Since there is absolutely nothing going on in the world of Arsenal (no news is good news ‘eh?), I thought I’d have a look at the two men vying for power at our beloved club, and who would be better for the club in the long term.
We all know Kroenke has the majority share (62%), but Usmanov is getting his KGB mates to sneak around and see if there are any loose shares he can pick up to reach that magic 30% that would let him look at the numbers on Arsenal’s books, and would force him to make an offer to Stan to buy the club outright. So let’s have a look...
In the Blue Corner
Right so what do we know about the man dubbed as “Silent Stan”? Well firstly, he’s called Silent for a reason. Short of saying “You’ll be seeing a lot more of me” when he took the cub over, the man hasn’t said a bloody word really. He hasn’t given Mr. Wenger any of his relatively few billions to spend on Messi, and he’s turned up to watch very few games over the season.
Secondly, he really is a bit of a pauper, weighing in with a relatively meagre $3.2 Billion net worth, when compared to his adversary. These lack of funds and cautious nature sort of lend themselves to loving the “Sustainable Model” that Wenger bangs on about whenever we don’t buy anybody.
That sums Silent Stan up really. He does nothing, says nothing, and interferes with nobody.
In the Red Corner
Weighing in with $18.1 Billion, our Gremlin from the Kremlin can afford to wipe his Arse (ha ha) with $100 notes. He couldn’t be further removed from Stan as a businessman. He wants in on Arsenal and is willing to pay for it. He claims to love Arsenal, has a company called Red and White Holdings, and has a rather hands on approach to business.
He tells us that his love for Arsenal is like a man’s love for a woman. If he was to own the club, he’d (at the very least) take us on a date to an expensive restaurant. He might also pay off the stadium, buy some superstars and sponsor everything he sets his eyes on. So he says. All sounds well and good, but let’s see who would be better in the Owner’s Box on matchday.
Gloves On
Stan keeps things as they are, as we know. Usmanov would lead us to instant victory like Chelski and their Russian. However, do we want to be like Chelsea? Mr. A has done some terrible things to that lot. Managers keep getting fired, Ashley Cole is allowed to shoot people, John Terry is allowed to be a racist who shags your wife and David Luiz is allowed ridiculous hair... It’s a mess.
Many of these problems (Ok, mostly the manager one), can be attributed to Mr. A’s interfering with the running of the club. He signs who he likes, keeps the racist because he likes him and generally thinks he’s the head coach. While I’m not suggesting that Usmanov would necessarily play Big Brother with Arsenal and turn us into another Chelsea, he could do that if he wanted to.
On the upside, he would make funds available, pay off our stadium debt and even show a bit of interest in how the club does on the pitch. He is also older than Chelsea’s Russian.
Not having met Usmanov, I’m assuming here that he is a bit more of the old school. Gets involved enough to let everybody know he’s the boss, but doesn’t try do everything himself. Maybe then there isn’t an answer to who is best for Arsenal.
We ideally need a middle ground, where Stan remembers he owns the club and throws a few pounds at Wenger to spend on players. It’d also be good if he appeared to watch us play a few games, it might even get Theo to think if he plays well, he might get that contract he’s after.
I understand that we need to be “self sustaining”, but surely a businessman as successful as Stan knows that sometimes you need to spend money to make money? Wenger has come out saying we will spend money this summer, but he says that every year. Perhaps though, Stan will realise that Arsenal needs him to do a bit of an Usmanov and put his money where his mouth is. That really would be the middle ground that seems to be the best option.
I'm on twitter @Young_Matt21
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