Stan and Josh Kroenke have released a short statement making clear they have no intention of selling Arsenal.
The decision to reaffirm their commitment to the club comes with speculation mounting that Spotify’s CEO, Daniel Ek, is readying a bid to buy the club.
Here’s what the statement says:
In recent days we have noted media speculation regarding a potential takeover bid for Arsenal Football Club. We remain 100% committed to Arsenal and are not selling any stake in the Club. We have not received any offer and we will not entertain any offer.
“Our ambition for Arsenal remains to compete to win the biggest trophies in the game and our focus remains on improving our competitiveness on the pitch to achieve this.
Stan Kroenke and Josh Kroenke
Kroenke, Sports & Entertainment
Honestly, we’re not in any way surprised that the Kroenke family wants to hold firm. It’s what they do. They’ve not given up any of their other franchises over the years and ruffling the feathers of their own fans is something they’ve handled regularly.
Ek is apparently due to face the media tomorrow at which point he’s likely to be quizzed on his ambitions. It’ll be interesting to see what he says, but you have to say, at this point, it looks as though any notion of a takeover is already dead in the water.
More protests against our owners are due to take place at the Emirates this weekend.
£40,000,001
Cash Cow and Status but no love.
Unless the team improves dramatically and maintains that improvement – this is going to develop into a war of attrition. If Kroenke sells – he admits defeat. And people like him don’t do that, unless they’re at deaths door and then some. So the atmosphere remains overtly – or covertly – poisonous ; not just in the short term but for years to come. And that in turn makes on field success that much harder. You can see how this is a vicious downward spiral. Arteta is really going to earn his corn if he saves the day and produces… Read more »
Sorry but I’ve just about had enough of all this. Everybody whining on like we’ve got Hitler as our owner. I didn’t hear any of you complain when we were playing well. Let’s face it, this is all to do with how well we do on the pitch. If we play great then suddenly all this goes away. We are just fans on a seesaw and looking for someone to blame when it goes bad. It’s on Arteta to get us up the table. He got who he wanted in the summer. If he can’t do it then get someone… Read more »
Seesaws go up and down. It’s more like being on a slide under Kranky.
A shit big mac. Also known as a big mac.
Cant think of anything else to say because you know Im right.
I do partly agree with you. But it’s a pretty obvious comment. You don’t criticise anything when it’s going well. Klopp was bulletproof for the last three seasons and now a few people are turning away. If things go well then there’s no real need for introspection. I think that’s a pretty human characteristic. You don’t call the plumber out because you think the sink might block in a few months. But we are in a terrible spot. We’ve had a decade or more of poor organisation. We’ve been fed on scraps as regards investment and communication. And now that… Read more »
I mean people have lots of different opinions. But the difference in playing well 10 or 5 years ago and today have changed quite dramatically. He has ruined this club by sucking out money and giving little to nothing back. We should not forget that. And we should not expect to do anything of meaning under him, because when we reach 4th for a short time, that’s where everything would stop again. And isn’t that depressing enough? Doesn’t that make you suffer?
Don’t be silly. Big Macs are delicious!
Junk food for a junk mind.
I am not aware of anyone, who is saying that Kroenke’s are anything other than what they are. When they first arrived they were minority shareholders and looked like they might advance Arsenal’s cause. But since they have moved to control the whole Cub and eliminate minority share holders, they have looked just like they are. People with no Arsenal heart or soul, who are looking to milk the money from broadcasting rights for every cent they can get. This whole ‘Super League’ fiasco confirmed that. As well as confirming that they couldn’t give a stuff about any other aspect… Read more »
I’m realistic, even if Kroenke did sell it wouldn’t be to a sugar daddy, there isn’t another Abramovich or Mansoor, and I don’t think I even want that. Our only hope is a change in law making partial fan ownership obligatory. The ESL storm might have created an opportunity and an appetite for it.
And a shit big mac packed with steroids and costing a rainforest to make way for soya chumping methane belching cows is absolutely the CEO’s fault.
