Wenger: Board backing always there

Manager Arsene Wenger maintains he has always felt fully supported by the Arsenal board.

Uzbekh billionaire Alisher Usmanov, the club’s second-largest shareholder — whose Red & White Holdings group are not represented on the board — claimed Wenger did not have enough backing and blasted the decision to sell captain Robin van Persie to rivals Manchester United in a £24 million (€29m) deal last summer.

Wenger, though, feels the club’s policy of self-sustainability will pay dividends in the long term.