So here we are people, the end of Arsenal football club as we know it. Silent Stan Kroenke, the evilest man to walk a sports arena, has finally won out. He’s part way to driving out the white knight, Alisher Usmanov, for a whopping £600m buyout of his stake.
This is a dark day for Arsenal.
I mean, kind of.
This dramatic notion that the world is caving in because Stan K is buying up the rest of Arsenal is a little far-fetched. The morbid picture that has been painted is based on a lot of worst case scenarios.
Sure, there could be less transparency around the club, but at the same time, you have to remember a lot of the fan interaction items that were put on were out of generosity, versus some sort of legal obligation. Our family has a share, I went to most of the AGMs before I moved to America, let’s not pretend for a second you extracted any sort of real insight from those days out. Sir Chips or Peter Hillwood would usually insult the intelligence of the peasant folk, Ivan would tell us not to believe our lying eyes, and Stan would rarely say anything. It wasn’t true governance because the fans had no real power. Not just that, Arsenal offered up additional seats for people at various fan groups because they were being nice. The club has always pushed to be as open as possible. Ivan G has sat through a lot of fan Q&As, the club has opened up its facilities for meet and greets with the staff, we have a lot of access.
I appreciate there’s a lot of love for fans owning a stake. The romantic scenes in Germany and at some clubs in Spain where the fans own the clubs in some way tugs at the heart strings. Representation at board level is a beautiful thing, and there’s no doubt that the good folk at the AST, Red Action, Black Scarf and AISA have done a lot of good in driving fan agenda items like flags at games, ticket price freezes, safe standing, and pushing Wenger to take the League Cup a little more seriously. All marvellous things.
I don’t think those things suddenly go away. If a new CEO comes in, hopefully from another football club, do you think their first move is going to be to cut fans out? I doubt it. We’re important. Why do you think Ivan has been so keen to make the transformation at Arsenal about him? He reads the internet, he hears your hot takes from you at Waitrose, he wants fans in the stadium to shout things like, ‘bloody good transition old boy’, not, ‘HOW DID YOU FUCK UP ALONSO YOU STUPID MUG HE WAS IN THE CAR.’
Usmanov stands to make a heck of a profit, there’s a lot of sadness David Dein (Arsenal’s David Cameron) jumped the gun with Kroenke, because everything would have looked a whole lot more Chelsea right now. Again though, let’s not pretend he was always the favoured oligarch to takeover. David Dein sold out in the hope of leading the club, he managed to get himself fired in the process, then flogged his shares to Usmanov in the hope that Red&White holdings would do something to elevate the club and give the manager the transfer fees he needed.
He was pilloried for that. The fans, the blogs, everyone was against a businessman that apparently did something to someone where a vat of acid was involved. Everyone hated the fact a nasty Uzbek was coming to the party. We liked the cute cowboy hat and understated humbleness of Stan K. We liked the one who ran a ‘proper’ business. Years later, we realised Stan knew how to run a business (a real estate business), but one that lacked any sort of a ambition to dominate.
The biggest disappointment about how folk like David Dein, Danny Fizsman and Nina B sold the club out, is that they moved it on to a company that looked at incremental growth over a 20 years period. Stan K makes his money with the looooooong bets. He’ll invest in property where he knows a big Walmart is going and sit on that property in the hope it blows up over the 20-year stretch. He’s not wolf on wall street. He’s not about the quick buck.
Arsenal for him has been a quite incredible investment. His original purchase of the club, when all the blocks are added sits at about £424m. The club has gone from tinpot entity at Highbury, to £1.8b monster if he buys out Alisher. He doesn’t get returns like that anywhere else. Arsenal is the equivalent of striking oil on one of his ranches 200 years ago. We are the absolute GEM for him.
So what are the main concerns?
Well, he’s taking a loan out to buy out the remaining 30%. How does he pay for that loan? It certainly won’t be out of his own pocket. He can’t do a leveraged buyout like the Glazers dropped on United (take out a loan on the club to buy the club, then use the fans to pay and club profit to pay it off), but he has a number of options to pay it off, and now he has an opaque setup he can hide the details in. His Delaware dealings, well covered by the excellent Matt Scott over the years, are murkier than a night out with Jermaine Pennant.
