Josh Kroenke’s ascent to Arsenal’s most influential figure

Josh Walton Kroenke was around nine years old when he heard a classmate talking about him at school. It was not a pleasant experience. The other kid was saying how much he wanted to be Kroenke’s friend, but not because he liked him. This was because, he said, he wanted to see the size of the Kroenke family home.

Young Josh, obviously, was forced to learn from a young age that he would always be treated differently because of his name. Growing up in Columbia, Missouri, everyone knew he was the son of Stan Kroenke and Ann Walton, which meant everyone knew he was the heir to the Walmart family fortune. It’s measured in billions, not millions: Last year, Forbes said the Walton family was worth $267 billion.

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Being born with extraordinary wealth is not a brutal burden to bear, but it nevertheless presents challenges in life. How, for example, can a child deal with his teachers telling him not to worry about something, just because his family is rich? How does a college basketball player cope when the student newspaper mocks his “legacy-to-playing-time ratio”? What kind of person does this create, with what kinds of desires and motivations?

Only Kroenke can answer these questions about his youth, and he might naturally say that it is none of our business. But for supporters and employees of Arsenal Football Club, Kroenke’s nature as an individual has never been more relevant.

It is Josh, not his father Stan, who is now the public face of Arsenal’s American ownership. It’s Josh who appears at matches and writes articles for the match day programme, who engages with fans and welcomes new signings.

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Josh was also heavily involved in the recent ‘evolution’ of the club’s board, which resulted in the sudden departure of executive vice-chairman Tim Lewis.

The removal of Lewis, a hugely important figure in Arsenal’s rebuild over the past five years, is part of a new “Kroenke-fication” of the board: Lewis is out, and the Kroenke Sports and Entertainment (KSE) trio of Kelly Blaha, Otto Maly and Dave Steiner are in. Another addition was Ben Winston, the successful British Hollywood producer and director, who had a pre-existing friendship with Josh.

The Super League fiasco, a painful slap in the face for the owners

Sources inside and outside Arsenal strongly reject the idea that it is now the ‘Josh Show’. For those who understand the dynamic, Stan, 78, has no impression that he is any less powerful than before. When it comes to Arsenal, when Josh speaks and acts, he does so on behalf of himself and his father. For all major financial decisions, in particular, Stan remains the ultimate boss, and Josh knows that hierarchy better than anyone. This will surely remain the case when it comes to potential plans to expand Arsenal’s stadium, first reported by Telegraph sport.

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There is no doubt, however, that the big, bearded Josh is now the most visible and present Kroenke. The Kroenke who invests more time and emotional energy into Arsenal. And there is no doubt that Josh, 45, is more influential than he was during the first decade of his family’s involvement with the club. After all, he was just 26 when Stan first bought Arsenal shares in 2007.

There were two major steps in KSE’s acquisition of Arsenal. The first was in 2018, when they took full control of the club.

The second was the 2021 European Super League fiasco, which represented a painful slap in the face for the owners. Such was the anger in north London that an effigy of Stan was hung by supporters outside the Emirates Stadium.

It was Josh who defended Arsenal’s involvement in the doomed Super League project. During a video call with supporters, he was bluntly told: “It’s clear you don’t know enough about our game, you don’t know enough about our club.”

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Was this a turning point for young Kroenke? It seems so. A year later, he admitted that the passion for sports clubs runs deeper in England than in the United States, where KSE has teams in American football, basketball, ice hockey, soccer and lacrosse.

It’s a fluke of fate that KSE’s LA Rams are playing the Shahid Khan-owned Jacksonville Jaguars at Wembley on Sunday. This will be the second Kroenke v Khan clash of the weekend in London, after Arsenal took on Khan-owned Fulham on Saturday.

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“It’s hard to really identify, as an American or a foreigner going to the UK, with the passion that really comes out when people support these clubs,” Josh once said of English football. Road trip podcast.

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Josh has obviously made an effort since then. He now attends matches (men’s and women’s teams) much more regularly and sat next to Mikel Arteta in the final game of last season at Southampton while Arteta was serving a sidelines ban.

He was at the club’s training ground when Eberechi Eze joined Crystal Palace in the summer, having signed the £67.5million deal himself, as well as at the PFA Awards in August. As Arsenal finalized the appointment of their new sporting director, Andrea Berta, earlier this year, it was Josh who interviewed the candidates at the end of the process.

The perception of him has therefore improved. “I would say opinions have changed about them (the Kroenkes),” says Akhil Vyas of the Arsenal Supporters’ Trust, who was among the fans who grilled Josh after the Super League debacle. “Maybe it all came from the Super League, learning and adapting to English football. That was the catalyst for change.

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“They had to hit rock bottom in terms of their relationship with the fans to rebuild her, and they rebuilt her. I don’t really hear people talking about Stan, but the perception of Josh now is pretty good.

“But it’s not like there’s a massive relationship (between Josh and the fans). It’s not like we talk to him often. But when the club is doing well, competing for titles, it doesn’t really matter.”

What’s Josh like? At Arsenal they describe him as down-to-earth and, to be frank, normal. A source describes him as a “really cool guy.” He loves golf and plays against his friends in fantasy football (American football) leagues.

He may be the heir to a great fortune, but he doesn’t seem to act like a prince. Indeed, early in his professional career, he made a conscious decision to step away from the family business and forge his own path in New York. It was only his passion for basketball that brought him back.

Josh will probably never be an expert on the technical aspects of football or the intricate details of how the sport works in Europe. It would also probably be a mistake for him to try to become one. He is, however, considered by some sources to have an excellent understanding of sports organizations and their structures.

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However, there remain many unanswered questions regarding the ownership of KSE and the future of Arsenal as an institution, particularly in relation to the all-important regulatory and governance issues.

Lewis has fought fiercely for financial controls in the Premier League, re-establishing Arsenal as a powerful voice in this regard. After he leaves, will the Kroenke demand a similarly direct approach from general manager Richard Garlick? Do Josh and Stan want Arsenal to continue fighting this fight with as much vigour? Opponents of financial regulation hope not.

At the very least, the board overhaul, aligning Arsenal more closely with the American side of the KSE sporting empire, would suggest a growing belief in the United States that they (and perhaps Josh in particular) better understand the world of English football.

It’s now the responsibility of the well-respected Garlick to run Arsenal on a day-to-day basis – but it’s certainly a club that feels more like KSE’s and Josh’s club than ever before.

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