AST Meeting With Ivan Gazidis – By JG Oh joy, the Arsenal Supporters Trust will be having their annual Q&A with Ivan Gazidis and the board this coming Wednesday at the Emirates at 7:00pm. Last years meeting turned up to be a load of nonsense, the questions Gazidis was asked were for the most part [.

ARSENAL shareholder Alisher Usmanov has splashed some of his considerable cash on a new luxury yacht...no doubt tempting Gooners to dream about the money he could fork out on players.

Usmanov has, it is being reported, handed over some £65million on the craft, which includes a swimming pool, a helicopter pad, a gym, a luxury dining room and cabins for 20 guests.

350 members of various Arsenal supporters' organisations and shareholders will attend a Q&A evening with the club's CEO Ivan Gazidis in the north end of the stadium's Club Level next Wednesday evening, after Coldplay have packed up and moved on to their next venue. At this time of year, since before the move to the new stadium, such an event has been organised by the Arsenal Supporters Trust for their members.

We're building a list of anniversaries of the club. Please send your suggestions to Tony.Attwood@aisa.org

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Why does AST talk of failure in the future?

By: Anne

I came to write this article in an extremely roundabout way. It all began when I was looking at the twitter account of [.

So I was listening this evening to the excellent 5live report on Arsenal's finances, a discussion with some knowledgeable men present: Martin Keown, former Liverpool MD Christian Purslow, Jeremy Wilson from the Telegraph and Nigel Phillips from the AST. It's a great listen and I urge you to have a crack if you've not done so already (not sure if it's available overseas – it seems not).

Morning, the week of introspection continues and we'll start this morning with a fantastic piece from Michael Cox (of Zonal Marking), who asks the obvious, but until yesterday, un-uttered question What are Arsenal good at?

Using Sunderland's last two games against us he highlights how they modified their approach to render Arsenal pretty much ineffectual in the FA Cup tie.

It looks like the world depression and the supposedly up-coming Financial Fair Play rules have conspired to destroy Arsenal's so-called self-sustaining business model. The Gunners youth policy has led to Arsene Wenger signing up more and more youngsters in the hope that they will one day fulfil their potential and be sold off at vastly [.

The numbers simply don't lie: Seven years without a trophy. The worst Arsenal team in ten years. Arsenal appears to be in a state of crisis, but there are yet more questions than answers concerning any resolution. Arsenal fans are demanding to know whether Arsene had access to the fat reserve account, whether he should be the target of blame and villified or else forgiven.

The numbers simply don't lie: Seven long years without a trophy. Comments regarding the team's demise have been loaded with vitriol: "The worst Arsenal team in ten years," for instance. Arsenal as a team appears to be in a state of crisis, but there are yet more questions than answers concerning any resolution.

szólj hozzá: Wolves v Aston villa 2:3 MOTD

Scorers:
Bent (Ast) 11′ pen
Kightly (Wol) 21′
Edwards (Wol) 31′
Keane (Ast) 51, 85′

Scorers:
Drogba (Chel) 23′ pen
Ireland (Ast) 28′
Petrov (Ast) 83′
Bent (Ast) 86′

Well, would you believe it? It seems as if progress is on the Arsenal horizon with chief bod Ivan Gazidis seemingly open to ideas from Gooners on improving the atmosphere at the Emirates. Revealtions this morning on Twitter suggest that the club are pondering the option of booting away fans upstairs in the Clock End, thus allowing home supporters cheaper seats and improving the unity at that end.

Well, would you believe it? It seems as if progress is on the Arsenal horizon with chief bod Ivan Gazidis seemingly open to ideas from Gooners on improving the atmosphere at the Emirates. Revealtions this morning on Twitter suggest that the club are pondering the option of booting away fans upstairs in the Clock End, thus allowing home supporters cheaper seats and improving the unity at that end.

Well, would you believe it? It seems as if progress is on the Arsenal horizon with chief bod Ivan Gazidis seemingly open to ideas from Gooners on improving the atmosphere at the Emirates. Revealtions this morning on Twitter suggest that the club are pondering the option of booting away fans upstairs in the Clock End, thus allowing home supporters cheaper seats and improving the unity at that end.

szólj hozzá: www.1Goals.com AST 3-1 BR FT

Aston Villa went joint top of the EPL after beating Blackburn 3-1 at Villa Park today with goals from Gabby Agbonlahor, Emile Heskey and Darren Bent with Morten Gamst Pedersen getting the Blackburn goal.

