With the failure of the ESL there has been speculation that KSE may sell this summer. Josh says they dont intend to sell but really that doesnt mean anything. We've heard for a few years that Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote has interest but no concrete effort yet. Now we have a new suitor... 🚨 | "The Swedish billionaire has enlisted the help of three 'Invincibles'."Daniel Ek, Spotify’s billionaire founder, is working with three Arsenal legends to launch a potential takeover bid of the club. 💰 pic.twitter.com/iHRfHmSRDf— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) April 26, 2021
This whole thing is based on an off the cuff Tweet the Spotify owner made last week, when everyone and their dog was weighing in on the ESL. This story has been making the rounds, but its 99.999% BS. That said, Kroenke should sell. Not even taking into account the perspective of a fan, but on pure financial terms, he should recoup what he paid and go. There is no super league coming this decade, the club is in financial free fall, and there is no path out of this. We are paying CL wages, with no European revenue next season, and looking at things - it could be a while until we bounce back into the top 6 - which is still insufficient to deal with our finances, let alone top 4.
May ultimately come to nothing but I don't think I would agree that it is 99.999% BS. A) Why go through the effort of getting 3 Arsenal legends on board if you didn't plan atleast plan to make an offer? B) Henry has been vocal about the decline of the club. I would think that he wouldn't attach his name to this unless he felt it was possible. C) Bergkamp has been vocal about wanting to get involved with Arsenal again. What better way then ownership and/or face of the board?
Conor McGregor tweeted asking his fans if they wanted him to buy Man United. Yikes. Only problem is with the values of these clubs, there are only so many people who could do so. The other problem is they're all rich because they're all the same - they're rich because they don't spend money they don't have to. I can't see new owners, other than some oil sheikh who views it as a plaything rather than an investment, doing much differently than the current owners. And those kind of prospective owners have their own issues, ethically and morally. We all want new owners, but the ones to choose from are between bad and worse.
It will be interesting to see how KSE react. I could see a number of scenarios: - Pump money into the club short term to try to get on the good side of the fans. - Pump some money in short term with an eye to selling on a high rather than at a low point. - Pump some money in to stay relevant when the super league discussion inevitably returns - Keep the status quo - Disengage, focus on their other franchises, and force the club to operate on a lesser budget - Sell now I think status quo or disengage are the most likely and actually, selling now is probably the least likely. I don't think they want to be seen as caving to fan pressure.
Pumping money in doesn't make sense. There is no guarantee that it will see the team's fortunes improve unless you are willing to spend hundreds of millions, and at that point, the owner is never going to see a return. Kroenke just needs to look at what we have done the last 2 summers. Spent 100m on 2 players, manager got fired just over 3 months into the season, and the team finished 8th. In the middle of the pandemic he provided the funds to pay the 50m buyout of a player who was supposed to be the missing piece from getting us to compete for a CL place, and now we are 10th. Status quo is not an option as that will lead to bankruptcy. Forcing the team to operate on a lower budget is the most likely option, but I am not sure how feasible that is in the short term when we just gave Auba 300k a week, Partey 200k a week, and Willian 120k+ for 3 years. It is going to take some time and a few years of losses to get our budget down to a manageable level given our income, but at the same time that devalues his investment. A perennially mid-table team with a nice stadium is not worth 1.8 - 2 billion. Selling now makes the most sense. The club's value will likely decline steadily given our challenges on and off the field. It is not like he can hold on to the club for another decade and get 3 billion in 2031 for a mid-table team that at best breaks even. The problem with selling isn't that Kroenke wouldn't accept, its that there aren't any buyers.
Given our troubling financials and our downward trajectory KSE may not have a seat at the table the next time a Super league idea sprouts from the concrete. They might want to sell.
It's the lead headline on The Guardian football page, they don't tend to run with random internet nonsense. KSE aren't the best owners so we probably shouldn't expect them to do what makes the most sense.
I doubt we go from a Tweet less than a week ago, to Ek having a financial consortium ready to do a deal for 2 billion. He doesn't really have the finances to do it on his own. I also expect KSE to act rationally in terms of their own finances. You don't become worth 17 billion if your decisions don't make financial sense. If you put a 2 billion offer in front of them, they will sell.
To quote Cher, “start believing bitch.” TBH this Ek guy is a POS, but yeah, what billionaire isn’t. More interested to see who he would bring in as minority partners. But the fact that he’s integrating the most iconic Arsenal players of the past century into a bid is important.
I'm not saying it's going to happen. But if it was a joke, you laugh it off and tweet about something else. If you are interested and want to explore it further, you leak the story to the press and you add club legends to your side to win over fans and put pressure on KSE. Pro sports ownership is a bad way to make money. If they were pure investments, you'd see clubs bought and sold more often. It's an ego/vanity thing. Like art collecting. Maybe you'll be able to sell that painting for a profit, but if not, you brag to your dinner party guests how much you paid for it. KSE want to be able to brag about owning franchises in the NBA and NFL and NHL and EPL, in cities like LA and London. Abromovich didn't buy Chelsea because it was a good investment. Same for PSG and City's owners. The American EPL owners are all dudes who own American franchises, not venture capital guys.
They've never sold a team, and pro sports is a sellers' market. They could easily sell the Nuggets for a billion, and would probably get five for the Rams. They aren't selling.
If we're going to be owned by a billionaire, I'd prefer we go all out and get Jeff Bezos. Just so we can do a full heel turn.
I have so many questions about this: Daniel Ek is said to be Arsenal obsessive who even watches live games on his laptop during Spotify board meetings. Watches every Arsenal game and has been to Highbury and Emirates Stadium many times— Kaveh Solhekol (@SkyKaveh) April 26, 2021
Pro sports ownership is a fantastic way to make money. It's a one-stop shop for money laundering, shell games, 3rd party companies, accountancy tricks, loan manipulations, getting public money, and more! People don't sell teams unless they're bankrupt or somebody dies.
It seems to me pretty unlikely they'll sell now, partly because of what @mebeSajid said about them virtually never selling their sports franchises. But we can always dream a bit I guess. And I do believe that the more general disgruntled protests there are against KSE it might just sow the seeds of doubt in their heads, and make them start to consider the idea. As for this guy Ek, it's hard for me to say much about his business ethics, but if you asked Taylor Swift I'm sure she would say he's the wrong guy to wish for. And him (or anyone) throwing out the names of those 3 legends seems like clickbait. I have a super hard time imagining them investing money. Patrick & Thierry seem still determined to be coaches/managers and that would seem like a conflict of interest to try to do that whilst being a club owner. Paddy also had/has ties to City FG. And although Dennis seems less invested in coaching, his career came along before obscene paydays of modern footy, so I'd guess that he's not rolling in the dough. Having said that, I'd be happy to have any or all of the 3 of them involved in taking us forward, and away from KSE. p.s. Nice thread title, but I might vary it to sound a bit more British... "Sod off Stan!"
The only difference is Arsenal can actually lose substantial money and value, whereas his American teams it is kind of impossible.
NBC is running hard with this Sky story, but it does seem extremely far-fetched, i.e. clickbait.... "According to our partners in the UK at Sky Sports, Ek has asked three of Arsenal’s legendary ‘Invincibles’ in Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp and Patrick Vieira to help him try to purchase the club from American businessman Stan Kroenke. It is believed that Henry, Bergkamp and Vieira would be investors as well as being involved in the club in some capacity. Vieira and Henry to coach the team with Bergkamp as the sporting director? Oh my. Arsenal fans, chill." https://soccer.nbcsports.com/2021/04/26/arsenal-legends-ek-kroenke-buy-club/