Alisher Usmanov says he is not about to sell his shareholding to Stan Kroenke after the American made a bid to take full control of Arsenal.
The Russian businessman has released a statement which reads:
“In recent days there has been speculation relating to a possible offer for my 30% stake in Arsenal. As part of that I can understand the anxiety that these rumours are causing to the fans as reflected by the Arsenal Supporters Trust.
In light of this, I would like to be clear that I am not holding any talks with Mr Kroenke about a sale. My interest in Arsenal from the beginning was long term and my intention has always been to buy additional shares should they become available.
This I did with the purchase of the stake of my business partner Farhad Moshiri with which I increased my shareholding from 15% to 30%, and also with my proposed offer for the stake of the majority shareholder which valued the Club at some £2bn. That offer remains valid today.
I have always been and will continue to be an ardent supporter of Arsenal and I see my 30% stake as an important aspect in protecting the best interests of the fans in the Club.
It has been well documented that I have no say in the running of the club, that my views differ from those of the majority shareholder and that I would take a different approach to delivering footballing success.
I would like to assure supporters that I am open to various future scenarios: a constructive partnership with the majority shareholder, the purchase of his stake either alone or in a consortium, or if a party appears who shares my and undoubtedly the majority of fans’ vision for the club, I could consider the question of selling my stake.”
So, there we go. The Arsenal cold war continues for now – but we now have some confirmation that Usmanov is willing to sell his stake for the right price.
Also, the line “I am not holding any talks with Mr Kroenke about a sale,” maybe a quirk of language, but it’s correct in the present tense: it doesn’t rule out discussions in the future should the offer be tempting enough.
This is actually a good news.
We are the only people who can make change happen forcibly, the moment we stop believing that the Arsenal we all love and cherish is fucked. Cant we all boycott the sale of merchandise? Tickets? Protest outside instead of inside? I know people wont agree or see this as ruining their own enjoyment of the club, but bad publicity and dropping finances is the only language pricks like this understand. Lets do it together and show him he isn’t as powerful as he believes. If we do it right he will take the 2 billion and run right back to… Read more »
Whats point other ppl will just buy tickets and go
You know things are bad when a man accused of being a gangster and racketeer and of having close ties to mafia drug trafficking is the better choice in owner. Good times!
That’s the attitude I’m talking about right there mate
I heard somewhere, can’t remember where that he was close to selling, at one point, with all the chants around the ground, and the bad press he was getting, but the toxic atmosphere lightened with the final run in and the FA cup / charity shield victories. There are so many ways we could do a protest – like everyone wearing an O2 shirt to symbolise the invincibles and get up the nose of the sponsors, walking out on the 67th minute – the share ownership Kroenke has in the club, chanting for Kroenke to get out of our club,… Read more »
Wait a minute! Are you suggesting that Wenger’s routine substitutions at 67 minutes every game have actually been his way of protesting Kroenke’s ownership of the club? What a man! #StickItToYourBoss #KroenkeOut
Walking out of the stadium in the middle of the match wouldn’t hurt Kroenke – he already has your money whether or not you stayed till the final whistle. Also, I doubt the board members will give a shit about O2 shirts or chants of Koenke-Out as long as the cash continues flowing. The writing has been on the wall for ages – the people in charge are more interested in turning a tidy profit than anything else. So in my opinion, the only realistic way for fans to get their attention would be to have a serious, sustained boycott… Read more »
But that’s it – it does! It makes worldwide news if a televised match, and is very bad publicity for the sponsors, and Kroenke knows it – look at how quick he was to stop the hunting channel.
Am I Ok to wear a ’98 JVC shirt instead?
The sight of me wearing that would be enough to force television watchers to tune off in their millions 😛
Do fans not support their clubs directly in barcelona and one other in germany I think Bayern.
Once I have the money and influence I would certainly be interested in buying shares enmasse and allying with usmanov under certain terms to buy out stinking Stan’s shares.
I’m sure there are barriers to this othewise the ast would have pushed or be pushing for something like this. Can anyone shed any light?
Every comment I’ve ever made gets moderated, am I that bad?
And that is the question.
