Alisher Usmanov

[Simon]

Is anyone else apprehensive about Usmanov's interest in Everton?  I don't want this club to ever become like Chelsea but this is just one step closer.  I'm interested in your thoughts.

Cheers

[Romey 1878]

No. I want to win.

Who would want to be anything like Chelsea, eh? They’ve only won trophies and been subjected to watching players like Eden Hazard. 

[Gwlad]

We've been poor relations for long enough and it's now a fact in the Prem that big money helps with success. 

[Zoo 2.0]

I could understand this conversation potentially taking place 10 years ago but not now, if you don't invest in the multi millions then you will quite literally be left behind and sleepwalk into the Championship. When you have Manchester City, Liverpool, United and Chelsea all being bank-rolled to take anything out of them is going to take similar (if not more) cash. Not to mention that on the European stage you have PSG, Real Madrid etc all throwing around paper like it's going out of fashion.

I want us to win, @Romey 1878 summed it up perfectly. I don't get excited about being mid-table and any investment is good for us as it gets us that step closer to being the Champions League, flirt with a league title kind of team that we all dream of. It won't happen overnight, but Carlo Ancelotti is leaps and bounds better than anything I've seen at Everton in my lifetime so serious investment alongside his management is something that will only get praise from me. 

[Hafnia]

I think we've done the honourable "develop youth players, use the loan market,  hunt for bargains" whilst having our best players sold to the rich clubs long enough...... whilst being called plucky.

I'm quite happy to watch us get called out for ruining transfer markets, having £40m full backs on the bench and all that stuff..... obviously I want that to mean winning a trophy though in a big shiny stadium which generates £1m a match through corporate entertainment and fans buying food and beer from state of the art high speed dispensers. 

[Shukes]

He has come from Arsenal though. Arsenal are known for being one of the best business run clubs in the premier league for a long time. He was part of that.

I think Chelsea are a complete different kettle of fish.

[Palfy]

If he can get us to the top, and get me a season ticket he’s more than welcome. 

[markjazzbassist]

not bothered.  he was invested in arsenal he knows the game better than most.

[StevO]

1 hour ago, Shukes said:

He has come from Arsenal though. Arsenal are known for being one of the best business run clubs in the premier league for a long time. He was part of that.

I think Chelsea are a complete different kettle of fish.

He owned some of it, he ran none of it. 
 

I want the investment though, from anyone who helps get us to the top. 

[Palfy]

We don’t know what he will be like as an owner, we have nothing to base it on, any how I’m sure Moshiri said he doesn’t want him as a joint owner or to sell to him a year or so ago. 
But if he wants to invest I’m sure we can live with that. 

[Shukes]

6 hours ago, StevO said:

He owned some of it, he ran none of it. 
 

I want the investment though, from anyone who helps get us to the top. 

I’m pretty sure anyone putting that much money into a team made sure his voice was heard.

If he didn’t, then let’s steer well clear of him as he is just another glory hunter who wants his name on a premiership club. I’m guessing he got involved though.

He ended up leaving because he wanted more of a say and more to do with running the club. 

[London Blue]

1 hour ago, Shukes said:

I’m pretty sure anyone putting that much money into a team made sure his voice was heard.

If he didn’t, then let’s steer well clear of him as he is just another glory hunter who wants his name on a premiership club. I’m guessing he got involved though.

He ended up leaving because he wanted more of a say and more to do with running the club. 

He was on the board of arsenal, tried to take control because he didn't like the way Cronkite  was running the club. He knows how arsenal made money with the new stadium I have no doubt. His money, contacts and experience will be very important to us. 

[Palfy]

2 hours ago, Shukes said:

I’m pretty sure anyone putting that much money into a team made sure his voice was heard.

If he didn’t, then let’s steer well clear of him as he is just another glory hunter who wants his name on a premiership club. I’m guessing he got involved though.

He ended up leaving because he wanted more of a say and more to do with running the club. 

He had no say he was voted down by the majority share holder at all board meetings, they couldn’t stand each other and in these instances the majority always wins, so he conceded and sold his shares. 
klonk now owns it out right, at the time he wouldn’t even let Moshiri join the board that’s why he sold his shares to Usmanov. 
Usmanov was a major shareholder and on the board but wasn’t listened to, so he reluctantly sold his shares to Klonk and left, but as he said he will always be an Arsenal supporter and they would always be his team, but if he owned a club in the future he would have no problem wearing their shirt. 
And with his money that’s good enough for me. 

