Wright fears manager Arsene Wenger could have quit if Arsenal had beaten Barcelona to lift the trophy in Paris last May.

Wenger, who celebrates 10 years as Arsenal manager this week, has already delivered three Premiership titles and four FA Cups to the club.

Wright is convinced the European title will come in time – but he believes losing “The Professor” at this stage would have been a blow Arsenal may never have recovered from.

Wright drew comparisons with Nottingham Forest’s demise after Brian Clough left the City Ground when he said: “It wouldn’t be a good thing for Arsenal to be without Arsene Wenger.

“You just get a little bit frightened because he has already achieved a lot at Arsenal. The only thing he hasn’t won is the Champions League and that is not through the want of trying.

“He is always top of the list for big jobs in Europe and it would have been really interesting, had we won the Champions League last year, whether he would want to see the young players coming through or move on to pastures new.

“I was quite pleased in the end that we didn’t win the Champions League because I don’t think it’s time for him to leave yet.”

It was almost as if Wenger was addressing Wright directly when he outlined after Tuesday’s 2-0 group victory over Porto how the defeat to Barcelona had made Arsenal more determined than ever to build long-term success.

Wenger said: “Reaching the final last year has given us belief and frustration as well.

“We try to transform that frustration into more motivation. We were very, very close to the line.

“We have a young team and feel we can improve. We want to continue to develop the club.”

Wenger was way ahead of most other Premiership managers when he arrived at Highbury in 1996 to replace Bruce Rioch.

All managers now fully embrace the science of sport. This was where Wenger excelled a decade ago and he set a benchmark for the likes of Jose Mourinho and the younger English managers to emulate.

“When he got there in 1996 we didn’t know what to expect and straight from the start his coaching methods were completely different,” said Wright.

“He talks to you, he looks you in the eye, he treats you like an adult. It had been really different under George Graham and Bruce Rioch.

“Arsene is very competitive and that has stayed with him. And he is determined to get the best out of his players.

“He is very methodical. Everything is very meticulous. He used to say things like ‘you can only drink water, no sugar for two or three days before a game’.

“I remember the first game he was in charge for was Blackburn away. Normally we got on the coach at about 1pm to go to the ground.

“But the whole squad had to be up at 8.30am and meet in the ballroom for some communal stretching exercises.

“It was all new and we were thinking ‘what the hell is going on?’ “We did it at the hotel on all away games and then started at home too. It took some time to get used to it.

“It was the same with the creatine and the supplement tablets. It all took two or three months to kick in but then you felt stronger and you could see it was benefiting the team.

“In the season we won the double in 1998, we won each of the last 12 games because we were stronger. Everything he did benefited us.”

Wenger was blessed with a board of directors with lofty ambitions – they recently had sanctioned the record signing of Dennis Bergkamp – but his greatest successes in the transfer market have come on the cheap.

Wenger signed the likes of Nicolas Anelka, Emmanuel Petit, Patrick Viera, Freddie Ljungberg and Sol Campbell for nothing or small fees. Theo Walcott fits into that mould along with Cesc Fabregas, Kolo Toure and Emmanuel Eboue.

Thierry Henry was signed for £10million having failed to make his mark in Serie A with Juventus.

But Wenger knew what he was doing and Arsenal now boast one of the world’s great players. His market value would be over £30million.

When the lure of a lucrative move to Barcelona cropped up last summer, Wenger helped persuade Henry to stay.

“He has taken the club into a new era with the players he has brought in,” said Wright.

“He looks like a professor. He is very intelligent. He didn’t play football at a very high level but he knows his stuff, how to get the best out of players.

“And he has got an eye for a player. It would be very hard for anyone to come in and replace him.”