Wenger's conduct unacceptable as an Arsenal manager
There used to be an old football joke in London about West Ham United.
It went along the lines of 'when the Christmas decorations go up, West Ham go down the league'.
It was coined in the days when the pitches got wet, the mud and the puddles upset the ball-players and the young graduates of the East London academy at Upton Park struggled against physically-superior opponents.
Something similar is threatening to become a tradition for Arsenal.
But there is a major difference.
The Hammers and their fans have a sense of humour and are self-effacing, too.
The Gunners, alas, under Arsene Wenger's leadership, currently look like a club where everyone takes themselves very seriously - and find cracking a joke as difficult as laughing at themselves if they miss the bus.
Certainly, Mark Hughes is no source of mirth for the Arsenal boss as Wednesday night's act of hauteur at Eastlands demonstrated, Wenger flaring his nostrils and almost cocking a snook at the Manchester City manager after the home side won 3-0 and in some style.
After two crushing defeats and three domestic fixtures without a goal, it was understandable, but unacceptable, that Wenger did not feel like shaking hands with Hughes.
The pair have had 'previous' and they clashed verbally during the first half.
Hughes' claim that it is a professional courtesy and a sign of respect that sportsmen shake hands at the end of their contest was snootily waved aside by the Alsatian.
"I think I have nothing to say," Wenger told a television interviewer. "I am free to shake hands with whom I want."
At a subsequent news briefing with the print media, he added, when pressed: "I have no professional courtesy."
Yes, it was drawled sarcastically, but the black humour, if intentional, was lost and the irony went without appreciation. For this was a more serious matter than the result of a cup-tie. Here, Wenger missed the bus and then, instead of grinning and shrugging it off with a typical football manager's cliche ("that's football" or "it wasn't our night"), or a shaft of dry wit - of which he is eminently capable - he stormed off to sulk in his own self-delusion.
For Wenger, it may have been just another in a series of 'Basil Fawlty' moments, but on a night when he fielded a team of youngsters and reserves to gain good experience, it was a terrible example of sporting behaviour.
He was not the only losing manager in the quarter-finals.
Indeed, he was in good company as all three of London's top clubs went out after trips to Lancashire - Tottenham Hotspur losing at Manchester United and Chelsea, on penalties, at Blackburn Rovers.
But he is the only one to have lost his composure and sense of humour.
In short, it proved beyond doubt that he is a bad loser. And that, for an Arsenal manager, is not acceptable conduct.
Every day and every week, hundreds of football managers finish up on the losing side, but shake hands with their conquerors. It is one of the oldest rules in the book of sport. Remember how Roger Federer reacted to his defeat by Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon in 2008? Or how Australia's cricketers handled losing the Ashes? Or the style in which Felipe Massa congratulated Lewis Hamilton on winning the F1 world title last year in Sao Paulo?
It is what the old Corinthian ideals are all about - the very ideals that are so entwined with the traditions of Arsenal; and so entwined with Wenger's passionate embracing of his club and its history. And his love of British life and the values that are wrought from Rudyard Kipling's treatment of those twin imposters, Triumph and Disaster...
So, on behalf of all Arsenal fans and all football-lovers, and the millions of supporters of the game who admire and respect Wenger's wonderful achievements in the English game, let us hope he has the grace to reflect on this, make a phone call to Manchester City and laugh at the folly of his ways.
It would be good if it was done swiftly. Arsenal need their manager to show them the way - the right way.
ARSENE WENGER is stepping up his bid for Bordeaux striker Marouane Chamakh.
