Kroenke cranks it up

That came right out of the blue, didn't it? Fresh from a welcome win at sunny Blackpool, and in the backdrop of Arsène Wenger and new-but-not-quite-so-new-boy Jens Lehmann's fighting talk on the pitch, it was off the pitch that a sudden upturn of events look to have heralded a new chapter in the glorious history of Arsenal Football Club. Or so we hope!

Yup, the archetypal "Bank of England Club" we are no longer. Enter Enos Stanley "Silent Stan" Kroenke; his £731 million purchase of shares off the departing Danny Fiszman and the already departed Nina Bracewell-Smith seizing effective power of the Club in one fell swoop on Sunday night. Much to the disgust of sparring partner and major shareholder Alisher Usmanov, and more importantly, much to the anticipation of Gooners far and wide.

I say anticipation, and this is plainly what it is in the bland sense. Some are excited, some nervous, some sceptical. After all, this is highly uncharted territory for us. Yes, Kroenke had indeed been chipping away at the Club's shares bit by bit over the last few years, getting friendly with top executives and Arsène Wenger in the process. But it is the timing, and not just the fact that we are finally "giving in" as it were to foreign ownership, that has caught us all off-guard.

Having come to within a miniscule 0.01% of launching a takeover bid last summer, the 63 year-old then halted, bizarrely many common folk thought at the time, seeing as we could've done with a bit of cash for transfers. But this is it, perhaps we were just too "silly" to have made such an assumption, as we so clearly are in citing the team's frankly pathetic recent performances, aren't we Mr. Hill-Wood?! Anyway, I digress.

So yes, it is the timing of this imminent takeover and the nature of it all, what with Usmanov claiming to have been "backstabbed" by the board and having failed in his own last-ditch attempts at control in the process as the American made his move; the shady nature of Fiszman's long-term health concerns; and with the recent silly, silly comments made by Chairman Peter "Dead-Wood" (sorry, did I say just say that out loud?) having been implicated as potential factors in the takeover going through now. Not to mention the ripeness for a bid from a financial point-of-view (or so I'm told, for I'm no shares expert).

So these are all potential whys, now onto the whats. What exactly does Stan Kroenke bring to the table?

The man is worth a lot, and can bring a lot to the Club when it comes to cash. That we know from his history, his business dealings and from his spectacular sporting investment ventures across the pond.

Of course, one might argue that such a takeover and potential injection of cash has come too late. A good 5 or 6 years too late, in fact, with UEFA's regulations for financial fair play just over twelve months' away meaning that we won't be able to have as much fun as others have in the recent past!

Not that it would've mattered anyway. For starters, prudence and precision is much the name of the game as far as Kroenke is concerned (much unlike Usmanov would have been it had been alleged). And of course we have Arsène Wenger, who would probably much rather business dealings were based on some sort of ancient bartering scheme anyway!

Actually, hang on a minute, where exactly does this put Le Boss himself then? The man so part of the fabric of this Club, whose position must NEVER be put into question (apparently), seemed content enough, welcoming the takeover and remarking on the Club's future being in safe hands. Well and good. He may not have played a huge role in Fiszman and Bracewell-Smith's decisions to sell up, but Wenger will have definitely been involved, if not consulted with regards to all of this in some capacity. Again, well and good.

Even talk of David Dein's return has been bandied about, and that in itself may prove in Wenger's favour if at all true. And he would be welcomed back with open arms, that much I know. For me, Arsenal's biggest signing of the modern era, who without, there would be no Dennis Bergkamp, no Arsène Wenger, no Emirates Stadium. Simple as.

But for Wenger to be satisfied, at least on the surface for the time being, means one of two things: either he has finally acknowledged the need for some sort of investment in the playing infrastructure, or he is happy for Kroenke to just bobble along with his money without touching much of it, as he had pretty much done with the profits put aside for transfers over the last two years, believed to be just over £60 million.

From Kroenke's point-of-view, however, there will be no reason to believe that he will have been obliged to provide the manager with sufficient long-term guarantees over his future. He may be prudent, but Kroenke is in the sports business to win, as he has proven with MLS Champions Colorado Rapids, and will be keen to prove to us, Gooners, that his takeover is good for the Club, and will take us right to the next level.

All of which may put significant pressure on Wenger to succeed and fast, and, more pertinently, to put his money (or Kroenke's) where his mouth is when it comes to strengthening the side. A side that is still lacking a backbone, still lacking leadership, and still lacking a winning mentality despite crying out about it all for over half a decade.

Many more question marks as opposed to answers as we can see, where only time will tell just how good this sudden change of tact may turn out to be, and what may lie in store ahead.

For now, though, we can safely assume that this is a big turning point in the Club's, and perhaps it's most successful manager's history, with the man once told by the ancien-regime autocracy in the board that they "do not want his sort" (another gem by Hill-Wood) now in full control.

Silent Stan has spoken, and it is high time that Arsenal Football Club does so too.

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