Arsenal

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW BY MARTIN SAMUEL: Even now, all these years later, David Dein still has The Dream. It is 5pm and he is sitting in his office.

So, the way I see it, the Premier League has been a resounding success, and we’ve got to keep it that way. Yes, I want Macclesfield to find their path, but there’s got to be a balance that doesn’t halt the train. I could never have agreed to a project like the Super League. ‘I was a fan on the board. He was a significant figure in the game, vice-chairman of the Football Association, president of the G14 group of elite clubs, a committee member for UEFA and FIFA. But any chance of a return under the Kroenke regime — the board members who sacked Dein for talking to the American later sold him their shares — was ended in a curt telephone conversation. Seeing where the game was going, having a seat at the top table. Wenger would identify a player and the pair would discuss the price. He was the first at the club to entertain Kroenke, but his fellow directors thought he was blazing his own path. I was fairly high-profile and I think the rest of the board were upset that I was trying to source outside investment, talking to Stan Kroenke about my shares. We didn’t have enough money to finance the new stadium and finance the team. That was the worst I felt apart from when my mother, and my brother Arnold, died.