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LONDON -- Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke signaled a desire to convince Arsene Wenger to stay on as manager by telling The Associated Press on Monday that the club remains very high on the Frenchman and he would be very hard to replace.Wenger this month celebrated 20 years in charge of Arsenal and has offered no indication whether he wants to sign a new deal, with his current contract running to the end of the seasonThe 67-year-old Frenchman became the Premier Leagues longest serving manager when Alex Ferguson retired from Manchester United in 2013. United is now on its third manager in three years and has not competed for the Premier League title since Fergusons departure.In a rare interview about Arsenal, Kroenke noted the tricky post-Ferguson succession at United while discussing the challenge of eventually replacing Wenger.You see it (at United), Kroenke told the AP after Arsenals annual general meeting. Its very hard. Hes a great manager.Wenger signed his last three-year contract extension in 2014.We will sit down and discuss the future at the appropriate time, Arsenal chairman Chips Keswick told shareholders at a meeting attended by Wenger.Although Wenger has won the Premier League three times, the last success came in 2004 -- a drought which frustrates fans.Hes been a wonderful influence on the club, Kroenke said. We are all very high on Arsene. We are (joint) top of the table right now.Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool are only separated on goal difference at the summit. Despite Wenger only winning the FA Cup twice since the 2004-05 season, Arsenal is in the lucrative Champions League for the 19th successive year thanks to its runner-up finish last season. Wenger is yet to win European footballs top prize.I know a number of (sports team) owners that are very successful that say the same thing -- the hardest thing to do is be consistently competitive at the top of the league, said Kroenke, who also owns the NFLs Los Angeles Rams. Arsene has always done that and Arsenal has always been in that position. We have always been competitive.We may not always win the things we want to win. We are very focused on winning for sure the league. Arsenes been consistently at the top and I will tell you -- its very, very hard to do if you look around sports.Earlier, Wenger did not address his future in what could be his final speech to shareholders if he doesnt extend his Arsenal contract.I would like to apologize for every minute I made you suffer in these 20 years, Wenger quipped. But you dont look too bad for people who have suffered for 20 years.I am sorry for the boy who was born 20 years ago and has only known one manager. I would like to reassure him that when he is 40 he will know a few more.Wenger assured shareholders that Arsenal is in a much more competitive position to fight for the championship than five or six years ago.---Rob Harris is at www.twitter.com/RobHarris and www.facebook.com/RobHarrisReports Carlos Bacca Jersey . -- Eastern Kentucky thrives off creating havoc for others. Dayro Moreno Colombia Jersey . And when it opened, every player was at his stall. Thats a sure sign that a team is in a slump and is searching for answers. "Its embarrassing to be at home and play the way we did," said defenceman Josh Gorges. http://www.nationalcolombiafootball.com/james-rodriguez-colombia-jersey/ . -- Golden State Warriors coach Mark Jackson asked his players a simple question during Fridays morning shootaround: How many of them had ever been on a team 14 games over . Sebastian Perez Jersey . -- When the Florida Panthers fell behind by two goals in the first period to the top team in the NHL, it appeared they were on their way to yet another loss. Radamel Falcao Colombia Jersey . Tests earlier this week revealed a Grade 2 left hamstring strain for Sabathia, who was hurt in last Fridays start against San Francisco. Its an injury that will require about eight weeks to heal. He finished a disappointing campaign just 14-13 with a career-worst 4.Timing-wise, it just felt right, says Steve Davis, as he reflects on his decision to end a 38-year career in professional snooker with a public farewell at the Crucible Theatre a fortnight ago. Audiences at Sheffields snooker mecca saw Davis win six world titles during an era of dominance that coincided with the sports boom under Barry Hearns guidance in the 1980s. As he held the trophy aloft ceremonially - and a little sheepishly - for a final time, there was a feeling of relief that the circle was closed.It just slowly got harder to compete at the top level. Its not that I didnt love the game, its just that Ive been playing competitively for so long that when you practise, you practise with a view to playing in a tournament, Davis says. And if youre losing every match then it perhaps isnt worth practising.Six years after he last qualified for the World Championship, the game was up.Just Jimmy White remains active of the 80s giants who laid bare on the baize a range of contradictory personalities that helped propel a pub game out of the Pot Black era and into the big-time.A BBC film called The Rack Pack chronicling a fictionalised version of Davis rivalry with Alex Higgins was released in January, and the nostalgia - the sense he was part of the past rather than the present - played its role in the 58-year-olds retirement. Davis rivalry with Alex Higgins was a cornerstone of snookers success in the early 1980s More influential, though, was the death earlier this year of his father Bill, whose unswerving