Morning all.
Arsenal fans spoke, Josh Kroenke has replied in an interview which Sky Sports have published. He’s also put pen to paper, making it clear that he and his family aren’t just in this for fun. We should be ‘excited’ he said as he confirmed Raul and co are in the process of trying to get transfer deals done. He knows which areas of the squad need addressing and there’s never been a restriction on how much the club spends. Within its self sustaining model. We’re a Europa club paying Champions League wages he added in there somewhere which to be fair, would hardly come as a surprise. Didn’t Arsene Wenger once say that he made the final decision on contracts, including wages? Anyway, what’s done is done and I doubt such gross errors will be made again.
While we understand, appreciate, and agree with concerns about our club failing to achieve our goal of qualifying for the 2019-20 Champions League, we respectfully disagree it is at a crossroads and things need to change because so much change has already occurred.
“Over the past year we have turned the page from our traditional model of football operations that included a Manager and CEO, to a new chapter of Arsenal Football Club that is led by a Head of Football and Managing Director.
“Since their appointments and that of Unai Emery as our Head Coach we have continued working to develop a modern infrastructure, designed to move us forward.
“This will take time to play out, but this was always going to be the case after such a long period of time operating under a different model.
“For us, the most important thing to achieve was not simply change for the sake of it, but to ensure we put the right people in the right roles to work together in a positive environment to achieve our stated goal of winning silverware both domestically and in Europe.”
It seems to me that what Kroenke Jnr is saying is this is when the real work begins now that Edu is through the door. The team is complete and collectively, their aim is to build a squad which is capable of challenging for silverware. To build for the future and make Arsenal competitive again. Whether they’ve got the right manager or not remains to be seen.
Whether what Josh Kroenke says is actually what the club does, well that’s up for debate too. But at least he’s responded, at least he’s given us something to hang on to. The old cliche ‘only time will tell’ pops up again but how much time the Kroenke family will be afforded is the question. The 90,000 odd signatures on the petition can’t be ignored or swept under the carpet. I truly believe this will have hurt the Kroenke family and only a fool would ignore the numbers who are voicing their opinion. That’s pounds shillings and pence, or rather dollars and cents at risk right there if they’re not careful.
What about us, the fans?
To all of our fans I say ‘thank you’. Without their support, we wouldn’t have a club. We need their support to be able to go out and do what we do. I think there’s always going to be challenges in everything we do as a club, whether we’re having the ultimate success on the pitch or not. But we need to understand that we are a group together and we all have the same interests.
We’re really excited about the challenges that lie ahead and we’re not going to shy away from them. We’re excited to one day look back and point at these moments, where this group came together, as the start of something special.
But whilst all of that is going on, there’s still the ongoing problem of football itself and how we’re going to play this coming season. As it stands, we’ve pretty much got the same squad bar the youth players expected to step up and our one new signing. The coaching staff remains the same bar Freddie.
How are we going to stop conceding goals, sure up the midfield and get someone other than Aubameyang and Lacazette scoring goals? Will we ever again supply a good ball into the box from a corner or free kick? These are the kind of simple things which win football matches and winning football matches is what’ll return us to playing Champions League football. Raul/Edu can sign the players up, but they still need to gel as a team. As a unit.
Josh said he was in Baku on that awful night. He witnessed first hand the shambolic display from Arsenal – well, he didn’t quite put it like that – he saw the hurt in the players eyes. The disappointment. The aim is to not go through that again.
The right things have been said and if he’s true to his word then perhaps there is reason to be optimistic but words alone mean very little. Exciting football, sometimes pragmatic football is all we ask for isn’t it? For me, whether that’s achieved with £10m players, a mix of youth and experience, or £50m players, it matters not. The right players is what matters, players who’ll wear the shirt with pride, play with pride and be part of a squad which has one common aim. To win for the club and it’s fans.
For now though, all we have is words and promises. It’s a start I guess but I’m sure words alone won’t convince the fans. Actions will though and to be fair to Josh, it’s probably more than just a coincidence that not long after he’d been at the club for those weeks/months last year, we saw changes. Long overdue ones but changes nevertheless and I don’t know about you guys but I’ve a feeling that Arsenal FC is now his baby rather than his fathers.
Perhaps he will try and be more ‘in touch’ with the fans, perhaps he means what he says about the club’s future, potential signings, silverware and trophies. Maybe we should be excited for the future of Arsenal FC.
