by VIC CRESCIT In a light week for Arsenal on-field news I thought I'd pause today and have a look at the future prospects for ownership at Arsenal.Â

Yesterday saw a bloc of 32 Arsenal Holdings shares traded off-market. I think it's reasonable to assume that Alisher Usmanov's Red & White Holdings Ltd was the buyer.

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Last week, Stan Kroenke increased his stake in the club 29.9% and I'd like to speculate, along with others, on what that will likely mean for the future of the club we all love. Mostly, I'd like to respond to an article by David Tully that was posted on Football FanCast this past week. Sadly, fear-mongering has been a great feature of this struggle for controlling interest in the club initiated by David Dein in the wake of his exit from the club.

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by CARL ELDRIDGE Congratulations to Rob Shepherd for today's most fanciful tale suggesting that Arsene Wenger will leave the Arsenal for Real Madrid if Alisher Usmanov takes over at the Emirates.

In the News of the World he 'reports':  I understand Wenger has made it plain to the Gunners board he will not work under Usmanov and would move to Real Madrid instead.

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It's now or never for Arsenal Football Club.  Stan Kroenke has been mopping up small shareholdings over the last couple of weeks to raise his share in the club to 29.8%. He is a fraction below the mandatory bid figure of 29.9%.

It was rumoured that he bought 100 shares from Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood; this is the same man who famously said, "We do not need his sort at this club.

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Stan Kroenke continues to edge closer to a takeover of Arsenal. He is now at a 29.6% shareholding, just shy of the 29.9% that by city rules would trigger a takeover bid. The Arsenal Supporters' Trust (AST) sent out a press release about the news today, which stated that they were opposed to a takeover by Kroenke (and also mentioned they did not believe one was imminent anyway).

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by CARL ELDRIDGE Arsene Wenger chose his 60th birthday to declare that the rip-roaring Gunners will win a trophy this season, claims the Daily Mail.

Playing catch-up with our own Vic Crescit's brilliant report from yesterday's AGM, this morning's paper says Wenger retains the total faith of the board and fans for his glittering achievements during more than 13 years as the club's longest-serving manager and the way his teams play despite it being four years since Arsenal won any silverware.

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Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has hinted he wouldn't be happy if the club was to be taken over.
With major shareholders Stan Kroenke and Alisher Usmanov both spoiling for a potential takeover bid, Wenger said: "Our way is the right way because it doesn't depend on any individual.
"It acknowledges the club is basically the property of the supporters. Click to continue reading...

Earlier this week, Russian oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov made a bid for control of the New Jersey Nets, which plays in America's professional basketball league, the NBA.  If accepted, Prokhorov would join rapper Jay-Z, who has a minority stake in the team and is seeking to move it across the Hudson River to his hometown of Brooklyn.

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A few things have occurred to me in these last few days when talk 0nce again turned to Lady Nina's shares and what was to happen to them.........

I have always been of the opinion that David Dein was merely waiting in the wings for his opportunity to return to the club that he loves and supports and that he ran for the best part of 24 years.

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Another excellent piece of journalism by perhaps the best blogger out there at present as Arseblog delves deeper into the boardroom kerfuffle at the Emirates.

It looks like the gloves are coming off and the relationships between our biggest shareholders are going to be increasingly tested over the next little while.

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NEVER let the facts get in the way of a good story. First rule of football journalism. Make that tabloid journalism. And the edict has been adhered to with gusto in today's Daily Star.

The paper claims that Barcelona will snatch Cesc Fabregas from the Gunners once they have sold Samuel Eto'o to Manchester City for £40m. Click to continue reading...

By now Cesc's mouth must have turned to mush issuing denials that he is leaving Arsenal.

The Sun reports that Arsenal will seriously considering selling Cesc Fabregas if they can find a club that can offer £40 million. As usual it is Real Madrid and Barca, the usual suspects who are preparing a bid.

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This week could be a monumental week in the history of the ownership of Arsenal Football Club.

At a board meeting this week, the directors will discuss, amongst other matter the option of raising additional capital.

Alisher Usmanov has sent a letter to the club formally offering to under-write a £100 million rights issue.

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Ronaldo is worth more than the salaries of 5,291,370 Eritreans

If Eritrea is brazen enough to bid for Ronaldo, they will have to virtually cede the total market value of all consumer goods and services produced annually to be able to afford his buyout clause of 1,000,000,000 euros. There are 30 countries with annual GDP's less than CR's value which include Bhutan, Guyana, Liberia, Burundi, BVI, and all of the Pacific atoll.

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What a turbulent week, Wenger throws away a line about Real Madrid and suddenly we felt like the roof hade caved in on our little world. Everyone came out in support of Wenger.

 Hill-Wood came out like the proud rooster, strutting his stuff about how disgraceful those shareholders were and how dare they question a man like Wenger.

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So forgive me, if for once, I choose to not talk about Hull and rather focus the gist of my piece on Barcelona instead.

I received an email from Craig Murray (if you haven't heard of Craig Murray, here's his Wikipedia page), who sent me a link to a disturbing image and article centered around Barcelona a club, he purports, supports a fascist dictatorship.

