Wenger's job safe, says boss Kroenke
Source: Agencies |
October 1, 2011, Saturday
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ARSENE Wenger is one of the world's greatest managers and his future at Arsenal is assured for as long as he wants to stay, the English Premier League club's owner Stan Kroenke said in a rare interview yesterday.
The 64-year-old American billionaire, whose portfolio of teams includes the St Louis Rams in the National Football League, the Denver Nuggets in the National Basketball Association and the Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer, has also been Arsenal's majority shareholder since earlier this year.
Nicknamed "Silent Stan" by the British media, he finally spoke in depth for the first time since he started buying into Arsenal four years ago with an interview in the Daily Telegraph.
Despite the club's poorest start to a season since 1953, and some fans calling for the 61-year-old Wenger to leave, Kroenke gave the Frenchman a stunning endorsement, 15 years to the day he was appointed manager.
"Arsene is one of my favorite people I have met in the last 20 years. He is a great person and I love the way he handles himself. He is one of the great managers," he said.
Asked if he could stay at the club for another decade, Kroenke replied: "With Arsene, it his decision and only he will know that."
Silverware
The Gunners have improved in recent weeks but they have not won any silverware since the FA Cup in 2005 and lost two of their most influential players in the offseason when Cesc Fabregas joined Barcelona and Samir Nasri went to Manchester City.
Kroenke, said the decision to allow Fabregas and Nasri to leave was Wenger's, who believed, particularly as far as the former was concerned, that it was right to let him return to his boyhood club after the Catalans had courted him for three years.
"That was between Arsene and him," the American added. "I like the kid but I'm not going to change his mind.
"Arsene made the decision. If we wanted to be really hard about it, we could have done but Arsene believed that it was the right way to do it."
The 64-year-old American billionaire, whose portfolio of teams includes the St Louis Rams in the National Football League, the Denver Nuggets in the National Basketball Association and the Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer, has also been Arsenal's majority shareholder since earlier this year.
Nicknamed "Silent Stan" by the British media, he finally spoke in depth for the first time since he started buying into Arsenal four years ago with an interview in the Daily Telegraph.
Despite the club's poorest start to a season since 1953, and some fans calling for the 61-year-old Wenger to leave, Kroenke gave the Frenchman a stunning endorsement, 15 years to the day he was appointed manager.
"Arsene is one of my favorite people I have met in the last 20 years. He is a great person and I love the way he handles himself. He is one of the great managers," he said.
Asked if he could stay at the club for another decade, Kroenke replied: "With Arsene, it his decision and only he will know that."
Silverware
The Gunners have improved in recent weeks but they have not won any silverware since the FA Cup in 2005 and lost two of their most influential players in the offseason when Cesc Fabregas joined Barcelona and Samir Nasri went to Manchester City.
Kroenke, said the decision to allow Fabregas and Nasri to leave was Wenger's, who believed, particularly as far as the former was concerned, that it was right to let him return to his boyhood club after the Catalans had courted him for three years.
"That was between Arsene and him," the American added. "I like the kid but I'm not going to change his mind.
"Arsene made the decision. If we wanted to be really hard about it, we could have done but Arsene believed that it was the right way to do it."
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