Arsenal Analysis – Blueprint for future success under Kroenke

My views why Wenger should move on by Kieran Daly

There has been a lot written recently about Arsenal and our inability to win major trophies. There have been some excellent articles about the apparent reasons including the owner’s attitude of running it as a money making business, and whether or not the current manager still has the ability to succeed that he once seemed to have. In fact, Arsenal fans are now using a lot of wasted energy arguing about who is to blame and whether Wenger should go. I have my opinion about that but like everyone else it is just an opinion.

I think what is more important is for everyone to stop, take a few moments and think about what we want and then see how this could be achieved. I think it might not actually be that difficult to get some common ground and achieve some progress. How?

Here’s how I see it.
Kroenke. Look, this guy is a business man, knows nothing about football and wants to make money, but in fact there’s nothing wrong with that. Someone has to own the club and it is unrealistic to think that could be some Super Fan with lots of money. Kroenke has invested a lot of money into the club and deserves to make money. What he needs to understand (and I will talk later about the fans’ role in this) is that Arsenal, and its brand, will only continue to make him money if it stays one of the world’s top clubs. There is a lot of competition out there now for Sponsorship, Advertising and TV revenue and the top teams are the ones that people want to watch – and that is what makes them attractive to advertisers.

Kroenke is not stupid and he will very well understand that if Arsenal slips down into a second tier team, which is very likely and debatably has already happened, then the income will start to decline and thus the profit will reduce. Manchester United and Michael Jordan became ‘brand names’ because they were highly successful. As a business man Kroenke knows about advertising and what attracts its money. The trick is for him to realise, and to have it pointed out to him this simple business fact..

For him, winning trophies is not about any joy in the game, instead it is simply about maintaining and improving Arsenals reputation and “Brand” in the World Game and thus maximizing its potential to attract big advertising and sponsorship money.

But earning profit in business is not just about income, you also have to watch costs. Agreed.
Football now is big money, and it is true that too much money can be wasted on very ordinary talent (Bendtner, Torres, most Liverpool players etc.). But in fact it doesn’t need to be this way. Think about Mark Hughes. He went to QPR, spent a fortune and got them relegated. He then went to Stoke, spent very little and has made them not only successful but in fact a damned good team. He has bought players that are not superstars in themselves but who make a good unit. Look at Leicester FGS! (and no I am not going to go down the obvious path of talking about Managers whenever Leicester is mentioned)

So spending big money is NOT a requirement to be successful. I think this is the single biggest fallacy afflicting Arsenal at the moment. On one side we have fans baying for “Spend, Spend, Spend!”on big names to be successful and win trophies, but on the other hand we have Wenger and Kroenke, who we all know, for various reasons, do not want to spend big.

So Stan, listen, you will make more money if Arsenal are more successful – and you do not have to spend a fortune to make Arsenal successful. As a smart businessman, you need to know this. It’s a no-brainer, especially if you intend passing the club onto your son.

So this leads on to the second major player and issue, Wenger himself.
Let’s face it, Wenger changed not only Arsenal but the entire game in English Football totally and forever. He changed how the game is played, the type of players, how clubs are run and so much else. He was a visionary and a genius, and no matter what will go down in history as that. It cannot be taken from him.

It must be soul destroying for him to be in the position where Arsenal are at now. I have no doubt that if Arsenal won the Treble tomorrow he would retire instantly and happily, feeling that he went out in a Blaze of Glory. But unfortunately it is not going to happen, or at least, not the way things have been going for the last decade or so.
I have never met the guy but it is obvious to most people that he is a control freak. I think he may have admitted it once. He wants to be involved in everything, and like most people who try to do too much, even if they are good at what they do, you end up in fact doing a bad job in everything because they are too stretched to give things the time and attention they deserve. I think this is what has happened to Wenger since the glory days (don’t forget he had David Dein to help him then).

