Wenger hits back at Stack
Arsene Wenger hit back at claims by former Arsenal ‘keeper Graham Stack that cliques are rife at Highbury by insisting squad morale is as strong as ever at the club.
Stack claimed former team-mate Ashley Cole had given him an insight into morale at Highbury, stating “the cliques aren’t rumours, it’s a fact” and that life “is not as much fun as it used to be“.
His interview echoed previous comments by Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon, who made a similar claim while giving evidence during the hearing into Cole’s tapping-up by the Blues.
Wenger was not impressed by the latest comments from Stack, who is technically on loan at Reading with a view to a permanent move after finally putting a rape case behind him in being cleared.
Wenger declared: “I think it’s a very unfair and unjustified comment by someone who hasn’t been part of the first team squad at Arsenal for 24 months.
“He’s not one of my players, he’s left the club. I don’t give any credit to these comments.
“I don’t know what people understand by cliques, but if cliques are people who sit together at the same table then we have had cliques at Arsenal for nine years.
“You would find that at every other club as well. You would find it at Chelsea. But I think the spirit in this squad is as strong, if not stronger, as it’s been been than in any other season.”
Wenger was backed by defender Kolo Toure, who added: “When I came to Arsenal, the first thing that came to me was that the players all talked to each other, including the French and English boys.
“They quickly introduced me to the way that the club deals. There is a fantastic atmosphere between all the players. That is Arsenal. We all come together.”
Stack had nevertheless insisted in his interview with the Times: “When I first joined the first-team squad at Arsenal, the banter was brilliant but the English boys have gone.
“I speak to Ashley now on the phone and he says it’s very quiet, not as much fun as it used to be. The cliques aren’t rumours, it’s a fact. The French boys sit together, the Germans and Freddie Ljungberg eat together.
“It used to be a sell-out on the English table but no-one wants a ticket. There are spare seats everywhere.”
Kenyon had, meanwhile, claimed at the Premier League hearing: “Cole was concerned that the relationship with the manager Arsene Wenger was not good, that there was a series of cliques and the team was primarily run by the French boys.
“He was also concerned that he did not feel there was a team spirit.”
Those comments were denied by Cole and Wenger, with the Arsenal boss now emphasising that all players in the squad shared the same values.
Speaking ahead of Arsenal’s Champions League tie away to Sparta Prague, he concluded: “I feel you can come from different countries and share the same values, but come from the same country and not share the same values.
“At Arsenal, we all share the same values.”
