Arsenal’s board made bad mistakes over years in transfer market, proclaims David Dein
Arsenal
|Former Arsenal chairman David Dein believes that the Gunners’ current board have made bad mistakes in the transfer market over the last few years but have finally stabilised the ship. He also added that both him and Arsene Wenger were hurt when their time at Arsenal ended as it was special.
Ever since Arsenal reached the 2004/05 Champions League final, the Gunners have failed to reach the same heights since with them struggling across all fronts. It saw the club go on more than a decade long run without a trophy before they broke that duck by winning the FA Cup in the 2013/14 season. However, even then, after that they never quite hit the heights they managed in the early 2000s with the Gunners even dropping out of European football recently.
That has been put down to poor decisions in the transfer market and the lack of a managerial structure, especially after legendary boss Arsene Wenger left. David Dein reiterated the same and believes that the Arsenal board definitely made mistakes, “bad mistakes over the years”. However, Dein also admitted that they have managed to stabilize things now and get the club moving in the right direction.
“They (Arsenal board) made mistakes, no doubt. Bad mistakes over the years in the transfer market, and how they’ve run the club. But the good news is that it’s 15 years since I left, and they now appear to be on an upward trajectory. The ship has been stabilized,” Dein told the Guardian.
The former Arsenal chairman was part of the club for just under 25 years and enjoyed an excellent spell, with the Gunners lifting five league titles during that spell. However, Dein was unceremoniously sacked in 2007 and has now revealed that both he and Arsene Wenger, who left nearly a decade later, were hurt badly by the way things ended. Dein also added that he and Wenger were creating something special but never got the chance to end it properly.
“I’ve never spoken to anybody for 15 years on how I left Arsenal. I’m not a person that likes discussing negatives. But I’ve nothing to be ashamed of. I want the club to do well, irrespective of how I left and how Arsène left, which was equally as painful. We’re both bruised over it. Because that was unfinished business. We had something really special. And when it fell away, that really hurt,” he added.
