Arseblog News has learned that Alisher Usmanov has made repeated attempts to meet with Stan Kroenke in the last few months as he attempts to persuade the American to part with his majority stake in Arsenal.
It is understood however, that Kroenke, remaining loyal to a pledge made to the recently deceased Danny Fiszman, has outright refused to talk with the Russian instead directing his lawyers to rebuff all approaches.
The current state of affairs has so frustrated Usmanov that the 58-year-old, who was recently valued by Forbes at $17.7 billion, is counting down the days until his company Red & White Securities Ltd reaches a 29.9% shareholding in the club.
Approximately 460 shares short of reaching the mark at which he will have access to Arsenal’s accounts, it is believed that Usmanov plans to use his blocking stake to veto board decisions and to tighten the screw on directors who have thus far denied him a say in the day-to-day running of the club.
Viewing the likes of Peter Hill-Wood, Ken Friar, Sir Chips Keswick and Lord Harris of Peckham as future casualties of any stand-off in the Emirates corridors of power, there is no suggestion that Usmanov has any intention of walking away from the Emirates with his ownership aims a long-term venture.
The apparent commitment to a durable relationship with Arsenal echoes comments made by Stan Kroenke in statements made last month. Speaking at the AGM the Denver-born entrepreneur told shareholders, “We [Kroenke Sports Enterprise] are glad to be here, are happy with the direction of the club and are here for the long term – we love London. You had better get used to seeing us, because we will be around.”
Of the 62,219 shares issued in Arsenal Holdings plc, Stan Kroenke currently owns 41,474 (66.82%), Red & White Securities Ltd hold 18,354 (29.49%) while 2,291 shares remain in the hands of other private investors.
One football club, two men, billions of pounds in wealth, no communication and a Russo-American stand-off worthy of the Cold War – welcome to modern football.
Brace yourself for a protracted battle, because this is going to run and run.
It seems that $17.7 billion can’t buy you a one-way ticket out of Fatsville.
I hope to the Lord Bergkamp that this was the kind of response that Us-2-manov got from Kroenke’s lawyer!
wake me up for wigan. these two are both cunts.
Agreed, I sincerely wish they would both fuck off and leave the club to the ifans and Management. They can take that clueless cunt Hill-wood with them too.
The key will be securing Eboue’s support.
I’ve switched on the ‘Eboue Signal.’ Eboue should see it, as Eboue sees everything – even when he’s asleep.
I miss that clown. its a damn shame to see the shit he is going through in turkey.
Eboue truely loved the club, whenever arsenal scored it was always Eboue running from the bench to join in celebrations.
Dont blame it on the good times, Blame it on a Eboue.
Doesn’t sound like Usmanov wants what’s best for Arsenal. Sounds like he just wants control and revenge. Very worried for the club.
what makes you think that? He wants to win… I have no doubt he is [REMOVED], but you would be pissed too if you owned nearly 30 percent of a company and had NO say in what happened. Kroenke is the one looking to make money, while success is not important to him. Look at the American sports teams he owns. His investment in each team he has is protected by a salary cap, which is essentially what he has at Arsenal. He doesn’t own a baseball team because there is no salary cap in MLB, and there is pressure… Read more »
“Kroenke is the one looking to make money, while success is not important to him. Look at the American sports teams he owns.” Oh, you mean like the Colorado Rapids (MLS), a team that won the league championship in 2010.. Yeah, they’ve more trophies than us in the past couple of years :/ Maybe you meant the Denver Nuggets (NBA).. But wait, they’ve finished 1st or 2nd in the regular season for their division for the past 7 seasons.. Colorado Mammoth – 2006 Lacrosse Champions (more recent trophy than us again) St. Louis Rams (NFL)? Ok, I’ll give it to… Read more »
Of course Kroenke wants to make money. But do you think Usmanov is in it to throw money away? You don’t get to a personal wealth of 17 billion by doing that. Kroenke is a businessman, and he is looking to make money. But he owns many sports teams, and as such he would want to win too. Usmanov might throw money about to win a few titles. A different model to winning. But make no mistake, he wants to make something off of this too, and winning trophies isn’t it. If he just wants Arsenal to win and nothing… Read more »
I’m sorry but where do you get that from?
