On 18 April 2007 it was revealed by Arsenal that he had left the club with immediate effect after "irreconcilable differences" between himself and the rest of the board. It is thought that he was in favour of a possible takeover of Arsenal by an external benefactor seeking to invest money into the club. Arsenal had invested heavily in the development of their new stadium which forced the club to take on heavy debts which meant the club was in need of new revenue. The other members of the board were said to have signed a contractual agreement that they would not sell their shares for a year, and they jointly expressed their intention to retain their shares in the longer term.[3] Dein was replaced as G-14 chairman by Olympique Lyonnais chairman Jean-Michel Aulas the following month.[4]
[edit]Sale of Arsenal shareholding
In August 2007, David Dein sold his 9,072 shares (14.58%) in the club for £75 million to Red & White Holdings, an investment vehicle of Russian metal billionaire Alisher Usmanov and his business partner Farhad Moshiri.[5] Dein was appointed as chairman of Red & White, which is the largest shareholder in the club outside of members of the board of directors. In September 2008 he resigned as chairman of Red and White, with The Times suggesting it was to improve relations between Arsenal and Red & White.[6]
