Josh Kroenke was told he is ‘out of touch’ and urged to sell Arsenal to someone who understands the fans if he’s not going to engage with them.
The Gunners director, and son of Stan Kroenke, attended fans’ forum on Thursday where supporters were able to vent their frustrations about the botched European Super League plans.
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Arsenal were due to be one of the 12 founding members before a public backlash forced them, and all the ‘big six clubs’, to withdraw.
They later made a grovelling apology and are desperately trying salvage what is left of their relationship with the fan base.
The relationship with the Kroenkes has been a frosty one since becoming majority stakeholder in 2011. The Gunners have achieved little success under the American’s ownership, yet continue to charge their fans more than any other in England.
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During that forum, Kroenke confirmed that they had ‘no intention of selling’ Arsenal and addressed the reasons why they signed up to the European Super League plans.
Leading member of the Arsenal Supporters’ Trust, Akhil Vyas, joined Drive after the meeting to discuss what happened.
He said: “I told Josh (Kroenke) you are clearly out of touch with the game and don’t understand fans and it’s either time to go and sell to someone who does understand the fans.
“Or, engage with the supporters at boardroom level and get some supporters on there. This week has shown those guys can’t do it themselves and need fans to advise you.
“He’s committed to some sort of engagement. It was slightly amusing he blamed the pandemic for a lack of engagement. The Kroenke’s have been involved with Arsenal for ten years and the pandemic hasn’t been here for ten years.
“That didn’t go down well with me. It was a pathetic excuse.
“We are maybe going to invite them to one of our virtual events and see if they’re going to do what they say.
“Don’t treat us like mugs. We’re not stupid and be honest and say you don’t really care what we think and do what you want. Be honest and that was the frustration.
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“They assured us they weren’t one of the leaders in this plan. They were all friends a few days ago and now they’re blaming each other.
“The one small thing we wanted to get is to make sure any costs incurred here are not going to be put on Arsenal Football Club. That was one thing he confirmed that KSE will be paying for whatever it costs to get out of the contract and that’s what they’re working on.
“It’s a small victory, but nice to have it confirmed.”
Vyas had joined talkSPORT earlier in the day, before the meeting, to talk about the situation with Arsenal and hit out at Kroenke for sending his son, Josh.
Vyas told talkSPORT host Jim White: “It [the Super League] was a disgraceful idea from the start, it wasn’t handled well, the apology was poor.
“The apology was from the Arsenal board, not Stan Kroenke. All he’s done all week is hide like a coward and now he’s sending his son to try and justify their decision.
Angry supporters have also announced plans on social media for supporters to gather in protest ahead of Friday’s clash against Everton, where they will urge Kroenke to sell up and leave their club.
Despite the withdrawal of England’s six clubs, protests at Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham have continued over the past 48 hours, each calling for their owners to go.
“They’re not owners, they’re investors,” Vyas continued. “They don’t have any interest in the club, if they did – they wouldn’t push what they did earlier this week.
“That’s the problem, it’s taken this to happen for Josh Kroenke to have a half hour conversation with us. I give more time to my neighbours. It’s ridiculous.
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