Arsenal’s ex-manager was on stage at the legendary Parisian venue on Monday night to discuss his career and have a conversation with the audience.

This article originally appeared in Le Figaro – translation by Emma Grenville-Wood (@egeedoubleu)

His childhood in Alsace

“I come from a small Alsatian village where life revolved around religion. The “king” of the village was the parish priest. I was raised in a restaurant which was also the clubhouse for the football team, and nobody talked about anything else. But religion didn’t help us win any matches. Much later, I replaced my prayer book with good players and football became my religion. The game has to be treated like a religion, it alone dictates your decisions.”

Being coach at Nancy at age 33

“Some of the players were older than I was, but I never had any problems with authority, I don’t know why. I used to vomit after defeats, I couldn’t live with defeat. I thought I wasn’t cut-out for this job. But my body got used to it and over time, I changed.

The squirrel metaphor

“The animal is a metaphor for survival. High-level sport is too. It’s me or someone else. But in a team sport, it’s also me AND other people. The squirrel’s body is split between its own mind and the tree-tops. And that’s what football is, it’s controlling things with your brain and with your legs. But if someone doesn’t look up often, they’ll never be a very good footballer.”

Football is a lion’s den

“There’s an unbelievable number of players who don’t make their presence felt in the dressing room. They don’t take that step. A top-level player, when they start, must make their presence known. That starts with coming into the dressing room with a clear message and sometimes simply an attitude that communicates something: “Now you must count on me.” I remember Bojan, who grew up at Barcelona, being too scared to drink from the same bottle as Messi. It’s a small detail, but he never worked out how to reach his full potential.”

His definition of a great player

“They’re quite rare breed focused around three main principles, ball control, decision-making and execution. The great ones are able to anticipate, they’re ahead of everyone else, they’ve understood what is going to happen. But I think that if players watched their games more often, they’d be even better. All the guys who are successful have consistency in their efforts and are capable of objectively analysing their performances. A great player is hard on themselves.”

“Discovering” Weah and Thuram at Monaco

“George had come straight from Cameroon and I never imagined he would be so good. He became the best player in the world (Ballon d’Or in 1995) and now he’s the president of Liberia… It’s extraordinary. This is a kid who had belief, it was like he was on a mission. On the pitch, he was powerful and intelligent and fought for everything. (on Lilian Thuram) I remember he was playing as a midfielder… If you’d told me this guy was going to play 144 games for France, I’d obviously have smiled. But what exceptional mental strength.”

His time in Japan (1994-1996)

“I wanted to test myself and on the spur of the moment, I went over there to a team in Nagoya that wasn’t winning any games. At 47 years old, it changed me on every level. Of the first 10 games, we lost eight and I have a good story about this. The president called me into his office and before I went, I told my assistant to pack his bags because we were going to get sacked.

The direction of the conversation seemed clear

“The results aren’t meeting expectations, and you’re not going to like what I’m going to say to you, but we need to deal with the situation… We’re going to part company with the translator.” I was surprised and I succeeded in ensuring he was able to continue working with us, we saved his job. Incidentally he’s here tonight (Monday). He became a friend. Beyond that, my experience in Japan was one of constant isolation. You only have yourself for company. With the players, something I’d never seen before happened. I forbade them from using the ball during training or before the match as they were already dead. They had been preparing ahead of time to get up to the necessary level, and they were completely exhausted afterwards. Their energy had to be focused.”

His Arsenal debut in 1996

“I knew that football had been invented there. In England, people get tattoos of their children’s names and the name of their football club, but that’s it, nothing else. The English are very into all that. The feeling of belonging is intense. But then when I arrived, nobody rolled out the red carpet (he was known as “Arsène who”). And they threw everything at me. I was told people had some blurry images of my private life. I told them to publish… nothing came of it.”

His dressing-room management

“You’ve got 25 carnivores in front of you. They sense everything, especially weakness. The manager’s job can be summed up in this way: choose 11 players and make 14 unemployed at the weekend. And then do it all over again every weekend. It’s hard to live with, but also hard to manage. You have to be intelligent and you can’t lose impetus. Before games, I only dealt with the players who were going to play, it was pointless to worry about the others. But from Monday to Wednesday, I’d have to focus on the disappointed ones and how to boost morale. By being firm and honest, and sticking to your values. You also have to show respect, compassion and not turn your back on people. There are too many people who suffer from depression in football. A player who isn’t playing feels useless, and it’s up to the manager to fix that, it was part of my job.”

The 49-game unbeaten run with Arsenal from 2003 to 2004

“We lost our status as Invincibles against Manchester United in a game where referees shared some of the responsibility. It wasn’t deserved. And actually, when I die, I’m going to ask God where the referees are before I choose between Heaven and Hell. I remember that the season before, we had ended unbeaten away from home and we lost the title due to our record at home. And all the players had a go at me because I had said that we could finish a season without a defeat. And during that title-winning season, we won the league with 5 games to go. I remember having said to them, “it’s up to you if you want to become immortal or not.” And they did it. Premier League winners without a single defeat.”

