Arsene Wenger has been described as ‘annoying’ and ‘incredibly arrogant’ by a former managerial rival.
Wenger is renowned as one of the greatest Premier League bosses of all-time owing to his hugely successful 22-year reign in north London.
During that time, the Frenchman won three Premier League titles and seven FA Cups, as well as leading the famous ‘Invincibles’ side that went 49 games unbeaten in league and cup between May 2003 and October 2004.
Despite that success, Wenger had a talent for rubbing opposition managers up the wrong way – and Martin O’Neill was one of them.
The Norther Irishman – who managed Leicester, Aston Villa and Sunderland during Wenger’s reign – told talkSPORT all about their less-than friendly relationship.
Speaking on the White And Jordan show, O’Neill said: “Any side I used to manage, Arsene used to moan.
“Did Arsene annoy me? Absolutely. He annoyed me in every way because he obviously didn’t see things that didn’t help Arsenal.
“He was incredibly arrogant but a brilliant manager. As I’ve said, if the world ended today he’d go down in history.
“Martin [Keown] worked with him, we only had each other in the dugouts.”
Asked if he didn’t like Wenger, O’Neill replied: “If I didn’t, it was mutual, because he wasn’t that happy with me either.
“There was a particular game at Aston Villa where we drew 0-0 and the game could have been four each.
“At Villa we had a really good attacking side and didn’t have too many 0-0 draws at Villa Park, it was a really good game and I’ve gone in and didn’t realise that Arsenal had already been in the press conference.
“I’d gone in and said it was a good game – bland things and that the game could have gone either way and they said, ‘well that’s not how Arsene saw it’.
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“He’d said that our team had never tried to score a goal, but we’d missed about three great chances and so I caught him on his way to the bus and said ‘what are you on about’.
“He dropped me a line a couple of days later and I thought he was going to apologise for his comments, but no, he was just saying how rude I was!
“But he’s a terrific manager and there’s no question about it, and his spats with Sir Alex Ferguson are the stuff of legend.”
Wenger left Arsenal after 22 years in 2018 before becoming FIFA’s Chief of Global Football Development in November 2019.
His managerial legacy made at Arsenal remains untouched, with the Gunners yet to win another title since the Frenchman’s departure.
Despite his iconic status in north London, Graeme Souness recently questioned Wenger’s managerial nous.
“My take on him was he got very, very lucky at a time when French football produced its greatest ever group of players,” Souness said on the Three Up Front podcast.
“He inherited the best back five in world football and a 22-year-old [Dennis] Bergkamp. I think Wrighty [Ian Wright], there was still life in him.
“And then he had ten years where he won a couple of FA Cups, because that cycle had been and gone.
“I’ve never spoke to him about football. He would never come into my office after a game, the only manager that never did.”
Those comments were put to Arsenal legend Keown on talkSPORT, and he responded in defence of his old boss.
“It’s a difference of opinion but Graeme doesn’t know the man,” he said. “He’s a complete football man. The only thing in his life, really, is football.”
