s fan-base, ‘Le Prof’ will undoubtedly go down as one of the game’s very best tacticians.
An institution of excellence was crafted at Highbury and the Emirates by Wenger and his eventual successor will have a particularly tough task on their hands if they’re to follow in his innovative footsteps.
Pep Guardiola’s right-hand man and former Gunners midfielder Mikel Arteta has supposedly been earmarked as a favourite contender to take the reins from Wenger next term, having fine-tuned his budding managerial skills at Manchester City.
In the modern game, instant success is imperative to a manager’s survival and well being at a club, and whilst Arsenal’s hierarchy passionately backed Wenger for over two decades, Cech insists that replicating Wenger’s consistency will be a particularly testing feat to master for any aspiring heir to the throne.
“If you are at the club where there is continuity then everybody gets used to it, but it is really rare.” Said the 36-year-old stopper (via Evening Standard).
“You can see the example of Manchester United – Sir Alex Ferguson stopped and when [Louis] van Gaal came everyone thought it was going to be a long-term coach, and he was not as successful as everybody expected and they made a change after two years.
“Consistency in football is one of the hardest jobs, especially when you are a manager or coach. The new manager will find the club in a very healthy position and obviously he will need to succeed as well. That will determine how long the new manager or coach stays.”