The thing is he is responsible for building a terrible organization that has festered. If you need examples of this than I can’t really help you because we’ve languished on the business and sporting side for years. And his drive to take us into the ESL (and probably partly responsible for creating the monstrosity). That’s why we all want him out. It’s not that he’s cheap (I’m 100% on board with self sustaining) it’s just that he absolutely sucks. The thing is I totally believe him that he wants to win and is trying (there is no good incentive otherwise)…this… Read more »
That’s a very good point (the last sentence) that I don’t think many of us have thought about (I don’t think I have much). When the team does badly for a game or so you can blame the players. When it does badly over a number of games you can blame the manager. But when it does badly over a number of seasons you should be able to blame the owners without needing to find some moral/ethical reason or blame it on a lack of investment. They’re shit at decision making and maintaining a culture of accountability within the club,… Read more »
I respect your right to disagree with the dominant fan sentiment. But in your analogy you miss the point and I will use it to try and illustrate just how. Arsenal are supposed to be a sporting organization. Sport is based on principals of merit, competition, glory and passion. A big mac, by contrast, is a fixed commodity. It does not change, that is what makes it what it is. If you like the taste of a Big Mac you can expect to get that regardless of which McDonald’s “restaurant” you step into. That is the essence of Franchise ownership… Read more »
People have been complaining about KSE and their ownership of the club for years. This is definitely the first time its been as unified and vociferous as this, but prior to the protests on Friday, large sections of the fan base have absolutely hated their involvement in Arsenal since way back in 2007. The current state of the football club is 100% down to the KSE ownership. Or perhaps — the lack of — would be far more accurate. All of the KSE sports franchises suffer from awful boardroom decision, terrible recruitment at exec level, serial lack of strategic funding… Read more »
well said, my friend. this is what the fans need to read
Maybe people running the club are more of the problem than Kroenke. Auba was given one of the best contract of the league. Instead of being encouraged and becoming a mad beast on the pitch, he stopped delivering. Is it Kroenke’s role to get the best out of him or see that coming and get another player? Kroenke wanted to recover too fast from Covid financially and joined the Super League project that the vast majority of fans rejected. Sometimes we go through things we perceived as a disaster just fine. I thought it was the end of the world… Read more »
I thumbed you up because you had me until your last sentence.
The is absolutely no way on God’s beautiful earth that we are ever going to win the Premiership or the ECL whilst Arteta and Kroenke remain.
Just leave us alone Kroenkes! Simples.
I realise now why Stan never talks.
He would never be able to deliver this line without pissing himself laughing…
“Our ambition for Arsenal remains to compete to win the biggest trophies in the game”
Well said.
He means biggest purse when he says trophies.
Least ambitious club amongst the so called so called top 6 clubs.
I genuinely haven’t got a clue what his end game is though. We are currently worse than about eight teams in the prem. And these eight teams are all likely to have more money to spend than us. What is he expecting will happen here? As a businessman who is probably quite good at making money, surely you have to either invest in the infrastructure of your asset or sell up and make a nice little profit. I seem to remember him buying us for around £800m so he’d be more than doubling his money. What is this man doing?… Read more »
I think you might have answered your own question: he bought the club at £800m, it’s now worth 2 billion, his continued ownership is making him richer even though the club is declining.
First, we will still make more money than Leicester and West Ham and perhaps Tottenham. Arsenal is no depleting asset.
Yesterday I was thinking, why not CL and Super League every two years, one the year after the other.
Everything arranged so they happen in the two years, we do not have Euro or World Cup.
I dunno. At the moment our cache is still relatively high as Wenger and Wengerball was such a pull. So we still have the fanbase and while we have the fanbase our matches will be worth a lot of money around the world.
But make no mistake, the next generation are not supporting Arsenal as much as City, Chelsea or Liverpool. I wouldn’t be surprised if Leicester and Sp*rs don’t begin to overtake us soon.
And a few more seasons of mid table or even bottom half finishes and we quickly become Leeds or Wolves or even Blackburn.
With zero investment his shares have continued to increase in value but even if they don’t continue to do so his long term plan is based on the future worldwide revenue from TV & streaming. The views of the relatively small number of fans that attend games are completely inconsequential.
In that case I’ve never been more proud of illegally streaming Arsenal games…
Same, used to do it ’cause i’m broke, now it’s a matter of principles and not giving money to KSE lol
oh oh, they know 23 of us are doing this by the thumbs up …..
I used to be able to get Acestream links that were like watching in HD, but they’re getting worse and worse all the time these days (constantly pausing, millions of pop-ups, video going down mid-stream) 🙁
Yeah, I had the same thought. I see him and Josh just laughing at each other whilst saying that. That is actually the thing that pisses me off the most: They did nothing for 10 years but still think everything is alright. It’s like buying a car, doing nothing with it for 10 years but still think, that it works perfectly.
Translating Kroenke-speech:
We have not yet leached out all the happiness fans get from Arsenal out of the silly buggers. We are going to keep on till the club becomes lifeless and the supporters more so. We are going to treat Arsenal like an Indigo cash-crop. Till the land can’t bear it anymore. Then we will f*** off, after some token protests.
