Kroenke is dragging us down! Or is he? by AndersS
It is obvious many of us debating on Just Arsenal have a noticeably clear and maybe even unmovable opinion on this. And we are of course all entitled to our own opinion. That is one of the benefits of living in free democracies.
In all honesty, many of us may even like to think we have a qualified opinion on the matter, and that people with another opinion must “have missed something” to put it mildly. But there is a problem if we look at it that way. The problem is, when you look at the people arguing for and against, there are clearly intelligent and thoughtful people on both sides.
I also think the debate is very frustrating as it, most of the time, is a bit like a religious debate. These can be very frustrating, because opinions are simply based on belief, or rather faith, and not on solid facts or evidence.
But is there any way to debate the question of Kroenke on a more fact-based foundation? To some extent, I think there is…
Personally, I see mainly 2 arguments supporting the view that Kroenke is the reason for our demise:
1) He is not investing enough money in improving the squad
2) He doesn’t care how Arsenal and his other sports teams are performing. He only cares about money.
Let us look at the 2.
1) Investment in the squad
If we go back 5 years to when the season 14/15 had finished, with Chelsea as Champions, Man Utd as runner-up and Arsenal as third, they were rosier times for us. The season was incidentally the first season for Pochettino at Spurs, and it was just before Klopp came to Liverpool. We were always finishing ahead of Spurs in the league, and more often than not, we were finishing ahead of Liverpool. I mention this because it is part of the picture for me.
If we then go forward to the present, we are now looking at the 4th season in a row, where we might finish behind Spurs, and Liverpool have simply moved so far ahead of us, they almost seem out of sight to be honest.
Can this then be mainly because Spurs and Liverpool, contrary to us, have owners that have invested much more in improving their squads?
I think, there can be a consensus between most of us, that the main key indicator for how much is invested in improving the squad is the nett spend on transfers. If anyone is in doubt, what the nett spend on transfers is, it is the difference between how much you spend on buying new players and the amount you make on selling players. If you spend more than you sell, you are investing in improving the squad, and if you make more on selling than you spend on new players, you are in principle devaluing the squad.
According to Transfermarkt.com, which is a website that closely follows transfer activity around Europe, the nett spend “table” on transfers in the PL over the last 5 years look like this:
1) Man City – 667 m spent
2) Man Utd. – 538 m spent
3) Arsenal – 297 m spent
4) Everton – 250 m spent
….
13) Chelsea – 128 m spent
14) Liverpool – 119 m spent
15) Tottenham – 118 m spent
Now, those figures were actually so surprising to me, that I had a hard time believing them. But if you look at the website Transferleague.co.uk they how the same picture. Not the exact same amounts but the general picture is very much the same. Only City and Utd. have invested more than Arsenal in improving their squads over the last 5 years, and we have spent much more than the double of the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool and Spurs. Yet, those 3 have arguably performed much better than us in the PL in the period.
This shows several things:
1) There is in no way a clear correlation alone between investment in the squad and the results.
2) It is possible not only to make huge improvements with less investment than we have done, but it is in fact possible to become the best in England, if not Europe.
3) Our investments in the squad have not been limited by the owner to a degree that should prevent us from performing much better than we are.
It is my conclusion, that those facts tell us that other clubs have outperformed us in other ways. I also believe it is fact based to make that statement.
What is more uncertain, is exactly what those other ways are. I think they are a mix of several things, i.e.:
– Other clubs have been better at finding and buying the right players for their needs (the positions, the right skills etc.)
– Other clubs have been better at developing their players
– Other clubs have been better at developing youth players not only into more valuable players but also to strengthen their teams in the right positions.
– Other teams have been managed better.
All this leads to my conclusion. It is in fact the management of the club, the manager(s) in the period and the players that haven’t been as good as our competitors have. Quite simply, it is not the unwillingness to spend by our owner.
Does this then completely absolve Kroenke from any responsibility for our demise? Not necessarily.
We still have to look at the other point.
2) Does Kroenke actually care how we perform? And more importantly, does it matter to our performance?
I think, it is a bit more difficult to answer this, as it is clearly not something where you can point to many hard facts to support the answer.
