Wenger has good relationship with board - Hill-Wood

Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood has reassured supporters that manager Arsene Wenger has a good relationship with the board despite the shock departure of vice-chairman David Dein on Wednesday.

Dein left the Premier League club after 23 years because of "irreconcilable differences" with the rest of the Arsenal board.

"It is well known that Arsene and David have got on very well over the past 10 years and I'm certain that Arsene will miss him," Hill-Wood, said on Arsenal TV online.

"However, I believe that the relationship that Arsene has with the rest of the board is good and he's on contract with us until 2008. We very much hope that he will extend his contract beyond that, but we haven't got into talking details yet."

Dein, who owns 14.5 per cent of the shares, was instrumental in bringing Wenger to Arsenal in 1996 when few in England had heard of the Frenchman.

Since then the team have won three league titles, four FA Cups and reached last year's Champions League final.

Newspaper reports suggested Dein's relationship with the board turned sour because of his support for a wealthy outside backer such as American billionaire Stan Kroenke who owns 11 per cent of the north London club's shares.

Hill-Wood said in an interview in Wednesday's Guardian newspaper that he and three of the club's majority shareholders - Danny Fiszman, Nina Bracewell-Smith and the Carr family - had "no intention" of selling the club to "some stranger".

Funds available

He also denied in the Arsenal TV Online interview that Dein's departure was triggered by a lack of funds to buy players and said money would be available to strengthen the squad.

"We've always made funds available to Arsene. He attends the board meetings, he understands the financial position," said Hill-Wood. "I can assure supporters that we will continue to provide funds when Arsene requires them."

Earlier this month Wenger himself expressed his concerns over a big-money takeover of the club.

"I don't feel at the moment the needed solution is more money," Wenger said. "It's important Arsenal maintains its values because that's what makes the club so popular and that is beyond any investment."

Arsenal are the only one of England's top four clubs still under British ownership after Manchester United and Liverpool sold out to American tycoons, while Chelsea are owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich.

Arsenal board members owning 45.5 per cent of the club pledged on Wednesday not to sell their stakes "for at least one year" and Hill-Wood emphasised that commitment, saying: "Well I think that personal circumstances can change but I can assure everybody that the principal shareholders who are on the board are committed Arsenal fans and have no intention of selling the shares even after 12 months but I think a commitment of 12 months should reassure people that we're not sellers."

Should Dein sell his shares to Kroenke, who is the co-owner of the NFL's St Louis Rams, it would leave the American not far short of the 30 percent needed to trigger an automatic takeover bid under stock market rules.