Daniel Ek, founder of Spotify, is whipping up a PR frenzy in the media. He wants to buy Arsenal and he’s going in with Bergkamp, Thierry, and Vieira.
The fee they are talking about is £1.8b.
That’s where the story ends for me.
Some reasons it won’t work.
KSE Philosophy
KSE don’t sell. Never have done. They have gone on the record 500 times to say that is their business philosophy. There’s no reason to doubt their stubborn desire to be good at this one thing.
If Stan and his family can ride the pressure of screwing over their hometown by moving a franchise to LA, do you really think pressure in Europe will register?
Daniel Ek Wealth
Now, you always have to take Forbes numbers with a pinch of salt, Donald Trump faked his value for years. But Daniel Ek is worth about $4.7b and Stan is worth nearly double. Factor in Stan’s marriage into the Walton family and you start to see the difference.
Stan doesn’t need the money. He doesn’t want the money. If he was flat out broke, he has the ability to find whatever he needs with a couple of phone calls.
Billionaires are dick swingers. Stan selling out to someone he perceives to be of smaller wealth, in a country as hierarchical as America, feels like a stretch.
Put it this way, if Stan wouldn’t sell to Alisher Usmanov because he was Russian affiliated, do you think he’ll be selling to a European tech guy?
The Number
Myself and a few other bloggers were approached by a group repping a Qatari Family in 2017 about a huge bid they were preparing. £2b was the number. I don’t think they ever formally bid for the club because Stan blew out Usmanov who also wanted to expand his holding.
If Arsenal were for sale, Daniel Ek would not get near it for £1.8b. I am not in the football club market, but a London club, with the lowest debt in Super League 12, elite training facilities, classy brand, in a prime spot in London… well, you’d be looking at £3.5b plus to even get near what Arsenal would be worth to an owner that doesn’t want to sell.
Football isn’t a rational business. We would be an ego purchase. That would mean a mega premium. Buying Arsenal is not for business people, it’s for people with too much money to spend who want a hobby, to whitewash a shocking reputation, or to sell plane tickets to their desert paradise tourist spots.
I would absolutely LOVE Daniel Ek to buy Arsenal and save us from hell, but honestly, I think there’s a higher chance we sign Lio Messi this summer. We’re stuck with KSE forever and it’s painful to know that.
Business or pleasure?
Final thing. We have been run by sustainability merchants for 15 years. It has gotten us nowhere. We are in the top 10 net spenders in Europe. It has taken us to 10th.
Daniel Ek brings data smarts to the table you couldn’t imagine. He’s a branding genius. He’s a commercial powerhouse. But he’d still have to bring Arsenal back to life the hard way. He’s not going to pump a billion into a club that can’t repay him.
Petro-dollars is the only way you get to the level of investment we need right now. If you’re getting into bed with a consortium, that means three things:
- Shared leadership of the project. Lots of cooks.
- There’s not a lot of spare cash swilling around
- A return will be desired
It’s also slightly different to Liverpool. They have a sports club buying engine called RedBall. It’s a monster filled with sporting experts like Billy Beane and Lebron James. Arsenal need more than big names on the board to get back to the top, especially on a budget.
But let’s see how serious his plan is. Let’s read the documents. Just promise me one thing? Don’t get too excited. The chances of this being anything more than good PR are very, very slim.
Moving on…
Flo Balogun has signed a new deal with Arsenal. A superb bit of good news and full credit to Edu and Arteta for making that happen. Arsenal is a project in flux, one of the reasons we’re in such a mess is the lack of smarts around contracts with young players. Some of the hottest names in Europe left us for little to nothing. Keeping Flo in the family for the foreseeable stems the flow of bad news on that front.
The player has it all to be the striker Arteta needs. I think he’s an imposing number 9 that makes clever runs, he’s strong, he’s fast, he truly believes he belongs at the level, and he’s deadly in front of goal.
Our frontline, if it develops at the rate it is currently, really could be something special in the next three seasons. What is very interesting is the player sees himself making an impact at Arsenal NOW.