[StevO]

34 minutes ago, Palfy said:

He had no say he was voted down by the majority share holder at all board meetings, they couldn’t stand each other and in these instances the majority always wins, so he conceded and sold his shares. 
klonk now owns it out right, at the time he wouldn’t even let Moshiri join the board that’s why he sold his shares to Usmanov. 
Usmanov was a major shareholder and on the board but wasn’t listened to, so he reluctantly sold his shares to Klonk and left, but as he said he will always be an Arsenal supporter and they would always be his team, but if he owned a club in the future he would have no problem wearing their shirt. 
And with his money that’s good enough for me. 

This. 
Im sure he will have enough business know how anyway, but I’d much rather a multi billionaire come in who is happy to lose a fortune than someone who think he can make money out of the club. 
Mental billionaires are the future of football!

[Hafnia]

37 minutes ago, Palfy said:

He had no say he was voted down by the majority share holder at all board meetings, they couldn’t stand each other and in these instances the majority always wins, so he conceded and sold his shares. 
klonk now owns it out right, at the time he wouldn’t even let Moshiri join the board that’s why he sold his shares to Usmanov. 
Usmanov was a major shareholder and on the board but wasn’t listened to, so he reluctantly sold his shares to Klonk and left, but as he said he will always be an Arsenal supporter and they would always be his team, but if he owned a club in the future he would have no problem wearing their shirt. 
And with his money that’s good enough for me. 

The biggest mistake Kroeke made was to piss Usmanov off.....  as much as Usmanov supported arsenal etc, it was nothing more than a vehicle with which to potentially go in sports battle with the likes of abromovich, glazers etc..... and he was denied. His ego will count for more than his fondness for arsenal.... and we are the perfect cure for that IMO.

He will be fired up to make that lot at arsenal regret not giving him a say. That's what I believe 

[Palfy]

1 hour ago, Hafnia said:

The biggest mistake Kroeke made was to piss Usmanov off.....  as much as Usmanov supported arsenal etc, it was nothing more than a vehicle with which to potentially go in sports battle with the likes of abromovich, glazers etc..... and he was denied. His ego will count for more than his fondness for arsenal.... and we are the perfect cure for that IMO.

He will be fired up to make that lot at arsenal regret not giving him a say. That's what I believe 

He would have invested heavily in Arsenal were as Kroeke ( and not Kronk as I’ve been calling him ) see’s the club more as business to make him money, like the Glaziers at Utd they just like taking out the pot. 

[pete0]

42 minutes ago, Palfy said:

He would have invested heavily in Arsenal were as Kroeke ( and not Kronk as I’ve been calling him ) see’s the club more as business to make him money, like the Glaziers at Utd they just like taking out the pot. 

Kroenke. 

[Palfy]

2 hours ago, pete0 said:

Kroenke. 

Ok smart arse
Just realised Haf set me up

[pete0]

5 minutes ago, Palfy said:

Ok smart arse
Just realised Haf set me up

Until you thanked Haf, I thought I'd missed a running joke spelling his name wrong with all three of yers spelling it differently. 

[Palfy]

1 minute ago, pete0 said:

Until you thanked Haf, I thought I'd missed a running joke spelling his name wrong with all three of yers spelling it differently. 

Before we go any further have you spelt it right, or am I being set up again.

[Shukes]

On 21/02/2020 at 07:42, Palfy said:

He had no say he was voted down by the majority share holder at all board meetings, they couldn’t stand each other and in these instances the majority always wins, so he conceded and sold his shares. 
klonk now owns it out right, at the time he wouldn’t even let Moshiri join the board that’s why he sold his shares to Usmanov. 
Usmanov was a major shareholder and on the board but wasn’t listened to, so he reluctantly sold his shares to Klonk and left, but as he said he will always be an Arsenal supporter and they would always be his team, but if he owned a club in the future he would have no problem wearing their shirt. 
And with his money that’s good enough for me. 

I do t tho k he had no say Palfy. He would never have had in investment there in the first place if he had NO say.

Again, if he did. We should steer well clear of him, as we do t have room for freeloaders.

Look guys, anyone can read a tabloid report and few they know everything. But the reality is that he is a successful businessman. Yes he wanted more lower and was never going to get it. But I find it extremely to think this guy got into his position, by sitting back and doing nothing. 
I don’t happen to be ITK when it comes to Arsenals board room. But to think this guy sat in the corner and had no say sounds ridiculous.

If that is true.... then why would any person of sound mind, want him anywhere near our club. We should all step back and just think a little.

