Arsenal batting for old England

Top marks to the

boys and girls in

scripts for selecting

Arsenal as the decisive

battleground. It

was a smart move to make

the most English of our clubs

the one who could raise the

level of foreign ownership in

the Premier League to 50 per

cent: a symbolic moment

that will relocate our game

to everywhere and nowhere.

Some of us have been keeping

count for the day when the top

division becomes an international

entity that just happens to be

based in England. That day

moved closer when the oligarch

Alisher Usmanov bought David

Dein's 14.58 per cent stake in the

Gunners. Dein, sometimes known

as Mr Arsenal, is a big fan of international

investment. We now see

that he's also hugely keen on taking

a cheque for £75million for his

stake from a metal tycoon who

describes his swoop as a 'portfolio

investment'.

The war for the keys — sorry, I

meant the soul — of Arsenal has

just become a lot more interesting.

The snufflings and probings of the

American Stan Kroenke kept us

entertained for a while but now

we face the prospect of two

Russian ensigns flying over London

football.

Chelsea and Arsenal —

satellites of Moscow. Manchester

United and Liverpool

— extensions of Wall

Street. Whatever your take on

takeovers, there is no choice but to

marvel at the annexation of the

Big Four by the old Cold War

protagonists.

Compared to Roman

Abramovich, Alisher Usmanov is a

low-roller. His fortune is a mere

2.8billion. But he makes an excellent

Trojan horse in which Dein can

count his 75m big ones while he

prepares to deliver on a promise he

supposed to have made soon

after he was ousted: 'I'll have the

last laugh. I'll be back.'

We're nearly at the halfway mark

the conquest of the Premier

League and the old Woolwich cannon

is the perfect emblem for what

comes next. In their quest to snap

up undervalued shares, Kroenke

and Usmanov confront a cast

Old Etonians and Harrovians

and a fortress of double-barrelled

names.

Arsenal are not refugees from

Evelyn Waugh. They are a cosmopolitan

bunch. Lady Nina

Bracewell-Smith (15.9 per cent of

the shares) was born Nina Kakkar

Delhi and Danny Fiszman

24.11 per cent) is the son of

Belgian Jews who fled the Nazis.

He is also a tax exile on the banks

Lake Geneva. But Peter Hill-

Wood, Richard Carr (the grandson

Sir Bracewell Smith), Sir John

Chips' Keswick and Lord Harris of

Peckham (a title Del Boy would

have craved) are also in the mix.

For the purposes of caricature,

Usmanov v The Toffs is the endgame in the tussle between

the old gin-and-tonic ethos and

football as an international

commodity.

Usmanov's declaration in yesterday's

Evening Standard rather

weakened any claim he might make

to be the Nick Hornby of the East.

He said: 'I have been an Arsenal fan

for eight years and I think the club

have the best manager in the Premier

League. But this purchase of

mine is not a strategic or a political

one. It's a portfolio investment.

Arsenal as a business was undervalued.

'My aim is to steadily increase my

package because I think the value

of it will grow and will soon reach a

higher level. The club have everything

to achieve it.'

Glad we clarified that. The

defenders, led by managing director

Keith Edelman, think Arsenal

can thrive without oligarchical

help.

Dein, up to his knees in personal

profit, believes otherwise. So now

Arsene Wenger must decide

whether to back his old ally or stay

true to the reservations he has

expressed about English football

surrendering control to international

gamblers.

When the puerile charge of xenophobia

comes winging in, Wenger's

intelligence is there to defuse it. On

the eve of his 10th anniversary in

charge, the Arsenal manager said:

'This trend for foreign ownership

does worry me. Generally you want

the clubs to be in control of their

own destinies.

'The manager is foreign, the players

are foreign, so you do need to

draw a line. England doesn't control

it any more.'

This, surely, is the crux. The Premier

League are handing their

future to people with immense

power, no emotional attachment to

their purchases and a purely commercial

agenda.

