Harry Pratt Reports THE smile said 'I told you so' - but David Dein was content to give all the credit to Double winning manager Arsene Wenger. Dein, the Arsenal vice-chairman, had been slated something chronic after, having ruthlessly dumped Bruce Rioch days before the start of the 1996-97 season, club chairman Peter Hill-Wood let it slip that an intellectual Frenchman, at the time in charge of Japan's Grampus Eight, would be his replacement. Yet as Wenger takes the plaudits for becoming the first foreign boss to land a League and Cup Double, Dein feels the faith that was shown in the mystery continental figure has been worth every moment of ridicule from the less informed. After all, Dein, the second-largest shareholder at Highbury, has spent the past few weeks fighting off attempts from the French national team, Inter Milan and Paris St Germain to poach Wenger. Now that bunch don't start bugging you unless they have good reason, so it is little wonder that the Frenchman has been offered a £6m, five-year extension to the 12 months left on his existing deal. So while trying to take as little of the credit as possible, it was clear that Dein was as proud as the rest of the Arsenal faithful who have been singing and swigging their way through the last 48 hours. "It wasn't a gamble, it was a judgement call,'' he said. ''As a board we felt it was the right decision, we just had to have courage in our own convictions, we wanted different methods and training ideas. Arsene has raised the club to a different plateau. A lot of people in this country didn't know anything about him, but that's because we're insular, we don't know the European game. We knew his credentials and we also gave him the freedom he wanted, the knowledge that nobody would interfere. ''That showed when he started to change things, he continued. In 19 months, there have been 29 players either coming in or out, a massive transformation. Some people were saying all those changes would upset the club but instead it's drawn everybody together and the purchases have been inspired. Arsene is the hottest managerial property in Europe and the results he has achieved here speak for themselves. It's no secret that he's had offers, but I've always been confident we would keep him. It's about job satisfaction.'' Wenger was equally modest, conceding yesterday that he's still a little stunned by the achievements of a team under his rule for less than two full seasons. ''Of course it's surprised me,'' he said. ''You'd be crazy to think you'd win The Double. Last summer, I just analysed what we'd done. The team was great, third in the League and only beaten by goal difference for a place in the Champions League. Looking back, that might have made all this possible. If we'd been in the Champions League then we maybe wouldn't have done The Double this season, that shows how much luck you need. I knew we hadn't won the big games. I needed to keep the strength and spirit in the team but try to do something about the important games. The major change is that every important game we had to win, we won.'' Meanwhile, plans are already in motion for next season's assault on the Champions League. More transfer arrivals are certain, although the existing squad will still form the core of the club's attempt to conquer Europe. Which explains why Wenger is so intent on Ian Wright staying, even if Arsenal's record scorer was left on the sidelines on Saturday. The club's record goal scorer made a quiet exit from Wembley, but was on top form again on Sunday as 100,000-plus Gunners acclaimed the players riding high on an open-topped double-decker crawling through North London. Only time will tell if his mood will be quite so upbeat come next season, when the competition from Chris Wreh, Nicolas Anelka and whoever might arrive over the coming weeks will be even fiercer.

IT'S McCALL OVER NOW   By Harry Pratt RANGERS stalwart Stuart McCall has ended a season empty-handed for the first time since moving to Glasgow from Everton seven years ago. Now he says he is leaving Ibrox. A sore loser? More likely just growing old gracefully, because McCall, 34 in two weeks, is probably only pre-empting new Rangers boss Dick Advocaat and walking before he's pushed. The red-headed ex-Bradford bruiser still has a year left on his contract and is yet to learn for sure whether he has anything to offer that the incoming Dutchman might feel he needs. But, utterly distraught after Saturday's Scottish Cup Final defeat to Hearts - a last bow for half-a-dozen of the Walter Smith's once all-conquering, now mostly-ageing squad, including Brian Laudrup, Richard Gough and Andy Goram - McCall hinted the writing is on the wall in pretty big letters. Already out of Craig Brown's World Cup squad, he has almost certainly played his last game for the Glasgow giants, too. ''Losing the Final and the League has soured it for a lot of us, he said. But I don't think we could have done any more against Hearts, it just wasn't meant to be. It was a really sad way to end it all and I think it's probably time for me to call it a day at Rangers now. Nothing is organised and we'll see what Dick Advocaat says, but I think the time is right. Everyone else is leaving and it feels correct I should move too.'' McCall has already been linked with a possible player-coach role at newly-relegated Barnsley, although until talks with Ibrox chairman David Murray conclude this week, nothing will be finalised. The same applies to veteran striker Ally McCoist who, in a startling second half substitute role at the weekend, came desperately close to salvaging a dire 0-2 scoreline, grabbing one before being denied a penalty decision right at the death. Despite McCoist's claims that he is quitting this summer, Murray insists that those remarks are premature and misleading: ''I've had a brief word with him and we will talk again this week. Everything was being left because we wanted to concentrate on the Cup Final. Ally is a peculiar footballer because his earning power could actually increase when he packs in the game. What I know is that he hasn't made up his mind yet. Going to America for two to three years wouldn't enhance his career in my view.'' FRENCH striker David Zitelli is interested in joining Rangers. The 27-year-old scored for Strasbourg against the Ibrox side in this season's UEFA Cup, but is now out of contract with German club Karlsruhe. ''I enjoyed playing against them and I'm interested in moving to Glasgow,'' he told a French paper. ''I will train with Karlsruhe until the end of the month, but I want to move.''

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