I agree perfectly well with you Romford Pele. The only language that Stan will understand and pack bag and baggage and leave is for supporters to bouycott everything about arsenal including buying tickets to watch matches. When the funds are not there , what is he going to run the club with ?This is the only way we can force him out and we can take back our club.Stan’s interest is milking the club and not winning trophies for the club.
What a guy. Would love him instead of kroenke
Except that, at the end of the day it’s business. So, if Stan ups his offer he may be able to purchase the shares.
Classic Ox deal. “We want to build the team around Ox”
@Jake Yeah so would I. Don’t get me wrong, I totally understand why people have reservations towards him. Like yeah, I get that he’s another dodgy Oligarch, and how he acquired his vast sums of wealth isn’t really clear. But ultimately I just don’t care anymore. I am totally sick of the current regime at Arsenal. I am sick of this money grabbing clueless mute American owner who is solely using Arsenal as a way to grow his business portfolio – like I am bored of it. I am sick of all of these greasy board members who have no… Read more »
I think this illustrates perfectly well how many fans feel about Stan. We’d rather have one that has probably broken a few laws in multiple countries(wouldn’t be surprised if it was a few kneecaps too), is chums with a dictator who persecutes gays and dissidents and breaking probably more than one human right. We’d rather take that over Stan. And a good part of the reason we’d rather have Usmanov over Stan is because Stan doesn’t care that we want Usmanov over him. He doesn’t care that if he was a Roman emperor the fans would barge into the board… Read more »
Yeah I’m also sat here on my iPhone messaging you whilst poor underpaid employees work in Apple sweatshops in Asia to build new ones – that’s if they don’t kill themselves first.
I’ll probably pop back onto Arseblog on my laptop this evening, which battery is made up of key earth minerals which have been ripped out of the ground and exported from Africa.
“… is chums with a dictator who persecutes gays and dissidents and breaking probably more than one human right.”
That could easily describe Kroenke. Don’t forget he was part of a consortium that invested heavily in the Trump campaign. If im not wrong, his wife’s family are super close to the emperor’s clan. Funny thing eh?
That is just a ridiculous and stupid comparison. Trump is odious, but is not Putin.
Exactly.
Judging someone else says more about you…. than it does about them.
Life’s about learning, we all make mistakes, some bigger than others but we learn and move forward.
I’d embrace Usmanov takeover and would delighted to give him a chance.
Kroenke has had his and completely blown it.
You want Arsenal to become Chelsea? I don’t understand this “money grabbing” part. Its so little that he receives. Like most of us here I wish SK would be a football fan and want to win trophies. At least he isn’t a horrible owner making bad decisions on emotions or irrational decisions. In a sense that its simple the way he wants the club operated on a self sustaining model. He stays out of it for the most part. Is it perfect of course not. As frustrated as I am with SK as the owner I wouldn’t want an Oligarch… Read more »
He does make pretty crap decisions though. He keeps renewing Wenger for a start.
that’s rational and considered…..! So what does SK want from his ownership…? If he makes very little money from it, doesn’t care if the club is mediocre on the pitch and clearly has no interest in the spectacle what the hell does he want?
He wants his business to grow, that is all. Live every f*ckin long term investor, he knows this club is a fantastic investment in an area of development (English Football) which is seeing unimaginable growth. Why is it so difficult for everyone to see? I was not Stan supporter, but he isn’t as bad as he is being made out to be. He has allowed the club to perform on its own, he just hasn’t interfered. The blame has gotta lie with those on the pitch and those responsible for getting the result in the end. So the buck stops… Read more »
I think you miss the point. Players and manager are to blame for the results on the park, this is true.
But its fair to say the club doesnt throw huge amounts of money around on recruiting better players, and that is directly because the owner doesnt want to dip into his own pockets and make that happen, preferring the club to run within its own budgetary constraints. Therefor the owner is also to blame for being tight!
Its not one or the other here, both the playing group and the clubs administrators/owner are at fault here.
He’s responsible on who is achieving his goals which is making money and not at all the football, so essentially he’s at fault, because after all we are a football club first and not only just a profit making business,he’s not interested in making Arsenal great, in fact if the club drops down the league he wouldn’t care as long as he’s making profit, seriously you cannot be that naive to if think that billionaires don’t have a dark past and haven’t done anything corruptible, sorry I rather have someone who loves Arsenal and is passionate and wants to make… Read more »
You are so wrong my brother in your submission. The buck stops at Kroenke’s desk and our inept board. Just check out what happened to Ancelotti at Bayern and you would know what we fans are talking about.
