Arsenal Supporters' Trust 'extremely disappointed' by £3M payment to Kroenke

Members of the Arsenal Supporters' Trust (AST) are furious after Kroenke Sports & Entertainment (KSE) - owned by Arsenal's majority shareholder, Stan Kroenke - received a £3-million payment from the club for a second straight year, as revealed by its financial results for the last fiscal year.

Kroenke owns 67.3 percent of Arsenal's shares and became the majority shareholder in 2011. Chairman Sir Chips Keswick defended last year's £3-million payment as good value, suggesting it was crucial to the club's progress.

A spokesman for AST said the trust is "extremely disappointed" that KSE was once again paid £3 million, adding that a survey of its members found 93 percent of respondents didn't believe the payment was justified.

"Over just two years, £6 million is a lot of money," the AST spokesman told the Guardian. "If there is spare cash floating around at Arsenal it would be better put toward investing in strengthening the squad, reducing ticket prices or ensuring all matchday staff, including those of contractors, receive the London Living Wage.

"Ivan Gazidis has reiterated that Arsenal runs on a self-sustaining model, where shareholders do not inject cash into the club. We support sustainability, but believe that money should not extracted by one shareholder either, as this is bad for other shareholders and all supporters, without whom the club would not exist, and breaches the principles of custodianship for which Arsenal used to be widely admired."

Alisher Usmanov, whose Red and White Securities owns 30 percent of Arsenal's shares, is reportedly unhappy about the payment as well and is expected to probe further into why it was made.