Arsenal co-chair Josh Kroenke says behind-closed-doors football during the Covid-19 pandemic allowed manager Mikel Arteta crucial breathing room to help revive the club, which he describes as a “sleeping giant”.
The Kroenke Sports and Entertainment (KSE) group took full control of Arsenal in 2018, though their tenure has not been without friction — fan protests over the club’s direction took place during their ownership. The Kroenkes hired Arteta in December 2019, giving the former Arsenal player his first senior managerial role following a period of uncertainty at the club.
It took time for the vision to take hold. Two eighth-placed league finishes, despite a 2020 FA Cup win, led to questions over whether Arteta was the right man for the job. Six and a half years on, he has transformed the club and led Arsenal to their first Premier League title in 22 years.
On appointing Arteta, Kroenke was clear about what made him stand out as a candidate to succeed Unai Emery. “Anybody that gets a chance to be around Mikel, you can buy into what he’s selling pretty easily,” Kroenke said. “I don’t want to give myself or my father any credit. I think Mikel and his staff and our players are the ones that earned those rights to have the patience in those moments by the amount of work and energy they were putting in behind the scenes.”
Kroenke also reflected on how the pandemic’s empty stadiums may have inadvertently helped Arteta during those early growing pains. “I don’t know if I would ever acknowledge it, or Mikel or anybody — there was something about Mikel having a little bit of what I would say ‘space’ during Covid when there weren’t fans around,” he said. “There were some growing pains that went on during matches, different moments, and obviously we won the FA Cup, but to not have that extra pressure of fans being on top of you at different points in time when we were going through different growth phases was probably something I don’t think any of us would acknowledge in the moment. But, looking back I think we can say ‘maybe that was a little bit of a benefit’.”
Kroenke also spoke about the difficulty of transitioning away from the Arsène Wenger era after the legendary manager’s 22-year tenure. “There was a lot of heavy lifting going on behind the scenes at the club at that point in time,” he said. “We went through a big transition from Arsene, obviously a legendary person and manager. Transitioning to a new era after 22 years was going to be difficult.”
In the wide-ranging interview, Kroenke also discussed Arsenal’s summer plans to strengthen the squad, the culture shift at the club, and his own nerves watching a VAR decision go against West Ham during the title run-in.
Source: Kroenke: Covid empty stadiums gave Arteta space to rebuild Arsenal