Arsenal and France great Thierry Henry has this morning announced his retirement from professional football.
The former Barcelona attacker has looked back on his decision in an interview with Sky Sports, the media outlet where he will become a pundit on the Monday Night Football show alongside Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher shortly.
On why he has moved to television…
“I love the game and I still think that I can give a lot to the game. So obviously, as you know, I am obviously retiring and I am not yet in charge or involved with any team. But in the meantime, why not give back to the game on TV. And make people understand some stuff that maybe they don’t understand sometimes in the game. And if I can help obviously the team (at Sky) to be better that’s what I’m going to do.”
“Like I said so many times the role of an analyst is to try to make people understand in a simple way or even in a difficult way sometimes but you have got to make sure you can get your message across and make people understand how the game is. And so with the team it will be our job to bring the game closer to people at home.”
On making the decision…
“Hard and not too hard to be honest. I would say hard because you leave the game that you love behind. The whole schedule that I used to have waking up and playing big matches and training… I used to love that part and I will always love that part but you are not going to do that on a daily basis. But not hard because I am at peace. I am at peace with what I have done in the game and I have no regrets. I will always think that things happen for a reason.”
On returning to Arsenal as a player…
“You can never really leave Arsenal football club; obviously if you want to know about the playing side. No we didn’t talk too much about that. At one point I said how many comebacks can you make. It will turn out to be a bad movie at one point. We all love the first Rocky but I don’t know about the last one… The last one was not that great. Joking apart, you comeback once after that it is not a comeback anymore. I don’t see the idea of going back to Arsenal because I felt like I never left.”
On coaching…
“I don’t know if I can be a good coach right now. But the desire is there. We will see. It takes time. First and foremost you want to learn about the game because you know the game doesn’t mean you can teach it. And being able to deal with egos, preparing a season, handling a defeat. I knew how to do it before because I knew if I played well the next game it would be alright. For the manager is different. We will see.”
[PHOTO: Zimbio.com]