‘My ambitions for next season are to make an impact in the first team. I see it as something that I’ve taken upon myself to be able to go over there & make an impact, not just be one of the numbers’
That means players are leaving. No more Lacazette. No more Eddie. If that’s the case, we really should be making sure our Thursday night line-up is reflective of where we’re going, not where we’ve been.
Now we have to move and make sure Kido Taylor Hart and ESR are tied down.
Wherever this season takes us, it is promising that we have one of the most exciting groups of players coming through in the league.
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Wouldn’t it be lovely
Good news about Balogun, finally. Glad we turned that one around. Now are we actually gonna play him ever?
3
Tr4phy
Ek, Henry, Vieira and Bergkamp…
one person they need:
Flamini
Supposedly he’s worth something like 30bn now? Join forces and make an offer that Kroenke can’t refuse. Stuff of dreams
We’ve spent money under Kroenke.
The sad thing is most acquisitions have been poor and our selling has been so weak we’ve been put into worse positions.
The issue with the Kroenke’s is that don’t get football.
That’s why we want them gone.
This new guy, I know nothing about.
That article has just made me depressed that KSE won’t sell. FUCK IT!
Damn. I came here hoping to read that the Spotify-Invincible alliance was going to triumph. Not what I was hoping to read, but thanks for the reality check Pedro. I’ve really liked the past few posts mate, your reckoning with Arteta after the Everton game was spot on.
DM
I like the idea of Flamini. Is he interested though?
It nice to be in the company of legends of the Trophy on Le-Grove.
The whole section on “Business or Pleasure?” was what crossed my mind. Regardless of who the owner is, how’re they going to do that? – we need a footballing board and smart investment. The one thing Ek might bring is an engaged owner on the ground who ensures the football business is done well and the performance of Director of Football and manager/coach are up to quality. The problem with the Kroenkes is not that they didn’t invest, but that they haven’t closely monitored who was doing their business for them – so we’ve had shambolic investment. The introduction of… Read more »
Graham,
You naughty boy. 😁🙉🙈🙊
Be careful. Flamini could ask Ozil to join.
Very difficult to ramp up pressure on the owners or the manager
with empty terraces online petitions and a few thousand protesters
does nothing.
Major_Jeneral
No idea if Flamini wants anything to do with us, was just an idea I put out there lol. A little wishful thinking never hurt anyone, right? 🙂
“Legends of the Trophy” eh? Not gonna lie, quite like that! 😂
Graham/Kaz, you can always post somewhere else.
John Wright, Tim Lewis realised that Arsenal was badly managed, potentially used as a piggy bank by conmen. He made sure that the decision are taken for the right reason and in the right manner. No back-hander, no personal connection. However what Tim Lewis can’t do is making sure that the right decisions are being taken. Taken in isolation selling Martinez to raise fund and buy a an understudy was not a bad decision. However a proper DoF would have realised that Martinez was the future and keeping him was the right move instead of selling him on the cheap.… Read more »
Ek combined with legends sounds the dream ticket but really the issues are more about implementing a proper corporate strategy regardless of who the owner is A strict cut off on senior contracts would have seen us not signing Willian and most probably not re- signing Auba. We might then have had the money to not being forced to keep Martinez If we had been properly committed to a Dortmund type model we may even have a few more promising younger players now on the books such as Bellingham. I appreciate having owners that actually understand football would make this… Read more »
Valentin, I think the keeping coach is a bit of a problem… decline of Bernd has been sharp. Edu needs to look at that.
It’s clear to see that Stan Kroenke doesn’t care about Arsenal, he’s given it to his son Josh to practice his skills on.
I think this is why they are so lenient with Arteta, Josh relates to him.
Free Spotify premium for all gooners???
*Spits out lucozade*
What da eff are we waiting for??
The chances of this being anything more than good PR are very, very slim. Pedro said this about ESL as well , Kroenke is gonna keep being under massive fan pressure throughout. Dont understimate the power of fans Pedro , you already have done it once.
