THE BOARD - Kroenke, Usmanov and Finance

As we're unlikely to see terraces again at football, this is the virtual equivalent where you can chat to your hearts content about all football matters and, obviously, Arsenal in particular. This forum encourages all Gooners to visit and contribute so please keep it respectful, clean and topical.
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clockender1
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Re: Alisher Usmanov criticises Arsenal board

Post by clockender1 »

That’s a fantastic letter from the fans’ point of view.

I’ve read it three times, and I’d point out a few things :

1. Letters like that take weeks not days to prepare.
2. The tone of the letter is heavily critical of the board NOT Kroenke. It suggests he and Wenger are being mislead by self interested parties on the board.
3. Some investors intentionally don’t sit on the board of PLCs so they can’t be dismissed as agitators or asset strippers like Carl Icahn for example.
4. Someone very financially savvy looked at the ‘self financing’ situation very closely.
5. Paragraph 4 and 7 suggest that R&WH follow this forum among others. And have a lot more awareness of social media than our board.
6. The final paragraph mentions generational ownership. It’s pretty rare that that would be mentioned and then the holding sold. He also made it clear that he has no intention of taking the company private and I believe him – his proposal of a non-dividend rights issue is saying let the stock market pay for our success – not the fans.
7. There’s a constant thread throughout the letter which suggests to me that who ever wrote it is very aware of the fans issues, or is actually a fan first. The trophies comments and Champions league being ‘the summit of our ambition’ could have come from here, or the pub.
8. There’s also quite a lot of sarcasm and colloquialisms throughout the letter which makes me think the writer is actually English.

Either this guy is the world’s biggest fibber or he really is interested in the club imho

goonerwalker
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Re: Alisher Usmanov criticises Arsenal board

Post by goonerwalker »

Get Usmanov in NOW! he might not be to everyone's taste but at least he will bring something new to the table and freshen things up because whatevers happening in the baordroom now must change and fast :box: The guy has invested 200 million into the club and got sweet fa in return! He's shown far more commitment thn Kroenke ever will, if he wasn't passionate about Arsenal he would have walked away ages ago!

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Block_5_Gooner
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Re: Alisher Usmanov criticises Arsenal board

Post by Block_5_Gooner »

clockender1 wrote:That’s a fantastic letter from the fans’ point of view.

I’ve read it three times, and I’d point out a few things :

1. Letters like that take weeks not days to prepare.
2. The tone of the letter is heavily critical of the board NOT Kroenke. It suggests he and Wenger are being mislead by self interested parties on the board.
3. Some investors intentionally don’t sit on the board of PLCs so they can’t be dismissed as agitators or asset strippers like Carl Icahn for example.
4. Someone very financially savvy looked at the ‘self financing’ situation very closely.
5. Paragraph 4 and 7 suggest that R&WH follow this forum among others. And have a lot more awareness of social media than our board.
6. The final paragraph mentions generational ownership. It’s pretty rare that that would be mentioned and then the holding sold. He also made it clear that he has no intention of taking the company private and I believe him – his proposal of a non-dividend rights issue is saying let the stock market pay for our success – not the fans.
7. There’s a constant thread throughout the letter which suggests to me that who ever wrote it is very aware of the fans issues, or is actually a fan first. The trophies comments and Champions league being ‘the summit of our ambition’ could have come from here, or the pub.
8. There’s also quite a lot of sarcasm and colloquialisms throughout the letter which makes me think the writer is actually English.

Either this guy is the world’s biggest fibber or he really is interested in the club imho
It's this point that has given me some doubts as to whether this is genuinely from Red & White and not some disgruntled fan. :rubchin:
:shock: :roll: :lol:

There's been a trend of fake twitter accounts....A fake letter would be a new twist. One that was intended as a joke at first but snow balled and gathered momentum so much that it took the desired effect.
Doubt this....
Last edited by Block_5_Gooner on Thu Jul 05, 2012 4:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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northbank123
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Re: Alisher Usmanov criticises Arsenal board

Post by northbank123 »

clockender1 wrote:That’s a fantastic letter from the fans’ point of view.

