David Dein, the man who brought Arsene Wenger to Arsenal when he was the club’s CEO, says the Frenchman will have no shortage of job offers when he leaves the Emirates this summer.
The 68-year-old joked yesterday that he doesn’t need to die anymore after reading the funereal tributes to his achievements and went on to admit that he faces a difficult challenge walking away. For all that, he remains open to the idea of a coaching elsewhere with the likes of Paris Saint Germain tipped to make an approach.
Reflecting on the news that his close friend will step down as the Gunners manager after 22 years, Dein told Sky Sports that he’s already been fielding phone calls from potential suitors.
“Over the last few years I know for a fact that he has been approached by some of the biggest clubs in the world – I think Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, the England national team wanted him at one stage. There will be no shortage of offers.”
“I personally had calls from various people yesterday, saying, ‘Can I speak to him?’ The question is, ‘Will he want to do it any more?’
Dein added: “He’s going to be 69 in October, but he keeps himself extraordinarily fit. He is the same weight as when I met him – 75 kilos. He’s got a very active mind and such a knowledge of the game.”
“It’s going to be tough initially. It’s a way of life. He’s the first one at the club, the last one to leave. It is rather like a bereavement and the various stages, the first one is denial and finally you get to acceptance and you move on.
“He has to have a good holiday and decide after that what he wants to do next. It’s been coming. At the end of last season I was discussing with him, ‘Arsene, what do you want to do?’ He was a bit undecided. In the end, I said, ‘Arsene, do you know what your problem is? You love the club too much’.
“He’s so attached to it. So loyal, so dedicated. What he has done for the club is immeasurable. He will go down in history as the greatest Arsenal manager ever.”
Undoubtedly the greatest manager.
Won more trophies than the last 18 Sp*rs managers combined – that’s a fact.
Won more titles in 22 years (well the first six of the 22!) than the lillywhite cunts have won in their 135 years of history.
Sorry, won 4 more trophies than the last 18 Sp*rs managers combined.
Once a pedant, always a pedant.
Are you Rafa in disguise?
As much of a loss Arsene Wenger will be, I think David Dein’s loss has been comparable.
Can DD come back and re-join the board?
Is it just me or does anyone else find it odd that Dein keeps track of Wenger’s weight?
Ha Ha Ha Ha
But like another great manager, Brian Clough, he’s stayed too long.
This doesnt have the tragedy narrative as many are trying to portray it, he stepped down at the right time.
Clough won how many trophies in his last 4 years?
Just so that one doesn’t pass unchallenged –
Brian Clough took over a non achieving provincial side in Notts’ Forest and in Four successive years, he took them to 1/ Promotion 2/ League Champions 3/ European Champions 4/ Retaining said European title.
It is a record without equal in football anywhere, in this country or abroad. It would be the equivalent of someone in Italy doing that with – say – Bari. Or someone in Spain doing it with – say – Deportivo.
No one has. And it is two more European titles than Wenger has managed.
Well said. Greatest achievement in football. Possibly winning the European cup was harder then as it was a knock out competition. Unlike today where the initial rounds being seeded favour the big clubs.
Is this another of those instant attention grabbing statements without any shred of solid fact to support as we see on the social media from attention seeking individuals or is this an opinion from a thinking Arsenal supporter who knows the history and achievements of his club ?
Tell us how many trophies Clough had won in the last 4 years as manager ? And how many finals and semi finals he was in during the year he left the club ?
It was a very different era of football when Clough managed. For starters only the champions of each league actually got into European competitions & British teams were banned for most of the 6 years prior to him retiring. You simply cannot compare the 2 as if Wenger were managing in that era we would not even be involved in European competition this year.
What league position was Nottingham Forest in during Clough’s last year in charge ?
I really don’t understand your position on all of this – you keep going on and on like it was some giant conspiracy by the press that forced Wenger out. Yet literally the night before he resigned you were writing on this blog that Wenger alone would know when his time was up and he would resign when he no longer could take the club forward. So given that I assume you believe that Wenger only resigned to avoid being sacked. So clearly the powers that be no longer believed he was the right man to take the club forward.… Read more »
Hope he wins a champions league with psg.
If he goes to PSG would that mean that we can have Tuchel?
I wish so but it won’t happen probably with mislintat here.I want hoffeinheim manager so that after 22 years he will just be 52 and wenger’s vest years were around 52 ?
I didn’t like the look of him in that vest.
Hopefully like Henry , and hleb 😉 , he can go on and win the champions league.
Joining Les Bleus would be perfect for him. Not as demanding as club football given his age. That and the fact hes always loved french players I believe he could take them to the next level. Look at the talent theyve got and playing Wengers style of footy would be a sight to behold. France is stacked and he doesnt have to worry about not affording players cuz hed have world class in every position. Unlike so many missed chances at Arsenal he could play Griezman,Varane,Kosc, Dembele, etc.
