Wenger blasted as "two-bob" after Spurs defeat...and Arsenal's woes go on and on

Arsene Wenger became embroiled in another “no handshake” row after Arsenal’s bitterly disappointing 2-1 defeat against North London rivals Tottenham last night.

Wenger, who has refused to shake hands with several Premier League rivals in the past, apparently refused to acknowledge Spurs coach Clive Allen after the derby clash with the former White Hart Lane striker describing the Frenchman as “two bob” – a cockney reference to a worthless character.

Allen, part of a vast footballing dynasty, needed a talking to by a nearby police constable after an apparently foul-mouth altercation with the Gunners’ boss after the game.

The pair also clashed during last year’s 3-3 draw between the two sides. Allen, the scorer of 202 goals in 418 games during a prolific career, failed to make an appearance during his brief spell at Arsenal in 1980. He told The Sun in London: "Wenger refused to shake my hand. He says he didn't see me or hear me — but he's two bob he is, two bob.

“I didn’t call him any dirty words though."

Wenger, under huge pressure after Arsenal’s worst start to a season for 58 years, said: "I shook the hand of the manager Harry Redknapp and the assistant manager Kevin Bond. How many hands do I have to shake? Is there a prescription?

"No words were exchanged and if the story of the game is Clive Allen, you must ask him. He wanted to make himself the story? I think yes."

Pictures in the British press today show Allen clearly attempting to shake Wenger’s hand as he headed for the White Hart Lane tunnel after a match which saw fans from both sides involved in obscene chanting.

Arsenal fans targeted former striker Emmanuel Adebayor, suggesting he should have died when his Togo team were attacked by gunmen before the African Nations Cup in Angola last year. Spurs supporters responded with the age-old paedophile slurs against Wenger.

Redknapp, whose side are now comfortably better off than their traditionally more successful rivals in terms of points and playing staff, said: "Arsene shook hands with me and I'm pleased with that. I think Clive went to shake hands and he missed him. He didn't see him.

"But if he's going to shake hands, either do it and mean it or don't do it at all. If he doesn't want to, he shouldn't.

"OK, Clive wasn't happy but Arsene shook my hand and, for me, that was it."

With his side 15^th in the Premier League table having lost four out of seven so far, Wenger -who famously refused to shake the hand of then-Manchester City boss Mark Hughes in 2009, grumbled: "We played with the handbrake on in the first half. We got back to 1-1 but then we didn't push on enough. That shows we are not playing with confidence."

Rafael van der Vaart scored the 10,000th goal in Tottenham history just before halftime and Kyle Walker clinched the victory with his first for the club in the 73rd minute after Aaron Ramsey's equaliser for Arsenal.

Wenger, who saw Polish goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny let the winner slip through his hands, also lost full-back Bacary Sagna on the brink of the international break this week. He said: "We are very worried about his injury, the first signs don't look good. It's the fibula and ankle that needs to be checked ... he was pushed quite hard. I don't know what happened when he landed, did he land the wrong way?''

The Real Truth: Jose Mourinho will put up with the Catalan v Castilian hypocrisy for a while longer

“I am learning to be a hypocrite and I don’t want to be one.”

With that short phrase Jose Mourinho, the much-maligned coach of Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid, has restored sanity at the Bernebeu – whilst admitting he won’t be there for long.

The papers were full of Mourinho leaving the Madridistas after last week’s inglorious incident, above, which left Spanish football up in arms after Barcelona’s tempestuous Spanish Royal Cup triumph.

Mourinho moved quickly to quell reports of his imminent demise – but in the subtext of his official statement on the Real Madrid website lies the root of his unhappiness in a nation where Catalan and Castilian speakers live under the same flag while enthusiastically flying their own colours at sporting events.

It was the Special One’s spokesman Eladio Parames who first suggested Mourinho may leave after poking a finger in the eye of Barcelona assistant coach Tito Vilanova. With reports of a 12-match ban for that wayward digit being bandied around, Mourinho was clearly unhappy with a lack of support from the board at Real, who appear to find Jose’s passion undignified and slightly embarrassing.

Similar rumours surrounded his Champions League winning spell at Internazionale, where Italian journalists hounded the Portguese boss, who started his managerial career as Bobby Robson’s interpreter at Barcelona of all places, for being “over the top”.

In England, where he broke the 52-year Chelsea title drought but not London’s Champions League hunger strike, there were no such doubts. His wild-eyed passion was applauded, they miss him still. Many believe he may yet return, perhaps to Manchester United when Sir Alex Ferguson finally retires in 2057, or to Arsenal, where Arsene Wenger pronounced himself “drained” yesterday after seeing Samir Nasri join Manchester City just a week after Cesc Fabregas finally departed for, irony of ironies, Barcelona.

But yesterday, as his spokesman claimed his mobile phone had been hijacked, creating the furore around Jose's future, Mourinho assured Bernebeu fans in an open letter on www.realmadrid.com: "Only those who don't know me can dream, make up or believe I may leave Real Madrid at this stage…

"I believe many people were surprised by the quality football showcased by Real Madrid during the preseason and it would be surprising news to them if I left the club now. Impossible!

"I have a fantastic president who is very intelligent and with whom I have a great friendship. I also have a director general who works for the club 24 hours a day, so my motivation is enormous and my Madridismo is even greater than that of some pseudo-Madridistas…

"There is no way I'm leaving. No way!

"I also wish to apologise to Madridistas, and only to them, for my attitude in our last game. Some people are better adapted to the hypocrisy in football than I am, and they hide their faces and speak in whispers deep inside tunnels.

"I'm not learning to be a hypocrite, and I don't want to.

Best wishes to all. We'll see each other tomorrow at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium."

Though the whiff of hypocrisy surrounds yesterday’s assertion of loyalty to Real, the pain of continual humiliation at the hands of Barcelona – and the diving, conniving, dramatic nature of such defeats against a Barca side steeped in chip-on-the-shoulder Catalunacy – does not sit easily with the Special One.

Mourinho may stay with Real for now. But one more frenzied Barca showdown may end his fragile affair with Spanish football.

See also http://neal-collins.blogspot.com/2011/05/real-truth-why-mourinho-and-ronaldo.html written on May 4 this year.