Red and White, the holding company controlled by Alisher Usmanov and his business associate Farhad Moshiri, have raised their stake in the total equity of Arsenal Holdings PLC to more than 30 percent, it was announced this afternoon.

The timing of the announcement, coming on the day the Arsenal board faced supporters at the club’s AGM, appears to be the Uzbek oligarch’s mischievous attempt to earn himself a few headlines despite the fact his accumulation of added shares means little.

Prior to the start of last season owning 30 percent of Arsenal’s shares would have entitled Usmanov to full access to the club’s finances, and thus the opportunity to publicly pick over every spent penny, however, the Premier League re-wrote their rules on the matter and as such his latest move means diddly-squat.

So why has he bothered? We’re not really sure. Perhaps just an otiose retort to the current board’s decision to again dodge suggestions the Moscow-based tycoon could join them in the Emirates corridors of power.

It’s hard to imagine Stan Kroenke losing any sleep.