November 7 – In his rare media interviews, Arsenal director Josh Kroenke has repeated that the London club is not for sale and insisted “special times are ahead”. After Sunday’s 1-0 won over Watford he repeated his mantra.
In the aftermath of the European Super League debacle, fan protests against the American ownership, and Swedish billionaire and Spotify founder Daniel Ek’s bid to take over the club, Josh, son of majority shareholder Stan Kroenke, was adamant no bids for the club would be entertained.
“We get bids for the club all the time, from many different parties around the world and that speaks to the strength of the Arsenal,” said Kroenke. “It’s a wonderful institution, Arsenal Football Club is a global brand and my only response to anything is the club is not for sale, we’re just getting started.”
Arsenal were the Premier League’s top spenders this summer, bringing in among others Aaron Ramsdale and Ben White, but a difficult start to the new season highlighted the gap with the top four.
In the past two seasons, Arsenal have dropped out of the Champions League qualifying spots, both times finishing in eighth place. Having gone eight Premier League matches unbeaten since the 5-0 drubbing by Manchester City, Arsenal now sit in fifth place in the league after Sunday’s win.
Kroenke said that “special times are ahead for this club”.
He explained: “We’ve only really owned the club since 2018. We have a young manager, we have a young squad and we’re charting our path to the future.”
“In the United States we have a certain model [used at other organisations run by Kroenke Sports & Entertainment] and we’re implementing that here, and we have over the last three years, which is, young players, talented players with the right mentality, let them grow together while continuing to sprinkle in talent throughout the squad.”
Kroenke’s upbeat words and positive spin reflect some of the recent optimism at the club after a disastrous first half of 2021 when Arsenal’s backing for the ESL backfired and led to a fan revolt, something the owners have tried to address with more communication and a fan advisory board.
“We were presented with an opportunity,” explained Kroenke. “We asked ourselves a question, which was, ‘what was worse – a Super League or a Super League without Arsenal?’ We answered that question with, ‘we should be included in that’. Were we wrong? Obviously.”
“We listened to our fans, we made a quick pivot, removed ourselves from the situation, we apologised and now we move forward.”
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