Nobody at Arsenal thought Stan Kroenke would go away and sure enough, he hasn’t.
Having bought ITV’s stake in the club his holding now stands as 12.19% and following face to face meetings with some of the board, they announced that “I hope we will be able to work with him in the future just as we would with any interested people.”
Just as we would with any interested people might not be as achievable as they would like to think however. Arsenal are undoubtedly the most attractive, available investment proposition in the Premiership; huge new ground, great young players, Champions League football and more important than anything, Arsene Wenger.
Indeed a case could be made that the manager of a club – thought of as a transient position at most clubs – is a genuine factor in pricing up the value, perhaps more so at Arsenal than any other. After all, Wenger is the main reason for Arsenal playing the football they do, the transfer policy they have and the assets (players) at the club. Could it be said that the likes of Vieira, Ljungberg, Pires, Overmars, Anelka, Toure, Henry, Fabregas etc. would ever have been as good as they were/are had it not been for Wenger? Certainly none of them think so.
So if you look at the Arsenal squad at the moment – brimming with extraordinary young talent – is it fair to say that without Wenger, those potential assets will never reach the heights they would have under him?
If so, then Kroenke should only be interested in Arsenal with Wenger and you can be sure that the advice from David Dein is along identical lines.
So when Wenger’s contract runs out this summer what will motivate his decision to stay or go? If Kroenke has not taken control (and, one assumes reinstated Dein) will he want to stay? (The closeness of Dein and Wenger is for another article but they are, close). If not then the board at Arsenal must surely also appreciate the impact of the loss of Wenger. With so many other teams reaching for the upper reaches of the Premiership with money and manager, not least arch-enemies and the best placed of all Tottenham Hotspur, can the existing board risk losing Wenger? Looking even further, if Wenger leaves the assets depreciate, the results will inevitably decline as will the quality of the product; will a potential investor/buyer be interested in Arsenal any more? Certainly not at the price with Wenger in place.
So it looks as though the existing board are realising that they are going to have to accept Kroenke in some shape or form, sooner rather than later. Clearly they are determined – probably even to the detriment of the club – to maintain control but with what compromises it is hard to say.
The best scenario would be investment from Kroenke, reinstatement of Dein. Wenger stays, players stay. The board would feel they had made a concession in terms of giving up some autonomy and accepting Dein back in order to keep Wenger, the players and long-term success of the club. Kroenke however will only be encouraged and see it as a stepping stone to full control. Additionally, how such a softening of the stance would affect the thoughts of the major shareholders who Kroenke would need to buy out is also uncertain.
It will be interesting to see how it plays out. Even more so should the uncertainty around the club affect the players, because we all know how players love uncertainty.
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I agree with you on the whole but would like to point out that you may have oversimplified the aceptance of Kronkear by the board. The club has been in theri hands for years and they may well be thinking about sticking their heels in and steadfastly refusing to do a deal. Althought they should have the clubs interst at heart and accept the money, bring back Dein and keep Wenger for the long term security of the club they willnot like the fact that their hand is being forced. They will look like idiots and probably will not want to work on the board.
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Unlikely as it may be they may want to prove that they can continue to run the club without Dein and Wenger believeing that they did it once and won’t be held to ransom by some pushy Yank and a disgruntled empoyee !
(Just playing Devil’s advocate as usual
Ah well my ‘best case scenario’ was not what I thought was going to happen. I wrote, “Clearly they are determined – probably even to the detriment of the club – to maintain control”. The best compromise for Arsenal would be the scenario I suggested but I agree with you, it’s simply not going to happen if for no other reason than the board would never admit even privately that Wenger is the most important person at Arsenal (which is, and Kroenke, Dein and the players know).