Putting that to one side, not a lot changes.
For you, as a fan, we’ll still be a club that’s run sensibly. We’re never going to behave aggressively in the transfer market. We’re never going to break FFP rules. The club has been built to operate under its own steam and I’d imagine that’s what it’ll do moving forward. Arsenal is boring, but remember, we’re a club that can offer up a lot of steam. We generate massive match day receipts, our commercials are moving in the right direction, and there’s huge potential at the club.
My hope is if Stan has learnt anything over the last few years, it’s that neglecting a Premier League football club by not investing in capable talent is a sure fire way to lose money on your bottom line. I know the top folk at Arsenal are embarrassed they’re not in th CL. That’s a big deal. I’m hoping that Stan is realizing first hand that running a football club is not like running a franchise. The fans are crazier, the cost of being shite is greater, the difficulty getting back to the top is harder, and not investing cash in players is elite players is an absolute fools game with a market so flush with money.
Look at the positives. We’re all happy with the backroom hires. We’re all happy with the reshaping of the squad. We’re all happy with the general direction of the club.
Stan owning another 30% makes no difference to that direction. It’s just a feelings thing. It’s just a ‘what could happen’ panic button everyone is pushing. For me, you can worry about the implications of the ‘what if’ when you’re watching the institutions of democracy being attacked. You never know who is coming in next and it’s a constant rotation of power. Stan K is going to be here for 30 more years. We’re going to be the most consistently run outfit in world sport, it’ll just be dull.
So let’s not be dramatic. Arsenal is the star in Stan’s portfolio. For him to grow that star, he has to have a competitive team. For all the major owners to move TV revenue to the next level, they have to continue to invest in the product. We’ve been doing that, our wages bill is £200m+ and we were the 3rd highest net spender in the league over the last 5 years and we’ve outspent Madrid from a net perspective since 2010. Stan needs a competitive Arsenal, so nothing is going to change on that front, the club will move on without Alisher, it’ll move on without Gazidis who has chosen to ply his trade with Milan, and it’ll move on without fans being literally invested in the club.
It’s a bland set of circumstances, but let’s not kid ourselves anyone has the best option. No ownership of a football club is romantic or ideal. Every club comes with its visa issues. Our biggest worry is that Stan is a bit boring. But overall, bar the love-in for Wenger that went on far too long, the club is pretty well run and it’s moving in the right direction.
It’s a sad day for shareholders who have to sell up, but it’s also a massive payday for them.
Stan is a safe businessman, and he’ll always be that way. The only way Arsenal make it moving forward is having the best football staff in the game, working budgets harder, and working our players smarter than anyone else.
It’s always been a struggle being an Arsenal fan, and it always will be. Let’s just enjoy the ride. x
Stan the Trump lover! LOL
Your Comment Here
I really don’t see it Charlie
Why would Barcelona be in such a hurry to sell him?
Maybe a 10m loan deal for a year, but the option to buy bit i really doubt it.
If you’re going to try and argue for Kroenke by using ridiculous ideas about him knowing nothing about football i’m just going to keep replying with these..
I think if you showed him a picture of Ousmane Dembele and a picture of Dave Chappelle as Rick James he wouldn’t know the difference. I think if you’re trying to sell me the idea that he’s to blame for selling Nasri or Van Persie to United and for us buying shite ever the years like Andre Santos and Park Chu Young you’d honestly have better luck trying to sell me magic beans
Receding
Runours Dembele doesnt get on with the management at Barca.
They are also on the hook for £30+m in extra payments if he stays and plays.
They may also find £80m useful to invest in the team.
