David Dein

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David Barry Charles Dein (born 7 September 1943) is the former vice-chairman of Arsenal Football Club and former vice-chairman of the Football Association. He was also the chairman of the G-14 group of European football clubs between October 2006 and May 2007. In August 2007 he sold his shares in Arsenal F.C. to London-based, Russian-owned business company Red and White Holdings.

Contents 1 Role at Arsenal 1.1 Sale of Arsenal shareholding 2 Role at the Football Association 3 Controversies and alleged conflicts of interest 4 Personal life 5 Footnotes 6 External links

[edit] Role at Arsenal

He was a director of Arsenal between 1983 and 2007. He was appointed when he bought a 16.6% share of the club for £292,000 (he later sold a significant proportion to co-director Danny Fiszman) although this may have been due to financial difficulties he was experiencing at the time;^[1] he was appointed vice-chairman the following year. He was responsible for football matters at the club taking an active role in the transfer of players and contract negotiations where he was able to use his extensive network of football contacts. Dein was behind the appointment of the then little known Arsène Wenger to the manager's job in 1996; under Wenger Arsenal have won the FA Premier League three times and the FA Cup four times, and Dein strongly backed him and his transfer wishes throughout.^[2]

Dein also helped obtain Arsenal's entry into the G-14 group of major European football clubs in 2002, and became chairman of the G-14 in October 2006.^[3] A keen promoter of women's football, he was also President of Arsenal Ladies Football Club, the most successful English women's football team, while Arsenal vice-chairman.

On 18 April 2007 it was revealed by Arsenal that he had left the club with immediate effect after "irreconcilable differences" between himself and the rest of the board. It is thought that he was in favour of a possible takeover of Arsenal F.C. by American tycoon Stan Kroenke. The other members of the board have signed a contractual agreement that they will not sell their shares for a year, and they all expressed their interest in retaining their shares beyond the expiry of this contract.^[4] Dein was replaced as G-14 chairman by Olympique Lyonnais chairman Jean-Michel Aulas the following month.^[5]

[edit] Sale of Arsenal shareholding

In August 2007, David Dein sold his 9,072 shares (14.58%) in the club for £75 million to Red and White Holdings, an investment vehicle of Russian metal billionaire Alisher Usmanov and his business partner Farhad Moshiri.^[6] Dein was appointed as chairman of Red & White, which is the largest shareholder in the club outside of members of the board of directors.

[edit] Role at the Football Association

In 1986 Dein was voted onto the board of the Football League Management Committee and subsequently achieved a place on the FA Council. He was also a major force in the inception of the FA Premier League in 1992. He eventually rose to the position of vice-chairman of the FA in 2000, a post he held until 2004 when it was scrapped after restructuring. He was subsequently re-elected to the FA Board as an FA Premier League representative.

Dein was a key player in the FA's successful bid to hire Sven-Göran Eriksson as England manager in 2001^[7] and in 2006 he was one of four members of an FA panel (the others being Brian Barwick, Noel White and Dave Richards) tasked with finding Eriksson's replacement, having initially been left off the panel. Dein's preferred choice, Luiz Felipe Scolari, was offered the job and looked set to take it^[8] but later changed his mind;^[9] the FA eventually chose Middlesbrough manager Steve McClaren.

Dein sat on the FA Board until 2 June 2006 as one of four representatives of the FA Premier League clubs on the Football Association board. He was replaced by David Gill, chief executive of Manchester United.^[10] This removal came one day after a news story broke on the BBC's Newsnight programme regarding possible infringements of FIFA rules regarding player transfers with, and loans to, Belgian club Beveren; investigations by Belgian police (which had been closed in 2002) into Beveren's finances traced a £1 million cash injection into the club in 2001 back to Arsenal.^[11]

The timing of the news story could have been an issue in the vote; however press reports at the time instead cited his role in the failed appointment of Scolari and the subsequent embarrassment the FA suffered,^[12][13] and his stance opposing the Premier League's proposed ban on clubs taking agents on their payroll,^[14] as the main reasons behind his departure. The FA compliance committee investigated the BBC's allegations but did not find any breach of FA or Premier League rules by Arsenal, and passed their findings to FIFA who also found no case of wrong-doing.^[15]

He was the representative of the FA Premier League on UEFA's committee for club competitions, and a former member of the FA Council having to step down from his position when he left Arsenal.

[edit] Controversies and alleged conflicts of interest

Dein's dual role as director of Arsenal and as 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.^[16] However in the long run this has mostly evened out; in the period 1998–2005 Arsenal had 53% of their matches after a Champions League tie at home, while Chelsea had 55% at home.^[17]

This was not the only row Dein has had with Chelsea; Dein complained about Chelsea's "tapping up" of Ashley Cole, which resulted in Cole, Chelsea and José Mourinho all being fined by the FA.^[18] 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.^[19] Dein denied this, saying he had made his approach known to Atletico; the president of Atletico Mineiro, Alexandre Kall, confirmed Dein's account and said that Arsenal had complied with all the rules.^[20]

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.^[21] Middlesbrough chairman Steve Gibson made similar allegations,^[22] 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,^[23] a story later confirmed by the FA.^[24]

[edit] Personal life

Dein lives in Totteridge and is an active member of the North London Jewish community. David Dein is close friends with Jerome Anderson, a major football agent and founder of Sports Entertainment and Media Group Ltd (SEM) whose clients include Dennis Bergkamp, Thierry Henry and Rio Ferdinand.

David Dein's son, Darren, is a trained solicitor, who works as an external consultant for SEM; he is married to Sara, daughter of David Buchler, ex-executive vice chairman of Tottenham Hotspur. Darren was also Thierry Henry's best man at his wedding.^[25] Another son, Gavin, dated popstar Rachel Stevens for a time and is currently involved with Tamara Ecclestone, daughter of Bernie Ecclestone.

He is also chairman of The Theatre Investment Fund in England.

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] External links

• Profile on the BBC