DEIN HOPES GUNNERS AREN`T `LEFT BEHIND`
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Former Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein don't want to see them left behind.
Former Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein believes the Gunners may have to accept a billionaire foreign owner if they are to keep pace with their rivals. Dein sold his Arsenal shares to Alisher Usmanov, currently the largest shareholder, and is now chairman of the Uzbekistan-born Russian billionaire's company Red and White Holdings. Arsenal's directors have banded together to prevent a takeover bid but Dein said that the club should be open-minded about foreign owners.
Asked whether Arsenal needed a mega-rich investor, Dein told the new issue of World Soccer: "That is a sensitive question. As a devoted Arsenal fan I don't want to see them left behind. "The fact that they have now got effectively two billionaires [Usmanov and Stan Kroenke] as shareholders puts them in good stead for the future, no matter what might happen.
"We are in a different game here. Nothing lasts for ever; football must move with the times. "For example, the Arsenal team Arsene Wenger inherited was all-English. Changes on the pitch, changes in the boardroom. You always have to be open-minded. "Anyway, if you have foreign players on the pitch it is hypocritical to say you can't have foreign ownership or overseas directors."
He insisted most foreign owners are not just in it for the money. "All the very wealthy football investors I've met are in it for the sport," said Dein. "They want some fun out of it. They're not looking for a return on their investment. "OK, they don't want to lose anything, they have put in good money, but, invariably, it represents only a very small part of their overall wealth. It is a passion investment. They could put the money in the bank but that would be boring.
"For the Glazers at Manchester United, Thaksin Shinawatra at Manchester City and Roman Abramovich at Chelsea the reward and the dividend will be when their team win a trophy. Football clubs are not an investment." Dein, also formerly vice-chairman of the Football Association and president of the clubs' group G14 until he was ousted in an internal power struggle at Arsenal, said he was keen to return to football but the only club he would go to was the Gunners. Their may be other avenues however.
"I'd like to get back into the politics of the game," he said. "I'd like to think that with 25 years' experience I have something to contribute." Dein also said the Premier League's controversial plan for overseas matches should not be ruled out. "I think it needs more consideration. Certainly, managers, players and fans need to be included in the process," said Dein.
"It's revolutionary, taking games out of England, and what would that mean if it promised to be successful? But we can't stand still. "In 1983, I went to the Football League annual meeting representing Arsenal and proposed having two substitutes at a time when there was only one allowed. It was turned down. I remember one chairman complaining that it would mean another hotel room, another bonus. But we got there in the end.
"Maybe it will be the same with the 39th round. It's too radical for many people now. But when it's been refined, then who knows?"