[c1982]

I think it was more that Kroenke held the majority vote so Usmanov’s ideas/vision weren’t ever going to be ‘passed’. My impression is that many Arsenal fans wanted Usmanov to have more control as he wanted to really go for it whereas Kroenke was maybe just keeping things steady and sitting on his investment.

I have no doubt that Usmanov is and will continue being an influence here. The big thing we need is getting our commercial income much much higher (and above board) as without the evidence of income, we’re hamstrung with our spending on wages and transfer fees and having a multi-billionaire is almost pointless. Seeing what happens to Man City will be very interesting as there’s a chance that FFP will be abolished as all it’s doing is protecting the already top teams e.g. Man U and Liverpool as they are commercially miles ahead of all others - they can spend hundreds of millions more than other teams legitimately under the current rules... how can a team like us or say Villa or Newcastle catch them? Man City and Chelsea have got there through money when there were different rules but obviously now have the ‘comparable’ worldwide fan bases and sponsorship deals.

[StevO]

He was just a shareholder though, I don’t think he was a board member, but he did work closely with David Dein early on. He was then pretty much blocked from buying more shares and was frozen out at Arsenal. The biggest benefit would be that he’s good friends with Dein, but then so is Moshiri, and he certainly knows how to run a football club. Arsenal were great under Dein. 

[StevO]

Some good info on wiki about how things worked with him and Arsenal...
 

 

Usmanov moved into the football arena in August 2007 by acquiring a 14.58-percent stake in the English football team Arsenal. He and his business partner Farhad Moshiribought the stake in the club owned by former Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein for £75 million.^[56] David Dein was appointed as head of their investment vehicle, Red and White Holdings, which became the largest shareholder in the club outside of members of the board of directors.

On 28 September 2007, it was announced that Red and White Holdings had increased its shareholding to 23 percent, making it the second largest shareholder in the club behind Danny Fiszman on 24 percent.^[57] On 15 February 2008, he increased it further to over 24 percent, giving him a stake just short of Arsenal non-executive director and major shareholder Danny Fiszman's 24.11 percent.^[58]However, there was speculation that Usmanov might already be the club's largest shareholder at 24.2 percent, which he later increased to 25 percent on 16 February 2009.^[59]

Red and White Holdings confirmed on 28 February 2008 that it was the club's largest shareholder and the company said it "has the necessary funding to increase its stake further [but] it has no current intention to make a full takeover bid for Arsenal for six months."^[60] If the stake were to reach 30 percent, Red and White Holdings would have to launch a formal takeover. Usmanov said he had been an Arsenal fan for seven years and he had a great love for Arsenal.^{[citation needed]}

Usmanov's interest precipitated a "lock-down" agreement by the Gunners' board, whereby chairman Peter Hill-Wood announced that club directors could sell their stakes only to "permitted persons" before April 2009, and had to give fellow board members "first option" on shares until October 2012.^[61] However, there was a termination clause in the agreement in October 2010.^{[clarification needed][61]} "The lockdown...makes us bullet-proof," said the then Arsenal managing director Keith Edelman.^[62]

American businessman Stanley Kroenke, already a major Arsenal shareholder, increased his stake in the club to just over 62 percent in April 2011 after buying out Fiszman and Lady Bracewell-Smith,^[63] making him the majority shareholder. As Kroenke's stake had risen above 30 percent, he was obliged to make an offer to buy out the remainder of Arsenal shares. Usmanov refused to sell, however, and maintained his stake.^[64]

Usmanov increased his Arsenal FC share beyond 29 percent in June 2011. Red and White Holdings announced on 20 June 2011 that it had more than 29-percent stake in Arsenal Holdings Plc.^[65] This was further increased after Usmanov purchased shares held by Scottish football club Rangers in February 2012.^[66] As of October 2013, he owned over 30% of the club.^[67]

Usmanov criticized Arsenal's lack of ambition and financial model in an open letter sent to the board on 5 July 2012.^[68] This criticism came as consequence of the Dutch football player Robin van Persie's decision not to extend his contract. Usmanov, who remains a major shareholder, states that he has no intention of selling his shares.^[68] A month later, he reiterated his view that "the current politics of the club's management" were in part responsible for Arsenal's failure to win trophies. On 7 August 2018 it was reported that Usmanov had accepted a bid of 550m for his shares at Arsenal.^[69]

 

[Shukes]

That’s what I mean. He isn’t a sit in the corner and bow down type of guy. He is a strong business man and won’t be bullied. He isn’t a crook, well no worse than any other billionaire.