There are whole bundle of things Kronke could do behind the scenes at Arsenal if he indeed gets ownership but one thing he can’t do is move as Arsenal away from England. It would be highly unlikely that he would be able to move Arsenal to a ground even outside London and even then its highly debatable if other than a short term groundshare move into the catchment area of any other London or indeed any league clubs turf would be allowed following the MK Dons fiasco What is possible is that he gets the green light to set up… Read more »
Wenger and the loss of CL made us cheaper value- here comes Stan
The shares cost more now than they did 6 months ago
Marko
Im selling you nothing, you’re daft as a brush when it comes to this sort of thing.
Receding
Barca will profit on him and get shot of a player that doesn’t want to be there, so they can invest elsewhere. Standard practice really, Malcom already slots in his place and they can go after others ie Pogba
“Why would Barcelona be in such a hurry to sell him?”
The Coach might not rate him.
They’ve bought his replacement in Malcom.
Not many clubs can afford to have 90M on the bench.
Valverde prefers the 4-4-2 formation and we know the 2 up top. For the 4 in midfield, there’s Busquets, Rakitic, Coutinho, Vidal, Athur, Malcom, Dembele plus the others they don’t want (Gomez et al).
Coutinho, Vidal, Athur and Malcom are new
Busquets, Rakitic aren’t going anywhere so that leaves Dembele as the odd man out.
It’s not often I agree with Charlie’s comments but this one hits the nail on the head.
“As Alex points out, the sole ownership thing isn’t really the sticking point (at least not for me). It’s whether Stan is the right sort to have that responsibility, and it’s this ive not been convinced of over the past decade which says a great deal.
Gambon
I will wait and see on that.
Just read on twitter ( @Arsenic) that Unai Emery is not convinced by the defense. He does not rate Mustafi and Holding and does not believe Mavropanos is ready for the premier league on a weekly basis. Two things worrying about this
1. Why conclude on this now two days to the transfer deadline
2. id Vida the answer? I say no
By the way they are also saying we have no money for the Vida signing except we sell players and we are having trouble doing that
Marko
Where did you get the info that the shares cost more now than 6 mons ago?
I do hope we get Demebele
Our team has done a good deal of unsettling him this summer. Lets just hope its been enough to have him ask for a transfer.
Stan is richer than F
Cough up the loan money with option to buy
or offer installments on the 100M
We aint signing Dembele unfortunately.
Where did you get the info that the shares cost more now than 6 mons ago?
He bid for them 6 months ago apparently
Guns of SF,
“Usmanov took a loss selling to Stan right???”
He has made circa £335mm profit on his sale of shares.
‘Just read on twitter ( @Arsenic) that Unai Emery is not convinced by the defense. He does not rate Mustafi and Holding and does not believe Mavropanos is ready for the premier league on a weekly basis. Two things worrying about this’
If true then my concerns about having a DoF will be proven right. A manager should be the sole decision maker at a club but doesn’t look like it is him making all the decisions.
Dembele would be an incredible signing, that front three would be serious.
That said hard one to see happen for litany of reasons, but it sure is fun to think about.
Really have to question how we let such a prospect slip thru when he played for Rennes, shows how broken our scouting network became coupled with Wengers indecisiveness towards talent. This entire space was calling for him when Dortmund bagged him.
The rumors of Ivan to Milan coinciding with the takeover are interesting
“We aint signing Dembele unfortunately.”
Yep. I’ve accepted the squad for what it is. Still looking forward to the season. Simply not having Wenger has made it intriguing.
We seriously need another scoring threat in the event either Laca or PEA get injured. God forbid but having that third scorer in the starting 11, would make a huge difference in that event, and also in general!
Where are the goals going to come from besides Laca and PEA?
None of the starting 11 seem to be capable of adding the third scoring consistently
Wenger started the fire.
Stan gave Wenger more flammable furniture to chuck on it.
Gazidis and co watched as the club burned.
Finally the pyromaniac was brought down and a patsy was given the gig.
…and now Stan has the club and you can bet your ass that Wenger will be back in some capacity.
Listen, I thought Arsenal was pretty dead in 2008/2009. Today, it flatlined. Do I care? Nah. This place is hilarious so I’ll keep contributing and winding people up.