Apart from Arsenal, Kroenke owns 3 other sports teams; Colorado Avalanche (ice hockey), Denver Nuggets (basketball) and LA Rams (American football), and as it has rightly been pointed out that they are not top of the table teams in their respective leagues. Although, in all fairness, LA Rams is a much-improved team and nearly won the Super Bowl last year.
As we can’t look inside Kroenke’s head, we can to some extent jump to the conclusion, that since his teams aren’t winning anything spectacular, he is a person not concerned with the sport results, only with the financial results. Whether that is fair and correct, is clearly debatable.
But, does it actually matter, if he in fact sees there is a correlation between how much money he can make, and the results a club like Arsenal produce? Let’s at least give him the credit to be shrewd enough to acknowledge that the better we are ranked in the PL, and the better we perform in Europe and in domestic cups, the more revenue the club actually will make.
I am sure this is clear to all. What is the problem then?
I will contend there is, or at least has been, a problem with Kroenke. He has simply not been on top of things in Arsenal. For too long, he allowed the earlier described situation, that we were simply not doing well enough in a sporting sense, despite the finances that were actually there. In hindsight, I think he should have done several things much earlier:
– Changed the management responsible for Arsenal overall.
– Changed our once successful manger with a manager with more modern football philosophies and with a clear desire to win.
– Made sure the whole club had a “winning culture”, a desire to win, which would show in everything the club does.
This is what our competitors have tried doing. Abramovich is ruthless in his desire to win. The manager goes out the door the moment they aren’t progressing. Levy sacked Pochettino just a few months after he had taken Spurs to the Champions League final. Liverpool sacked Brendan Rogers, after 3 years although he was arguably the manager who had brought them closest to winning the league for many years.
Man City and United’s attitudes are clear for all to see. Although it sometimes seems unfair how quickly some of the managers have been sacked, it states a desire and invokes respect right through the club and through the team. If you don’t perform, you are out. The ambition is clear.
So, in conclusion, I find it unsubstantiated, when Kroenke is accused of having dragged us down by lack of willingness to invest. This can be shown by the facts.
But he may have failed in not being more active in demanding results. This cannot be shown by facts. It is a mere matter of opinion. But, hopefully the change in this has now come.
Anders Sorensen
A good look at a couple of points Anders.
Our transfer business has. Even terrible over the last decade.
Our net spend is high because we didn’t manage contracts well enough and lost a lot of return on players that still held value.
We got rid of arguable talented players and spent more on players that were again arguably at a lower standard.
Something also puzzles me in how many defenders we have bought over the last 3 4 windows and we still haven’t got a solid back line.
Again showing how bad our transfers have been.
That was a very interesting read Anders S, and the figures regarding the Nett Spend tells everything about the failed transfer policy and player contract negotiations that happened while Wenger slowly ruined us with his final years, and all overseen by Gazidis. It was Kronke who put his trust in these two and it was those two that failed. When was the last time Arsenal Football Club actually made a decent profit on a player sale? We don’t. RVP was probably the last I can recall, and that was when Wenger was buying young, hungry talent to the Club. That philosophy changed and he then introduced big money signings on so called established players. The trouble was, most were not worth the money spent, and those that did perform were allowed to leave with zero resale value. I do not blame Kronke for this. He trusted his CEO and Club Manager, and he, along with all the supporters were very badly served by two employees who should never have been in their respective jobs as long as they were allowed. That’s where I blame Kronke. As a businessman, he knows his investment, whatever the industry, will only make profits if it’s run professionally and ruthlessly from top to bottom. Arsenal Football Club was allowed to become a complacent, rudderless comfort zone for players who were either not good enough to have been bought in the first place, and others who simply dominated the Management with their demands. And some ask why we went into the downhill spiral Wenger led us into. Wenger and Gazidis are soley to blame, and Kronke was negligent in not getting rid of them earlier than he did.
Phil has made in blindingly clear fashion almost all the points I was going to make. I will add that Kroenke not being a football fan and living in a continent thousands of miles away while hardly ever visiting, has DEFINITELY negated his duty to run Arenal as a proper business SHOULD be run. I am an experienced worldly wise man, as is Phil and as are many others on here and we all know only too well that Kroenke had chosen to duck HIS RESPONSIBILITY to the club he bought and to all us fans too.
