In some quite astonishing claims, an ex-girlfriend of a former Arsenal manager has told how he blamed their relationship for being behind the reasons for the Gunners’ poor form and his eventual sacking.
According to The Sun, Sacha Wright said that Unai Emery referred to her as the “white witch” and that she “had brought him so much bad luck.”
After starting off life in north London well enough, and quickly banishing the memories of the latter part of the Arsene Wenger era, Arsenal reverted to type under Emery and became brittle in defence and unable to hold onto a lead.
However, Wright has suggested that Emery’s state of mind was affected by their turbulent relationship, and that was what was ultimately behind his inability to deal with matters arising at the Emirates Stadium.
“He blamed me for getting him the sack,” she said. “[…] He said, ‘It was the day we broke up that we started to lose’. He told me he was so stressed out that his mind wasn’t in the right place after we separated.”
In his first foray into Premier League management, the Spaniard had made a good impression at the Gunners, winning over both players and pundits with incredible attention to detail.
“He would even lie in bed with one game on his computer and another one on his tablet,” Wright noted, hinting at Emery’s obsession with the game. “This would be in the morning and also right before we went to sleep.”
Such behaviour shines a light on how serious the former Sevilla and Paris Saint-Germain man took his work, but to be blaming those who have nothing to do with on-pitch matters for a perceived inability to lead a group of players appears an odd statement of affairs at best.
With Mikel Arteta now at the helm, Arsenal supporters will be hoping that the glory days which the early part of Emery’s tenure promised, are just around the corner.