Alisher Usmanov, the Russian billionaire who owns 23% of
Arsenal, has said he does not want to be 'a hostage to any
hostilities' which remain between the current board and former
vice-chairman David Dein.
ARSENAL SHARHOLDINGS
DIRECTORS (Total 45.45%)
Daniel Fiszman 24.11%
Lady Bracewell-Smith 15.9%
Richard Carr 4.4%
Peter Hill-Wood (Chair) 0.8%
Lord Harris of Peckham 0.09%
Ken Friar 0.07%
Sir Chips Keswick 0.06%
Keith Edelman (MD) 0.04%
MAIN INDIVIDUALS (33.19%)
Red & White Holdings 21%
Stan Kroenke 12.19%
Dein, who left the club after a disagreement about overseas
investment, sold his 14.6% stake in the Gunners to Usmanov and was
later named as the non-executive chairman of the Uzbek-born
businessman's company Red and White Holdings.
But tension still remains between Dein and the Arsenal board and it
is something Usmanov does not want to hinder relations as he
continues to expand his interest in the club.
He has denied any immediate plans of launching a takeover, while
other leading shareholders Danny Fiszman, who has 24.11%, chairman
Peter Hill-Wood, Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith and Richard Carr, have
pledged not to sell their interests in the club until at least
April.
But it is clear as he approaches a 25% holding in the company - a
figure which would give the 54-year-old a blocking vote and allow
him a veto over key decisions - that he does not want his closeness
to Dein to hinder his involvement with the present board.
Usmanov said: 'We do not want to be a hostage to any hostilities
between David Dein and the board.
'We are thinking now about how not to end up between the rock and
the hard place.
'We will try to convince David to be less hostile to the current
board and make an effort to pacify the board in their conflict with
him.
'I'm grateful to David Dein that he decided to sell his shares to
me and not someone else and we made him our non-executive
chairman.
'But I don't want his personal relationship with the board to
affect my relationship with them. I want to establish my own
relationship with the board.'
Usmanov also claimed that he and his advisors were not aware of the
depth of feeling that existed in the rift between the two camps
when they started to invest in the Gunners.
He continued: 'What we heard about him (Dein) and the board at the
outset and what we see now are two different pictures.
'When Mr Dein contacted us we didn't know the substance of the
problem between him and the board.
'I think it's a highly personal and emotional situation.'
Despite the seemingly troublesome division between parties, Usmanov
is not ready to sever his links with Dein - the man who brought
manager Arsene Wenger to the club over a decade ago.
Usmanov's business partner Farhad Moshiri added: 'Our relationship
with David has been for six months and with the club for four
weeks.
'But David's relationship with Arsenal is deeper and longer and we
will be loyal to him.'