If you own a company than you take on a moral duty to run it properly, OR you should get out. However you lay out the overall spending facts of the last five years, there is no getting away from the FACT that any moral person who ever owns a company that provides entertainment and emotional attachment to milions world wide, must, MUST, take responsibility for being actively in touch and ensuring those you appoint run it properly.
In that he has FAILED and – as Phil says so well, in those years since our club made its greatest ever mistake of forcing out David Dein – Kroenke, Gazidis and even Wenger(despite HIS love for the club) in those last years all let us down big time.
KROENKE AND GAZIDIS LET US DOWN FROM THE DISMAL MOMENT THEY CAME IN
BUT STILL A BEAUTIFULLY ARGUED ARTICLE BY ANY STANDARDS ANDERS!!
Thank you, Jon.
But I do think Wenger also became part of the problem as his influence was in so many areas.
Oh, So do I Anders. So do I! BUT DO YOU NOT AGREE THAT THR BUCK ALWAYS STOPS IN ANY BUSINESS WITH THE OWNER?
Yes, ultimately, there is no doubt, where the responsibility lies.
90% agree with you.
The remaining 10% is my opinion that I don’t blame Kronke for not sacking them cos he wasn’t a football man and only want to own a football club, so he entrust everything to who he believes are football gurus not knowing they are passed it.
And I think he believe more in Gazidis than Wenger and that was why he told Wenger to resign on Gazidis advice not knowing Gazidis will leave the club.
If Kronke is a football man, he won’t just dash out salary anyhow to the players.
Even with Abramovich love for the game, he never pay players anyhow the way we do. But because he wasn’t a football man, he agree to whatever the coach and the director says.
He never appoint Raul Sanllehi, Gazidis did, not even Edu, but the head of Operation did.
He only bought the club and leave it incharge of this people.
But if he still love to own a club till his life time, I think there is little we can do than to pray that our football management has the passion for football, cos I believe if they do, Kronke won’t stop them for spending.
And on the Anders, I salute you for this.
Many people forgot that getting the right players make the other club better than Arsenal and not spending less.
I remember when Arsenal got Henry and Pires while Liverpool signed Heskey and Barmby with the same amount of money, but the quality each player brought to there team are different.
So I blame people who are incharge of our transfers and not the owner who knew nothing about transfer.
Arsenal signed Xhaka for £35k, Chelsea signed Kante for £30k
All that are not Kronke’s forth but the people incharge of our transfer.
Let hope Arteta can spot a talent and buy better players.
Agree 🙂
Bobs, then why ever BUY a business you neither know nor care anything about? Why has that not occurred to you? Before you answer”money”, consider that any business makes more money when the owner is hands on and also cares about it! Your argument is “10%” naive, Bobs!
Jon
I don’t think David Dein was forced out of Arsenal. He only resigned because he couldn’t cope for losing out on a vote to build a new stadium at Emirate instead of the Highbury he proposes.
He was the one who introduced Kronke to Arsenal Board but because he wasn’t support on his suggestion of building the new stadium at highbury, he sold his shares to Usmanov.
So David Dein is not an Angel.
I’m sure if he was still at Arsenal and Kronke with the majority shareholder, we will still be challenging for trophy.
We only need a good management or a strict owner(which we don’t know when) maybe his son can be more strict
Bobs , Sorry but it is 100% certain and widely known and acknowledged that Dein was forced out, in fact physically manhandled out of the boardroom, as things turned very nasty. Surprised you don’t known this FACT. And it is a fact, not opinion Bobs!
The other comments you make are true where you mention facts. Though your Dein still there WITH Kroenke equalling success, is mere opinion and not mine. I agree it would be far better though, and nothing can have ever been as disastrous as the Gazidis years. He was our single most damaging Arsenal employee in our entire history for sure. Kroenke of course is NOT AN EMPLOYEE!
Naive you may say but I believe he chose to have a football club coupled with the fact he had a Hockey team and Basketball team.
