The Americans beg to differ. Looking from an office window, Jeff Plush considered the suggestion by Peter Hill-Wood, the Arsenal chairman, that “Americans are buying up chunks of Premiership clubs” but “know absolutely sweet FA about our football”, and pointed to the 24 pitches adjacent to Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.

Plush is vice-president and managing director of Colorado Rapids. “Last Sunday we had 208 teams on the property taking part in the Colorado State Cup, 18 to 20 kids on each team, about 4,000 in total aged between 12 and 18 and those pitches were packed leading into the [Rapids] game that night [against Chicago Fire],” he declared. “What we’ve built here is a focal point for the game in this community, an inspiring and clearly identifiable home for the sport. There is no question about our commitment or the direction in which we believe we can go.”

Kroenke Sports Enterprises, the Rapids’ parent company owned by Stan Kroenke, a reclusive billionaire whose portfolio of sports franchises includes Colorado Avalanche (ice hockey) and Denver Nuggets (basketball) as well as part ownership of the St Louis Rams (American football), had just increased its shareholding in Arsenal to 12.19%. Plush declined to comment on developments at the Emirates stadium, but the former sports agent, who represented Olympic champion Michael Johnson, among others, made it clear that an awareness of football’s universal reach is at the heart of Kroenke’s interest in the game. “We’re pleased to be the representatives in Denver of the global game and we’re excited about the possibilities this holds for us,” he said.

Two months ago a “commercial alliance” was formalised between the Premiership club and Kroenke’s Major League Soccer (MLS) team. Although the stated objective was that both parties “look forward to a long-term partnership”, the nature of the association remained vague. Rapids’ coach Fernando Clavijo revealed on Friday his hope that “maybe in the off-season we can send some of our younger players to play in the [Arsenal] reserves for a month or two”. But Kroenke had higher aspirations from the outset; Hill-Wood claimed that he and David Dein, ousted as Arsenal vice-chairman last week, are “in league” to take control of the club.

The 59-year-old American has never been a dabbler in business concerns, so when he bought an initial 9.9% stake in Arsenal from ITV last month, at least one former associate recognised the signs immediately. Don Elliman, the former publisher of Sports Illustrated magazine, was president of Kroenke Sports Enterprises until his retirement three years ago. When Kroenke decided to launch a regional TV network in February 2004 in Denver, he planned to invest for the long term, negotiating with rival broadcasting companies, such as the Fox TV network, from a position of strength. His modus operandi, according to Elliman, was “never to bluff” and “don’t ever point a gun unless you’re prepared to pull the trigger”. With his sights locked on the Gunners, he can have only one objective.

A former high school basketball player, Kroenke was named after two stars of the St Louis Cardinals baseball team of the 1940s, Enos Slaughter and Stan Musial, and took after their hard-working ways.

Before he was 10 he was keeping the profit and loss statement for his father’s lumber business in Missouri. Shortly after graduating with an MBA in 1973 from the University of Missouri, where he met Ann Walton, whom he married, he opened a clothing store in Columbia.

He made his fortune, which Forbes recently estimated at $1.8 billion (£900m), investing in real estate, independently of his wife’s Wal-Mart inheritance. Their combined wealth is in the region of $4 billion. Kroenke has used his wealth to pursue personal interests, such as establishing a flyfishing ranch in British Columbia and the Screaming Eagle winery in California’s Napa Valley, which produces a cabernet sauvignon retailing at up to $3,500 a bottle, but sport is his passion and his greatest satisfaction has come from building successful teams in activities as diverse as lacrosse and ice hockey.

A commitment to investing in players and in the infrastructure of his franchises brought a Super Bowl triumph to St Louis in 2000 and victory in the Stanley Cup for Colorado Avalanche in 2001. A year earlier his acquisition of Colorado Avalanche, along with Denver Nuggets and the Pepsi Center arena in Denver, was completed with such stealth that few employees knew the identity of their new owner before the deals were officially announced. His altruistic qualities were emphasised when he transformed the money-losing National Lacrosse League team he bought in Washington DC into the league’s top draw, Colorado Mammoth, but it is the development of Rapids’ new 18,000-seater stadium and the surrounding area in Commerce City that is most revealing about how disposed he is towards football. Together with the local authority, which matched his outlay, Kroenke has invested $71m in building the team’s home near Denver International Airport.

