Stan Kroenke buys up more Arsenal shares

Stan Kroenke continues his stalking pursuit of Arsenal football club, picking up another ten shares yesterday for £85,000 to take his stake in the Premier League club to 28.9 per cent. If he buys one per cent more of the shares (636 shares), he will be forced by City of London rules to launch a formal takeover bid.

Last week at Arsenal's annual general meeting the tight-lipped American sports billionaire refused to take the opportunity to explain what his intentions were for the club. Had he ruled himself out of a future purchase of Arsenal at the AGM, he would not have been allowed to make a bid for the club over the next six months; under the Takeover Panel's rule 2.8, anyone who makes an unambiguous statement about their intentions towards a company is prevented from making a formal move for six months.

Kroenke received backing from the Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood when the question was put to him as to his intentions. "I don't think we are looking for a change in custodian," Hill-Wood, who had previously been somewhat sniffy about the American mogul, said. "I think you will find the club is in pretty good hands. I believe he [Kroenke] is happy to be a long-term shareholder in our club. Really it's not for me to say what his intentions are."

That Kroenke was on the top table at the AGM, sitting next to the club's chief executive Ivan Gazidis, gives some idea about the harsh realities for the Arsenal board. If they are to avoid the somewhat dubious clutches of the club's second-largest shareholder, the Uzbek billionaire Alisher Usmanov, then they must make a pact with the devil they know - Stan Kroenke. ·