Arsene Wenger will reach an incredible milestone of 20 years as Arsenal boss on Saturday — an incredible achievement.
He’s my favourite manager in terms of listening to him speak. And as an ambassador for the Premier League, he is in a league of his own.
But if I were to sum up his time in charge, I’d give him a mark of nine out of 10 for his first eight years, and five out of 10 for the following 12.
I’d love to see him take over a national side — his native France, England, even Germany — when his contract expires at the Emirates in the summer.
That said, I don’t think he will.
I think another couple of years at Arsenal will be too hard to resist.
Pearson can provide Villa spark
I’ll gladly drive round to Nigel Pearson ’s house this minute, pick him up and deliver him from East to West Midlands. Specifically, to the B6 postcode in which Villa Park sits.
Derby boss Pearson was suspended earlier this week after a fallout with owner Mel Morris, but for my money he’s exactly the sort of old-school __football man Aston Villa need.
I spent a bit of time in his company not too long ago over dinner and we swapped a few stories about the way the game should be played and all that goes with it, both on and off the field.
He doesn’t care much for all the extra stuff you get these days days, but his ideas and the channelled aggression he brings would suit Villa down to the ground.
Radio W****r — meet Nord, Big Vern and Trigger
Hearing last week that Claudio Ranieri dubbed Jamie Vardy ‘Radio W****r’ for incessant talking in the Leicester City dressing room made me think of some of the best nicknames I heard over the years … and there were many.
Gareth Southgate was ‘Nord’ because he had a nose like TV presenter Dennis Norden, while Wally Downes always called me ‘Big Vern’.
He knew my middle name started with a V, but wasn’t sure what it stood for (It’s Victor, incidentally, Wal!).
But my favourite nickname always belonged to Jason McAteer, who was famously dubbed Trigger - after the dim Only Fools And Horses character.
We’d pull up outside Old Trafford, the floodlights would be blazing down, all the supporters would be milling around and one of the lads would say, ‘We must be nearly there now!’
Jason would point out of the window and tell him, ‘Mate, we’re here!’
Paint EACH OTHER red, not the town!
There's nothing wrong with a bonding session when things aren’t going your way, so I’ve no problem with the fact Slaven Bilic sanctioned a night out for his West Ham players.
But I do think clubs could box a bit more cleverly than to pack them all off to a London nightspot.
A couple of days away at a paintball camp - with a van full of booze delivered to the door - would have been far more sensible as they could have had their fun away from the public glare.
COLLYWOBBLER
I went into my local Costa earlier this week and told them to ‘Just give me a little coffee’ — and that’s exactly what they did.
They certainly didn’t plonk a brown envelope full to brimming with £50 notes in front of me.
‘Just give me a little coffee’?
What the hell is all that about?