Arsenal: Q and A – Stan Kroenke, Unai Emery progress, and the pain of fandom

Andrew Dowdeswell hosted a question and answer on the Pain in the Arsenal Twitter account this week. Here are his answers, including comments on Stan Kroenke, Unai Emery, and the pain of fandom.

News is quiet at the moment. The season is over, the summer window is still bubbling under a little, and there have been few Arsenal developments in the pipeline.

Find the latest episode of the Pain in the Arsenal Podcast here — The Big Season Review

As such, I thought it would make sense to host a Question and Answer from the Pain in the Arsenal Twitter account and to use this spare time to delve into some of our questions surrounding the club. Here are my answers to those questions — you can read the full Twitter thread here.

The first two questions centre on whether I think Arsenal will sign any players. I can say with some certainty that the club will sign at least one player. And that is not any inside information on my part, but it is very rare for teams to go a summer without signing at least one player, and given the position Arsenal are in, with their desperate desire to evolve the squad, they will unquestionably be looking to add players.

The more accurate question is which and how many players will be signed. That, I believe, is a more difficult question to answer. At this point, it is fairly clear that the two main positions of focus are wing and centre-back. I would expect one of Ryan Fraser, Yannick Carrasco and Alexis Claude Maurice to arrive. I would then also think that William Saliba or Joachim Anderson will sign as well.

Beyond that, expect to see the club chase a central midfielder — Dennis Praet has been linked — and a left-back, with Kieran Tierney the leading name at this stage. Those four positions are probably the extent of the summer business without a major sale at some point, which would be surprising beyond the normal candidates.

Selling any professional football club is a lengthy and arduous process. Selling one as lucrative, public and sizable as Arsenal is even more challenging. Even if Stan Kroenke did want to sell, it could take years for any sale to actually be completed. Just look at a club like Newcastle.

But this is all besides the point. Kroenke has no interest in selling. As long as Arsenal are making him money, and they are, he will remain the owner. Moreover, his son, Josh Kroenke, being heavily involved also shows a commitment to long-term ownership, primarily because there are long-term profits to be had.

So to answer your question, it takes a lot to bring in a potential buyer. It takes even more for Kroenke to sell, something that we will not see for many, many years, sadly.

This is an excellent question, and I think it all depends on optics and expectation. Before the season, had you been offered a fifth-place finish, a Europa League final and clear individual progression in several key and young players, would you have taken it? I think most fans would have.

Similarly, had Arsenal stuttered out the gate and then surged into fifth late in the year, perhaps ending the season with a 22-game unbeaten run, not starting with it, would the perceptions of Unai Emery and the team be different? I think they would. And so, you could make an argument that 2018/19 was a success.

That said, these are hypothetical instances and you cannot deny that Arsenal crumbled in the final weeks of the season, both in the Premier League and Europa League. Questions must be asked of Emery’s management in the crunch and the players’ mentality when it mattered most. That is undoubtedly a little concerning.

Nevertheless, there were plenty of reasons to be positive about the season overall. Players improved, the problem individuals were weeded out and will likely be sold, and the record against the top six was markedly more positive, especially at home. So yes, I would say last season was a success, but it was also a little disappointing at the same time. Both can simultaneously by true.

Football fandom is inherently illogical. To offer a reasonable explanation as to why anyone is still an Arsenal fan is like to question the motives behind loving someone. Sometimes, it does not make sense, and for Arsenal football club, that is frustratingly the case more often than not. Loving something like a football club is an infuriating and often deflating business. You get little in return, your fandom is rationally ‘stupid’, and you suffer disappointment relentlessly. And yet, here we all still are.

Arsenal, perhaps more than most clubs, push their fans to the limits of grace and patience. There are few sporting organisations that are as maddening and unhinged as them. And yet, they are capable enough to still offer hope, and as well know, it is the hope that kills you.

So, in conclusion, I cannot answer your question. But then, I guess, it would not be proper football fandom if I could. There is a beauty in the fact that logic and reason do not enter the motivations of a football supporter.