Somewhat divergent statements from Danny Fiszman and Peter Hill Wood in different papers in the face of the take-over at Man City.
Hill Wood said (Sunday Mirror): “If somebody came and made a really huge bid, then you cannot tell shareholders to turn it down because we don’t like it.
“We want the club the stay in its current ownership and, of course, you have some concern that someone will try to buy. We don’t want to sell but we are a public company.”
Meanwhile Danny Fiszman (People) has extolled the virtues of Arsene Wenger in the face of this massive foreign investment.
“You either believe in Arsene or you don’t, and at Arsenal we do. We believe in the way he manages our club.
“In fact, we believe Arsene has the best football job in the world. During the transfer window there was £30m for Arsene to spend on a player if he wanted to.
“It’s his head on the block in the end, but we have total confidence in him and his record at Arsenal supports our belief in him.
“When you look at the average life of a manager you can understand the mentality of so many who say: ‘I’ve got to buy the finished article now because I haven’t got time to develop my own players’.
“But right from the start Arsene never actually went down that route. His words to us when we first met him were ‘I want to leave Arsenal in better shape than when I came’.
[If Wenger doesn’t spend £30m on a transfer fee, why would he spend £300m with new owners. The danger of the Man City takeover is the potential huge wage inflation rippling down, with greater temptation for players to move, and harder for Wenger to pursue his policies of keeping the team together.]
Fiszman’s views are in sharp contrast to the MoS report that Abu Dhabi United Group’s Dr Sulaiman Al Fahim, met Usmanov to consider investing £180m in Arsenal earlier this year.[Unlikely as ADUG wanted to buy a club outright – to promote the country via a valuable pawn.]
It says Usmanov was only willing to sell a proportion of shares and that would have been at a premium and any deal foundered.
Meanwhile David Dein is stepping down from his position as chairman of Usmanov’s shareholding company Red & White Holdings in order to try to improve the Russian billionaire’s relationship with the club, according to the Daily Mail.
“Dein realises that there is now no chance of Usmanov having the type of input into Arsenal — and a possible seat on the board — his shareholding merits while the former Arsenal vice-chairman remains so closely tied to him, such is the hostility towards Dein.”
Dein, who was 65 yesterday, is likely to take up a position with UEFA or FIFA.
Meanwhile a chart of owners riches in the rival media group paper the Daily Star [re-written for copyright reasons, although some figures are open to debate], shows Arsenal currently third in the very simplistic owners wealth league.
Manchester City Owners, Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment Wealth are way out in front with £1trillion [although a property source tells me it is more.]
Roman Abramovich – £10.8billion.
Then comes Arsenal with £3bn from the combined wealth of Usmanov, Danny Fiszman and Stan Kroenke [discounting the combined wealth of the other 40% of shareholders]. The Sunday Times incidentally has the combined Kroenke/Usamanov wealth at over £7bn.
ENIC International Ltd owners of Tottenham are at £2.8bn.
Mike Ashley (Newcastle) comes fifth with £1.4bn.
Man U’s Glazers are sixth at £1.39bn
Liverpool (Gillett and Hicks) seventh at £1.31bn.
Aston Villa’s Randy Learner has £832m
West Ham and Fulham are in the top ten at £610m and £555m respectively.
On players (at last), The D. Telegraph says Ghanain international midfielder Stephen Appiah may come to Arsenal
Appiah says: “There are contracts, there are talks – I can’t say anything yet.”
“I am not going to put people off, my agents are talking so I have nothing else to say.
Appiah is a name that has cropped up on Arsenal’s linked list between two to four years ago.
“My dream is to play in the Premier League and with the help of God, I will realise that dream.”
But the People say that dream may well be realised by Portsmouth, who are in for the Ghanain as a replacement for Muntari. They say he may be swayed by more of a chance of first team football.
East London and West Essex Guardian Series confirm that Gokhan Inler did consider a move to the Emirates before committing his future to the Serie A club.
Inler said in riddle form: “I had considered for about a week. You have to see that above all, the more you play the harder the competition. And I prefer to remain in Udinese and try to build on last season.”
The same outlet reports Sporting Lisbon star Miguel Veloso as saying there were no offers made for him before the transfer deadline shut .
But it says Arsenal reportedly made a last-ditch bid to buy Ajax’s Klaas-Jan Huntelaar.
And finally Fulham defender John Pantsil [real name Paintsil] has apologised to Emmanuel Eboue via the African media:
He told KickOffGhana.com: “I saw the game again and felt ashamed of the tackle. I respect my opponents I will make sure it does not happen again.
“I spoke to Ebuoe after the game and apologized to him. I went into the tackle with no bad intention and he understood that. I am a fair minded player and will never seek to hurt someone deliberately.”