DD & a hostile takeover??

[DB10GOONER]

This whole DD out of Arsenal situation is definitely shaping up for a hostile takeover by DD and Stan Kroenke, and with Stan’s and DD’s combined +25%, they’d only need to get that up to 30% to launch a formal bid, which would be hostile, of course.

I, for one, support it. DD dragged us out of the “big club going nowhereâ€

[wolf]

Football is moving fast - no pun intended - If you have DD resigning from the board over the takeover bid then as Gooners we should all be worried.
We need to compete not only on the pitch but in the business world and quite frankly having people running the club out of a love for the fans and players just isn´t enough. In this new modern world of football there is no room for sentiment. New stadium will improve so should a new board.

[tenementfunster5]

David Dein actually wanted us to move to the new Wembley not Ashburton which was Danny Fizmann's baby. David Dein has done good things for the club and will be sorely missed. He was and Arsenal fan and wanted what was best for the club, apart possibly for the wembley move, and would be welcome back if Silent Stanley does takeover.

[goonermc]

DB10, you say that DD was instrumental in the move to our new stadium, actually, it was the complete opposite. Keith Edelman was instrumental in our move to the new stadium, DD was against a move whilst it involved borrowing large amounts of money. Edelman pushed the move through with the boards support and ran roughshod over DD. Things haven't been right within the Arsenal hierarchy for a while now, i firmly believe that Kroenke will buy a controlling interest within the Arsenal by the end of the year (regardless of the major shareholders saying no sale within the next 12 months, yeah, right!!) and DD will be back in some capacity.

[DDignam]

A hostile takeover is not a particuraly pleasent thing. If we end up in a position of dd and kroener on the board with an interest, however not majoirty, we could end up with a situation of nothing being done at teh top as two squabbling sides come to no agreement. I assume teh budget setting and trsnfer process requires fulll board support and can you see the rest of teh board agreeing with DD. It may be a good thing that he buys in however i dont think it will be the smooth operation we have seen over at mini moscow.

The board now have to show their hand or not, the statement of reasonable transfers does not fill anyone with confidence, nor does one year of holding shares (is that how long teh legal paper work takes teh co-op put together)

[DB10GOONER]

DB10, you say that DD was instrumental in the move to our new stadium, actually, it was the complete opposite. Keith Edelman was instrumental in our move to the new stadium, DD was against a move whilst it involved borrowing large amounts of money. Edelman pushed the move through with the boards support and ran roughshod over DD.

Yep, got a bit ahead of myself there, lads. Sorry. What I meant to refer to was that once his Wembley idea got the knock back (thank Christ), he jumped on board (no pun intended) and was instrumental in pulling the finance together. DD was the ultimate front man for the club.

My mate, the banker (NOT rhyming slang ), reckons that the Millionaire Keith Edelman was initially against the idea of a new stadium and only came on board (again, no pun) when he was handed the running of the project as a sweetener, and that the real power brokers (and money men) behind it were DD and Danny Fiszman.

Of course, he works for a big bank in London, and the financial world is even more rife with rumor than the football world so who knows what the truth of all the goings on behind closed doors actually is...

[gooner.ed]

edelman's influence on the stadium move would no have been significant except for the budgeting aspect. the move was a board decision - with dein voting against, hence his gradual marginalisation and brief to restrict himself to playing matters - and the directors who really put in the hours were fiszman and friar. edleman, as fiszman's appointment, would go with whatever fiszman told him to do - he is not a major mover and shaker, but a key advisor on budgetary concerns. he hardly owns many shares, but is obviously well paid to do his job as MD. i'd definitely say fiszman and friar were more significant in terms of the work done on the new stadium although edelman obviously contributed. dein had absolutely nothing to do with it and in fairness, has claimed no credit there.

[superlase]

Let's try to look at this logically. DD has effectively gone behind the boards back with Kroenke and has paid the price. The worst of which seems to have been conning his old friend Fiszman into to selling 1% of his stake to Kroenke.DD has been at odds with the rest of the board for some time and this was the culmination of a number of issues, the first being the stadium. DD was completely against Ashburton Grove and wanted Kings Cross or Wembley. The real power behind the move was Fiszman. He ran the whole thing.
I also think that we should be wary of Kroenke - he's no sugar daddy like the Russian. He will want to make moeny and is liable to borrow heavily against assets to do so, putting the club further into debt. Do you think Man U fans would be happy with Glazer if they weren't having a fantastic season?
Despite what some of the papers and TV are saying there is no trigger point for a takeover - Arsenal is not a public company in the same way that Man U was. Korenke's only way in is to buy DD's shares, Lady NBS' shares and then scoop up 9% more from the smaller guys to get a controlling interest in the culb (more than 50%). If he can't persuade them to sell, he's stuffed. If he acquires DD's stake he could get on the board or put DD back there but that would be unpleasant for everyone.
I'm sure that this is not over but I don't think we need to panic at the moment.

