It seems that the parties concerned with keeping Arsenal in the hands of joint ownership are hardening their positions. First, it was the AST voting down the Stan Kroenke offer and indicating it wouldn’t sell its shares and now its Alisher Usmanov vowing that he will not negotiate his 26% share.
“I love Arsenal, that’s why I’m a shareholder.”
This is a lie. Usmanov is a Man Utd admirer. But that’s not the real problem.
The problem is that two biggest shareholders have an inimical relationship. The politics of the boardroom will resemble a jousting match between these two figures trying to throw each other down. Usmanov has promised loads of money for transfers while Kroenke has deferred to Arsenal’s self sustaining business model. Such polarization is undesirable for a club going forward.