Friday, March 29, 2024

Kroenke Jr insists Arsenal are on the right path

Josh Kroenke says Arsenal still have a ‘few boxes to tick’ as they restructure the club in the aftermath of Arsene Wenger’s departure.

The son of Stan, who is vice chairman of KSE and KSE UK and also sits on the Arsenal board, was supportive of Ivan Gazidis’ decision to recruit Sven Mislintat and Raul Sanllehi as part of a new look hierarchy and has worked closely with the latter and Vinai Venkatesham since our former CEO joined AC Milan.

Upheaval behind the scenes, of which there has been much in the last 12 months at the Emirates, rarely benefits those on the pitch, but Kroenke Jr insists that with Unai Emery at the helm, the Gunners are heading in the right direction.

“We have obviously been through a period of change following a manager leaving after 22 years,” he told the Telegraph.

“A lot of things come along with a transition of that magnitude. We knew this would be a process and, overall, I think we are pleased with our progress.

“I think if you look at where we were 12 months ago, you can see we were probably transitioning towards a North American or continental European model where there is a lot of support around the head coach.

“That job is so massive. You can see the organisational structure we are trying to implement and we are still in the process of filling out those positions.”

Having been majority owners for several years, the Kroenke family finally took full control at Arsenal in August when they paid £600 million for Alisher Usmanov’s remaining shareholding. It looks as though they are sticking around for the long-term, which is probably why Josh is happy to preach patience when it comes to implementing further changes.

“Everyone in sports wants success right away,” he went on. “When you look at Liverpool, when they changed to their manager, it took a little time. We have some things that we are trying to implement as quickly as possible but it does take time to get things as you want.

“There are a few boxes still to tick. We know the main currency in sport is wins and we want them just as much as the fans do.”

If you’re wondering why we’re hearing from Josh, it’s because on Sunday night, a few hours after Arsenal’s match with Manchester City, the Kroenke family will watch their Rams franchise – once of St Louis, but now of Los Angeles – play the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl.

Nobody Stateside, their own fans aside, particularly likes the Patriots. Thanks to the robotic arm of geriatric cyborg Tom Brady, a Ferguson-like coach and a willingness to bend the rules, they are quite good at doing the touchdowns.

As is the rule in sport, dominance breeds contempt. So usually, after beer, hotdogs, the Star Spangled Banner, more beer and a Janet Jackson nip slip, the nation unites against the Patriots.

Alas, these are complicated times. Thanks to Stan’s plan to turn the Rams into the darlings of Tinseltown (with a view to making a shitload of cash for himself and the NFL), choosing who to hate is, for once, not so obvious.

You’re probably already aware that the move to Los Angeles has caused huge controversy. However, for a little more context on how Kroenke ‘took a huge shit on St. Louis on his way out’ we point you in the direction of this excellently pithy article on Deadspin by Patrick Redford. 

When you’re done reading it, remember that this is the behaviour of a man who owns our football club. It’s frightening.

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IamaGoober

Everything these cunts say is utter bollocks. ‘We know the main currency in sport is wins, and we want them as much as the fans do.’ So that’s why you’ve literally spent absolutely nothing on Arsenal since you’ve been at the club. You never even had the fucking decency to address the shareholders at the AGMs – you sat there in silence until Wenger saved you every time. You didn’t even show up and say something when Hillwood passed away. But oh, there you are in the US spending $1.8 billion of your own money on the Rams. And as… Read more »

John C

Definitely didn’t spend £42m on Ozil, £35m each on Sanchez, Xhaka and Mustafi, £56m on Aubameyang, £46m on Lacazette, £200,000 a week on Mkhitaryan or £350,000 a week on Ozil’s new contract.

Lack of spending hasn’t been Arsenal’s problem over the last 5 years it was the guy who spent it and how he spent it. It’s going to take several years and a lot of money to fix Wenger’s fuck ups.

Arthur

He means Kroenke hasn’t invested a penny of his own money while at LA Rams hes spent a lot to get them to the SuperBowl final. The signings you mentioned all came from the revenue Arsenal gets from sponorships and co not from Kroenke.

