Whilst Alisher Usmanov was entertaining members of the British press to an all-expenses paid trip to Moscow, the members of the Arsenal board that travelled with the team to Bucharest (Peter Hill-Wood, Danny Fiszman, Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith and Keith Edelman) did the public tour of the Ceausescu folly that is The People’s Palace, the second largest building in the world after the Pentagon.

I am going to make no comparison between the now deceased former leader of Romania and Arsenal’s second largest shareholder. Significantly though, whilst the Bucharest building was being built with the government’s funds, the concept of a budget for the project wasn’t even considered. Money was just thrown at the thing until Ceausescu got what he wanted.

And so to the matter of Arsenal shares. There were a few Arsenal fans on the same tour as the directors (on the morning of the game v Steaua) and one was the owner of a share or two. In conversation, Danny Fiszman emphasized how important it was that small shareholders retained their shares and spoke about how the board intended doing exactly that. How that comes across, given his own sale of shares early this year, I’ll leave you to decide.

There seems little doubt that before long Alisher Usmanov will be Arsenal’s largest individual shareholder, and with the amount of money he reputedly has to play with, you can expect blood on the boardroom carpet before long. The board aren’t doing themselves many favours by saying that they had no plans to meet with Red & White Holdings on the day the annual figures went public, only to do exactly that within 24 hours. If they want to come across as the people with integrity in this forthcoming battle, they would have been better either telling the truth or saying nothing.

Once Alisher Usmanov has 25% he will be able to prevent the board doing something that could help to protect the club, such as a new rights issue, creating an extra 10% of shares in Arsenal (devaluing the existing share value, maybe, but that’s shot up so high, no-one can complain) that could be purchased in-house (from existing profits) to prevent Usmanov getting the blocking stake 25% ownership of Arsenal Holdings would give him. A blocking stake would not prevent the day to day running of the club as it exists today, but it could have significant ramifications further down the line, as the way Arsenal operates as a business could not be changed unless Usmanov gave his okay.

Let’s not mince words here. Red & White Holdings have an aggressive purchasing strategy that makes their legal dogs look like toothless poodles by comparison. The Arsenal board are taking the ‘everything is rosy in the garden’ strategy, but frankly, I’d equate the current attitude with the idea of someone in Hiroshima buying an umbrella on 5th August 1945.

Red & White Holdings are not only in this for investment purposes. This is about control of Arsenal Football Club and David Dein’s new friends will be picking off individual shareholders to put pressure on the board. They may have to wait six months before going to the 30% that triggers an automatic bid for every share, but they are intent on owning the club, lock, stock and barrel.

Do Arsenal need the money Usmanov is bringing to the table? The figures suggest otherwise, we are fine as we are thank you. However, Usmanov can see an undervalued asset that can provide even bigger profits. Is that likely to be invested in the playing side? I’d wager that a good portion of it would not. Usmanov is a businessman, first and foremost.

Realistically, the board’s best plan of action now (as it’s too late to prevent the blocking share) is to start getting Stan Kroenke a damned sight more involved as well as courting the shareholders that Usmanov’s people have doubtless been pressuring to sell up. And that would require more than a chance quick word on a tourist jolly abroad.

My instincts tell me that an Usmanov-controlled Arsenal would not be a desirable thing. And I think the majority of Arsenal fans would agree with that. I am not saying anything about the stories that have become common knowledge for obvious reasons. Everyone is aware of them. However, let’s just say Usmanov was a faceless Russian businessman without any baggage for the sake of argument. I’d question why he was so desperate to buy up all these shares at the kind of prices he is obviously willing to pay. And my answer would be that at the end of the rainbow, he is seeing a pot of gold rather than a football team. And an owner with those motives is not what I would choose for the team I support.

Roger Blitz’s account of the Moscow briefing in The Financial Times reports that Red & White Holdings want the board to consider dividend payments. Something that Arsenal have not done for thirty years, and something the Arsenal Supporters Trust are firmly against due to the extraction of profits from the club.

I will leave the final words to Usmanov, as reported in the Daily Mail account of the Russian jolly for journos. “I have always been a fan of the club and I could see that as well as getting immense pleasure from the investment it could also be a useful addition to my portfolio." The PR battle for the hearts and minds of the fans, eh? A useful addition to the portfolio. You don’t need to read between those lines.