Real pro Wenger stays in shape with strict regime

ARSENAL boss Arsene Wenger revealed that he lives like a leading professional footballer in a bid to avoid the health problems which have afflicted so many of his fellow managers.

Wenger sent his best wishes to managerial rival Alex Ferguson following the Manchester United boss’s treatment for an irregular heartbeat.

“Of course I would like to wish him well. I want Alex Ferguson to be competitive, sharp and up for it. That makes it interesting,” he declared.

“You want to win but you don’t want people to be sick. I wish him well and I’m sure he will be fit and ready to go for tomorrow’s game.” Whereas Ferguson’s health scare should, hopefully, prove to be relatively minor, the likes of Graeme Souness, Gerard Houllier and Joe Kinnear have nevertheless suffered more serious problems in the past.

Wenger, 54, may not have had a health check-up for a year or so, but he adopts the same abstemious life as a top-class player to keep himself in shape.

“Apart from Graeme Souness, it has maybe touched people who’ve been in the job a long time without having a breather. Time can erode your health a bit, so maybe I could be the next on the list,” he observed.

“But you must live like a good professional. It’s the only way to survive as you can’t be fully concentrated and ready for every game if you go out, don’t sleep and don’t prepare. For me, it would be impossible. Maybe you lose part of your freedom and that can be more difficult when you’re younger.

“But when you get older, you don’t want to go out to a disco and dance like mad anyway. I don’t feel it as a burden. I just try to keep my fitness up and have a normal diet. You can rest your players but you cannot rest yourself.

Wenger has increasingly learned to handle the stress of his job, although he accepts that the pressure rarely goes away. “I don’t know how stressful other jobs are as I have only done this one, but big games are every three days so maybe it’s difficult to recover physically sometimes,” he said.

“Every manager has a big responsibility as he wants to keep everyone that loves the club happy.”