It’s been a tumultuous week at Arsenal football club, and given the comments made today by team Director Josh Kroenke, don’t expect serenity any time soon. Monday brought a letter from prominent supporter groups and bloggers calling for owner Stan Kroenke, who first invested in Arsenal in 2007 and went on to become majority shareholder in 2011, to change his course of actions with the club.
Tuesday brought a public response from his son, Kroenke Sports & Entertainment (KSE) Vice Chairman Josh Kroenke, who hit back at the notion that his family doesn’t really have their heart in running and owning the club.
Today, Kroenke gave an interview to the club’s website, and although he prefaced his comments by saying Arsenal’s goal is to win trophies, he doesn’t see the north London side as being in a position to do so this upcoming season.
“As much as we would love to say that we’ll be competing for the top trophies tomorrow, we know that that’s not the case and that we have to get to work on that,” Kroenke said.
That is not what Arsenal fans want to hear, especially not now when you consider they haven’t won the Premier League title since 2004. The optimism of the beginning of the Unai Emery era didn’t last long, as the club finished fifth in the new boss’ debut season last year.
The last time the Gunners lifted a trophy it was the 2017 FA Cup, and this will be the third straight season without Champions League football.
Kroenke did maintain an optimistic outlook however, and he pointed to some personnel changes as reasons for why the fans should believe in what he’s doing with the club.
“From our coaching staff to our management, there have been significant changes that have gone on and I’m really excited to let those foundations continue to grow and take shape to build a successful future for Arsenal,” Kroenke added.
“[We’ve appointed] Per Mertesacker, and most recently we appointed Edu — so we have a technical director for the first time in the history of Arsenal. We have a man who has Arsenal DNA. We have an Invincible.”
“I would say ‘be excited’. There are a few things that I know our group are working on, and a few things we hopefully have on the doorstep.
“Nothing is ever a done deal until it’s a done deal, obviously, but we know we have key areas we want to address in our squad, both now and in the future. Our entire football operations staff have a great grasp on that and I’ve encouraged them to be as aggressive as possible.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
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