John C

I know what he means but it doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. The basic premise that we’ve lacked investment doesn’t hold water, we’ve spent significant amounts, just not wisely or as wisely as the teams we aspire to compete with.

It’s how we’ve spent money that needs to be scrutinised not how much.

martin

Please explain how we have spent so much money unwisely?

John C

Xhaka for £35m, Mustafi for £35m, Perez for £17m, Ozil on £350,000 a week, Mkhitaryan on £200,000 a week, on top of losing previously highly valuable players for nothing or well below their value. Breaking our transfer record twice in 6 months on 2 top class strikers but no top class wide men to feed them.

There hasn’t been a lack of investment but it’s been poorly invested and that has nothing to do with either of the Kroenke’s

Leon

I agree there have been some god awful signings.
But then again.
If Kroenke was a competent and present owner he would have seen that Wenger should have been removed years ago.
Instead he stayed on his Montana ranch and did absolutely nothing..
I hope the cunt gets mauled by a bear !
As for Josh Kroenke.
A clueless bastard who understands NOTHING about football.
Except perhaps what a “goal shot” is.

John C

I 100% agree that they should have removed Wenger years ago

LMLL

They couldn’t remove Wenger because he was making them rich. He would sign young cheap players and sell them expensively making huge sums of money.

HelderHughes

Isn’t it as much the talent we’ve lost on free’s and panic sales that has drained the resources? No business can lose assets for under market value and remain solvent.

Eternal Titi Berg Pat Nostalgia

It is easy to add 35 millions here and there but Pogba alone was around 100 millions, Van Djik 85 millions. That’s what the market has become. Update yourself John.

John C

No Eternal Titi Berg Pat Nostalgia, Ozil was the second most expensive signing in the history of English football when it was made and the world record fee was Bale at twice the price.

Factoring in inflation is Ozil a £100m player now? And if so who would pay it?

All of those signings were pre-Neymar and represented top end figures, rampant inflation exists in football transfer fees but that doesn’t discount that they weren’t the best signings even when they were made. Xhaka cost more than Kante in the same window!!! What are their comparative values now?

Anthony

With respect, the issue is retaining top talent. Why did Sanchez want to leave? Van Persie? Henry even. Ambition not compatible with that from the top. Josh talks about taking Arsenal to a Champions league final, like we’ve never been there before. Surely the message should be to be regularly challenging for the champions league final, regularly challenging the top teams in the EPL and Europe. If we’re honest, as Arsenal fans, while we want to see the team win trophies. It’s seeing us be consistently competitive that were crying out for. I don’t want to be 14, 20 points… Read more »

John C

The retention of top talent predates the Kroenke’s. I’m pretty sure Henry left before they were on the scene and if they were they didn’t have the holding to dictate. Wenger’s policies is the reason we couldn’t keep players like Fabregas and Van Perise. Not wanting to sign Alonso had nothing to do with money but not wanting to “kill” Denilson and Diaby careers. I’m pretty sure the highly distructive socialist wage structure predates them too. They know nothing about football so saw Champions league football as a vindication of Wenger’s policies not knowing that it was always weakening us… Read more »

Twatsloch

Sanchez left because he’s a twat and he’s been pretty underwhelming since he made his move to Man U. He’s not top talent, not anymore, and we got the best out of him before swapping him for a slightly younger and much keener model. With the attitude he had I was glad to see the back of him.

Fatgooner

And just who decided to keep giving contracts to Wenger, John? I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the real problem under Stan is the lack of leadership. Stan and his useless son know nothing about football and care even less. Arsenal Football Club is just a few numbers on a spreadsheet as far as the Yank is concerned. He doesn’t love football and has no idea what the club means to its fans. For Stan finishing fourth and scooping up the Champions’ League money constitutes a successful season. That’s why we’ll never win either the PL or… Read more »

John C

Their ignorance of the way football works has and is a big problem but when people are motivated by money you hope that motivates them to invest. If anything the $1.8bn they’re spending on the new stadium for the Rams shows when they see a return on their investment they put the money in, let’s hope that’s the case for Arsenal too.