Both are doing well before he bought them but having issues since he take charge and yet never sold when the profit are not coming in. Which shows he only want to own this clubs.
I believe he knew nothing and no passion for football.
There are many rich men who owns a business they don’t know much about but only employ people who are vast with the business.
And as long as the business can sustain itself with him putting too much of his money, they careless.
Do you think he made his billions in all his clubs?
He has business he’s passionate about and business he’s not passionate about and you’re not in the right place to tell him what to do with his money.
So your argument is 99% naive
*Without him putting much of his money*
Bobs, I had, til now, wrongly assumed you were an older and worldlywise man,. THIS POST SHOWS ME HOW WRONG MY ASSUMPTION WAS. You failed completely to address the point I made to you and made non relevant points , which is not a proper reply. I will therefore leave our debate there. FEEL FREE TO HAVE THE LAST WORD, IF YOU FEEL YOU NEED TO HAVE IT!
I’m sorry to break to you that I never read about him been physically manhandled but the fact remains he resigned from the club on his own will and wasn’t forced to resigned.
He was part of the board member with about 14% of his own shares.
So where you got your theory of him been physically manhandled is where I don’t get and you can even give me the link if you’re sure about what you’re saying cos I can sure give you my own link of how and why David resigned.
And mind you, don’t call your write up FACT cos you rarely say the FACT.
The only FACT I know about you is that you’re a REALIST(which I respect cos you mostly nailed your comment for me even if some people don’t agree with you)
But been a REALIST is different from talking FACT.
Golden Rule:
Do to others what you want them to do to you.
You need not tell me my argument is naive when you don’t even know who I am.
You can argue without giving a brand name to an argument, I assume?
Anyway sorry if my words get to you and forgive me for that.
Stay safe.
Bobs you are speaking from total ignorance of the facts that Dein was bundled out physically from the boardroom. As a youngster I realise you don’t know that but those like me who have been around Arsenal since before your parents were born know the truth, whether or you have the ignorance to deny it. LOOK IT UP! Its no secret! Except to you!
Jon fox
I can see you have brain fart for bringing up my parent into the discussion. I thought you’re a matured man but never knew you’re a stinking old hag with fart brain.
Never knew you’re so old that your thinking is becoming that of a 10years old. My Dad is over 106years and still smarter than you are.
So I won’t blame you for having a fart brain cos you’re getting older than I think. And you must be over 172years.
Soz
Your dad is 106 ? Wow lol
Totally agree, Phil.
FACT:- The club has been mismanaged under Kroenke’s ownership.
FACT:- Kroenke doesn’t care about Arsenal like the fans do.
FACT:- Arsenal are getting further from the top of the Premier League with every year that passes under Kroenke ownership.
FACT:- If the fans really want the club to progress and challenge with the very best, not only in England, but in Europe too, then they need to unite behind the “Kroenke Out” banner.
Ah!! Rafael in Aussieland. I wondered where Benitez was at this time.
How can Kronke buy a team worth billions and doesn’t care about? Arsenal has spent more than £100mil on playets before the beginning of the current season. The fplayers and supporters are the main problem. Players are the ones who play as if they are being forced to do their job. The supporters will support Ozil, Xhaka, and Mustafi for substandard performances. You supporters even verbally abused Emery to bring back Ozil. Don’t shift the blame to Kronke
Hahahahaha…. Permit me, I LIKE YOU” @TopGunner and probably Declan” You guys see things the way I do.
And we’ve got so many Comedian as Supporters.
I just can’t laughing 😅😅.
BOB and Mr Realist Fox made this Shit! Intresting..
The answer to the question is perfectly summed up by Kronke himself.
To paraphrase, he did not get involved to win titles, and this is why we are where we are.
Chocking figures. Man United and Asn’l are the big money losers here. The big money wasters. Man especially. Interesting reading. And I can accept when mr Sorensen say that Liverpool is out of sight – they have been out of sight for all the other teams for a long time. Liverpool is the only team that made a decent season as far as it lasted 2019-20. The rest played like sh*t. But talking about our poor neighbor up north (one point more, one game more played) as something unreachable, that’s rubbish. True is that coq au vin have done better in recent years. That was during the Pinocchio era, which now is over. Thank Gee. The stupid b*stards kicked the best coach they ever had. So significant.
