Thierry Henry: 'Being Arsenal manager would be a dream... but I need to learn first'

Gunners legend would not say no to 'dream' role

Arsene Wenger and Thierry Henry

Arsenal legend Thierry Henry has said it would be "a dream" to manage the club one day - but admitted he has much to learn.

Henry, Arsenal's all-time top scorer with 228 goals, speaking on Saturday night's Jonathan Ross Show on ITV, was asked if he would take over at the Emirates once Arsene Wenger moves on.

"The thing that I will say is, I don’t know what Arsene wants to do and how long he will stay, I just want to be equipped to be in the position one day maybe to be a manager," he told the chat show host.

"Being the manager of Arsenal football club will be a dream but let’s all be honest, I need to learn first, that’s the most important thing. It’s not because you know the game that you can teach it and I just want to learn."

Ross then asked what would he do if Wenger called and offered him the job, to which Henry replied: "I can’t say no to Arsenal so I would say yes!"

The Frenchman, now 37, also revealed he had encountered racism during his career but said you can't blame Chelsea FC for the behaviour of their fans on the Paris Metro.

"You can’t have a go at Chelsea because it’s difficult to control who is going to travel, you can’t have that control," he said.

"You play a game and you try to concentrate and keep your composure and what you hear sometimes is 'black’'this and 'monkey' and monkey chants and people spitting at you when you take a corner kick and it is not easy. It is not easy and that has to stop and what has to be done for it to stop, I don’t know.

"You need to have a zero tolerance, I believe in that. I did encounter [racism] and it is not easy to deal with I’m telling you because when you lose it [everybody is] like 'he should know better, come on, behave!' I am a human being and that’s not the type of thing you want to hear… It is not an easy one, we do not want to see that and it has to stop."

The full interview is on The Jonathan Ross Show, Saturday, 28 February, 9.40pm on ITV