Arsenal managed to achieve great success under Arsene Wenger despite working under severe financial restrictions, according to former co-owner David Dein.
The Gunners are now embarking on a new era under Mikel Arteta, with the club shelling out huge transfer fees over the past two summer transfer windows. Backed by owner Stan Kroenke, the club have strengthened their squad by signing players like Gabriel Jesus (£45million), Oleksandr Zinchenko (£32m), Fabio Vieira (£34m), Ben White (£50m) and Martin Odegaard (£30m).
The current picture is quite the contrast to the Wenger era, which stretched from 1996 to 2018. The former Arsenal boss won three Premier League titles and seven FA Cups during his spell in charge, in spite of the limitations placed upon him.
“You look at football now – Chelsea, Manchester City, even Newcastle. We didn’t have the same muscle. We had wealthy people, but not billionaires,” Dein told the Daily Mail. “We didn’t have enough money to finance the new stadium and finance the team. We were trying to dance at two weddings. Arsene and I would come out of board meetings feeling we’d been knocking our heads against a brick wall.
“We lost Ashley Cole over five grand a week. It was a very difficult time. There was a lot of friction because of the cost of the stadium and we had to ration the salaries. Arsene used every bit of skill in his body to find cheap players. A lot of managers wouldn’t have taken that. He did it without qualms, he just got on with it.”
Dein was at Arsenal for 24 years, up until he was sacked in April 2007, and worked alongside Wenger in recruiting players for the club. The 79-year-old, who has penned an auto- biography titled ‘Calling The Shots’ about his time at the club, believes Arsenal’s success owed much to Wenger’s leadership.
“He was a miracle worker, and they just let him go,” he said, referring to Wenger’s departure four years ago. “He left in a similar way to me. I thought the club owed Arsene a duty of care, at least a discussion.
“We need a change but how do you want this to be done? Do you want to be involved? What can we do? Would you like a different role, would you prefer to exit elegantly? You must have dialogue. It didn’t happen in my case, didn’t happen in his. And that really hurt him. I would have done it differently.
“Look, you don’t find a brain like his every day of the week. He’s an Arsenal man, 22 years at the club. Wasn’t his knowledge worth cultivating? Look at where he is now? So he’s not good enough for Arsenal, but he is good enough to be head of global development for FIFA, in charge of 211 countries.”