The League has become stateless,

rootless: a refuge for indicted Thai

Prime Ministers and a value-investment

for Russian hardmen. In case

anyone thinks this is the only

ownership model for transferring

vast sums to players and

their agents, Real Madrid and

Barcelona had pretty good teams

and stadiums the last time anyone

looked.

When the 50 per cent mark is

passed, English football with enter

its third great phase. The first was

amateur/Corinthian, the second

civic or municipal.

This latest stage is what we might

call internationalist. Chelsea, Liverpool,

Manchester United, Aston

Villa, Sunderland, Fulham, West

Ham, Manchester City and

Portsmouth are already there.

Arsenal could be No 10. A magic

number in football. On the field, at

any rate.

Why Britain's Olympic chiefs must beef up their act

A Weymouth butcher

whose shop will overlook

the 2012 sailing venue has

been told to remove a

sign of the five Olympic

rings he made from

sausages.

A moment's research

reveals that there is

something called The

Olympic Symbol etc

(Protection) Act of 1995,

which obliges the British

Olympic Association to

'manage and control the

commercial exploitation' of

the emblem. That means

sending the boys round to

Dennis Spurr's Fantastic

Sausage Factory to end the

shameless and wanton

pillaging of a noble brand.

The BOA have bigger things

to worry about. Like how

fast they can rescind the

lifetime ban on Christine

Ohuruogu representing

Britain in Olympic

competition. On recent

precedent alone, that rule

is in splinters, so Ohuruogu

might as well book her

flight to Beijing now that

we're all agreed that failing

to show for three dope

tests is an entirely trivial

offence.

There will also be no more

ruminations on how an

athlete can be suspended

for 12 months, have two

operations on her legs and

then surge back to post two

consecutive personal bests,

24 days after her ban ran

out.

This is not meant to infer

pharmaceutical guilt. The

point is that the Osaka

saloon bar inquest would

still be in session had the

new 400metres world

champion been called

Tatya Raceallova from

Ukraine.

The fog of suspicion over

track and field envelops not

only the cheats but the

innocent too. Ohuruogu

may well be in their

ranks. But let's not forget

the credibility-deficit

that afflicts her sport.

Justin Gatlin, Balco,

Linford Christie (Ohuruogu's

commercial agent). We

could go on.

The most powerful narcotic

doing the rounds this week

has been denial.

Becks now a crock of gold dust

As veteran of many a David

Beckham injury vigil — not to

mention a couple of fact-finding

missions to his new American

domain — I find myself doubting

for the first time his favourite

mantra: I shall overcome.

In Sportsmail yesterday Rodney

Marsh posited that Beckham

damaged knee ligaments on

Wednesday night because he

was trying to protect his injured

ankle.

The new Columbus has been

playing 'crocked' from the instant

he pulled on an LA Galaxy shirt.

And it was reckless for England to

call him home for the Germany

game when he was so obviously

hobbling round America.

They don't do anti-climaxes in

Hollywood. Nor has Beckham,

until now. You treat your body like

a temple, then it betrays you.

Warne needs reality check

Steve Waugh must have spewed

his tea when he saw that Shane

Warne had put Darren Lehmann

ahead of him in his '50 greatest

cricketers'. Warne argues that

Waugh (No 26) was 'a match saver'

rather than a matchwinner and

was 'handed a wonderful team' by

Mark Taylor. Lehmann (25), on the

other hand, 'had the same

qualities as Brian Lara in his pomp'

and was a 'handy left-arm piethrower'.

Some stats might assist us here.

Steve Waugh — 168 Tests, 10,927

runs at 51.06. Lehmann — 27 Tests,

1,798 runs at 44.95. When did

'match saving' become easy

anyway? Warne just has to be

kidding.

Lucky Bentley

David Bentley barely had time to

sniff the Pedigree Chum before he

escaped the dog-house. His

punishment for saying he was too

tired to play for England in an

Under 21 European Championship

was a one-game exile. Steve

McClaren thinks he has 'paid the

consequences' and has promoted

him to the senior squad to face

Israel and Russia. The tariff for

going AWOL on your mates? One

friendly international.