Dembele, really?
Ohhh, the kid at Barca, not the Spud. This makes more sense now. Especially since the Spud is Belgian.
Good luck Arsene….take heart that at least you wont have to take sh*t from the spoilt brats who claim to be fans
No need
No need for that insult, we are all equal and we love the club.
His success is not just about the trophies. It is about the transformation of the club at every level, the beautiful football, the values and philosophy, the class and the consistency with which we have been an elite club for 20 years without spending the GDP of a small nation on players. He dedicated his life to Arsenal. We were lucky to witness something very rare in our lifetime and it won’t be repeated any time soon. This is why the “Wenger Out” circus was blasphemous in my eyes. Oh well. Now we’re left with Stan, Ivan and their “vision”.… Read more »
I totally agree but it was time. It had to happen eventually. He can’t stay forever. Hurling insults at him and calling him stupid names is fucked up though
This is what those that say “the last ten years of Wenger’s tenure have been a failure” don’t seem to understand.
Well said!
It was really time for him to stand aside or would you prefer an empty stadium?
I have been to every home game this season apart from the Man City home game and I have never been in an empty stadium – at worst it was 70% full … however for those who watch on tv or see pictures in newspapers , the narrative peddled by the media will be different … what makes news is muck and scandal and sh*t raking — so carefully selected pictures or images where there are most empty seats at a time either 5-10 mins before kickoff or towards the end may have sold the narrative to some unsuspecting people… Read more »
Wtf has this truly worthwhile comment gotten a negative like? Maaad buggers!
Also, I have a sneaky feeling that Le Prof might return to the Arsenal in a year or 2 or sometime in the future. 😉
The day David Dein left the club was a massive turning point in our history. #BringbackDein
Perhaps some people will see that Dein, by working with Usmanov, was at least trying to lessen the effect of the grip Kronke has on the club.
Or was he just pissed that he got shit for introducing Stan, then after he’s gone the club fell in love with Stan… So he thought he’d stir the shit by backing another iffy billionaire.
He put himself in that position, left and then worked against the club.
So they won’t be bringing him back.
I still think the point is correct in that Dein provided a counterpoint to Wenger in that he was someone of a comparable position who could push back when needed. The game has changed so much over the past 20 years that the idea of the old school British manager who runs everything just doesn’t really work all that well anymore. It used to be you had a network of scouts who might see a local player in France and could watch him a few times and sign him before anyone else knew about him. Now thanks to the internet… Read more »
Whilst Dein did an awful lot for the club and shouldn’t have been forced out in the first place, he’s done a lot of stirring since he left. AW had a team of people looking for the talented 4 year olds 😀 etc He didn’t get involved in non-1st team stuff until it had been filtered through half a dozen ‘experts’ first and only needed the final nod/head shake. The fact he has the final say on so many things is similar at many PL clubs and would continue for year to come, except no manager lasts more than 3… Read more »
If you objectively look at Arsenal the past few years, we have been very poorly run from a squad building/ retention point of view and by all accounts Wenger’s micro managing has played a very large role in that. One of the hardest things about running a business (and Wenger in lot of ways views Arsenal as his which is a great thing) is that you have to hire good people and let them do their jobs well. If they don’t then you have to replace them with people who will do their jobs well. It reflects poorly on Arsene… Read more »
David Dein has never worked against Arsenal the club he loves. The sacking of him was the biggest mistake the board made and marked a turning point in the fortunes of Arsenal
Mr Arsene i have only one request…..
Can i be your agent?
its going to be a really busy summer….
It looks like wenger new the club didn’t have everything in place to move forward without him so took on another toxic season. Why the board should take so long to put in place all the necessary components is still unanswered. It could of been done years ago with or with out wengers support leaving him free to manage the coaching he so loves. The board have much to answer for. Hopefully plenty of lessons learned will mean they get the next big decisions right.
The board have so desperately wanted him to stay after last season when Wenger I believe wanted to leave because they had no clue on what to do. And the poor old sod out of love and respect for this club has stayed on. Now the club have put in two new people in and have all of a sudden shown the door to Mr. Wenger and people believe this club has grown a pair. Bullshit. I feel sorry for the way we have treated him. Cuts me right through. I was someone who was a stubborn Wenger out but… Read more »
I forgot to add on that I am happy that there is a change coming up finally but it is just that I am not sure with this board in place and the magnitude of impact it is going to have.
