Gamble on players paid off for Arsenal: Wenger
Stephen Wood
Arsene Wenger believes his determination to hang on to his best players has provided the platform for their current success.
The French coach admits his desire to keep players such as Patrick Vieira at Highbury was a financial risk, but one well worth taking for the double winners.
After seeing Nicolas Anelka, Marc Overmars and Emmanuel Petit sold following their double triumph of 1998, Wenger dug his heels in to try and build a new force in English football.
"There has been a tendency to move players out of the club but we decided we would fight to keep them, no matter how much money we were offered," Wenger told reporters ahead of Sunday's premier league clash with Sunderland.
"After the Anelka story, we said we would not give in. The team have grown since then as they've stayed together.
"If you lose seven or eight players every year, you cannot be a team.
"The board (of directors) have always supported me, and I'm not easy. But I had no problems in convincing them to keep our best players as the club just wants to be the best."
Anelka was lured to Real Madrid in 1999, while Overmars and Petit left for Barcelona in 2000.
Vieira was linked with a move to Real last season, but has since stayed and said he is discussing a new contract with the north London club.
Wenger has sympathy for Sunderland boss Peter Reid, whose job is on the line after the north east club's poor start to the season.
"It's much tougher at the bottom of the table than at the top," said Wenger, whose side lead the premier league by two points from second-placed Liverpool.
"The premier league has created a situation where to be relegated means nearly to 'die'."
He insists he experienced similar pressure to that affecting Reid when he was in charge at French clubs Monaco and Nancy.
But Wenger also believes that the pressure for Arsenal to succeed in the Champions League can also be acute in the latter half of the season.
"I can feel that sort of pressure when Arsenal are competing for a Champions League place in March and April as the existence of our club depends on qualifying for that competition," he said.