practical, technical and paternal support took his son from the south London clubs to the amateur circuit and, in just a few years, to the top of the world.Things coincided with my father passing away, Davis says. I didnt really feel the desire to play on longer with him not around, and by complete coincidence The Rack Pack came out. That just brought home that first wave of enthusiasm for snooker to hit the UK - everything seemed to be leading towards the conclusion that it was the end of an era.What an era, though. Davis emerged in the late 70s as a kind of other-worldly automaton pitted against the all-too-human Higgins and the unaffected Whites outrageous talent, and he had ringmaster Hearn in his corner.Given the way Essexs great sporting impresario has subsequently exploited the pantomime potential of boxing and darts - for the benefit of player and promoter alike - it is tempting to wonder whether the man vs machine narrative of the time was at all scripted. Not so, says Davis. Barry Hearn (right) backed Davis rise to the top of snooker and helped commercialise the sport It was just the way it was. We were all pushing boundaries in our own way, and you just did what you did the way you could do it. Part of your personality comes out on the table - you cant really do very much about that.The robotic, emotionless person I was on the table was how I dealt with the problem at hand. It wasnt so much Barry Hearns influence as [a reflection of] the way each one of us lived our life at the time. I was pretty regimented, probably the hardest practiser.That treadmill of practice-competition-practice took him to 28 ranking titles, and a genuine passion for a hobby-turned-profession helped maintain his meticulous approach even during the harrowing time when Stephen Hendry was wresting control of the sport.The Scot bolted a total lack of fear onto Davis merciless professionalism and toppled snookers king, surpassing his record of six Crucible wins. Somewhere along the line, though, that new vulnerability - first glimpsed in the famous final-black world final defeat to Dennis Taylor in 1985 - meant the snooker-watching public came to love Davis where once hed been merely admired. Daviis roll of honour Six World Championship titles 28 ranking titles 53 non-ranking titles 355 century breaks A genial willingness to embrace Spitting Images Interesting Steve Davis caricature did no harm, and he remains the only snooker player to win the BBCs Sports Personality of the Year award, but Davis wonders now whether he or any of the circuits fabled 80s characters would leave a mark in todays post-internet, multi-channel world.dddddddddddd.I think the trouble is that the worlds become quite immune to characters. The analogy of Big Brother would spring to mind. The first winner of Big Brother [Liverpudlian everyman-type Craig Phillips in 2000] was just a normal bloke called Craig. Nowadays, it seems youve got to be some sort of absolute weirdo even to get on the show.I think the same applies in the world of sport. What was once considered to be a character now doesnt cut the mustard. The way we look back at some of the old characters... I dont think the modern-day players are any different to them. People have become a bit immune.Think of the relative lack of interest in say, the brash idealism of Judd Trump or Mark Allens spiky outsider status, and it is easy to agree. The exception, of course, is Ronnie OSullivan, who spoke after his recent Crucible exit about the combined pressures of being snookers new figurehead and its most popular player. Davis sympathises. Davis and Jimmy White pose ahead of the 1984 World Championship final The same thing happened for Jimmy and for Alex, he says. People wanted them to do so well, and when they werent youd get people shouting come on Jimmy and come on Alex. Sometimes I felt as though that hindered them more than helped. That didnt happen too often from my perspective, but actually perversely [the lack of support] was probably easier to deal with.Ronnies certainly got the pressure of not only being the No 1 ranked player when he wants to be, hes also got the pressure of everybody wanting him to win. Its a double-edged sword.Davis now has the luxury of looking on from a distance, and although his enduring love for the sport is obvious both from the way he talks and from his insightful television analysis, the tone is one of proud granddad ruffling the hair of his favourite grandson.It is time for some of his other passions to share top billing now. Already a published author - he has co-written two books on chess - Davis life story Interesting is nominated for Autobiography of the Year at the prestigious Cross Sports Book Awards. Snooker legend Davis retires Steve Davis is to stop playing snooker 35 years after winning his first World Championship An interest in music - from rare 70s soul to obscure prog rock - has been a matter of record for years but has brought new opportunities recently after promoters tuned into his community radio show and spotted his potential for bringing out-there electronica to a wider audience.Acclaimed DJ sets have followed, and when Davis answers his phone to Sky Sports he is busy rooting through the racks in a record shop in Manchester.Its great fun, he says. One minute were doing a radio show, the next minute someones asked us to play a music festival, and now all of a sudden were DJs. Its been brilliant, amazing.A rapid rise from part-timer to pro? A burgeoning career he describes as a hobby gone berserk? All sounds a bit familiar... Also See: Rocket warned over no-show Bring the party to snooker ' ' '