Kroenke out!
Exactly what Arun said. Its about the value of the club. I think he bought it when it was valued roughly about 1B? I think its double that right now. Thats not bad for a investor.
Maybe you have forgotten but we are a football club first or maybe you’re not a passionate Arsenal fan and think making money is the priority?
If Usmanov buys out Kroenke and starts pumping his own money into Arsenal, we won’t be the new Chelsea. We’ve been here for generations at the summit of English football. Chelsea were 7 days from liquidation, they were nobodies, absolute bin men. There club has no way near the same heritage, nor the same deep roots in game that Arsenal has. With the right investment Usmanov could turn Arsenal into a super club. Due to our geographical location we could easily surpass the heights of Man United. It’s all there right in front of us. We just need someone to… Read more »
IamaGoober,
I with you 100%
Abrahimovic wrote off a load of Chelsea debt. They’re almost debt free the information is out there
That would be Chelsea’s business not ours.
Usmanov will sink money into Arsenal, like Abramovich does into Chelsea, in order to maintain huge asset outside the clutches of the Russian sphere should either ever fall out with the regime in Moscow.
SK meanwhile will ultimately leverage all his other teams, including Arsenal, to finance the LA (formally St Louis) Rams, whose move will have incurred debts umpteen times larger then that which hurt us during the move down the road from Highbury to Abhburton Grove.
Neither owner is ideal but In my eyes Kronkie is the worse of the two evils… he will bleed this club dry.
Yay
The choice is limbo with uncooperative major shareholders. Fully owned by an unscrupulous American owner or fully owned by an unscrupulous Uzbek oligarch. Onwards and backwards it would seem.
I would rather Usmanov than Kroenke.
Don’t understand the negativity towards Usmanov? Kroenke has been terrible for his club, and we’ve seen the way he operates with his other clubs in America. Our fortunes are unlikely to change for the better with Kroenke in charge. Surely a change is needed? And if that change brings drive? Vision? And a level of ruthlessness that’s been missing? Along with a net worth of $18+billion? Surely it’s a change we should embrace? Or we can sit there smelling each other’s farts? Just to let everyone know how we hold strong moral values? and how virtuous we are? Not sure… Read more »
American sports are so different. Its not even a fair comparison.
Is the idea of just buying a trophies what you want? I understand relatively poorer clubs aren’t going to win trophies regularly. It takes large amounts of money but the idea of just spending your way to a trophy doesn’t sound great to me IMO.
Of course it’s a fair comparison: kroenke teams in the US do not do half of what they’re allowed to do to try to be competitive.
Saying that, the Rams are currently top of their division for the first time in forever.
Ironically, just after sacking their head coach…
Yeah right lol The Nuggets only exist for the NBA to have a market in Denver. Unless you get lucky and draft a great player there is no way to compete in the NBA. Success is heavily dependent on having at least 1 star if not 2-3. With the hard salary cap they can’t over compensate to acquire players to come to Denver. With trades players aren’t going to come unless its one of the last options. What else are they suppose to do? I don’t know much about the NHL but I know they use a even more restrictive… Read more »
The NBA also has a FRANCHISE PLAYER component to the salary cap. For every dollar spent over the cap to keep your big name/s, another dollar must be given to NBA who give that back to the teams in smaller markets who dont spend or have the capacity to spend their full salary cap allotment. e.g. Lakers had Kobe on huge $$ huge!!! But he was a superstar and in a market like LA it made sense. But a team like the Nuggets, Denver just doesnt have the pulling power financially. This way, Kobe earns big money so Lakers can… Read more »
No, I don’t like defending SK but look at all the successful teams in these sports. Big markets or traditional teams rule. Its very rare for outside team to succeed unless they have someone with cred operating the team.
I live here (Colorado), and while I’m not an NBA fan, its pretty obvious when things began to get terrible. The Nuggets began their dramatic decline following Josh Kroenke’s appointment. The Nuggs were awful before Carmelo Anthony arrived- then Kroenke refused to offer him sufficient money to stay, so traded him, and Denver local Chauncey Billups, to New York. The same thing happened with JR Smith and Chris Andersen. George Karl stepped down as manager when he was diagnosed with cancer, but after his remission, he came back, only to be sacked following statements he made to the press out… Read more »
Usmanov is the lesser evil of the two. Good decisioon not to sale
I love this guy.
