The son of Arsenal’s owner, Stan Kroenke, answered questions on KSE’s plans for the club in a heated fan forum.
Josh Kroenke has told Arsenal supporters that Kroenke Sports & Entertainment (KSE) will not sell the club.
Kroenke, alongside chief executive Vinai Venkatesham, took part in a 30-minute fan forum on Thursday night to answer questions about the club’s European Super League involvement and its future.
Unsurprisingly, Kroenke was met with a hostile reception from the Arsenal supporters.
Despite the Gunners opting out of the European Super League, many are still embarrassed and disgusted by their involvement in the first place.
But while most, if not all, of Arsenal’s fanbase wants KSE to sell up, Kroenke is adamant that the club’s American owners consider themselves fit to stay in charge.
“I still believe we’re fit to carry on in our positions as custodians of Arsenal,” said Josh Kroenke as quoted by Football London.
“We were put in a very difficult position by forces outside of the club.
“To go back to those original questions that we got wrong, those were the questions we asked ourselves, and that’s why I’m here to try to piece everything back together over time.
“I’m not asking for your trust immediately. We have the same plans for summer as we had a few weeks ago, and I’m so excited about those.
“I might be met with distrust and skepticism, but over time I hope to re-establish a relationship with our supporter groups and show them we’re capable of leading the club forward.”
Z: "Can you guarantee we will never play home matches away from London while KSE own Arsenal?"
Kroenke: "I can guarantee that."https://t.co/vH7n9ZX08Q
— Chris Wheatley (@ChrisWheatley_) April 22, 2021
Why did KSE sign the Gunners up for the Super League?
Kroenke also promised KSE will pay the penalty for withdrawing from the European Super League and that all of Arsenal’s home games will be in London.
Although Venkatesham dismissed claims of a £8 million withdrawal fee as wide off the mark.
As for the big question on why KSE signed Arsenal up for the Super League, Kroenke said: “As this project took shape very fast, we asked ourselves two key questions. The first question was: what is worse, a Super League or a Super League without Arsenal?
“That was a very tough one for us to weigh. We decided a Super League without Arsenal was the worst of both those answers.
“The second question we asked ourselves was: what do the fans want? We tried to answer that question in as many ways as possible.
“We were obviously bound by certain confidentiality aspects of the decision we were thinking about making, and it was a much more complicated answer than we had time to contemplate.
“I think the global fan wants to see Arsenal versus Barcelona as much as possible. I think the European fan wants to see more big matches between top clubs, to be quite frank because their domestic league is so predictable.
“I think from an English fan’s perspective, and this is what was so educating for me, they want to see more big matches. But as one Chelsea supporter wrote on a sign that I saw online the other day, you still want your cold nights in Stoke.
“I think to me that sent a strong message of the English Premier League, football in the UK as a whole, and the fan sentiment across England.
“We got it wrong, and that is why we are here today.”
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