It’s too early to tell what they’re going to do but I struggle to see someone spending £600m and willing to lose that money.

kaius

What do you mean, “when” they see a return on their investment? If they want a return on their investment into Arsenal, they should sell their shareholdings today and they’ll double or trriple whatever their outlay was. The point some of us are trying to make is this: Arsenal’s share price and overall value going up doesn’t benefit us fans, it only benefits the Kroenke’s. Especially since individual Gooners were obligated to hand over their shares to KSE. And it’s not too early to tell, they’ve been shareholders for years now. If anything it’s too late, because during that time… Read more »

Fatgooner

And that’s the dumb thing about Stan’s management of Arsenal. If he was such a great businessman then he’d realise that the way to make serious money out of the club is to turn us into champions. A PL of CL win would massively increase the club’s value and bring in huge amounts of extra revenue.

But that would mean investing serious money. So he won’t do that.

John C

We don’t know if he did or didn’t, that’s the problem when all footballing decisions where deferred to and appeared to be made by one man, Wenger.

What we know now is that the footballing direction will be made within a much larger structure, and only then can we really make a judgement.

As I said, the biggest mistake they’ve made was keeping Wenger around far too long.

SharpasFc

Well said. I’ve already said my piece but it’s good to find other people who are prepared to actually wait and see what the Kroenke’s do with Arsenal now that they own 100%. It was obvious that Usmanov was not the partner that Kroenke wanted to do business with and that in itself was holding him back. For all his professed love of the club Usmanov took his £600m and there was even talk of him investing in Everton….that’s how much he loved Arsenal.

Irrational Gunner

Everyone always brings up Liverpool, even Junior, as a team to emulate. Well, the big difference there, and I have no love for John Henry, is that their owner is a sportsman and pretty damn smart in moving toward his goals. Look at what he owns and how those teams get treated and you will see something Arsenal will never have under KSE. Sorry to say, but our owner is just a depressing bean counter. Hot air is his most impressive attribute.

Petit's Handbag

Can’t even begin to attempt figuring out what on earth you are going on about? Do you have a new clothing brand which Kroenke is selling in his superstore?

martin

Ok Mustafi turned out to be a mistake but initially a German international seemed a good buy. To call all the other signings fuck ups is total baloney.

John C

Those players certainly haven’t formed a balanced squad or value for money.

Ivan the Terrible

You are wrong to pin everything on Arsene Wenger. Have some respect for a man who dedicated his life to successfully transforming our club and our brand of football. It was Arsene who was responsible for identifying and recruiting Fabregas and RVP as he was forced to work on a shoestring whilst we developed The Emirates. Yes he made mistakes but that’s hardly a surprise considering that he was left to do everything alone whilst that twat Gazidis cut dreadful commercial deals whilst hiding in the manager’s shadow. History will show that Wenger punched way above his weight whilst interlopers… Read more »

John C

I don’t agree with anything you’ve written.

Wenger never worked on a shoestring, our wage bill never fell out of the four highest in the league and was significately higher then those below.

We always had a decent budget, he just chose not to spent it because he “couldn’t find value in the market”. He hoarded cash and when he needed to we had the funds to buy players like Arshavin or Ozil with no problem.

I will have patience with Emery because he’s dealing with a good decade of Wenger mismanagement.

SharpasFc

You’ll never win when you speak badly about AW on here or any social platform. I still have respect for what he achieved with Arsenal, it would be extremely churlish not to. But the chickens were always going to come home to roost when he left and the assessment of his legacy at the club began. I agree with a lot of what you have written because it is so obviously true. Emery will not allow himself to be a shield like AW appeared to be. Clearly he doesn’t have the same power that AW had and that is a… Read more »

Ivan the Terrible

Jon C ( C for?) I suspect you started supporting Arsenal in 2006.