Yes, I also found Man U’s figures chocking. To the waste of money on transfers you can add their waste of money on failed managers, they have had to pay out.
They are the prime example of how little money means, if you don’t have the right structure and the right persons in charge.
As I understand it Kroenkes approach to running a sports club is to let the sports people run the club. His attitude is that it is a business, and as such, you dont invest money into something that is losing money unless it is clear how that money is going to improve the performance of the business. Throwing money at a club in pursuit of titles is expensive and far from certain, steady improvement is much more certain in the long run, if you have the right people in place.
The flip side of Kroenke not investing much in Arsenal, is that he doesnt take much out either. A little bit certainly, but not as much as some owners have.
I think that you have hit the nail on the head for one area that Kroenke can definitely be criticized for, and that is not acting sooner when the clubs finances started to slide. He seems to have put too much faith in Gazidis and Wenger for too long.
Wenger should have had some of the club management responsibilities removed from him and been told to focus on managing the first team, allowing him to focus on where he could shine. But that would have been a stopgap measure that would have only bought and extra couple of years before Arsenal would have had to find a new manager anyway.
Gazidis should have been sacked for the poor performance of the club in terms of commercial deals, falling so far behind other clubs, never mind the mismanagement of contracts, and the poor performance in the transfer market, buying too high and selling too low, never mind selling the young talent for peanuts. And then of course there was the disaster with Sanchez and Ozil a couple of years ago. it would have hurt Arsenal to lose both of them at the same time, but I dont think it would have been any worse than what did happen.
Grimlar Your right don’t put all the blame on KROENKE yes he was slow to act regarding those 2 clowns he should have acted sooner than he did. Millions wasted on deadwood and allowing players to leave free mismanagement in the highest decree so let’s move on look forward not what might have been
Exactly my point.
His only problem is not been a football man and believe too much on Wenger and Gazidis.
He never interfere with there business on transfer cos he believe he know nothing about it.
Our coach and management only need to find the right players and not sign just for the sake of signing
What a great article that was and how thought provoking!
The responses have all been right on point too.
A football club management or any other management is all based on collectiveness.The spirit of unity should run in our club or any other organization to see success.
A nice and interesting read
Even Asn’l kicked the best coach they ever had, Monsieur Wenger. But we waited too long to do so, maybe that’s even more stupid. Maybe we should have done like Coq au Vin, kicked Arsène the same year we reached – and lost – the Champions League final in 2006. Maybe things had been different – better. And even if the Kroenke family isn’t totally to blame for the situation as it is, I dream of something else. I dream of the new kids on the block. I dream of Dennis Bergkamp, Ron Koeman, Dirk Kuyt, Phil Cocu, Henrik Larsson and Rob Jansen. That would be just that – something else.
It’s quite astonishing to read a long article looking at our regression, yet not mentioning the two key men hugely responsible for this down turn…Wenger, and Gazidis (W&G).
Overall, Kroenke is the main problem. He does not care about success on the pitch, or the fans, only the bank balance. He basically left W&G in charge, and kept them for so long because the club was doing well financially, despite the clear regression on the pitch. There’s actually nothing wrong with Kroenke’s financial model (although I would like him to prove he cares by investing more), the problem is that he’s never around the club, and he’s not an Arsenal fan. In fact, he probably isn’t either a fan of football…or should I say soccer?
We’re already seeing a big improvement, and we’re acting like a normal club again, because we have better people running the club. Instead of giving Emery years to get it right, he was gone in 14 months.
An excellent article Anders.The combination of an absentee landlord and poor Management are the root causes of our deterioration during the past decade.I have little to add to the sensible and factual comments made by Phil and others, but in fairness to our owner,it was always going to be difficult for him to assert his authority over a Manager who had been so successful and who had such influence in introducing to this Country a style aimed at playing beautiful entertaining football.The Gazidis/ Wenger axis needed to be overthrown and the fact that Emery failed was predictable given the malaise which had set in.On a brighter note, the decision to appoint a young, intelligent Manager was sensible as he has already shown the courage to give our talented youngsters a chance .He has of course inherited a number of sub standard performers who will be more difficult than ever to move on the to financial repercussions of the Pandemic.Basically I am more optimistic for the future of Arsenal than I have been for some time.
