Arsenal fan groups, including the Black Scarf Movement, are planning a protest against the club during Saturday’s match against Norwich.
Arsenal fans planning a protest against the club for Saturday’s match against Norwich have toldGoal why they will raise banners in the 12th and 78th minute at Emirates Stadium.
The Gunners have seen their title challenge dissipate over the past few weeks and can no longer mathematically win the Premier League after Leicester’s 4-0 win over Swansea last weekend.
It’s been a season of turmoil in the red side of north London with much of the criticism from Arsenal fans being targeted at manager Arsene Wenger and majority shareholder Stan Kroenke.
“I think the problems at the club are multiple and there is a lot of discussion at the club about who is to blame,” said King.
“There’s a large segment of fans who think it’s driven by the board and that the board has very little football experience on it and is only interested in doing what the owner wants – which is driving profitability and keeping a healthy cash balance.
“We feel that Kroenke uses that to benefit his US sports ‘franchises’ and particularly when he’s moving the St Louis Rams to Los Angeles. There’s a large segment of fans who feel the board are not driving the quest for success on the pitch and then there’s obviously another large section of fans who blame the manager and to a certain extent the players as because they’re obviously the ones on the pitch.”
Wenger’s side have only won four of their last 13 games and fans have begun to voice their concerns at the reasons behind the season collapse.
Kroenke has previously been lambasted for his Kroenke Sports and Entertainment LLC company receiving payments of £3m over the last two years for what has been described as “strategic and advisory services”.
“We all know he’s got the nickname ‘Silent Stan’ for a reason,” said King.
“People want to see an owner and board who have a commitment to maximizing our chances of competing at the top level. When you see nothing at all and that the owner two years running has taken £3m out of the club for spurious reasons which you can never get a proper answer from them at the AGM about, then you have to question his motives for owning Arsenal Football Club.”
It’s currently unknown how many people will hold up the placards during Saturday’s game, but fellow Arsenal fan group RedAction have also released a statement claiming that “the fans’ ambitions are not matched by those in charge”.
“We’ve seen lots of people say enough is enough and it’s time there were changes at the club; be that across the board and the manager as well,” King continued.
“At Arsenal the fans who go to the games can be quite apathetic, hence the problems we have with the atmosphere. On social media you’ll see lots of people saying ‘time for change’, ‘we’ve got a protest’ – but a lot of those are people aren’t going to the game.
“If they’re not going to be at the game holding up the A4 sheet then they’re almost a voice in the wilderness. What could influence it is how the game goes. I could say to you we’re expecting 5 to 10 thousand people to take part but that could change on the day based on the game.”
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