Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger and Chelsea's Jose Mourinho are the Joseph Stalin and Leon Trotsky of the Premier League... they are destined never to get on
- Arsenal beat Chelsea 1-0 in the FA Community Shield on Sunday
- Jose Mourinho and Arsene Wenger did not shake hands at Wembley
- The Chelsea and Arsenal managers have had a long-running feud
- READ: Arsene Wenger snubs Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho TWICE
- Sign-up for this season’s MailOnline Fantasy Football game
They are like two school kids on a playground. Yet, a decade on from when their arguing began, Jose Mourinho and Arsene Wenger have still not grown out of their feud.
Wenger was the popular one, intelligent and successful inspiring awe from his classmates. Then the new-kid joined; Mourinho was appointed by Chelsea in 2004. Brash, brazen and cocky, he wanted to be loved, too. The school yard wasn’t quite big enough for the both of them.
The timetable was scheduled in Wenger’s favour, Mourinho claimed. The Frenchman couldn’t be seen to lose face and retorted with jibes, about Chelsea’s negative tactics.
Arsene Wenger pushed Jose Mourinho on the touchline at Stamford Bridge last season
Wenger walks straight behind Mourinho after the Chelsea boss shook his players' hands at Wembley
Mourinho turns to see Wenger walking away from him, without approaching the Chelsea manager
Then they got worse. ‘He is one of these people who is a voyeur,’ Mourinho said. ‘He likes to watch other people. There are some guys who, when they are at home, have a big telescope to see what happens in other families.’ Wenger responded fiercely: ’I find it out of order, disconnected with reality and disrespectful. When you give success to stupid people, it makes them more stupid sometimes and not more intelligent.’
Each have always had a group of their own friends who would back them to the hilt and the pair’s animosity erupted through them in the 2007 League Cup final when Chelsea and Arsenal players were involved in a melee. John Terry was kicked in the face by Abou Diaby during the match and three players were sent off at the end.
Both Wenger and Mourinho tried to calm things down when things became heated at the 2007 League Cup final
Arsenal's Emmanuel Eboue is restrained by Mourinho during the 2007 final as Wenger tries to intervene
Mourinho and Wenger had to intervene the ugly scenes on the Wembley pitch. It had gone too far and for a time afterwards the hostilities were cooled. But in February last year, Wenger turned up the heat again by suggesting his counterpart was afraid of failure. Mourinho scolded him back branding Wenger ‘a specialist in failure.’
The first physical blows between the pair came soon after. Gary Cahill crunched Alexis Sanchez in a league match last October, Wenger went over to inspect, but Mourinho stood in his way. They squared up, Wenger using his height advantage to tower over the Portuguese and eventually pushed him until an official, like a caretaker breaking up a fight, intervened.
Neither could bring themselves to shake hands after Arsenal’s Community Shield win and they are clearly destined never to make peace. Too much has gone between them.
Their clash of styles produces the most ferocious reaction — Wenger typically contemplative and generally classy, Mourinho often outrageously arrogant, but ultimately far more successful.
Things have not always been hostile between the pair as they shared a friendly handshake in December 2013
Great feuds have always marked history. Elizabeth I feared the threat to her crown from Mary Queen of Scots and had her locked up for 18 years then beheaded. Joseph Stalin and Leon Trotsky fought for leadership of the USSR after Vladimir Lenin’s death, until Trotsky was exiled from the Soviet Union and assassinated. Al Capone and Bugs Moran contested control of the Chicago underworld until six of the latter’s crew were machine-gunned down. Most recently, Katie Price and Jodie Marsh have spent the early 2000s verbally pulling each other’s hair out.
Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin fought for the leadership of the USSR following Vladimir Lenin’s death
Jordan had a long running feud with fellow glamour model Jodie Marsh and the pair never got on
In such a way, the Premier League shall always be remembered for this on-going display of dislike. Wenger does not look close to retiring and Mourinho has stated he is in for the long haul in his second spell at Chelsea.
If Arsenal can start to really challenge Chelsea — and the rest — for trophies following Wenger’s first victory against Mourinho in 14 attempts, then this playground feud has only just begun.
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