‘If true then my concerns about having a DoF will be proven right. A manager should be the sole decision maker at a club but doesn’t look like it is him making all the decisions’ Not really. Emery has made the decision based on what he has seen in pre-season. Factor in we badly needed a GK, CB, CDM, CM and a winger with just £70 Million to spend and our choices are sort of limited without sales which we now see are proving incredibly difficult because of the state of the club, the players and our wage structure. We’ve… Read more »
Arsenal will finish seventh.
Guns of SF
“We seriously need another scoring threat in the event either Laca or PEA get injured. God forbid but having that third scorer in the starting 11, would make a huge difference in that event, and also in general! Where are the goals going to come from besides Laca and PEA?
None of the starting 11 seem to be capable of adding the third scoring consistently”
That’s why we have Eddie as back-up.
The pertinent question is not the third striker. It is the fact that we need goals to come in from the attacking midfielders as well.
“Arsenal will finish seventh.”
No chance.
Kronke borrows £557m to buy Usmanov’s shares.
So let me get this straight, our majority owner has borrowed more money than it took to build the Emirates to buy out Usmanov?
I know he has said that this debt will not be ladened on the club but surely he doesn’t expect anyone to believe this?
Wenger was not the problem of Arsenal. He was just a convenient lightning rod.
With 100% of the club in his hands what is there to prevent Silent Stan from completely using the club as security for his other business ventures?
“This place is hilarious so I’ll keep contributing and winding people up.”
The reasons to return, you fucking cunts are hilarious.
Eddie is great but not sure he is ready for that yet.
In any case, the left wing needs addressing sharpish.
Please dont tell me Iwobi can do the job
Gambon
…from bottom.
If we offered 70m they would snap our hands off. Barca
David from the sugar an fruit stall seller sold the club down the river for his own greed .
It’s Wengers fault.
Jeremy fucking Corbyn supports Arsenal.
Yikes.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/aug/07/what-what-does-stan-kroenkes-takeover-of-arsenal-mean-for-the-club
Phantom bid out of nowhere for Lemar at £90m on deadline day, why not repeat the performance for a better player this time.
Boris
7th
I don’t think so
Hear hear sal
Although it would only take 70
No rambo news? Not looking good there either.
We need a replacement for him very soon…. like very
Emery s a proven manager
He deserves respect for his achievements and must have a fair crack off the w.i.p
If he dont sign
Bin him in reserves
Wenger
Gazidis
Ramsay
…in six months? Will the world stop spinning? Please tell me
Everything will be okay!!!!
Don’t die of shock, but back in 2011-12, for roughly ten months, I became an AST member. What a fudging waste of time. About as effective and influential as a grain of salt on a 64oz ribeye steak. More concerned with financial gain and meeting for a chinwag and a few pints, than try to help solve the visible problems at AFC. Their annual membership surveys were an absolute joke. Read them for a laugh. Great bedtime reading. Had the pleasure of sitting through a meaningless meeting with IG. Yes, just to confirm, he is an absolute tosser. I got… Read more »
I hope that all gooners understand that protesting against Kroenke so early in the sole ownership will negatively affect the team.
It was destabilize a new manager, budding back room team and the already fractious fan base. All it will do is create an environment of crises from the media. I’m not sure we can survive another round of placard carrying gooners.
No amount of protesting will get rid of Kroenke. Even if you’re a billionaire like Usmanov, you still wouldn’t get your way.
Lets all embrace the team and judge Kroenke going forward.
Thoughts of Boris is no suprise
Wenger drained all the life out of the club.
To the extent that fans couldn’t care less how the club does.
It can be repaired but will take wins an time .
But I’m not sure the fans care anymore
If true then my concerns about having a DoF will be proven right. A manager should be the sole decision maker at a club but doesn’t look like it is him making all the decisions
It’s the previous manager and no DOF’s fault that we have shit players in defence
Sal,
“Phantom bid out of nowhere for Lemar at £90m on deadline day, why not repeat the performance for a better player this time.”
We can bid 500 million for Leo Messi at 11.00pm on Thursday, knowing fully well that the clock will run out before Barca returns to dick-slap us.
Like you said…phantom bid.
