To say that it hasn’t been a great few years for Arsenal football club would be an understatement. Having been blamed for their downturn, they got rid of their legendary manager, Arsene Wenger, and since then it has gone from bad to worse. They haven’t won any serious silverware in years and are currently struggling to stay in the top half of the Premier League table. Arsenal fans have always been steadfast – until recently, when they declared that despite such poor performances, they deemed themselves to be part of the ‘Big 6’ clubs and signed up to join the European Super League. This was a step too far for the loyal Gunners fans and protests against the wonders came in thick and fast.
However, one superfan has put his money where his mouth is. Daniel Elk, co-founder and Chief Executive of Spotify has now declared an interest in buying the club from its current owner, Stan Kroenke, and he’s not going alone.
Arsenal Superstars Join the Bid
Elk has been joined in this takeover bid by former Arsenal superstars Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp and Patrick Viera.
Elk has made no secret of his passion for the football club, having been a fan of the club since childhood. He has then put his name into the ring for possible buyers if Kroenke thinks about selling. Currently, his worth stands at around £3.38 billion (according to Forbes) and he was named the most influential person in the music business by Billboard in 2017. It is unknown how much he is prepared to bid for the club, but Elk certainly has a head for business and figures, as well as a passion for the beautiful game.
However, as it stands, Kroenke has stated that he is not interested in putting the club up for sale at this point and will put in more effort to reconnect with disenchanted fans. Is it too little too late?
A Shadow of its Former Greatness
Thierry Henry was quick to join in and criticise the current owner of the club, saying quite simply, that he no longer recognises the club he used to love playing for. He went on to say that this move to join such a non-competitive Super League made absolutely no sense and just shows the sporting world that the owner of the club sees Arsenal purely as a business asset and not an actual football team, with fans and a real history.
There is much criticism of foreign owners of clubs, who pump money into clubs with no real love or understanding of the game, the fans and the passion that it ignores in people. These owners have shown that they put money in front of fans and ahead of the game itself, and there are many true lovers of football that have been pushed to the brink by this blatant disregard for the sport.
Eating Humble Pie
After the depth of feeling was shown by fans and other of the big 6 English Premier League teams started to pull out of the proposition, the Arsenal owner took little time in eating humble pie as he was forced into a humiliating u-turn.
Kroenke seemed to be shocked by the passion of the fans and the world of football in reaction to the announcement and said that the reaction had given them “time for further reflection and deep thought”. He went on to say that it was not their intention to cause such distress and that the reason he accepted the invite to join the Super League was purely to avoid being left behind and to “protect Arsenal and its future.” As such, he claimed that they would now be withdrawing from the league.
Despite reiterating that the only reason he was looking to join the Super League was that he wanted to protect the club and support the game, many are very sceptical. He did, in fact, state that part of his reason was for ‘financial security’ and the very fact that he thought it would be beneficial to the club or the game shows how little he knows the club, the fans or the game.
