Kroenke Sports & Entertainment (KSE)

The Arsenal
1980

Kroenke bought into Arsenal years before we started to invest substantial sums of money. He could have been investing back in 2008/09 when all we needed was a few extra players to complete the squad but instead we went down the self sufficient route and it ended up costing us trophies at that period in time.

Usmanov being given a place on the board and the club not shunning him out probably means we sign Alonso, Hazard, Reina and other players that Wenger pursued between 08-11.

Plus let’s look at the hires under Kroenke;

Gazidis
Sanllehi
Edu

Emery
Arteta

It’s clear as day that they haven’t got a fucking clue how to structure a football club and what people to give the top jobs to in order to facilitate success.

So even if you eliminate the need for investment, we certainly needed better decision making.

4 Likes
1981

Harsh imo. There no real formula for success or science for appointing people to facilitate success.

If anything I think KSE are guilty of giving people the benefit of the doubt too often.

2 Likes
1982

I laid it out that we’ve spent 350m an like 5 or 6 players in 3 years or so. Absolutely no reasons we should be finishing 8th and with a smart decision making group the ceiling could be at least what Liverpool have done the last couple seasons. Not hiring the right manager and not having a dof with a plan have killed us. We could still be a class organization and win. Arsenal are far from both but it doesn’t mean it’s not possible. Having a sugar daddy just takes most of the hard work out of being good that’s all :joy::joy:

1 Like
1983

You’re talking about the last few years I’m talking about the last 13 years

2 Likes
1984

Exactly.
The decision making by the board has been amateurish to say the least.

When Wenger really needed it, there wasn’t any investment, and then when they did start spending, it was too little, too late.
This meant that we were always playing catch up with other top clubs, that had already invested heavily, as well as some mid table clubs who were catching us up.

There is no way an ambitious owner like Usmanov would have made Wenger have to break even in every transfer window or, after he left, replace him with Emery or Arteta.
Also, he wouldn’t have sat back while we fall out of the European places.

Since he took over, Kroenke has been the single worst thing that’s happened to our club and until people realise that, he will continue to drag us down.
His lack of urgency and unbelievably poor decision making has seen us drop to an embarrassing level.

He is clueless about running a top European football club but, worse than that, he clearly couldn’t care less about the club or the supporters.

1 Like
1985

Don’t know about Usmanov, Everton aren’t going places. Big bark no bite.

The biggest loss will always be David Dein and the employment of Ivan Gazidis. Dein never believed in the Emirates (although I don’t know how much mileage could be gotten out of Wembley) but it’s fair to say the stadium hasn’t delivered what we hoped. Even worse we’ve ended up mid-table anyway which a fate was casted upon us if we stayed at Highbury. Safe to say we can bin that prophecy now.

2 Likes
1986

I know he pushed Wembley but what makes you say this?

1987

I’ll need to go do my research again but I’m fairly sure his proposal to move to Wembley was in part opposition towards building and financing a new stadium.

1 Like
1988

Again that’s more down to management and decision making that what ownership group we had. Honestly if u hold the opinion that u just want to buy all ur titles like City you are allowed to want that. I’d still rather not support a club like that because in the end all they win is empty, nobody in their right mind respects City as an actual big club they are a joke :joy::joy:

1 Like
1989

If I remember correctly Wembley was more of a reaction to redeveloping Highbury being a no go. I don’t ever remember hearing he was specifically opposed to a new stadium/the Emirates, I think he just wanted the solution quicker. Wembley would have been an absolute disaster.

4 Likes
1990

Given how Kroenke runs his American sports teams/franchises, he definitely wants to turn things over and let them run it.

Problem of course for Arsenal was no post Wenger plan and then Gazidis and Raul were poor hires.

Kroenke is really banking on Edu/Arteta running things. :flushed:

1 Like
1991

This is where KSE lost tbh. I get every appointment is a calculated punt but the logic that went into Arteta and in particular Edu hire just wasn’t sound when you consider the needs of the club.