[DB10GOONER]

I'm sure that this is not over but I don't think we need to panic at the moment.

I think with all the differing views out there about what went on behind the scenes and who sacked who or who resigned and what happens next and what's for the best we, as fans, need to look at the basics of continuing to be a big club.

While I agree that there is definitely no need to panic yet, I think we can all agree that we need to invest in some top quality PROVEN players to strengthen the squad and thus be strong enough to stay in the CL and win major honours and in turn generate support and profit. Said profit then being reinvested in the team (hopefully ). The problem is, as we all know, that we have to try and compete with Chav$ki and the FilthUtd and the Mousers and their pimp investors to sign quality players.

If the Board have the money (like they keep saying) and let Arsene spend it then grand, no problems, but if they don’t or won’t then we need somebody (DD and Silent Stan?) to invest now rather than later. Having said that, the more I read about Kroenke the more I'm inclined to believe what PH-W has said about him not being the cash cow some of us thought he was. From the noises he's making, I don't see too much of his money getting spent on players to be honest.

So what do we, as a club, do now? Keep faith with the board (even after they got rid of the man who had the vision to bring in our greatest ever manager) or look to outside investment?

This is a real crossroads in our history; it’s time to choose our path – big club or also-rans or worse; tottingshizer hotspurtz…

[donaldo]

Once again i ask Arsenal fans to think back to how the Arsenal board ran the club before Dein joined the board in 1983. We had won one league title in 30 years and two FA cups in 33years. Since he has been on the board we have won 5 titles and 5 FA cups. Dein brought Arsenal football club out of the dark ages.The likes of Fizman and Edelman joined the board when things were already on the up.

[DB10GOONER]

Good point there donaldo. I don't usually trust the subjective nature of stats (if you believe the stats Roy Keane was one of the greatest most accurate passers of a ball that ever played the game, but an 80+% completion rate when 99% of your passes are five yard lateral passes doesn't make you a great passer in my book - it just makes you good at retaining possession, which is no bad thing in itself but NOT great passing).

In the case of our success before and after DD the stats do speak for themselves. Of course people will say "But Wenger won the trophies" and rightly so, but Wenger would never have joined us without DD. I challenge you all - is there one single Gooner amongst us that DIDN'T say "Arsene Who?" and genuinely wonder what the fcuk we were doing when we signed him??

[donaldo]

Exactly DB 10 Gooner if Wenger did leave would any Arsenal fans seriously trust Hill-Wood to bring in a World class manager to replace him.We would probably even up with a Pardew or a Boothroyd.But at least we would still have our tradition to cling on too.Hill-Wood says he wont sell to an American what a joke we have a French manager and players from every country under the sun and he want to keep the club in English hands. Alf Garnett lives on.

[superlase]

DB10 - here's something to consider. If Wenger was in a position to pay £20M+ for a player would he? Arsene seems to operate in the transfer market as if it were his own money.
Also, if we were able to spend that much would Chelsea let us? They could outbid anything we were prepared to pay.

[Hatfield Red]

I met David Dein once, what a tosser. Happy to see him go, keep the club british.

I think people have to think in ten years time will these yanks still be around. They can only be in it for the cash and the more money you pump into footy the more that money goes to players wages to secure them at your club.

Chelsea have been running at an amazing loss bankroled by a dodgie russian. Kronky has no way near his money.

Although the board maybe a bit old fashioned, nothing they have done previously has gone horribly wrong unlike the mob down the road.

What the club dont need is a hostile take over and uncertainty. Although judging by this forum the fans are equally split over this issue as well.

[DB10GOONER]

Despite what some of the papers and TV are saying there is no trigger point for a takeover - Arsenal is not a public company in the same way that Man U was. Korenke's only way in is to buy DD's shares, Lady NBS' shares and then scoop up 9% more from the smaller guys to get a controlling interest in the culb (more than 50%). If he can't persuade them to sell, he's stuffed. If he acquires DD's stake he could get on the board or put DD back there but that would be unpleasant for everyone.

I don't want to be a panic merchant but a takeover is not as difficult as you might think. Stan doesn't need to get 50%+ to reach a "trigger point" for a takeover bid - he only needs 30%.

Stan’s 12.19% and DD’s 14.9% (or 14.6 depending on whose figures you believe) mean their combined holding exceeds Fitzman’s and they now only need approximately 3% more to reach 30% and launch a formal hostile bid. That may come from the 3% (or 2.7%) stake bought up fairly recently by Lansdowne Partners. You'd be surprised how quickly these things can happen when the ball gets rolling and the cash gets flashed. I don't think we've heard the last of DD and Stan the Man yet...