The £50m battle for Arsenal

A £50 MILLION battle for the future of Arsenal loomed today after a key shareholder left the football club, setting the scene for a potential bidding war which could ultimately leave it in foreign ownership.

Nina Bracewell-Smith, the businesswoman whose husband's family has a 70-year connection to the club, unexpectedly left the board and is now free to sell her 15.9 per cent stake to Russian steel magnate Alisher Usmanov.

The sudden departure of Lady Bracewell-Smith, the third largest shareholder whose stake is worth about £50million, is said to have followed a row at last Thursday's board meeting.

Another director, Richard Carr, who is related to her by marriage and owns 4.4per cent of shares, also left the main board. The resignations end a "lockdown" agreement among main shareholders under which they agreed not to sell to outsiders - a move designed to keep the club as the only one of the top four in British ownership. It was intended principally to block Mr Usmanov, whose company Red and White Holdings owns 24 per cent of Arsenal, making him the largest individual shareholder.

Mr Usmanov bought shares from David Dein, the former Arsenal vice-chairman who resigned in April last year and who now works for him.

A spokesman for Red and White said: "We are watching developments with interest."

Mr Usmanov has said in the past he did not wish to bid for control, but might be tempted if enough shares became available. Although Lady Bracewell-Smith said in October that she had "never considered" selling her shares, there have been rumours of her disaffection and willingness to follow Mr Dein's example.

There are suggestions she was unhappy with the choice of Ivan Gazidis, who takes over as the club's chief executive next month, and that she felt marginalised in the power structure, particularly over the club's marketing in India, her home country.

Arsenal chairman Peter Hill Wood told the club's website today: "Lady Nina is no longer representing the club and therefore is released from the lockdown. I don't know for certain what she wants to do with her shares. We hope that she would remain a shareholder but she has not spoken to me about it lately.''

Mr Hill Wood said "a number of the board'' had indicated their interest in buying more shares. He was thought to be referring to the American Stan Kroenke, who holds a stake of about 12 per cent and became a non-executive director in September. If he were to buy the shares, he would become the majority shareholder with a 27.9per cent stake.

However, if Mr Usmanov bought Lady Bracewell-Smith's stake, he could pass the 30 per cent mark which would force a formal takeover bid. Lady Bracewell-Smith, who was born in New Delhi, has been a non-executive member of the Arsenal board since 2005.

She obtained her shares from her husband, Sir Charles Bracewell-Smith, who inherited them from his grandfather, Sir Bracewell Smith, chairman of the club between 1948 and 1962. The family wealth is linked to hotels, having once owned the Ritz, and the Sheraton Hotel in Park Lane. Arsenal fans will be hoping the unrest will not make matters worse in a season of ups and downs. They face Liverpool at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday.

A City analyst who specialises in deals in the leisure sector said: "With 20 per cent of the shares now potentially up for grabs an almighty tussle is on the cards and Arsenal could be sold."