That my friends, only time will tell…..
I’ve waffled for far too long so over to you. What do you make of the reply from our club’s owners?
Good morning fellow sufferers. Unfortunately for young Josh, we’ve already had the very similar ‘we can do things that will excite you’ soundbite from that charlatan, Gazidis so forgive me if Kroenke’s go right past my ears…… actions Josh, actions!
Morning Chrispy, all.
I believe him… 🤔
Good morning Rico and all.
That response by Josh should be headed Platitudes, Clichés and Bull S**t.
The prize must go to the line about spending “He knows which areas of the squad need addressing and there’s never been a restriction on how much the club spends. WHITHIN IT’S SELF SUSTAINING MODEL”.
Morning Cicero. Depends on ones point of view really. The fans asked a question and he’s answered. Whether it’s false promises or not, only time will tell.
Isn’t self sufficient simply complying with FFP?
By the way, he didn’t say self sustaining, that was my assumption as the sentence suggests but he mentioned the way the club has always been run. Or something similar.
I simply don’t believe the words coming out of young Mr Kroenke’s mouth.
I’ve heard it all before from this squeaky arsed family. They have NO interest in Arsenal except how much they can suck out of it.
Their only passion is their beloved Rams.
The sooner they go the better in my opinion.
It’s a big risk to take though if he’s feeding us poppycock.
Morning all.
I DONT BELIVE A WORD OF IT!
I’m with VCC
Nice day here though. Low 20s and wee breeze.
I’ll be back….things to do…. places to go.
Morning Rico. Negativity is a disease that spreads quickly through the Arsenal blogosphere it seems.
Rico. The fans have spoken through the petition and the Kroenkes have answered through Josh. If what he says is a load of old cobblers and the upturn fails to materialise as do the new (big) signings, then the fans that care and believe they have a voice, can take it to the next level.
None of us really know what is going on but Josh’s statement suggests a plan for improvement. Let’s see if he can deliver.
Morning Gooners
Morning Rico, there’s was always going to be a mixed reaction to the response from KSE, it’s understandable.
KSE were in charge when we spent big money on Mustafi & Xhaka, a record fee on Ozil, a big fee on Alexis, Lacazette and Aubameyang, but we also had a great manager declining in front of our eyes and a new Head Coach replacing him with many questions to answer.
From what I know KSE have not leeched money from the club, but they have made errors in judgement like when they took full 100% control, they had a window of opportunity to clear some of the clubs debts, all allowed under FFP, but they failed to do that and thus our financial muscle is still constricted.
Talk is cheap and we’ve had a lot of talk since 2006 and the move from our beloved Highbury – personally I’ve yet to see any real benefit from that move for us the fans, the only people who have benefitted were our old directors – they became very wealthy.
If Danny Fiszman had lived I wonder how different things would have been?
At least we knew that he was fully engaged in the club and wanted what we wanted, that’s a major issue for KSE.
Being an absentee owner was always a problem for me and the odd open letter won’t change that, that and the fact that Arsenal are No.2 at best in the owners priorities, playing second fiddle to the LA Rams is annoying, seeing the huge amounts being spent in Inglewood are frustrating whilst we’re forced to scrape the bottom of the barrel for transfer funds.
Well Josh has responded for his Pa and it seems as if Arsenal are his responsibility now, the old man is just focused on the Rams.
Whether the KSE response will be viewed in much the same way as we guffaw about the big talk and promises made by Ivan remains to be seen. But I don’t think Josh will be afforded the same time as Gazides before the fans start to grumble.
Gazides made some big claims and they bought him time with the fans even if ultimately it saw his credibility with us shredded as his PR speak was exposed. He did at least start the changes behind the scenes that we see now.
We’re living through interesting times…
Morning Adam.
Exactly my sentiments in the post. Until he/they prove his response is more empty words, I’m on board.
As said earlier, if he’s fibbing, life for the Kroenke family won’t be very pleasant I’d have thought. Arsenal wise I mean.
Morning Kev. I expected mixed opinion, inevitable really after the last few years but during those years, I’d imagine the Kroenkes, like many we assume, found it difficult to reason or overrule Wenger. Things have changed since then, the key part being what goes on is entirely down them.
That makes a big difference imo.
