Arsenal director Josh Kroenke has admitted that the Gunners were ‘obviously wrong’ to join the European Super League this year, claiming it shouldn’t define his family’s ownership of the club.
Arsenal were among 12 founder clubs for the Super League when the proposal went public in April. But the immense fury and backlash saw the Gunners and eight of the others withdraw within a couple of days – only Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus refused to give it up.
Explaining the thought process behind signing up to the breakaway competition, Kroenke appeared to suggest there was a bit of a FOMO attitude behind Arsenal wanting to join.
“We were presented with an opportunity. We asked ourselves a question, which was what was worse, a Super League or Super League without Arsenal? And we answered that question that we should be included in that,” Kroenke told Sky Sports.
“Were we wrong? Obviously,” he conceded.
“We listened to our fans. We made a quick pivot, removed ourselves from the situation. We apologised, and now we move forward.”
But for all the negativity and the fan protests that engulfed the club and ownership, Kroenke is insisting there are positives to take from the episode.
“As someone that always tries to find the positives in things, when you're at the bottom, there's only one way to go and that's back up. I said this to our fan advisory board who we met with, I don't want a 48-hour period to define us,” the American said.
“Some of the dialogue that I've had with some of the support groups has been as clear as crystal and I couldn't be more excited to be communicating with them on the level that I am because I understand who they are and now they're understanding who I am.
“I think the more we understand each other it's exciting because the only thing that we want is for Arsenal Football Club to be great.”
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Source : 90min