Bravo Mr Usmanov.
Phew. Can’t believe I am typing this but I am genuinely glad he’s not leaving. Where that leaves things for the future of the club is less clear – more of the same I suppose. As unsatisfactory as that has been I still think it preferable to Kroenke having sole ownership.
Particularly liked the final part “…or if a party appears who shares my and undoubtedly the majority of fans’ vision for the club, I could consider the question of selling my stake”. From what I understand, a 3rd party appeared to these two’s war, an Arsenal supporters group with backing of some kind of another huge corporation or something, and they have been trying to buy Kroenke’s share, but they couldn’t, so they are now trying to buy Usmanov’s share if the Uzbek Oligarch decides to sell, to prevent Kroenke buying out completely. So, Usmanov’s statement is really a positive… Read more »
Great statement, definitely paints him as the hero in the cold war. Genuinely don’t know if he is though…
“and my intention has always been to buy additional shares should they become available” – he’s not done very well with that intention then has he? Given that loads have traded recently and none of them have been bought by him…
Maybe people don’t want to sell to him
Confident about that are you?
Very, it’s a matter of fact.
I sold him two for starters.
Thank god… You saved me from a chronic depression that I would have gone through if u have had handed over you shares to that greedy silent mf.
Who does this guy’s PR? Kroenke should give them a call.
Difference is Kroenke doesn’t give a duck what you and me think about him.
Probably only gives a turkey that SK
Phew! Nice 1 Alisher
Seems almost like his decision not to sell his shares comes with the club’s best interests at heart. Could it be that he’s not actually that bad a person? Or am I deluded lol
Deluded.
Did I answer it now?
Fight, fight, FIGHT!
That might actually be a shout to settle this bout haha
Great to hear that he’s not going to sell out. The guy is a diehard arsenal fan and actually cares for the club. Much better off with him than Kroenke, who treats the club as nothing less than a money machine. Hopefully Usmanov will eventually get the chance to become majority shareholder, then we’ll know the club will be in safe hands.
#kroenkeout
You must be young or forgetful or BOTH. This guy USMANOV is a freaking oligarch who called into question the very freedom of speech by threatening to file lawsuit against ARSEBLOG for having the temerity to write something that gave the R&W negative publicity. So practically, he is repairing his image by saying the right things now, but ONCE an oligarch will ALWAYS be an oligarch. Careful what you wish for! I hope both these punks fight themselves out and never come to a mutual conclusion, keeping Arsenal afloat. I don’t want this scum having single ownership, just as I… Read more »
link to the offending piece please.
At least he made it pretty evident if he does sell, it won’t be to Kroenke. Good on him.
Thank fuck for that! I am not really very happy for both Usmanov or Kroenke to stay. It is just that.. it is much better to have both these schmucks involved in a tug of war than to go 100 percent private with zero percent transparency with either of these schmucks being on top as the owner.
A good day will dawn only when both of these clowns leave us for good.
Yeah mate, they’re a right pair of ‘schmucks’ those two. Jeez…
Two massive cunts vying for the club, and our best case scenario is that they keep hating each other.
Great.
Love him or hate him (and I am not a huge fan), the advantage is that he keeps pressure on Kroenke and he sees himself as a bit of a saviour. Perhaps not a bad thing right now.
He’s the Spuds of our board? He just keeps the pressure on?
He did not say he was willing to sell to Kronke, but an investor who shares his vision.
Paging King Saudi whatshisface….
Turd sandwich or giant douche?
God bless ya guv’nah
He might as well have just said, I’m not selling to that cunt, everyone hates it. Respect.
Kronke out! He’s a silent little money grabbing Weasley who has no desire or love for this club other then to line his own pockets and fund his other businessses.
Usamov or anyone for that matter would be a better option then the dick we have at the moment ?
There is no where that has been written that SK is lining his pockets and funding other businesses off of Arsenal lol Please, I understand the hatred some have towards SK but there is nothing besides a very small fee he gets from Arsenal yearly I assume. This whole idea he needs Arsenal to fund other business ventures is laughable.
