Kroenke suffers fans' fury as Wenger admits qualifying for Champions League is more important than trophies

• FA Cup in 2005 was the last trophy won by Arsene Wenger's side

• Chief executive Ivan Gazidis tells AGM Arsenal will thrive under Financial Fair Play

• The Gunners are already 10 points off the pace in the Premier League

• Gazidis defended Wenger's record against big-spending rivals

By Sami Mokbel

PUBLISHED: 06:20 EST, 25 October 2012 | UPDATED: 17:41 EST, 25 October 2012

Stan Kroenke leaped to the defence of his Arsenal regime in the face of a fierce attack from club shareholders.

The Gunners board, including majority shareholder Kroenke, chief executive Ivan Gazidis and chairman Peter Hill-Wood, came under scathing criticism from supporters at the annual general meeting.

Testing times: Arsene Wenger spoke at the AGM - less than 24 hours after Arsenal's home defeat to Schalke

Big blow: Arsenal were beaten at home by Schalke in the Champions League on Wednesday night

Supporters are disillusioned with the perceived lack of investment in the playing squad and the cost of tickets.

Kroenke said: ‘I am ambitious for the club. We have an exciting future and our goal is to win trophies.’

Not even the silver-tongued Arsene Wenger could keep the heat off Arsenal’s board at Thursday's stormy AGM.

The manager did his best to placate irate fans who arrived intent on venting their anger at the top table.

Heated: Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis had to call for order at the AGM

But no amount of smooth talking was going to prevent the Gunners’ supporters from making their feelings clear.

Majority shareholder Stan Kroenke was roundly jeered by shareholders when refusing to provide a definitive answer on whether he has plans to take a dividend percentage out of the club coffers.

Similar treatment was dished out to chief executive Ivan Gazidis as he reeled off reasons why Arsenal will be in a financial position to compete in the transfer market for the world’s best players in two years.

Serious business: Majority shareholder Stan Kroenke (left), chairman Peter Hill -Wood and and Gazidis

‘We’ve heard it all before,’ yelled  shareholders as Gazidis spelt out why the club’s self-sustaining financial model means on-the-pitch success will follow in the not-too-distant future.

It’s hard not to have a degree of  sympathy with Arsenal supporters. No trophy since 2005, two successive summers of losing their best players and a team 10 points adrift of Premier League leaders Chelsea.

And if the heckling was not enough, there were even boos for the club’s 76-year-old chairman Peter Hill-Wood, whose patronising behaviour towards supporters angered shareholders.

Unpleasant viewing: Wenger (left) and Stan Kroenke (right) at the Schalke game on Wednesday night

As ever, Wenger tried his best but even the Frenchman could not ignore the fact divisions are starting to appear, particularly among the club’s fan base.

‘There seems to be a lot of dissatisfaction, I can understand that,’ said Wenger. ‘But we have to be united. I accept every different opinion but it looks to me like the modern world produces little groups of little opinion.

‘The little communities need to live together for the common strength of our club, for the good of Arsenal. Sometimes you can forget that. But if everybody is devastated when we finish third in the league, I promise I won’t be here when we finish 15th in the league.

'Players ask: are you in the Champions League? A new player doesn't want to know if you have won the League Cup.'

If only: Arsenal supporters would love to see the likes of Ibrahim Afellay in an Gunners shirt - the Schalke played swapped jerseys at the end of Wednesday night's Champions League clash at the Emirates

Wenger was the only top-table speaker afforded a round of applause. And it is important to add that the vitriol was in no way aimed at him.

It was not long after the 11.30am start that supporters started to convey their growing displeasure.
Why are the tickets so expensive? Why do we keep selling our best players? Why do we not spend heavily in the transfer market? Why does it cost £13.90 for fish and chips? The probing  questions kept coming from supporters fed up with paying top prices without getting trophies in return.

There was a cringeworthy moment for Gazidis when around 15 hands went up as the meeting was asked if anyone did not agree with his re-election as chief executive for another term.

But Hill-Wood’s reaction to Gazidis’s naysayers was on an altogether different scale of discomfort as he mumbled into his microphone: ‘The same lot again.’

Yes, Peter, the same lot again. The same lot who are facing an eighth season without silverware and want answers.

Gone: Arsenal sold their best player - captain Robin van Persie - to Manchester United in the summer