This was aimed at Sabrina by the way.
I guess this could be directed at both Northerngoon and Kevin. It seems (to me of course) that because of the standoff between Usmanov and Kronke and the rest of the board who want Usmanov out that interactions between the two could be counterproductive to the club. Like with a controlling share Usmanov might use that power to block whatever Kronke does and vice-versa. I know it doesn’t sound like something a bunch of mature adults would do but it’s something I’ve noticed happening a lot in congress and stuff so it worries me. Also this: “it is believed that… Read more »
i am kinda worried too. Stan should’ve kept his mouth shut instead of what he spouted in his first meeting with fellow shareholders. Praising manure owners has kept me thinking. What if he borrowed to pay lady nina and danny? What if he turns us in to valencia of premier league, selling our best players every year. God save us
@RealtyCheck He said he didn’t and won’t put debt on Arsenal to purchase the shares
He himself is a billionaire and his wife’s family own Walmart. I don’t think he’ll need to borrow money from a bank, may be just from his father-in-law
I like the roundness of Alisher Usmanov, but then again, I must say I quite like the moustache of Stan Kroenke. But which one’s better?
There’s only one way to find out…..
FFFIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGGGHHHHTTTTT!!
DEEEEEEENNNNNNNCCCCCHHHHHH!!!!!!
We want the russian take the charge of afc and show us how to compete against mansoor and abrahimovich.
hmmm, no, I don’t think we do.
I think by “we” you mean “I”. And possibly David Dein….
I think even Dein might think he made a mistake…. but he’d never say
Wow talk about glory hunting!
Ben johnson won the 100 metres on dope – didnt make it right tho
Who’s “WE”?
Go support Citeh or Chelski if hollow victories are all that matter to you
We are Arsenal. We don’t want do that shit.
If Usmanov gets in We will become He.
I wouldn’t mind Arsene having a pot of $17.7BN (would he spend it though?), although with that you’d get a man with an entire pig for a head holding all the strings. Worrying.
Now I don’t care what the guy looks like, really, but you don’t make that much money in a country as corrupt as Russia without being a more dodgy than a dodgy thing playing dodgeball with the dodgers.
A frightening prospect that this rotund russian could have so much influence at this club.
In a time when buying a football club is purely a rich man´s ego trip (and a surefire way to buy debt at an over-inflated price), Arsenal FC is a model to follow worldwide. I´d lose all faith in the sport if this character is allowed to ultimately follow the Abramovich model and use the club as his PES team…
I wish good ol’ Stan could just buy the remaining shares. Perhaps buy them all except for 459 just to tease Usmanov.
If i’d claim to love Arsenal and had $ 17.7 billion on my bank account, i’d demonstrate my love through buying Goetze as a christmas present. That said, i’d hate to have a sugar daddy, who would mess up the the whole structure of the club and destroy the good picture of Arsenal FC. Look at city, the reaction to eventual success will only be ‘pfff it’s easy with so much money’ I’m convinced that the Wenger way will bring us success soon, and then it will be the sweetest of sweet successes 😀 To conclude, go and ‘support’ another… Read more »
I agree with all you say except the bit about him buying a player off his own bat. Stuff like that is what Abramhovich (spelling) does. BAD for the club.
Don’t get me wrong, i don’t want him to do that, in fact i would not hate it. But if i was Usmanov i would say that i want to buy that player because i love the club so much … bla bla bla. That would win him a lot of hearts immediately, and the best thing for him would be that the board would certainly disagree, so he wouldn’t even have to spend the money…
*i wanted to say ‘in fact i would hate it’
Attasmani,
If we were swayed by suggestions like that we would be Barcelona.
We are Arsenal.
We have too much respect for our club for our allegiance to be bought by the sugared words of shady characters.
Healthy competition is all we need that enables us compete with top clubs..
