20 Jun 2011. Alisher Usmanov Teams Arsenal shareholder Alisher Usmanov has strengthened his position on the Gunners' board after increasing his stake in the club to 29%. After majority shareholder Stan Kroenke increased his stake to 67% in April it had been expected that the American would look to gain overall control of the club, but Usmanov’s 2% increase sends a clear message that he is not ready for that to happen. The Russian’s Red & White company acquired the new shares...
Is this a good thing or bad thing or Arsenal? I really hope that Usmanov would take over Arsenal.
http://news.gkrom.com/

It's good because we don't want just one dominant owner that can do whatever.

Here's another article to inform about the implications if he reaches that 30% mark.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/jun/15/alisher-usmanov-arsenal-stan-kroenke

Alisher Usmanov said at the weekend that he does not want to be on the board of a "trophyless" club. Perhaps that is because he knows he does not need to be on the board in order to know Arsenal's financial operations in as much detail as any director.

The Russian billionaire has built his stake in the north London club to almost 28.5% in recent days, after putting out an open offer of £14,000 a share. That exceeds the £11,750 a share that Stan Kroenke paid to take his holding to 66.64%, with an offer that closed on Saturday. If Usmanov's offer takes his stake beyond 30%, he will under Premier League rules have the same access to management accounts as any director. And that will mean seeing the wages paid to Cesc Fábregas, Robin van Persie and every other Arsenal player.

When the Premier League rules were written it is unlikely that an intended consequence was to open such access to accounts to minority shareholders whose relationship with their club's owner might be described as strained at best.

However, it is clear that Usmanov will be able to use the rules to gain more insight into the workings of the club than any other fan. The rules state that anyone with a stake of more than 30% is considered to exercise "control" over a club's policies, affairs or management. This confers the right to have access to "brief particulars of each material transaction sufficient to identify its date, its amount and nature". These "material transactions" include all transfer fees, player remuneration and payments to agents and other third parties.

Usmanov is said to believe that by taking his stake above 30% he can "make sure things are done properly".

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He would gain a considerable amount of control of the club if that is the case, less than Kroenke of course, but I would not mind if he did get to that mark.

How I understand it is that if Kroenke gets 70 or above, then he can force usmanov to sell his shares at the going rate (what he bought the rest of his shares at), and if usmanov gets 30 or above he has more access and a real say in the club. Neither of those can be sure to be good or bad.

I like the way the club is owned now, No one has total power, and fans have some share in the club too. I think Kroenke wants it to stay like this and clearly dislikes usmanov, as do many arsenal board members. He doesn't want to have to go to 70% and force a total takeover, which is the only thing he can really do to stop him. Other than that he has to hope people don't sell to him, but i understand he's offering well over the average price to all the minor shareholders.

Kiwigunner wrote:How I understand it is that if Kroenke gets 70 or above, then he can force usmanov to sell his shares at the going rate (what he bought the rest of his shares at), and if usmanov gets 30 or above he has more access and a real say in the club. Neither of those can be sure to be good or bad.

I like the way the club is owned now, No one has total power, and fans have some share in the club too. I think Kroenke wants it to stay like this and clearly dislikes usmanov, as do many arsenal board members. He doesn't want to have to go to 70% and force a total takeover, which is the only thing he can really do to stop him. Other than that he has to hope people don't sell to him, but i understand he's offering well over the average price to all the minor shareholders.

I dont trust American with sports, we all know how the rest of them have turned out to be. Usmanov is my choice, he loves the club and will do everything for the club. Kroneke has many teams his interest is not just for one team.

Raptorgunner wrote:

Kiwigunner wrote:How I understand it is that if Kroenke gets 70 or above, then he can force usmanov to sell his shares at the going rate (what he bought the rest of his shares at), and if usmanov gets 30 or above he has more access and a real say in the club. Neither of those can be sure to be good or bad.

I like the way the club is owned now, No one has total power, and fans have some share in the club too. I think Kroenke wants it to stay like this and clearly dislikes usmanov, as do many arsenal board members. He doesn't want to have to go to 70% and force a total takeover, which is the only thing he can really do to stop him. Other than that he has to hope people don't sell to him, but i understand he's offering well over the average price to all the minor shareholders.

I dont trust American with sports, we all know how the rest of them have turned out to be. Usmanov is my choice, he loves the club and will do everything for the club. Kroneke has many teams his interest is not just for one team.

Yeah i'm not really sure either way. The way we run the club, though, is exactly how Kroenke wants to. Kroenke doesn't seem like he'll do what the others have done to United and Liverpool. We already know he hasn't financed the purchase with debt, and he isn't allowed to use the club as an asset to take out future loans.

Usmanov to me seems a little too greedy. doesn't have and probably wont have financial issues ever, but still i'm not keen on how he'd run it.

I would also wish that the club is controlled by a group of owners.. Really sad that Kroenke shares rose from 30 to near 70%..

Wilson37 wrote:I would also wish that the club is controlled by a group of owners.. Really sad that Kroenke shares rose from 30 to near 70%..

I have bad feeling about Kronek, American owners are evil.

Raptorgunner wrote:
I have bad feeling about Kronek, American owners are evil.

Why? Have you seen his track record with clubs?

He's a long-term investor who makes every one of his franchises (hate that word, but it's the best word for this) self-sustaining. His business philosophy is exactly like ours. What's he going to change? Nothing, other than improving our commercial deals.

He's already promised he won't finance the takeover of the club with a loan, and he said he won't put any more debt on the club.

I don't see the problem of having him as our owner.

even if he drags us into some kind of trouble, his wife will rescue us

I just hope you guys are right about him.

well i honestly don't see how either could change that much of what we do.