Is David Davies batting for Alisher Usmanov?

[Boringsidewayspassing]

I find it incredible, that in a fortnight when the club will likely recieve £40million in transfer fees without spending anything, the most pressing concern for the more intelligent gooners out there would appear to be the impartiality of the BBC.

The current board have decided to under-invest in the playing squad, and as a direct consequence, have jeopardised the very champions league income they have have publicly admitted we need to pay off the debts. Does n't seem like sound business sense to me.

This hatred of David Dein has really lost all sense of perspective. I'm not his biggest fan -the whole ridiculous culture of having No Plan B for replacing Wenger is largely attributable to him, but beyond that history will prove that he has n't actually done a lot wrong.

I'm going to write a piece on this subject sometime soon but in the meantime some questions to ponder:

Dein was the lone voice amongst the board who argued that you can't have a shiny bright super stadium without a team to match. At this stage, primarily from a supporters perspective, do you agree that he was right?

Do you really know anything more about Usmanov than you do about Fiszman or Kroenke?

Do you have any similar hatred/dislike/distaste for Kroenke given his connections to Walmart and the companys pitifully poor record regarding the spirit of competition and labour law in America?

[proudtosaythatname]

It may be the red wine, but I'm totally confused by both the thinking behind the article and even more so by Ed's disclaimers. But I'm right with BSP's logic. The BBC lost football to Sky years ago, so pretty irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

[Sammy Mooner]

Is perchance Boringsidewayspassing part of Usmanov's PR team?

Given that David Davies was involved with Red & White via Dein the conjecture that he had a business relationship with Usmanov appears to be very likely rather than probable. Although knowing how much Usmanov enjoys suppressing any perceived negative opinions via threatened litigation the editor is wise to point out that this is technically conjecture.

It is common knowledge also that Usmanov's mouthpiece Farhad Moshiri not only has no direct connection with Arsenal but is also big time Manchester United fan.

Whilst on the subject of shareholders and vested interests, can anyone confirm that Usmanov is the only major Arsenal shareholder on record as wanting money taken out of the Club by way of dividends for shareholders?

[Boringsidewayspassing]

Obviously, in light of the fact the likes of Fiszman don't currently draw a dividend, Usmanovs bemusement at this scenario paints him in a pretty bad light. And I can sympathise with people who would prefer not to see him own shares in Arsenal or gain full control of the club. But the lack of balance to this argument has got beyond a joke. Where Arseblog leads, others follow. But I like to think i am not one of his sheep.

As concerns the rights issue referred to in the article: In the first instance the primary purpose of an issue is to raise cash for a business without diluting the make-up of the board. It only becomes a free for all if you chose not to pay to maintain your percentage share. If you look at this impartially as David Conn in The Guardian suggests, Usmanov essentially called the boards bluff by asking them to front up some of their own cash to ease the debt burden as 'custodians of the club'. If they had chosen to do so the board would not have been diluted in any way. But you all seem to have missed that bit.
Naturally slick Ivan brushed this episode aside, muttering something about not wanting to spend any cash raised in an inflated market. I have no problem with that. But why not use the cash to enable Arsene to just keep hold of the players he has? To prevent him from having to sell Cesc next summer? Or lower the burden on the ordinary supporter by lowering, yes lowering, the price of a matchday ticket?

Now here's another few questions sammy to add to three above that you and others like you chose to ignore:

Once David Dein had exhausted all attempts to convince the board to put their personal dislike for him to one side, do you think he should have kept hold of his shares knowing he lacked the finance to make full use of their power or can you understand why he chose to sell them to a billionaire who would likely reinstate him to a position of influence at the club?

When David Dein sold his shares should he have said, 'you know what, i love the club so much, I'm going to sell these for what i paid for them in 1983'?

Does the millions of pounds that Carr and Fiszman made from the sale of their shares to Kroenke make them the devil reincarnate like David Dein?

[Sammy Mooner]

Firstly replace 'don't currently draw a dividend' with 'never have drawn a dividend'

And this is nothing to do with Arseblog. Many of us found out sufficient about Usmanov when he first surfaced to know we want him nowhere near the Club or the UK for that matter. Believe his PR men if you so choose. I know better.

'primary purpose of an issue is to raise cash for a business without diluting the make-up of the board. It only becomes a free for all if you chose not to pay to maintain your percentage share'.

Normally it is the primary purpose, but it wasn't this time was it? I question his motivation because I believe the real purpose was to enable Usmanov to increase his share holding by stealth. So I didn't miss that bit at all. I just didn't swallow Usmanov's well placed spin.

But why not use the cash to enable Arsene to just keep hold of the players he has?

Do you have specific inside information that AW wanted to keep any particular players?

To prevent him from having to sell Cesc next summer?

Is a piece of speculative fantasy on your part.

Or lower the burden on the ordinary supporter by lowering, yes lowering, the price of a matchday ticket?

Straight from the Usmanov PR manual or what? Lower the prices if the crowds diminish but as yet they haven't - so why give money away? It just doesn't make business sense - even to someone like myself who can't really afford his season ticket.

Now here's another few questions sammy to add to three above that you and others like you chose to ignore

I've ignored none of them I just think they're either the wrong questions to ask or misguided. A far better question to ask is what sort of individual with what sort of companions makes such an obscene amount of personal wealth from scratch that quickly and then buries his past?

