A day after new Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson, 70, returned the dugout, Arsene Wenger, 68 next month, failed in his quest for an away win at Chelsea yesterday.
The pair choose to suffer the stresses and strains of top-flight football at an age when most men are tending the garden or having a nice Sunday lunch.
It wasn’t a good weekend either for fellow senior boss Harry Redknapp, 70, who got the boot at Birmingham.
To be fair to Wenger, he held up pretty well yesterday on an afternoon when his men probably deserved to win.
That they got a draw was an achievement, because their previous five visits to the Bridge in the league had proved pointless.
Dressed smartly in a grey pullover, white shirt, red tie, beautifully-pressed black trousers and wearing some rather snazzy shoes, he was pretty cool in the surprise September sunshine.
Certainly a lot cooler than his hot-headed Italian rival Antonio Conte, who ought to take a long, hard look at himself for his ridiculous reaction to the red card shown to David Luiz in the 87th minute.
Conte charged onto the pitch to remonstrate with ref Michael Oliver, yet from his position just feet away he must have known it was a shocker of a challenge on Sead Kolasinac.
You could even argue Oliver had two reasons to produce the red, as the Brazilian also appeared to swing his elbow at the chasing Alexis Sanchez before his lunge at the Bosnian.
Wenger, though, kept calm and soon after the two bosses patted each other on the back as they had a quick word about the incident.
The Frenchman was also surprisingly restrained, unlike the rest of his bench, in the 43rd minute.
He stood with those customary hands on hips after Aaron Ramsey raced through to stab a shot against the post and Alexandre Lacazette lashed horribly off target when the ball rebounded to him.
Similarly, when Shkodran Mustafi headed a free-kick into the net in the 76th minute, he did not go wild, just doing a quick double fist punch low down before spotting the linesman’s flag.
Maybe it was having the volatile Conte so nearby that reined him in.
The Blues boss was not so easygoing when Pedro failed to convert after going clean through. He hopped around like an angry rabbit.
Wenger, of course, was not totally Mr Laid Back, looking furious early on when Alex Iwobi failed to see him pointing to close down Gary Cahill and screaming “God!” at fourth official Neil Swarbrick when Lacazette was judged to have fouled Cesc Fabregas.
He does have reasons to be cheerful about the display from his team, which was full of determination, spirit and guts and a far cry from the wimpish effort at Liverpool three weeks earlier, where they lost 4-0.
Almost a year ago Arsenal beat Chelsea 3-0 and that setback prompted the switch by Conte to a 3-4-3 formation and the Blues’ march to the title.
This battling point probably won’t prove to be as pivotal to the Gunners but even Wenger and the team’s sternest critics will surely appreciate it as a step forward.
