Questioning our Ownership: Kroenke can’t relate to Arsenal fans.
As football fans, we know the devotion that we have about your respective club, it is about living, breathing and dreaming football, a conscious thought that creeps into your mind every single day.
It is what makes English football so engaging, every fan is in a huge battle with their rivals at the pub or in their living room, through social media or even in the very stadium.
So, it doesn’t surprise me that our owner and director Josh Kroenke revealed this week that he doesn’t feel able to relate to Arsenal fans.
Josh Kroenke, along with help from his father Stan, took over the club in 2018 and had a rough ride so far with a drop off in table finishes, failure in Europa League and involvement in the Super League proposal.
He said on a podcast called Road Trippin’: “It’s hard to truly relate as an American or a foreigner heading into the UK, the passion that really goes on from the people that support these clubs.”
There were big protests against the Kroenke ownership after the Super League fiasco, thousands protested at the Emirates asking for a majority ownership or the Kroenkes out of the club!
Arsenal fans have always felt an attitude of the board throwing money at problems, with Pepe’s disappointing £70 million transfer breaking the record.
Now, I am not an American football fan, nor am I American so I cannot really comment on how Americans feel about the NFL teams they support, but this statement does reiterate the idea that American owners bring a certain Americanism into the clubs they buy.
A week ago, we saw our owners other venture (LA Rams) win a historic Superbowl, so maybe their focus isn’t truly on Arsenal and their American model is not suited to Premier League football clubs.
I do genuinely believe that the Kroenke’s want Arsenal to succeed, mostly because I know for certain that they enjoy money and both things come hand in hand.
However, it’s frustrating having this disappointed feeling about our ownership when billionaire Spotify CEO and Arsenal fanatic David Ek was very keen to buy the club last year.
He had a £1.8 billion offer to buy the club rejected, but has a kept a close relationship with Thierry Henry as they were spotted sat together in the north London derby, the Arsenal legend has insisted that he is here to stay.
Kroenke firmly rejected the offer saying that “they don’t need the money” and that they are not looking to sell the club.
As well as this the reports of £237 million deal between Spotify and Barcelona FC (which includes their stadium being named ‘Spotify Nou Camp’) might dampen the chances of another Ek footballing venture.
I get the feeling we maybe missed the boat and that the ‘Kroenke out’ movement has fully lost its momentum now.
One thing for sure is that David Ek would be much more open to a fan’s majority ownership than our current owners.
What would you want to see from the Arsenal ownership over the next few years?
Until next time Gooners,
Benedict