His definition of a great manager

“They’re a guide with a kind of confidence, clarity and humility. They have faith in humanity. A good coach must never close the door on anybody. It’s important and crucial to always remain hopeful. People can often surprise you, in a good way, and that’s where you can harvest the fruits of your patience and your labours. In my view, a great manager has three significant types of influence: influence on the club, on the results, and on the players’ performance. At Arsenal, I was able to build a club by defining its values. We respected the traditions of a workers’ club, but we also innovated and we behaved with integrity and class. Nobody could accept being mediocre.

“From the players to the groundsmen, the whole club… That’s the first step, a common goal. A detail? Flowers in the Director’s Box were in the visiting team’s colours. In a more general way, a great manager has an impact on the style of play and on their team’s results. At a big club, you have to want to win with class, so that fans can wake up with a smile on their faces before going to the match. It’s essential to be purveyors of emotion, to have a clear identity. A coach is someone who identifies with completely with their club. They have to behave as though they’re going to be there forever. They have to be loyal. Every year, we had a photo taken of everybody (groundsmen, cooks) and I put it up with the caption, “everybody counts at this club.” There has to be a sense of unity between the employees and the players.”

The cost of the Emirates Stadium

It cost 430 million pounds (opened in 2006) … We put ourselves in the banks’ hands. After that, we had to sell our players. That was undoubtedly the most difficult period during my time at Arsenal. I remember the time I spent with the architects to build the stadium… I learned a lot. Today the club is worth 2 billion pounds, and at the time it was 40-50 million. Of course I’m proud of that too. It’s the most cheerless part of the job, but it’s a huge task. I turned down lots of clubs, the banks required me to sign a five-year contract as they wanted me to stay at Arsenal. I was the last manager in that style, in today’s football world it’s not possible for a single person to handle everything. The financial stakes are too high.”

His criticisms of himself

“A good manager is someone who looks after themselves. That’s what I reproach myself for now. I neglected myself. You need the strength of a tiger to be successful, but little by little you get worn out. I had loads of meetings every day. Just to give you an idea, the guy who wanted to buy a lawnmower would come to see me. I handled everything. It’s a job that takes over your life. And when you’re with other people, spending time with your family, you’re not fully present. I neglected those around me. I devoted my life to one thing only: winning the next game.”

His regrets at Arsenal

“When you’re a manager, it’s only about the things you haven’t done. When I speak to other high-level sportspeople, they only talk about the things they haven’t won. You don’t remember what you have achieved, but rather things you haven’t done or your failures. Personally, I can live with that. I’ve had a much better life than I could ever have dreamed of. If you’d told me all this when I was 19 in Alsace, I’d have told you to get out of here.”

His farewell to Arsenal

“I felt like I was at my own first-class funeral. People were unbelievable. They showed their gratitude. England has that ability. I didn’t cry or flinch, as I’ve learned to steel myself. If I hadn’t been able to control my emotions, I wouldn’t have been able to survive. I learned to keep them in check.”

How to handle the pressure

“Being professional is about performing well under stress. Without confidence. When I hear a player explain poor results by lack of confidence, I disagree. And that’s when you see the big players stand out from everyone else. Imagine if you were going to have heart surgery, the surgeon comes into the room and says to you, “I’m not feeling fully confident at the moment, but I’ll do my best.” Is that something you’d want to hear? No.”

Managing egos in a dressing room

“If the star has a great performance, everyone accepts it. If they’re not at the right level, the dressing room sees that right away. The problem with a star is that they can take up too much space. During games, and the rest of the time, you have to find the right balance. I remember with Thierry Henry, nobody ever refused to pass to him because he had such immense stature. It could become a handicap.”

His relationship with Henry

“I never call my former players when things are going well, but I did call him, and I did encourage him not to give up when things were rough at Monaco. I tried to call him when he was let go. At the moment he’s still grieving, and I’ve suggested to his agent that we organise dinner. We’re going to do that.”

The transition at Arsenal with Emery

“I’m going to tell the truth, he never called me. I’ll be an Arsenal fan until I die. I’m a supporter and I want things to go well. For the moment, everything’s fine.”

The rumours of him going to PSG

“I’m not a candidate for any job. I am someone who follows his intuitions and inspirations. PSG have a great team, there’s a sort of curse in relation to the Champion’s League, but you mustn’t forget everything else (the titles in France). They’ll succeed in overcoming the final obstacle. The impatience is real and intense around this club. The national team? Maybe, but if it happens, it would be before the World Cup (2022 in Qatar). I have to make a decision between better sharing of my time, I did 35 years without stopping… I’d like to find a compromise by sharing my knowledge and at the same time, having time for myself with the people that I’ve neglected my whole life.”

His views on Ligue 1

“I think that the Premier League is the most enjoyable in the world. L1 is very unequal. Sometimes I watch great teams, and then they’re unrecognisable a week later. PSG could go on their holidays now and they would still be champions. For L1 to become exciting again, there needs to be a challenge for the title, a fight amongst several teams. But the future TV rights and French-style training keeps the dream alive.”