Arsenal to bolster defence by making Kroenke a director

Arsenal Football Club's board members will today seek to reinforce their position against a possible take-over bid from leading shareholder Alisher Usmanov by making US sports franchise owner Stan Kroenke a fellow director.
The Premier League club wants Mr Kroenke, who holds a 12.4 per cent stake, to sign up to the lockdown agreement drawn up last year by board members that stops any of them trading shares without each other's consent. The agreement was intended to counter the predatory instincts of Mr Usmanov, the Uzbekistan-born billionaire and Russian citizen who, with business partner Farhad Moshiri, owns slightly less than 25 per cent of the club.
Arsenal's relations with Mr Kroenke, owner of the Colorado Rapids US Major League Soccer team, who is said to be sympathetic to the need for the agreement, have improved since he bought an initial 9.9 per cent stake - a move that drew a hostile reaction from Peter Hill-Wood, Arsenal chairman.
Mr Kroenke has cemented commercial and marketing links between Arsenal and his US sports interests and completed the purchase of ITV's half-share in the club's broadband business.
Directors will today vote Mr Kroenke on to the board, though it is not thought his signature to the lockdown agreement is a precondition to becoming a director.
Mr Usmanov is understood to welcome Mr Kroenke's appointment because of his sports and commercial background.
The club has also narrowed its short-list for chief executive to Paul Donovan, Vodafone's outgoing head of emerging markets, and Peter Lawwell, Celtic's chief executive.
The board wants Arsene Wenger, Arsenal's manager, to meet the two candidates before making a final decision. The position became vacant in May when Keith Edelman departed.
The board will also sign off on accounts showing an increase in turnover of 12.5 per cent to £225m, and pre-tax profits of about £40m. The club has debt of about £250m. * Mike Ashley's attempts to find a buyer in the Middle East for Newcastle United suffered another knock when Dubai Investment Group, part of the government-owned Dubai Holding, said it had no intention of buying the club.
The Sports Direct owner and some of his Newcastle advisers have been in the Gulf this week after his announcement on Sunday that he was putting the club up for sale.
According to one report, would-be Gulf investors were being asked to stump up in the region of £480m, about £230m more than the sum that Mr Ashley says he has invested in the struggling Premier League club.
Meanwhile, Abu Dhabi United Group's £210m purchase of Manchester City is expected to be completed tomorrow.

By Roger Blitz