Stan Kroenke continued to build his stake in Arsenal today, paying more than £750,000 for 90 shares, and is now only 646 away from being forced to launch a mandatory takeover.
Although taking himself through that ceiling would cost £5.5m, which is well within the billionaire's compass, there are strong signs that that will not be his strategy. His intention is said to be to reach the 29.9% limit, which he is expected to achieve within weeks, and staying at that level.
His heavy trading activity between March and May, when he became the largest single shareholder in the club, signalled his intent as he sought to tip the balance of power in his favour. The Russian shareholder Alisher Usmanov, who owns 25% of the club, was believed at the time to be mobilising for a takeover, holding private discussions with long-term shareholders.
To shore up his own position Kroenke paid up to £10,500 a share for the equity belonging to three of those dynastic shareholders, Clive and Richard Carr, and Sarah Phipps-Bagge. That £50m-plus investment had been preceded two months earlier by a £42.5m deal with Danny Fiszman, Arsenal's most influential shareholder.
That transaction took Kroenke beyond 20% from his previous level of 12.19%. Though puzzling at the time, it now appears Kroenke's design was to guarantee he would have a big, blocking stake when he bought the Carr family shares.
Another shareholder, Nina Bracewell-Smith, holds 15.9%, a stake which, along with the shares that belonged to the Carr family, to whom she is related through marriage, could have delivered control of Arsenal to Usmanov.
Fears that she might do exactly that led the directors to remove her from the board last December. Now, with neither Fiszman nor Kroenke seeking to take over and Usmanov unable to from his relatively neutered position, the value of Lady Bracewell-Smith's shares has plunged.
So low is the expectation of any imminent buyout that analysts at the Arsenal Supporters' Trust, which as the body representing the club's small shareholders observes market moves at the Emirates more closely than anyone outside the boardroom, has privately described itself as "relaxed" by Kroenke's latest acquisition.
