As long as Kroenke is the owner this club will NEVER be what it used to be. Selling Arsenal’s best players year after year without replacing them with quality since he bought in, always going for the cheap solution. Then when investment has been made it has been on the wrong players, paying over the odds to get crap in return. The investing also started too late considering how many years we sold off the good players we did have.
Kroenke doesn’t care about football, he doesn’t care about Arsenal and lastly, he doesn’t care what you or I think as long as the club is making money.
If one of us fans owned this club, we would do everything in our power to make sure we were competing, sacking boards, executives and managers. We would invest in the club if needed and we would feel responsible for what direction the club was heading. I know I would.
So to say that the blame doesn’t lie with the owners isn’t right. The owners employ the people that are making the decisions, but if they don’t care, they won’t react when things are not going right.
Look at Abramovich at Chelsea, forget about the money and look at the other decisions done over there in regards to boards, executives and managers. They always compete, and if not, they find the reason and solution immediately. This is because their owner CARE. Ours doesn’t and he never will, he has to go. I mean come on, we all know Arteta was just the cheap “solution”, any other manager would demand investments to be made, that’s why we didn’t get any other manager. I remember Arteta saying that he demanded investing in the beginning, but he went quiet really fast about that.
I feel powerless, I don’t understand how we can keep blaming players, managers, executives and the board, is it just because deep down we know we can’t do anything to change the owner?
Humour me, if Abramovich was the owner from the Invincibles and onwards, do you think our last title would have been that year?
I don’t, I even think Wenger would still be around with a star studded, world beating team, like the snakes running our club told us we would be.
For my own well-being I am considering divorcing football all together. I love this club, but why keep on filling the pockets of an owner who has played us fans for fools for years, it won’t ever change. If I keep buying in to it, I will only get more hurt.
The Arsenal soul is gone, sold like a cheap harlot in a brothel many years ago, and if owners don’t change, neither will our situation.
KentIam
OT…season’s greetings and Merry Christmas to everyone! It’s time to put all our worries behind and enjoy the festivities. Stay safe and be happy!
Too true, Winston! Merry Christmas to you! 🎁🎄🍻⛄
Merry Christmas Sue!
Merry Christmas to you too, Winston 🍻🎅🏻
Merry Christmas GunneRay!
Merry christmas and a happy new year to you as well as all my fellow gooners, may the next year be a good one!
The ex-Arsenal owners who sold their shares to Kroenke are David Dein, Danny Fiszman, Peter Hill-Wood, Alisher Usmanov and Farhad Moshiri. The one that introduced Kroenke to the board is David Dein
The one who ultimately has to pay for Arsenal’s financial loss is Stan Kroenke, while most fans can stream Arsenal matches illegally. The one who hired the incompetent and complacent employees is Kroenke
The billionaire doesn’t seem to care much because his main income isn’t from Arsenal and he’d most likely sell Arsenal if a lucrative offer comes. He’s so similar to my ex-boss, who’s been trying to sell his company and caused a big turnover of employees in that sick company
that’s it he’s a businessman make him an offer for arsenal he can’t refuse.
Didn’t we spend over 300M recently in transfers? Did Stan object? Why do we blame him for everything. He does need to be blamed for
1. Not sacking Wenger in 2006 after failing to regain the EPL
2. Not forcing his desire for EPL titles & UCL and being satisfied with the “Top For Tropheeee”
Had he done the above two, every other person employed would be in his place and we would be serial winners or challengers. Maybe he preferred to enjoy watching Mr. Arsene Fawlty and Mr. Manuel Gazdiz run around the Emirates trying to please the dudes they hired to play for the club.