What is it with these Arsenal experts?, the back stabbing has been extended from the external Arsenal haters to now some of our own. Tim Payton who is a leading member of the AST should know better than to create more internal divisions in the club on his twitter feed. For those who don't know Tim Payton, he is not shy about giving his opinion, and considers himself to be one of the official spokesmen for Arsenal Football club despite not being a formal employee of the club.

At last, I'm able to present to you the "really super cool blog" I've been promoting for over a week. Today, we can read the insights of Tim Payton, who is a board member and the spokesperson for the Arsenal Supporters' Trust. You can read more about Tim on the board page of the AST website.

A petición de uno de nuestros lectores, les dejamos las estadísticas del Mundial Sub 17 2011 desarrollado en México y aun por jugarse el 3er y 4o lugar y la final el domingo.
Asi finalizaron los grupos
Grupo A JJ JG JE JP GF GC DF PTS México 3 3 0 0 8 4 4 9 Congo 3 1 1 1 3 3 0 4 Corea del Norte 3 0 2 1 3 5 -2 2 Holanda 3 0 1 2 3 5 -2 1 Grupo B JJ JG JE JP GF GC DF PTS Japón 3 2 1 0 5 2 3 7 Francia 3 1 2 0 5 2 3 5 Argentina 3 1 0 2 3 7 -4 3 Jamaica 3 0 1 2 2 4 -2 1 Grupo C JJ JG JE JP GF GC DF PTS Inglaterra 7 3 2 1 0 6 2 4 Uruguay 6 3 2 0 1 4 2 2 Canadá 2 3 0 2 1 2 5 -3 Ruanda 1 3 0 1 2 0 3 -3 Grupo D JJ JG JE JP GF GC DF PTS Uzbekistán 3 2 0 1 5 6 -1 6 Estados Unidos 3 1 1 1 4 2 2 4 Nueva Zelanda 3 1 1 1 4 2 2 4 República Checa 3 1 0 2 2 5 -3 3 Grupo E JJ JG JE JP GF GC DF PTS Alemania 3 3 0 0 11 1 10 9 Ecuador 3 2 0 1 5 7 -2 6 Panamá 3 1 0 2 2 4 -2 3 Burkina Faso 3 0 0 3 0 6 -6 0 Grupo F JJ JG JE JP GF GC DF PTS Brasil 3 2 1 0 7 3 4 7 Costa de Marfil 3 1 1 1 8 7 1 4 Australia 3 1 1 1 3 3 0 4 Dinamarca 3 0 1 2 3 8 -5 1
La tabla de goleo individual asi va
Jugador Selección GF AST MIN Souleymane Coulibaly Costa de Marfil 9 0 357 Samed Yesil Alemania 6 3 480 Ademilson Brasil 5 2 538 Yassine Benzia Francia 5 1 374 Carlos Fierro México 4 1 540 Timur Khakimov Uzbekistán 3 2 433 Adryan Brasil 3 2 450 Abbosbek Makhstaliev Uzbekistán 3 1 354 Fumiya Hayakawa Japón 3 1 450 Mitchell Weiser Alemania 3 1 502 Julio Gómez México 3 1 524 Stephen Carmichael Nueva Zelanda 3 0 337 Hideki Ishige Japón 3 0 360 Gracias por tu visita Estadísticas de Fútbol

"For the first time in a while, I will be very active"

With these dozen words, spoken at the tail end of May, Wenger has kicked off a fascinating close season. I didn't think I'd be enjoying it one bit, but I appear to be doing just that.

How so? Given that as much of the current transfer eddy is whirling around players who might depart as it is around players who might join, you'd have thought the whole rumour mill would be too hair-tearing for words.

Cool as you like

How have you been? Good I hope. Let's get straight into it then. Yesterday, the Arsenal Supporters Trust (AST) has a dialogue session with the CEO of Arsenal FC, Ivan Gazidis. You can see them here and here. Plenty of questions were raised but due to the time limitation, not everyone manage to get their question out.

Morning all,

much of what's about this morning stems from Ivan Gazidis and his meeting with some of the AST membership last night. He came along, answered the questions, said all the right things and none of it was in any way earth-shattering or unexpected.

He said that the manager had the 100% support of the board, which I think we already knew.

