I think it's true to sat that the AST is the mouthpiece of Arsenal's dwindling number of individual shareholders
The Arsenal Supporters' Trust has been created to: Promote the interests of supporters who own shares in Arsenal Football Club Facilitate wider supporter involvement in the club Facilitate and promote mutual supporter ownership of Arsenal You'll find it all on their website http://www.arsenaltrust.org/about/introducing-the-ast
If we don't strengthen adequately in the summer then I would more or less agree with the statement but January is a tricky period, teams on the whole do not want to sell half way through the season. As far as I'm concerned, this summer will be the first one since the stadium move where we no longer have to be overly-cautious. I expect to see quality, established, experienced recruitment in the summer. If there is none forthcoming I will have run completely out of patience and be calling for Wenger's head. There was an interesting point made on another forum which suggests that we are moving into a stage where we are opting for proven talent instead of unproven youngsters; the last four signings were Podolski, Giroud, Cazorla and Nacho; hardly unknown gambles. Hopefully this is a sign that more established quality will be brought in during the summer.
It was a rhetorical question, but you made my point. There are 850 members, and some (not all) have shares in the club.
I don't recall saying all the members were shareholders.I just said it was the mouthpiece of Arsenal's dwindling number of individual shareholders.Being that individual shares are being bought on a regular by someone who most people agree is Usmanov i would think it's fair to say the number of individual shareholders is dwindling
Interesting if Usmanov is buying them up. How many can he get by doing this? Also what percentage is Stan the Man on?
I cannot prove that Usmanov is buying the shares but it would appear so.People who are involved with the AST tweet about it.Kroenke currently owns approx 66-67% of the club so Usmanov's max would be 33-34% that is of course if every individual shareholder sold to Usmanov
Still not enough for a take over but he should theoretically get a seat? Just imagine the fireworks that would go off in the board room.
The only way Usmanov can mount a takeover is if Kroenke decides to sell his shares to Usmanov.This also depends on how high Usmanov is willing to go and how much Kroenke would accept.Apparently if Usmanov gets to 30% he is entitled to look at the club's accounts
That's quite interesting. I can't imagine he is that way off 30%. I mean, i don't think they have anything to hide, but what do i know.
This is where I sit on the position of signings. From an interview with Steve Rowley four years ago: I trust this network and method of assessment over any fan who's watched the odd game featuring a player in between all their other commitments in life. It's the full time job of these guys to assess players and they are amongst the elite in their field. They also understand better the parameters in which they have to operate and have a great deal more inside information than we could ever hope to have. If they feel a player isn't worth getting then I am inclined to respect that.
There is always an element of risk whenever you buy a player. We've bought some good players and bought some not so good players. Thats the way the cookie crumbles. Our methods are good but far from foolproof.
And do they stop being part of the AST then? If the number of shareholders in the AST is dwindling, then it's fair to say it's becoming less and less of a mouthpiece for shareholders, and more a mouthpiece for non-shareholders who pay the membership fee.
Agreed, and I wouldn't argue that they are 100% right in their decisions. Nobody in life is: there's always going to be a degree of faith involved and the odd little subjective judgement that'll creep in which turns out to be misguided. There will also always be factors entirely out of your control that are the difference between success and failure. I'd still maintain that they assess players with a far more rigorous and expert eye than we could ever hope to.
More crap from the AST. It seems whenever they have something to say it's because the club aren't being good enough for them. Bunch of spoilt ****s who expect everything to be handed to them on a plate. How they can possibly act as if they know 100% what is going on at the club, as if they know the ins and outs of the transfer process and what Wenger has been trying to get done, is beyond me. I agree with COYG 100% - it's all just speculation and frustrated fans not knowing how to express themselves without just blaming everyone. Yes money is available now - but that doesn't mean that in the January transfer window we needed to go out and overspend on whatever players where available. I'd rather Wenger made sensible decisions, got us into the top 4 and then strengthened properly in the Summer. I think with our four most recent signings it's obvious there has been a shift in the type of players we are going for and to anyone with a hint of intelligence i would think it was obvious that Summer is the transfer window to look out for movement.
Also i don't know how some of you come out with stuff like "Oh i'm sure most fans agree with this" - when the general attitude on this forum from the majority of users is that Wenger has our support and most people understand the reasons for our financial prudence and that we are entering a new era for the club. I think it's the impatient people or those with a sense of entitlement who are unable to grasp the situation at our club.
It seems you don't really know what you are talking about. The club has a cash balance of £180 million. There is no reason for financial prudence when the squad clearly needs strengthening and there's money available. The increased television money from next season off-sets any potential loss from not qualifying from the champions league, so it seems inconceivable to many that we would not spend to increase our chances of finishing in the top 4. Are we going to rely on the yids ****ing it up again? Added to that Wenger's ridiculous comments about having 2 players for every position when he clearly doesn't trust some players, and no players being available to strengthen the squad, it's understandable why the AST's statement has hit the nail on the head in the opinion of many supporters.
How does it seem i don't know what i'm talking about? Because i'm not stupid enough to think that cash showing on our accounts equates to millions of available funds.... You so confidentally act like you know Arsenals financial position, our commitments to creditors, the ins and outs of our new financial deals and the available players in this transfer window.... Or maybe your just talking out of your arse. The fact is that anyone with half a brain can see that we have been hamstrung financially by the moving of our stadium and emergence of the cash rich sugger daddy clubs. We have now re-negotiated our sponsorship deals and are ENTERING a period where we can be far more financially competitive. We haven't recieved any extra funds yet through these neew deals and we will start to notice the effect of this from the Summer onwards from my understanding of the information/quotes released by THE CLUB. We are also 4 points off spurs and still play against them - we hardly have to rely on spurs ****ing up. Our position isn't nearly as bad as it's being made out to be and we didn't need to spend spend spend to secure 4th. I think we are capable of getting it without reinforcements but luckily we have signed a solid LB to sure up our back-line. The Summer is the real transfer window to be looking out for - that is where we can gather a sense of how we will move forward with transfers in the future. Like i said - it's the impatient people who have a sense of entitlement who whinge and moan about not spending cash for the sake of it.