Mr. Wenger, please don’t let your stubbornness get in the way of the facts. You are a legend and really don’t have to prove anything to anybody. You have been there and done that. It is the way of the world for special people to come in, make an impact, peak and then move on – to let others improve and develop what they created (think Apple). The modern game, that you helped create, is too big now for one person to control all aspects of it. You need to GENUINELY let others specialize in areas that they are good at, so that you can slowly and seamlessly fade out into being a legend (Do you really think Alex Ferguson had nothing left to give? He knew that by staying on he risked tarnishing his name).

Ok it may be a little late, and perhaps in hindsight, this ‘transition’ should have been done 5 or 6 years ago, but do you really want to force the club that you love (and loves you) to sack you eventually? Let go. Bring in the changes that you once did. Move upstairs or retire, bring in real talent spotting coaches, leave the coaching, tactics and squad selection to others. When Arsenal become World Beaters again, we all know it will be down to the foundations you built. Don’t destroy it by trying to manage every little nut and bolt involved in the club.

As mentioned above, big money is not needed to get good players. But Arsenals problem is not about the players, it’s about the team. For whatever reasons (and there are many excellent articles again dissecting every player, tactic, and aspect of the club so I am not going to repeat them here) the current squad do not have what it takes to be real winners in the modern game. No, this is not my opinion, the facts speak for themselves. I have my opinion about certain players, their potential replacements, potential managers, different tactics and so but again these are just my opinions and like everyone else’s, irrelevant.

Arsenal has survived on history for too long now and is actually starting to become a bit of a joke or at least being overlooked as a real contender in the major competitions. I watch on BEIN Sports and whenever there is a clash of times between an Arsenal game and one of the other big EPL clubs, Arsenal is relegated to one of the lessor channels. Again just simple facts.

Wenger himself has said many times, although not in recent years, “don’t criticise me, judge me by my results”Well look, whether you are a “Wenger Out” fan or a “How dare you criticise the Saviour” type fan, the reality is that we all feel Arsenal are one of the world’s top clubs and should be up there with the best. Emirates should be a place where Barcelona s$%t themselves if they have to come to.

So this is where the fans really come in. We all want success, and let’s face it, not just Top 4 and Last 16. This is where we need to stop tearing each other apart and wasting our enthusiasm and energy on things that will never happen. Kroenke is not going anywhere and until HE decides to, neither is Wenger.

What the fans need to do is get both of these gentleman to understand the points I have made above, which I don’t think any real fan would dispute.

Kroenke can continue to make good money from Arsenal, (and we don’t begrudge him that) but only if Arsenal become genuinely successful.

Wenger has tried everything in the last few years and now needs to step back (not necessarily aside) and GENUINELY support others who can changes things so that Arsenal can become a Major club again.

Kieran

Tags Kroenke Wenger

13 Comments

  1. I don’t recall kroenke spending money on the team. He bought the majority of the shares for the club, which he’s getting back from only thinking profit. It’s given him a $250M ranch so far. Dangote is a passionate arsenal fan, so is usmanov – but one is currently gathering capita from oil refineries, the other is considered to have too many criminal roots to be given a chance to hold a majority of the shares, and isn’t even allowed to be a board member

    1. £500 million ranch, worse than just a $250 million.
      Silent Stan used AFC as backing for the loan from what I’ve read…

      Just a couple bits of info I’ve came across over time which I think supports what you said ^.^

  2. my Big question is…………. Doesn’t Kroenke provide at Least 50mil to wenger every transfer window since the stadium debt were cleared?

    If there’s any chance he does, then whose fault is it for not spending any of it?

    I remember how much was spent in the window where we got debuchy, chambers , welbeck and sanchez…. With almost half of the Lot being inconsistent so far!

    1. Who spends it? Gazidis.
      Welbeck was bought without Wenger wanting to buy him so you going to blame Wenger?

  3. Kronke has Wenger’s right hand tied and allows him to his only his left. We all know Wenger was good until Kronke arrived.

  4. Wenger was manageable until old age, delusion, blind faith, egoistic beliefs and pride started to set in

    [My comment may have outraged the Admin…..My bad]

  5. Arsenal cannot go any more like this! We need either Wenger or Kroenke gone, at best we’d have both leave the club. But the news are that Ozil and Sanchez may be on the way out instead. Happy times!

