Arsene on Holiday: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepag...ur-snap-of-Arsene-Wenger-with-David-Dein.html With David Dein. Nothing to it I'd reckon, there's not even any mention of when the photo was taken. There seems to be a lot of strange views on Dein and whether he's the shining knight the club needs or a scallywag who'se lined his own pockets. Either way, Wenger seems to still respect him. What do you guys reckon?
When Dein was at your club, you were successful and since he went, you have won nothing. Does anyone know the real reason why he left your club?
He fell out with D Fizman over the Emirates project, DD wanted us to play at the new Wembley. The Usamov deal came later.
I don't think that's true. He sold some of his shares to Fiszman. He wanted outside investment in the club to fund the debt from the stadium project. The board wanted to keep things in-house.
Actually, it was Kronke who Dein tried to bring onto the board. Hill-Wood threw his toys out of the pram saying 'We don't need thier sort at our club' and a short while later Dein was gone. A short while after that Kronke was on the board and now he is the majority shareholder.
Good blog about Dein's current involvement here http://thegoonblog.com/2011/04/kroenke-dein-kroenke-usmanov-personal-concerns/
The irony of Dein's enforced departure due to his advocasy for Kronke now looks startling. The man who they tried to shun (and which cost Dein his job) is now the majority shareholder and key man at Arsenal. Dein knew a takeover (or something amounting to that) was coming, so he tried to advocate the best man for the job, which in his eyes was Kronke. After the board resisted and Dein was outsed in the fall out, the board then realised that change was inevitable and proceeded to embrace Kronke. With Dein out in the cold, he knew that somone was going to become the majority Sharholder at Arsenal and so he aligned himself with Usmanov in the hope that he would amount a successful takeover and with it reinstate Dein on the board. That hasn't happened and now Dein is still out in the cold. He must be spitting feathers that Hill-Wood et al have embraced the man that he initailly tried to bring to Arsenal. I can't see anyway that Dein could work alongside Hill-Wood again, but I also see that the Hill-Wood days are numbered. I think Dein will be back at Arsenal one day, working alongside the man he attempted to bring into the club, Kronke - and with Gazidis and possibly his old friend Wenger moving upstairs in a few seasons time, this could form the backbone of Arsenal at board level.
In hindsight, that now looks like a massive mistake. But he wanted to get back onto the board and probably saw this as his only opportunity, seeing as Hill-Wood had cosied up to Kronke (the man Dein recommended to Hill-Wood in the first place). Whatever your views about Dein, he has only ever done good things for Arsenal.
Its not really hindsight, he would have know what Usmanov was like before he decided to work with him.
If Usmanov had been successful in a takeover then Dein would have seen it as a masterstroke. But because they are both now out in the cold, this is why it was a mistake on Dein's behalf - in hindsight. To be honest, none of us really know what Usmanov is like. He's got billions and he's willing to plough that into the club, it may not be the way we've done things in the past, and certainly I'm a big admirer of the way in which we've created a sustainable environment at the club, but I don't think anyone would deny that we could do with some investment in the team. Who knows, if Usmanov and Dein were on the board, we may have bought the likes of Torres (he wanted to come to Arsenal when he was at Athletico) and a host of other players. It's speculation I know, but I think Usmanov is painted as an Ogre when actually we have very little info about him.
Dein made a mistake pairing up with Usmanov - but I guess he saw it as his only route back into the club once Hill Wood had embraced the man that he recommended to them. Usmanov's shady past aside. I still think Arsenal need Dein
