Former vice-chairman David Dein has come to the defence of Arsene Wenger. The Arsenal manager is under increasing pressure after a summer of relative inactivity in the transfer market and a less than convincing pre-season.
Yet Dein, whose son Darren is doing everything he can to arrange the transfer of Arsenal’s best player to Barcelona, just like he did with Thierry Henry, is convinced Wenger is still the man for the job.
“People have to remember what he’s done and achieved”, he told BBC 5 live. “It’s easy in life to get rid of people but then what? Getting someone better is the trick.
“He will admit he has probably had the most difficult couple of years of his career … but you underestimate Arsene at your peril”.
And despite the lack of transfer business Dein believes Wenger has something up his sleeve.
“I know for a fact that he is looking to bring in two or three more players if he can. Arsene is very focused and determined – I see him regularly and he still has as much fire in his belly as he had when he started. He wants to win. I do believe in his ability”.
Meanwhile, current chief executive Ivan Gazidis will hold a meeting with members of AISA (Arsenal Independent Supporters Association) at Emirates Stadium tomorrow evening at 6.30pm.
The event is for paid-up AISA members ONLY. If you wish to attend the meeting and are a lapsed member, or wish to join for the first time, you can do so at http://www.aisa.org/join-aisa/join-online (cut-off time for this meeting is 4pm on Monday).
Now I’m confused………Wenger OUT or AKB?
Two or three players will not off set our losses let alone strengthen the squad.
2 or 3
Hmmmmm. Would that be 2 or 3 super signings or a couple of 17 year olds with potential. If cesc and nasri go I suspect we will need 5 new signings to at least give us a chance. If cesc doesnt go I’ll eat my hat!
What about buying Kalou from chelsea? Chelsea just bought lukaku and may be looking to offload some players. Plus he would be better cover for van persie than chamakh. What do you guys think?
Not a bad shout though judging from comments yesterday we should be signing Benzema or Wenger should be sacked….I think Chelsea will want to get rid of Anelka before Kalou though.
True, but I don’t think Anelka would be willing to sit on the bench for arsenal. How much would either of them actually cost?
Oh don’t get me wrong there is no chance of Anelka joining Arsenal…again. I just think that if they add Lukaku, Anelka will be the first out the door not Kalou. He could do a job for us but we need someone who can play the central striker role effectively.
When I say ‘he could do a job’ I am referring to Kalou not Anelka.
Why doesn’t Dein tell his son what disruptive cunt he is and how well he has done to undermine Arsene ?
These people make me sick he rapes the fuck out of arsenal for money and then has the cheek to come out about how good the place is. Well if its that the case put the money back in and tell your parasite off spring to fuck and leave our players alone.
Correct me if im wrong Sir Ted Ears but wasnt Dein forced out the club?
With just £75m to his name. Sad.
Dein owned shares in the club, sold them and left. he didn’t really have a choice really. Thats the nature of business – the profit from the shares, and he played a part in arsenals success also in his time. i don’t think there is a necessity to bring the 75m into question. it makes no point. next we’ll be berating all arsenal players and wenger for cashing in their wage checks as they didn’t have a successful season. not a bad idea 🙂 but realistically no, it is not a point to make. is it a coincidene that arsenal… Read more »
sorry that last statement was not meant to be a question?
Heaven forbid we’d change ineffective tactics and play with two strikers up front.
Dein would never slay Wenger in public they are close friends but grave concerns must be had regarding the frenchman
if one knew all the relavent facts would could have issues with the management of the club.
no one on here knows more than 10% of the runnings of arsenal fc so concers, including grave ones, are largely unfounded until the transfer business is declared complete, both inwards and outwards, and we assess the performance of the squad over the first couple league and champs league qualifier games.
Why would we spen $12m on a kid who’s only experience ( like Jenkinson) is 2 leagues below our level? Ridiculous considering Mata was on the cards.
is mata off the cards?
I would be very dissapointed if our next signing is Alex oxlade. That would do nothing to please the fans at all. Established centre back and striker and everything is right as rain. Honestly if bendtner doesn’t get any good offers it will be no biggy for arsenal to keep him. I would throw him up front instead of chamakh any day.
Hard to be sure but looks a little like Dein is twisting the knife in Arsene’s back here. How do Dein’s comments in any way help Arsene? Whether or not Arsene is planning to bring in 2 or 3 players has nothing to do with Dein unless he knows this as AW’ friend in which case DD should keep his mouth shut. DD’s after his old job again. “Underestimate Arsene at your peril” perhaps, but likewise trust a Dein. One other quick point – where has Gazidis been all summer? Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t it his job… Read more »
regarding IG’s itinery…..how do you have such inside info on his actions thus far this summer? what has he been doing? if not sounding out transfers, or working on them as you claim, then what? how could you possibly know? does he have a twitter account? do you follow him and get his latest updates ‘arsene sent through another transfer for me to follow up. gave him the old ‘yeah sure thing buddy i’ll get right on it’ actually on way to vegas with the lads instead. i’ll just send through half the bid and tell wenger they wanted $45m.… Read more »
Just watched united, arsenal don’t have a hope in he’ll this season. Whether he buys 2 or three players or not.
what i see is 2 poor defence (well if it was us playing it would get mention) in the charity shield cup and a expensive gk who has done a big error.but hey only arsenal have a poor defence in this league according to some
Yes your right bro the defences were poor, but nowhere near as bad as ours bro, and united showed real heart out there, be honest if arsenal were 2-0 down against city could you see them doing what united did today?