That’s how I’ve always felt. I was open to Wenger leaving, but preferred him to stay only because I don’t trust this board to make any right decisions! I was hoping for another year for mislintat and sanllehi to bed in properly. It feels a bit rushed now… they’ve barely been in the job and straight away within their first few months are probably going to have to make the biggest and toughest decision they’ll ever have to make in this job. Talk being thrown in at the deep end!!
Sanhelli has a history of successfully replacing managers at Barcelona while Sven has at least lived through multiple changes at Dortmund (not clear how much say he had). Assuming they are as involved in the process at it sounds, there is at least some real & successful experience having done this before.
It looks like it is most probably going to be Luis Enrique who I am sorry doesn’t instill a bit of confidence in me. Let alone anyone.. give me Messi, Suarez, Neymar, Iniesta, Rakitic and Busquets and I will win you the treble. And in the end when the going got tough.. he got going out of Barca. Not a particularly impressive record. I am sorry.
Let them get us a terrific Manager and then I will agree.
It’s all just rumors at this point – let’s see who they come back with before we judge them. Given it’s almost certain they took over squad building this winter signing Aubameyang & Mik, getting Ozil to sign a new deal & getting rid of players like Debuchy or Walcott who weren’t playing is a decent start so far.
Boards and CEOs need to get the big decisions right …. That is what they are responsible for … How long have the current board been in place ? how long the current CEO ? What big decisions have they taken in their time ? Who releases the funds on player transfers and wages ? Who was put up to front for the club all this time ? What was the difference in board membership and CEO between 1996 to 2006 and during the last 10 years ? Answers to these may enlighten us … You seem to know the… Read more »
John I assume you realize that retaining Wenger all these years and allowing him to run literally every aspect of the football operation was a decision they made. That’s a pretty big one and one you clearly believe they got right. The decision to hire Sanhelli & Sven over Wenger’s wishes was a pretty big one as well (Wenger couldn’t have been more publically dismissive of them if he tried). So is moving on from Wenger now. The vast majority of fans who complain about the board do so b/c they believe that the board should have moved on from… Read more »
Would love it for him to win the CL with a team like PSG, where he can undoubtedly spend more. He deserves that at the very least
I think it’s quite obvious over the years that the amount of money spent in the transfer market and his ability to win things have absolutely no correlation.
Yes but money wouldn’t hurt would it?
I really do wish that Arseblog had more polls.
Who would you like to see as our next manager?
Who would you like AW to manage next?
Which one of our current board members would you like to see sacked first?
It’d not only be a genuine opinion-generator but informative as well.
What if he does a Rainieri and takes over say Wolves or Villa and wins the PL next year….
Man why do i want this to happen :0 ,it’s like i want greater things for arsene rather than the arsenal.I so love the man.
Why would he win with those clubs when he couldn’t win (recently) at Arsenal with a lot more money and almost total control at every level?
I love the guy but I think he has run out of ideas and certainly so when up against City and Chelsea in the league. Now that Klopp and Poch have joined in the race it has shown as we have slipped further and further behind. That won’t change at another PL club.
I think you are not aware of the term – ” doing a ranieri” .
Ranieri was at the game yesterday…should we read anything into that?
His knowledge of football is 10x more than that of u and your whole family combined
A loyal man and a legend for the club.
But sadly all good things must come to an end.
I wish him all the best and hope we can send him off in style…
I hope he manages Japan in the upcoming WC. He can get them out of group stages. It’ll be a mini adventure.
The greatest
I’m pretty certain Dein was never our CEO.
A director and maybe even deputy chairman, but not CEO.
I see Chesterfield are looking for a new boss?
You’re mad!
If you want to understand what Wenger has done for the club, it is not by looking at trophies. Rather, consider that the previous 6 years when he joined Arsenal, the highest spenders in the league were Blackburn and Newcastle. Now compare where those clubs are with where Arsenal is today.
Prediction:
Wenger moves to another club, achieves great success instantly.
Arsenal go through Man united cycle of identity crisis/player departures/ manager turnover and all the fans who have made the Emirates such a toxic, miserable environment have egg on their face – but don’t accept their role in the farce.
It’s disgusting how he has been treated and he deserves so much more than the hypocritical, soppy sentimentalising that he will receive in the coming weeks.
National team.
For France.
I don’t see him managing another team some how.
Thankfully it wouldn’t be offers from us. I respect the guy but Arsenal more.
How long do u think he’ll last at any other big club??
Of course he’ll be our greatest manager ever!! He was around for 22yrs. Any decent manager at a big club like Arsenal should be expected to win at least 3 league titles in 22yrs. I mean 3 fucking titles in 22yrs.
And how many European cups?? One final appearance? At a big club??? Meeeehn we cannot possibly be that mediocre
Those fucken words soon you will eat them , Arsenal will stay 20 years without a trophy