Daniel Ek’s pursuit of Arsenal isn’t over, but it’s certainly taken a major blow.
The Spotify founder has made it clear that he fancies buying Arsenal having been a fan since the days of compatriot Anders Limpar.
Ek began to get vocal in April as Gunners fans protested against Stan Kroenke following his attempts to take Arsenal into the ill-fated European Super League.
It then became clear that Ek was bringing Arsenal legends Patrick Vieira, Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp into his plans, sparking excitement from fans.
On Saturday, an Arsenal spokesperson was quoted by the Daily Mail as saying that no bid had been received from Ek, and it was pretty much business as usual for Kroenke and co.
However, Ek has now taken to Twitter to claim that this is not true and that he did make an offer to the Kroenke family this past week, but his offer was rejected.
Ek claims his offer included fan ownership, representation on the board and a golden share for fans, but the bid failed as Josh Kroenke claimed they didn’t need the money.
What is a golden share?
A golden share initiative gives fan groups the power to veto other shareholders and their plans.
This has been talked about fairly regularly sine the Super League proposal, as that almost certainly wouldn’t have made it through such a setup.
The Mirror describe a golden share as being less than 50% of the club, but the owners of it would have huge power – and if given to a supporters’ group, would give them a huge say on the direction of the club.
Ek is seemingly serious about having fans on board in his plans, but with Kroenke unwilling to sell, a takeover is starting to look like a pipedream.
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