How Alisher Usmanov could really rock the boat for Stan Kroenke and Arsenal

You have to wonder what is in it for Alisher Usmanov at Arsenal. The 64-year-old has spent a decade - not to mention millions - attempting to ingratiate himself at the club, only to be treated as a pariah.

Despite a 30.4 per cent shareholding, Usmanov has no seat on the board and is unable to influence the club’s direction.

"I personally, unfortunately, am fully isolated from decision-making in the club," he said in a rare interview in April.

"All the responsibility for the fate of the club rests with the main shareholder."

I understand when Usmanov made a £1billion offer to buy out Stan Kroenke in May, Arsenal’s majority shareholder did not even give him the courtesy of a direct response.

Usmanov found out his proposal had been rejected at the same time the rest of us, through a public statement.

It is believed there were board members open to considering the offer, given it came while many fans were openly mutinous as the team failed to qualify for the Champions League. Yet, it takes a lot to throw Kroenke off course.

The American stood firm and, in a revealing insight into the inner workings of the club, he essentially agreed a deal with Arsene Wenger to stay on the day before a board meeting was held to discuss the situation.

Kroenke may leave the day-to-day running of Arsenal to chief executive Ivan Gazidis, but when the big decision had to be made on Wenger’s future, Kroenke stepped in and the board were simply left to wave it through.

Throughout, Usmanov has remained a committed shareholder - and it appears he will continue to perform that role after today releasing a statement distancing himself from talk of selling his stake for £525m to Kroenke - but he could be forgiven for casting admiring glances to Merseyside, where his friend, Farhad Moshiri, is making waves in a manner which seems impossible at Arsenal.

Moshiri was an accountant and adviser to Usminov and is now a shareholder in the Uzbeki’s USM Holdings, an investment company for his vast wealth in Russian mining, metals and digital corporations.

They remain close, so much so that USM sponsored Everton’s Finch Farm training ground a year or so after Moshiri bought just under 50 per cent of the club for £87.5m in February 2016.

Moshiri, working alongside longstanding chairman Bill Kenwright, has set about instigating a revolution, helping the club compete at an unprecedented level in the transfer market and reviving plans for a new stadium.

It is anticipated that moving home would cost Everton around £300m, a huge sum to most, but not to Usmanov.

In any case, it is not about the money. Kroenke’s apparent £525m valuation would provide a return which would appeal to any businessman but more importantly, Usmanov is seeking is greater visibility and influence.

​The Arsenal Supporters’ Trust are fearful of Kroenke assuming total control - and it is not difficult to see why.

Once any individual owns more than 75 per cent of a club, they can pass any special resolution without putting it to other shareholders. Kroenke currently owns 67 per cent, and so Usmanov retains the right to block any attempt to delist the company or make a compulsory "squeeze out" of small shareholders, which would include AST.

Transparency could disappear. Kroenke could potentially remove the Annual General Meeting, that roughly hour-long sight each year when Kroenke sits awkwardly as largely disgruntled supporters call for meaningful change.

He could load debt onto the club or take out dividends. The system of checks and balances would evaporate and Arsenal would be completely at the whim of an owner many fans do not care for.

Incidentally, the same could apply to Usmanov were he to ever successfully buy out Kroenke, having reiterated this afternoon his own buyout offer remains on the table, although his calls for a rights issue and desire to hold Wenger to account have naturally aligned him to many supporters.

Usmanov is an Arsenal fan, but how much longer will he countenance being ignored before seriously considering throwing his financial clout behind his close pal to help Everton move ahead of Arsenal in the race for the top four?

That would really take Usmanov and Kroenke’s Cold War to the next level.