Yes, I agree with your points. And my personal hope and feeling is also, we may finally be on the right track to recover.
A very nice article AndersS, exposing the myth that arsenal do not spend and exposing the fact that we spend on wrong players and inflated wages. Thank you for writing the truth, I was bashed couple of times for saying that we have an expensive useless squad. Well i feel that Stan needs to go not because of the investment but because he is not demanding more.
I care a damn if the entire squad is up for transfer ( except Saka and Gabriel)for we are going nowhere with this squad.
And finally I agree to have a statue each for Arsene, Ivan and Raul to applaud their contributions to the club and their professional management.
Of course you could base it on since 2011 when Stan Koronke became majority share holder
That would read net spend of …..
City – 1.068,30
United 887.46
Chelsea 427-82
We are 4th highest with 418.16
In that time therefore Mr Wenger did majority of time what he should have done …..challenge for the top 4
The point of leaving Highbury was to challenge for title
Since Chelsea City new owners brought their clubs they went extra mile to make them champions
Most spend more then they make
This is where articles is misleading …..
For years Arsene Wenger won things while making the club profit
He couldn’t do what Sir Alex can do , making the Gunners a sound business
So the money we spent , the club have self made
Can’t say same for City , United and Chelsea? Hence we have only ownership in Leauge who don’t put own money in own pocket
Argument is could and when has our owner gone that extra mile to make us champions ?
Would Roman Abramovich, the Glazers, or City’s owners ever sell us their stars ?
Coincidence …… We are only club in top 6 to sell their our best players to rivals
Vanpersie, Sagna, Clichy , Adeybayore, Toure, Nasri , Sanchez , etc Ever asked how we manage to be only ones ?
Then go look how rich the Koronke family are ( billionaires ) and ask do they do best possible / or they can do to make us the best we can be ?
If answers no ask is it then right as fans we pay the most for tickets , shirts , etc ?
@Dan.
No matter, which period you choose, the facts show:
1) It is possible to do much better for much less investment, than what we have done
2) Liverpool have in the last 5 years turned themselves into possibly the best in Europe with a spend less than half of ours
3) Tottenham have managed to surpass us in the league and reach the CL final with a spend less than half of ours
The myth, that Kroenke has limited our possibilities with unwillingness to spent is simply untrue. The facts show it.
He can be blamed for not installing the a winning culture, putting the right structure in the club and for not putting the right people in charge at the right time.
Instead we have had people, who didn’t manage the team and the available funds as well as our competitors were able to.
You choose to pick Liverpool and Spurs
In over a decade at our club Liverpool are only now about to win a title
If anything Liverpool prove that once owners got serious look what you can do
Klopp wanted defender he got VvD
We need a defender we get ….David Luiz
Now do you truly think football people say there and went ‘ Mr koronke we think David Luiz is the answer ‘ or do you think he sets a really small budget compared to the teams who usually win title
He could go extra mile and say no we need world class defender now but he doesnt
Spurs have won nothing so that doesn’t prove you can do great without investment ,e.g. Why Poch got fed up
The most successful teams of the koronke era are City , Chelsea and United and oh look they spent the most
Depends on how you measure success, world club champions, a champions league win and two champions league finals are fairly successful in my book, that is what Liverpool have done in Kroenke’s era. City in Europe, despite spending in excess of a billion, is zero. Also, anything won by Chelsea and City I regarded as cheating and do not consider anything they have won while committing financial doping.
Liverpool though in that era havn t won as much as City, Chelsea or United
In fact under their owner Chelsea got to two CL Finals ( same as Liverpool )
Under Glazers United 3 CL Finals ( one more )
Those owners show that the more you put in the more you get back
Good points. I very much agree. We should measure us up against clubs, that are run in a fair way.
@Dan
I am sorry you find it so difficult to accept. But the numbers are facts, and among other thing they show:
1) There is no clear correlation between how much you invest, and what you get out of it. Look at Utd. They have spent 240m more than us, and have arguably not gotten anywhere except backwards.