I realise that Fiszman had objections to Usmanov, and christ almighty the guy was often right, an right in this as well. However, at the risk of commiting Arsenal heresy surley co-operation between these two is better than this kind of wrangle. I hate Kroenke like I admired Fiszman, he’s happy to continue the coporate mediocrity the board has settled on at the Emirates, his other teams are highly ordinary, he doesn’t give a crap about the team or our future, he’s not the right kind of owner. Usmanov gives me chills, an awful human being, however, if these two… Read more »
I have a couple questions.
You mention Arsenal’s coporate mediocrity and upper level mismanagement. Could you please elaborate on that? In what areas?
Also you mention Kroenke being the wrong owner for the club. How? I was under the impression that his teams in the US have been financially stable for sometime now.
Im just curious to learn more about the issue. No maliciousness here. Thanks!
On coporate mediocrity, firstly the match going experiance. I go semi regularly, an despite small improvements our ground can feel very cold sometimes, slightly unfriendly. Then things like ticket price rises coupled with consistantly failure to retain valuable assest in the playing staff or replace them with assets of equal value in terms of effect on the playing feild. Our transfer policy has been a complete disaster for about 5 years. While some might point to overall profit and continued competativeness, the policy has, many would agree, lost us maybe three league titles alone! Titles within our grasp, that we… Read more »
Whilst I don’t want a sugar daddy, with the revenues we achieve, surely we can aim higher than financial stability. That’s for your Aston villas. If we adjusted our wage structure similar to man Utd’s we would be able to reward RVP with a £170k a week contract, but that’s not possible if you are paying Almunia £60k, bendtner £52k and denilson £45k a week. These guys should be on £25k a week with bonuses for winning trophies.
Scribblers, your information about the success of his US teams is just not accurate (I live in Denver, Colorado and grew up in St. Louis, I’m familiar with the guy). The Avalanche were one of the best hockey teams in the aughts (a stanley cup and a couple conference finals); the Rapids won the MLS Cup last season; the Rams won the Superbowl and got to another one under his stewardship and the Nuggets had good teams, just could not compete with San Antonio and LA. The guy is also a very big sports nut – I’ve met him personally… Read more »
@Jerome
Didn’t say he’d viciously ken bates’d his teams. They’ve had some success, some of it a long time ago. In American sports financial might is artificially evened and there is one market. His hands off approach will not work in a sport where aggressively seeking extra revenue is the only way to even stay competitive. If you stand still you fall behind. He is the wrong kind of owner for Arsenal in it’s current position, he might be the perfect owner for a team like United.
@scribblers I agree with most of what you say, except that kroenke is the wrong sort of owner. He’s hands off, as u pointed out, which means he doesn’t interfere with football matters. Isn’t that a good thing? Just look at the effects of abahimovich’s interference. The wrong players forced on the club and constantly changing managers. The one thing we need is someone that can help us compete in the international moneymaking side, which he might be able to help us with.
I hope Usmanov takes over soon. I dont want Wenger spending hundereds of millions but atleast spend millions on players we need. In this day and age all the clubs need to have strong financial backing and with Stan i doubt he would support us financially.
Wenger still won’t spend any differently to how he always has done, (thats not a criticism of him btw) where have you been all these years?
wenger spent lavishly in his early years, db10 was the highest earner after becks. Wenger confirmed in his interview once that he had to curb his spending after moving to emirates. He will spend if given the chance.
Why wouldn’t he? He likes to win. You could see the agony on his face when we lost even to Man City in CC. I read somewhere the only reason we lost Mata was that some official wasn’t able to come up with cash required and after that day Mata’s price went to 29mil. So, I really doubt if he doesn’t want to spend.
Just to say that DB10 was signed by Bruce Ricoh and not Arsene Wenger. Wenger just got the best out of him
I never said he doesn’t / wouldn’t want to spend, i’m just saying having some russian sugar daddy wouldn’t suddenly turn him into Jose Mourinho. Especially after all the time and effort spent making sure we’re not that sort of club. Arsene’s a proud man!
Alisher Usmanov is an Uzbek not a Russian. It is not good business to ignore any shareholder. I hope that honest Stan will meet this Uzbek and explain the situation in the interests of Arsenal.
If Alisher starts to cause any unacceptable issues with Arsenal, I am sure he will be invited to a barbeque at the Emirates by the fans.