Actual Kroenke translation:
We aren’t going to come out and say we are selling because that would violqte the first rule of negotiation: never give up leverage.
Come on guys, they aren’t going to come out and say, “we want to sell!” They would have no leverage on negotiations. I’m not saying they WILL sell, I’m saying no matter where their minds are, this would have been their statement regardless.
It would have been nice of them to let us dream about it for a few more days.
Haha. I think they’ve more than proven they aren’t in the business of giving us supporters any joy. They’re in the business of the mighty dollar (or pound, or euro, etc., etc.)
I wish your optimism, misplaced as it is, would afflict me.
Actual actual translation:
We’re going to try the super league again once everyone calms down
Actually the simple fact that they decided to release that statement🤔 is a positive sign for me…. but what do i know😅
That statement came out quick. Or they only come out to make statements this quick when it involves selling the club?
As if it was ever going to happen. We’re stuck with the scumbags, I fear for a very long time.
I need a drink.
My worry is we could easily become the next Leeds or something of that kind.
Finding a viable ethical buyer at the price it would take (probably 2-3 billion) is going to be pretty challenging realistically. It would be great to have an owner sugared daddy but most of those require a blind eye towards how they actually acquired their fortunes. It would be great if the Kroenkes showed more ambition but that also likely would mean they operate in a manner a lot of fans wouldn’t be comfortable with either. That means Wenger would have been fired years earlier, that Arteta & Edu would certainly be out at season’s end no matter how the… Read more »
To be fair, as far as billionaires go, Ek seems as ethical as possible. The only complaint i’ve seen about him are musicians complaining they don’t earn as much per listen as they would selling CDs, but given the music industry was on its knees thanks to Limewire etc (where artists received £0 of each stream) before streaming services saved it I don’t think that’s something that can be reasonably held over Ek’s head. The vast majority of fans aren’t demanding a sugar daddy, but somebody competent and interested. Ek certainly seems that.
Indeed, from the looks of it, nothing can be held over Ek’s head.
You never know MA could give him tips. They are the same age.
Well a big issue with Ek is it’s not clear he has the money. It would likely take 70 to
100 percent of his entire net worth to actually buy Arsenal.
Debt. No one these days ever buys something of that magnitude without borrow money.
borrowing*
A leveraged buyout would mean the club dramatically cutting expenses as a big chunk of the revenue would need to go to pay down his debt. He wouldn’t have any real margin for error either
4 billion and 1 pound should do the trick.
Fair enough. Put me down for the £1 if you’ll find the rest.
Oh just fuck off Stan!
Bill, surely there isn’t one single Arsenal fan who doesn’t agree with you post, so I don’t get the thumbs down. The Kronke’s are liars and cheated on us. There will never be any trust or respect
I notice how they put their names on this statement and the Board were on the last one. Wankers
Unbelievable. Two utterly despicable scumbags wankers.
Please don’t tarnish wankers like me by associating me with the Kroenke’s.
I absolutely love a good wank. Don’t ruin it.
Yes, it’s because they’re making it plain that the owners are talking here, not any “rubber stamp” board.
KSE own the club, not the Board, so it makes sense.
True, but it would have made sense to apologise for the ESL, seeing as they own the club. Hence why they are despicable wankers
Vampires. Pure and Simple.
I just don’t get it. Why would you own a sports club if you have no interest in the sport or the club? Surely there are other better investments that will get a better return in terms of money.
In order to make a difference it’s going to take continued demonstrations, boycott of games and merchandise and especially increased pressure on the sponsors of Arsenal. I’m afraid though that these things will be pathetically pursued once the furore wears down. People need to refuse purchasing the new kit for starters and maintain high media presence by demonstrating. Kroenke is going to go down in history as our worst decision and we need to work together to rectify this.
Hit him where it hurts –
1) Stop buying merchandise
2) Stream videos online for free.
3) Protest peacefully.
1 & 2 are more important than 3, I think as it will hurt his revenue.
Kruntes
not 100% sure why I like this but I do 😂
Do fuck off Stan/Josh.
Fucking cum sipping wankers, I’ve despised the tupee wearing tit head since day one, and as for the son with his car weasle beard, mugs both of them.
I’m not interested in billions being chucked at the the club but just an owner who gives a shit, or maybe a few joint owners.
First, stan can’t sell because his son would then have no toys to play with. Also, Stan won’t sell until he’s sucked dry the marrow from this club and it’s been relegated and there is nothing left for the owners to live off of.
