Blame The Apprentice

Dara O'Briain believes The Apprentice and Alan Sugar are to blame for the pressure that Arsene Wenger has come under this season!

The life long Arsenal fan admitted he was baffled by the criticism that the Gunners manager had received this season, despite the club going three seasons without any silverware.

That, coupled with William Gallas' recent outburst, has led to some football pundits to suggest that the club is in crisis, however O'Briain told Soccer AM that this simply wasn't true.

He said: "Our crisis is pretty spectacular. We've qualified for the Champions League, are fourth in the League and are still in the running for everything!

"I've been hearing this stuff for ages from (Alan) Hansen type people, saying if we don't get any silverware the whole management should be shot - this is nonsense of the highest order.

"In our 'non silverware' years we've had one Champions League final, one League Cup final, we've been in the running for everything and we're sitting in a gorgeous stadium watching them play some beautiful football."

The Irish Comedian has been supporting the Gunners since he was eight, so it wasn't altogether surprising when he blamed a former chairman of their north London rivals for the current furore surrounding his boyhood team.

Blame

"It's the apprentice I blame!" he said. "They send out two teams to sell... Chicken for the day. And one of those teams makes £800 and gets to fly around London in a helicopter and the other team makes £750 and they have to go to a café and one of them gets fired.

"That's not the way life works. Alan Sugar is a perfect example. He made the eighth best computer, the second best satellite dish - when there were only two Satellites - and then he was the chairman of Spurs! He can' talk about being a winner!

"So the notion that if you don't get that one slot, everything else is really miserable, is rubbish."