Usmanov is Russian, of Uzbeki descent.
It doesn’t really matter if he’s from Coronation Street, he is still looking rather dodgy and corrupt IMHO.
so he’s been told, in simple terms, to Usmoney off!!!
way to go stan
I’m not a fan of the russian and its quite clear we don’t need or want him to inject money into the club… but as he has 29% isn’t going to go away and the fact he could have invested his money in any club in the world should the directors at least listen to what he has to say? If he starts spouting bollox then we can continue to ignore.
Its a bit like having a dodge spot and ignoring it and ignoring it and it turns out to be cancer…
Stan the man!
All ownership and board decisions to be made by the Frimster!
The Sun confirms that Frimpong has stated that he will buy the shares to protect arsenal fc from the evil billionaires. He will Frimpong them away
PONG PONG PONG with A little help from SONG
the Uzbeki millions GONE
Hopefully this criminal never gets his tubby fingers on the needed shares.
Whats the price for a seat in the board?
No wonder we are the most entertaining team in football.
Take the mans money. The writing is on the wall and any team that is going to win is financed with outside money.
Though I hate both Kroenke and Usmanov for their ignorance and background, I would still have Usmanov over Kroenke. Let me explain: I am very convinced that Arsene will abide his principles of sustainability regardless of how much capital we have. We’ve seen Arsene in action for over a decade, and I think we can safely say he will continue to do so. Also, we need capital to keep players at Arsenal, rather than bringing in new ones. van Persie would be he best example I can think of. I am not sure how our financial situation is in terms… Read more »
Usmanov is not Dench.
But he would get stuck in a trench…
Takes up a whole bench..
Often squashes his wench
Gives off a stench?
Oh poor Judy Dench
Or break a bench (if he sat on it)…
For me, Stan run the club as a business, even if we didn’t when anything in ten years from now and the money keeps coming in, he would stay be bragging about the business model, how we are the envy of the world and Billy Bean bla bla bla. Remember in two years time we got naming rights to sell for the shirts, if we spend even 100 million and when something we would get it back in sponsor,by demanding more money. That is how business works and the Russian want to do that. Last year all we needed in… Read more »
Point of fact: Stan was born in Columbia Missouri, not Denver. Usmanov is not Russian despite going to the Moscow State Institute with all the other elitist State favourites.
FIIIIIIGGGGHHHHHTTTTT!!!….
Can anyone shed any light on whether Kronke has actually paid for the Fizman / Bracewell Smith shares he acquired to take over the Club ? And by ‘paid’ I don’t mean ‘borrowed and then paid’ – I mean, handed over his money ? The suggestion that he’s asset rich but cash poor would mean ‘borrowed’ and this in turn might lead to a leveredged repayment using Arsenal money to cover his debts. So it’s worth knowing one way or another. By that token the sooner Usmanov gets to 30% the better as this means neither can usual Arsenal as… Read more »
I fancy a Russian billionaire splashing some cash. The Kroenke model might make long-term commercial sense but this is a footy club not a fast food franchise and we will win nothing for a long long time without a sugar daddy. As long as the club itself isn’t saddled with the debt.
I heard Kroenke himself is only worth about $800m. It’s embarrassing to be owned by a man that poor imo.
Yep, Russian. Says he’s rich. Wants to buy our team. Great.
Didn’t that just happen to Portsmouth?
There is little transparency in Russian business. You can’t KNOW you’re not getting a bloody crook. I’m sure I heard that all of these Russian billionaires made their money by grabbing up everything they could lay their hands on when the USSR broke up. If so then they are essentially looters. I don’t want one running my club thank you very much.
the chance of Usmanov taking charge is like him:
fat.
sorry.
Stan is a stubborn businessman. We’ll spend an eternity in this mid table mediocrity with him in charge as he haven’t spent a single penny since he took charge. I don’t like either of them but at least Usmanov has the money and will be willing to spend it.
Mid table despite being 3 points off 4th and 7 points ahead of 8th…. Really, that’s the argument you’ve gone for? 1 minute on BBC sport told me we’re nearer 3rd ( (5 points) than 8th. Some people just jump to conclusions without any actual evidence.
