You're measuring what was done on the pitch and much of what was done should be credited to Wenger and what he brought to the club. I’ll give credit to Dein for being able to spot a good manager and having a passion for Arsenal. Can’t fault him for that.
But if we’re talking about the stuff that falls under his remit such as the sponsorship deals and commercial aspect, we were dreadful.
We were signed up and tied into to one of the crappiest kit sponsorship deals in the league with that Nike deal. That deal hampered our earning potential and at a time where we were at the height of our success with players.
Another sponsorship deal that was a joke. Who signed off on the Sega Dreamcast sponsorship deal?
Would love to get the information on how much they were paying, but Sega died as a company not to long after. Their pockets weren’t deep at all. We also had that crappy O2 deal. Our recent sponsorship deals has enabled us to sign players like Ozil, Cech, Sanchez, Aubameyang, Lacazette, Mkhitryan and dish out bigger contracts. It’s no competition on that front.
Also, our internal infrastructure. It was Wenger’s idea to build a first class training ground and it was Wenger’s idea to change the diets of our players. That’s where the new ideas stopped. We stopped developing our internal facilities and w’ve only just recently caught up with other clubs. How we scout, medical staff and facilities, the works…we were miles behind other clubs for far too long and were ran like a family business.
We had some real out of touch people at the club. Best intentions…some…but damn. I mean these guys were banking on us selling flats to help fund our transfers! There was no foresight, great planning or reaction to how things changed in football. Dein is included in that mess. I can’t take anything away from him during the good times, but he wasn’t prepared for the change in football. None of them were and we’ve had to adapt quickly.