I believe his lack of control and passion is killing Arsenal slowly
I have been saying for ages that the club has been in a massive decline and also for arteta’s head but I will back him and the players up one more time as if we lose to Chelsea on Saturday he will most certainly have nowhere to hide
So please aubameyang pepe xhaka and the rest of you over paid muppets think of the supporters for once and actually look as though you give a shit and put in s performance that we can be proud of. If you aren’t capable of that then please leave in January
Congrats, perfect view on our misery and abyss. I am old fan of AFC and my frustration is growing to intolerable level back from many years till now. Dozens of imbeciles , just to name Chaka, Mustafi, Bellerin, and many others at present and in the past are not to be blamed, we bought them. Some of them like Pepe, a guy with distorted-smiling face, always tripping over own feet was paid unbelievably high. Ozil in pension of 350k/week. Arteta is enforcing “alibi” back passes and useless crosses. It is vertical responsibility : it is Kroenke . Kroenke out or we all better give it up. Forever
I totally agree, the people hired to do the scouting and signings haven’t been doing their job, and in my eyes that is the fault of the owner. If I mismanaged my own business by hiring people that weren’t up to the job, I couldn’t blame any other than myself. If Kroenke is happy with mediocrity, which it seems is the case (not by what they say but how they act) then I have no problems with that. But then be honest with the fans, don’t blow smoke up our backsides just to earn a profit talking about how we will be world beaters if that isn’t what they want.
I blame Kroenke for being incompetent but our managers, scouts and players have to take responsibility too..
I will keep saying it. Held on to “4th is like a trophy” mentality / attitude for too long. He has just been happy with doing the bare minimum, finishing 4th and making a profit being better than spending big trying to win big trophies, big trophies means spendinf big and there is a massive chance that your big investment will not see gains.
But whenever he makes funds available they are mostly wasted by his managers. So he gets a bit nervous and touchy spending more.
Wastes / mismanaged transfer funds in my opinion.
Xhaka – £30 million (£100,000 a week).
Ozil – £40 million (£150,000 – £350,000 a week).
Mustafi- £30 million (£100,000 a week).
Lacazatte – £50 million (£150,000 a week).
Pepe – £70 million (£120,000 a week)
Torreira – £30 million (£100,000 a week)
Saliba – £30 million (Has not kicked a ball for the first team since we signed him last season).
Then we had / have WAGE player.
Kolasinac- £120,000 a week.
Willian – £200,000 a week.
Mkhi- He was handed £200,000 a week before he got sold.
Luiz – £120,000 a week.
Then we have the likes of Cedrix, Mari, Elneny etc not making less than £70,000 a week I would think.
Auba until he renewed his contract , Santi, Sanchez, may be Gabriel have been value for the the money we paid. The rest I don’t know..
Look at all that mismanagement of transfer and wage funds. And nowonder incompetence Silent Stan gets nervous spending. The little he makes available is absolutely wasted on signing average players for big money.
😞
I believe that it was his intention to hire incompetent and corrupt enough executives to ensure bad acquisitions that will slowly turn Arsenal into a mid-table club.
Everything else bar the player wages is going his way.
With no European football, he can justify cheap transfers and low wages. And that’s when Arsenal becomes a full-blown Newcastle United, an average club with the owner that fans hate with a passion.
sorry this does not make any sense.
I forgotTierney, he is a good money investment too.
How many clubs in the PL have owners, that invest in the club out of their own pocket???
2?
I want to know too.
I think most other owners not so different from Kroenke. He is not odd one out.
He is not good owner like Abramovich. No one disagree.
He is just like most owners but why say like he is the worst?
Like I said, it’s not just about investing, but being proactive when the club isn’t doing well, find the rot and weed it out by looking at the board, executives, scouts and manager to try to make the best of what we have. Spending hundreds of millions doesn’t help if you spend it on duds.
Like Winston has done above
Greetings of the Season go out to you all wherever you are in the world
Whilst David Dein introduced Kroenke to the club, I doubt in his worse nightmares he thought it would come to this. A billionaire American owner with sports franchises sounded like a match made in heaven on the face of it. Back then with no knowledge of him, I was excited about him cementing Arsenal’s place at the pinnacle of the premier league for years to come
I have come back down to earth with a bump… a painful one at that
It is shameful and he is shameless for what has happened as Arsenal to Kroenke is an investment not a passion
Mistake upon mistake has been made at the top culminating in a slapdash recruitment policy that has done little more than slap sticking plaster over the leaks when they appear. Willian on a 3 year contract, Pepe for £72m, Ozil and Auba on £300,000+per week! That poor devil, Runarsson as our second choice goalie and we expect the club to rise up from where we are now! This has been going on for years, to the point that even before lockdown Arteta could only bring in loan signings
If Kroenke had half an inkling about football he would or should have got Arsenal flying again but he is disinterested; concerned only with making money at the expense of my hopes and dreams of seeing our great club back where it should be. I could weep. There is a ray of hope that the lawyer on the board, Tim Lewis may be quietly going about making changes. I hope so.