Also, Gervinho, Arteta, Santos, Park, Chamberlain, etc… all came to the club for free did they? Or did we spend money? If you say the money was down to selling Fabregas and Nasri then i will give you a virtual slap as most clubs sell and buy (look at Liverpool) to get more players.
I had to listen to all this “He’s got a lolly. I want a lolly” shit when I was bringing up my children.. until I beat it out of them. I thought that that part of my life was done with, but suddenly what seems like an ever-growing number of my fellow Arsenal fans are starting up with the same bloody selfish want-it-all-right-now-because-he’s-got-it whining.
Our team is doing fine as it is thankyou very much.
I hear that Sheik Mansour is very willing to spend money on a football team.
Are you sure you’re in the right place?
I’m not in favour of doing it the city way but the way we handled this summers dealings is surely not the right way either. Come January and IF we be the striker we al no we so badly need then fine il accept stan, but if we don’t and the chances of rvp moving will be greater due to our lack of ambition then il take the Russian any day. We have 30+ mill sitting in bank from the summer dealings and I’d we off load 1 or 2 ie arshavin, Chamkh then we have more. Let’s see what… Read more »
The spending or lack of it would all depend on how much pressure AW is under, NOT what the team needs (striker).
If the results are good we stuck with our back up strikers, and if RVP got injured after that, it would be just the yearly, we did not expect that it is just unfortunate and next year we will for sure win something.
You’ve also got to remember that the 30 mil has to be used for wages, fees, etc… as well. It’s not a simple ‘Football Manager’ transfer. We also need other clubs to buy your listed players for as much as you seem to think they are worth (which they won’t be). Also, not many clubs will want to sell their players halfway through a season, which is why the Jan transfer window is always quiet, and any good player we do buy will most likely be cup-tied for the champs league.
@ Cygans left foot, agree completely mate sods law dictates that rvp will be injured on feb 1st and the push for 4th will be a distant dream
One of the reasons I love AFC is because of its class. The sugar daddy clubs have no class. Fact. I would rather Arsenal never win another trophy than be owned by an Uzbeki criminal and turned into a man city. I cannot understand the people that want him as an owner, so he can splash his billions, and um, hmmm, look at that other club in london… Not much to be proud of.
Let’s be honest: none of us really know what’s going on in the minds of either Kroenke or Usmanov. Perhaps Kroenke just wants to make money and has no intention of investing serious money in the club. Or maybe next year he will release 100 million quid for Wenger to buy players. Or maybe Usmanov wants to buy the club so he can sell it for a massive profit – we just don’t know. For me, the ‘self-financing’ model that Arsenal is committed to is just nonsense. The future for the Premier League will be the ‘benefactor’ model, just like… Read more »
But what happens when the “benefactors” get bored? These clubs have been saddled with all these wages, and who ever buys the club won’t pay as much as the owners think it’s worth (look at liverpool). Unlike the Shiekh (who all just seem to have loads of money) and Roman (who owns oil fields), Usmanov and Kroenke are both buisnessmen. Who don’t become rich buy throwing momey around, it’s the complete opposite. Everyone keeps saying that Usmanov will come in and give Wenger 100 mil + but how do you know? How do you know he won’t come in, sack… Read more »
Like I said, I don’t know – nobody does. But I do know that Financial Fair Play won’t work. So we can decide to ‘self-sustain’ and win nothing for years or do what the other big clubs do and get a benefactor.
Kroenke is not the “owner”, he’s the majority shareholder. There’s a big difference. Kroenke will not be putting any money into Arsenal, and nor will Usmanov because neither are outright owners.
You hope that Usmanov would put a billion quid into Arsenal, but what is more likely is that he would mortgage the club up to the hilt, put a small fraction of the money raised into the player budget to appease financially naive fans like yourself, then pocket the rest, leaving the club having to pay off the loans forever or going bust like Leeds.
