When Indian football team coach Stephen Constantine impressed Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger

Modified Jan 23, 2018 23:00 IST

What's the story?

In the world of football, managers are considered the most important piece of the puzzle pretty much holding the entire team in place. They can on many occasions, make or break a squad. Hence, having a stable boss is always helpful to any team.

For India head coach Stephen Constantine, a second tenure with the Blue Tigers has proven especially fruitful with the team reaching new heights and discovering form like never before. And as the team boss reveals, his first stint at India earned him high praise from one of world football's most influential managers Arsene Wenger.

In case you didn't know...

Stephen Constantine was India football coach from 2002-2005 at a time when football was far from an established sport in the country and cricket took most of the spotlight. The Englishman helped refurbish the squad and laid the seeds for upcoming talents from the country.

The heart of the matter

In a video tribute shared by Arsenal FC on social media, Constantine reveals the time he spoke to Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger. He says that he was surprised Wenger knew of him and his work, with the Frenchman hinting that Constantine would be noticed if he came to England.

This prompted the India manager to head to Millwall for a brief period of time where he contacted Wenger again and the two caught up when Constantine asked Wenger about the possibility of loaning a player to Millwall, to get tickets to a Champions League match between Arsenal and Real Madrid, and ask whether Wenger would like to have him as one of his assistant coaches.

However, Wenger had promptly ruled out the possibility of the third query, saying that it was a policy at Arsenal to hire only former players as coaches.

You can watch the full video tribute by Arsenal to Constantine here.