I’ve read it three times, and I’d point out a few things :

1. Letters like that take weeks not days to prepare.
2. The tone of the letter is heavily critical of the board NOT Kroenke. It suggests he and Wenger are being mislead by self interested parties on the board.
3. Some investors intentionally don’t sit on the board of PLCs so they can’t be dismissed as agitators or asset strippers like Carl Icahn for example.
4. Someone very financially savvy looked at the ‘self financing’ situation very closely.
5. Paragraph 4 and 7 suggest that R&WH follow this forum among others. And have a lot more awareness of social media than our board.
6. The final paragraph mentions generational ownership. It’s pretty rare that that would be mentioned and then the holding sold. He also made it clear that he has no intention of taking the company private and I believe him – his proposal of a non-dividend rights issue is saying let the stock market pay for our success – not the fans.
7. There’s a constant thread throughout the letter which suggests to me that who ever wrote it is very aware of the fans issues, or is actually a fan first. The trophies comments and Champions league being ‘the summit of our ambition’ could have come from here, or the pub.
8. There’s also quite a lot of sarcasm and colloquialisms throughout the letter which makes me think the writer is actually English.

Either this guy is the world’s biggest fibber or he really is interested in the club imho
To be honest I was pretty pleased with it too. As I've said before I've been impressed by Usmanov's willingness to sit quietly in the shadows for fear of destabilising the club.

With regards to point 2 I would say there's not necessarily that much difference between Kroenke and "the board" given his majority share-holding. I think he refrains from expressly slating Kroenke because he knows it will permanently close any doors that are remotely ajar to him being invited on the board, although he does seem to give support to M. Wenger.

The statement is firm, pulls no punches and voices the basis of the fans' concerns without resulting to petty insults etc. Exactly the sentiment that RvP makes out that he's expressing but actually does so with professionalism and class.

clockender1
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Re: Alisher Usmanov criticises Arsenal board

Post by clockender1 »

northbank123 wrote: To be honest I was pretty pleased with it too. As I've said before I've been impressed by Usmanov's willingness to sit quietly in the shadows for fear of destabilising the club.

With regards to point 2 I would say there's not necessarily that much difference between Kroenke and "the board" given his majority share-holding. I think he refrains from expressly slating Kroenke because he knows it will permanently close any doors that are remotely ajar to him being invited on the board, although he does seem to give support to M. Wenger.

.
I agree - its easier to get kroenke to sack the board than it is to take on Kroenke. the aim is for Koenke to sack and replace them with Usmanov friendly faces like David Dein, and to enable Kroenke to keep 'face'.

I don't agree with the suspicion that Usmanov didn't approve the letter, but i'm pretty sure he didn't draft it.

That I suspect was somebody in the Dein camp.

Supagoon
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Re: Alisher Usmanov criticises Arsenal board

Post by Supagoon »

A lot of good points in the letter.

Why has Usmanov been prepared to wait? Because he realised the model or long term plans of the club are not sustainable. Players will leave every year, the rest will become disillusioned like the fans.

An interesting point was that he did not criticise wenger, maybe a bit of divide and conquer.

But for all the tactical and badly flawed footballing philosophy by the boss, the board have a huge hand in a total lack of ambition at the club.

In many ways i'm glad it has come to this, how this gets resolved I have no idea. I'm not looking foward to inane statements from gazidis and vague rubbish from Kroenke.

I know the letter is pandering up to the fans opinions, and im sure they've visted this site :lol: , but its the truth isn't it.
Last edited by Supagoon on Thu Jul 05, 2012 4:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.

officepest
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Re: Alisher Usmanov criticises Arsenal board

Post by officepest »

I found the on spec letter to Usmanov's company would have been hysterical if it weren't so embarrasingly amatuer. This bloke is our CEO? Christ alive.

I hope that this is the start of some heavy criticism of the board/owners/manager but somehow doubt any serious change will be forthcoming as silent Stan will want to put the mockers on this sharpish.

It's refreshing to finally see some opinions (widely espoused on here) getting a public airing though and this can only be a good thing.

We want our Arsenal back. :barscarf:

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northbank123
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Re: Alisher Usmanov criticises Arsenal board

Post by northbank123 »

clockender1 wrote:
northbank123 wrote: To be honest I was pretty pleased with it too. As I've said before I've been impressed by Usmanov's willingness to sit quietly in the shadows for fear of destabilising the club.

With regards to point 2 I would say there's not necessarily that much difference between Kroenke and "the board" given his majority share-holding. I think he refrains from expressly slating Kroenke because he knows it will permanently close any doors that are remotely ajar to him being invited on the board, although he does seem to give support to M. Wenger.

.
I agree - its easier to get kroenke to sack the board than it is to take on Kroenke. the aim is for Koenke to sack and replace them with Usmanov friendly faces like David Dein, and to enable Kroenke to keep 'face'.

I don't agree with the suspicion that Usmanov didn't approve the letter, but i'm pretty sure he didn't draft it.