I was hoping for a massive drop in value of the club and then it will force either a massive investment or a selling. But it seems hard.
Your ambition is to invent a own troohy for us to win. Just fuck off
i can already imagine it. “The kroenke super league”. It’ll be us vs the mls.
And we’d still probably lose once KSE was done “optimizing” our squad.
Hardly a surprise. Although they are in a difficult period, KSE haven’t ever sold a sporting franchise. It appears that a similar message “no change” was sent to all non-playing staff as well so I don’t think we should hold our collective breath waiting for the “takeover cavalry” to come riding over the hill and rescue the club.
I’m frightened of Americans- David Bowie RIP
Quick question for you – would you rather have Arsenal spend a few years in the Championship if it meant being rid of that elephant hunter?
I’d happily go alot lower if it meant restoring the soul the this club.
However the club history would be ruined(not like it’s not already with kroenke running the show). Would I be willing to sacrifice the chance to still have a comeback year and make the champions league I don’t know
No. Fuck off.
A league two season with 55% of share to be owned by fan will still be 1000 times better than a soulless Premier league decade.
Absolutely no problem with that if it gets Kroenke out.
The only way this club will be sold is if we reach rock bottom, we are not far away now. Once the money stops, ie the fans stay away which they will and the team is not even good for Europa league football also not far away they will be losing to much money to continue. Sadly we are finished as a top club we need to fall a bit lower for them to realise the way back to the top is way to expensive for them to fund and that could be the end for them and us as… Read more »
STILL WONT ACCEPT OUR OFFER THEN? THIS MEANS WAR. PREPARE THE TROOPS, AND KEEP LISTENING TO SPOTIFY
Probably will get slated for this on here. I will always support Arsenal But I will no longer put a penny into the club and will start following my local team Sutton United until the Kroenkes are gone.
Respect mate, hopefully this idiot will be out of the club soon
There’s a good chance you’ll be supporting Sutton United in league football next year, they’re one point off the top of the National League with a game in hand after today’s matches.
I also support Sutton and was one of those lucky enough to get into that FA Cup quarterfinal a few years ago.
I’ve recently bought an MK Dons season tickets as they’re my local team. I’ll illegally stream but not giving any money to these tossers anymore.
That irony in buying a mk dons season ticket though…
Why don’t they just buy Southend United they going to be out of the football league with in a couple weeks . Change name to essex gunners build new stadium im middle of essex. Its only a concept if say Southend United is arseanl then it is
Because they’d have to put money in. Remember they’re businessmen who don’t give a shit about sport.
What the Ek!!! Stan playing hardball or, for once, being true to his word? Billionaire owners eh!!!
Even if they were willing to sell I’m sure their official message to fans and media would look just like this. It’s like with transfers right? As soon as it’s clear you want to sell the price drops.
Comments make it seem like (at least some) people want a billionaire like Abramovich who will throw in a bunch of cash. “Invest in the club” and all that. This race to the top is what leads to the Super League in the first place and $200 million player evaluations. Personally, my ideal would be a member-owned club that ran itself well with long-term foresight and was self-sustaining financially. But that’s a pipe dream (for now). In the absence, some randomass billionaire owner is all we can get. The issue with KSE is not that they don’t invest and have… Read more »
And some people would still have them instead of Ek.
There are very few fans of KSE.
Nobody has any idea if Ek would be any better. The assumption he would be simply because he’s NOT KROENKE doesn’t stack up.
I want change but it’s a sign of desperation that the first bloke to come along and batt his eyelids our way is immediately the saviour.
So, there’s probably only a limited number of ways they sell the club. In no particular order:
(1) Fan pressure, protests and, most importantly, boycotts make their position untenable
(2) Arsenal perform so poorly that its value plummets and we are no longer economically viable to keep hold of
(3) The Kronkes receive an out of this world offer
(4) The Kronkes become so economically distressed that selling Arsenal makes sense
(5) Government forces a change of ownership structure
(6) Some combination of the above
If they want Arsenal to compete for the biggest trophies, all KSE has to do is make the Emirates Cup pre-season trophy about five meters tall. Problem solved.
Don’t believe a word of this statement: it’s bollocks. As someone who’s worked in the business world I can promise you that ANY business is available for sale if the price is right. As one poster above has stated, Stan and his son are not going to admit they want to sell because that would immediately lower the club’s value and provide leverage to any potential buyer. Coved has hit Arsenal Football Club particularly badly. Empty match-day stadiums have cost the club about a million pounds a game. KSE are currently losing serious amounts of money from their ownership of… Read more »
Top post.