We’ll see how things go at the end of the window and first 10 games

4 Likes
1992

Edu should have been brought in as part of a panel of individuals who work underneath a seasoned director of football.

5 Likes
1993

Yes we have spent money in recent times and largely spent it poorly.

If poor people are in charge that falls on KSE being poor owners though, it’s ownserships job to appoint the right people that implement the right structures and systems at the club.

1 Like
1994

We’ve been terribly run for ages. But the reality is that United, City, and Chelsea have won every title since 2004 except two. One was just a freak season where every big club faltered simultaneously. I don’t expect that to happen again anytime soon. The other required basically a perfect storm of Liverpool getting the best manager in the world, completely nailing recruitment, and getting a bunch of good luck in other ways.

3 Likes
1995

But is it luck that they got the best manager, who bought great players and then became successful.
Or is it good decision making by their owners.

We could have easily got Klopp, but our board persisted with Wenger.
So the lack of urgency and ambition as well as continual poor decision making has seen us fall down to mid table.

Make no mistake, Kroenke is the worst thing that has happened to this club.
Since he has been here, has he run the club properly or even made a good decision?

1996

Well, the third group (edu/Arteta) that Kroenke turned things over to hasn’t worked out. Not sure who will be doing the new hires this time around.

image

2 Likes
1997

I’m going to be that guy but shouldn’t the fans wear the clown makeup? They fell for this shit. Same with that ‘Don Raul’ shite. Remember when that was a thing?

5 Likes
1998

This club is a facade.

Our transition from Highbury to Emirates was both premature and ill-timed; and ever since, we have become a shadow of what we were.

Wenger, one of the most talented managerial figures of multiple lifetimes, was wilted down across 50% of his time here to sell his best players to a dream that he believed in, but no one else did or really cared for.

We outcast a vocal figure in Dein at a time when we needed him the most; months later, we hire Gazidis then Kroenke shows up; shepherded into a position of power with no transparency, just immediacy.

Like Henry, like Fabregas, like Nasri…Robin van Persie leaves, a composition of Wenger’s moulding for nearly a decade, to a direct rival handing them the league title, while leaving Arsenal short of that same dream by those same United goals he scores.

The worst part is; they were the best of times in context.

We mocked ourselves for prioritising Champions League football; only for it to be the one thing that we want back so dearly.

Now we’re left with an invisible owner, but what’s worse than that, is that we have a hidden, soft, leader running the club in Vinai.
Has anyone ever heard this CEO speak?
Has anyone ever seen this guy present back to the fan’s his vision?
No, because he hasn’t. If the choice was Gazidis or Vinai, give me Gazidis - at least he has the balls to vocalise his aspirations and fail or succeed publicly.

We’re a facade.

Joe Willock leaves, and the club only care about the tweet; showing a flashback video of Willock like the club actually gives a shit. Willock leaves the team when we are bereft of skill in our midfield. When we are empty of care or passion.

Two weeks ago Xhaka was out the door, sipping lattes with Mourinho in Rome, and now on the first day of the season, he’s our captain? The same guy who slammed the band on the ground? Wenger wouldn’t have stood for this; Dein wouldn’t have either.

I remember Highbury as a place of dynamics; even when we were losing. It was a place you could take your family, go as a child, or arrive 5 minutes late poleaxed from some extended pre-pints.

There is no man behind the curtain, there is no high-performance commercial ecosystem. How do I know that? Because you don’t let your main (and only) product to be sold with no strategy.

This board, this club, will never change, unless the accountability is public and vocalised. Wenger knew this. Highbury didn’t die for this…

“Consistency is a matter of style and values - not where you parked your car.”
Julian Assange.

2 Likes
1999

I don’t think you can blame fans for getting excited to be honest. On the face of it a lot of that stuff looked good, we were happy to be seeing money spent in contrast to the years beforehand etc. But it’s years later now and reality has prevailed.

Sometimes we’re just meant to be excited but it’s next to impossible now.

4 Likes