Don’t expect Silent Stan to invest heavily in team

STAN KROENKE may be worth £6billion, married to one of the richest women in the world and one of America’s biggest landowners — but that does not mean Arsenal fans should expect a rush of cash from their new owner. Quite the contrary, they should be worried where exactly the club lies in his list of priorities and whether it may mean a giant leap into even more fervent commercialisation of the Gunners brand. Silent Stan, as he is known in the States, is a serial owner of sports teams. He and his wife Ann together own six, from the Los Angeles Rams outfit in gridiron, to the Colorado Rapids in Major League Soccer. Such a buying spree is not built on a love of sport, it is all about the money. Born 71 years ago in the isolated town of Mora, Missouri — population 25 — among corn and bean fields, he went on to built a small fortune in real estate. But major wealth came when he married Ann Walton, whose family built the Walmart supermarket chain, the world’s largest. Together they redeveloped shopping malls during the Eighties consumer boom. Kroenke rarely speaks to reporters — so if Arsenal fans want a clue to his intentions, they are unlikely to get it. They should not expect him to cling to tradition, there will be no nostalgia when it comes to commercial decisions. A clue to his tenure then comes from his ownership of other sports franchises the Colorado Rapids, Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche, where he has fought not just to control the team, but the stadiums, TV networks and ticket revenues they generate. Those lucrative Arsenal matchday sales will be in his sights. Crucially, and unlike US sports which have found it hard to secure huge audiences overseas, Arsenal gives Kroenke a product he can export. If he can realise those potential billions from Asia, Silent Stan really will have something to shout about.