There's talk of a potential take-over or ownership battle for The Arsenal and unfortunately the only individuals that I believe wouldn't be prepared to sell their Arsenal shares are those owning just the one or maybe very few shares. Real die-hard fans who would consider selling everything else they owned or loved, including family members into slavery, before parting with an Arsenal share. But even that could change in the current economic climate given the possibility of a pending take-over.

Any single person ownership of our Club, however well intentioned or just plain nice that individual might be, is just a short-term thing compared to the fans' life-long dedication. Consequently single person ownership sucks, unless they happen to be some kind of well meaning saint, which they never are.

Until recently The Arsenal has essentially been owned by families. The Bracewell-Smiths controlled the Club for generations, father to son and all that, guardians of the Club don't you know, bastions of tradition, the properly correct old school tie and appreciators of fine cigars. But they've gone, almost. Custodians of the club they may have been and indeed they didn't screw us over. But in the post war years for most of the time this family headed us up in inglorious mediocrity with nil ambition until Bertie Mee turned up more or less by accident and re-launched the club.

Other appreciators of cigars, not to mention exceedingly long lunches, the Hill-Woods may still have their tenuous Old Etonian ties to our footballing institution but they've also been flogging off their family ownership for generations. Lady Nina, seen by some as a sort of wicked witch of the east, wrongly in my opinion, will possibly become the last in a long line of hyphenated families to cash in on the great works of Chapman, Allison, Whittaker, Mee, Graham and Wenger. I say possibly, but I'd actually put my shirt on it.

The Hill-Woods have probably harrumphed on about not wanting 'his sort' or whatever for generations but it didn't stop them flogging off their shares in a steady stream of sales to the likes of David Dein. Dein rose like a comet, got involved, jollied things along, earned respect, saw the bigger picture and took us into the real world but he ultimately disappeared just as quickly with a far fatter wallet. Some £75 million fatter for his initial meagre £300,000 investment in fact. In the 24 years he was a director he saw himself alright with far more Arsenal related booty than any other individual before or since. But I'm only jealous because I don't have his millions and will never get to play with the ownership of our club, or make money on such a scale.

When Dein first cashed in he flogged some shares to the lower than low profile that is Daniel Fiszman. Later to far less desirable individuals perhaps just to wave two fingers at those who fired him, namely Fiszman and his fellow board members. The almost invisible man, Danny Fiszman, may be no different when it comes to selling his but because he's so anonymous we really have no idea. Danny's already a tax exile, and appears to approve of Kroenke, but whether he'd sell up to the American we don't know. But now that all the major building projects are completed and loans sorted it seems far more probable.

The directors and major shareholders may all talk a good talk about the custodianship of the club but inevitably they all ultimately see things in terms of opportunity. The opportunity to trouser a very fat wad. You know and I know that money will talk long and loudest. It always does with people who have it. There will be protestations of love of the Club and what's right in the circumstances and plentiful clap-trap about the club's long-term future being in safe hands. But it will all be total rollocks, it will be about who gets what when the snouts are in the trough. They've been manoeuvring for ages around the food stations in anticipation of a feeding frenzy and it looks like it is all coming up to a showdown fairly soon to see who can stuff their face dog eat dog style.

There may of course not be an ownership battle, but if there is one protagonist it will be Alisher Usmanov. Clearly he is no philanthropic sports lover or rabid football fan, is certainly not a life-long Gooner and has a partner in Red and White who is a known United fanatic. Oligarch is a very dirty word to some and quite deservedly so. Being an Oligarch is essentially about having exceedingly powerful connections that enabled a minority of now obscenely rich individuals to plunder eastern European riches. So why is he here if not for another opportunity to plunder? Certainly not a lifelong love of Arsenal. We know he wants to take money out because he's said the Club should pay dividends. But whether he'd hock up our very solvent Club, Glazer style, we don't know for sure. But why wouldn't he? Only some people can fool all of the people all the time but that's mainly in the Eastern block where the supression of free speech has for decades been the norm.

In the other corner, or rather continent, we have Enos Stanley Kroenke who seems like a nice man. Doesn't appear to interfere in his American sports interests and seemingly won't do too much harm, we would hope. Quieter than a stealth bomber he's no Arsenal man but does at least like sports. He has a decent history of sports club ownerships which even includes a mediocre football team. He is plugged as the well-meaning absentee landlord type profile, inconsequentially endorsed by Hill-Wood who will have no say whatsoever in any takeover war. The perception is that Kroenke probably wouldn't rock the boat, but that has yet to be proven. The very idea of anyone with the first name of Enos owning Arsenal is something I find quite appalling but he's regarded as the far lesser of two evils. After all anyone who has part ownership of a Nappa Valley winery called Screaming Eagle clearly can't be all bad.

But here's my real point. If Stan achieves ownership he'll still kick the bucket some day. Then what? Would his kids Katie and Brett Kroenke own our Club? And if so would they give a sh*t? What would Katie and Brett's American accountants advise them to do with their Trans-Atlantic ownerships? Maximise profit taking, hock it up to the eyeballs or asset-strip the organisation? Ultimately if Kroenke wins it would be just another short-term fix for a couple of decades which would ultimately enable others to cash in at some point in the future. Which is the way it has been for years and will always be unless things change.

The only positive way to go is ownership of the Club by the fans. But as much as I'd love this fabulous Arsenal Supporters’ Trust concept to materialise I can't see it happening. Unless they can persuade all of our millionaire owners to will the AST all their shares when they die they've very little chance. The numbers are just too big. The price of even a single share is too vast for your average Arsenal loving punter. Even with a few philanthropic millionaires on board ownership by fans would seem neigh on impossible to achieve, which is a major shame. To purchase even the rather paltry 16% of the Club in Lady Nina's hands would currently set you back £80 million plus. I have even tried investing in the Euro Millions lottery to find the readies, but failed miserably.

So I don't have an answer but I do know football isn't just for owners, it's far more important to life long fans, as the vast majority are. Arsenal isn't just for life it's for generations yet to come. So please don't p*ss with our Club.