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Arsene Wenger responds to Tony Adams jibe as Arsenal manager doesn't care what his former captain has to say

Wenger 'does not give too much importance' to what the former Arsenal captain says after he accused the manager of blocking any return to the club in a coaching role

Jack de Menezes
Friday 19 May 2017 09:38 BST
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Arsene Wenger's relationship with Tony Adams appears to have completely broken down
Arsene Wenger's relationship with Tony Adams appears to have completely broken down (Getty)

Arsene Wenger has ignored the criticism he received from his former Arsenal captain, Tony Adams, by insisting he doesn’t care about what he has to say.

Adams has penned a new autobiography that is being serialised by The Sun this week, and in which he claims that Wenger “couldn’t coach his way out of a paper bag” and that the Frenchman is purposely preventing him from returning to the club in a coaching role because he has been outspoken about his former manager in the past.

With Wenger preparing his Arsenal side for their final Premier League match of the season against Everton, his main task is to ensure the Gunners do their bit to boost their top four chances, as a victory will mean that Liverpool have to beat Middlesbrough in order to keep Wenger’s side out of the Champions League next season, so it is not surprising at all to see the 67-year-old brush off Adams’s comments.

"I do not give too much importance to what Tony Adams says, honestly,” Wenger said at his pre-match press conference on Friday.

Writing in his new autobiography Sober, 50-year-old Adams said: "Perhaps Arsene thought I might be too challenging for him.

"He seemed to like an assistant such as Pat Rice or Steve Bould, both great club men who were not going to ruffle feathers.

"Arsene is so dominant that he was probably not going to like it if I said, 'We're conceding bad goals, I'm going to take the back four today and organise them'.

"Because Arsene is essentially not a coach - and that is the second reason why I believe he didn't want me. Back in the day I said in an interview coaching wasn't Arsene's strong point.

"Actually in the original draft, I said he couldn't coach his way out of a paper bag. And though I modified that in the final article, it didn't go down well.

"It all left me feeling that I would never get a chance in any capacity while Arsene was there.

"Much as I respected him for his long and successful tenure, my occasional willingness to pass comment on him and the team probably counted against me."

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