http://youngguns.wordpress.com/2008/07/04/...erican-academy/


Jens would love more Americans at Arsenal :lol:. I'd like to see some more too. We had Simek and Karbassiayoon (sp?). Nice to see Kroenke is trying to help us and i do like the sound of the 'Arsenal cup'.

:clap: KRANKY!!! :scarf:

I think that's right. I hate the idea of Kranky doing a takeover -- always have -- but have also always loved the idea of him getting involved with Arsenal under the current ownership structure.

Can anyone remind me? How clear are we that Kranky ever wanted to takeover? I think Dein wanted him to takeover, but seems to me that as soon as PHW made clear that Dein was persona non grata, Kranky severed those relations.

Not something I'd shout about too much :coffee:

I think Stan the man certainly showed interest in buying Arsenal, but clearly got told the board were not prepared to sell, and now apparently has been offered a place on the board so it's good.

If anyone had to take over i would like Stan the man, i said that when he was first linked with a takeover.

Don't say that... Frankie Simek is Jens' hero!!

It's going to get real interesting over the next 12/24 months. Its almost like Arsenal are stuck in the middle of the 'devil and angel' scenario, one on each shoulder. Kronke has now played himself into most people's good books, going quiet after the initial backlash, biding his time and reading the situation correctly, knowing he has to make friends first. He's doing and saying all the right things and perhaps he has our interests at heart, I don't know but his long term objective is the same now as it was when Dein first got him involved. Usmanov has perhaps continued to play the dirty way, threatening legal action against articles on the web and supposedly getting Dein to stir things up with ever increasing newspaper articles.

If Usmanov changed his tack, would he then be able to win over the fans like Kronke seems to have done?

What I find amazing is how the fans have opened their arms to Kranky after the Fat Russian and the Devil signed a pact together, when before the Fat Russian and the Devil went to bed with one another, Kranky was arguably the most hated figure amongst Gooners.

I was always happy with Kranky being involved with Arsenal :good:

Krankyist. <_<

I think its because Kronke has played it slow and made friends after seeing the initial reaction. Usmanov then made it easier for Kronke to gain popularity by not only taking on Dein, who at the time was an outcast from most fans ironically for bringing Kronke to us but by threatening law suits and trying to push in when he thought there was some confusion with the Arsenal board.

You gotta love Stan the man or Kranky the Yanky :good:

:unsure:

About Kranky:

I'm pretty sure -- though I might misremember -- that the first we heard about Kranky was through the early talk of the Arsenal-Rapids partnership. And then that Kranky was gonna run something online (I forget what -- ATVO?) for the club. Only after that did we start hearing about the takeover and Dein and PHW didn't want his type and all heck broke lose.

As far as I know it's possible that Kranky wanted to takeover from the beginning, and still does. Or it's possible that he saw a takeover as attractive (nothing wrong with that) and was led to believe by Dein that the club would be open to it; but then balked at conducting a hostile takeover. Kranky's not had much to say publicly (something else I like about him) so it's hard to know what his thoughts were at each step in the affair.

So while of course it's impossible to know what lies in the deep hollow of Kranky's heart, his initial moves were all in concert with the current ownership and his current moves are the same. That's enough for me. It leads me to believe that he thinks the best way to work things are to become part of the ownership rather than taking it over.

About Kranky v. Usmanov:

I think it'd be much more difficult for Jabba to get on the good side of Gooners, than it has been for Kranky, for 3 reasons:

1. Most of the bad press about Kranky came from stuff David Dein did and said. If you step back, you'll find there was very little that Kranky did or said that was offensive. (Mostly because he did/said very little, period.) Jabba, on the other hand, has employed some disgusting strong-arm tactics from the beginning, with the blogs and all.

2. Even if Jabba started making the rights moves and sounds, he still wouldn't have the solid track record with 3 (and a half) successful sports teams that Kranky does. One of those teams has involved Kranky as a leader in the kind-of-visionary movement to try to bring soccer to America. I don't think someone would get involved in the sport at that level -- when most people think you'll fail -- if he didn't love the sport.

3. Kranky doesn't have a brutal human rights record and intimate partnership with, possibly, the most offensive totalitarian regime in the world. (Okay, possibly the 2nd-most, after North Korea.)

Maybe -- maybe -- if Jabba lost the weight and was trim and grew a cheesy mustache like Stan the Man, he could make friends. But I doubt it. He'd still have all that blood on his hands.