For the second year running the Arsenal Supporters’ Trust held their Christmas get together in the Diamond Club lounge at Arsenal’s stadium.

As last year, it was timed to take place on the same day as an Arsenal board meeting, enabling directors to attend and meet Trust members. Over 100 of the latter turned up, and they were joined by four of the board – Danny Fiszman, Peter Hill-Wood, Ken Friar and most surprising of all, Stan Kroenke.

As a Trust member, I was fortunate enough to be in attendance myself. A very brief meeting was held in a corner of the Diamond Club to approve the Trust’s annual accounts, so most attendees were oblivious when Messrs Fiszman and Kroenke walked in and got themselves a drink at the bar. It was at this moment I managed to take the shot above with Trust board member Tim Payton in the centre.

It transpired that Arsene Wenger had been in attendance at the board meeting. When some of the directors spoke with supporters at the drinks do, they expressed their own discontent with the performance in Porto on Wednesday evening. There is an acknowledgment – even from our new American director – that things on the pitch need addressing, So it can only be hoped that the manager is making plans for January before supporter discontent rises to the extent that the wave of club level and hospitality box renewals that come round in February/March see many decide against signing on for more.

I spoke for a few minutes with Mr Kroenke. I have to say he is very personable, with much more of a humorous side than you’d imagine from his photos. His press people obviously do a good job of keeping him up with the coverage he’s been getting, as he referred to a piece in which he had been described as sinister. I thought for a moment it might have been written by my good self, but when I checked, I’d described him as ’menacing’. So that’s alright then!

Still, he was anything but in person. Maybe that was helped by his not having his WWF minder in tow. He was in Europe to visit a vineyard in Italy in which he has an interest, and had been there on Wednesday when Sir Chips Keswick and Fiszman were suffering in Porto. I was pleased he had been at the Arsenal Board Meeting as the club are going to have their work cut out getting back on an even keel with the doubt surrounding the property development experiment, of which more another time. Some fresh vigor is needed and Kroenke’s track record suggests he is capable of making a positive contribution. In tandem with the new CEO, it can only be hoped that the straightjacket of conservatism will be shaken off and things will start happening to noticeably improve aspects of an organization that seems to be going stale, in spite of the stadium move.

Kroenke was at pains to state that he had nothing to do with the appointment of Gazidis, as such a move would make him unpopular with his fellow MLS team owners, given that Gazidis is regarded as doing a good job over there. But he knows him well and is sure the club have made a good appointment. He’s certainly got his work cut out. And he referred to the game over here as ‘football’ rather than ‘soccer’, so he’s doubtless taken on board something of what he’s been told about the culture of the sport in this country. He got into the game because his son played it until he was 14, and at the time of the 1994 World Cup Finals, Kroenke Jr wanted to attend some of the games so his dad took him along. The MLS started a couple of years later and Kroenke bought the Rapids in 2004.

What was discussed with Wenger at the board meeting? Well, wouldn’t we all like to know. Of course, the Arsenal board are notoriously discreet, and affable as he was, the new director was giving nothing away.

The Trust had commissioned a cake to celebrate the club’s 122nd birthday, the do falling on the anniversary of Arsenal’s first ever match. It was cut by the chairman and scoffed by all and sundry. It was pretty big. A brief speech was given by Trust board member Nigel Phillips in which he thanked the directors for allowing them the use of the Diamond Club for the gathering. Here’s hoping it becomes an annual tradition, reflecting the board being in tune with the Trust’s concept of the legal owners of Arsenal being custodians of the club, which ultimately belongs to the supporters.

For details of how to become a member of the Trust yourself, for as little as £24 a year, click here.