Arsenal Mania

Dixon reveals reason Wenger stuck with Gallas

Written by Jonathan Chong on Monday, November 24, 2008

Former Arsenal defender Lee Dixon has revealed that he spoke to Arsène Wenger earlier this season re the club's captaincy.

Wenger revealed that stripping Gallas of the captaincy would have destroyed him as a player, and hence why he persisted with the Frenchman as captain.

Dixon said: "I thought there might have been a change and had been critical of Gallas as a captain and leader.

"Basically, Arsène said that Gallas is a great defender - but is also one of those players that: 'If I had taken the captaincy from him, I might have lost him as it could have affected him'.

"I said the flip side to that is then he surely isn't the right man for the job - if he is going to sulk or not do his job on the pitch just because you take something away.

"But Arsène said the position of the club at that particular time - at the start of the season - meant there wasn't any natural person to take over.

"And that's why they were going with Gallas and had to get on with it."

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User Comments

2

Mu Kupara

Posted on 24 Nov, 2008 at 08:41 PM - Reply

I have always maintained that the gunners captain should always have been Kolo Toure after Henry left. He is a fan favourite and a rock solid defender. Even though he isnt having a steller season this season, he would have been a better choice than Gallas.

1

Michael

Posted on 24 Nov, 2008 at 03:13 PM - Reply

To the contrary, I believed that Cesc was the right man for the job, as did millions of other Gooners around the world. We thought it was a no brainer. I can't believe the Board didn't see it as well.