By AJ The Gunner
March 25 2016
Cries of Wenger Out & Wenger Must Go (And for the board and Kroenke to go have also been heard. Ed) have become louder. Banners calling for Wenger to step down have become more visible.
Discussions of who the next Arsenal manager should be have become a major debate amongst Arsenal fans. The tone of some of Wenger loyalists and defender's; the Wenger Cult, the so called AKB’s, have changed especially as we are possibly about to witness Leicester City winning the EPL (or even worse Spurs), without any known world class players. This has exposed Wenger failure when it comes to winning the league as his regular excuse is about to blow up in his face.
Enough is enough, I want Wenger gone but when you hear the man who owns 67.3% of Arsenal shares Stan Kroenke tell the media, and indirectly warns Fans, that he didn't buy his Arsenal stake to win trophies, you begin to realize that in reality Wenger is not entirely the PROBLEM. Worse, it confirms our fear that we may be doomed to accept the present state of affairs for an age to come.
It confirms to fans that in truth the crumbs we get from finishing 4th in the English Premier League, which equals winning a trophy according to Wenger, and qualifying for Champions League every season may be the BEST we can ever hope for. The FA Cup’s, the most we can dream of. It is becoming clear that SACKING WENGER MAY NOT SAVE US FROM OUR PRESENT PREDICAMENT AS LONG AS WE ARE STAN KROENKE'S CASH COW!!!
Owning 67.3% of the Arsenal shares, having paid multi-million pounds in 2011 to the previous long-term major shareholders, including Nina Bracewell-Smith, whose shares were worth £116m, and Danny Fiszman, whose stake Kroenke paid £159.5m has given him the right to use us as he deems fit. We pay the highest ticket price only to witness constant meltdowns, total collapse of the team and fighting for the 4th position every season since this guy got his grip on our club. Once again being top of the league at New Year is the usual situation of flattering to deceive.
We are made to endure mediocrity while the one who cannot be bothered that we are becoming a laughing stock in the EPL spends millions tending to his whimsical desires. He has just bought a 520,000-acre ranch in Texas worth $725 million and recently decided to move his National Football League team NFL Rams from St. Louis to a privately financed $1.8 billion stadium in Inglewood, California. Arsenal club has paid £3 million for the second year running to one of his US companyKroenke Sports and Entertainment LLC.
HOW DO WE HOPE TO GET OUT OF THIS MESS? The most pathetic part is remembering what Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith tweeted in 2013, "If making money was the motivating factor, surely there are better ways," She wrote. "Football is a business of passion and SK has no passion for AFC. "(Kroenke) shows he cares very little. Why he wanted to be part of AFC , I do not know." She also admitted that, with hindsight, she would not have sold her shares to Kroenke.
Really? If making money was not her motivating factor and if she indeed cared about Arsenal, would she not have done a background check on him before selling off her shares to a greedy man who doesn’t give a damn about the feelings of the fans of other sporting outfits he owns as long as he makes profit? It’s not just Lady Nina I blame but every single one of them who played a part in Kroenke becoming a majority share holder in Arsenal. They talked so much about maintaining our history and staying true to what we stand for only to sell us off to a shark that clearly doesn’t care about the fans or what how we feel.
You do not need to dig deep to figure out the general feelings of fans of other professional sports teams owned by Stan. You read headlines like ‘Arsenal majority shareholder Stan Kroenke abused by entire stadium of ice hockey fans’ or ‘The angry abuse of Arsenal's majority shareholder was absolutely deafening according to reports’.
One of the animosities of the fan-base is the moving of St. Louis Rams Missouri NFL team to Los Angeles for financial reasons without giving a damn about the fans. The venue is expected to be the most expensive in U.S. sports history by at least a billion dollars. "We were loyal to our football team. We bought their tickets, wore their jerseys, brought their over-priced beer. We cheered them year after losing year. And in return, they trashed us, then left us”.
Does that sound familiar? Sure does! It echoes the general thoughts and feelings of Arsenal fans. It shows this to be is a track record of what dining with Kroenke births. Headlines such as ‘Who is Rams owner Stan Kroenke? Besides the ‘most hated man’ in St. Louis.’ leaves me feeling disillusioned.
It’s not enough to use Arsenal as a cash cow, but the team will be made to parade as a circus monkey as Kroenke has announced that Arsenal will train and play in Southern California during the summer. Clearly using us to build the brand of his sports teams Los Angeles Rams. ‘So that’s all good. That will raise the profile of the Rams and Arsenal in North America.’ Yeah right. I would have saidGREAT! except that this means more money for greedy Stan.
Don’t get me wrong, Wenger is equally guilty for the part he has played in this fiasco. He has been comfortable in this madness for the past 11 years which is a win-win situation for him as his job is secure and he earns around £8.3 million a year with his current Arsenal contract. He is under no pressure for constantly failing to assemble a complete and balanced team that can challenge for the EPL title and CL trophy and actually go on to win them. He can afford to get away with what no manager in football history can.
He has become so delusional that its alarming that he keeps making the same mistake for almost 11 years and still expects to produce a different result. His player management is suspect. His tactical plan is dodgy and the substitutions he makes are alarming; but this all serves Kroenke’s agenda as long as the accounts are healthy. The most annoying part of Wenger’s attitude is making us feel guilty for calling for a change after all he has done and achieved for us in the past 19 to 20years. What about our support? What about our feelings? Don’t they count? I say Enough is Enough!
The million-dollar question is: ARE WE STUCK WITH SILENT STAN?
It boils down to whether we are simply going to accept this as our FAITH or unite as fans casting aside our different opinions to FORCE a REVOLUTION that will prove to this present board that you don’t mess with loyal Fans who have invested their time, money and support (Liverpool fans have shown its possible. Ed) . Our hearts and emotions have been battered and bruised but I still believe we have the power to determine what happens to their beloved Club. Our WILL and Unity in purpose is Key.
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Quote:Padre Pio
Merl ion is too tied to the system AJ he cannot envisage an alternative. But if the fans went into rebellion with anti Kroenke banners and chants, boycotts etc the sponsors would not like it and put pressure on for change.
Quote:Padre Pio
Merl ion is too tied to the system AJ he cannot envisage an alternative. But if the fans went into rebellion with anti Kroenke banners and chants, boycotts etc the sponsors would not like it and put pressure on for change.
Quote:SandyB
There is only one person to shoot that's Wenger n no one else...
Quote:SandyB
There is only one person to shoot that's Wenger n no one else...