Following on from attending our opening home match against Burnley, Josh Kroenke sat down with David Ornstein from BBC Sport, providing us with a lengthy interview, which KSE have never entertained before. He touched on most things we have all spoken about at length throughout the summer as fans, from the awful defeat in Baku, where it left us going into the summer, the #WeCareDoYou campaign & of course our transfer business.
I wrote about this following the win at the weekend, pointing out that Josh attending our win over Burnley on Saturday could only be seen as a positive step forward & it just happens to be pure coincidence that this interview got released three days after the match. It wasn’t just about having him in attendance, but Raul & Edu as well. There does seem to be a little more togetherness than there has been over the last five years or so. Not just togetherness even, but I think we can all see, (for the first time in a number of years) that the club seems to be heading in a certain direction & there is what appears to be at this point, a plan, even if it was sligjtly adjusted after that night in Baku. I think KSE have made their point, it will clearly be Josh taking the lead for KSE from an Arsenal point of view & it’s nice to see. Even if it isn’t Stan (let’s be realistic, he’s 72!), someone else is & we just haven’t had that engagement from them since they took full control of the club. I couldn’t help but think of a caveat to this, as a fan what would satisfy you from KSE & what percentage of games would Josh have to attend to be perceived as “caring” ? I like most would actually struggle to answer that as there is no right or wrong.
For me personally I don’t mind if the owner is present at games. The game just isn’t what it was in the 90’s. You can watch any game anywhere now & think about it from our own point of view for a second; would one supporters opinion on our performance really matter if they watched it on the TV or were at the stadium itself? It really shouldn’t. There are also far more people behind the scenes than there ever has been, so if KSE have trusted advisors in place (which they really should have), regardless of whether they were at a match or not, they should still be able to collate enough honest feedback from their appointed team & act accordingly. I get it, as fans we really want to see an owner who is committed to the club, making themselves visible at every game & show a true passion towards the club we care about. Attending games isn’t the be all & end all though is it? Take a look up north & Newcastle are a club in a real state with their owner. He attended far more games than Stan & Josh ever have, wearing club colours & scarfs, but that doesn’t mean one is more passionate than the other. I think we are far too easily drawn into a world of perception at times when this subject is concerned.
The #WeCareDoYou campaign was one that hit home well with me as a supporter. Josh was asked if the campaign had any real impact as to how they went about their summer business. He flatly denied that was the case & iterated the clubs desire was to be aggressive in the market, which they really were to be fair. I think the key element of the campaign was not about spending large amounts of cash, but spending it wisely & redefining the clubs vision/direction. I think it would be deluded of our fan base to get upset over the lack of spending we do, or have done of late. In three seasons we have brought in Pepe – £73m, Aubameyang – £60m & Lacazette for £50m. That’s not to mention all the other players who have come in during that time as well. As a club we have made some truly awful acquisitions over the last 5+ years as well. Yes we aren’t the only club to have done so, but you really feel that there was a number of panic buys made to please supporters, rather than well thought out purchases that would genuinely strengthen the team. The one deal which baffled me the most during this time was Lucas Perez, who we bought for around £17m & sold two years later (a year of which he spent on loan), to West Ham for what, £3m. He couldn’t even make their starting eleven & has now since moved on to Alaves. This is just one example of many poor decisions we made. I think a fundamental aspect to our lack of available funds is that we are notoriously a very bad selling club & that deal really highlighted that.
Without going firmly down a big dark abyss there, let’s get back to the positives. This was KSE’s first real stable(ish) summer as full owners of the club & there has been a massive reshuffle, with over 50 new appointments made in the last year or so alone. Any organisation in any business knows it takes a little time for the dust to settle before you see improvements. Maybe now we are finally starting to see the benefits of our changes. The term “excited” has been quite frankly exhausted by Josh over the summer, but fair play to him to say it & have the confidence that his team running the business side of our club could deliver. We’ve seen some great business done by the club, not just addressing some immediate issues but also looking ahead to the future a little also. So for once, dare I say I agree with, be excited & lets get behind the team on the pitch.
So with that out the way, we now face Liverpool away on Saturday evening… SHIT.
In all seriousness I am panicked about this game, as I always am. Anfield gives me mixed feelings as we’ve had some belting results up there over the years providing some great memories, but we’ve also had some real pants down moments. As much as I hate to say it Liverpool really are one of the most exciting teams to watch in the league at the moment, more so than Citeh. It’s a big test for us & we can surely judge a little bit better just how far off them we are at this point & time once the game is finished. We won;t find out any real team news until the pre game press conference, but I would be fairly certain that we will see a very similar line up to the one that beat Burnley on Saturday. Personally I would like to see Pepe in the starting eleven, but unfortunately it looks like this game is coming a little to early for him & he will likely be on the bench. I hope I am wrong & he is match fit however.
Let’s hope for a good showing on Saturday evening. I really think we should just go for it, we have nothing to lose in this game & everything to gain. It’ll be very interesting to see how the game unfolds & just how Unai Emery goes about this one. In reality thought, I will be very happy if we can just come away without defeat.
The Arse 