Why Arsenal’s ‘quantum leap’ is down to Kroenkes’ gamble on ambition
The story of Arsenal’s return from the competitive wilderness to the top table of English and European football has no shortage of candidates for the leading role.
Mikel Arteta, the rookie manager whose single-mindedness has transformed the mentality of the club; Bukayo Saka, the jewel of the Hale End academy who has developed into one of the deadliest attacking players in the game; Gabriel Magalhaes, the uncompromising defensive linchpin who oozes main character energy; perhaps even Nicolas Jover, the set-piece coach whose intricate routines have made Arsenal the most feared dead-ball specialists around.
But for Alex Fynn, the author of bestselling books on Arsenal and, as one of the architects of both the Premier League and the Champions League, one of football’s leading thinkers, the plaudits belong to the club’s owners, the Kroenke family.
Specifically, Fynn argues that Stan and Josh Kroenke’s willingness to gamble – on the raw talent of former club captain Arteta and by shedding the club’s parsimonious operation in the transfer market and spending more than £700m net in the last four years – has been the key catalyst for Arsenal setting the pace so far this season.
“There’s been a quantum leap, a change of attitude,” Fynn tells City PM. “Great credit must go to the owners. Initially, they just believed in self-sustainability and even took money out of the club.
“They’ve changed, from self-sustainability to ambition. They took a gamble. They backed a novice manager, and have backed him all the way, and he’s shown that their faith in him was totally justified. He’s now an elite manager.”
Fynn describes his new book, ‘Arsenal: On the Edge – The dramatic story of the 2024/25 season’, which chronicles their title challenge and run to the Champions League semi-finals, “a love letter to the owners, the manager, the players, and indeed, the committed fans”.
Since taking full control of the club in 2018, Kroenke Sports and Entertainment has subsidised six consecutive years of losses, totalling £328m, in a bid to restore them to their former glories. Almost four months into the campaign, they are favourites for the two biggest titles.
Kroenkes prepared to make loss in order to win
Fynn is no Gooner himself but has worked as a consultant on commercial and media rights for the club. Unusually, he has done the same at Tottenham Hotspur, about whom he has also written extensively and who face Arsenal in today’s north London derby.
But, he says, he would like to see the team in red go one better than their run of three consecutive domestic runners-up finishes and win a first Premier League crown since Arsene Wenger’s Invincibles in 2003-04.
“The reason I want Arsenal to win it is because they are such a well run club, and because their priorities are right. Their priority now, credit again to the owners, is success on the field, and they’re prepared to accept a loss,” he adds.
“Manchester City earned a profit last year. Arsenal had a loss of about £18m pounds, which is nothing compared to Manchester United or some other teams, and there’s no reason why they can’t be successful this year and turn a profit.
“If they go that one step further, you would be able to put him [Arteta] in the same pantheon of hero managers, I would think, as Arsene Wenger, simply because his record has been more consistent. Certainly Wenger won more trophies. But I suspect that this will be just the start of something. We’ll see an Arsenal dynasty.”
It has never been harder to win the Premier League, believes Fynn, and neither Liverpool nor Manchester City will lie down and let Arsenal sweep the board. He concedes it may even be that last season proves the apex of the Kroenkes’ gamble but that it still represents “a huge achievement so far”.
“The fact is that only one team can win the Premier League title, and there’s no God-given right,” he concludes. “Even as we stand now – when Arsenal are doing better than they started last year and look to be in pretty good shape, both on and off the field – last year may still be as good as it gets. It will be a disappointment if it is, simply because they’ve set the bar so high.”
Arsenal On the Edge by Alex Fynn and Kevin Whitcher is published by Biteback and available to buy from all major booksellers.