Well, most of points you made are correct, but you did not take into account the current state of Arsenal. Currently there are 9 teams better than Arsenal in league, with at least 5 having supposedly a better squad. Wages are very very high. Broadcasting fee likely to fell for coming cycle. Commercial revenue also suffering badly. We are now 6th in England, even spurs have surpassed us. Fan discontent at the peak. None of these things are going to correct itself in medium term and we risk going further down. And with KSE manage from far approach, it could… Read more »
We need to get The Flamster on board.Wealth rumoured to be £30 billion.We’d be loose change.Someone tap him up ………fast!
Anyone else think that adding these 3 lessens the credibility of an already low credibility bid? Fanboy buys plaything and installs his heroes – what could go wrong? There is no way Henry doesn’t demand to be coach. No way. So I guess if you think he’d be a good coach – back the bid. Stans indiffference is the issue. It’s allowed our club to be overrun with changers and incompetence since 2012. If we had lucked out and stumbled on a decent employee I’m not sure the owner is an issue. It wasn’t at Spurs under poch. That’s why… Read more »
Don’t discount it yet Pedro. Stan didn’t buy the club because he loves football. He cares for the club far less than Abramovich cares about Chelsea. He bought it as an investment opportunity, and if he feels that he can’t monetise it any more than he already has, he might look to sell up and have the cash available for better investments elsewhere. Quite frankly, Arsenal’s value is likely to start dropping due to lack of European football and the loss of match day revenue. The lack of success is going to impact our sponsorship deals as well at this… Read more »
Arsenal have done a brilliant 6 minute video on their website for the Balogun contract signing Never seen this type of effort made before for a youth player who’s only played a few minutes Sounds like he’ll be hanging around next season Which will probably mean Lacazette + Nketiah will leave this summer, with just 12 months remaining on their contracts Leaving Aubameyang, Martinelli, Balogun as our striker options Hopefully Balogun is the next one off the Hale End production line into the first team, Saka, Smith-Rowe, Balogun all potentially into the first team within 3 years I posted the… Read more »
Interesting counter points Pedro. Thanks for raining on my Monday parade. LOL Honestly. Here are some reason they have to sell Rams Stadium is being built- it will happen Pandemic means less money, and maybe less fans coming back if this is not entirely under control ESL fiasco Fan unrest Legends of the club going against them- KSE will be more isolated from the fans Losing money every year Not getting CL – likely to happen for years to come Not self sustaining like they were told Fans not wanting to pay to see a shit team when allowed back… Read more »
Pedro
It’s one thing for the Kroenkes to be buy and hold merchant s when their asset is Superprime Mayfair real estate, as Arsenal once was.
Now that we Arsenal is transitioning toward being more akin to a bombed out Mogadishu with flimsy foundations, and the Kroenkes’ reputation sinks to that of Somali warlords, the Kroenkes may well reconsider.
I mean if Ek buys Arsenal, I’ll even take out a Spotify subscription AND NEVER EVEN USE IT, JUST LIKE MY GYM MEMBERSHIP.
Pedro, Very thoughtful piece. Thank you. Bear in mind though two things: First, Kroenke moved the Rams for purely business reasons. He, as you say, is not a supporter. He will sell if the offer is big enough. Of course he says that he will never sell. That would deflate the number. But, referring back to my first point, he would sell any of the teams in his franchise if the number is big enough. The proof of the pudding will be if we discover that Ek’s 1.8B Sterling bid was an opening gambit and he (as part of a… Read more »
Re KRONKS.
WHY WHY WHY DO YOU WANT MORE MONEY
When you have so much already.
The sheer greed GRINDS ME TO THE CORE..
N J Gooner,
At the moment it’s Ek;1-Dangote: 0.
But we’re still in the first 5 minutes of the match.
Welcome to another episode of The Price is Right – billionaire football owner edition.
Agree with Pedro. Very hard to see Kroenke selling unless a ridiculous bid like 2.5 Billion Euros is mad. For Kroenke it would be like accepting failure if he accepts a bid in the range if 2 billion. There is a popular belief among fans that Kroenke is a leech, not investing anything, just using it as a business. But just like Kroenke hasn’t invested anything into the club he hasnt taken anything out either. Matter of fact, we have the 3rd highest net spend in the last 5 or 10 years. What needs to improve is their decision making.… Read more »
The real questions is why they want to keep Arsenal.
