Mikel Arteta and Josh Kroenke have arguably been the faces of Arsenal in the last five years, but neither of them is viewed as the ‘ultimate boss’ of the North London club.
Arteta has overseen the Gunners’ meteoric rise from mid-table mediocrity to perennial title challenges in recent seasons.
Meanwhile, Josh has become the main ambassador of the club on behalf of the ownership, making key decisions that impact holistic issues at the Emirates.
However, one man still holds all the power in N5.
Stan Kroenke is still the ‘ultimate boss’ at Arsenal
Gone are the days of the Arsenal fanbase being viciously anti-Kroenke.
In fact, most Gunners supporters recognise that there has been a clear shift in the way in which KSE have run the club since the Super League fiasco in 2021.
This has been led by Josh, who is the visible representative of the organisation that owns Arsenal, and who has been front and centre of all public communication from KSE.
Josh is invested in Arsenal performing on the pitch and has begun initiating plans to expand the Emirates Stadium in the coming years.
Despite this, according to the Telegraph, the Gunners ‘strongly reject’ that it is now ‘the Josh show’, and insist that Stan Kroenke remains the ‘ultimate boss’.
“Sources inside and outside of Arsenal strongly reject the suggestion that it is now the Josh show,” Sam Dean wrote in a piece about Josh.
“To those who understand the dynamics, there is no sense that Stan, 78, is any less powerful than before. As far as Arsenal are concerned, when Josh speaks and acts, he does so on behalf of himself and his father.
“On all major financial decisions, especially, Stan remains the ultimate boss, and Josh knows this hierarchy better than anyone.”
- READ MORE: Inside the life of Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke from net worth and sports teams to businesses
The Kroenkes have turned things around at Arsenal
In the late stages of Arsene Wenger’s era and the immediate years after the Frenchman’s exit, the Kroenkes got so much wrong.
Not only did they try to join a closed shop, elitist competition in the European Super League, but they also made several poor decisions that alienated the Arsenal fanbase and which ultimately led to the Gunners’ demise on the pitch.
The root cause of their problems was appointing the wrong people to important positions. Placing their trust in the likes of Raul Sanllehi and Sven Mislintat, the Kroenkes allocated responsibility to people who weren’t capable of rebuilding a damaged football club.
Sanllehi was merely intent on using Arsenal to satisfy the needs of his agent friends, while Mislintat had a completely different outlook on recruitment, which meant that the Gunners had an incohesive and dysfunctional strategy from the top of the club.
However, they’ve certainly rectified this since 2021. They perfectly struck the balance with Arteta and Edu Gaspar, while the likes of Tim Lewis and Richard Garlick were smart appointments who have helped steer the Gunners in the right direction.
The Kroenkes deserve their flowers for acknowledging their mistakes and making appropriate changes.
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