Window shuts 5pm on Thursday, no?
“Window shuts 5pm on Thursday, no?”
Revised for yourpleasure
“We can bid 500 million for Leo Messi at 4.00pm on Thursday, knowing fully well that the clock will run out before Barca returns to dick-slap us.”
using the club as security for his other business ventures?
Wouldn’t Arsenal be the biggest thing that he’d own?
….So bad that Everton FC Shareholders Association took time out to address the full ownership of Arsenal…
Radio Raheem the point Dissenter was making flew right over your head if all you can pick out is when the window closes
Napoli in for Ospina…
May get a decent fee for him.
No rambo news? Not looking good there either.
We need a replacement for him very soon…
Ramsey is absolutely staying now and likely going to ass fuck the club in a similar way to Ozil. Chelsea being offered Kovacic on loan puts to bed Ramsey going there (Kovacic is better). Our only hope would be Liverpool but do they need him? And they’re fuckers to negotiate with they’d probably go no further than 20 million.
Better Dissenter
Receding you’re more than a bit thick aren’t you?
Dissenter
Indeed, but something tells me if this new transfer team bigs the £90m it won’t be phantom.
Not to mention, Svens history with signing the player.
I’m not sure you can count the Lemar bid last summer as some phantom fake bid or something. Wasn’t it the pp player who turned us down because he wanted more time to decide. Had we bid q week earlier we might have actually got him
Sky Sports News understands it is highly unlikely Usmanov will look at other Premier League clubs. In a statement, Usmanov said: “I have decided to sell my shares in Arsenal Football Club which could be the best football club in the world. “I wish all the best and great success to this wonderful football club and to all those whose lives and careers are entwined in it.” Usmanov’s Red and White Securities firm added: “We confirm that Mr Alisher Usmanov has given an irrevocable undertaking to KSE to accept the offer in respect of Red and White Securities’ entire holding… Read more »
Real Madrid offering to loan Kovacic to Chelsea to sweeten the Courtois deal.
Is there a place for him there after the Jorginho signing? And would surely have to be a loan with an option to buy for Chavs to be interested.
How much you reckon Ramsey gets now per week?
Usmanov you pussy, this is what Billionaires do, they sit in some gentleman’s club and argue about the price of Ferrari and Caviar….i bet they sat drinking congac and got shit faced, Kroenke petting his bald head telling him to let go of his 30%
Guns of SF
“How much you reckon Ramsey gets now per week?”
200K weekly ….from Chelsea
So Usmanov sold the shares at £29,419 a share. I think that last time he had bought shares he bought them at £10,500. That’s almost triple the profit; or over £330m pounds NET profit in the space of 11 years. Without moving a finger. Fk me!!! That’s what I call business!
Who knows what the Lemar bid was, safe to say it wasn’t well thought out othwewise we’d of signed him.
If you’re going to shatter club transfer record for a player i’d imagine you’d know where he was willing to play along.
how much more is that than what we pay Rambo now?
The J.oe Hart situation is pretty remarkable and bizarre.
Just sold to Burnley for 3.5 million.
This is a former Captain, 4 time Golden Glove winner and a man with 75 England caps.
Wallace, vaguely similar to his buddy Jacky Wilshere, no?! Spectacular decline.
Coyote moving from West Ham to Crystal Palace for more money than we’re selling Lucas Perez…WTF is going on with us??? This is not even Wenger here anymore, and we can’t even get proper money for our players, Ramsey still hasn’t signed as is Nelson….
Max Meyer going to Crytsal Palace..LMAO and a lot wanted him on our team, all he could muster is a move to Palace…fuck me.
Dembele will be the daftest kid in the world if he goes to United.
Mourhino will try to convert him to a wingback.
sal
The Lemar saga was PR spin.
Arsenal had no intention of buying him.
After the Sanchez saga is was a way to appease the fans.
All crap!
Tell you what Madrid trying to loan Kovacic in order to get a goalkeeper has got to be a slap in the face to the player
Dale
It’s called making the most of a really bad situation.
Why panic?
Just go with the flow.