All of their actions wreak of incompetence. I dont care how much we have spent. That means nothing if these fellas over see idiots who cannot do their jobs.
KSE should have pumped us years ago, to stay competitive.
They did not, Wenger and Co- never asking for the needed $$
Too much EGO all around. Its destroyed us
Bringing the club legends on board to get fans excited about the possible deal was a great PR move but probably still not enough.
Get Emmanuel Eboue though, and now you’re really cooking.
His fluent Korean would be a huge help in the Asian market.
Eboue – thats my boy right there…!
his heart was always in the right place…
Pedro, We lost 3 goal keeping coaches in the last 2 years. So something is definitely wrong there. However I don’t think that Leno has gotten worse. Statistically he has made the same number of mistakes. The only difference is that because our situation those mistakes are more highlighted than before. When Arsenal was scoring for fun, conceding a goal often meant that we suddenly get a draw instead of a victory. Against Chelsea he made his first big game mistake, but Arsenal still got a draw and everybody spoke about Martinelli’s goal. Against Everton, he make a stupid mistake… Read more »
Football’s a game of fine margins, and with the increased competitiveness of the league, the margins are becoming even smaller We’ve been completely outclassed by Liverpool in both league games, the 3-0 defeat to Villa earlier in the season was uncomfortable to watch But other than that we’ve been involved in fine margin games, that have largely been decided by us shouting ourselves in the foot, rather than Arsenal being completely outclassed Liverpool + United have been turned over by big scores this season, it happens I’m not saying we’ve been good, but it’s not like the teams who’ve taken… Read more »
CT, Kroenke have taken things out of Arsenal, but they have been a little more discrete and less greedy than the Glazers. Arsenal pays consulting fees to company where the Kroenke are the company directors. The loan to Arsenal to help buying Partey is at better rate than the previous loan, but still not at the rate Arsenal could have gotten by going directly to the market, so I believe a small mark-up was made there as well. Knowing as well that the loan was made to help getting rid of the minimum cash reserve. If the restriction had stayed,… Read more »
Note that someone is feeding the telegraph a spin that they might consider at 2bn. You’ll also never say you want to sell publicly if you can avoid it. The previous knockbacks were pre covid and pre destruction of superleague plan and also prior to drain on finances from LA plans. If I was losing money hand over fist , facing risk of going mid table and the 350ml cash injection blown up in my face with risk of brand taking a trouncing. I might well consider taking the money . I’m not sure this is quite as dead as… Read more »
Pete do some digging on a guy called Peter Silverstone.
The amount of stick you’ve given Edu & Don Raul, for their incompetence. This man deserves the same amount or even more.
Even Spurs are ahead of Arsenal commercially. Good mates with VV as well.
#fraudwatch
Pedro The Kroenkes aren’t impregnable. Stan has borrowed hundreds of millions to build that LA Rams stadium. Will they even fill it? LA is not a football town so for the project to work, KSE has to produce something it’s not very good at: success. He also got a £505 million loan from Deutsche Bank to buy out Usmanov and a further £180 million loan to restructure arsenal’s stadium debt. PR wise the Daniel Ek bid is a problem for KSE. Nearly all arsenal fans will be willing to hack off parts of their own bodies for that deal to… Read more »
Really dislike the lazy ‘we’ve spent money under Kroenke’ patter being passed around. It’s such a deceitful statement. The foundational criticism of Kroenke/KSE has been their complete disconnect with the club, and their hands off running of it. They know nothing about football, but how they’ve handled us is contemptible in its laziness. Their ignorance on football would be a non-starter if they’d invested in smart/elite people to fill the gaps in knowledge – it’s the first step any truly interested party takes in a new sector. They didn’t touch that proper until we dropped outside the money train of… Read more »
Apparently Edu & Arteta threw money at Balogun & his rep Emeka Obasi & co in the same way we did with Reiss Nelson in 2018. Good thing is it’s incentivised!