SharpasFc

The players didn’t buy or pick themselves.

Leon

No he didn’t spend any of his money on them
Not ONE penny of his money was spent.
You don’t hear Kroenke saying that the LA Rams should be a “self sustainable” club do you?
Americans have NO business in the premiership.
Stick to the suicidally boring NFL and all the rip off sports American’s call their own.

215Arse

The NFL is much less predictable than the PL because they have a salary cap, which is where the PL fails miserably. AFC had a great plan until the European market spending sky rocketed. Kroenke’s sustainability plan is not much different than the glory days of the early Wenger era. I think Kroenke is a cunt because he does not give a toss about the club, but I’m in favor of running a club “the right way.” Watching these oil tycoons buy titles is a bore. Rip the NFL all you want, but the PL structure is broken. It encourages… Read more »

Dob

John c**t by any chance ?

215Arse

No. The name is Mo. Have a wank and a snack to calm those angry feelings.

SharpasFc

Why would you be offensive like that? It makes you seem quite a childish person and lowers the whole tone of the argument.

I am pascal cygan

Argh cant believe you bring up wenger in this. Stop it with your hatred with the guy. If you cant get over the man then your heart has gone rotten. Its sad really. If you can bring up wenger’s supposed fuck ups then I can bring up what he managed to do with his early success which was also part of the foundation of where the club is right now. I am from Malaysia, how the fuck do you think I got to support and love a club a continent away from where I live. He was the face of… Read more »

Danger Mouse

Even when trying to not relate football to money he can’t help using the term ‘currency’. For these leeches it’s all about the money.

Yankee Gooner

I think Kroenke is a disaster, but there’s simply no comparing the economic practices of premier league owners and NFL ones: he hasn’t, in fact can’t, dip into his own pockets to sign players in the NFL. Even if he could, the NFL salary cap would be a major barrier to that being a successful strategy. He’s actually catching lightning in a bottle right how because the two offensive stars are, I believe, still on rookie contracts, which means they earn disproportionately low salaries. When Goff and Gurley both come up for new deals, we’ll see if both are retained.… Read more »

MACC

The Emirates was used for concerts when first opened, the Highbury and islington council only granted pernits for 3 concerts a year. when Arsenal applied to double that the council denied the application, so they decided to end their entertainment cash inflow because I assuned 3 concert a year is not worth it to the club. Arsenal real issue is that it does not currently know how to turn its past consistency in the champions league into good commercial value. Arsenal’s commercial value is the lowest of the top European teams at 27% of the club revenue with Liverpool easily… Read more »

Badaab

Stan’s move of the rams to Los angeles, like with most sports franchise relocations, has more to do with getting the taxpayers to subsidize his private business interest than sporting ambition.
Billionaires are very very rarely altruistic in their actions- hoarding money is their ultimate goal.

Richie

How on Earth does one move a sports team from St Louis to Los Angeles without causing uproar amongst it’s fans? Imagine if Kroenke wanted to move Arsenal to Blackpool or Cornwall, could anyone legally stop him? If he took over Arsenal 10 years earlier whilst we were still at Highbury, I’d be very worried!

kaius

Pretty much what I said in another comment.

Kroenke would not have prioritised building the new ground in North London if there was a more valuable real estate proposition somewhere else. Fans be damned

HelderHughes

I feel like we’d be called the Arsenal Tigers and play our home games in The Kentucky Fried Chicken Arena on the outskirts of Hull.

Mesut O'Neill

Happens all the time in NA sports.

The Rams were in LA before STL, he is just bringing them home!!

Runzac

Most of the people that make a shitload of money are not admireable caregiving characters. If their vision is to take Arsenal to the Champions League final, like they´re making it to the Super Bowl then it´s fine by me. I just want to watch my team perform well on a regular basis.

Anthony

I suppose it all depends on your perspective.

For example, if I was intent on walking off a cliff, finding a path that took me to the end of said cliff so that I could walk off it would be the ‘correct path’, even if to most it seems highly illogical.