Well said, SueP!👍
Having a billionaire take over the club made us all feel great at the time! However, the grass isn’t always greener as we all know now. Billionaires make money from accumulating it. Not getting rid of it!
Too true
Well said SueP.
I have a feeling the folks who frequent this site will at least consider the excellent points you raise, rather than when posted by myself as I have been banging this particular drum for a very long time now along with @jon fox.
Personally I hope we hear from a certain Mr Dangote this coming year, who professes to be a Gooner and has a passion for the club.
I’ll take my chances, after all it can’ be any more withering than under Kentucky Fried Chicken. , sorry KSE !
Have a very happy Christmas.
“ A K” ?
Should read “A J”
Take more tonic with it 😉
You should know who you are by now!!
Seasons Greetings
“can’ be any more withering “
“CAN’T be any more withering”
Blimey it’s only 2:45 – the Arsenal have finally driven me to drink !
Have a good one all – at the end of the day, we’re all in this together.
I’m in total agreement with what you’re saying, I aldo hope for some ray of light, but will it ever happen? It’s been a long time since Arsenal had this poor start to a season, but looking at the recent years, this is not something that started last week. It started when Kroenke bought in an started to strip the club for players without replacing them. Im just hoping it’s not too late to react.
arteta should leave the club
From the owner,Board,Management in its various tiers,the recruitment team and last but not least, the players, they are all culpable for the demise of a once great side.The examples of incompetence listed by Goonster is frightening and Edu it seems is living up to the standards set by his predecessors.As fans all we can do is hope, and pray that someone within the Arsenal organization has the ability, drive and energy to give our Club a complete overhaul from top to bottom.Despite the doom and gloom, we shall continue to support the Club, because it is a part of our soul.To you all on Just Arsenal a very merry Christmas and a peaceful and healthy new year.
👍
It’s kroronke that destroy our team gradually, we need to spend plenty money to buy quality player in all wings if not another coach would still be worse than this. Koronke is either spend big money or live our club.
Arsenal was big time with Man U until Roman Abramovich bought Chelsea and brought in Mou. Then Man City got bought by Abu Dhabi. Arsenal got demoted to 4th. Then Poch at Spurs and Klopp at Liverpool made it a top 6. Leicester made it a top 7. Wolves and Everton have billionaire owners. Southampton and Aston Villa make it a top 12. Arsenal became complacent Wenger stayed too long. Emery was brilliant first season but was not given the players he wanted. Arteta has yet to realise that what worked with a billion pound squad at the Etihad is not working with the many over paid pensioners at the Emirates. Arsenal need to stop living off the 2004 Invincibles and make a quantum leap into 2021 or we are in danger of sliding into the relegation zone. The squad needs a massive overhaul both in personal and in attitude. But so many are on long term contracts and Arteta can’t seem to get a tune out of most of these leeches. We need several miracles. Hopefully the first of such miracles will arrive in the form of a win over Chelski on boxing day
👍
I also think Emery would have done better if he got the players he wanted. I also thin Arteta would do better if he got more of the players he wants. But for me the Arsenal hierarchy are firing coaches just to keep the spotlight off themselves, what good does a new manager do when the same players persist?
Goonster, the only thing that is missing, is for Kroenke to sell our beloved Arsenal to someone that has interest in football. There has to be cracks in that boardroom, given the trajectory that Arsenal are on. And no doubt, there are buyers for the Arsenal, Kroenke must just sell up and stick to the sports he has a passion for, which evidently does not include football. He and his incompetant merry men have succeeded in destroying the fabric of this wonderful club. Something is rotting at the Arsenal.
KirkC, where do you see the prospective buyers with the probable £2 billion plus, please?