Valentin We are 10th in the table, yet with Leno being such a disaster only Man City and Chelsea boast a significantly better goals allowed record, while others are on par or significantly worse than ours. Goals for, however, is another story. Only Everton match ours while everyone else blows us out of the water there. Maybe you can understand the pushback you’re getting when you start pushing Leno is our main problem agenda. I’m not rehashing the Leno/Martinez debate here, Arteta made his decision and its on him, regardless how the rest of us might feel about it. Leno’s… Read more »
Well that was a sad read today though in fairness I do agree with Pedro in I just can’t see Stan selling as depressing as it is . Our next point of hope is when Stan kicks the bucket and who knows what josh would do with it .
If Arteta continues to have say on transfers,. I wouldn’t not be surprised if Lacazette is extended and Martinelli moves on.
American here (actually Southern Californian so only partially). With regards to the Kroenkes don’t sell. First no one ever says that they want to sell anything of value, but everything is for sale. North American teams do not change hands often. There’s little incentive to sell because the strong collective bargaining agreements ensure profitability. The NBA for example, withholds a portion of the players wages in an escrow account. At the end of the season the league totals up the receipts, if the owners agreed upon profits fall short then they can claw back some or all of that money,… Read more »
Good post.
We’re broke yet we’re too expensive.
Typical.
In other news, THFC have released a press statement as follows. In order to ward off legal claims against THFC under the trade descriptions act, the club wishes to make clear that the claim that “there’s glory for Spurs when the year ends in one” applied only for a very short time during the late 20th century and was never intended to suggest any form of supremacy or success on the club’s part. CEO Mr Levy is preparing a writ against the estate of the Pearly King novelty musical double act Charles and David (not to be confused with Charles… Read more »
Pedro and others It does not matter what is the current valuation of Arsenal whether it £1.5/1.8 or 2.0 billion I doubt that there is a single potential buyer of the club who is going to spend that amount plus invest a substantial amount of money on improving the team. The reality is that Abromavich, the Fenway Group and Abu Dhabis spent a fraction of that money buying Chelsea, Liverpool and Man City. Moreover the Saudi bid for Newcastle is reputed to be £300 million. Spurs has been on the market for many years and no-one has come in to… Read more »
Lots of talk about bids and owners, but isn’t the fundamental problem here that the PL model (and really all of football in Europe) is fundamentally broken due to the unchecked exponential climb of wages, agents fees and demands? Right now you either have a gazzilionaire who props you up with next to unlimited wealth or you are struggling. If we have seen peak-oil occur with TV deals then it is time to start redressing that balance and model in the coming years – you can’t do it quickly but moving to a more German inspired fan ownership model would… Read more »
We must have chucked a shit load of money at Balogun to stay. Or, nobody else was interested? Surely he doesn’t believe the process after seeing what we have all seen this season?
I like the look of the lad, all 20 minutes that I’ve seen of him, but it really is a head scratcher – which I never thought I would say about a player staying at Arsenal!
“The chances of this being anything more than good PR are very, very slim.” Bingo, that’s exactly what this is, a great PR opportunity for someone simply because they can do it. Carol Rosenblum owned the LA Rams before they went to St. Louis. Georgia Frontierre, who inherited the club upon Rosenblum’s death, tried to get LA to build he a big fancy stadium or she would walk. In came St. Louis and they made it worth the move. Frontierre, not terribly long after, sold to KSE and the rest is history. No loyalty, just money and lots of it.… Read more »
Spotify is shit. Tidal is ten times better.
What is a priority at the moment is that Kroenke learns the lesson of his past mistakes and
starts to make good decisions for the benefit of the club.
Like this will happen? its been years and has anything like this happened?
Just because KSE has NEVER sold a franchise does not mean they will not in the future.
Money talks….
They are not making money on Arsenal. So why keep this team?
That is the real ?
Ernest Reed Who are likely or able to force Kroenke and other owners to sell the clubs? If the Government or EPL attempt to force the owners to sell or change the ownership rules there will be massive consequences likely to result in enormous compensation claims. I don’t think that any politician whether in Government or Football is going down that route. The hard facts as you suggest I think that buying Arsenal is unaffordable except by a zillionaire and frankly there is no guarantee that any buyer will be better or financially more responsible. We could land up with… Read more »
“Last season against Olympiacos, dropped a clanger and they scored from the resulting corner. Everybody talked about Aubameyang missing a sitter, and Leno mistake was ignored.“
Valentin
A top striker missing a sitter in a match you lose is always a story.
