Arsenal: Stan Kroenke Becoming Grim Reaper To Fans

Arsenal’s silent majority shareholder Stan Kroenke is not winning many people over as he solidifies his mantra as the Grim Reaper of his teams.

Arsenal nation is actually united for once in their pledge to take down Stan Kroenke, or at least get #KroenkeOut trending on Twitter. The latter was successful, the former is still a work in progress.

As a Yank (don’t hold it against me), I was there, in my hometown, watching as the St. Louis Rams were unwillingly ripped from the loyal fans that had come to love the club. Numerous honest Midwesterners had that blue and gold on their heart, but they were unable to save the team they held dear.

The Rams were forcibly relocated to Los Angeles, where Kroenke had previously helped move them from over two decades earlier (when he wasn’t majority owner, mind you). Before the deal was even ‘finalized’, Kroenke was already building a massive stadium in luxurious California, leaving St. Louisans wondering what say they actually had.

All they could do was protest. At a St. Louis Blues Hockey game in early 2016, the cries of “Kroenke sucks” rang out around the Scottrade Center as the owner of the Blues and the owner of the St. Louis Cardinals ceremoniously dropped the puck.

Kroenke’s business enterprises even blatantly lied to the public about how they were not going to move the Rams and how they were working so hard to build a new stadium.

To make it even more controversial, both the Oakland Raiders and the San Diego Chargers – already in California – applied for the same relocation that Kroenke applied for, yet Kroenke won out and was hailed as a ‘hero’ by the corrupt NFL. I’m not here to throw around accusations (I guess I already did), but I’ll leave it to you to conclude why the NFL would favor Silent Stan’s malicious removal of a beloved sports franchise over the move of two California-dwelling teams who just wanted a better stadium.

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That is Stan Kroenke. A business tycoon that is a genius at making a profit and completely impervious to the hearts of the fans. Now, at our beloved Arsenal, we have seen what effect a man like this can have on a sports enterprise.

Arsenal found so much success in the early reign of Arsene Wenger, but David Dein was a major part of that. As the vice-chairman, he and Wenger had a fantastic relationship. When Wenger wanted a player, Dein went and got him. It was that simple. But that all changed when Dein left in 2007, taking with him a massive piece of what made the club special. Thierry Henry moved on, even Wenger considered moving on. That’s how integral Dein was to the club.

The following year, Stan Kroenke became majority shareholder. The rest is history. Arsenal has not invested in the club with the same gusto. It’s not even about ‘big time signings’ or spending a lot of money. It’s simply about investing in the club and bringing in players that everyone knows you need. Transfers have any number of stumbling blocks to fall apart on and even when it seems like Wenger is in on a player, something doesn’t click.

(Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images) /

Recent numbers will show that, despite how much more money players are costing, clubs are worth just as much more. I ran across an interesting figure on Arsenal’s reddit that said that Bergkamp cost Arsenal 35% of their turnover in 1995/96, which in today’s economy, would be the equivalent of £120m on a player.

I have even seen defenses of Paul Pogba, stating that, while the price is monumental, in comparison to what the club is making, it’s pretty standard.

So if the actual amount of money is still proportional, then who benefits most from not paying outlandish fees that aren’t so outlandish in the grand scheme? Someone who is not associated and/or invested in the transfer market and cares not for its fluctuations. Yes, I am look at you, Stan.

I don’t take it out on Wenger. When he had David Dein, transfers were no problem. Arsenal was in a good place. something between Dein leaving and now has made things more difficult for transfers to get done and made more fans lash out at Wenger for it. The major change that has happened between Dein and now is the grim reaper himself, Stan Kroenke.

Arsenal: Stan Kroenke Becoming Grim Reaper To Fans Worldwide

By Josh Sippie | Aug 18, 2016

Arsenal’s silent majority shareholder Stan Kroenke is not winning many people over as he solidifies his mantra as the Grim Reaper of his teams.

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