Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta warns abuse will stop people wanting to be managers after Steve Bruce axe

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has revealed the level of abuse in football is putting people off becoming managers.

The spotlight on the abuse managers receive has intensified this week after Steve Bruce was sacked by Newcastle.

In an exit interview with the Daily Telegraph, Bruce opened up on the abuse he had received, saying that “people wanted me to fail” at Newcastle and called him “a fat waste of space, a stupid, tactically inept cabbage head”.

And asked if he is worried young people might be put off going into management, Arteta said: “Yes, a lot of people think like that.

“I heard a lot, and I have a lot of friends who are doing the [coaching] courses, who doubted whether they want to take the hot seat, or whether it is better to be an assistant or something else.

“For me this cannot be the barrier, because you have fear about the treatment you are going to receive. I think the enjoyment as well is that big, that it should not stop you.

“But it is important that we take care a little bit of the environment and putting things in the right place. If not I don’t think it will get better. I think it will get worse if we don’t do anything about it.

Asked if he had people call him directly about possible abuse, Arteta said: “Yes. And people who have been managers already. Experienced managers, and they are thinking about not doing it again.”

Asked what he says to people who call him, Arteta added: “That you cannot lose the focus, the passion and the love.

“The reason why you made the decision in the first place to do that. If you are affected by every single opinion in life nowadays, with how easy you can read stuff about yourself, you are not going to be happy with whatever you do.

“You have to be able to deal with that. But obviously we can help to be able to deal with that.”

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