None of us have a clue what’s going on behind the scenes.
Try and relax my friend.
Marko
Think Kovacic has to be honest with himself and reconcile the fact that it’s extremely unlikely at this stage that he will break into the Real Madrid first team in the near future barring a dramatic drop off from Modric.
He’s 24, the time to move and and play on a weekly basis is now really.
Michael24, I don’t think I’m panicking, what would suggest I am?
Correction – what I said was towards WE, not Wallace. lol
After a decade of treading water and a slow and predictable regression, I am prepared to sit back and accept change.
For some of you though, accepting change is proving very difficult.
Kepa Arrizabalaga of Bilbao for 71m pounds to Chelsea
LOL ..the window has gone mad if this happens
Dale
“WTF is going on with us???”
Slight panic there.
Kepa Arrizabalaga of Bilbao for 71m pounds to Chelsea
Receding
Are you sure it isn’t Oooospina? You RedTruth swears by the tree in his school yard that Ospina is the greatest keeper ever.
*** you know
71 million for Kepa… fuck me
The fvck do you do for a living, Marko? How does anyone with a life or a serious job find the time or energy to write tens of comments every day? Every.fvcking.day
Athletic Bilbao are an amazing case.
Fact that they only recruit players from the Basque region and have had as much success as they have had is astonishing. You have admire it.
Seem to churn out quality player after quality player and always remain up thereabouts in the top 5/6 of La Liga barring the last couple of seasons where they have fallen off a bit.
Rambo it’s called a day off and a smart phone. These things are great you can literally keep em in your pocket and take it out and spend literally seconds getting your point across. What an age we live in
I’ve made no secret of my detest for Kroenke in the past.
BUT he did sack Wenger and has put in a footballing structure in place. 5 Years late,yes, but act like an owner who cared he finally did.
So yeah, not throwing my toys out the pram yet.
Marko, you’re fooling nobody chump
Rambo is playing us…
Just sell him
Have They not learned from last year.
Think Butland’s error over the weekend did not go down too well with the Chelsea scouts
rEceding
“Think Butland’s error over the weekend did not go down too well with the Chelsea scouts”
Yes
I saw the howler. I’ve always thought these English goalies are overrated anyway. It’s like how they overate every England player that can do a leg-over or dribble poast one player.
Rambo
Marko be there on deadline day yellow tie and yellow boxers giving us the run down till the final minute bless the lad.
Culled from the Guardian “Arrizabalaga, Spain’s second choice and considered one of the most promising goalkeepers in Europe having impressed for his country through the junior age groups, has a release clause set at 80m Euros (£71.6m). Bilbao are braced to lose the 23-year-old, who has travelled to Madrid with his agent ahead of a flight to London around 10am on Wednesday, having come close to selling the youngster to Real for only £17.9m in January.” Oh dear. He was almost sold to Real for 17 million 6 months ago despite the relase clause. He actually passed the medical at… Read more »
Marlon, Liverpool paid 40mil for Chambo who was shitter than Ramsey, on deadline day last season.
Would anyone take Ross Barkley plus 20 million for Aaron Ramsey.
Shocking, absolutely shocking the state of our defense going into the season.
We’re leaving so much to chance
A Mustafi miracle
Papa settling in and start preaching
Bellerin coming to terms with his sexuality
Young ones maturing
Bakayoko heading to Milan
Would anyone take Ross Barkley plus 20 million for Aaron Ramsey.
No I would not
Considering all the doubts with our defense i still will not mind Nzonzi being brought in. Make us hard to beat first without worrying about this wonderful runs Ramsey makes that allegedly unsettles teams so much
There’s a player in Bakayoko, his detractors have been a tad hasty.
Bakayoko heading to Milan
True definition of a flop signing
Na Barkley has yet to show he’s still the same player he was pre-injury, skeptical he’ll be the same player.
Gonna watch Chelsea v Lyon, should be a good game.
Fekir isn’t playing but that doesn’t mean he’s off to the Chavs ( Sarri interested ), just that he has just been back from holidays. Well, hopefully.