Just a gentle reminder that Usmanov, wanted to buy a controlling share, but Kroenke had other plans. Arsenal is an attractive club to own.
Unfortunately the Usmanov ship has sailed, picking up Everton FC as the next port of call! 😢
It’s obvious that the club set out a plan to just keep spending in the lower regions of £100 million per season. That includes selling before buying policy. I don’t know why we have not noticed this and lowered our expectations to where they should be.
From 2013/14 is when we started spending big on individual signings.
The pattern is crystal clear.
2013/14 – (£42 million on Ozil).
2014/15 – (£35 million on Sanchez)
2015/16 – (£10 million on Cech).
2016/17- (Xhaka £35 million and Mustafi £35 million).
2017/18 – (laca £50 million and Auba £60 million in January due to panicking about missing out on 4th place.)
2018/19 – (Torriera £30 million, leno £28 million).
2019/20 – (Pepe £70 million, Saliba £30 million, £25 million)
2020/21 – (Partey £45 million).
If you want this player then you have to sell this and that player so that we can get the player we want. Etc.
We never set out of buy more than 1 quality player per season. You always know that you need to strengthen 3 areas with top quality but always end up signing players we don’t need, just strengthening in one position and then patch the other positions with plan B player, or Plan C player or even nothing at all.
It was obvious that the Kronke Sports Enterprise was going to become a money making machine in English football when our best left and we settled for less. I just wish Arsene Wenger had left when Kronke started to tighten the purse strings. Maybe Wenger knew the plan all a long? But what Wenger did under Kronke reign was to undo the soul that he created under a hierarchy who loved and believed in the club. I know he was doing his best with what he was given but, in a way he supported what they were doing. When they sold out, they sold it’s soul too, to a very ambitious American owner. An owner who could care less about Arsenal as a successful footballing club in terms of silverware. As long as it is successful in terms of profit and financial growth, the owner is here to stay. Can you imagine the likes of Barcellona selling out and selling its best players for profit? Real Madrid scrapping it out in sixteenth position because the team has been assembled on tight budgets for profit! I know one thing for sure, Spanish fans would be on the streets in uproar!
Merry Christmas to you all Gooners. Stay safe and enjoy the festive season regardless of football. It’s time for family and friends! 🎅🏻🎁🎄🍻
Merry Christmas, GunneRay! Bottoms up! 🍻🎄
“If one of us fans owned this club, we would do everything in our power to make sure we were competing, sacking boards, executives and managers. We would invest in the club if needed and we would feel responsible for what direction the club was heading. I know I would.” – claim disputed.
It has been observed in business that when managers start accumulating ownership in the companies they work, they start exhibiting very undesirable risk-adverse behaviour. They start putting money first and avoid any risky decisions that could grow or improve the company. All they want to do is “keep their investment safe”. I believe if you owned Arsenal you would behave exactly as Kroenke does and so would I! What does Kroenke gain by emptying millions from his pocket? Yes, you might get a trophy, but what does he get? What are the chances spending money will even deliver a trophy? It is just gambling to be honest and spoilt fans basically demand Kroenke gambles his own money to make them happy. Ridiculous.
Merry Christmas, QD. have a great day tomorrow! 🙂🎁🎅
Merry Christmas @Sue!
You have your opinion as I have mine, and you can dispute it all you want, it doesn’t mean I will agree. And yes, if I was the owner as a true fan, I WOULD invest in the club even if it meant losing money. Because I think that when the self sustaining model isn’t working you have to make some investments. As I said in the article it’s not just about the money spent. It’s how and where they are spent and how the people put in charge manages the club. I think many will agree that the people that has been in charge like Ivan and Raul were incompetent, evident by the recent sacking of Raul for mismanaging funds. In my view, those things falls on the owner for appointing incompetent people in the first place.
I trust Kroenke 100%. I listen to the things he says about this great club and everything makes 100% sense. I have never doubted that he is committed or wants the best for this club. He has signed off on huge deals be it transfers or wages, that ungrateful fans never appreciate. An evil owner could have simply balanced the books and paid himself dividends or awarded himself interest-free loans and made the club forgive the loans. As a board member he could pay himself a 1M a week salary if he wanted. Drain all the company savings. Does he do that though? No, he signs of on 72M Pepe deal, 35M Sanchez, Mustafi, Xhaka deal, 42M Ozil and 45M Partey deal and many more so that you can come here and insult him some more.
