FALSE 10: Patience and belief

“This club belongs to the fans, I love the club and I will support the club until I die, but I do not recognise my club and what happened just now, with them trying to join a league that would have been closed, makes no sense to me. They have been running the club like a company, not a football club, and they showed their hand" said Arsenal’s legend Thierry Henry way back in 2021. It was April, the fans were protesting over the club’s decision to join the Super League and the Arsenal legend, along with his former teammates Denis Bergkamp and Patrick Vieira wanted to be a part of a group which would buy Arsenal, with a help from Spotify owner Daniel Ek. The Swedish millionaire put a bid for the club, but was swiftly rejected by the owner, US billionaire Stan Kroenke, who already owns a number of clubs in various sports in America. Five years later, there are no bids for the club, Henry is not unhappy anymore and the club finally won their first Premier League title since 2004. The key words? Patience and belief.

It took the Gunners 22 years, 165 players, billions of euros and a couple of managers to do it, but they did. It also took a change of ownership as well, but unlike half of Europe, their American owners showed that not all USA investments will be bad. On the contrary. But when Kroenke family first came in as a minority owners with 9.9% of shares in 2007, they were not welcomed.

"Call me old-fashioned but we don't need Kroenke's money and we don't want his sort. Our objective is to keep Arsenal English, albeit with a lot of foreign players. I don't know for certain if Kroenke will mount a hostile takeover for our club but we shall resist it with all our might” said then chairman Peter Hill-Wood. Kroenke finally did it, first buying over 60% in 2011 and then buying out co-owner and Uzbekistani billionaire Alisher Usmanov in 2018. But Arsenal suffered during the battle between Usmanov and Kroenke and patience and belief was again required. But the fans didn’t have any and turned against their most successful manager Arsene Wenger. He left in 2018 and Kroenke era officially begun. Apart from wanting to join the Super League in 2021 (with all other big clubs), appointing Unai Emery was the only mistake they did since becoming 100% owners. But that ‘mistake’ led them to the manager which brought them the title in 2026. Many will rightfully argue that appointing a serial winner Emery is not a mistake, but that the circumstances were simply like that at the moment, and the first manager after Wenger failed miserably.

Arteta to get a pay rise, new budget ready for a forward

Kroenke family then appointed young Arteta and not only that, they brought in another former player, Brazilian Edu, who took over the sporting sector. A full rebuild was to begin, as in many American NFL clubs (like Kroenke’s owned LA Rams). When Arteta was appointed, Arsenal were 10th in the Premier League with 22 points and 5 defeats in 17 league matches. The Gunners finished that season as eight at the table, just like the following year, Arteta’s first in charge. And that was it, the Gunners never finished lower than fifth (2021/22). Fans were patient and believed in this former Arsenal duo who needed time to rebuild the team.

“When I came to Arsenal, I saw all the squad, with respect, almost everyone was over 26, 27, on big salaries and not performing. If you have those three elements, which club in the world wants to come here and buy one of our players? No-one. So how do you deal with that situation? You have to be strong and sometimes you have to make decisions. We need to sign younger players, on lower salaries, with better futures, who are hungry to take us where we want to go” he said back in 2024.

And so he did, in coordination with Arteta. The Spaniard learned a lot in the meantime, got the players he wanted and started to insert his ideas into the team. But during the next three seasons, Gunners finished second, and the fans started to lose patience again. And the belief in Arteta started to crumble. Slowly, but surely. But Kroenke showed patience and belief. Even when some fan sections were grumbling and thought that with so many seasons without winning anything maybe it was time to change the manager, the Americans showed full support and never doubted. And what Arteta did in return? He found the way to reinvent himself every season. He too was not satisfied with second places and tried hard to change what was needed. There were some things he couldn’t resolve, like many, many, referees’ and VAR mistakes in the last three seasons. So, he told his players just to ignore it and deal with it.

FALSE 10: And all of a sudden... Again, cannon thunder

Then it was the players. Whoever was not following his path, or didn’t want the title so bad, or simply was not good enough had to go, without much nostalgia. And we are not talking about some average players. Emiliano Martinez, Mesut Ozil, David Luiz, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette, Granit Xhaka, Aron Ramsdale, Oleksandr Zinchenko are some of the names which Arteta ruthlessly got rid of. Many of them were team captains, many of them were not even old, but still had to go. But that was not all and it wasn’t enough to win the title. So, a change of tactics were needed. While Arsenal finished second, they played the most attracting football in England. Soon, the fans were tired of that too, as they looked Manchester City on the podium every season.

Edu reveals tough moments at Arsenal

So, in 2025/26, Arteta changed that as well. The Gunners became more boring than Burnley, and all TV pundits (especially former Manchester United players) were moaning that the Gunners are the worse and they shouldn’t be champions, because of their style of play. But, they were winning. Sure, they had their moments of bad runs (like all clubs do), and yes, they ‘caught’ Manchester City in a season when they were rebuilding, but who cares? They won! Mikel Arteta found the way, despite the grumbling fan base, despite the envy former United’s players, and despite VAR mistakes. He had belief and patience in his players, like the owners, who believed in him.

ENGLAND PREMIER LEAGUE ROUND 38

Sunday

18.00: (1.90) Brighton (4.15) Man.Utd. (3.65)

18.00: (2.40) Burnley (3.40) Wolverhampton (2.95)

18.00: (4.60) Crystal Palace (3.60) Arsenal (1.80)

18.00: (2.90) Fulham (3.75) Newcastle (2.30)

18.00: (1.85) Liverpool (4.05) Brentford (3.80)

18.00: (1.33) Man.City (6.00) Aston Villa (7.50)

18.00: (3.20) Nott.Forest (3.75) Bournemouth (2.10)

18.00: (3.60) Sunderland (3.45) Chelsea (2.05)

18.00: (1.93) Tottenham (3.50) Everton (4.00)

18.00: (1.87) West Ham (3.90) Leeds (3.85)

* odds are subject to change