David Dein was the President of the G-14 group of European football clubs between October 2006 and May 2007, and has sat on various committees within FIFA and UEFA including UEFA's Club Competition Committee and Executive Committee.
39 Facts About David Dein
2.
David Dein was the International President of England's failed 2018 World Cup bid.
3.
David Dein is the founder of The Twinning Project, [1] a charity which connects prisons and football clubs to help the rehabilitation of prisoners.
4.
David Dein spends much of his time giving motivational speeches to schools and prisons in the UK and at football conferences.
5.
David Dein was vice-chairman of Arsenal between 1983 and 2007.
6.
David Dein was one of the architects of the Premier League in 1992, which re-shaped the structure and finances of English football.
7.
David Dein created the Premier League, it was his idea.
8.
David Dein was behind the appointment of the little-known Arsene Wenger to the manager's job in 1996.
9.
Under Wenger, Arsenal won the Premier League three times and the FA Cup seven times, and David Dein strongly backed him and his transfer plans.
10.
David Dein's efforts proved successful and Wenger was appointed manager of Arsenal in October 1996.
11.
David Dein believed that Wenger would change Arsenal's style of play, which was seen as dogmatic and one-dimensional, to one based on technique and speed more attuned with the approach adopted by teams from the continent.
12.
David Dein was like a father figure to us, and everybody loved him.
13.
David Dein was influential in the transformation of Highbury into an all-seater stadium.
14.
David Dein was behind the introduction of a bond scheme, unpopular with fans, to finance the redevelopment of Highbury's North Bank and Clock End terraces into all-seater stands.
15.
David Dein helped obtain Arsenal's entry into the G-14 group of major European football clubs in 2002, and became President of the G-14 in October 2006.
16.
David Dein was President of Arsenal Ladies Football Club while Arsenal vice-chairman.
17.
On 18 April 2007, David Dein left the club due to "irreconcilable differences" between him and the rest of the board.
18.
David Dein was replaced as G-14 chairman by Olympique Lyonnais chairman Jean-Michel Aulas the following month.
19.
In 1986, David Dein was voted onto the board of the Football League Management Committee and subsequently achieved a place on the FA Council.
20.
David Dein was one of the major architects of the FA Premier League in 1992.
21.
David Dein eventually rose to the position of vice-chairman of the FA in 2000, a post he held until 2004 when it was scrapped after restructuring.
22.
David Dein was re-elected to the FA Board as an FA Premier League representative.
23.
David Dein was a key mover in the FA's manoeuvering to hire Sven-Goran Eriksson as England manager in 2001.
24.
David Dein's preferred choice, Luiz Felipe Scolari, was offered the job and looked set to take it but later changed his mind; the FA eventually chose Middlesbrough manager Steve McClaren.
25.
David Dein sat on the FA Board until 2 June 2006 as one of four representatives of the FA Premier League clubs.
26.
David Dein was replaced by David Gill, chief executive of Manchester United.
27.
David Dein was the representative of the FA Premier League on UEFA's committee for club competitions, and a former member of the FA Council, having to step down from his position when he left Arsenal.
28.
David Dein was part of the founding committee, alongside Lord Ouseley, which established the 'Let's Kick Racism Out of Football' campaign in 1993.
29.
David Dein was later accused of making a "covert" approach for Gilberto Silva that was similar to Chelsea's approach for Cole, while Gilberto was at Atletico Mineiro.
30.
David Dein denied this, saying he had made his approach known to Atletico; the president of Mineiro, Alexandre Kall, confirmed David Dein's account and said that Arsenal had complied with all the rules.
31.
In 2006, during the search for a new England manager to replace Eriksson, Bolton Wanderers manager Sam Allardyce questioned Dein's role in the FA, saying: "I don't know how much power David Dein has but he obviously has a great influence at the FA", and alleged that Dein had shielded Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger from the selection process.
32.
David Dein was appointed President of the G-14 in October 2006.
33.
In February 2010 David Dein was appointed International President of England's unsuccessful 2018 World Cup bid, responsible for lobbying members of FIFA's Executive Committee who picked the country which would stage the tournament.
34.
In October 2018, David Dein launched the Twinning Project at Wembley Stadium.
35.
David Dein, who has given talks in over 100 prisons across the UK, said at the project's launch: "Football can be a powerful force for good, and the Twinning Project will use this to help people change their lives when they are released from prison".
36.
David Dein has been married to his wife Barbara since 1972, and is the father to a daughter, Sasha Dein Fugazzola, and two sons Darren and Gavin Dein, and the grandfather to eight grandchildren.
37.
David Dein's son, Darren, is a solicitor, and was Thierry Henry's best man.
38.
David Dein was chairman of the Theatre Investment Fund in England.
39.
On 29 December 2018, David Dein was awarded an MBE in the 2019 Queen's New Year honours list for his services to football and for voluntary work in school and prisons.