English Premier League:Arsenal's directors moved to settle the instability around the club's ownership yesterday by announcing at the club's agm an extension until April 2009 of their "lockdown" agreement not to sell any of their shares.

After that date the directors, who collectively own around 45 per cent of the club, have agreed not to sell any shares without first offering them to the other members of the board.

It means, following the acquisitions this year of 12.2 per cent of Arsenal by US investor Stan Kroenke and of 23 per cent by Uzbek billionaire Alisher Usmanov, the directors have agreed for five years to act "in concert" to oppose a sale to an outside investor. Keith Edelman, Arsenal's managing director, said of the agreement: "It kills any talk or speculation about a takeover. It's finished."

To applause from the agm audience of hundreds of fans and small shareholders, chairman, Peter Hill-Wood, re-emphasised the directors' refusal to sell out springs from their philosophy they are "custodians" of the club, and that investment from an incoming buyer is not the way to sustain the club's future.

Presenting the financial benefits of the move to the Emirates Stadium, which has boosted Arsenal's turnover to a record €287 million, Hill-Wood said: "The Arsenal board is committed to developing the long-term stability of the club through maintaining a business which pays its own way."

Edelman added that while the directors do not between them hold a majority of the shares, they can count on the support of other, smaller, shareholders "come hell or high water", taking the board's effective control to more than 50 per cent.

• Guardian Service