Old adversaries: Wenger says he wasn't surprised when Sir Alex announced he has no plans to retire
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger never felt a 'hungry' Sir Alex Ferguson was ready to retire and is relishing going head to head with his old adversary for a few years yet.
Ferguson will celebrate his 69th birthday at the end of this year and has shown no sign of being affected by the pressures of being Manchester United manager since 1986.
However, the Scot has always stated that his health is of paramount importance and stories emerged recently claiming he would leave his job at the end of next term, with former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho lined up as his successor.
Ferguson, though, today dismissed those as 'rubbish' and Wenger, who turned 60 last year and recently became the longest serving manager in Arsenal's history, believes both men have a few more years left in them.
'You see the way he behaves and manages his team that the hunger is there,' said Wenger, whose current contract runs out at the end of next season.
'As long as he will live the hunger will be there for success. That is something that does not die in you. 'When you get older you have to analyse and consider your health, where you have the physical strength to do the job.
'But to me at the moment he does not look to have any problem. It is always interesting facing him.'
Out of the race: Arsenal are now six points behind Chelsea after losing at Wigan
Sir Alex Ferguson is determined to remain Manchester United manager for at least one more season, disappointing Jose Mourinho, who hopes to succeed him at Old Trafford.
The United boss emphasised his continuing enthusiasm for the job with his touchline celebrations yesterday after Paul Scholes’ 93rd-minute winner against Manchester City pulled his team right back into the title race.
With Chelsea stumbling to a 2-1 defeat five hours later at Tottenham — where captain John Terry was sent off — United’s 1-0 victory lifted them just one point behind with three games to play.
There have been reports that Sir Alex was considering ending his career at United, following the club’s exit from the Champions League.
But the 68-year-old Scot intends to be in charge at least to see out the new one-year contracts handed to Scholes and his fellow veteran Ryan Giggs last week.
Former United skipper Steve Bruce, now in charge at Sunderland, poured scorn on any suggestion that his old manager would retire imminently. ‘It’s a load of rubbish. He’ll be around for a long time yet,’ he said last night.
Ferguson feared his team’s challenge for the Premier League would have ended if they had not secured a victory yesterday.
Asked if the title race was over without the Scholes goal, he said: ‘It looked that way. It would have made it very difficult. There’s no doubt that we deserved to win the game,
but I couldn’t see a goal coming.
‘I think Paul was man of the match. He was absolutely fantastic. Such a skilful player.
‘It was an amazing finish. We have had three last-minute goals against City now this season, but deserve it.
‘We had the best chances but it did not look like anyone was going to win. The game became very open in the last 10 minutes.’
Ferguson’s decision to stay at United is bad news for Mourinho, who would dearly love to be the one to follow the Scot — and sooner rather than later.
Any move by Mourinho from Inter Milan would spark a managerial merry-go-round this summer which could see changes at top-flight clubs in England, Italy and Spain.
The Portuguese boss heads Real Madrid’s wish list to succeed Manuel Pellegrini, who will be fired at the end of the season.
If he does decides to stay at Inter and wait until the United job becomes available, the
Spaniards will make an effort to lure England manager Fabio Capello.
Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez does not even appear to be on Real’s radar but coveting the coaching role at the Bernabeu might well have cost him any chance he had of taking over at Juventus.
The word from Turin is the Italians have tired of waiting for an answer from Benitez and have now targeted City’s Roberto Mancini.
Mourinho has always insisted he will honour his Inter contract, which has another two
seasons to run.
But he has also made no secret of his ambition to return to Premier League management. Having turned down City, he still wants the United job more than any other.
The big question is whether he would be prepared to wait and take his chances of
inheriting Ferguson’s chair at Old Trafford.
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