Josh Kroenke Says Covid Silence Helped Mikel Arteta Rebuild Arsenal

Arsenal co-chair Josh Kroenke believes football behind closed doors during the Covid-19 pandemic gave manager Mikel Arteta the breathing space needed to rebuild the club and awaken what he described as a “sleeping giant”.

The Kroenke Sports and Entertainment group completed its full takeover of Arsenal in 2018, but the early years of their ownership were marked by supporter unrest and questions over the club’s direction.

A year later, the club appointed former Arsenal midfielder Arteta as head coach, handing him his first senior managerial role after the departure of Unai Emery.

Results were far from convincing in the early stages. Arsenal finished eighth in the Premier League in back-to-back seasons, although Arteta guided the side to FA Cup success in 2020.

The Spaniard, however, has since transformed the club and delivered Arsenal’s first Premier League title in 22 years after six and a half seasons in charge.

Kroenke said Arteta’s personality and belief made him stand out from the beginning.

“Anybody that gets a chance to be around Mikel, you can buy into what he’s selling pretty easily,” Kroenke said.

“So I don’t want to give myself or my father any credit.

“I think Mikel and his staff and our players are the ones that earned those rights to have the patience in those moments by the amount of work and energy they were putting in behind the scenes.”

Kroenke also reflected on the unusual conditions created by the Covid-19 pandemic, suggesting the absence of supporters inside stadiums eased pressure on the team during a critical rebuilding phase.

“I don’t know if I would ever acknowledge it, or Mikel or anybody. There was something about Mikel having a little bit of what I would say ‘space’ during Covid when there weren’t fans around,” he said.

“There were some growing pains that went on during matches, different moments, and obviously we won the FA Cup, but to not have that extra pressure of fans being on top of you at different points in time when we were going through different growth phases was probably something I don’t think any of us would acknowledge in the moment.

“But, looking back I think we can say ‘maybe that was a little bit of a benefit’.”

Kroenke admitted Arsenal went through a turbulent period after the departure of long-serving manager Arsene Wenger and former chief executive Ivan Gazidis.

“There was a lot of heavy lifting going on behind the scenes at the club at that point in time,” Kroenke said.

“We went through a big transition from Arsene, obviously a legendary person and manager.

“Transitioning to a new era after 22 years was going to be difficult.

“One: it was taking the club private that summer.

“Two: You had a legendary manager moving along, us trying to reinvent ourselves.

“Third: An underestimated thing for me on the back end was Ivan Gazidis’ departure.

“For a club of our stature, change is going to be healthy but that was way too much change in way too short of a period of time.”