Stan Kroenke increases Arsenal stake after fans clamour for change in Emirates ownership

Arsenal majority shareholder Stan Kroenke today increasing his stake in the club to 67 per cent in spite of mounting fan unrest over his ownership.

The 68-year-old’s company Kroenke Sports Enterprise (KSE) UK Inc, of which he is the sole owner, paid £368,000 to acquire 23 ordinary shares in the club, taking his stake in Arsenal to 67.05 per cent.

It is the first significant change in the makeup of the company’s ownership since February, when Farhad Moshiri sold his stake to Alisher Usmanov as he began his takeover of fellow Premier League side Everton.

Kroenke faced mounting criticism in the final weeks of last season,with fans demanding he sold to Usmanov as part of a wider “time for change” protest targeted against the state of atrophy many supporters believe has enveloped the club.

Speaking after the win Wenger said he had received backing from the majority shareholder to spend “as much as he wants” in the pursuit of a first league title since 2004.The majority shareholder, who first invested in the club in 2011, made a rare visit to the Emirates for the Gunners’ last game of the season, a 4-0 victory over Aston Villa that secured second-place for Arsene Wenger.

“Stan Kroenke is completely behind myself and the board investing as much money as we want. It has to be in respect of a balanced budget, we have resources but the problem is finding players.”

Kroenke has rarely discussed his ownership of Arsenal but his comments in March caused outrage among fans, when he told the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference: “If you want to win championships then you would never get involved.”

In September KSE received a £3m payment for “strategic and advisory services” from Arsenal for the second successive year a decision the Arsenal Supporters’ Trust branded “extremely disappointed”.