Fiszman illness will not affect Arsenal work

The Arsenal director Danny Fiszman will not let his fight against serious illness affect his day-to-day work for the club and he has been told by doctors that he will make a full recovery.

Fiszman, 65, is the key figure in the long-term battle for control of the club. He owns 16.1 per cent of the shares and has an alliance of sorts with the largest single shareholder Stan Kroenke, who owns 29.9 per cent, 17 shares short of the takeover threshold. It is Fiszman who has overseen the lockdown agreement which has prevented board members selling their shares.

There is no suggestion that Fiszman's illness changes anything about his alliance with Kroenke, a reclusive American sports tycoon, to keep out the Uzbek billionaire Alisher Usmanov, the club's second-largest shareholder with 26 per cent.

It was Fiszman who was part of the boardroom that oversaw the removal of David Dein in 2007. Under his leadership the board have also seen off Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith.

Fiszman is a tax exile who lives in Geneva but he returns to England for club business and was well enough to attend the match against Everton on Saturday. Having been first introduced to the club in 1991 by Dein, Fiszman has always kept a low profile.

His long-term plans for the ownership of Arsenal appear to centre upon Kroenke, to whom he has sold shares in the past. However, he has never given any hint as to how he envisages a Kroenke takeover.