Written by Josh K

The Kroenkes have been massively unpopular figures at the Emirates with fans on multiple occasions being very vocal about their hatred towards the owners. Kroenke Sports & Entertainment have been a part of Arsenal for 15 years and it has been a steep decline with rival fans joking they’ve ‘gone from invincibles to invisibles’. Popular figures at the club such as Thierry Henry, Robin Van Persie, Arsene Wenger and Ian Wright all have highlighted that they feel a strong lack of ambition from the American owners to actually challenge and win the major honours with Arsene Wenger stating in his book “It was never the same” when referring to the change in ownership. Stan Kroenke has even been quoted to say “I didn’t buy my stake at Arsenal to win trophies”. It was almost as if relations couldn’t get worse until in April 2021 KSE happily signed off an agreement to join a Breakaway European Super League which was met by fury by fans across Europe. There was a belief that the failure of the breakaway plans was the start of a new revolution at the emirates with thousands of fans turning up in protest and a large campaign by Daniel Ek and a consortium of legends to buy the club, stirring up excitement amongst fans.

Despite Daniel Ek’s attempts the Kroenkes have said it wasn’t for sale and are just getting started on their project at Arsenal. A man at the face of this project is Josh Kroenke, He has expressed his views to bring trophies back to the gunners and told fans as a sportsman himself saying he played a lot of Basketball but also said “soccer was my first love” and wants to “try and reach the level of the invincibles again”. When quizzed and criticised about Arsenal’s decline in the past he fought back claiming “I only focus on 2018 to now as that is when we owned 100%. Now we own 100% we are laying the foundations of a really bright future. We have mapped out a multi-year process where we redefine our culture and strategy”. It was shown by Arsenal’s spending spree last summer which saw the club spend £150m and have the highest net spend in Europe that there may be some substance to his comments and not just empty words. In addition, the newly introduced Advisory board made up of fans proved Josh’s desire to engage with fans. These are all promising signs for fans with it being widely reported and Josh saying himself they want to continue to improve the squad “providing whatever support we can for Mikel”. There’s definitely no reason why Arsenal fans shouldn’t be excited about their future

Josh Kroenke also urged Arsenal fans to study the USA franchises owned by KSE and the success they’ve recently had. The LA Rams recently won the Super Bowl in spectacular fashion with a young squad and manager a project very similar to Arteta’s reds, The Denver nuggets reached the playoff and the hockey side the Colorado Avalanche won the Stanley Cup after many years. Josh Kroenke has told fans that he wants to implement the model in the USA franchises into Arsenal.

We are yet to completely find out if the Kroenkes will continue to put their money where their mouth is but for now, Josh Kroenke is definitely trying to convince Arsenal fans he is on the same page as them and has new ideas for a new era under Mikel Arteta by announcing ” there are special times ahead” and “We have the same lens, we want to win”. Arteta’s tricky reds have made a lot of progress last season after significant backing to improve his side. He is certainly feeling the support and when he was questioned on the matter he claimed “I feel full backing. 100% I fully believe that”. Its been widely reported that Arsenal will spend heavily again this summer, Ben Jacobs reports that Arteta is taking a much more active role this window compared to previous ones. There’s still a lot of convincing to do but no doubt there could be a light at the end of the tunnel for Arsenal.