Arsenal director Josh Kroenke says he finds it hard to truly relate to the club's supporters
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Updated 15/02/2022 at 21:51 GMT
Arsenal director Josh Kroenke says he finds it hard to truly relate to the club's fans and their level of passion. Kroenke's father Stan has owned the Gunners since 2018, but the pair have often been met with protests over the club's direction and particularly their mooted involvement in the failed European Super League project. Nonetheless, Kroenke says he now feels closer to fans as a result.
Arsenal director Josh Kroenke (R)
Image credit: Eurosport
Arsenal director Josh Kroenke has admitted that he struggles to understand the passion that fans of the club have.
Kroenke - together with his father Stan - took ownership of the club in 2018 after buying out Alisher Usmanov's remaining shares.
But the American family have not had an easy ride in the four years since, with underwhelming performances on the pitch being compounded by huge anger at the club's purported involvement in the European Super League.
Kroenke nevertheless feels that whole saga brought him into more conversations with fans.
Talking on the Road Trippin' podcast, he said: "I do listen to our supporters over there.
"I listen to our fans here [in America] with our teams but the level of passion that is involved in European football, and support that goes into these clubs – I don't wanna say it's deeper than anything we have over here – but it's way deeper than anything we have over here.
"It's hard to truly relate as an American or a foreigner heading into the UK the passion that really goes on from the people that support these clubs.
"Whether or not they fully understood the concept of what we were trying to do [with the Super League], it didn't matter. They didn't want the change.
"That was the only thing that mattered - that we were going to make changes to the system they love. I understood that.
"I think part of being a good leader is making unpopular decisions on behalf of the group and part of being a good leader is listening to the group and understanding when to back off.
"That's what we did. Once we had a full understanding of what was going on – very quickly – the right thing to do as a leader was to get out of the process.
"I'm encouraged by the whole process because it's brought me and our whole staff closer to our supporters than ever before.
"I really enjoy sitting down and talking with our fans about sports because whether we see it through the same lens, we all want the same thing and that's to win."
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