This new owner just won\’t do.
Let’s face it, Stan Kroenke doesn\’t have a clue.
And it\’s not because he\’s American.
Randy Lerner is a decent guy who bought Aston Villa with his own money.
He\’s very hands-on at Villa and more power to him.
Lerner has now invested over £200 million in his English soccer club.
At Liverpool, John W. Henry is visible and available and engages with the fans.
He understands that Liverpool FC is about the Kop, You’ll Never Walk Alone, representing a community and a tradition, rivalry with Man United and five European Cups,
John W. Henry gets it. When Fernando Torres was sold to Chelsea for £50 million, he backed Kenny Dalglish in paying over the odds for a young striker from Newcastle.
Henry is not a leverage guy like the Glazers and Tom Hicks & George Gillett. He\’s a proper sports tycoon who feels it and he gets it. That\’s why, when Liverpool needed a centre forward, he paid £35 million for Andy Carroll. Just as Randy Lerner was willing to pay £23 million for Darren Bent.
Sadly,Stan Kroenke doesn\’t get it. And he won’t get it in the future
Silent Stan’s silence is an ignorant silence.
It’s a dead silence, a death-echo, a paralysed silence. He might as well be on another planet.
How can you own Arsenal and say nothing? How can you buy the biggest football club in London and not state your vision of how that club should go forward?
Come on Stan, where are you? If you won\’t talk, at least make a statement by buying a marquee player to replace Fabregas and Nasri.
You\’ve been with us for four years now. Four years, Stan! Your first purchase was the ITV shares in July 2007. Haven\’t you got the balls to meet with the Arsenal Supporters Trust and answer ten reasonable questions?
No chance. We know that will never happen.
Therefore Arsenal need a new owner.
Stan Kroenke should sell his shares to somebody who knows what to do with this club. Somebody who would bring David Dein back as chairman. Dein could sign the quality players that Arsenal need and help Wenger this season and find Arsenal\’s next manager when the time comes.
Hill-Wood, Chips Keswick and the rest of the board are old men who were carried by dynamic Danny Fiszman. All but one of them loathe David Dein. They think he\’s a flash Jew, an impulsive trader whose son Darren is an agent who has made millions from the sale of Thierry Henry, Gael Clichy and Cesc Fabregas.The other reason they hate him is that after they kicked Dein off the board he sold his shares to a guy he\’d only met twice
While far from perfect, Dein is passionate dynamo who needs to be counter-balanced by wise colleagues. He is a real football man with a lot of contacts and expertise. The club has lost its way since he was booted ou. He did more for Arsenal than all of the remaining directors put together. .
Clearly, Arsenal need to start again. They need David Dein as chairman and a younger board with new ideas and no baggage.
Bottom Line : Kroenke owns Arsenal because he gave Lady Nina an ultimatum when Danny was on his death bed She had been touting her shares around for months.
I\’ve always wondered whether there was a covenant in the agreement between Kroenke and Fiszman, or a clause in the contract, stating that Kroenke could not bring David Dein back/could never sell to Alisher Usmanov.
I understand that there is no such covenant in place.
PS : I met Jimi Hendrix’s girlriend at an exhibition last night.