Former Arsenal striker Alan Smith has revealed why former Gunners manager Arsene Wenger and club legend Thierry Henry fell out.
Henry is Arsenal’s all-time leading goalscorer and began his coaching career with the Gunners Youth teams. However, after he joined Sky Sports as a Premier League pundit Wenger insisted that he could not do both jobs at the same time, and unsurprisingly Henry chose a £4 million a year contract with Sky.
However, with Arsenal continually putting in abject performances under Wenger, Henry had little option but to call it as it was by criticising his former manager and club, with Smith explaining that this eventually soured the relationship between the pair.
“No matter how big a legend you are — and Thierry is one of the biggest — you can’t have a foot in both camps — and Thierry learned that,” Smith told the Evening Standard.
“As time went on towards the end of Arsene’s tenure, it became impossible not to criticise him and the performances.
“If you resisted it, you would lose all respect. I remember Arsene saying he wanted Thierry to stop working for Sky and commit to the youth team position.
“I could well see his point. As reasonable and logical as Arsene is, it is still going to grate when your all-time leading scorer is having a go.
“It wouldn’t have been easy for all sides, but Thierry ended up staying at Sky before going off to work with Belgium.”