Josh Kroenke Joins the Arsenal Board

[yuvken]

I don't know about the relevance of the above claims/complaints - I can see where they come from emotionally, but we've all learned it is just not as important as it would seem.

Perhaps more interesting to know some things about "the boy". First, he's not 23 (like some quotes above may mislead you to understand) but 33, and he's not a rookie in the business at all. He's played sports himself (played basketball for the university of Missouri), and, as has been pointed out already, has been running some serious sports operations.

What is perhaps even more interesting is that he is not a "silent Stan" type, at least by the look of things (or he may be silent, but he doesn't shy away from bold moves and controversy). An example was this summer, when he fired both the general manager and coach of the Denver Nuggets, at the end of their best year ever (win lose record). Not getting into "justified or not" (there are of course opinions here and there - look for ex coach George Karl's take on it, Calling him "stupid"), but just mentioning this is not someone without balls.

There were also opinions I read (related to the above story) which hold that "he is not as attentive/fair as his father". So I guess there's more ammo here for both haters ("little American out of college brat doing whatever he wants" - satan's man on the board) and hopers (dude is a serious and fearless businessman that might achieve big things for us).

Yawn.

 

[clockwork orange]

The bigger issue is what kind of people their family brings to the executive side of the club, not exactly impressed with Gazidis', Fox' and Law's work so far.

Neither am I. That's why I don't expect anything useful from the latest addition either.

Do agree we survived pretty useless general management for a while now, so we'll cope with this too. I'm just wondering if we wouldn't have done better with other, less useless, management.

 

[a_fourteen]

'I'll', lol. God gave you a brain, crack took it away.

Crack is cheap. I make too much money to ever smoke crack. Let's get that straight. OK? We don't do crack. We don't do that. Crack is whack.
-WH, RIP

 

[Camel]

Lil' Kroenke joining the board of Arsenal, yay! The only positive thing I see that he would somehow become a gooner and starts to pump money in the club when his dad passes away.

 

[a_fourteen]

Lil' Kroenke joining the board of Arsenal, yay! The only positive thing I see that he would somehow become a gooner and starts to pump money in the club when his dad passes away.

Don't count on it...
<a class="postlink" href="http://walmart1percent.org/family/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://walmart1percent.org/family/</a>

 

[jones]

Neither am I. That's why I don't expect anything useful from the latest addition either.

Do agree we survived pretty useless general management for a while now, so we'll cope with this too. I'm just wondering if we wouldn't have done better with other, less useless, management.

He's a non-executive director though. Can only hope that they'll find the common sense to appoint people who are actually experienced in this field. Fox especially sounds in his interviews like someone they recruited straight from a uni campus.

 

[ArsenesNO1Fan]

I'm not sure if this is good or bad. From what I understand Kroenke's other sports enterprises have become profitable but unsuccessful money ball teams, losing the prestige they once had. Having his son on the board may mean we're extra tight in the transfer market and sell our top talents.

Just because we've had 1 summer when we've had a transfer spend surplus doesn't mean it's going to be like that every year.

That's ignoring the fact it'd be better to have directors who understand football.

 

[amirkat]

All I want to know is if he takes money out of the Club from this position.

 

[clockwork orange]

Neither am I. That's why I don't expect anything useful from the latest addition either.

Do agree we survived pretty useless general management for a while now, so we'll cope with this too. I'm just wondering if we wouldn't have done better with other, less useless, management.

He's a non-executive director though. Can only hope that they'll find the common sense to appoint people who are actually experienced in this field. Fox especially sounds in his interviews like someone they recruited straight from a uni campus.

That's exactly my problem with the way things are going.

I don't mind investors owning the club, but I want serious top-notch entrepreneurs running the club, making the most of the opportunities. We didn't make the most of our opportunities in recent years.

 

[clockwork orange]

Beg to differ Ant.

Signing Mesut was great, but so far it is a single incident. Hope that changes soon.

In recent seasons our peformances (on the pitch and financially) suffered, because we underinvested in our squad.

 

[blaze_of_glory]

Don't see a problem with this really. The guy has experience and this is how business works, like it or not. Its about who you know. Capitalism has never been fair and never will be.

 

[Jury]

It's just 'jobs for the boys' as we say here, which is never good IMO, and shouldn't be done at that level whether it works or not. I don't like to see it.

 

[Anzac]

Whilst I'm not over the moon about it I'm more concerned that we bring in more football people as said earlier - horses for courses. IMO one of our biggest weaknesses off the field is that we are seemingly totally reliant upon AW for any input from a football perspective.

 

[mo50]

A lot of the people we've appointed over the past few years are familiar with sports franchises, it's not like they used to trade stocks or sell chickens. As long as Wenger is here we're in good shape in terms of the footballing side of things.

 

[spartandre217]

I don't know about the relevance of the above claims/complaints - I can see where they come from emotionally, but we've all learned it is just not as important as it would seem.