“This is all part of the maturation process of MLS in this country and real strategic thought has been put into it on our part,” said Plush. “We’re in position to grow with the sport and, as a company, we believe we will do this. [Rapids’ association with Arsenal] is just under way and it’s an opportunity to exchange ideas on the technical side and to identify how we can improve off the pitch as well, so it’s going to be of great benefit and we’ll be in a different place in eight years, a much better team and franchise.

“On the pitch we want that success now, we’re impatient, but off the pitch we’re ready to wait a little longer because we believe that what we’re putting in place will ultimately bear fruit.”

For the moment Kroenke will wait too, before deciding on whether and how to pursue his interest in Arsenal. His only publicised comments originated from a letter he wrote to the Arsenal Supporters’ Trust in which he stated that “over the next month I look forward to learning more about the club through a dialogue with you”. Tellingly, he acknowledged that he saw “long-term value in football”. Kroenke’s past actions indicate that he will know precisely when to squeeze the trigger.

Closing ranks: can Arsenal fight off Stan Kroenke?

How infl uential can he be with 12.19%? Kroenke’s say in how the club is run is limited. Any investor with more than 10% has the right to call for a shareholders’ meeting at which he can put proposals to be voted on by all the club’s investors. He could propose that he be given a seat on the board. This tactic may be too aggressive for Kroenke

Whom does he have to win over? Arsenal’s directors control almost half of the shares. The biggest shareholder is Danny Fiszman, a diamond dealer, who sits on the board and has a 24.1% stake. Fellow director Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith has a 15.9% holding. Peter Hill-Wood, the chairman, has just 0.8%. The board has pledged not to sell its collective 45.45% stake

Doesn’t that make it impossible for Kroenke to buy the club? Not necessarily. If David Dein decides to throw his lot in with Kroenke, that would give the American 26.6%. He would not need to accumulate too many more shares to get to 30%. Under City rules he would then be required to launch a formal takeover bid. Shareholders would then decide whether to sell. He could get to more than 50%, giving him a majority, even if the board resists

Is that likely? Not at the moment. It would be unusual to launch a takeover bid in the face of such fi erce resistance. Kroenke’s last share purchases were made on Wednesday, before Dein was ousted, and analysts will be watching to see if that affects the American’s plans. Further share buying would indicate a desire to press on. One tactic would be to try to persuade other key investors to sell to him. These could include Lansdowne, a shrewd institutional investor with about 3% of the club

So when will we see any action? There’s no rush, but many think it’s only a matter of time before Kroenke makes a bid

Kroenke’s sporting empire

Colorado Rapids (football) Rapids, of Major League Soccer’s Western Conference, were snapped up by Stan Kroenke, inset, in 2004 for an undisclosed sum. He has since built a £65m, 18,000-seat stadium that will also be home to Arsenal’s school of excellence

Colorado Avalanche (ice hockey) Kroenke bought the National Hockey League Western Conference team for £226m in 2000 in a deal that also brought him the Denver Nuggets and Denver’s Pepsi Center. Under Kroenke, Avalanche won the Stanley Cup in 2001 and have claimed three divisional titles

Denver Nuggets (basketball) Nuggets play in the National Basketball Association Western Conference Northwest Division. Basketball is Kroenke’s No1 sport and he was willing to splash out on NBA star Allan Iverson, top, for an annual salary that started at £5m and is set to double. Last year they won the Northwest Division title for the fi rst time in nearly two decades. They meet San Antonio Spurs in an NBA playoff game today

St Louis Rams (American football) Kroenke paid £100m for a half-share in the Rams, who play in the National Football Conference West Division, in 1995 on their relocation to Missouri from Los Angeles. They won the Super Bowl in 2000 and fi nished runners-up two years later