Arsenal football club finally looks to be on an upward curve once again, strongly thanks to the arrival of Mikel Arteta, who will hopefully be a new long-term manager who can propel us back up the table.
I for one do not want to see any wholesale changes in the next six months, although I do want to see the Spanish coach backed in the transfer market and allowed to do his job without controversy.
Our club has started to invest in buying players in recent seasons, backed by the arrival of Nicolas Pepe for a club record fee only last summer, but just how much will be available this summer is still to be figured out. In fact each club must me anxious thinking about the implications of the current suspended campaign on finances before trying to look to the summer.
Aliko Dangote is eyeing a move to take over the club in 2021, as reported on US television earlier this year, but the richest man in Africa is currently building Dangote Refinery which needs to be completed first.
The Nigerian has been working on this venture for nearly three years, and is then hopeful of a takeover bid of our club, having been a long-term fan, with a view to making them a top power in the Premier League once again.
It remains to be seen whether Stan Kroenke has heard of these rumours, nor whether he will be willing to sell to Dangote, but as a shrewd business man you would expect that he would have a price that he could not say no to.
Will Kroenke consider selling next year? Will he back Mikel Arteta this summer? Could the knowledge of a takeover bid next year persuade Kroenke to invest more into the team in the near future? Do the fans still want Kroenke out?
Patrick
Tänk om man bara kunde svara på frågor, sjöng Lena Andersson på Svensktoppen 71-72 nån gång. Oh, how much easier it is to use the swedish language. It’s almost as easy as it is to ask questions. Do you guys never get tired of asking questions? Woops. Now I did it myself. But, of course, we want to get rid of the Kroenkes. The sooner the better. Yankees should lay their hands off european football. They don’t understand it, and they have their own so called football to take care of, which plays with the hands mostly. So typical for them. The Kroenkes can stick to Los Angeles Rams and their hopeless quarterback Jared Goff, who did the worst QB performance in a Super Bowl ever last year (and what a contract that performance gave him). And we love to see Mr Dangote as new owner of the club. Yes, Mr Dangote, you would be so very welcome to the Ashburton. I’ve read somewhere that you’re an Asn’l fan since many years, and that’s exactly what we need, someone who loves the club, it’s history and tradition, and who want to invest in and improve it to Premiership standard. ‘Cause we want to to win the EPL again. It feels like ages since the last time. So even if it will cost you some dough, Mr Dangote, I’m sure it will be worth it. Gooners are passionate people, and friendly-minded. You will be richly rewarded.
“But do fans still want change”! CAN ANYONE PLEASE TELL ME WHY THIS RIDICULOUS QUESTION EVEN APPEARS ON AN ARSENAL SITE? If ther is s single Goner worldwide who prefers not to change from Kroenkes ownership, pleas come on here and make yourself know. You may need a thick skin though when you read comments about you.
As to Aliko Dangote really being keen to take us over, I have severe doubts. We are told this man is far richer than Kroenke and may well be so. That being true then, let us assume, why would building this refinery he is involved in prevent him also bidding for Arsenal? Business people at that level do not physically do the work themselves and I don’t suppose for a moment he plans to move to London and personally run us once the refinery is completed.
If lack of finance is currently the problem, then I do not think his proposed attempt to takeover from Kroenke will,even materialise at all. Like every other sane Gooner on our planet, I am desperate to throw off the chain of the appalling and morally corrupt Kroenke.
I know little about Dangote but we are told he is a real Gooner and assuming that is true , put together with his wealth, that would be a pretty good thing for us. But will it ever happen? Personally, I think not! Sigh! WERE IT EVER GOING TO HAPPEN HE WOULD ALREADY HAVE MADE HIS OFFER, IMO!
The club has been in decline ever since Kroenke took over. He has no real interest in the club except what he can take from it. The vast, vast majority of fans would be delighted to get rid of Kroenke, especially if he’s replaced by an actual fan, who is prepared to use his deep pockets to get the club back to the top
Q1. Will Kroenke consider selling next year?
A1. Maybe. His KSE must be taking a huge financial hit at the moment with all worldwide sporting events cancelled indefinitely.
Q2. Will he back Mikel Arteta this summer?
A2.1 If you mean to stay on as head coach/manager, Probably.
A2.2. If you mean in the transfer market. Probably not see A1.
Q3. Could the knowledge of a takeover bid next year persuade Kroenke to invest more into the team in the near future?.
A3. He doesn’t care about the football side of Arsenal. I think he might make small investments because at the moment he’s not seeing any return on the investments he’s all ready made.
Q4. Do the fans still want Kroenke out?.
A4. I can’t speak for other fans but yes, The quicker the better.
As for Dangote. He’s an Arsenal fan. How fanatical I don’t know but it would surely be better to have an owner that cares about results and knows that the squad needs a large investment.
There are questions.
Would he dip into his own pocket if needed?
How squeaky clean is he? The last thing we need is an owner that has skeletons in the closet or human right violations that could crop up.
What sort of owner would he be. Is he a tyrant? Would he keep the current board or appoint his own people?
Would he attend games?
