Show Me The Money, Fred’s Not Dead & Melo Feelings

So the plan by Sherrif Fatman to become a Man of the People is to be given serious consideration this week at the Board meeting. Quite right too for a Rights Issue in the broad terms that Sherrif mentioned is not a bad idea, as it would theoretically give supporters the chance to buy shares. Where the waters turn murky grey is Fatman underwriting it, ie guaranteeing to buy any shares that are not purchased, a nice back door way to gain a bit more influence at the club, may be even being put into the position of bidding for the club as a result.

Quite what the legalities of it all are enough to send lawyers into an orgasm over the size of the bills that they will be able to issue for services rendered. Depending upon which media outlet you believe, the Arsenal Board are either not against it or rabidly opposed. The latter is hardly surprising since it leaves the way open for their shareholdings to be diluted (The Guardian) or are taking advice from their bankers over using the money to reduce the debt (Daily Telegraph). The latter media outlet has the wrong end of the stick though for it wants to portray Usmanov as having pumped money into the club whereas he, like Kroenke and others before him, has only invested in the pockets of those who sold their shares to him.

The latter course of action is not how Usmanov positioned the idea when he floated it a month ago. The money was to be made available for Wenger in the transfer market. Gazidis was interviewed in The Sunday Times yesterday and mentioned the debt and how it is being impacted by the property market being depressed. The Highbury Square development borrowings are ringfenced away from the football side of things and are due to be repaid next year. The club want to defer this repayment but as of yet has not agreed this hence the serious consideration being given to Usmanov’s proposal.

The position that the Board would be put in depends largely on the lenders yet it will be they who are castigated should they be forced into an alternative course of action. I doubt that they will be enticed into a situation whereby Usmanov underwrites a Rights Issue. They may if it were a joint exercise with Kroenke but that path is fraught with difficulties, not least because The Takeover Panel could determine that the pair had acted in consort and therefore have to make a bid for Group.

Of course it gives more credence to the view adopted by Freddie Ljungberg last week, a Jerry Maguire moment where he bellowed, “Show me the money!“. Well OK that’s not how The Mirror hacks reported it:

The feeling I get is the financial situation is a bit tight – what is the state of the club?. Nobody’s come out and said why they’re not spending. Everyone is asking that. I get sad just to look at the results in the last few years. When I played there they always said if you don’t win a trophy every year then it was not good enough. I hope they turn it around.

Well, actually, Freddie, Arsene has said why he is not spending. He is working within his budget and strengthening the squad where he has identified weaknesses. Wenger has not denied this needs to happen but it seems that Freddie believes Arsene has always been able to spend the sort of money that Real has this summer when he knows that is patently untrue. Ljungberg is of course right in saying his bit about the trophies. Those were the days of developed internationals coming to the peak of their games, augmented by unknowns such as, oooh, er, Freddie Ljungberg; the days of Bergkamp, Henry and Pires with a smidgen of Vieira and the back four mixed in. Days that are probably on the verge of re-emerging thanks to the development of the squad that Arsene has undertaken.

Contrast Freddie’s reported uneasiness with that of Gilberto Silva. The guitar playing, samba merchant passed his opinions of Felipe Melo with the smooth, unruffled simplicity that was the hallmark of his game when at Arsenal:

If they got him it would be great because he is a player they need at the moment.I’m sure if they got him it would be a good signing.

Arriving late on the scene to deposit the ball in the back of the net, he went on:

I have told him Arsenal is a great club and I am sure next season they will improve

You’ve got to love former players who see the positive in things. ’til Tomorrow.