SOCCER:ARSENE WENGER insists Arsenal will "respect our budget" in the January transfer window. The French coach is not known for big spending, preferring to invest in youth. But a trophy drought that stretches back to May 2005 means he has come in for some criticism as a result of his reluctance to land big-name players.
Wenger, though, believes his way of doing things is better than that of some of his rivals, who he has accused of not respecting “financial fair play”. He said: “We respect our budget. You look at clubs who lose £100 million or £150 million and if we do that, then we go bust. It’s as simple as that. We pay what we can afford.
“I’m amazed that people are amazed that we do that. I think what is surprising is that people don’t respect that. The beauty of the competition and this club is to be successful while respecting the financial balance.
“People will maybe realise one day that it’s not as easy to stay at the top and as well to cope with financial compulsories that you have at the top. We face rivals who do not respect the financial fair play. Instead of us being accused, maybe people should look somewhere else.”
Meanwhile, Alisher Usmanov’s hopes of buying enough shares to take his stake in Arsenal to 29.9 per cent look unlikely to be realised and a takeover by the Russian billionaire appears out of the question.
Usmanov said yesterday he hoped to increase his holding to a “blocking” stake of 29.9 per cent and did not rule out a bid for control of the club.
“Today, we have 27 per cent; our objective is to bring that up to a blocking stake of 29.9 per cent what happens in life,” he said.
For months Usmanov has had an open “buy” notice in the Plus market stock exchange, where Arsenal are listed. It is his activity alone that has in the past 12 months pushed up the price of individual shares by 21.6 per cent. Yet it has taken him two and a half months to buy even 50 shares – or 0.08 per cent of the total – which underlines just how difficult it is to expand a shareholding in the club.
Given that market data shows Usmanov holding 26.9 per cent of Arsenal, the other three per cent looks out of reach. Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith has placed her 15.9 per cent stake on the open market but has been unable to sell. The reason is that a buyer would know he would be acquiring only a minority interest behind Usmanov and Stan Kroenke.
Kroenke, a US real-estate billionaire, holds the strongest hand. Danny Fiszman, the owner of another 16 per cent stake in Arsenal, has in previous sales transacted only with Kroenke. He is also believed to have helped Usmanov’s attempts to gain boardroom representation. Kroenke, by contrast, has been made an executive director.
In the event of a takeover battle, it is unlikely Fiszman would sell his shares to anyone other than Kroenke. It is expected that if Usmanov were to trigger such a battle with the purchase of the Bracewell-Smith stake a takeover would be vetoed in a vote of all shareholders. And that, under the Takeover Panel’s City Code would push Usmanov into a forced sale of his new shares, leaving him back where he started.
