Wenger: FA Cup loss might have meant the sack

Posted Saturday, February 20, 2016 by Goal.com

The pressure was on the Frenchman after a nine-year trophy drought, but he lived to fight another day and says that the traditions of the cup should be preserved.

Arsene Wenger has revealed he was facing the prospect of being sacked if Arsenal had failed to beat Hull City in the FA Cup final in 2014.

The Gunners, who face a rematch against the Tigers in the fifth round on Saturday, had endured a trophy drought lasting nearly a decade before their 3-2 extra time victory at Wembley, but had the score gone the other way, the Frenchman’s future would have been very different.

"I don’t know if I’d have gone, honestly," he told reporters. "If we had lost it I don’t know what would have happened.

"Usually I respect my contracts and I fight for everything and to say after 17 years [your future] can depend just on one cup final means it is better you don’t go to the final then."

However, his team prevailed and credited its effort in the contest.

"It would have been a problem if we had not won. But we won," he said. "It was up in the air and we had to give everything to win that final."

Wenger also urged the FA not to change the rules of the competition, with the idea being flouted that replays may be scrapped in future years.

"I am quite a bit nervous about changing the rules because I like them now," he confessed. "I am convinced all of the clubs can compete with the number of games we have to play, so there is no real need for me to change the rules.

"This is the most traditional competition in England, so let’s respect it and keep it as it is."

Wenger’s side has won the FA Cup in each of the last two seasons and is seeking to become the first club since Tottenham in 1980-81 to achieve a three-peat (Spurs went on to win it a fourth straight time).