2) They show that clubs have surpassed us while spending much less than 50% of us.
Mismanagement is the only fair conclusion, and when you keep mentioning bad player dispositions by us and excellent ones by other clubs (like Liverpool and VVD), you actually only underline the point. Liverpool have managed to put possibly the best team in Europe together by shrewd transfers and having one of the very best managers for nearly 5 years. It is simply not restrictions on money, that have prevented us from doing what they have.
A couple of Points.
The figures quoted above are missing a couple of items.
Ramsey and Sanchez were allowed to walk for nothing.
Please nobody mention getting The Mick in the Sanchez trade with United, he is another member of the (expensive) deadwood, those transfer mavens Arsenal employ, have recruited.
It seems this summer will be yet another year when the deadwood Stage needs to spend several days loading up at the Emirates.
Incidentally, at what point should Arteta give up on Pepe (LePeu).
I just hope that this year, we bring in just one or two top class players (a defensice midfielder from Atletico Madrid – in part exchange for Lacazette maybe) instead of ten very very average players.
If Arsenal fail to qualify for either European tournament this year, I think the Emirates might see many more empty seats in the future.
The longer you allow the rot to set in (middle of the table finishes), the more expensive it will be to dig the club out of it. If Kroenke isn’t spending now what will he be like in two or three years, and where will Arsenal be?
At the moment, I believe Kroenke is much more involved with his NFL team, and their new stadium.
He will at least get some monies back when LA Chargers become renters. Assuming there is an NFL season this year.
Chelsea did not spend money at the beginning of the current season, but they are ahead of us in the log. Spending money does not guarantee success. I’ll put all the blame on players. Players are being highly paid, but they play as if they dont care. Arsenal spent more than £100mil, but the sitting at No.11 on the log. Do you really wanna blame Kronke for that?
@ Top Gunner
If your question is directed to me, I can tell you, that my conclusion is, Kroenke can’t be blamed for not allowing us to spend on new players. That is a false myth.
Our problem has been, we haven’t been managed as well as some other clubs over several years, and that is down to the people, who have been in charge of the overall management of the club and also in charge of managing the team. Possible also the structure/organization of the club. But ultimately, Kroenke is the owner, and he has been too passive and too slow to address the problems. That has cost us much in our results/ranking and has cost him a lot financially.
Numbers don’t lie even tho, some figures seems low, vanjik, goalkeeper, Salah are above 120M… Chelsea should be above us, restricted from buying for ages! But never mind
Think it is more about when and how money is spent. Board spent almost 2/3 of that amount in a year period from July 2018 to July 2019, under Emery.
Over half of it in 2019, but those are payement plans. We have not paid half of it yet. And Emery did not choose these players but imposed, he asked for Partey Maguire or Koulibaly and Zaha, as we know.
A trick we paying for as we did not gain from neither Tierny, Saliba nor Pepe beside his price tag to flash us, make sure to have us fill up stadium.
You said it right, Kroenke doesn’t care for this club nor even football, he already made over a billion over us!
And you are accurate to point Chelsea title in 2015, but they signed Kante who wanted Arsenal so bad, 40M Kroenke refused to pay in process . And year before it was Suarez!!!
Kroenke got rid of Wenger who was too demanding and had ambition.
Flashes us with some fake numbers, payment plans to have us back in stadium!
See, this pandemic is killing him, today we are worth zero. Uncertainty makes it impossible to sell, unless very low.
Kroenke made money, he won’t be able to sell for 2 but 1 billion. Losing 1!
He will sell Auba and highest valued players in upcoming window, sell club and run with all he can.
Kroenke is as many of his kind who don’t care for others; all losing money today…
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I’m looking forward to hear club for sale after next window. Kroenke can’t lose so much and stay with no guaranty to when stadium reopens, people feel comfortable to attend, maybe a next wave next fall & winter…
No way he sticks around but sell asap, that’s why he is a billionnaire!
It will be a period to get ship back to cruising mode but we have foundation to be confident about future.
Let’s hope a real passionate buys this club! Get that Kroenke bully back to him country side and cowboys!