Arsene Wenger Issues Statement: "Your Fans Hate Me More Than Everywhere in England"

The Gunners boss Arsene Wenger says that he senses more personal hatred towards him from Stoke City fans than another club in England – including supporter of Arsenal’s bitter nor London rivals Tottenham Hotspur.

Arsenal and Stoke city have shared a hostile relationship since Stoke was promoted to the Premier League in 2008. It is believed the hostile relationship was a result of the aesthetic differences between then-manager Tony Pulis and Arsene Wneger.

In 2010, a disturbing tackle by Ryan Shawcross broke Aaron Ramsey’s leg and Wenger described Stoke’s tactics as being similar to those of a rugby team, which has since led to choruses of Swing Low, Sweet Chariot from the Britannia home support.

“Is it worse than Tottenham? It is maybe more aggressive, yes,” Wenger said.

“I think the major incident was not that comment [about the rugby tactics],” Wenger added. “The major incident was Ramsey. That’s where it started. Why do they boo me? I don’t know. You should ask them. I don’t bully them.”

It is evident that the manager feels the coverage of the incident was not proportional to its impact.

“It was four people shouting,” he added. “It happens to me at the [Emirates] stadium, as well. More was made of it than it really was.

“It didn’t stop me from sleeping. What stops me from sleeping is losing games. I can live with the fact that people are not happy. I can understand it. You ask me: ‘Can I live with it?’ I say ‘I would prefer not to but if I have to, I will.’”