LAST NIGHT an AFX News story was headlined : Arsenal shareholder Stan Kroenke has no comment on stake speculation.
AFX is a London-based financial news service which has 13 offices round the world.
That AFX story was published on the website of Forbes, the American business magazine.
Mr Kroenke, the billionaire sports tycoon, said the comments attributed to him by his “spokesman ” were unauthorised.
Kroenke said he has no comment on speculation surrounding the club, following an article in The Times on Tuesday that carried comments by Jurgen Mainka, who was said to be a spokesman for Kroenke.
Mainka was quoted on Tuesday as saying ‘There’s no interest or intention in buying any shares or any pieces of Arsenal Football Club, or any club in the Premier League’.
Wednesday’s statement said: “Stan Kroenke wishes to make clear that Mr Mainka is not a spokesman for Stan Kroenke and these comments were not authorised by Stan Kroenke. Stan Kroenke does not comment on speculation.”
The AFX story ended with this line : Kroenke reportedly holds a 9.9% stake in Arsenal.
So has Mr Mainka been sacked ? If he was not employed by Mr Kroenke, he can’t be sacked.
But if he is NOT employed by Mr Kroenke, why did he make a statement on his behalf ?
Meanwhile, back in London, we are told that Peter-Hill Wood loaned some shares to Ken Friar in the 1983 to enable Friar to join the board. Friar has now transferred those shares back to Hill-Wood.
In the early evening I was on Newstalk106, explaining to Dublin’s sports fans what is going on, or might be going on, at Arsenal.
I said that directors buying shares in their company is usually a sign that something big will happen, like a takeover. I said that shrewd businessmen like Danny Fiszman always have a grand plan. And that if they are sitting on a huge profit they always know when they will get off the train. And I said that when something happens, we’ll hear about it. But that speculating from a distance is difficult, like reading smoke signals.
And that is how I feel about the past two weeks of rumours. I’m not impatient and I’m not scared by it. If I was an Apache, I could read smoke signals. But my name’s Palmer, not Geronimo.
In Bari, Italy beat Scotland with two headers by Luca Toni, one from eight yards, one from four yards.Luca Toni is about six foot four and has very good movement for a big man.
In Barcelona, England were scared and clueless in the first half against Andorra, a nation of 70,000, who defended en masse and crudely. I thought : Wenger is right ! Englishmen can’t play football !
A journalist friend phoned at half-time and said, “It is rivetingly awful.We ‘re witnessing the complete meltdown of English football. We have nothing to offer ! Torquay could beat this lot ! Plymouth could beat them ! These guys are paid five million a year to kick a ball and they can’t kick a ball !”
Gerrard scored two goals in the second half and Preston’s David Nugent made it three by gleefully whacking in a Jermain Defoe shot that was creeping over the line. So England beat Andorra 3-0. Nugent said that Defoe was alright about that.He said that Defoe admitted he would have done the same thing.
ANOTHER journalist informs me that one of the best-kept secrets at Arsenal is : Justin Hoyte has a massive long throw.
We will never see that long throw because Arsenal have no Luca Toni.