Arsenal vs Hull: Arsene Wenger reveals he could have left Gunners if they hadn't won the 2014 FA Cup final
Wenger was out of contract at the end of the season and had not won a trophy for nine years
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Your support makes all the difference.Arsene Wenger admitted he could have left Arsenal in 2014 had his side not beaten Hull in the FA Cup final to end their nine-year trophy drought.
With the club’s last piece of silverware coming in the form of the 2005 FA Cup success, Wenger was under pressure to deliver a major trophy having gone through a barren run due to selling a number of the best players to pay for the Emirates Stadium.
Wenger was also in talks to sign a new contract with the club, with his existing deal due to expire in the summer of 2014, and the was speculation that the Frenchman could leave the club if they failed to beat Hull in the FA Cup final as well as finish inside the top four.
With Champions League football achieved via a fourth-place finish, Arsenal looked on course for defeat at Wembley when they went two goals behind, but a Santi Cazorla-inspired comeback saw Arsenal win 3-2 in extra time and lift the trophy.
Speaking about his last contract renewal ahead of Arsenal’s FA Cup fifth round encounter with the Tigers this weekend, Wenger admitted the prospect of him leaving the club two years ago suddenly became very real had they not won the cup.
“It was up in the air and we had to give everything to win that final and after to reflect,” Wenger said in a pre-match press conference.
“If we had lost it I don’t know. Usually I respect my contracts and I fight for everything and to say after 17 years can depend just on one cup final means it is better you don’t go to the final then.
“It would have been a problem if we had not won. But we won.
“Today in the modern job you have to explain on what you do not achieve and why you did not win.”
Arsenal have since retained the FA Cup in 2015, and with Wenger’s side two points off Premier League leaders and in the hunt for a third consecutive cup success, Wenger could head into the final year of his current contract next season off the back of the third double of his Arsenal career.
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