Josh Kroenke has revealed the two reasons Arsenal sacked Unai Emery and urged interim boss Freddie Ljungberg to bring the smiles back to Arsenal.
Spanish manager Emery arrived at the Emirates last year having won a league title at PSG and three Europa Leagues at Sevilla.
But the 48-year-old struggled to prove his worth in the Premier League and finally lost his job on Friday morning following a demoralising Europa League defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt.
Kroenke says the Arsenal board decided to sack Emery after becoming ‘concerned’ by recent performances and because the club were beginning to ‘fall short of several goals’ that were set before the season started.
‘Like all of our fans and supporters around the globe, we’ve been concerned about our recent string of performances,’ the Arsenal director said.
‘We wanted to support Unai and his staff until we decided it was time to make a change and ultimately we came to that decision over the last several weeks as a group between myself, Raul, Vinai and Edu.
‘[It was a] very difficult decision. First and foremost Unai is a good man, someone that we all respect very much. His work ethic on a daily basis between him and his staff was fantastic.
‘Ultimately we started to fall short of several goals that we set. We still feel that we can achieve those goals this season, which is why we decided to make the change now.’
Former Arsenal midfielder Freddie Ljungberg has been placed in temporary charge of the Gunners and Kroenke has revealed what he expects from the club legend.
He added: ‘First and foremost Freddie has Arsenal DNA.
‘Obviously he was a player here for a number of years, the supporters know him very well and he’s worked diligently behind the scenes for the past several years, including the last year and a half or so with Arsenal again.
‘So it’s been great to have him around, he knows the club’s DNA and we feel he is the right person in the moment to take the club forward.
‘My message to Freddie and the players was let’s get back to basics and most importantly let’s get back to having some fun.
‘I think footballers are at their best when I see smiles on their faces and going out there and winning matches. That’s a winning formula to me.’
Kroenke also admitted Arsenal would take their time over naming a permanent successor to Emery, with a host of names being linked with the position.
‘Our process is already underway,’ the Arsenal chief said. ‘It’s going to be led by Raul, Vinai, Edu and Huss here internally.
‘I look forward to getting with them and working closely with them throughout this process.
‘Because of our confidence in Freddie we’re very fortunate that we’re going to be entering into our process and doing a thorough search and it’s about finding the right candidate, it’s not about finding the first candidate.’
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