The football landscape has changed enormously in the last 5 years, especially when it comes to foreign ownership of football clubs, and Arsenal Football Club is one of the few major top tier Premier League clubs to resist offers of substantial cash injections by foreign investors.

The club's boardroom has solid foundations and has always operated within its means and with dignity and and a certain sense of refinement. This is undoubtedly one of the things that I truly value about Arsenal that stands apart from the majority of football clubs. Having said that, it appears that Arsenal are certainly swimming against the tide. The Emirates stadium has brought with it a £350m debt, and Arsene Wenger is weaving miracles in keeping expenditure down whilst still managing to challenge for major honours.

There are, however, two questions that require analysing. What would happen if Arsene Wenger was to leave tomorrow, and when will Arsenal be able to fund their manager/s on a level playing field with the majority of other clubs in the division.

Wenger is sitting in an extremely comfortable position. The board have total faith in him, understand the constraints he is operating within and are not restless for success, meanwhile, the supporters are aware that due to the club's financial situation, there is probably no other manager on earth that is capable of taking over the reigns from Wenger and challenging for trophies within such budgetary constraints.

This brings me to David Dein, who departed the club acrimoniously in 2007 before selling his shares to Russian metal billionaire Alisher Usmanov. It's no secret that Dein's departure was due to long-standing disagreements within the boardroom regarding foreign investment. I have to say I have a huge respect for David Dein, and feel he has been treated shabbily by the board and the supporters of the club. Obviously I am not privy to whatever goes on in the boardroom, but fans should not forget that it was Dein's foresight that brought Arsene Wenger to the club (and George Graham before him) and he has always been a VERY close and trustworthy confidant to the manager.

Dein bridged the gap between Wenger and the board, worked tirelessly on transfers and was probably more involved than any other board member in team affairs and taking an active interest in the day to day running of the club.

For some time Dein has been insisting that Arsenal will struggle to compete in the top tier if foreign investment is not brought in, whilst tmany supporters of Arsenal football club are unhappy with Dein's involvement with Usmanov due to the Russian's reportedly unsavoury background. However, I find this a rather naive accusation - particularly as Usmanov already had a box at Arsenal before he teamed up with Dein. This indicates that the board has already been more than willing to accept Usmanov's "dirty money" in the past. Arsenal's own Danny Fiszman is a diamond merchant, one of the most dispicable manufacturing industries in the world today.