Arsenal’s majority shareholder, ‘Silent Stan’ Kroenke, addressed the club’s annual general meeting yesterday – for two-and-a-half minutes. And what did he say about his future strategy for the club? That Arsene Wenger and the board make great decisions and that his family love London.
Arsene Wenger addressed the meeting but did not take questions for the first time in fifteen years. For the first time the club did not have an open mike session and questions had to be submitted beforehand.
Arsenal’s majority shareholder, ‘Silent Stan’ Kroenke, addressed the club’s annual general meeting yesterday – for two-and-a-half minutes. And what did he say about his future strategy for the club? That Arsene Wenger and the board make great decisions and that his family love London.
Arsene Wenger addressed the meeting but did not take questions for the first time in fifteen years. For the first time the club did not have an open mike session and questions had to be submitted beforehand.
This did not completely avoid controversy, however. One question demanded the resignation of 75-year old chairman Peter Hill-Wood. Presumably his answer was scripted in advance, but it was stilted and hesitant. He may be the third generation of his family to be in charge, but the Old Etonian brings to mind this week’s 50th anniversary Private Eye cover noting that the country had an old boy of the school as prime minister in 1961 and in 2011 allowing his cronies to make a mess of things.
Hill-Wood nearly forgot to adopt the resolution to re-elect his majority shareholder to the board. Kroenke’s only interjection was to defend his chairman: ‘We are all fans. We are going to a certain place. [Presumably not to win a trophy]. Peter has our support.’ The Times said today that Hill-Wood’s presence in a modern football boardroom was an anachronism and one wonders why Kroenke is so keen to defend him, but then he seems to want to maintain all aspects of the status quo when it is evident that at least some changes are needed to bring success on the pitch.
Arsenal fans were left with a series of unanswered questions such as whether the club’s prudent self-funding model can really deliver the goods on the pitch. The call for the return of David Dein provoked the biggest cheer of the afternoon.