Mikel Arteta reveals bizarre thing he did on first day at Arsenal that could’ve cost him his job

But it seems Arteta made a risky start at Arsenal, as he told the Athletic that he tested his staff by making a big mess of the equipment in one part of the training complex to see if the people working there would tidy it up.

Looking back, Arteta has admitted that if it hadn’t gone to plan then he could probably have found himself out of the job immediately.

Mikel Arteta on his bizarre first day at Arsenal

“I just destroyed the office and put everything on the floor — the computers, the laptops, the cables. Then bring everybody in,” Arteta said.

“I said, ‘Listen, this is what I heard. I don’t know if it’s true. But from a lot of different people, the sentiment is that this is how they feel about working in the organisation. I’m here to help you enjoy your profession and your life and the passion that we all share. If you want me to help you to do that, you have two minutes to put this in order and at least to be ready to work together’. And I left.

“That could have been my managerial career because if that would have stayed the same way, I had no job anymore!

“I came back two minutes later and it was immaculate. Everyone was silent and had their eyes open and they were ready to listen. I said, ‘This is just the start. It’s something that we have to be in daily. Whatever we want to accomplish, we’re going to have to do it together. I cannot do it by myself. The issue that we have is much deeper than that, but the opportunity is infinite’.”

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Arsenal fans will have heard numerous amusing anecdotes like this about Arteta by now, and it’s easy to see why he makes such an impact on his players.

Elsewhere in the interview, Arteta makes it clear how much he likes to make the job unpredictable so that the otherwise quite repetitive and routine world of sport can become more interesting for everyone he’s working with.