David Dein

Dein was one of the architects of the Premier League in 1992, which re-shaped the structure and finances of English football. "I felt football was really a sleeping giant and had a long way to go," Dein said. "After seeing how the Americans operated their sport, particularly American football and baseball and basketball, I felt we were light years behind. We had so much more to give as an attraction."[5] Greg Dyke, later the chairman of the FA, stressed the central role of Dein in the creation of the Premier League, saying "David Dein was the most revolutionary bloke I've met in football. David Dein created the Premier League, it was his idea." [6]

During his time at the club, he had an active role in the transfer of players and contract negotiations. Dein was behind the appointment of the little-known Arsène Wenger to the manager's job in 1996. Under Wenger, Arsenal won the Premier League three times and the FA Cup seven times, and Dein strongly backed him and his transfer plans.[7]

Following the dismissal of George Graham in February 1995, he tried to convince his fellow board members to appoint Wenger as manager. They seemed reluctant to bring on board an unknown Frenchman managing in Japan and opted instead for Bruce Rioch. Following the dismissal of Rioch a year later, Dein again suggested that Wenger should be hired. His efforts proved successful and Wenger was appointed manager of Arsenal in October 1996. It is generally agreed that without Dein, Wenger would never have been appointed manager.[5][8]

Dein believed that Wenger would change Arsenal's style of play, which was seen as dogmatic and one-dimensional, to one based on technique and speed more attuned with the approach adopted by teams from the continent.[9]

Dein was instrumental in the club's recruitment of players. In September 1991, he helped Arsenal sign Ian Wright from Crystal Palace for £2.5 million. Wright later stated that Dein "was always very close to the players... He was like a father figure to us, and everybody loved him." In June 1995, Dein signed Dutch international Dennis Bergkamp for £7.5 million from Internazionale.

Dein was influential in the transformation of Highbury into an all-seater stadium. Following the Hillsborough disaster, the Taylor Report required Premier League clubs to introduce all-seater stadiums. Dein was behind the introduction of a bond scheme, unpopular with fans, to finance the redevelopment of Highbury's North Bank and Clock End terraces into all-seater stands.

Dein also helped obtain Arsenal's entry into the G-14 group of major European football clubs in 2002, and became President of the G-14 in October 2006.[10] He was also President of Arsenal Ladies Football Club while Arsenal vice-chairman.

On 18 April 2007, Dein left the club due to "irreconcilable differences" between him and the rest of the board. It is thought that he was in favour of a possible takeover of Arsenal by an external investor. Arsenal had invested heavily in the development of their new stadium which forced the club to take on heavy debts, which meant the club was in need of new revenue. The other members of the board were said to have signed a contractual agreement that they would not sell their shares for a year, and they jointly expressed their intention to retain their shares in the longer term.[11] Dein was replaced as G-14 chairman by Olympique Lyonnais chairman Jean-Michel Aulas the following month.[12]

Arsène Wenger stated "It is a huge disappointment because we worked very closely together, David has contributed highly to the success of the club in the last 10 years and even before that as well. Red and white are the colours of his heart."[13] Former player Ian Wright also expressed his unhappiness at Dein's departure, and said the players were upset.[14]

In August 2007, David Dein sold his 9,072 shares (14.58%) in the club for £75 million to Red & White Holdings, an investment vehicle of Russian metal billionaire Alisher Usmanov and his business partner Farhad Moshiri.[15] Dein was appointed as chairman of Red & White, which was at the time the largest shareholder in the club outside of members of the board of directors. In September 2008, he resigned as chairman of Red & White, with The Times suggesting it was to improve relations between Arsenal and Red & White.[16]

Dein's dual roles as director of Arsenal and a senior member of the Football Association's executive led to accusations of conflicts of interest.

In 2005, Chelsea manager José Mourinho said "A person who works in the club should not work in the FA. The FA is the FA and the club is the club"; he called on David Dein to resign. Mourinho's complaint related to the league programme apparently favouring Arsenal. In 2004–05, Arsenal played five of their six league games immediately following Champions League group matches at home, while Chelsea had to play five away.[24] This was not the only row Dein has had with Chelsea: Dein complained about Chelsea "tapping up" Ashley Cole, which resulted in Cole, Chelsea and José Mourinho all being fined by the FA.[25] He was later accused of making a "covert" approach for Gilberto Silva that was similar to Chelsea's approach for Cole, while Gilberto was at Atlético Mineiro.[26] Dein denied this, saying he had made his approach known to Atlético; the president of Mineiro, Alexandre Kall, confirmed Dein's account and said that Arsenal had complied with all the rules.[27] Kall stated "I am shocked to hear about the press reports concerning the sale of Gilberto Silva. I can confirm that Arsenal complied with all the rules and all the negotiations with the player were held exclusively between the two clubs."[28]

In 2006, during the search for a new England manager to replace Eriksson, Bolton Wanderers manager Sam Allardyce questioned Dein's role in the FA, saying: "I don't know how much power David Dein has but he obviously has a great influence at the FA", and alleged that Dein had shielded Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger from the selection process.[29] Middlesbrough chairman Steve Gibson made similar allegations,[30] but Wenger denied this, saying he had been on FA chief executive Brian Barwick's original longlist, but told him from the outset that he did not want the job,[31] a story later confirmed by the FA.[32]