Arsene Wenger reveals he rejected Real, Barcelona and Manchester City

• Arsenal manager talks of his loyalty before fans’ planned protest on Saturday
• ‘When we built [the Emirates] the banks demanded I stayed. I did it.’

Posted Saturday, April 30, 2016 by theguardian.com

Arsene Wenger is braced for a poisonous atmosphere at the Emirates against Norwich with three of Arsenal’s supporters’ groups intending to protest.

Arsene Wenger has revealed he rejected offers from several elite clubs during the “difficult” period Arsenal spent servicing debt accrued over the construction of the Emirates Stadium, having personally pledged his commitment to the banks who had provided the club’s funding.

The Frenchman and his players are braced to endure a poisonous atmosphere during Saturday’s televised game against Norwich City, with three of Arsenal’s supporters’ groups intending to protest, calling for a “Time for Change”. Fans from the Arsenal Supporters’ Trust, the Black Scarf Movement and Red Action will hand out placards pre-match and will urge the crowd to hold them up after 12 and 78 minutes – 12 being the years since the club’s most recent Premier League title – and, in particular, after the final whistle. Their ire is aimed at the hierarchy and, by implication, the manager.

Wenger, whose side are fourth and attempting to hold off Manchester United, has watched a title challenge fizzle out again in anticlimax. Yet he suggested the fans, whom he feels have been manipulated by a minority into protesting, should take into account his team’s consistent involvement in the Champions League over a decade when commercial incomes were restricted by the repayment of debts related to the construction of the club’s 60,000-seat home. “When we built the stadium the banks demanded I signed for five years,” he said. “I did it. Do you want me to tell you how many clubs I turned down during that period? I have shown I am committed.”

Ashburton Properties, a subsidiary of Arsenal Holdings plc, had obtained a £260m loan to fund the construction work from a stadium facilities banking group – comprising the Royal Bank of Scotland, Espirito Santo Investment, Bank of Ireland, Allied Irish Banks, CIT Group Structured Finance (UK) and HSH Nordbank AG – in 2004. Wenger suggested he offered them a guarantee he would remain at the helm for the first five years at the Emirates Stadium to provide a level of stability at the top of the club and ensure Arsenal met their target of Champions League football, with its associated revenue streams.

Given the manager signed contract extensions in 2004 and 2007, it appears his pledge to the banks was more of an informal commitment, but he knocked back interest from clubs such as Real Madrid – in 2009 and 2010 – Barcelona and Manchester City over that time. "The banks wanted the technical consistency to guarantee we had a chance to pay back [the loan],” he said. “I did commit and I stayed, under very difficult circumstances. So for me to find [his critics] are reproaching me for not winning the championship during that period I think is a bit overboard. I accept criticism but I think that it is a bit too far.

"When we built the stadium, we knew we’d have five to seven difficult financial years where we had to pay the money back: we had to be three years in the Champions League out of five and have an average of 54,000 people [to meet costs], and we didn’t know we would be capable of that. We had to sell our best players every year to survive but we didn’t do three years out of five in the Champions League. We did five out of five. Now the club is in a stronger position and we can compete again with our main opponents."

Arsenal in effect have £159m in the bank, which in itself has become a source of frustration, with the fanbase clamouring for more lavish investment in the transfer market. Wenger, however, has no intention of instigating a radical change in recruitment policy. "All this calming people down by buying names, for me, is the wrong calculation,” he said. "We want to be a better team and do not look too much at the names. I know it is more flashy, all that, but what is important is the quality of the games."

Wenger has admitted his team have played in "a very difficult climate" at home over recent months, which may have contributed to a poor record against rivals from the lower reaches of the division. He insisted the protests, which are likely to be at their most vociferous yet on Saturday, were whipped up by a minority seeking “to manipulate our fans”.

"Apart from an agenda – a personal agenda, a big ego – there’s not a lot behind it," he said. "When people pretend to be Arsenal fans and, every week, they come out against the club, you cannot say it’s not manipulation. They look for their own agenda, to get people on Twitter and social networks, and it becomes a way to behave. Ideally, it’s a little bit easier when everyone stands behind the team but that’s not an excuse.

"I believe that we have been remarkably consistent. Our fans have been frustrated and disappointed because they thought we would win the league this season and we didn’t. So are we as well. But that doesn’t mean we have to throw everything away as well. It’s a human quality to fight and to get as far as you can but also to accept that if another team is better. Leicester have lost three games with three games to go. People feel humiliated because it’s Leicester but you have to respect when a team performs."