Years after his ousting from Arsenal as its vice-chairman, David Dein still feels hurt by the termination of his employment with his beloved club.
He was in that role between 1983 and 2007, so you can say he may have forgotten that it was a job that could end at any time.
The English football executive had presided over some of the club’s biggest successes, and he didn’t see a termination letter coming at all.
Decades later, he still feels hurt by the club’s decision to remove him as its executive.
While speaking exclusively with The Daily Mail, he said:
‘I’m a glass half-full person.
‘I want to be positive, I want to be the guy who puts a brick in the wall, who builds something. That was the worst I felt apart from when my mother, and my brother Arnold, died. I left with tears in my eyes.’
Just Arsenal Opinion
Dein was one of our most popular and successful football executives, and it must have been a very hard decision to remove him from his role at the club in 2007.
However, in football, sometimes you have to make tough decisions and the club did exactly that with his dismissal.
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David was involved when we won the league in 1989, 1991, 1998, 2002, and 2004 and the FA cups in 1993, 1998, 2002, 2003, and 2005. He made us the most successful club in England. David Dein, you are not the only one with tears in your eyes and we still miss you 😥
In addition did we win the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1994. League Cups in 1987 and 1993 and The Football League Centenary Trophy in 1988 🔴⚪️
I don’t say this much about the Daily Mail but the article is a good read. His dismissal, or more accurately the manner of it, is a blight on a club that prides itself on doing things the right way.
Particularly enjoyed the last back and forth on international coaches and players. I’m on Samuel’s side on this one.
The Mail article is Dein’s side of the story but he skips over the part where he (apparently) went behind the Board’s back to Kroenke, to the extent that when Fiszman was persuaded to bring his share holding down to a round 15,000 he wasn’t told that he’d be selling to Kroenke.
Dein did a lot of good things at Arsenal, but he shouldn’t do things behind the Board’s back – if he can’t persuade them then he should accept the collective decision.
He was also part of the earlier decision to float 100% of the club’s shares on the open market which in hindsight seems to have been a mistake.
However, the authorities have a lot to answer for in that regard – the Germans saw the problems with football clubs being traded and brought in a 50+1 rule to ensure that the clubs always have their destiny in their own hands. Bayern are still doing fine.