Source: Daily_Mail
Arsenal share war: Billionaires Alisher Usmanov and Stan Kroenke set for takeover battle
Share-buying spree: Stan Kroenke[LNB] A new cold war between Russian Alisher Usmanov and American Stan Kroenke is set to break out over the ownership of Arsenal, with both billionaires in the market for more shares.[LNB] Arsenal board member Kroenke would make no comment at the AGM about his full ownership ambitions but chairman Peter Hill-Wood gave the game away when he explained the American's silence owes to the sensitivities of the regulatory Takeover Panel.[LNB]There is no real point in Kroenke, who already has a club-controlling alliance with Danny Fiszman, continuing his share-buying spree unless his end game is majority ownership once he feels the time is right to make the necessary offer for the entirety of the stock.[LNB] More from Charles Sale... Arsenal WILL end this season with a trophy, insists birthday boy Wenger22/10/09 Charles Sale: A good deed by Newcastle bad-boy Joey Barton21/10/09 Charles Sale: Marcel Desailly signs on as a pundit for ITV's World Cup and Champions League coverage20/10/09 CHARLES SALE: Chelsea chief Peter Kenyon rules out move to new club19/10/09 CHARLES SALE'S SPORTS AGENDA: Blue Square in talks over whether to join football sponsor exodus and terminate Conference deal18/10/09 Charles Sale: Nationwide anger over Becks' man-of-the-match farce16/10/09 CHARLES SALE: You can't do both jobs, Triesman is told15/10/09 CHARLES SALE: FA's ambush fear on World Cup bid14/10/09 VIEW FULL ARCHIVE Usmanov, who believes the current independent ownership model of a number of wealthy shareholders is the best one, wants to strengthen his own position from 25 per cent up to the maximum individual stake of 29.99 per cent if he can find shareholders from whom to buy when the board are directing sellers towards Kroenke.[LNB]Meanwhile, Kroenke and Usmanov's Red & White holdings representatives both seem somewhat bemused by the bumblingly eccentric - albeit amusing - way in which Hill-Wood continues to chair Arsenal AGMs, which included him reading from the wrong page and the wrong script. The shareholders, however, loved it when he said he didn't regard Aston Villa or Spurs as rivals.[LNB]Ivan Gazidis, Arsenal's chief executive, took an unexpected pop at the rampant commercial approach of Manchester United at the AGM when he claimed United would be changing their first-choice home kit every year in future. United say they have changed two shirts this year and all three choices would be different again next season because of a change of sponsor - but no decision had been made about a permanent one-year kit cycle.[LNB]England's troubled 2018 World Cup team won't be doing cartwheels over their nemesis Jack Warner attending the next big campaign opportunity at the Soccerex Conference in Johannesburg next month. His presence has no doubt encouraged belated talks with Soccerex organisers about promotional activity at the event, although Warner's wife Maureen has already had her £230 Mulberry handbag gift from the England campaign.[LNB]There has been a major fall-out at the top of the IMG sports marketing empire between billionaire chairman Ted Forstmann, a regular on the Forbes list of richest Americans, and one of his most senior executives Peter Worth, former agent of Bjorn Borg and a formidable millionaire business operator himself. The rift has led to Worth handing in his immediate resignation and going on six months' gardening leave.[LNB]Storrie probe farceThe fiasco that is the multi-million pound football corruption investigation has reached the bizarre situation of Portsmouth chief executive Peter Storrie launching a detailed defence of his actions before he has even been given details of what charges he will be facing. The prosecuting office for HM Revenue and Customs, who are now leading this deeply flawed probe, say they have informed Storrie he will be charged but have not revealed with what. Storrie, Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp and Leicester chairman Milan Mandaric have been on bail for almost two years on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud and false accounting.[LNB]Ipswich Town's reclusive owner Marcus Evans, a strong supporter of the Liberal Democrats, has facilitated the conversion of part of a redundant gym at Portman Road into a call centre for his party to campaign ahead of the General Election expected next May. Students will be employed to work there every evening cold-calling voters to promote Nick Clegg and his team. Evans bought Ipswich from David Sheepshanks, who was once linked with becoming a Tory MP. Ipswich chief executive Simon Clegg said he would be prepared to rent space to other political parties if asked. [LNB] [LNB] Explore more:People:David Sheepshanks, Harry Redknapp, Ivan Gazidis, Peter Storrie, Peter Hill-Wood, Simon Clegg, Jack WarnerPlaces:United Kingdom