[Boringsidewayspassing]

Do you have a players name on the back of your shirt or danny fiszmans? How noble of him to have never drawn a dividend. His investment is stacking up nicely though and he recently made millions from the sale of some his shares to more than compensate for not taking a draw! And all the while he's helping to screw up results on the field!

My main point at the beginning of this thread still stands. Who really gives a shit whether David Davies is a friend of David Dein? So many middle class knobs these days think that being a good supporter means being totally behind the current board. Usmanov is not the only one with some nifty PR. All this Love Arsenal, Hate Usmanov bollocks. When an upper tier centre circle Dad takes his son to his first game these days he probably tells him "the footballs awful and the prices are a joke but the board are running the club along a sound financial setting and shunning foriegn investment so you're gonna love it"

All this mock indignation concerning Usmanov's past is a sham. He already owns almost 30% of the club, do any of you love the team any less yet? Have you stopped going? Will you seriously turn your back on Arsenal if Usmanov takes control? Will Wenger? Ha. Me personally, i think i'd be quite pleased that David Dein was back on board to push some money back into the football and focus Arsene's mind on what he does best.

Sammy What did your research into his past entail? Was it flying out to Uzbekistan to interview some grieving gypsy or going online to read a blog from yet another wannabe hack?

And before anyone else jumps in whats the problem with threatening to close down host sites for publishing unsubstantiated allegations? Thats what billionaires do when they feel the authorities offer them no recourse. Hardly child porn is it?

[Sammy Mooner]

Do you have a players name on the back of your shirt or danny fiszmans?

A witty and cutting response but a rather pathetic cheap shot.

I don't have a current shirt to put a player's name on. Given the choice of an Ebbsfleet/Charlton shirt, an old Wimbledon kit or Fulham's outfit I've chosen to be ecologically viable this season for a change and will recycle some real Arsenal shirts from my back collection rather than buy a new one. So the name on my shirt could be anything from 'Bergkamp' to 'Walcott' via a simple 'Gooner'. But mainly I'll wear a classic 70's unnumbered & unnamed shirt - home or away depending on my mood and what's clean on matchday. Like you care.

I've no idea what the middle class knobs think and neither do I care because I'm quite capable of deciding that Usmanov is totally undesirable. If you want to champion his cause feel free, but I wouldn't piss on him if he was on fire.

I can't choose the board, I can't even afford to buy a fecking share. I certainly don't think the sun shines out of any of them. But if I see I pile of shit on the pavement I do my best to avoid it. If I can persaude anyone not to sell to the Uzbec or not to believe his PR that's the best I can do. Minuscule in the scheme of things, but then so was not obeying orders through the course of history.

You may believe Fiszman is a greedy bar steward with his nose in the trough and you could well be right. I don't know. You may think the sun shines out of the self-interested Dein's arse but I beg to differ. But at least I know that Fiszman is not now, nor ever will be as low as Usmanov. Of course that is just my educated opinion and you are entitled to yours. But I believe people like yourself who are giving Usmanov credibility do so out of ignorance and I believe that's damaging the Club indirectly. Which is why I contest such a view.

What I read and discovered was well prior to those blog escapades. Much of my information was from sources who know that part of the world, dealt with that part of the world and wrote about that part of the world and had researched that part of the world. And I'm including people who'd had earlier contact with him. People who could tell me stories and people who send me articles that had long since been taken offline and hence were not even accessible when he first got involved with Arsenal. You I take it get your information from the national press via his PR man. Me I don't read the Sun so I've no idea what such an obvious authority on life, the universe and everything might say.

[Boringsidewayspassing]

Clearly, implying that i am an ignorant Sun reader is the modern Arsenal fans equivalent of hitting someone with a millwall brick. And there-in lies what I consider to be one of the clubs biggest problems.

There is an intellectual arrogance to so much of what goes on; from articles on web-sites and forums such as these, to the managers press conferences and shareholders meetings. For too large a number of 'supporters' and officials poor performances on the field and a severe, negligent lack of investment in the playing staff are all too easily excused. "Because I know better". "Because I see the bigger picture" "Because winning will be SO much sweeter"

Its actually these people who are "indirectly damaging the club" Sammy, because they are prepared to accept seasons such as the last, which was undeniably shit on a stick until Arshavin arrived and Villa fell apart. It is these fools who are allowing the club to keep the price of admission so scandalously high and who are allowing Fiszman to ruin the reputation of perhaps the greatest manager in the history of the club. As others have said, I would rather have stayed at THOF than sit among 20,00 extra knobs and snobs and watch Almunia, Eboue, Song and Denilson become the backbone and engine room of the side.

I admire your passion Sammy and I understand your revulsion at the thought of Usmanov running the club. But the bottom line for me is the one that the players cross at the end of the game. I did n't know who was on the board for the first ten years of my Arsenal supporting life and given my family history of Alzheimers i am unlikely to know who's in charge of the club when i make my way down the tunnel at the end. In between times I'd like to support a competitive and committed
football team, not admire the business acummen of a jewish millionaire who lives in Swiztzerland and pisses on my back whilst he tells me its raining.