A player( any player) giving up a corner the opponent scores from hardly ever is, and for a good reason since the percentage of corners resulting in goals hovers around low single digits.
I dont agree Pedro. In purely financial terms I get the stats but my point is Kroenke has just fucked himself and he will have to either sell or get used to a barrage of negative publicity on a weekly basis that will do nothing for his brand and his other franchises. Negative publicity on a daily basis is not a good look.We are a completely different gig from the LA Rams. How would moving Arsenal to Bournenouth have played out over here. Total disaster. Its a long shot I agree but we all need to focus on how to… Read more »
IF we win the EL, the hate will abate, temporarily.
If we do not, then look out…
Tom, I think you misunderstand the point that I made. My point is that Leno is not getting worse, he is exactly on par on what he has produced for the last three years for us. For the last three seasons he has statically cost between 8 and 10 PTS per season. This season he has already reach 10 PTS, but you have to take into account that during the previous two seasons another keeper (Cech, Martinez) was in goal for 7 games which is the how many games per mistake that directly lead to a goal. So this season… Read more »
What happens when our sponsors start to leave,, Adidas? How long do we have left on this? I am sure they were hoping for better results… Sounds like Puma wont even come back for us. Get ready for Li Ning or some other shirt sponsor… some unheard of company maybe The Rwanda sleeve patch? I doubt that goes any where. Our streams are going to thin out…. Only success will draw in more $$. Simple. KSE are not the team to make this happen whatsoever New blood. New visions and getting back connected with the fans… Investing correctly in the… Read more »
Jeff Bezos should buy Arsenal in an attempt to clean up his act for unleashing the Covid pandemic onto the world. Don’t ask me how he did it but always follow the money , and no one has benefited more from the pandemic than him.
Is it a coincidence he looks exactly like doctor evil ? I don’t thinks so.
With his $200 billion net worth we could easily reach the next level, which is “the next level”, even if we retain Arteta and allow him to make all personnel decisions.
Tom,
If a goalkeeper keep conceding unnecessary daft corners, his team is going to concede more goals. Against Pulis Stoke, we use to deliberatedly rather concede corners than throw in. Why?
Because statistically we used to concede 1 goal every 13 corners, but 1 goal against 7 long throws. Nearly twice the rate.
Against Olympiacos, Leno made a mistake and conceded an unnecessary corner from which they scored. Conceding is what put us under pressure to attack. That’s what eliminated us, not the sitter being missed.
Gun of SF,
I mentioned that earlier today. Unless a massively overpaid bid is made or their financial situation in the US seriously deteriorate, otherwise the Kroenke are not selling.
However if the results on the pitch do not improve in a few years they will start to impact the commercial revenue. When that happen then the Kroenke will have to face a difficult choice.
Until then they will just oversee Arsenal slow decline.
Tom.
And yet 13 games lost. The same number as Brighton who are 4th from bottom
On Daniel Ek, it ultimately comes down to whether this is a piece of PR for him or whether he is really serious about buying the club.
And that comes down to how much is he willing to cough up. He is wealthy enough (even if not on a par with Silent Stan) and can raise additional cheap capital if required.
Given (i) their stadium cost overruns, (ii) their cashflow problems elsewhere and (iii) their empty stadiums, there may well be a (reasonable) price at which the Kroenkes are willing to sell.
Val
This is already happening, and the bid will be more than what this team is really worth…in our current state. So I do hope this happens! Owners all across all sports have lost money. NBA NFL etc.
I mentioned that earlier today. Unless a massively overpaid bid is made or their financial situation in the US seriously deteriorate, otherwise the Kroenke are not selling.
Valentin
I have read the consulting fees is around 100k a year or something, thats why I didn’t even bother to mention it. Thats pocket money for the Kroenke kids.
I dont know where you came with the loan to buying Partey thing. Credible journalists including Ornstein reported that KSE helped Arsenal in signing Partey. Nothing of a loan was mentioned. They also re-financed a 100-200 mil debt where KSE is the one which must have taken the hit on the difference.
