The last parts of the very life and soul of Arsenal Football club were sucked out this morning, Enos Stanley Kroenke has placed the final Horcrux in the depths of the Emirates Stadium. These are just a couple of the things I read when I logged into the Internet today and read the news that KSE were buying Arsenal outright, removing it from NEX and becoming one hundred percent private.
I've failed to find one person who, within any reason, is happy about this situation. People have been unhappy to say the least with Kroenke since he became the majority shareholder at Arsenal Football Club in 2011 and this appears to be the straw that broke the camel's back. Fans of Kroenke's American teams have warned Arsenal fans what would happen if "Silent" Stan Kroenke took the club in full, now it looks like we'll see for ourselves. In America Kroenke owns The Denver Nuggets (NBA), Colorado Rapids (MLS), Colorado Avalanche (NHL) and the Los Angeles Rams (NFL). Up until this point, his teams have won no more than three (3) Championships over the course of 22+ NFL seasons, 18+ NBA seasons, 18+ NHL seasons, as well as 13+ MLS seasons. That's three Championships in over 70 combined sports seasons and fans of Arsenal fear it'll only get worse for them now he owns the club in its entirety. The problem I believe a lot of fans have got in the takeover is the fact that Kroenke has somewhat of a reputation for not investing in his sports teams and until recently this may have been accurate. But things have changed at least with The Rams, moving back to Los Angeles from St. Louis, getting rid of Jeff Fisher and bringing in Sean McVay and investing quite considerably. However, there is a lot of talk that this has been down to, not Stan Kroenke at all, but rather his son Josh and Josh is the man many are actually expecting to take full control of Arsenal. The vibe I've had in regards to Josh Kroenke is that it's definitely not a case of "like father, like son." Josh in terms of running a sports team, appears to be the complete opposite of his dad. He is smart and a very patient man, but he knows what it means to be a sports fan and he knows what makes a sports team, couple that with his Gazidis like business acumen his balance is very much what is required at the club. If, as is being touted, Josh does directly replace Stan at the helm it could make for some extremely interesting results and I could also see this outcome possibly giving cause for Ivan Gazidis to stick around in the role of CEO. It is a very ropy situation and Stan Kroenke's reputation precedes him and not in a positive light and therefore it's unsurprising that Gooners are terrified of the future at the moment, but maybe... Just maybe, Josh can bring a ray of sunshine to the occasion.