There are lots more questions but the biggest is would he be a the right man to fit into the Arsenal ethos?
NWL Dan, I have not seen your posts before this. Perhaps I have just missed them , which would have been my loss. Or perhaps you are new on this site. Either way, I will from now on look out keenly to see if you have posted again. I think you can speak for ALL Gooners on craving Kroenkes exit. I could not agree more that ANY owner, ANYWHERE, must ALWAYS be ” squeaky clean”. I was heartened by your thought that Kroenkes KSE WILL BE FINANCIALLY DAMAGED.
Jon. I have a few posts on here written over a period of around 2 months.
I did remember reading about Dangote a few years ago. There’s nothing new about stories of his intentions of buying out Kroenke. The Mirror run Football London ran an article about it today. With no football or news coming from clubs they are scraping for stories to run.
I did post another answer on this subject but I don’t think Admin allowed it as it contained links to articles as far back as 2018 when he made his intentions public.
The main point to one of the articles was that there are mixed feelings about Dangote. Some say “he is unbelievably generous with large cash donations and a steady stream of support, which stretches to great many worthy causes in his homeland”.
Others say “that these acts are to disguise the fact that he exerts a great deal of influence over high ranking political figures to secure favours for his projects and to avoid scrutiny. He is described in various articles as ‘ corrupt and someone that exploits his fellow Nigerians by paying the lowest possible wages to those at the sharp end of his various ventures”.
Another suggestion was “on the negative side his tendency to want control almost every aspect of the club would probably mean interference at a coaching level “.
I did try to find info on how KSE are doing at the moment but could not find anything significant.
Dangote talks the talk but will never walk the walk.
He’s full of 💩
In the silliest of silly seasons, in the spring of the plague 2020… If you don’t know what you are doing when you consume journalism, don’t! The description of Aliko Dangote is that who follows every successful businessman, it’s heaven or hell. Either he is a god or a devil. The guy is a billionaire, for XXX sake! He’s on Forbes toplist of the richest persons in the world (130 or something). The richest man in Africa! And how do you think someone is becoming the richest african? By joining the Salvation Army and singing in the streets of Abuja? Yeah, I had to google on it – it’s the capitol city of Nigeria. And how did Stan Kroenke earned his money? Didn’t he marry something filthy rich? Miss Wal-Mart, eh? Smart guy, Stanley. Okey, that’s another way to do it, to get someone doing it for you. And maybe Stan Kroenke have clean hands. Maybe he live up to the ethical standards of a diehard gooner. But who cares? No one now days accuse Chelsea for Abramovich. A Premier League title or two erase old sins from the collective memory.
Kroenke’s money comes primarily from his wife who is an heir to the Walmart fortune. Walmart is notorious for underpaying workers, not allowing unions and selling semi automatic weapons off the shelf in certain states. There is no very wealthy person who doesn’t have skeletons. Dangote will be no different. I investigate and write about corruption. There is this notion that Africa is so much more corrupt than Europe, the UK or the US. It’s a matter of the nature and sophistication of the corruption. BAE Systems, the British company, paid £6bn of bribes on one deal. They paid £115m to win a contract in South Africa, my former home country, at a time when they were paying similar bribes in 7 other countries, with the help of 10 Downing Street & the royal family. Rolls Royce has also ‘bribed its way around the world’ to quite a Panorama programme I was involved with. (I document all of this in a book called Shadow World). So we are not going to get a super wealthy non corrupt owner. I’m sure most of us would far prefer fan owned clubs but for now that’s not going to happen. Dangote is unlikely to be worse than Kroenke and could well be better, ie take a real interest in the club and invest his own money
Andrew, So cathartic to hear from a worldly wise man who knows very well how the extremely rich behave, world wide. I have said exactly this many times on here and it is extreme naivety to expect any multi billionaire to be squeaky clean. I have long maintained and lectured on the subject that ALL humans are hypocritical. It is a normal though not desirable part of our shared condition.
THE ONLY QUESTION FROM ONE HUMAN TO ANOTHER IS DEGREE AND IMPORTANCE OF THAT HYPOCRISY. BUT IT EXISTS IN ALL OF US AND GETTING ANYONE TO SEE AND SELF ADMIT THAT FACT IS NIGH ON IMPOSSIBLE But I will keep trying.
I too would take Dangote over Kroenke, as KROENKE IS A REALLY POOR PERSON AND MORALLY CORRUPT. Dangote is probably the same but he cares for our club and would back us financially, I believe. My personal degree of hypocrisy would welcome that but sadly I do not believe he will buy our club. WERE HE REALLY KEEN AND FINANCIALLY ABLE, I am sure he would have already submitted a serious bid. But he has not and that tells me he won’t!
Thank you for telling me, Andrew. But if Stan Kroenke only have used his personal charm and knowledge in the art to seducing, I definitely prefer a self made man like Mr Dangote. Good or bad. If he only purchased the club for… eh, £2 billion, and gave senior Arteta half a billion to buy players for, I’m childish enough to think that Asn’l would have a future. Champions of the Premier League 2022. Winners of Champions League 2023. Oh, wake up, boyo!