Spotify needs to release more stock – raise more capital … 🙂
Guns great point. What sponsors want to be associated with a toxic brand ? I think the picture painted by Pedro is too narrow. Curiously for such a passionate blogger it’s a sterile narrative. Football is all about emotion that why we fans are so easy to exploit. We lose this opportunity to fuck Kroenke and we can kiss any notion of Arsenal having any connection to the club we all love goodbye.
Tom,
An Ek-Dangote-Bezos bunfight for the owwership and control of Arsenal would be something to behold – sadly, much more fun than watching us lose to Everton or draw with Fulham.
“TerraloonApril 26, 2021 19:03:32
Tom.And yet 13 games lost. The same number as Brighton who are 4th from bottom“
I don’t know what point you’re making but I hope it’s that Brighton conceded only 39 goals, which makes them 8th best in the league.
Yet there they are sitting in 17th because they can score worth a shit.
Pedro Other clubs thinking we have a lack of money isn’t our major problem It’s a lack of squad places that hurts us Leno, Runarsson Bellerin, Soares, Niles, Chambers Tierney, Kolasinac Saliba, Holding, Luiz? Gabriel, Mari, Mavropanos Xhaka, Elneny, Torreira Partey, Guendouzi Smith-Rowe, Willock Pepe, Saka, Willian, Nelson Aubameyang, Martinelli Lacazette, Nketiah, Balogun That’s 29 players, 30 if we were to renew Luiz, which I hope we don’t If we’re quick out the traps and signed 4 players, that’s a first team squad of 33/34 players, which is unmanageable Other clubs can count, that’s far too many with European football,… Read more »
Guns of SF,
All my buddies on the Finance Sub-reddit are getting bored of GameStop – I’ve told them all they can make millions buying call options for Spotify. “Roaring Kitty” aka “DeepFuckingValue” is on board.
Spread the word!
Woab He claims to be a boyhood Arsenal fan, so there must be some part of him wanting a change at Arsenal. Anyway it is a win-win situation for him. His vague tweet about throwing the hat in the ring generated a lot of traction, not only among Arsenal fans but football fans as a whole. He follows it up with an 1.8 Billion bid which he knows is going to be rejected. But the massive boost he is getting in terms of PR is something a great marketeer like him will never ignore. If he does end up buying,… Read more »
Spotify stock is about 300 per share with a 56B market cap.
This is a solid company…
They can afford to release more shares. Get new investors in, or even do a split!
Sky reporting Ek’s dead serious on buying Arsenal and also has the funds for it (joint bid probably).
KroenkeOut protests need to continue.
Ek , being an Arsenal fan should not fuck with us and exploit us for his own gain.
Yes, be serious about buying the club, or Ek can fuck off too.
I read that workers have seen him watch Arsenal games during meetings, he attends many matches.
So, I hope he is serious… a 2B should get the KSE thinking….
I wouldn’t believe a word SkySports say
It’s a 24/7 news channel, if there’s no news, they’ll just create the news
Watch deadline day and the way they try to string everyone along
GunsofSF/CaptainT,
I am allowing myself to get excited about Ek.
It would be nice to have an asset owner who actually gives a shit about his asset – beyind its notional “value”.
The more probable alternative is more of the same mediocrity.
So, fuck it:
#Kroenkeout, #Ekin
CT, Reread what Ornstein said. The previous loan had covenant that required Arsenal to keep some cash reserve. In order to access that cash reserve, Arsenal had to repay the loan early. Despite the rate being much lower, the penalty fee for that loan was consequent making its repayment very onerous. So the Kroenke loaned the cash to Arsenal so they could terminate their previous loan and its covenant. That has been well documented. The consulting fees you mentioned were management consulting fee paid for Josh to manage his own club! A lot of billionaire do that. Ivanka Trump does… Read more »
CT,
https://arseblog.news/2020/07/report-kroenke-restructures-arsenal-debt-to-ease-short-term-financial-pressure/
Tom,
Forget about Bezos. How about MacKenzie Scott, his ex-wife? She’s worth about 60 billion too and has proven to be extremely philanthropic. What could be a more charitable act than buying Arsenal from the Kroenkes?
