April 23 – In the aftermath of the crash of the European Super League (ESL), the owners of Arsenal, Kroenke Sports Enterprises (KSE), have vowed that they will not sell the club and promised to cover the cost of the failed ESL coup.
At a heated, virtual fans forum, club director Josh Kroenke and Arsenal chief executive Vinai Venkatesham addressed the fans over Arsenal’s role in the sudden launch of the ESL and its even faster disintegration.
The North London club, one of the Big Six in England, were a founding club of the proposed elite closed competition, but abandoned the ESL within the space of 48 hours amid a tsunami of condemnation.
When asked if KSE would sell Arsenal, Kroenke said: “I am not willing to answer that question because we have no intention of selling. I believe we are fit to carry on in our position as custodians of Arsenal. We were put in a very difficult position by forces outside of the club.
“We have the same plans for summer that we had several weeks ago and I’m still excited about those. So I might be met with mistrust, I might be met with scepticism, but over time I hope to establish some sort of relationship with our supporter groups and show them that we are capable of taking our club forward.”
The Arsenal fan base have long had a very fractured relationship with the club’s ownership. In 2011, KSE acquired a majority stake in Arsenal, but supporters have persistently accused Stan Kroenke and his family of a lack of transparency, accountability and above all a lack of genuine interest in the club.
They allege the Kroenkes simply consider Arsenal another money-making vehicle for KSE. The relationship has deteriorated over the years and hit rock bottom this week reaching new levels of hostility with the fans in open revolt against the Kroenkes.
Kroenke however claimed that the move to go along with the ESL was designed to protect and safeguard the future of the club. In the post-Wenger era, Arsenal’s declining sporting fortunes have also resulted in lower revenues, a situation compounded by the coronavirus pandemic.
He explained: “As this project took shape in a very fast manner, we asked ourselves two key questions. The first question we asked ourselves was: what is worse, a Super League or a Super League without Arsenal? That was a very tough one for us to weigh. We decided a Super League without Arsenal was the worst of both those answers.
“The second question we asked ourselves was: what do the fans want? We tried to answer that question in as many ways as possible. We were obviously bound by certain confidentiality aspects of the decision we were thinking about making, and it was a much more complicated answer than we had time to contemplate.
“I think the global fan wants to see Arsenal versus Barcelona as much as possible. I think the European fan wants to see more big matches between top clubs, to be quite frank because their domestic league is so predictable.
“I think from an English fan’s perspective, and this is what was so educating for me, they want to see more big matches. But as one Chelsea supporter wrote on a sign that I saw online the other day, you still want your cold nights in Stoke.”
During the fans’ forum hostility towards the Kroenkes was rife, and it won’t end there. On Friday, fans have planned a protest using the hashtag #KroenkeOUT outside the Emirates Stadium ahead of Arsenal’s match with Everton in the Premier League.
Kroenke acknowledged that the trust issues between the ownership and fans needs addressing in the future. He said: “I am well aware we have never really had trust and what teeny bit of hope there was among a small fan group that KSE would take it forward, I know that has been shredded as well. That is why I am here to start to build that bridge. If ever there ever was a plank on the bridge or no planks on the bridge of trust, I am here to start trying to build that bridge.”
Contact the writer of this story, Samindra Kunti, at moc.l1735104981labto1735104981ofdlr1735104981owedi1735104981sni@o1735104981fni1735104981