A strange and sad tale from Uganda, with All Africa reporting an Arsenal fan fell silent in a bar in Jinja and died either when Bale scored or when Arsenal hit the bar on Saturday.
Arsenal fan Patrick Kyaka was at Attitude Bar on Jinja’s Lubas Road.
“According to an eyewitnesses, Kyaka went silent soon after Gareth Bale put Spurs ahead with a 15th minute free kick, in a game that Arsenal went on to win 3-1. And the subsequent failure by Arsenal’s [Emmanuel] Adebayor to score an equaliser when he hit the post is what killed the man.” [it was Diaby who hit the bar, not the post]
Some erroneous reporting, as it says the man died when Gareth Bale scored in the first para. However it quotes Jinja District Police Commander Chris Barugahare as saying that Kyaka could have died of shock. “But we expect a post-mortem [report] by Monday and that is when we shall have a conclusive [idea] on the cause of his death,” he said.
Sympathies go to his family.
Arsenal’s turnover has shot up to around £190m for the year ending 31 May 2007, according to the Evening Standard.
However claims in the paper that they are the second richest club behind Real Madrid (£202m in 05/06) need to be confirmed. Man United’s turnover for the same period was £167.8m with Chelsea’s at £152.8m. Arsenal’s income for their final season at Highbury in 2005-06, including the Champions League Final, was £132m.
The 26 home games last season increased matchday revenue by nearly a third to over £90m. And the figures don’t take into account transfers.
One paper points out the club’s exact wealth could be harder to ascertain, however, as the declared revenue may include deposits on future sales of flats at the Highbury Square development, and advance corporate season-ticket sales, the cash for which will not be received until later. All will become clearer on Monday.
Red and White Holdings Ltd have increased their shareholding in Arsenal to 21% to become the second largest shareholder at the club with Alisher Usmanov behind the latest round of trades. The vast bulk of the shares sold to him yesterday came from investment company Lansdowne Partners, who previously held around three per cent. Another 0.5% came from smaller shareholders for around £2.6m.
The Telegraph says it is believed Usmanov may have paid as much as £10,000 per share for their stake – way above the market price of £8,000. However the Guardian reports it was £8260 (which values the club at £513m and with the stadium debt, a buy out price of over £800m). All will be clearer later this week.
Papers in Russia say Usmanov will go to 25% for a blocking stake, and no further. Kirill Vishnepolsky, deputy director at Forbes Russia magazine, said he doubted that a successful market speculator such as Usmanov would want to assume full control of Arsenal.
“This is just too small a business for him. He’ll sell it in half a year,” he said of the stake.
That makes financial sense, given Arsenal are set to rise from the ninth richest to potentially the second richest club by turnover, in a year.