The guy isn’t going to pump money into us and sit back and watch. He won’t be happy to just see money grow, he is a football fan and wants his ego stroked by creating something.

He is a mile away from a Chelsea or City.

[Btay]

I’ve no issues with him as long as it’s brands making the football based decisions. Let these billionaire propel us in their fields - get us commercial revenue and keep us running as a money making business. 
 

There’s good times ahead - this stadium deal will be revolutionary not only for us but the whole city. 
 

“If” we somewhat landed champions league and Usmanov ( along with ancelotti ) in a 6 month period - then we really could achieve something special.

[Palfy]

4 hours ago, Shukes said:

I do t tho k he had no say Palfy. He would never have had in investment there in the first place if he had NO say.

Again, if he did. We should steer well clear of him, as we do t have room for freeloaders.

Look guys, anyone can read a tabloid report and few they know everything. But the reality is that he is a successful businessman. Yes he wanted more lower and was never going to get it. But I find it extremely to think this guy got into his position, by sitting back and doing nothing. 
I don’t happen to be ITK when it comes to Arsenals board room. But to think this guy sat in the corner and had no say sounds ridiculous.

If that is true.... then why would any person of sound mind, want him anywhere near our club. We should all step back and just think a little.

He spoke obviously but he wasn’t listened to, he wanted to buy Arsenal outright, so he went about buying all the shares he could to bolster his standing, he even bought Moshiri’s shares which gave Moshiri the funds to buy us. 
kroenke owned over 60% of the shares and had all the say, Usmanov then tried to buy Kroenke out and finally offered him 1 billion which was turned down, leaving Usmanov no option but to sell his shares to Kroenke, or keep them and still have no say or input into how the clubs was run. 
 

I find it hard to see why you are so upset about this, you can be worth 9 billion and not always get what you want, so how does the fact he didn’t have a say at Arsenal because he couldn’t obtain the majority share holding to give him that say,  now that makes him a freeloader we should steer well clear of, I really don’t get that? .

[Shukes]

15 minutes ago, Palfy said:

He spoke obviously but he wasn’t listened to, he wanted to buy Arsenal outright, so he went about buying all the shares he could to bolster his standing, he even bought Moshiri’s shares which gave Moshiri the funds to buy us. 
kroenke owned over 60% of the shares and had all the say, Usmanov then tried to buy Kroenke out and finally offered him 1 billion which was turned down, leaving Usmanov no option but to sell his shares to Kroenke, or keep them and still have no say or input into how the clubs was run. 
 

I find it hard to see why you are so upset about this, you can be worth 9 billion and not always get what you want, so how does the fact he didn’t have a say at Arsenal because he couldn’t obtain the majority share holding to give him that say,  now that makes him a freeloader we should steer well clear of, I really don’t get that? .

Haha think your looking to hard to find something that’s not there mate. I’m in no way upset. 
 

The whole thread of my posts is to say that he isn’t a push over and he IS a good businessman. Read SteveO’s post above. It shows that he spoke his mind strongly and this is the reason Kroenke didn’t want him on board. 
 

My point was that if people believed he was such a push over, then surely we wouldn’t want him near our club. The type that puts money in purely for profit, without work..... is a freeloader to me. I wouldn’t want that type near our club.
 

Sorry for being a bit manipulative, but my point was kore towards the Chelsea/City scenario. I’m pointing out that I don’t think he is anywhere near those models. Someone said he had NO say, I was just pointing out that just because he didn’t get his own way, doesn't mean he was silent and had no say. Not trying to argue with anyone in any way. 

[Palfy]

4 minutes ago, Shukes said:

Haha think your looking to hard to find something that’s not there mate. I’m in no way upset. 
 

The whole thread of my posts is to say that he isn’t a push over and he IS a good businessman. Read SteveO’s post above. It shows that he spoke his mind strongly and this is the reason Kroenke didn’t want him on board. 
 

My point was that if people believed he was such a push over, then surely we wouldn’t want him near our club. The type that puts money in purely for profit, without work..... is a freeloader to me. I wouldn’t want that type near our club.
 

Sorry for being a bit manipulative, but my point was kore towards the Chelsea/City scenario. I’m pointing out that I don’t think he is anywhere near those models. Someone said he had NO say, I was just pointing out that just because he didn’t get his own way, doesn't mean he was silent and had no say. Not trying to argue with anyone in any way. 

That’s a long winded way of going about things. 

[Shukes]

11 minutes ago, Palfy said:

That’s a long winded way of going about things. 

would have been much shorter if you would have stopped arguing with everything I say