Why have Arsenal not replaced their Director of Football? David Dein, officially our ex-Vice Chairman but in reality our ex-Director of Football, was given the elbow after running both player transfers and contracts since the time that George Graham got his hands caught in the till. Dein, still a major shareholder, has been pretty much the only Director in daily contact with Le Boss during his time at Arsenal so he was always going to be a major loss if he were ever to leave.

The fact that Dein left at all seemingly indicates that the elbow he was given was either very necessary, exceedingly bold or just a totally ridiculous move on the part of his fellow board members. Whatever the circumstances it’s hard to see how the Club would benefit from his leaving. Just as it is difficult to understand is how or why some 25% of the shareholding (Dein and Kroenke) do not currently have representation on the board.

Wenger can clearly do Dein’s old job, probably in his spare time, but do we really want him to kill himself in the process? The man needs a break and the Club needs to allow him to have a break. We require a fresh and rested manager for next season, not one who has been traipsing all over Europe on stressful business during what should have been his summer break.

So the next question is why hasn’t Dein been replaced at one of the busiest times for a Director of Football involved in possible transfer negotiations? Sure Ken Friar is lending a hand, but it’s now the second time he’s been dragged out of retirement. Could the real reason be that it possible that a new team of coach and director of football is on the cards in a season’s time? What if Wenger has had enough of running the team on a day-to-day basis? What if Le Boss feels he’s done as much as he can with the team, however unlikely that may appear with a rejuvenated side yet to hit their collective prime?

There is one piece of speculation that might make perfect sense of all this. What if Wenger won’t be there as our manager in a season’s time? What if instead of extending his contract as manager Le Boss was to take on the role of Director of Football - all could still be well with the world. He would without doubt be the most knowledgeable and inspiring Director of Football in the world, possibly in the history of the game. It would also allow him to slowly drop the manager’s job while maintaining a major element of control, retain his presence at the Club, effectively control football at the Club from top to bottom, break in the new man, retain the services of our top players and keep both the board and the fans happy.

More importantly to some, just how much more would the shares be worth to major shareholders both on and off the board with Arsene Wenger in place as the Club’s Director of Football?

Public floatation anyone?