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Arsenal: Stan Kroenke’s definition of commitment is way off
By Josh Sippie
Arsenal’s unanimously despised owner Stan Kroenke has ‘committed’ himself to the club, but his definition of commitment is tragically skewed.
Arsenal was hit with a flurry of exciting news with minority share holder Alisher Usmanov made a £1.3b to takeover a club that has been sucked near-lifeless by an American businessman who treats the club like a commodity, and not like an actual sports team.
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Just like all of his other sports teams. He has zero regard for the clubs supporters, stays in the shadows, rarely ever speaking up for himself, and never ever gives his teams the necessary resources to succeed. Because to him, a balanced budget is the best trophy he can achieve. And a nice profit is his Champions League.
Which is why I found his statement, or rather, his company’s statement, because Silent Stan never speaks for himself, very odd:
"KSE UK, Inc notes the recent media speculation concerning its shareholding in Arsenal Holdings PLC and confirms its shares are not, and never have been, for sale. KSE is a committed, long term investor in Arsenal and will remain so."
And if you read the title of the article, you can guess where I am going with this. KSE remains committed long term to the club? That’s not what the word committed is meant to be used for. Love him or hate him, Arsene Wenger is committed to the club. It devastates him when the club loses, he loved the club more than he did his own personal life.
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And even if you think he is drowning the club, or holding it back or whatever, he is doing it all out of his love and passion for the club.
Not with Kroenke. Kroenke is not invested in Arsenal because he cares about the club, or because he wants to see success come to them. He is ‘committed’ to the club because this is just want he does. It is a business venture for him and if you look at his history in sports, he is the same across the board.
It’s a shame that word like committed is being used by KSE because it hints at some sort of care, which we all know just isn’t there.
There is still hope that Kroenke could sell. His history of never selling is a bit discouraging, but he is a businessman first, which means that he probably has a price, even if it is a bit steep.
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Contrary to Kroenke, Usmanov does appear committed to the cause, which is why we have to just wait and believe that the Russian is going to keep adding to his bids and eventually, we hope, he can emerge at the other end, in charge of the club. Then we can finally remember what it is like to have an owner who is actually committed.