By Ian Grant
Arsenal Holdings PLC has appointed Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith as a non-executive director with immediate effect. Bracewell-Smith is one of the major shareholders with a stake of 16.8 pct.
Wire services don’t give a reason. But maybe ANR has found one.
The Sunday Times reported that Dublin based Birol Nadir, son of Asil Nadir (of Polly Peck) fame, and president of Crystalix, was getting friends and associates to invest in Arsenal. They are collectively said to currently own around 7% of the club.
Nadir denies wanting to take over and says Arsenal is hugely undervalued compared with Manchester United and that people had failed to spot “the opportunity”. If United’s market value was £703m, Arsenal should be worth a lot more than £236.4m, he said. “You can’t have Man United where it is, and Arsenal where it’s valued.”
Despite his denials, some investors think that Nadir may want to wrest control of the club, where the directors own about 45% of the shares.
However with the coming of Lady Nina, that gives the board a solid 62% – and in a far stronger position to resist (given they are of one mind).
AFX wire service says there has been consistent speculation that the club may seek a listing on the London Stock Exchange. It is currently on OFEX.
Meanwhile on a similar financial note, The Times reports news of Chelsea’s £18m and £50,000/week interest in Shaun Wright-Phillips and say it will be a bitter blow to Arsene Wenger, “who has made no secret of his admiration for the player, who has won four England caps. Wenger had been expected to lead the chase for Wright- Phillips this summer, but even armed with funds of about £30 million, the Frenchman knows that he cannot compete with the spending power at Mourinho’s disposal.”
It adds though that Arsenal will be buoyed by the belief that Wright-Phillips has ambitions of following in the footsteps of his stepfather, Ian Wright, by playing for the North London club.
Meanwhile, a weekly news review.
FA CUP SEMI
Mark Schwarzer said: “They [Arsenal] have so many match winners compared to Blackburn and, for that reason alone, every player in the Rovers’ team will need to be on his game and play at 100 per cent capacity.”
And added: “Blackburn will need to hit them early and control the pace of the game. You just can’t give Arsenal space. If you lose the ball in the wrong area, they’ll hurt you — just like Robert Pires did to us on Saturday.”
And: “You have to be on their heels all over the park. They always have more than one or two angles and you have to stop the options and force them to make the errors. They are prone to making mistakes and we did it for certain periods on Saturday. They are formidable but I feel they are not as dynamic as last season.”
Lucas Neill said: “I’ll probably have to mark either [Robert] Pires or [Jose Antonio] Reyes and then I also have to worry about [Thierry] Henry who also drifts in. If it means I have to get physical to nullify their possession then that’s what I’ll have to do.”
Mort Gamst Pedersen said:”We certainly won’t make it easy for Arsenal and we’ve got nothing to fear and nothing to lose.”
At time of writing, Robbie Savage will attempt to prove his fitness in a reserve game with Middlesbrough at Ewood Park.
Detector vans are due to sweep Blackburn while Saturday’s big game between Blackburn Rovers and Arsenal is being broadcast live on Sky TV from the Millennium Stadium. Figures from TV Licensing show that, last year, 1,135 people were caught without a TV licence in Blackburn.
PLAYERS
Ashley Cole is reported in the Evening Standard as saying: “The club [Arsenal] definitely needs to invest to avoid being left behind. We’ve got a great young squad but, when it comes to vital games, maybe we would have got out of jail with a bit more experience. It is quite hard sometimes when you see Chelsea and even Manchester United buying big.”
Cole in the Daily Express said: “You never know what’s going to happen in football, but I’d love to be captain.”
And: “The lads don’t want to come back from their holidays early to play qualifying matches for the Champions League. It would be great if we could play United in the FA Cup final and beat them. We owe them after they beat us twice this season.”
And: “I love those guys. They’re so funny – Gary Neville, Phil Neville, Rio Ferdinand, Wayne Rooney. When we’re on the field I’m probably hated because I just want to win. But when you come off the field, they’re the nicest guys ever.”
Wenger told the Evening Standard: “Sol can play alongside Senderos but it is good that Senderos is in there and the centre-backs now have a competition. Senderos has emerged as a hard competitor for everyone.” Senderos has yet to appear on a losing side in the Premiership, the FA Cup or the Champions Leagueand may well play tomorrow.
Arsenal scout Steve Rowley said: “You name them, they wanted him. In 25 years, I have never known competition like it for a young central defender.”
Senderos who can speak five languages, said: “They [Arsenal] were my team and I always loved English football.”
Pires said: “He will be a giant, a great player for now and for the future.”
Clichy though may be out for the rest of the campaign after he reportedly broke a foot bone in training last Friday. Wenger said: “It looks as though his season may be over.”
Gilberto Silva plucked out numbered tangerines for the Street League World Cup, which he’s supports, last Saturday.
Thierry Henry said, in the Belfast Newsletter: “There is still some hope there for the title. We are going to try and grab what we can. Obviously to finish first would be more than amazing, and second, we are going to do our best, but psychologically it would help us.
And added: “Chelsea have just kept on winning so it was difficult to do better than them. We are not trying to match them or see what they are doing, we are just trying to finish the season well and see what the end of the season brings.”
WENGERSPEAK
Arsene Wenger said: “We have become stable defensively only recently. We have dropped a few points this season where sloppy defending has cost us – especially against Chelsea. We conceded two goals against them from set pieces.”
And added: “If you look at the statistics the number of headers (won) against us are among the fewest (in the Premiership) but the number of goals we have conceded to headers is the highest. We have solved our problems. We defend better as a team and players like Senderos and Gael Clichy are only young and improving every day.”
Wenger said on the fixture changes: “If Chelsea did lose at Manchester United, the championship would not be completely over, and two, the fact that we play against Manchester United for the second place and that Manchester United play Chelsea in the last week of the season when Chelsea will certainly already be champions is not right.”
TRANSFER TALK AND CONTRACTS
According to the Independent, Arsenal are keen on Udinese goalkeeper Morgan di Sanctis, according to reports in Italy.
And Robert Pires wants to start negotiating an extension to his contract, which expires in 2006. However, Arsene Wenger, has said Pires is not guaranteed a new deal and has already utilised a one-year extension option.
MISCELLANEOUS
Ferguson told Manchester United Radio yesterday: “Apparently it was Arsenal who forced this [playing at the Millennium Stadium] through.” The FA said the choice of semi-final venues was taken in the off-season and had nothing to do with Arsenal.
The Evening Gazette (Middlesbrough reports that the end of the minute’s silence before the Arsenal game a gentleman of the press who had stood solemnly with head bent in quiet reflection leant over and asked a colleague: “Who”s that one for?”
Former Friends star David Schwimmer is the latest celebrity to pledge his support for top London soccer club Arsenal, according to World Entertainment News. The publication points out other famous Arsenal fans include Keanu Reeves, Demi Moore, Natalie Appleton, Dido, and Rachel Stevens.