The article points out that Usmanov needs to buy a number of shares so that he can look at Arsenal’s books. Usmanov is already an owner. Him buying more shares does not automatically convert him into a sugar daddy. Now, as regarding Kroenke’s teams, some have suggested that his teams are middling teams here in the US, but that is not exactly right. Kroenke does own smaller market teams and for small market teams they do exceedingly well. His NHL Avalanche and his NFL St. Louis Rams were quite successful and he actually brought great stability to St. Louis. Previously… Read more »
a few more shares takes him to the threshold required by the market in order to access the accounts as if they were his own. As a shareholder you are only entitled to the annual accounts and a shareholders statement. But then i can get that.
He wants to see the day to day accounts so that he can start to understand how things are run so that he can gain leverage if something doesn’t add up.
The man has made 17 billion, surely a place on the board to consult on decisions even if not listened to would be invaluable.
How did he make that 17 billion?
He sold his fat to make soap and going by the picture, he’s gearing up for a massive christmas order
I have heard all the sentiments about Arsenal self-sustaining itself, warts and all. And that WAS the way to go. But in this present football climate are we still right to delude ourselves that leaving within our means will bring us success? I dont think so. And the pride is eroding fast, after a team assembled by a dumb coach beats us at our backyards, when we all know that a striker worth its onions would have found us a goal. Dont start with me that Mancini is a good coach, but when a coach assembles 30 good players, no… Read more »
How can Stan spend what he doesn’t have? He is expecting to make money now. He spent all his cash to buy the club and borrowed some.
Couldn’t you see this summer, we made around 20 million profit in the transfer market after finishing fourth, and if it wasn’t for the 8-2 trashing and the empty seats we would have made around 50 millions.
Stan has no business in football (soccer) other than making money. For him not winning trophies and making 100 million better than winning trophies and making 25 million.
Again, as stated by previous posters, Stan has historically invested into and taken his teams to a higher standing. I’m going to go with his opinion on how to run the club, as Wenger is there to advise, than a lot of fans who think this is Football Manager. People keep saying this is a football club and not a business but then how could they make money to buy all the players, that everyone keeps saying to buy, without being a business and thus having a business model? You need to be a business first to make money to… Read more »
we don’t need even an extra penny spent but just what we have. We have more than 50mil of profits from sale of players to spent.
These things go in cycles. Man City will not be able to keep buying top players at inflated prices. There comes a point when Mansour says: “Enough”. Then it’s up to the club to generate the money to buy the players and pay their wages. At present there is a huge gulf between what the club earns and what it spends. That needs to be closed, and I doubt it will come through Man City increasing revenues. Mansour is merely copying what Jack Warner did at Blackburn Rovers the year they won the Premiership. Now look at them: relegation fodder… Read more »
Bollocks! Saying that Sheik Mansour is like Jack Walker is like arguing that Perry Groves is like Diego Maradona. City’s owners can literally pour money down the drain and not worry about it. And Chelsea are only in trouble because the Russian can’t stop interfering.
No benefactor = No Premier League or Champions’ League
Bollocks to you, Fatgooner. Sure, the scale of the wealth is different, but the outcome will be the same. The success is temporary. Sustainability is the only way to go forward in the long run. You may think that billionaires will continue to pour money into football clubs, but they did not become billionaires by throwing their money away, and that is exactly what they are doing. There will come a point when Mansour chooses not to pour hundreds of millions into City, then everything comes apart. Arsenal football club is its own benefactor. We don’t need the likes of… Read more »
Yeah bollocks to you fatgooner! How dare you compare Maradona to Perry Groves! Fucking liberty!!!!
“And the pride is eroding fast”
Speak for yourself, good-time fan.
Your reply’s fraught with flaws Mister. Replying to both ur post criticising my opinion, which remains my opinions because I am not a spokesperson for the club or against it, as you erroneously thought. And if you didnt take note, this is purely a forum for fans, nothing else. And to your response below I have to let you know that we as humans should never classify an opinion as bullshit or otherwise just because we dont agree with the sentiments therein. Good for you that you seem to enjoy the heartaches from our defeats of the past. I, on… Read more »
In comparing the respective merits as potential controllers of our club`s destiny, one or two facts should be considered. Kronke, is regarded by many as a financial wizard. Joining the, Wal Mart family – probably the richest in US – through marriage, didn`t hurt. Awarded the contracts for Wal Mart`s vast development programme, established his credabity, which launched his involvement major sports clubs. He makes much of their financial success, which is fine for but tough on the fans of his teams who win zilch. Due to the geographical isolation of his frachises, support for the clubs is generally unchallenged.… Read more »
Let’s just hope this portly Middle Eastern gentleman pops his clogs pronto and troubles the club no more.
