Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has admitted his admiration for Nottingham Forest icon Brian Clough.

The Gunners meet Forest today in the third round of the FA Cup.

Wenger said: “Of course, Clough was one of the ­managers I used to look at when I was a young manager.

“I looked at all the big managers who were successful. I spent time you would not ­believe going to see how managers worked, travelling in my car at night and watching the training in the morning, then going back home again.

“Today, everything is ­available, it's easier. You go on the internet and you have every exercise of every single club.

“But at that time you had to look and it was a rarity to see – Brian Clough was like a guy on another planet."

Wenger arrived in the ­Premier League in 1996, three years after Clough had retired, but the two men met after a game at the City Ground in the ­Arsenal boss's early years in England.

He added: “We didn't speak a lot because he was ­already fatigued and was lean, very lean.You could see he was not at full power anymore. I had huge respect and greeted him: 'All the best', and, 'Bye-bye'.

“Whether his achievement was bigger than his personality, I don't know, but he's a special person in English football."