Tony Adams admits he wanted to "pin" Ian Wright for consistently being late to Arsenal training before Arsene Wenger stepped in.
The Gunners striker had to travel from Croydon in south London but never made it to training on time.
Adams, then club captain, was getting towards the end of his tether.
But he recalls how Wenger's management style helped ease the situation with the Frenchman desperate to avoid a confrontation.
Wenger recognised how pivotal Wright was when he arrived at Highbury so changed the training times to ensure he could make it.
It was a move that angered Adams, but the manager told him he would offload the striker once he no longer needed him.
"Arsene Wenger threw up a whole different way of managing through love, with kindness, consideration and compassion. All these words I’d never bloody heard of! I thought it was fight, fight, fight, fight, fight!’' Adams said on the The Micky & Woody Show’s Podcast.
"He managed with love: 'Are you having a bad day today, Tony? Why don’t you take the day off?'
"I always remember his lovely style, it might sum up his style of management which was really interesting. The lunatic, talking about emotionally up and down, Ian Wright used to play for us and he was coming in from Croydon every day. Every single day, late. Every single day.
"I said to Arsene, 'Are you gonna say something or me? I’m gonna pin him. I’m six weeks clean and sober so I’m not gonna pin him [laughs] but I’m having a conversation!'
"And Arsene said: 'Nooo, nooo! We put training back so he can get in on time'. I said, 'What?! Put training back?! What are you talking about?!'
"He said, 'But listen, we need him at the moment. The minute we don’t need him, we get rid of him'. I said, 'I’m not gonna have a confrontation, we’ll put training back, we’ll allow him to get in on time, we train with him, we leave him'.
"To be honest with you, there’s a balancing line so I pinned Wrighty as well [laughs]. I said: 'Wrighty, we’ve got to pick the kids up in the afternoon so get yourself inside!'"