THOROUGH, that’s a reasonable and well thought out post, but I do have some things to add. First of all, the Juan Mata deal fell through because of Barcelona. Both clubs had agreed on price but the Fabregas deal lingered, and then an automatic hike kicked in at the end of the month and we were out. By all accounts, we went after Cahill and were rebuffed and Wenger rightly pointed out that Bolton wanted too much for him. Jagielka already stated his intent to stay at Everton. Recently Pepe Reina revealed that Wenger offered to buy him last year… Read more »
A battle? A battle to do what exactly? He already has a blocking stake but it does little more than prevent any changes to the company’s articles of association (it’s constitution in effect) and or the businesses capital structure. There might be circumstances in which this could prove irritating to the major shareholder but in commercial terms not more than the equivalent of a bout of athlete’s foot. Every shareholder can have access to the accounts already. Any can challenge annual accounts or insist on seeing the books but provided a majority of shareholders approve final year accounts (effectively Kroenke… Read more »
[…] Red and White Holdings are, I should imagine, an irritant that Stan Kroenke wishes would go away. They won’t just yet, like KSE insisting that they are in for the long haul. As they edge toward the 30% shareholding that will allow them access to Arsenal’s books, they seem to want to talk to Stan but he’s being evasive. […]
Your figures are out of date. Usmanov now needs only 414 shares to hit 30%. When he does he will be obliged to offer Kroenke £14.7k for each of his shares. Stan will rip his arm off.
Cromulus, thanks for the enlightenment, but I still beg to defer on a few. If Henderson cost close to 20mil do u thing it would have been unfair if Bolton expected 15mil from Cahill sale? We could have gotten him for 10 or 12mils, but we didnt even show we were serious. We treated them like we didnt need them. One derisory offer n we are gone. Not sure Barca bidded just once for Fabregas before they got him. And Mata’s case was simple, pay 17mil latest by July 31st n u’ll have him. Chelsea were not in the picture… Read more »
“And as fans we really only enjoy the joy of success, not the money, and havent we waited enough for one?”
Don’t keep saying we. It sounds like you include me in your bullshit “I only enjoy supporting Arsenal if they win stuff” attitude.
What i don’t get here is that over the last few weeks there’s been a lot more optimism over the direction Arsene’s taking the team & a lot more talk about the near(ish) future looking bright. Now all of a sudden i’m reading posts declaring we’re never gonna win anything again unless we get some sugar daddy in, or comments to that effect anyway.
We lost on Tuesday, and drew on Saturday. As far as some are concerned, we’re on the slide.
CRISIS!!! CRISIS!!! ARSENAL ARE IN CRISIS!!! We lost against a second string worth more than our entire first team (at original purchase price) and drew against a team drilled to defend while we had a couple of days rest from the champions league.
I’m backing the team to dominate,batter and score one against Wigan. 1-0 with the winner coming from Chamakh in the 89th minute. He’ll then go on a scoring rampage in every match before getting fatigued, which in turn will give RvP a rest and he’ll come back stronger and fresher…. Oh, i can dream
To perrygrovesworld:
I would just like to clarify what I meant when I compared Groves to Maradona. You have to admit that there’s a massive difference in class between the two men: one was an outstanding footballer who absolutely oozed class and could single-handedly destroy the opposition; and the other was a drug-taking cheating bastard who conned England out of the World Cup.
I hope that I’ve made myself clear.
Ah thats alright then mate, couldn’t have put it better myself!
When did Groves con England?
Only joking
I feel usmanov red and white need to be heard in regards for their plan for the club. we need to hear usmanov speak on what his plans are for arsenal fc,this way we will get to know if he loves the club or not.
i feel in love with the mighty aresenal fc , and maybe usmanov may feel this way too.
the board can try all they want but he will eventually get to be heard ,sooner or later…as he holds a reasonable amount of shares ……
A reasonable amount of shares isn’t enough when the largest shareholder has more than twice as many as you do. Usmanov is pretty well powerless – his ‘plans’ for the club are no more relevant than the BNP’s plans for running the country. Kroenke can ignore him and because he can – he will.