Morning all.
As we all know, actions speak louder than words, and unfortunately for Josh, the “actions”, or lack there of have us all very cynical.
Afternoon rico, all. Firstly, I’m happy that we got a quick response. I expected nothing for days. However, whether it’s to sell a few tickets and appease those already bought, or it actually has truth, is the question. But coming out so soon, plus UE with big players statement means they will be held to account, so I’m impressed by the partition’s actions.
Afternoon Andrew. Same here. How stupid will they now look if we don’t get a few transfers done, especially Emery. As for the rest from JK, until he proves himself wrong, I’m optimistic.
Could be a half empty stadium for our first game. Newcastle fans are protesting against the appointment of Bruce.
Newcastle is a good night out, so it’s worth the trip for that, if not the football…
Might be a bit rowdy… lol
Evening all and thanks Rico.
I shall sit back and take everything with a pinch of salt with what comes out from KSE.
If The Toons boycott because of Steve Bruce I can see that putting his nose out of joint !
I cant wait to see Ozil with his new hair style out on the pitch like a demon possessed ……………….
https://sputniknews.com/sport/201907171076274310-striking-similarity-aubameyang-jokes-ozil-looks-like-megan-rapinoe-after-dying-his-hair/
Ornstein with news.
https://twitter.com/bbcsport_david/status/1151525858445840384?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1151525858445840384&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.allarsenal.com%2Fornstein-arsenal-seal-saliba-deal-with-increased-offer%2F
https://www.instagram.com/p/B0AGhc1l-b3/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=embed_video_watch_again
Hahaha…………………..this would have most HHers going grey as well if it were true.
https://twitter.com/PainInTheArse/status/1151381273660837888/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1151381273660837888&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.livesoccertv.com%2Fnews%2F31044%2Fozil-explains-why-he-went-blond-gets-trolled-by-aubameyang-over-new-look%2F
I think it’s a great reply and I do believe what he says. When Kronke first bought into the club, it was mostly Stan, who new nothing about football then and most probably knows now NOTHING about football, so he put Gazidis in charge , which we all know now ( including him ) was not the right person. Since then I do believe that Josh has become and Arsenal fan, he was over last year for 6 months trying to sort things out, which I think he has done. I hoped he would stay and run the club more ‘hands on’ but he has too many USA commitments to do that, but he is definitely a fan now & will be in charge of the club as his Dad gets older. So I think we HAVE to give him a chance to see if things improve. It will take several years to get off the books the overpaid weak players we have on our books on CL wages, and we can see that the players we are now recruiting are less expensive and young so will have resale value ( something none of our present players have except for Auba & Laca .
The letter to The Kronke’s did some good, I think, I just hope all the Kronke out stuff will stop for a while and that we as Arsenal fans can ALL get behind our team & Management team, and just start being the SUPPORTERS so we start the new season off being behind the team . It will make for a better atmosphere around the club and the players will respond to that
Ha! I just read the Saliba report on the BBC Sport website and thought some good news at last. Then Le Coq dashed my hopes by pointing out that it is the scribblings of the Ornstein. No chance of any of it coming true.
Nice to have a game I can watch at reasonable hour 🙂
Here we go……
Afternoon all!!!
Well that was beautiful to watch.
Forget all the crap with transfer budgets, Kozzers dummy spit, Ozils wages etc etc
The second half performance when we had Burton, Saka, Nelson, John-Jules, AMN, Martinez, Nketiah was just superb.
These kids ARE the club’s future.
They have no fear.
They are immensely talented and a joy to watch!!
Eddie wasn’t on for long and could easily have had 2-3 but got the one that counted.
He stood up the Bayern RB, outmuscled Sule, and he’s a beast but the kid just went straight at them!!!
Time to be excited, fellow Gooners.
Is there something to be said for bringing a group of kids through at once rather than trying to drip feed them through to the seniors side?
It worked at Utd and admittedly, it takes a special crop for it to work but when you see the last 15-20 minutes of today’s game, you’ll see what I mean as the kids looked so comfortable together, it was incredible.
Morning Scott, all.
Just watched the highlights.
The youngsters looked at home. Mustafi should be at home, his home in Germany.
New post up now by the way..
I agree with all you said Scott, I really enjoyed the game , it gives you hope for the future. Still need to improve our defense , but I think we’re working on that