Arsenal: My take on the Stan Kroenke open letter

A group of established Arsenal fans have penned an open letter asking if owner Stan Kroenke cares for the football club. Here is my take on the whole situation, including the growing petition.

If you have not spent the last 24 hours or so under a rock, you would be aware of the #WeCareDoYou campaign that was initiated by a number of high-profile Arsenal fans.

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In an open letter addressed to the club and owner Stan Kroenke, the fans, including other leading blogs like Arseblog and Le Grove and the Arsenal Supporters’ Trust, ask whether Kroenke cares for the club, challenging the disparity between his statement that he wants to lead the club into an era of regularly fighting for the biggest titles in world football and the action to ever get there.

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The letter summarises much of the sentiment among the fan base. There is a growing frustration with Kroenke and his ownership, the distance he stands at, the lack of transfer activity and investment, the desire for intimacy, closeness, and, at the heart of it all, care. This is a letter borne out of frustration at Kroenke’s seeming indifference to the club, viewing it as an ‘investment vehicle’, as the letter puts it.

There are parts that I strongly agree with — and I would argue most fans agree with. The complaints at the passivity of his ownership, the demand for a more active board, the changes made to the atrocious ticketing system and atmosphere at the Emirates, the desperation for a feeling of togetherness and unity at the club, which they view Kroenke’s apathy as being the cause of. But I am also not completely on board.

Many of these fans were also calling for the sacking Arsene Wenger. And now, a year later, I cannot help but reflect on the standing of the club, the off-field atmosphere and feel of the organisation and question what it would be like if Wenger were still in charge, especially when it comes to Kroenke. If you demand change, you cannot then demand more change just a year later.

Now, some will say that you can want both Wenger and Kroenke to leave, and that this is just the next step in the process that Wenger’s resignation was the start of. And there is some truth to that, certainly. But those that were warning about what would happen in the aftermath of Wenger must now look at the club and cast a wry smile.

Keeping Wenger may not have been the solution, and his departure may have been a step in the right direction for the club, but it does seem a little rich to not focus on Kroenke and his distant ownership in the first place. Kroenke was always the problem, not Wenger, and I think many fans might have forgotten that in the latter Wenger years.

I do largely support the letter. I would question anyone who doesn’t. But it did make me reflect on the Wenger years and question what will now be without the Frenchman. There is a grace, elegance, and calming personality that is now missing, and at this point, off the pitch, at least, it is not for the better.