I previously mentioned the £60m offered by Asmanov for AW`s transfer fund. This came through his Red and White company in the very capable – and sadly missed – Mr. Dein. Yes, maybe spratt to catch a mak – whatever – but sixty mil. more than our owner has offered. He kindly permits AW to operate, with all the restraints of the wage-cap system. This works well for him in the US. His clubs all make handsome profits for him, while losing with monotinous regularity. He has no part in baseball. where there is no wage cap. This guy is… Read more »
But Usmanov didn’t ever offer a ‘no strings’ contribution to the transfer fund of £60m or anything else – that’s simply untrue. What he did propose was a rights issue in order to reduce borrowings and by implication free up funds for transfer but its main purpose was to increase his shareholding in proportion at the expense of those shareholders (mainly the small ones) who couldn’t afford or were not inclined to take part in the rights issue. In the event the club paid off the debts without the need to issue more shares. There is nothing to stop him… Read more »
So when clubs know we have 60 mil to spend, they’ll keep the players values down on those you listed will they? Or will it be like Newcastle selling Carroll because they knew Liverpool had at least 50 mil? It’s business for any team and when you know someone has money, you try and get as much as possible. Vortonghen would probably go for 10 mil + agent fees and signing on fees, so around 13 mil, Hazard would go for 30 mil with the same fees as above, so around 35-40mil and Sow would then have to be bought… Read more »
This whole discussion is being filled by long bloody essays by an entire “Usmanov is our future” brigade. Has he sent a bloody army of his minions to swamp us with this propaganda. Either that or are so many Arsenal supporters truly so shallow that they are willing to sell the soul of the club to get a “Lolipop like the one that Man City has”. Let’s try a quote from Wikipedia… “In February 2008, his Metalloinvest also became sponsor of Dinamo Moscow, the Russian capital’s football team once funded by the Soviet secret service. His Metalloinvest group’s name replaced… Read more »
But i saw him kiss the badge on his shirt. It was a Man Utd shirt but still, he says he loves Arsenal, no wait, Dynamo, no wait….
Nobody suggested that Asmanov`s involvement in Arsenal is totally altruistic. The talk of £60m being released for transfers, however, was, at that time, an eye opener to fans who had suffered from a financial plan, which was shown to be, `bank the loot, take our cut and cry poor.` Thanks to AW, we have survived – but at what cost?. I doubt that few of those who delight in attacking the man have ever talked with him. As for his interest in his local club? How many of still look for the results of our home-town team – without impairing… Read more »
…..which was shown to be, `bank the loot, take our cut and cry poor……. Really when and where was that ever shown. Who has taken a what cut out of our the revenues so far? When has anyone on the board ever said we were poor. The actions of the last 10 years or so have ensured we are one of the richest in world football though sadly not rich enough to usurp the oligarchs and oil barons temporarily distorting the game. You can chide those criticising Usmanov on the basis that they’ve probably never spoken to the man but… Read more »
Amos asks who has taken money from the club and that because of his expenditure, Kroenke is entitled to anyway – huh? It`s early days yet. This week a desperate fan of the Rams – Kroenke`s team – was one of many who have complained bitterly about just that point. He pleads with the owner to use some of the clubs recent profits as his team are now a laughing stock. He dosn`t sceam for great success – only perhaps to a half-way spot. He suggests the Rams are about to lose their loyal fan base! He, for one will… Read more »
Where did I say Kroenke’s expenditure entitles him to take a cut? What I did say was that your claims that the board past or present had a financial plan which, in your words was shown to be, `bank the loot, take our cut and cry poor’. You’ve failed to respond to the challenge to show who, so far, had taken any cut despite generating profits. What I did say was that if Kroenke’s expertise could increase revenues and profits he’s perfectly entitled to take his cut of any increased revenues his expertise generates. So long as the club is… Read more »