So, whatever path they have set out, were on it and we have a few boxes to tick… ?

BW9

That deadspin article was great

Danger Mouse

I particularly liked the phrase ” raccoon-hair haver”

Anonymarse

He probably shot it himself

kaius

I liked the use of the term “shitbird” to describe Kroenke.

Pretty funny how calling someone a bird in the US is an insult

George

Deadspin is one of the most useless sports sites in existence and I’ve seen it from the beginning.

It used to be funny, occasionally, but even the comments section is now so fake and over-manicured that it’s all become a farce.

Kesh Merlin

What path? Bring out money ? and sign central defence… Are the going to win Premier League with the teeth? KROENKE bring money

Des

So basically his cunt which we already knew.

Danger Mouse

Just for a brief moment I thought your article said Josh Kroenke is the son of Satan. Then I realised it said son of Stan. Oh how I tittered.

Steve

We knew all this when that cunt wormed his way into the club

YoungFabregas

Fuck sake, this is like the opposite of oil money.

Goontang

Wait till we pay off the stadium they said.. we will be able to compete with the biggest teams in the world they said.. I think the hardest thing for me to grasp is the last 10-15 years have been painful for arsenal fans, with these promises we would be at the point of competing for the champions league.

I struggle to comprehend how gone through that period only for the stadium to now belong to some twat who has absolutely no interest in the club other than to use it as his own personal ATM

Chidi

Apparently football clubs lie……

kaius

It’s absolutely mad. I remember that magical last season at Highbury with the blackcurrant red shirts, Henry kneeling to kiss the turf goodbye, there was such a powerful sense of optimism and ambition and sadness at losing such an iconic stadium. A sense of *direction*. And we squandered all that just to become a KSE line item. Expectations grinded down year after year, until we forgot we had real expectations at all. If you’d told an Arsenal fan we’d go 10-12 years without a title when the Emirates first opened, they’d have called you stark raving mad. But here we… Read more »

Bendtner’s Ego

The Rams were in LA for about 50 years before they were moved to St. Louis in 1995 by the previous owner’s wife, after he died.

How do you think those supporters felt?

Red-Sky

This is not said enough. You get only half truths, the type that serves whatever agenda that’s being pushed.

SharpasFc

Well said.

kaius

Agenda my arse. Kroenke didn’t take the Rams back to LA to honour some long-list historical wish. He did it for money.

If he was in charge when we were leaving Highbury we might’ve ended up in a stadium in Knightsbridge next to Harrods or something.

SLC Gooner

Yeah, Kroenke is not particularly worse on the moving front than many other US owners.
Having grown up in LA in the 70s and 80s, it does seem more appropriate for the Rams to be there.

George

Ever since Kroenke arrived on the scene it’s been quite amusing observing the sheer level of ignorance from some of our fanbase re.: US Sports. Then again, it really shouldn’t surprise me given the frequent abject level(s) on display about our sport/club.

Goontang

The Rams started in Cleveland before that, so go and bring the franchise back to Cleveland if you want to go and get all sentimental.

Rob67

“When you’re done reading it, remember that this is the behaviour of a man who owns our football club. It’s frightening.”

Yep ? Frightening and disagreeable – because it so clearly confirms the mantra that the Krone’s only give a stuff about the balance sheet bottom line.

‘We don’t want his sort round here’ said the bloke who subsequently sold him all his shares ?

Too late now, I’m afraid.

thomas young

SO why does Kroenke want to own Arsenal? We know from the recent buy of the final shares it’s worth 2.5 billion but it hardly generates a commenserate profit. If it were a stock it would seem way overvalued. It seems to me the way you make money is by building the “brand” and then flogging it of to the next billionaire. We can sneer at Chelsea but is the Chelsea brand worth more since Abromavich’s involvement. Same for City. The crew who own Liverpool now seem to get this. By not making any investment Kroenke is allowing the Arsenal… Read more »

Jasonissimo

“It seems to me the way you make money is by building the “brand” and then flogging it of to the next billionaire.”

