Just had an OMG moment after I read this, posted by a Colorado fan on the Guardian's comments re the ruinous ownership of Villa and (a favourite team of mine) Charlton.
It occurs to me - and I may be being OTT pessimistic as it's my nature - that Wenger might be the one persuading Stan to spend money on the likes of Sanchez and Ozil, rather against Stan's will. Stan likes cheap and Wenger doesn't come cheap.
No doubt the Kroenke problem is a far greater one than the Wenger one though. Much harder to change owner than manager (goes to pour stiff drink and lie down):
Here's a Colorado fans' opinion of Stan Kroenke (LA Rams, Denver Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche and Arsenal).
No discussion of bad owners is complete without Kroenke (KSE).
He is to sports teams what cancer and AIDS are to human beings [direct quote, sorry].
Good example; our stadium was not originally built specifically for the Rapids. It was built for a real estate development deal. He honestly figured the Rapids would fold within 5 years of the stadium being but. That's why the seats in the stadium aren’t team colors...he didn't think the Rapids would last. He even wanted to deactivate the club for the 2006 season, but the league wouldn't let him. He owns land downtown that would have been a good fit for a stadium. Instead, he built it in a poor suburb because he could get a sweet deal on development rights and kickbacks from the municipality.
He's extremely cheap. He understaffs front offices [FO] and does not give them resources needed to be on par with the rest of the league. Moreover, he puts his staff in bad situations, and regularly chases off the effective/successful people because they cost too much to keep on payroll. Anytime the club managed to get a potentially lucrative corporate sponsorship deal, KSE would steal it away and give it to the Avs and Nuggets.
We still have the smallest FO in the league.
We historically have had one of the lowest player payrolls in the league. This year is a complete anomaly, and I'm honestly worried that if the team doesn't show noticeable success with the current roster, ownership will then use that as an excuse to never sign expensive players again.
They habitually hire the cheapest person available when there is a coaching vacancy. Clavijo, Smith, Pareja, and Pablo were all cheap hires.
We were the last team in the league to get a shirt sponsor...by a country mile.
We were one of the least teams to sign a DP. Even then, our first real DP with a salary above $1,000,000 was only acquired just last year.
In the 9 years DSGP has been around, He has been to less than five games at DSGP (this includes non-Rapids events).
...and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.