Thierry Henry slams Arsenal owners for their involvement in the European Super League fiasco
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ByEurosport
Published 25/04/2021 at 08:58 GMT
Arsenal legend Thierry Henry has come out to strongly criticise the north London club's ownership for their involvement in trying to form a 12-team breakaway European Super League. Nine of the 12 clubs involved, including Arsenal, officially pulled out following intense pressure from club supporters and beyond.
'Some damage has been done' - Arteta on Super League disaster
Former Arsenal forward Thierry Henry say he does not recognise the club anymore following the Gunners' plans to form a European Super League with 12 of the so-called biggest clubs around Europe.
Henry, a club legend with a statue dedicated to the Frenchman outside the Emirates Stadium, says Arsenal are not the club he knows.
"I do not recognise my club and what happened just now, with them trying to join a league that would have been closed, makes no sense to me,” he told The Telegraph.
"They have been running the club like a company, not a football club, and they showed their hand.
Maybe it’s a lack of understanding of the core football values and maybe the money was too big of a temptation. Whatever it was, they got it wrong. Badly wrong.
Arsenal fans have called for Stan Kroenke and the KSE ownership group to leave the club. Stan's son Josh, who sits on the board of directors, admitted wrongdoing at a fan forum event on Wednesday.
Henry says he is proud of the supporters for calling out the ownership's actions.
He added: "I was genuinely shocked like most people and couldn’t believe what was unfolding. I have never talked before, but what happened recently made me realise fans, this is your club. It is your club and I’m an Arsenal fan too.
"I’m proud of what the fans achieved. Not just Arsenal fans, all the fans. The result was a victory for football."
Real Madrid, Juventus and AC Milan are yet to pull out of the Super League with Real president Florentino Perez insisting the ESL will return because all of the founding clubs signed binding contracts.
EK SERIOUS ABOUT ARSENAL OFFER
The Telegraph reports that Daniel Ek - the co-founder and part-owner of Spotify - is serious about buying Arsenal after Stan Kroenke’s plans for the European Super League collapsed earlier this week.
The paper suggests that a price of £2 billion may be sufficient to seal the deal, which means that Ek would need to form a consortium in order to pull off the takeover.
Paper Round’s view: Ek would be able to go in with other buyers in order to raise the funds for Arsenal if £2 billion really is enough, but another option would be simply to buy the club with debt, just as the Glazer family did with Manchester United.
Whether they are glamorous enough or able to generate the cash to make them more than anything else than a vanity purchase, is another matter.
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