Rock and Hard Place. Hell, High Water, etc…
“It has been well documented…that I would take a different approach to delivering footballing success.
I would like to assure supporters that I am open to various future scenarios: a constructive partnership with the majority shareholder, the purchase of his stake either alone or in a consortium, or if a party appears who shares my and undoubtedly the majority of fans’ vision for the club, I could consider the question of selling my stake.”
That’s beautifully put. Right in the face of Kroenke!
It’s a desperate grab at securing credibility from disgruntled Arsenal fans, desperate for change.
That statement is the kind of crap PR managers write for The Sun on behalf of failing politicians that are about to lose / not gain power.
Hmm… at least he comes out and delivers a statement but makes you wonder if he’s serious about not selling or is he just bargaining for the best amount of money Kroenke can offer.
“or if a party appears who shares my and undoubtedly the majority of fans’ vision for the club, I could consider the question of selling my stake.”
This is just as worrying. It’s easy to see him selling to an individual or group who aren’t as shrewd as Kroenke. Stan’s a shark, he’ll gobble up that 30% in 2 years max after any Usmanov sale.
So the choice is House Lannister or House Bolton.
… great.
Basically yes. The only difference being that one of them actually loves the club and would invest in its football success and the other one ia a money grabbing soulless piece of shit with a myriad of failed egghand clubs behind him to show as his example for running business.
Is there really any news here? Neither Kroenke nor Usmanov want to sell, and they have both said so many times. Nothing has changed. Between this story and the efforts to sensationalize a bit of gossip on Ozil/Sanchez yesterday, it seems like Arseblog is turning into the Mirror.
yeah I wish they’d stop reporting news about Arsenal, it’s not what this site is for
Reporting a clarifying statement in light of the horrible fear that stan could run the club on his own with no opposition is not news granted.
but neither are the player ratings, player interviews or the podcasts…
its not like the title says ‘read all about it shocking new update in arsenal ownership saga!’
Arseblog ran a story a few days ago saying “Kroenke could buy out Usmanov, oh no, the sky is falling.” Today a story appears with Usmanov reiterating his longstanding position that he doesn’t want to sell. The whole thing is a storm in a teacup, a circle that ends up back where it started. A classic tabloid maneuver to generate some interest out of nothing.
I’m sorry i just do not get your point, are you actually complaining there is too much content on arseblog?
May be he’s complaining about too much of ARSENAL content.
Did I get it right, Perry?
I agree with you, a little agenda driven input about holding out for right price offer from Kronke was unnecessary. Statement was from Usmanov was clear, but it was not what arseblog predicted yesterday, so unfortunate clutching at straws happens. You are so much better than this Mr.Blogs.
One possible conclusion to this is that Kroenke is forced to sell to raise funds if the La Raiders stadium costs start to spiral upwards
Do you have any idea how rich he is? Wikipedia says his wife is worth $6 billion.
He’s our major share holder! but most fans feel relieved that kroenke has been turned down and can’t get his way. that alone says so much about him. it’s scary when they both say their here for the long term and so far it’s been quite an anticlimax. As you were I guess.
for people who might think a future deal between kronke and usmanov involving stan aquiring 100% of shares to be plausable if the offer was right, let me point you to the closing quote in the statement; “I would like to assure supporters that I am open to various future scenarios: a constructive partnership with the majority shareholder, the purchase of his stake either alone or in a consortium, or if a party appears who shares my and undoubtedly the majority of fans’ vision for the club, I could consider the question of selling my stake” my take from this… Read more »
So our hopes for the future of Arsenal FC lie in the hands of a “dubious” Russian oligarch…Oh how times have changed…..
Dubious at best.
There are a host of other superlatives to use to describe that fat tw*t.
Woop woop. Unlike blogs I doubt he will ever sell to kroenke. Don’t fuck with the ‘Russians’ – can only hope he gets all gangsta on his ass
I would love to see this guy take over.
