Arsenal Legend Ian Wright Blasts 'Absolutely Disastrous' Stan Kroenke Takeover
Ian Wright has blasted Stan Kroenke's plans to stage a full takeover of Arsenal, and expressed his fears that the Gunners' days of challenging for top honours may be over.
Despite his unpopularity among the Arsenal fans, Kroenke has staged a £1.8bn bid to buy out fellow shareholder Alisher Usmanov, an offer which the Russian has accepted.
The shares owned by Arsenal fans will also be forcibly taken away by Kroenke, and Wright fears that the club will will simply become a cash cow for the American's business prospects.
"I can sum up the prospect of Stan Kroenke becoming the sole owner of Arsenal in two words — absolutely disastrous," Wright wrote in his column for the Sun.
"And if, as seems highly likely, that does become the case, I genuinely fear the days of seeing the Gunners challenging for top honours on a regular basis may well have come and gone.
"This is a guy who has remained in the background pretty much throughout his entire association with Arsenal.
"A man who, as far as I can see it, hasn’t exactly been tearing up trees trying to do what’s best for the club.
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"If anything, it’s a case of doing what’s best for himself and not really anyone else.
"The genuine worry — and it’s a very, very real worry — is that now, more than ever before, it will be about getting money THROUGH Arsenal, not FOR them."
After 19 consecutive years of Champions League football, the Gunners finished outside the top four for the second year in a row last year, resulting in the departure of Arsene Wenger.
The Kroenke news means that Unai Emery will begin his tenure under a cloud when he takes charge of his first game against Manchester City on Sunday.