Sometimes I wish fans would do a bit of research before coming out with some of the things they say.For example if they checked the accounts ( they are in the public domain) they would see that KSE have not taken any money from Arsenal for a good number of years. Only recently KSE renegotiated some loan bonds and put 36 million back into the Club. Fan should not expect KSE to sell to anyone. KSE see their biggest asset in the Stadium, sad as it is, which going up in value all the time. Why would a billionaire business man who specialises in redevelopment sell his prime asset. It seem obvious to me that by having an accountant as CEO of Arsenal he is doing what any owner would do in order to protect his assets.
QD, SUCH WILFUL BLINDNESS AND INCREDIBLE NAIVETY!
Arguably the first BIG sacking of the season, Thomas Tuchel of PSG following a 4-0 win. More to come no doubt, and much closer to home.
Football is all about money. Where would Chelsea,MC ,MU and Pool be without the massive amounts spent on top players.Arsenal are a self sustaining model and have been left behind the last 10 years.
It will get worse as the gunners are unable to compete.Relegation will be final blow from which it could years to recover to become competitive.
The gunners have been overtaken by Spurs and soon will be left behind by WHU and CP.
These are the worst scenarios. Hopefully the gunners can start winning asap and clime up the table.
Be warned. NO club ,Arsenal included, have
a divine right to be in the epl.You are there om merit and nothing else.
Liverpool to be fair, have bought well and sold above the market.
Merry Christmas and a safe, healthy and prosperous 2021 to all my fellow gooners/gunners.
I have no problem with the money the club spent on players. What is obvious is that the football brains in charge of the club who pick the players are the ones who wasted a ton of money.
We signed many players for big tickets (at the time) which simply where duds. Xhaka was a big ticket player, Mustafi was big money, Arshavin was good money, Laca, Pepe etc.
If you look at our top 6 most expensive signings non of them are contributing much for us right now and that kills a club that has not got the money of a Chelsea or City.
But there is no way you can tell me Kroenke even knew who Laca or Auba or Xhaka was. TRhese were purchases proposed by the powers that are at the club.
We have a ridiculously inexperienced management team in Edu and Arteta. An inexperienced managers like Arteta needs a much more experienced team around him IMO.
The fact that the board has not been able to advise Kroenke against the appointment of Edu is mind boggling IMO.
kentlam A most accurate article, rightly blaming the correct person from whose disastrous ownership ALL our subsequent ills since 2007 have stemmed.
Thanks Jon, I also believe the one prime evil at the club is Kroenke, everyone can spin it how they want but a business OWNER is the one responsible for making the business run great. We can blame the boards and execs, that doesn’t help if the owner is satisfied with mediocrity as long as he makes money of it.
A joyous Christmas and a much better New Year in ALL ways to all fellow Gooners.
Of course it’s gone south .. A rent seeking crook with no interest in the team other n as a financial asset with a reliable income stream and linked to the Walmart family a business that prayed on the fading American Dream by substituting cheapness for quality … What could possIbly go wrong????
“Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it (Edmund Burke), it is with this refrain that we will properly examine the state of our franchise. This isn’t about Arteta, although he clearly hasn’t helped himself, this isn’t about Emery, who sadly put himself in an untenable situation, this isn’t even about our absentee landlord, who is rubbish all the same, it’s about Arsene Wenger. I’ll preface my explanation by declaring my admiration for the achievements of this once great man. Both as an innovator and a father figure, Arsene forever changed the footballing landscape, but his greatness will never excuse nor absolve him of the complicit role he played in the devolution of our club. Let’s face it, any Billionaire could have done what Kroenke did, but without a Pied Piper this rouse would have failed miserably. For this grift to work it needed the unwavering support of those who would ultimately be paying for this venture, the fans. But what fans would be so foolish as to accept a plan that would require us to foot the entire bill, without our Billionaire owner assuming any financial risk whatsoever, while simultaneously becoming a “selling” club for the supposed long-term betterment of our team. That’s where our faithful leader enters the fray. Only someone with his seemingly impeccable character could have orchestrated such a faith-based con. This is where the whole cult of personality gig takes a rather nasty turn. Anyone who believes that Wenger wasn’t well-aware of the true intentions of the “Emirates Plan”, especially once Dein was escorted from the building, are either burying their head in the sand or simply unwilling to cut the proverbial cord. It was on backs of this big lie that our losers mentality was first formed, thus the emergence of the Wenger Cup, and until we truly come to terms with this tainted period in our collective history and rid ourselves of anyone connected to this willful deception, we will never truly move forward
While agreeing with much of your Wenger comments -though I blame Kroenke personally and far more than Wenger- I am very interested to see if Ken 1945(who is AW’s arch supporter and who he will not hear any criticism about) reads this . IF HE DOES, YOU MAY BE SURE HE WILL CHALLENGE YOUR COMMENTS.
Wenger was a true fan of the club he gave his passion and work to. Kroenke is in it totally and only for himself.
In my book of human morals that makes Kroenke a far more evil man and Wenger, though definitely not and never evil in any way whatsoever, was perhaps deceitful in that he knew the Kroenke plan but at least AW sweated blood for the club he adored, even with all his faults.
Hats off to all those above for some very good comments ,especially SueP and Wyoming. Pretty much sums up this past 15 years of declining standards. Not much left to say on the Kroenke issue, except a universal chant from all us Gooners, “All I want for Christmas is my Arsenal back”. Best wishes to everyone.
Happy holidays Gunners.
Let’s hope that 2021 turns out better for the world and of course Arsenal.
Right on the Button – and Kroenke is still sucking the life out of the club.
For the stupid person above who blamed Arsene Wenger, remember HE WAS NOT PAID BY THE FANS, BUT BY THE OWNERS.
He could only work within THEIR budget.
For those who have forgotten, Gazidis came in trumpeting the introduction of a Director of Football, to take some of the load off Wenger.
I put 99% of the blame for Arsenal’s current position on this single event!!!!
The bunch of players we have today, despite what the pundits say, were brought in by those Directors of Football, not the managers.
Wenger was a good citizen and did not rock the boat when many of these very ordinary players were bought, likewise Emery and now Arteta.
Until the evil empire “KSE” releases Arsenal FC, DONT HOLD YOUR BREATH FOR MAJOR CHANGES!!!
JW what a foolish post from you, so just because someone blamed AW you called him stupid? Wow.
Thanks Leno for admonishing JW for is ignorant use of words…that said, it’s clear by his commentary that he’s not the sharpest tool in the shed…the belief that the Wenger he so admires would stay at a club where a clown like Gazidis was in charge of all player recruitment and/or acquisitions is totally counter-intuitive, but when someone has blinders on they rarely take the time to properly reflect upon things before offering their opinions…unfortunately this individual is part of the problem and until these Wenger fanboys can wrap their heads around more complex ideas than “Me likey Wenger, so everyone else is to blame” we will continue to be trapped in this malaise of underachievement.
I think the whole Kroenke phenomenon can only be fully understood when one appreciates Western capitalism. Nobody should pretend that football will act in isolation from the overall capitalist economic strategy. I believe that Stan Kroenke, as an American billionaire, has a fully developed business ethic which guides his business empire and operations. It is not common practice in capitalism to micro manage your enterprises when you have structures to do the job. The owners only engage with the board and make decisions only at the strategic level. Of couse Roman Abramovic does micro management because of his totalitarian background where the top handles everything. In capitalism there is role differentiation and every structure should play its part accordingly. I expect most of us to be fully conversant with that. However some individuals have sacrificed objectivity due to extreme hatred for Kroenke which is rather unfortunate. Kroenke has his flaws but let us give credit where it is due. As far as Arsene Wenger is concerned, he will always be our most successful manager until someone else overtakes him. Let no one deceive themselves that they can wish away Wenger’s legacy.
There’s a superb article on this very subject by Barney Ronay in Xmas day issue of The Guardian .