Rich Agreed there. But its the job of the Technical director to make sure we aren’t in a weak negotiating position. But one thing I’ll give him is he inherited a shitshow. This summer we’ll have more suitors for Willock, Mavro and AMN. Even if we sell just 2 of them thats around 35-40mil. Fabrizio (No.1 journalists in terms of transfer news) is pretty adamant that Bellerin is leaving and we are signing a new RB. Thats 15-20 mil. Guendouzi will have 1 year on his contract. A player I believe we should extend, loan and promise to give a… Read more »
It’s a smart move getting 3 Arsenal legends involved. Kroenke’s pr is shit. Stay silent. It might have worked 30 years ago but not now. I might be wrong but exciting times ahead. Can the idiots still pissed over Martinez leaving wake up. This ESL shit could be a game changer we need to get on board.
But seriously, if Bezos actually bought Arsenal and started outbidding City, United and Chelsea for worlds best players how quickly would the likes of Neville and other muppets start crying foul and proclaim he was ruining the game?
Rich
Many other outlets have also reported Ek’s interest to be genuine.
Valentin
The Arseblog article provides a good explanation. Its clear Kroenke helped Arsenal.not himself with the refinancing of the deal as he also had to pay a 40mil penalty over the 144mil stadium debt.
Only if Arsenal waited 1 more year before deciding to build the Emirates. We would have had much lower interest rates.
Who the heck is Ek? I am someone who drew a bead on Kroenke from the start. And on Wenger too, for kow-towing to him. But right now I’ll settle for Stan and Arteta. Another upheaval is a no-go. We are nearly two years into a project that we know needs another two or three years. Why throw it away? Hated by the fans, the Kroenkes are on the defensive. They need the Club to return to the elite to get themselves out of trouble. Arteta will get all he wants this summer. A few outstanding players, that’s all. Meanwhile,… Read more »
Off topic
Go on the PL official website and vote for the nominated Arsenal players to get into the Hall if Fame for next season.
CT,
As mentioned in the article, the rate that Arsenal is paying is higher than the rate KSE got, simply because KSE is not going to make a loss to lend us money.
Also the penalty payment has not absorbed by KSE, the amount penalty amount has just been tacked on top of the loan. Nothing controversial in them doing, because that penalty fee had to be paid by Arsenal.
A young billionaire that grew up a massive fan of the club wants to takeover and buy the club along with Henry, Bergkamp and Vieira at the forefront?
Why do they do this to us? It’s just cruel.
General browsing over Kronke and his business… simply put Pedro wasnt joking.
The guys is stupid rich. Mr Spotify really has to show something. Only reason I won’t say its impossible is because of the situation thanks to the ESL fallout.
“Against Olympiacos, Leno made a mistake and conceded an unnecessary corner from which they scored. Conceding is what put us under pressure to attack. That’s what eliminated us, not the sitter being missed“ Actually , not that it matters much, but they didn’t score from an ensuing corner. There was a clearance, a successful dribble, and a cross from which they scored. As for putting us under unnecessary pressure part, well, what do you think Olympiacos were gonna do with minutes remaining and needing a goal , even if Leno had claimed it and hoofed it up the pitch. At… Read more »
Tom
Money over the next 15 years will still be important, but it’ll become far less of a deciding factor
The top 4 became the top 6, the top 6 the top 8, the rest are closing the gap.
Top talent produced in much higher quantities, will reduce the benefits of additional revenue, and will just alienate the top clubs from the rest
Once top talent floods the market in very large numbers, the addition revenue will become a burden and not a blessing
Again, what reason does Stan have to keep Arsenal?
Pedro that’s got to be far away the most depressing thing I have heard or experienced as an Arsenal fan for the last 50 years, that we have got to put up with this Kroenke ownership forever……..
It looks like for certain then that my final years supporting this once great club called ‘The Arsenal’ are going to be full of disappointed & false hope like the last ten years under his shambolic reign..
.Valentin
Ok maybe I get it now.
Basically Kroenke refinanced the deal to ease the short term burden on the club but long term we’ll have to pay 40 mil more.