Who is in and who is close to the Relegation Zone as of Tue May 10:
3 more got knocked down this weekend: Almeria, Brescia & St Pauli.
Officially Relegated
Almeria - La Liga
Arles - Ligue 1
Bari - Serie A
Brescia - Serie A
St Pauli - Bundesliga
Serie A - 2 games to go (three lowest placed teams relegated)
42 Parma (-9)
41 Bologna (-13)
40 Cesena (-12)
38 Lecce (-20)
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36 Sampdoria (-13)
REL-31 Brescia (-17)
REL-21 Bari (-31)
Bundesliga - 1 game to go (two lowest placed teams relegated, with third lowest in playoff against third highest in 2.

Ever since Arsenalinsider released the design for the away shirt for the next season there has been a great deal of chatter about it, understandably so. I was surprised by the strong negative opinion generated by the design.

The reason for my astonishment is not that I find the shirt amazing or anything like that.

Stan Kroenke's move to take majority control of Arsenal is getting a little bit messy as Alisher Usmanov has confirmed that he will not sell his 27% stake in Arsenal to Kroenke.

"I'm not going to sell my stake," Usmanov told Bloomberg from Moscow. "I love Arsenal, that's why I'm a shareholder.

Stan Kroenke's move to take majority control of Arsenal is getting a little bit messy as Alisher Usmanov has confirmed that he will not sell his 27% stake in Arsenal to Kroenke.

"I'm not going to sell my stake," Usmanov told Bloomberg from Moscow. "I love Arsenal, that's why I'm a shareholder.

Amidst all the excitement and discussion about the Kroenke takeover, I chanced upon an amusing news article yesterday. The headline caught my eye and I ended up laughing for a few minutes after reading it.

CORLUKA: I CALLED FAN AN IDIOT

These were the words that had me in splits,

I told one supporter he was an idiot.

A couple of stories today:

First, the Arsenal Supporters Trust met last night and voted unanimously to reject chairman of the board Peter Hill-Wood's suggestion that Arsenal shareholders sell their shares to Kroenke. The AST, which I believe holds 3 shares in its own name and manages dozens more under the fanshare scheme, is not a major shareholder in terms of percentage of the club owned, but has been a very active and passionate voice for Arsenal fans.

The dust is yet to settle after yesterday's big news. There's a lot of speculation, a lot of rumour, but the bottom line is nobody knows anything for certain.

In my interview with the AST yesterday we hear that Kroenke will not saddle the club with the debt of the purchase, the Guardian says he 'could'.

The inevitable is finally happening – a billionaire is buying Arsenal. Will it make Arsenal a rich man's play thing? Will there be money available to the manager? Will Wenger have a sword hanging over his head? Will the Gunners be laden with the burden of debt? Will Usmanov sell his stake? What about the AST, Fanshare, and other minority shareholders?

The Stan Kroenke 'takeover' news is obviously a massively important issue for Arsenal Football Club, but also for the fans.

I spoke to Tim Payton from the Arsenal Supporter's Trust about these developments, what they might mean for the club in the here and now and the future, and what might happen to the other shareholders including Red and White Holdings as well as those who hold a much smaller stake in the club.

I've waited until now to discuss the takeover story to give myself a little time to digest the news, and analyse what it realistically means for Arsenal Football Club. It is very easy to jump to snap judgements on whether it is a positive or negative thing, and as usual there are many shades of grey.

Stan Kroenke is poised to launch a full takeover of Arsenal after agreeing deals to buy shares owned by Danny Fiszman and Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith.

Kroenke, who already owns 29.9% of Arsenal will acquire the 16.1% owned by Fiszman and Lady Bracewell-Smith's 15.9% stake for about £11,000 a share, or £225m according to BBC Sport.

Stan Kroenke is poised to launch a full takeover of Arsenal after agreeing deals to buy shares owned by Danny Fiszman and Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith.

Kroenke, who already owns 29.9% of Arsenal will acquire the 16.1% owned by Fiszman and Lady Bracewell-Smith's 15.9% stake for about £11,000 a share, or £225m according to BBC Sport.

Midweek Arse to you all and it seems funny not to have a game. As far as I can make out the only time we've had seven days between games since the end of December was the week after the 4-4 against Newcastle when we played Wolves at home. Progress in various competitions, a number of times via replay, meant the schedule has been as hectic as it possibly could have been.