Nina’s Not News. It’s a stalemate.
2 comments April 13th, 2010
The scaremongers in the City and in Fleet Street would have us believe we’re on the verge on an apocalyptic takeover. Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith, having fallen foul of the board some time ago, has hired someone to sell her 16% stake in the club – having presumably had little success with the eBay listing she was originally using.
The story, in as far as there is one, is that she has contracted this firm and allowed it to become public, thus ‘stepping up’ her attempts to shift her shares. Why now? Well, the answer, as arseblogger affirms, is a simple one: if Stan Kroenke were to buy before the end of May, he’d be obliged to pay the £10,500 p/share he paid to the Carr family. She’s simply trying to cash in.
To be frank, it’s hard to imagine that Stan has the necessary funds to do such a deal, especially having only yesterday confirmed that he’ll completing his buyout of NFL franchise the St. Louis Rams. With Gooner-friendly journo John Cross insisting that Alisher Usmanov isn’t interested in a takeover either, it looks as if there’ll be no big changes on the ownership front. Lady Nina finds herself sitting on a golden egg in a room full of gold-allergic vegans. It’s stalemate.
Tonight Chelsea face Bolton. You’d expect it to be a routine night for John Terry (dull win, almost break someone’s leg, then sleep with a team-mate’s missus), but if anyone can cause him a problem it’s our own Jack Wilshere. He’s put together a series of seven starts or so at Bolton, and manager Owen Coyle is singing his praises:
“Facing Chelsea will be another great test for him and how far he has come. But he won’t be fazed by anything, he will be looking forward to it.”
Whilst I do expect Chelsea to win, possibly at a canter, there’s always hope of an upset with a player as talented as Wilshere on the field. Though he may be cancelled out by the number of Gavin McCanns and Johan Elmanders alongside him.
There’s all sorts of speculation about who might play in our game with Spurs tomorrow. No-one knows for sure if Sol Campbell, Alex Song or Robin van Persie will be fit to be involved – but we’ll soon find out. Arsene has a press conference around lunchtime, and you can follow the fall-out from that over on twitter.
Finally today, something to whet the appetite for the arrival of a certain young Brazilian gentlemen next season. I’m just calling him ‘The Duke’.
Theo film and competition to come asap.
