Арсенал (Лондон, Англия)

DAVID SEAMAN. 564 игры за клуб, из них 405 в АПЛ и 69 в Европе.

LEE DIXON. 619 игр, 28 забитых мячей.

NIGEL WINTERBURN 584 игры, 12 забитых мячей.

TONY ADAMS 669 матчей, 48 голов.

SOL CAMPBELL 211 матчей. 12 голов.

PATRICK VIEIRA 406 игр, 33 гола.

LIAM BRADY 307 проведенных игр 59 голов. Играл за клуб с 1973 по 1980 года.

FREDDIE LJUNGBERG 328 матчей, 72 гола.

ROBERT PIRES 284 матча и 84 гола.

DENNIS BERGKAMP 423 матча, 120 забитых мячей.

THIERRY HENRY 370 матчей и 226 забитых мячей.

Российский бизнесмен Алишер Усманов увеличил свою долю акций в «Арсенале» почти до 30 процентов, купив 68 акций за 952 тысячи фунтов стерлингов (1,5 миллиона долларов), сообщает Bloomberg. В настоящий момент Усманов является вторым по доле акционером: 67 процентами акций «канониров» владеет американец Стэн Кронке. Если 57-летнему россиянину удастся довести свою долю до 30 процентов, то он получит доступ к управленческому учету «Арсенала». Отметим, что ранее Усманов подверг критике клуб за то, что «канониры» не потратили больше денег на усиление состава. Добавим, что Усманов не намерен продавать свои акции Кронке. Российский бизнесмен предложил главному акционеру встретиться и обсудить планы американца в отношении «Арсенала», однако Кронке ответил отказом.

Arsenal’s Usmanov Pays $1.5 Million for Shares, Nears 30 Percent Stake Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov, Arsenal’s second-largest stockholder, spent 952,000 pounds ($1.5 million) to buy 68 more shares in the North London-based soccer team and edge closer to a 30 percent holding. The purchase from an individual stockholder yesterday, at 14,000 pounds a share, comes after the close of an offer Usmanov made to Arsenal shareholders at the same price in May. The purchase was announced on website of the Plus exchange, where Arsenal is listed. The price was higher than the 11,750-pound offer that majority owner Stan Kroenke made after buying about 30 percent of the club’s stock from former directors Nina Bracewell-Smith and Danny Fiszman. Usmanov has increased his stake to more than 29 percent from 27.4 percent since making his share offer. Kroenke holds about 67 percent. A 30 percent stake would give Usmanov the same access to management accounts as any Arsenal director. Usmanov, who hasn’t been given a seat on the Premier League team’s board, has criticized the club for not spending more money on strengthening the squad. His offer to underwrite a rights offer of shares was rejected by the club in July 2009. Kroenke didn’t immediately respond to a voicemail seeking comment. He and Usmanov have been battling for control of Arsenal, a 13-time English league champion. Usmanov told Bloomberg News he’s not willing to sell his shares to the American, who has interests in a range of U.S. sports teams including the National Football League’s St. Louis Rams and basketball’s Denver Nuggets. Usmanov said Kroenke has declined to meet with him and discuss his plans for the club. Arsenal supporters have started to complain about a lack of investment in a team that hasn’t won a trophy since 2005. Usmanov first took a stake in the club in 2007, when he bought 15 percent for 75 million pounds from former board member David Dein.

NO 1 PAT JENNINGS Goalkeeper Appearances: 327

NO 2 PAT RICE Right back Appearances: 528 Goals: 13

NO 3 ASHLEY COLE Left back Appearances: 228 Goals: 9

NO 4 RAY PARLOUR Centre midfield Appearances: 466 Goals: 32

NO 5 DAVID O'LEARY Centre back Appearances: 722 Goals: 14

NO 6 MARTIN KEOWN Centre back Appearances: 449 Goals: 8

NO 7 DAVID ROCASTLE Right midfield Appearances: 277 Goals: 34

NO 8 EMMANUEL PETIT Centre midfield Appearances: 118 Goals: 11

NO 9 TED DRAKE Striker Appearances: 184 Goals: 139

NO 10 IAN WRIGHT Striker Appearances: 288 Goals: 185

NO 11 MARC OVERMARS Left midfield Appearances: 142 Goals: 41

Less than two hours after touching down at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Arsène Wenger, Robin van Persie and Bacary Sagna were given a small taste of what they can expect over the next week, when they gave a press conference to the assembled hordes at the team hotel.


