Arsenal narrowly missed out on the 2023/24 Premier League title on the final day to Manchester City. Despite the trophyless campaign, the Arsenal fans aren’t actually wallowing in misery but looking forward to better things ahead.
It’s not just manager Mikel Arteta and the impressive players earning the praise, but also those who work behind the scenes. This includes a lot of appreciation for the work done by Josh Kroenke, the co-chairman at Arsenal and the owner Stan Kroenke’s son.
Josh is responsible for giving Arteta the time to build this project at Arsenal. He stood firmly behind the Spaniard in his difficult first few seasons, when the Gunners finished eighth and fifth respectively.
Kroenke not only backed the gaffer, but also helped to bring in the players he wanted and give Mikel full control of reshaping the squad as he pleased.
Now, Kroenke is earning his flowers from fans – who are absolutely delighted by him. Ahead of their trip to facing Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League quarter-final second leg last month (which they lost 1-0), some Arsenal fans debuted a catchy chant for Kroenke.
This goes like: “Josh Kroenke went to Spain in a Ford Fiesta, bought us back a manager, super Mik Arteta.”
This is a bit of a strange chant because the circumstances mentioned in it never happened. Arteta was poached from Manchester City where he worked as Pep Guardiola’s assistant coach and Kroenke didn’t have to travel to Spain, but to Manchester to convince Mikel.
It appears that the Gooners were inspired by the popular children’s rhyme ‘Yankee Doodle’ when it comes to creating this chant.
For those unknowing (if there are any), Yankee Doodle is a really catch children’s song. A basic one goes something like: “Yankee Doodle went to town riding on a pony, stuck a feather in his cap and called it macaroni.”
The Arsenal co-chairman looked pleased to discover the chant on him in Arsenal’s 2-1 win over Everton in the final game of the 23/24 campaign.
He’s definitely come a long way from seeing a majority of Arsenal supporters launch a ‘Kroenke Out’ campaign and hold protests outside the Emirates Stadium in 2021 when Spotify creator Daniel Elk voiced a desire to buy the club.
Fast-forward to the current stage and perhaps nobody in the Arsenal fanbase wants the Kroenke’s out anymore. Josh has become an undisputed favourite among the fans and also reassured supporters that Arsenal will keep pushing for major titles going forward and proudly claiming that ‘no one at the club will stand still’.