Well, with Clichy in the back Manure always had a chance. Our former LB came on in the second half, score tied 2-2. Then in the dying moments mixed signals with Kompany to allow Nani to run clean through on goal from near midfield for the win. I’m already not missing Gael.
Watched Manure too and was pretty impressed but am a gooner and no way am writing us off before the season starts. I say bring it on. But seriously we need to strengthen even with our current squad and if we loose cesc and nasri we need to replace them with quality. Must say though that I really don’t get the hesitation to sell nasri
I’m just being realistic bro, I’m writing arsenal off before the season has started because we virtually have the same team we did last season, and there’s more chance of it being weaker than stronger by next weekend.
if i had to describe man u at the moment it would be ‘fast and powerful’ while there are big question marks over arsenals ‘persona’ this coming term. big questions of character. that is not the feeling you would assosciate with a team built to chllenge for the title. ergo, i worry about what we can achieve this year. a couple powerful additions could change that and give the team some fear factor. currently i’d imagine the likes of stoke, liverpool, spurs, fulham relishing the chance to take on arsenal and being confident. they should be afraid. they used to… Read more »
City were insipid in the second half. I don’t think you can read too much into the season and our chances just because United took advantage of City’s complacency (or whatever it is that made them complete shit for the last 45 min). I find all the hype about City somewhat unfounded. I’d understand it better if I could see just how Mancini is going to get the most out of his bloated squad. I realise it’s early days, and there’s no reason to gloat, but it was somewhat pleasurable to see Clichy on the bench for the losing side.… Read more »
Hey Rectum. Check out my punctuation. The “?” after “what has Gazidis been doing…” was just that. A question and not a rhetorical one. I have no idea what IG has been doing any more than you know what AW is thinking or doing. My point is I don’t recall any supportive or clarifying statement from IG despite the fact that it’s his job to seal deals. His job is to close deals. We have not closed deals. What is IG’s explanation for this? (non-rhetorical question) Peace Many gooners are happy to slag AW but forget that management is also… Read more »
i understand my friend, but the overall point is we don’t know whats going on. so rather than shift the blame from wenger to IG, we should eliminate it all together until their cards are firmly on show on the table! 🙂 there is a lot of critisism born out of clear and understandable frustration. i feel frustrated too. but i wont sit here and criticise anyone until i know the facts. the transfer window is far from closed so i don’t see the point in whining (not a dig at you) that no one has been brought in as… Read more »
I agree with you rectum. I’ve rarely seen people mention the positives out of what we’ve seen in pre-season compared to last year. Rosicky who barely appeared last season was instrumental in the halves he played against Benfica as well as NY Red Bulls and linked up with Gervinho and RVP well. Gibbs showed quality with his defending and crosses alike. We still haven’t seen Walcott who I have big expectations from.
We need to be positive before AW completes his summer transfers.
Well said. Wenger now bring on the signings and the fear factor. Up the arse!!!
He’ll get my support when he does what he says. He said he would strengthen. Are first 11 can give anyone a good game, even Barca but our squad is poor and the season is long. Where is our back up keeper. Schezny gets injured and then what. Is Gibbs world class? Where is the quality in defence. AW said Vermarlen can play left back. So Gibbs gets injured who parners koschelny in defence. We’re a bit if a laughing stock at the moment and no one, I repreat no one fears us. That is not good. You want teams… Read more »
I’ve rarely seen people mention the positives out of what we’ve seen in pre-season compared to last year. Rosicky who barely appeared last season was instrumental in the halves he played against Benfica as well as NY Red Bulls and linked up with Gervinho and RVP well. Gibbs showed quality with his defending and crosses alike. We still haven’t seen Walcott who I have big expectations from. We Arsenal fans are the biggest culprits for making ourselves look like laughing stocks with acts such as booing after a pre-season game. Pathetic. As fans, we are the 12th man in the… Read more »
And about no one fearing us, it’s again, only down to the fans themselves. Would anyone try confronting West Ham fans? No. It’s about imposing ourselves as scary. If we don’t back the team, they’ll be left with nothing to take motivation from.