This is exactly what blog was saying yesterday about people using events and situations to spread their own propaganda. I have seen enough of this with politicians where i am from. At the end of the day, the new one is not much better than the previous regime just less worse. As much as I’m glad he is not selling for the now, it will be best if they both just leave the club
Can the Wenger Out Brigade please turn their attention and vitriol to a Kroenke Out campaign? They may actually be able to unite the entire support base. If we can have season after season of Kroenke Out hate making the media headlines, just maybe the Silent Fucker will say “Sod this” and cash out to Usmanov or some other ATS aligned consortium.
One can hope …
Only way he will sell is if Arsenal loses money year after year without a light at the end of the tunnel. If that is happening then Arsenal is in bigger trouble.
I don’t know if he will leave, sadly. He won’t leave any of the franchises he owns in the US- he’ll just use the favorable laws on sports ownership to relocate the teams to new cities if they become unprofitable, or fans become hostile, or even if he demands money from taxpayers for a new arena (ie his NFL franchise, the Rams) and they refuse to approve it. These billionaire owners, at least in the United States, behave like spoiled children in many aspects of their lives, but the analogy rings even more true when it comes to sports teams-… Read more »
More disingenuous crap from Usmanov, the ever opportunist. Any of the scenarios he describes is like choosing which strain of ‘flu you’d prefer.
I hate them for what they do to our club and to our game.
Kroenke makes an offer to buy shares of Usmanov. The Russian let’s it be known that he will not sell them to Kroenke. Why do you call it disingenuous crap and call him an opportunist?
“…if a party appears who shares my and undoubtedly the majority of fans’ vision for the club, I could consider the question of selling my stake”
I am pretty sure this means he isn’t selling to Kroenke. But it also means he may sell to someone else.
Not sure what a constructive partnership with Kroenke is exactly.
Probably one where he (Usmanov) is allowed on the board and probably allowed a certain right to spend provided he can recover it in shares within a stipulated time frame.. I am not sure the dynamics but I like to believe it involves being a member of the board and spending some fucking money
Purchase of the club with a consortium would make us fans very happy and would truly make us a club rather than billionaires plaything.
You mean a consortium owner by a billionaire.
Imagine a consortium of Flamini and Usmanov up against Silent fucking Stan.
Well thats a relief, for now.
I love how much these two billionaires appear to hate each other. Kroenke is a stain on sport here in my home state of Colorado- he’s systematically ensured that every franchise he owns is mired in mediocrity immediately after they show some sign of success (Colorado Rapids- team sold off after winning the league, after some years of mediocrity, they bring in Tim Howard). Managers in his organizations are removed the second they show any sort of spine, or when they say anything out of line to the press (George Karl at the NBA team Denver Nuggets, for instance). He… Read more »
Sure hope China attracts all their capital in the near future.
Blogs There are 5 types of owners 1 those not interested in money – it’s all about status. The odd maverick businessmen, the man c lot possibly. Abramovic maybe. Not many of these. 2 those willing to pump money in to grow the brand and the asset and ultimately make even more money by selling one day. Lots of these. Many fail. You need a lot of money to make it work or a strong brand already. Usmanov would probably be like this 3 those happy to sit there and let the price go up without investing. Not many of… Read more »
Years ago , when billionaires started buying clubs, us arsenal fans said we are proud that we are not run that way and that those clubs would be playthings and it would be disastrous . Soon after we also got bought by some billionaires and then said ok if it’s working for Chelsea man city it would work for us. Now we are actually the only club facing the doom we years ago thought about when discussing the cons of billionaire ownership. Just our fucking luck.
STAN IS A PROBLEM
The question of him selling depends on this condition being met “… if a party appears who shares my and undoubtedly the majority of fans’ vision for the club, I could consider the question of selling my stake.” He ruled out selling to kroenke because kroenke doesn’t share in that vision.
Penguin vs. The Joker. Who wins. Usmanov is double the billionaire Kroenke is, and doesn’t “need” his investment back, especially if he leaves looking like someone got the better of him. That’s bad business for an oligarch. Kroenke will get a horse’s head in his bed before he gets Usmanov’s 30%. This seems like a good time for a a shout out to the high-minded aristocrat caretakers on the Arsenal board who cashed in to these fuckers and put us where we are today. The only way we’ll get Kroenke out is by total boycott, by seriously threatening the trading… Read more »
I think you’re wrong blogs, it does rule out any talks of selling everything to the moustachioed twonk.