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Good, perhaps great, news from The Indy:

In the previous two seasons, Wenger has said that the club must sell a player every year to help service the annual £24m payments on the Emirates Stadium. He has sold Thierry Henry and Alexander Hleb – both to Barcelona – over the last two seasons and the evidence suggests that a further sale will be in order this year if he is to continue financing the club.

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The Arsenal Shareholders meet today to discuss all things Arsenal followed by a Gala Dinner. There may well be two notable absentees in the form of Alisher Usmanov and Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith. The question that should be on our lips is "Why do we need yet another rich tycoon to save Arsenal Football Club?

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The Arsenal Shareholders meet today to discuss all things Arsenal followed by a Gala Dinner. There may well be two notable absentees in the form of Alisher Usmanov and Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith. The question that should be on our lips is "Why do we need yet another rich tycoon to save Arsenal Football Club?

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Having seen Stan Kroenke increase his stake by two shares yesterday, our loveable Russian has once again entered the fray and gone straight to the heart of our problem. The massive debt mountain we have, but more particular the £135 million loan that is associated with the Highbury Square development.

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The takeover battle at Arsenal, the one remaining top four club in predominantly English ownership, has hotted up.  American sports tycoon Stan Kroenke has become the largest shareholder with a 28 per cent stake by acquiring the holdings of the Carr family who had more shares than was generally realised. Click to continue reading...

Arsenal says Kroenke raises stake to 28.3

• Reuters, Saturday May 2 2009

* Kroenke lifts stake in Arsenal to 28. Click to continue reading...

The connections between Uzbeki champions Bunyondkur, a murkily financed new Super Club backed by a murderous regime, and Barcelona appear to go far beyond the similarity of their badges, and cast a shadow on Barcelona's global reputation for unusual integrity. Click to continue reading...

I have to admit this is one retun I am glad to see. After getting match fit in the reserves, and helping Croatia to a friendly victory, Eduardo Da Silva returned to the Arsenal starting eleven in glorious fashion Monday night as his two goals blasted Arsenal into the fifth round of the FA Cup in [.. Click to continue reading...

We had now reached the summit of the loftiest crag. For some minutes the old man seemed too much exhausted to speak. 'Not long ago,' said he at length, 'and I could have guided you on this route as well as the youngest of my sons; but, about three years past, there happened to me [...] Click to continue reading...

Last week, Forbes announced it's list of the 10 Richest Men in Football. None of them are footballers. Though playing the game is spectacularly well rewarded, players earn peanuts next to these guys. Top of the list is a Russian gentleman, but not the one you're thinking of. He's number two. Number one is Oleg Deripaska [. Click to continue reading...

Peter Hill-Wood reckons Arsenal should make do without a foreign "sugar daddy". The Gunners' chairman has seen the likes of Manchester City and Chelsea taken over by billionaires, while Uzbek-Russian tycoon Alisher Usmanov - a major shareholder - is thought to been on buying the Gunners outright. However, Hill-Wood does not value foreign benefactors as a long-term [. Click to continue reading...

It's the end of the work week for most and as it winds down, Arsenal prepares for another match, this time away against Bolton. Never an easy place for us to play in, it'll be a tricky fixture no doubt. Before I get to a preview, there's a lot of chatter around these parts about Arsenal.

First up is the announcement that Stan Kroenke is joining the board at Arsenal.

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When you talk about Arsenal's future, it is usually in measured, nuanced terms much like its soccer. Unlike Man City's buyout which has vaulted it to the position of the richest club in the world, the lockdown agreement makes an Arsenal takeover unlikely at least till October 2009. But the Man City takeover has opened up cracks in the iron clad constitution of the Arsenal board.

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Howard Zinn: "In a society held together by falsehood, knowledge is an especially important form of power".
It is a general rule that the establishment don't feel that they are able to trust us, and we don't feel that we are able to trust them.
The establishment goes for surveillance. Click to continue reading...

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SKY -Football rich lists: Find out the wealthiest players and owners
Sky/Simon Ward- Football's Richest Club Owners
..1: Lakshmi Mittal (Queens Park Rangers)
No-one really expected the title of wealthiest club in Britain to shift a few miles across west London – certainly not to Loftus Road, anyway. Click to continue reading...

Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov is reportedly sounding out one of Arsenal's biggest shareholders, Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith, to sell her stake in the club. The oligarch is the Gunners' biggest shareholder with a 24.9 per cent stake, and should he convince Bracewell-Smith to sell her stake in the club, it would give him a major boost in [. Click to continue reading...

The Uzbeki billionaire with the shady past continues to build his share at Arsenal, a precursor to an eventual takeover bid. Click to continue reading...

ESPNsoccernet is reporting that Red and White Holdings Ltd. has increased it's share of Arsenal F.C. to 24%, making the group the second largest shareholder behind Daniel Fiszman who has 24.11%. The lock-down agreement preventing a takeover bid expires in April. Cue the Darth Vadar Theme (David Dein enters) If you're new here, you may want to [. Click to continue reading...

Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov has increased his stake in Arsenal by 1% to take his tally to 24%. His investment company Red and White Holdings bought bought shares, roughly half a per cent, from one shareholder in a single trade and this move has multiplied the speculation that the Russian billionaire is trying to buy [. Click to continue reading...