No it’s not it’s down to our doggy defence. How many times did you here commentators say that teams visiting emirates last year had there best chance of turning us over. No boos last year until the very end but who can blame us after the shit performances some of those players put in. You need to earn your £50+k a week. Loving clicheys performance today. Lol
Firstly, what commentators say never should be a basis of any opinion. Secondly, the team which we have this season is free of the likes of Clichy, Almunia and Sylvestre. There are a number of faces in the team who were not able to make it last season such as Vermaelan and Rosicky. Then, there are the players who genuinely love Arsenal and will give more than 100% in every game such as Wilshire, RVP and (yes) Gibbs. The idea is to keep in mind the positives as true fans. The boo-ers will always find reasons to boo and stay… Read more »
Everybody above and below us has improved. We’re practically the same team that was in a freefall at the end of last season except we won’t have chamak and nasris good autumn to put us ahead early. Not looking good with the manager and board saying we have money, but being beAten to transfers. Everybody’s buying big and we’re fishing in the championship and league one for kids. Again.
I think signing young players every season does have this negative that the team as a whole is not progressive. The reason being some consistent departures every season. We can only wish the likes of Nasri and Cesc had an undying love for the club which the likes of Adams and Henry had. For me, that sort of affection has been missing for some seasons now and we will see this season the likes of Gibbs, Wilshire and RVP show just that. After that, it’s down to us to keep our faith strong and keep supporting the team as true… Read more »
The same Henry that left for Barca to get CL medals? Not saying he was wrong but our captains (Viera, Henry, Fab) all knew that we were becoming a feeder team and left to go to clubs with proper ambition.
Don’t get me wrong Mace. I’m arsenal through and through. I will always support my beloved rip roaring reds. But I feel my points are justified. I hope your right. I hope AW buys quality, particulary at the back where the holes are. Only Problem I have is we were in the same situation last year. He didn’t buy total quality and we crumbled as a result. I hope this year isn’t the same. But surely if your going to buy or let your captain go you do it well before the start of the season so the new members… Read more »
Hey Rectum – same wavelength throughout. I’m sick of the Arsene bashing and sick of the boo boys. For all of the hundreds of postings I’ve read over the summer I can’t recall a single suggestion of a replacement for AW. Not even one I don’t agree with. Lot of people happy to sack him it seems yet no one even thought of a replacement
Peace
Ps sorry for delay in replying but have been supping some fine Stroud (Slad Valley) real
ales!
🙂 no sweat
Something like a Cahill + Mata signing would need to be the very least that many fans will accept now.
Who would you pick in the fantasy transfer needs of The Arsenal?
I would like to see Jan Vertongen (Ajax, can play both CB and LB) and Juan Mata IN. Cesc kept – he really is super quality, and Nasri sold (for 20 million to Roma or 25 to City – while he’s a good player, he’s not absolute top drawer). Sell Almunia, Squillaci and Chamakh (and maybe Diaby). Bring in Barton for free – we bite in the midfield, and someone has to eat the minutes moving Denilson freed up. If the dressing room detonates from adding one guy (on a free, who can be fired at Arsene’s whim), then the… Read more »
We are fucked. Arsene… “up his sleeve”… getting a little late for magicianship! We play newcastle in less than a week, we could have traore in left back! No Cesc. We need talent, this bolocks about the squad size… HOw the fuck do Chelsea/Utd. even spurs manage it. We are fuckin hopeless!
4 4 2 and some talent from the window please…Mata/Benzema/Jagielka/Cahill there is plenty there Wenger take ya fuckin pick!!….but you wont coz ya bein a twat…Fuck knows why!
In my opinion, wenger needs to wrap up all the transfer business this week. No waiting. Sort out cesc, sell on or sort out nasri. Buy a central defender. Buy a left back. If nasri is sold, buy Mata… It’s like for like there. We also need cover for Alex song. The list of issues the squad has is almost too large for one transfer window because the team, board, manager, whomever, waited too long to do anything about them. Nearly every other premier league side is stronger this year thanks to signings… Even those scumbags at stoke. Possibly the… Read more »
[…] eyes will be on the manager this week, who received the backing of his chum Double-D yesterday, and whether or not he can add to the squad before the season kicks off. The Mail this morning […]
It would be great if we could actually get some non injury-prone players too.
At times I thought Diaby was a good player for us but when is he ever fit nowadays? What is the use of having someone who is in and out of the treatment room? We need to replace him now. Enough is enough with all these injured players.
If we don’t sign another striker then I think walcott is a better option down the middle than Chamakh. Not that he’s the finished article yet but he at least has some raw pace.
Mate barely anyone is making signings… Chelsea have been linked with plenty but signed just one !!!! Why are there no calls for his head! If we make another 3 signings of decent quality we will have enough lets wait until that doesn’t happen before going off!!
I stand by Arsene! Every year, doom and gloom predictions about how Arsenal will not qualify for Champions league is paraded. Every year, Arsenal qualifies! Fact is, it is the exact opposite that frustrates fans, faulting at the last hurdle. Therefore, to start crying foul before the season has even started, as every other season, that Arsenal will not qualify for the Champs league is getting old. When the club finally pays the stadium off in full, and starts to profit from the sales of its shirts, there will be more money available! If not, then questions need asking. In… Read more »