Josh Kroenke has admitted that Arsenal’s participation in the failed European Super League affected their relationship with the fans, but he wants to move on.
The Arsenal director says the club debated if they wanted to be a part of the breakaway league or not and decided it would be best for them to support it in case it succeeds.
However, they were wrong considering the backlash from their fans that followed and he doesn’t want the club to be defined by the hours it took before they opted out of the agreement forming the new competition.
Asked if it was the lowest point in the relationship between the club and supporters, Josh responded to Sky Sports: ‘I wouldn’t disagree with you.
‘I’ll say it that way. But as someone that always tries to find the positives in things, when you’re at the bottom, there’s only one way to go and that’s back up.
‘I said this to our fan advisory board who we met with, I don’t want a 48-hour period to define us.
‘We were presented with an opportunity. We asked ourselves a question, which was what was worse, a Super League or Super League without Arsenal? And we answered that question that we should be included in that. Were we wrong?
‘Obviously. We listened to our fans. We made a quick pivot, removed ourselves from the situation. We apologised, and now we move forward.
‘And some of the dialogue that I’ve had with some of the support groups has been as clear as crystal and I couldn’t be more excited to be communicating with them on the level that I am because I understand who they are and now they’re understanding who I am.
‘And I think the more we understand each other it’s exciting because the only thing that we want is for Arsenal Football Club to be great.’
Just Arsenal Opinion
It was pure greed that motivated the club’s owners to join the competition.
However, the Kroenke’s have done very well in supporting Mikel Arteta in the transfer market so far.
Fans can forgive them for their part in the Super League and the calls for them to leave would remain low-key as it is now if they keep pumping money into the club.
It would be interesting to see if they will splash the cash on a new striker at the end of this season.