Perhaps more interesting to know some things about "the boy". First, he's not 23 (like some quotes above may mislead you to understand) but 33, and he's not a rookie in the business at all. He's played sports himself (played basketball for the university of Missouri), and, as has been pointed out already, has been running some serious sports operations.

What is perhaps even more interesting is that he is not a "silent Stan" type, at least by the look of things (or he may be silent, but he doesn't shy away from bold moves and controversy). An example was this summer, when he fired both the general manager and coach of the Denver Nuggets, at the end of their best year ever (win lose record). Not getting into "justified or not" (there are of course opinions here and there - look for ex coach George Karl's take on it, Calling him "stupid"), but just mentioning this is not someone without balls.

There were also opinions I read (related to the above story) which hold that "he is not as attentive/fair as his father". So I guess there's more ammo here for both haters ("little American out of college brat doing whatever he wants" - satan's man on the board) and hopers (dude is a serious and fearless businessman that might achieve big things for us).

Yawn.

That bolded bit is what worried me. I made the comment that sometimes people that have grown up in/with power, prestige and money tend to be incorrigible, insufferable arrogant people.

Not saying that that's the case here, we may be able to do little about it. Furthermore, the Kroenke's know that just short of the world coming to a crashing halt, full-scale class warfare or the like, they'll never have to relinquish control of Arsenal. Much like the Glazers, he wants to run his EPL team much like the NFL is run.

For the sake of the league as an entity and a competitive one at that(on a European scale), I can only pray that they do not institute a wage cap. Of all the horrible things that the new(er) US owners could bring over, it would be that.

 

[yuvken]

he fired both the general manager and coach of the Denver Nuggets, at the end of their best year ever

That bolded bit is what worried me. I made the comment that sometimes people that have grown up in/with power, prestige and money tend to be incorrigible, insufferable arrogant people.

Yeah, I thought this was worth bringing to the fore. But at the same time I wouldn't jump to conclusions. There seems to be more than one side to the story (George was pushing him?) and the Kroenkes are in general people who run their businesses long term.

At this point, without being drama queens, all we can really say is - a dude from the inner Kroenke circles, with vast experience in sports management, gets a non-executive seat on the board.
The rest is just - perhaps legitimate - drama. We should wait and see. After all, there was much drama, suspense and suspicion with Kroenke from the off, and in reality -

Kroenke's let our club and finances run its natural course, hasn't unduly meddled in affairs and was fully in support of the Özil transfer. Most fans want us to be run organically, which has been the case under him, so I really don't see any justification for current negativity.

So perhaps we should learn something from that. If I understand correctly, even fat Uzzy lowers the fire recently (cynical bastard that he is).

I'm more concerned that we bring in more football people as said earlier - horses for courses. IMO one of our biggest weaknesses off the field is that we are seemingly totally reliant upon AW for any input from a football perspective.

Well - one might say: hey, the K's only get into the business side, where they want to take the Dein heritage and improve on it, while leaving the football side in tact. and that is in perfect hands as long as AW is there to do it. In fact, this year we get to see for the first time how this machine works when they get to do their bit, and put some greens in the Boss' hands. Oh, looky here - we - top of the league! and that fantastic line of football prodigies scaring the league (the continent?) are all in their early 20's. We were splashing cash, and didn't really get all we wanted (we did make bids, in case some forgot). As mo said:

As long as Wenger is here we're in good shape in terms of the footballing side of things.

 

[a_fourteen]

Looks like someone's having a bad day.

 

[Anzac]

@ yuvken

where do you get the idea Josh has "vast experience in sports management"?

<a class="postlink" href="http://walmart1percent.org/family-tree/josh-kroenke/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://walmart1percent.org/family-tree/josh-kroenke/</a>
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.denverpost.com/nuggets/ci_17865859" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.denverpost.com/nuggets/ci_17865859</a>

looks like he spent 3 years aged 27-30 working at various positions The Pepsi Centre which is the shared Home Ground for both franchises,
and then was given ownership of the Nuggets and Avalanche as a result of NFL cross-ownership requirements re sports teams.

He's 33 & has 3 years of actual experience as the main man.
Not saying that he may not be very good & a natural at the role, but ultimately not what I'd call vastly experienced.
In saying that I note that neither franchise have won their Division or Conference since before he took over.

As for the football side of things - raises the question of AW as DoF rather than manager in regards to work load. When he goes I want to see a change in strategy that employs a team of experienced football people akin to what is seen at Bayern.

 

[arsmile]

if there's no room for nepotism in football then where is there!

The positive of this is that it ties the commitment to us...commitment should mean money

but yeah..not an inspiring move

 

[redwhiteAustrian]

His CV reads ok, and I couldn't care less whether he's Kroenke's son, mother or grandad, as long as he does his job well enough and brings Arsenal forward.