Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Football manager who led Arsenal for 22 years, transforming the club and British football with his revolutionary approach.
On the island
Eight records
Because I think Bob Marley created a music that will remain. It was a mixture of African jazz, what's called reggae, and uh he loved football as well, and his music is cool.
I think it's a great song and Beatles are like a good football player. They make simple what looks very complicated, you know. And it's as well part of my childhood because suddenly this was the modern music when I was a child.
Avec le tempsFavourite
What I like is uh the poet that is in uh this song, but uh what I don't share uh it says basically time is a healer, but time is a healer as well of love, and that you finish alone in your bed and you don't love anymore and I I don't believe that, but the song is great.
I like the fact that Elton John was a similar age to me and when I heard him at a young age I find it uh fantastic. And as well because he likes football and as well because I meet him um sometimes in the same restaurant in Nice and we speak a bit about English football and uh I think he deserves to be remembered.
I've chosen this because I have that in common with some people. I cherish them very much in France and as well because Evie d'Amand it tells you a little bit that we still love each other, but it's not exactly the same like before, you know. It shows that if you don't take care of love, it slowly vanishes.
It's Elvis Presley because was as well the style of my childhood, but especially because it's the song where Arsenal walks out on the pitch, The Wonder of You.
Jacques Brell, who I love, Nemekita Pas, says, don't leave me. You know, it shows they never know who is the most happy, those who love or those who are loved.
It is a song that has been written in France. A Canadian singer heard somebody sing it. I think it was Claude Francois in France. And he took that song and sang it in a private party where Frank Sinatra was. And Frank Sinatra said, oh, I like that song. And it became his song. And it became a worldwide success. This kind of coincidence is sometimes linked with success.
In conversation
Presenter asks
2:07What is beautiful about football?
Beautiful is what is transformed into art. Art is supposed to get you out of your daily world that is quite tough, it's boring sometimes, repetitive, you know, and uh I think uh art transports you in a different world and that's what football can do and sport can do in general.
Presenter asks
4:12How do you relax?
I relax by watching other managers suffer. … But uh now as well by watching football, you know, I love it so much. And uh it's easier for me when I watch other games to take a distance. Why does this player make this decision? What is the major mistake they make? And I enjoy it because uh football it's always unpredictable. It's not like theater. You go every night to the theater, it starts the same and finishes the same. You go every night to a football game, it's always different.
Presenter asks
7:27Your parents worked incredibly hard. Did they ever have time for you to do things together as a family or or take holidays?
No, that's why I wouldn't advise anybody to open the bistro and have children, because at the time there was no family life, because the bistro was open every day of the year. It closed only one day from four o'clock in the afternoon until midnight. That was on Christmas, because the the village was dominated by religion. So that was no holiday.
The keepsakes
The book
Around the World in Eighty Days
Jules Verne
I would say Around the World in Eighty Days from Jules Verne, who is a French writer, and his book is fascinating because it shows the power of imagination.
The luxury
A ball. A ball was a friend of my life, you know. He was with me everywhere. And if I go out in a corridor and there is a ball there, I have to touch him, you know. So that is uh my companion.
Presenter asks
24:39How difficult was it to have a job that was so all consuming, so pressured, and build a relationship alongside that?
That was my weakness, and uh I must say that I gave so much time to my job that uh it was very difficult. Today, sometimes I think I have been a monster, you know, because I gave so much and I didn't develop all the skills. I had plenty of friends that I kept my whole life, but as well for my family, I say overall I was not up to the level that uh you would expect from a guy like me.
Presenter asks
32:43The rivalry between competing managers is often obvious pitch side, and you regularly clashed with Sir Alex Ferguson. Those exchanges can look pretty visceral to people watching. What was it like for you?
Well, it was normal for me because it was him or me and overall you fight for your life when you go out there.
Presenter asks
34:52How do you cope when a dream doesn't come true?
It's difficult, but at the end of the day, you are guided by dreams our whole life, and some come through, some don't come through. And you have to accept that you never win everything you want to win, and you have to live with what you didn't achieve. The most important is to be faithful to what is important for you. That means find the meaning in your life and walk on the road of your life with the values that look important to you. After that, you win, you lose. It's part of life.
“I relax by watching other managers suffer.”
“To be creative you have to enjoy things. If you want to do something, you're much more creative. And part of our job, despite all the pressure that is around us, is always to speak to the child. And I was a child who wanted to play.”
“The players are not responsible for the money they get, it's the success of football that produces the money. The only thing I insisted always, life is about give and take, and don't forget to give.”
“I still support Arsenal, you know, I still love uh this club. When I see the red and white walking out, I'm not the same man anymore, and uh I still say we when I talk about the club.”
“I would say uh success is uh finding the meaning of your life and be capable to to live it, you know. After that uh it's never enough. But if happiness is to have a life you want to have, I can say I I've been very happy until now because I uh I had the life I wanted to have.”