Stan Kroenke has launched a staunch defence of Arsene Wenger ahead of today’s Arsenal annual general meeting at the Emirates Stadium.
The American, who owns a 67% majority stake in Arsenal, is a controversial figure among the fans with many believing he is more interested in profit than performance.
The Gunners finished fifth last season, failing to qualify for the Champions League for the first time in 19 seasons, and it’s 14 seasons since they last lifted the Premier League trophy.
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Kroenke’s reaction to the failure was to extend Arsene Wenger’s contract by a further two seasons, an incomprehensible act to many fans who believe that the Frenchman has outlived his usefulness and a new manager is desperately required to make Arsenal great again.
Arsenal Supporters’ Trust (AST) recently wrote to Kroenke to express their dismay at the way is being run but in an interview with the Daily Telegraph he declared his intention to remain at his post.
“Just go look at our history,” said the 70-year-old Kroenke. “We get into these things to try to grow them. You don’t see us selling things. We are committed long-term. [Selling] is just not our model… I love Arsenal, love being involved with Arsenal. There’s no finer feeling than going out and winning like we did with the FA Cup… the feeling is contagious and it makes you want to keep doing it.”
True, Arsenal have won the FA Cup three times in the last four seasons, but for the fans that’s no longer enough and they believes that a club of their stature should be judged on how they fare in the Champions and Premier Leagues.
It’s not just that Arsenal have under-achieved in both those competitions for more than a decade, but also the sense that Wenger has lost the plot tactically, and in the transfer market.
Not so, says Kroenke, who told the Telegraph why he extended the Frenchman’s contract.
“When you make decisions like that you are weighing lots of different factors but you hope that you weigh them correctly and come out with the right decision,” he said.
“I think we did… we have dealt with this a lot and we believe Arsene is doing a great job and is the right guy. It’s easy to change coaches and people do it all the time… an easy answer is to do something. It’s harder not to do something. We have dealt with this a lot in different organisations and we just think that Arsene is doing a great job and he’s the right guy.”
Kroenke added that Wenger is “more focused than ever, focused on winning. I really think I do see that”.
He may indeed be focused on winning but so far this season’s results have been hard to come by for the Gunners. Currently fifth in the Premier League, nine points behind leaders Manchester City, Arsenal have suffered embarrassing defeats to Liverpool and Watford, and on Tuesday evening they came within five minutes of being dumped out of the league cup in front of their home fans by Norwich City.
Wenger’s dwindling band of supporters at Arsenal will point to his genius as a manager in bringing on two-goal teenage hero Eddie Nketiah with five minutes remaining, but the majority of Gooners believed that the Frenchman just got lucky in a last desperate throw of the dice.
According to The Guardian the Arsenal Supporters’ Trust will vote at today’s AGM against the re-appointment of the chairman, Sir Chips Keswick, and Kroenke’s son, Josh, to the board of directors to register their belief that “significant corporate governance change is needed”.
In a statement the Trust said: “All of the non-executive directors have been in office for far too long and are not regarded as independent under the corporate governance code.
“There is therefore no independence from the controlling shareholder, no one free of conflict of interest, and not enough diversity on the board or people with relevant professional skills, such as football expertise.”