Never say never, especially in business. What’s news today is often tomorrow’s chip paper.
That said, this will probably take a lot longer than most people expect it to.
Well to be fair, they have stuck with opening of the line.
‘We will not entertain.. ‘
I’ll do the maths on this deal.
Money + Pricks = Misery
I didnt sign up for this bollox 22 years ago, back then it was about football and fun. Its now just an ever expanding loveless franchise.
Cunts
No surprises—straight out of the negotiating tactics rule book.
You’re killing our club, you fucking wankers
Meanwhile in other news, bears and woods shock…
Off topic but I would like to know the answer to this question. As Stan is worth approximately 5 squillion ‘bucks’, why has he bought the cheapest, shittiest syrup I the known world? 🤔
I believe his aspiration is for his wig to be self funding, also it’s doubled in value since he’s purchased it despite the fact he’s totally run it into the ground.
Is it just me, or does Stan look like a bloke dressed up as an old man for a fancy-dress party, rather than just an old man?
The truth of that first paragraph of their statement is obvious. The second is not nearly as credible.
On the other hand, the fact that they felt that they had to put out a statement means that even they cant turn a blind eye to the momentum that has been building over the last week. Keep up the pressure guys! #KroenkeOut
“Our ambition for Arsenal remains to compete to win the biggest trophies in the game”. What a card.
My hate for this guy deepens by the second. And we are his slaves. Damn you Kroenke!!!!#KroenkeOut
They won’t sell until the full value of the club is realised. That’s after a super league or a netflix style streaming TV deal. It would be daft of them to sell now because of a little bad pr.
Well the European Super League didn’t happen, did it? And collective bargaining of TV rights isn’t going away any time soon. So any massive increase of the club’s value isn’t going to happen any time soon.
There are people on here who almost seem to delight in the fact that the Kroenkes are going nowhere soon.
Lunatics.
Wankers
Fuck you too Stan
With these guys at the helm, Arsenal fans should be prepared for a relegation dogfight in years to come rather than competing for the best trophies.
It might sound outlandish now, just as the possibility of being tenth position would have sounded seven years ago.
Rough times ahead.
Well I for one am in no doubt as to how far up Shit Creek this club is. Fuck the Europa, even if we were to go on and win it, for me it would now be merely papering over the cracks. This has gone way way beyond what we achieve this season on the pitch. An absolute dogs dinner of a season anyway, our worst league performance for 40 years and at one point down to 15. Pathetic. The club is rotten to the core. I’m actually very surprised Flo penned his new contract, no, make that astounded. If… Read more »
I don’t get all the hate for the Kroenkes. They’ve done everything they’ve been asked, from blocking Usmanov buying Arsenal, firing Arsene, hiring Emery, funding expensive transfers like Pepe, Auba, Laca, paying market leading wages to Ozil, Auba, Willian, Partey, firing Emery, hiring Arteta, getting rid of Raul, backing Aterta’s process, and when it was clear we couldn’t compete, securing a privileged / protected position in the Super League. Yes, like any shrewd business people, they won’t spend their own money on a self sufficient business. And they won’t be forced to sell just because someone doesn’t like their business.
Heh.
And people on here keep telling me “There isn’t one Arsenal fan who sympathises with the Kroenkes…”
🙄
Didn’t know your cave had a door
Interesting to know what pulls you out of the darkness, like a rat with Swiss cheese
Fcking shameless bastards. Get out of our club. KSE is cancerous. Just go back to States for good. English football doesnt need you. Kroenke out.
Down with these people.
Fans have to stop giving the club their money. Boycott is the only language they will understand.
Yep. People will moan about lack of funds and all the rest, but the fucking gig is rotten to the core. Regardless of funds our buying and selling management has been utter dog shit. Painting sets to monkeys comes to mind. Fans boycotting tickets, merchandise and stadium refreshments will be a financial token gesture, but an important one nonetheless. As for the club, after last night’s statement from the Kroenkes, I can no longer find it in me to invest any emotion in the results, or indeed find a shred of support for such a poorly managed set up. KSE… Read more »
So fucking what. Ek has already said they will be in for the long haul. He’s used to waiting for what he wants in business and eventually he always gets what he wants. As I said in an earlier post, this could run on for months if not years. Kroenke is a businessman and even he knows everything has a price – even Arsenal Football Club. He and Josh can royally fuck off with their usual hollow meaningless diatribe bollocks about taking us forward – heard it all before a million times – and this club is not only stagnant… Read more »
I can’t explain why, but the bit in their statement when they referred to football as “the game” really irritated me.