That is exactly right. Read, e.g., https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2017-09-05/the-greater-billionaire-theory-of-sports-team-prices (subscription req’d).

The Far Post

You might not be aware, but over the life of the club, the Rams are known the longest as the Los Angeles Rams. They were in Los Angeles for 48 years before they moved to St Louis. After being there for twenty years, they are now back to Los Angeles since 2016. Before their first incarnation as the Los Angeles Rams, which began in 1945, they started out as the Cleveland Rams, in 1936. Some sport clubs in the US move around quite a bit.

Mann

This is an interesting read about how kroenke run their team. Make of it what you will.

https://amp.si.com/soccer/2019/02/01/super-bowl-53-kraft-kroenke-owners-patriots-rams-mls-revolution-rapids-arsenal

Neil

F*ck off Kroenke you cheeseburger c*nt

Leon

Kroenkes absolutely correct.
Arsenal are on the right path.
It’s just a shame that the path he eludes to is one of mediocrity and failure.
Invests $1.6 billion on the LA Rams
And £0.00 on Arsenal
I hope that the Patriots HAMMER the Rams
Just to heap misery on Kroenke.
Kroenke is a terminal diagnosis for this club.
I hate Kroenke and his lying bastard cunt son Josh.
Honestly, what is the point in buying a club like Arsenal and not bother with it…

George

You really don’t get it, do you? Mug.

Leon

I will be cheering on the Patriots
Not that I like NFL at all.
I just simply fucking hate the Kroenke’s – and I do mean HATE…
Simple as that..

Thierry Bergkamp

I didn’t know Stan married into his fortune. He’s even more of a cunt, to me now.

Heihaci

Action speak louder than words.These Kronke cunts not even backing the new manager with funds to improve the squad! Embarrasing we have to rely on loan deals!

Landon Miller

So our beloved club is owned by a megalomaniacal American multi-millionaire. What is the honorable course of action, give up the team?

Seriously.

Cygans Parting

Yep! Old Enos married the heir to the Walmart fortune. We should all want the Patriots to win the Superbowl tomorrow evening and while we’re at it we should all also never buy anything from ASDA as that is also owned by Walmart. It is so sad that these two idiots are the custodians of our Great Football Club. You wait and see our Arsenal in the community scheme be mothballed in order to “cut costs” (reference the leaked email sent to all departments at the club by him earlier in the season) once he realises that it’s something that… Read more »

Stephen

A lot of people’s hatred is based on assumptions and connections made in the mind. Not sure why This family is hated so much. We’re not title contenders but it’s not like the club has spiralled into relegation zone. I remember not too long ago people moaning that all of their clubs were mediocre so that was proof they were evil sports haters. Now one has made it to the Super Bowl and their success is proof that they are evil sports haters. I’d much prefer a lifetime Arsenal loving board or owner but that’s not reality. None have actually… Read more »

AJD

I have a strong feeling we are going to set some pretty impressive winning records in the Financial fair play league for the forseeable future

SharpasFc

All the people downvoting the fact that money has been invested in this club need to have a word with themselves. Just because the facts don’t suit the narrative doesn’t make them any less true. The fact that AW had money to spend regardless of whether it came from Kroenke or from commercial deals and selling players is irrelevant. AW and Gazidis wasted the money. It’s funny that I’ve actually seen a headline from the Mirror blaming Kroenke for giving Ozil a huge contract. Which is it? Either Kroenke spends no money or he does but spends it badly?

Daniel Abu

The Kroenke’s need to understand that football is no longer a game of waiting for trophies. If you don’t spend, expect equally a woeful return. I have supported Arsenal all my life and pray a day will come when the Kroenke’ s will come to the understanding that their way of managing football is no longer a game changer even for the long term. Manchester city is building a dynasty, United has is equally invested in a hub of talents while winning games. The Kroenke’s should sell the club if they are not willing to invest. I’m tired of their… Read more »

Jht

Yeah sure thanks.

evan

rams offence and arsenal defence. enough said

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