More than 200 journalists, cameramen and photographers filled the Ballroom Suite at The Saujana Hotel - situated on the outskirts of KL - as the fans enthusiastically made their presence known outside. The locals, it's fair to say, are in a state of excitement (more on that later in the week).


And the players are excited too. It's a world away from the pre-season tours they've been used to over the past ten years, in a remote outpost in the Austrian mountains, and the squad look invigorated by the change of scenery. Well as invigorated as you can be after a 13-hour flight.

Malaysia is seven hours ahead of London, so the 2pm press conference was at 7am according to the players' body clocks. But there's no time to rest - the full-on tour schedule means the players will be working just as hard away from the training pitches as on them.


The press conference was held jointly with the coach of the Malaysia National Team, Dato Rajagopal, who is a self-confessed Man United fan by the way, so perhaps Wednesday's friendly fixture may have an edge to it after all.


After the press conference all of the 23-strong playing squad signed autographs for an hour for 200 fans (who ran through an impressive repertoire of Emirates Stadium anthems while waiting in the lobby), before it was time for a snack, and then, finally, the chance to kick a ball.


A short coach journey away from the hotel lies the 60,000 capacity Shah Alam Stadium, where the players took part in a closed training session, as minds were re-focused on the serious stuff of preparing for 2011/12. 

And with the temperature in excess of 30 degrees C, it will be anything but easy going as the squad get back into the swing of things after the summer break.


So Arsenal's first tour to Asia since 1999 has kicked off. Tomorrow night the team will train in front of thousands of local fans in the national stadium as the dual aim of making friends across the world and gearing up for the new season is ramped up a notch.

After just one day of the tour, Arsenal's presence in Malaysia has captured the public's imagination.

The Gunners are front page news on one of the country's biggest national newspapers, The Star, and the hysteria reached fever pitch in the evening as 30,000 fans filed into the national stadium to watch training.

Each player was given a rapturous reception as they entered the field (especially Robin, Samir and Jack), while even the backroom staff were cheered to the rafters.

It was the second training session of the day following a quieter, but no less intense, work out behind closed doors at the impressive Shah Alam Stadium. That consisted of jogging, shuttles and then a pass-and-move drill before a small, fast-paced practice game.

An hour of strenuous exercise in temperatures of 30 degrees (boosted by a 70 per cent humidity factor) can be hard-going. Combine it with the lingering effects of jet lag (the session was at 4am UK time) and you get an idea of what the squad endured this morning.

It's all part and parcel of pre-season though. For the training game, Vito Mannone was in goal in a defence versus attack exercise in which the defence appeared to come out on top.

A modest Vito said afterwards that the forwards always take a couple of weeks to find their shooting boots at the beginning of pre-season. Perhaps they are storing up the goals for tomorrow night's match.

After training it was time for lunch and various media engagements. Theo, Alex, Wojciech and Jack were mobbed by thousands of fans at a Nike event in a local shopping mall, while Tomas, Carl and Andrey ascended the famous Petronas Towers for an Arsenal Player feature.

Meanwhile back at the team hotel I was in the audience for Arsène Wenger's Q&A session with 50 Malaysian businessmen.

The manager, once again, demonstrated his incredible public speaking prowess, discussing how football management relates to business management. He answered questions such as how to deal with egos, whether he re-evaluates his tactics during losing streaks and how he finds a balance between successful business and producing fine art, and even quoted famous philosophers along the way ("The only way to deal with death is to turn each day that proceeds it into art" was his answer to the latter question).

The audience was spellbound and gave him a standing ovation. If this tour is as much about promoting the Club's image to a new fanbase as it is about playing football, then Arsène's presence at such events is priceless. It's difficult to imagine any other manager in the world, let alone the Premier League, holding court in such fashion with 50 Asian entrepreneurs.

Public engagement successfully taken care of, it's now back to the day job for Arsène as he continues preparations for the game against Malaysia. News of that tomorrow.

James Shea, Sead Hajrovic, Jernade Meade(46), Conor Henderson(46), Kyle Bartley(46), Daniel Boateng, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, Oguzhan Ozyakup, Benik Afobe(46), Chuks Aneke Sanchez, Watt(46) SUBSTITUTES Tony Roberts, George Brislen-Hall(46), Nico Yennaris(46), Luke Freeman(46), Samual Galindo(46), Rhys Murphy(46) ***