That I suspect was somebody in the Dein camp.
At the end of the day unfortunately Kroenke won't bend. What does he care if he's ruining the club and seriously pissing the fans off, he's never around so he'll never be accountable for any of it. Kroenke cares about one thing and that's (his) profits. The club sustaining top 4 while making a profit on player transfers is ideal for him, if you look at his other ventures he's allowed enough investment to get the club to a commercially profitable level but (despite our poor commercial contracts) Arsenal are already there.

As much as I appreciate the efforts of R&W/Usmanov/whoever to force his hand I fear the reality is he's not going to change anything. He'll stay well out of the frame and use Gazidis as his fall guy. He's just going to continue mugging off the fans and the club and will only sell when he feels it will be most profitable, he doesn't care about fans who live, breathe and dream AFC.

supergeorgegraham
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Re: Alisher Usmanov criticises Arsenal board

Post by supergeorgegraham »

Losing Van Persie was always the final nail in this regime coffin I felt. Glad Usmanov has come out and said in a letter what most of us could have posted on here.
Sadly getting rid of the Kronk will not be easy as the fans will still spend money on Arsenal FC.
Maybe a lot more booing next season for us all to hear

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QuartzGooner
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Re: Alisher Usmanov criticises Arsenal board

Post by QuartzGooner »

To add to what others have said, I do not think there was any suggestion that Usmanov wrote the letter himself.
He would have contributed to the main points, others would have scoured social media and talked to fans, and then a native English speaker would have written it.

Agree with Block 5 Gooner that the self sustaining model has yet to fully kick in, one problem is that when it does will it be enough considering that teams may get round the Fair Play rules?
The other is that in the mean time we pay a lot of money for tickets, and the club raised those prices this year yet again.
Yet had the temerity to claim season tickets had been frozen.
No.
Only gold level seats were frozen in price.

Other point is that the letter is a very personal attack on club staff, and I certainly interpret it as including Kroenke as an object of the criticism.

clockender1
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Re: Alisher Usmanov criticises Arsenal board

Post by clockender1 »

northbank123 wrote:
At the end of the day unfortunately Kroenke won't bend. What does he care if he's ruining the club and seriously pissing the fans off, he's never around so he'll never be accountable for any of it. Kroenke cares about one thing and that's (his) profits.
those profits are dependent on financing by loans. loans are dependent on the City's perception of future profits and the ability to repay.

I agree, RWH can only work the edges as silent stan holds 66% of the stock, but they can call an EGM and they can propose a vote of no confidence in the Board of Directors, which they will lose but they can make a noise that the City will hear.

trying rolling over your refinancing when 35% of your shareholdings hate the board...

Banks are not above telling Directors that they should reduce their holdings to diversify ownership, before they lend to the Company.

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QuartzGooner
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Re: USMANOV/KROENKE/DEIN/HILL-WOOD/THE BOARD etc

Post by QuartzGooner »

This letter and the fall out should show us what Usmanov is made of.

He will not have an opportunity like this again to garner fan support unless Wilshere leaves.
If Usmanov fails to make use of the moment, he is not the man I thought he was.

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SammyDroppedHisShorts
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Re: USMANOV/KROENKE/DEIN/HILL-WOOD/THE BOARD etc

Post by SammyDroppedHisShorts »


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Re: USMANOV/DEIN/HILL-WOOD - allegations etc

Post by Top Londoner »

QuartzGooner wrote:I expect to see a growing fan support behind Usmanov starting this evening.

I did wonder where this post was from yesterday. I wanted to quote it and endorse it.

I do wonder what the strategy from here on in will be, with regard to RWS?

I suspect that, what with the economic climate in USA, (Walmart and shopping malls suffering quite badly) that Kroenke has quite possibly been bare faced with his asset stripping of our club and that, in return Usmanov will now seize an opportunity to get the majority fan base on side with his interests.

There will be very many more supporters who, like myself, now have an emotional urge to back Usmanov at any cost to the board and leadership of Arsenal.

If we were actually handed the truth on a plate we might, quite possibly have a change of heart. As things stand, it seems prudent to back Usmanov, reluctantly or not so.

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Re: USMANOV/KROENKE/DEIN/HILL-WOOD/THE BOARD etc

Post by HashKads »

Read the letter earlier and couldn't believe what I was reading. I think it says what we were all hoping for bar the Wenger bit.

Although it does seem opportunistic and plays to what we want to hear. Maybe he will deliver on what he promises. Good to see him lay into the Kroenke, the board and Gazidis. They can't spin us bullshit now although I bet they'll try. The bit about the sponsorship just shows how low and conniving the current regime are prepared to go for money. I thought we had class and tradition and did things the Arsenal way?

I think today changed a lot of things.

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