Arsene Wenger has revealed his determination to win the Premier League again before he leaves Arsenal.
Boss Wenger, whose last championship win was in 2004, claimed during Thursday’s Gunners AGM that his hunger and commitment is “bigger than ever.”
Explaining why afterwards, he said: “I was always hungry. But I’m more hungry than ever because the demands are higher, because I didn’t win the Premier League for a long time, and because I want to do that before you get me out of here!
“I have always got something to prove.
“If I play with you now — we go out there and play four-vs-four — you will see that I will try to win... we can play one-vs-one if you want.”
Now aged 68, slowing down is the last thing on the Frenchman’s mind.
He takes charge of Arsenal for the 800th time when Swansea visit on Saturday, and said: “Yes you have experience but there are two ways: you ignore your age and you live like you live forever, or you think ‘Okay, I am born for competition.’
“I don’t know why, and what happened, but it is like that. No matter what I do.
“The need is the desire to compete. That’s my real need. It has never been financial. If it was financial I would not be here.”
Thursday’s meeting at the Emirates was a stormy, chaotic and controversial one that exposed the divisions between the supporters and the club’s board.
The fans’ unhappiness could not have been clearer as they opposed, albeit in vain, the re-election of chairman Sir Chips Keswick and owner Stan Kroenke’s son Josh to the board.
Sir Keswick and chief executive Ivan Gazidis were also repeatedly heckled.
But the atmosphere of unrest does not make Wenger think about walking away.
He said: “No, it reinforces even more my belief. The club is first about values, and in the modern game we lose a little bit the perspective of what is important and what is not.
“It is always here and now and the now is permanent, the judgement is permanent and forever – but it is in society as well.
“You have the same example with Brexit – it’s just here now.
“But where do we go from there? Nobody really knows. Maybe it is good, maybe it is bad. I don’t know.
“Nobody has explained what will happen in the future if we do that.”
And Wenger is determined to continue respecting Arsenal’s traditions and keep an eye on the future even if his approach goes against modern society.
He added: “What I think about the club that has been created is [it's] first about values. I know that nobody cares any more.
“Somebody said 500 years ago the target for people was to be a saint. Fifty years ago a hero in war. Today a billionaire — even more, celebrity. That is instant and here now. But it has to be sustained by something.”