  6. Nicely written and I back the Sentiment of trying to get greater harmony. Wars and times of crisis bring people together for a common goal.

    However, Stan as leeching as he is (he takes money out of the club for ‘services ‘ rendered) and the board have provided Wenger with money to amass and develop a winning side.

    Wenger has had total control (on the whole) and is solely accountable for our lack of success.

    Wenger must go, for chance to happen. Ideally Kroenke too.

    Only pressure by fans exerted towards Wenger and satan will make this happen.

    COYA‎

    1. “Wenger has had total control (on the whole) and is solely accountable for our lack of success.”

      Delusional?

      Wenger never done the transfers when he 1st came here, that was all Dein.
      Gazidis was hired to Deins old job after he got forced out.
      Gazidis now handles the transfers, Gazidis has even claimed Wenger is clueless about players value…

      Total control, on the whole. ?
      Pfft.

      That’s the illusion the board has created and your foolish enough to fall for it, while we moan at Wenger they are laughing all the way to the bank. They pay him a nice fat wage to keep him here and to stop him from walking out, why else would they give him that much a year when they could half their managers wage, or 3/4…
      Wenger does a good job and that is why he gets paid what he does, I would like him to put the teams winning first over profits but he has a boss and we all know what it feels like to follow orders.

      I find it hypocritical of people who have jobs and have followed procedure even when they disagree’d to moan about Wenger following procedure.

      For a change to happen then we need Silent Stan to go 1st, he is the one setting targets, no point in getting Wenger out if Moyes is the replacement because he will be cheap… I say Moyes but you can replace Moyes with any other manager who would be cheap and be able to keep us in the top league while developing talent to sell if we miss out on CL money.

  7. The thing is we don’t know what’s inside Kroenke’s slimy mind.
    My new realized fear is that even Europa League revenue can be enough for him. Or maybe no European football might be enough for him.
    I mean, the rest of the clubs he owns aren’t precisely doing great, are they? Denver Nuggets didn’t make it to the play-offs in NBA. Colorado Avalanche didn’t make it to the play-offs in NHL. Colorado Rapids are doing better, their hopes of the play-off are still alive. LA Rams didn’t make it to the play-offs last season in NFL. It appears to me that Kroenke is happy with his club being mediocre and unfortunately for the fans, Arsenal is well on it’s way to become mediocre full on.

    1. Well said, someone else who has looked into Silent Stans other teams and seen the pathetic truth, we are nothing more than an asset to Silent Stan and he doesn’t appear interested in making his sports teams into winners, just good enough to be a cash cow.

      No risky gambles with signings.
      No risky anything really… they are safe and boring teams 🙁

      A good way to imagine how he runs his clubs is a bit like playing the lottery, or rather not playing it and save instead.
      You could spend £10 a week on the lottery and hope you win something or you can save that £10 a week and at the end of the year you are £520 up.
      £520 is better than £0 which is all you can guarantee from playing the lottery every week. You might win it an WAHOOOOO but that is taking a gamble and risk having £0.

      Silent Stan doesn’t like to make that gamble, you can see it in all his businesses, any one of us can check and see how bad he is for us.

  8. “Kroenke. Look, this guy is a business man, knows nothing about football and wants to make money, but in fact there’s nothing wrong with that. Someone has to own the club and it is unrealistic to think that could be some Super Fan with lots of money.”

    Usmanov has been to more games than Silent Stan, Usmanov got involved because Dein got him involved, the guy who done 99% of the background work for us when he was here! Usmanov has offered to loan Arsenal the debt money over a prolong period of time which Stan blocked.

    How about Dangote?
    Media has reported him saying he is an Arsenal fan and has been since the 80’s, the guy is worth I believe around £12billion.

    “it is unrealistic to think that could be some Super Fan with lots of money.””

    No it isn’t you fool, it is only unrealistic to people who follow others like damn sheep.

    We could help push the ownership towards a superfan by with-holding funds to any business person who wants to run our club as a cash cow, it is not alright to do so, it is only alright for the spineless fans!

Comments are closed

Top Blog Sponsors