Calling the Shots: How to Win in Football and Life

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I had my foot on the accelerator,” he reflects on the rest of the Arsenal board of the time, “and they had their foot on the brake in a way. When I point out that similar arrangements rarely ended well with great managers of the past at other clubs, he immediately offers the reasons why it would have worked.

Calling the Shots: How to Win in Football and Life Calling the Shots: How to Win in Football and Life

Of course, since he was “in the room where it happened”, David explains how the Premier League was founded and why key Arsenal management decisions were made. The football in season 2019-20 was so bad i could take no more particularly witnessing live the defeat by Burnley. The long-awaited memoir of David Dein - international football ambassador and former co-owner and vice-chairman of Arsenal F. It was Dein who introduced Kroenke to the Arsenal board, and Kroenke who would later in 2007 refuse to pay what Dein wanted for his remaining 15 per cent stake in the club.Written with zest and humour, it reveals how a pioneering spirit and the capacity to see the best in people can deliver extraordinary results. He is the former co-owner and vice-chairman of Arsenal Football Club and former vice-chairman of the Football Association. I am an Arsenal fan so obviously have a greater interest in David Dein and his career, however this book would interest any football fan as it details his influence in the setting up of the Premier League and the Women’s league as well as the introduction of names on the back of shirts which are now taken for granted. He spends much of his free time giving motivational speeches to schools and prisons in the UK and at football conferences globally. He says that in the later years with Wenger the pair would “come out of board meetings and say ‘We are in a heavyweight boxing match and we have our hands tied behind our back’”.

David Dein on his pain at being forced out of Exclusive: David Dein on his pain at being forced out of

There was a fear I was going in another direction and I think they [the Arsenal board of the time] wanted to be the squirrel with all the nuts and keep it all in house. The book is thrilling for the way it finally shines light on such a private institution and the deterioration of Dein’s relationship with other Arsenal boardroom heavyweights including his former friend, the late Danny Fiszman. Now sanctioned in the aftermath of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, Usmanov – often referred to as Putin’s favourite oligarch – would have been a disastrous owner for Arsenal had he been able to gain control. Although much of it has been hinted at over the years it is fascinating to read of the growing rift between Dein on one side and on the other, Fiszman, Peter Hill-Wood, the late former chairman, and Keith Edelman, then managing director.

I have learnt a lot from reading this book, David thanks for sharing your experiences and wise words! It is clear that his ousting from the board still rankles with him,as does the fact that he was not appointed back on the board when Kronke took control. I learned so much from David’s book: about business, innovation, risk-taking, management, leadership, dealing with people, football, love… and life. A great expose behind the scenes of the issues facing Deins departure - one of the worst days in Arsenals recent history. These stories have never been heard, and they come from the man who was in the room at the time,” he said.