Josh Kroenke on behalf of the Kroenke family has been speaking with the Official Voice pages of the matchday programme. 

Read what Stan Kroenke's son says about Arsenal, Mikel Arteta and the future.

Looking back over this season, the first group of people I want to talk about is you – our fans.

What you have done this season is unite behind the team. Unity is a key word around the club – you will hear Mikel use it frequently – and there has been unity, from our supporters to our players, unity within our coaches, and unity amongst everyone across the club. It’s a big positive that’s only going to help us in the future.

In particular, it has been fantastic to see you get behind our young squad in such a positive manner. It’s very important and makes us so happy to have you behind us in this way and see that you are excited for a bright future.

It feels like there’s a young, fiercely loyal group of fans coming through, alongside those who have been with us for many seasons.

We’re a club that has an amazing history and you can hang your hat on that and also, we can build our club on that, but some of our younger supporters weren’t around for the amazing glory years which is what we are chasing today, with the help of all of you.

We have to honour past successes, respect the achievements, remember great players, coaches and decision-makers who put the club in a position to succeed, but also carve out our own niche with the great institution that is Arsenal Football Club. All of you are going to help us do just that.

On the pitch there have been experiences this season, positive and negative, that this team has gone through for the first time that will serve them very well going forward.

The team will learn and develop because we know we have the right culture at the club.

From a coaching standpoint, Mikel studies and works as hard as anyone in the game so I think that was always going to be there, but we have also worked on how we build on and respect Arsenal traditions, while carving out the future. It’s been a very exciting and fulfilling thing for me to see this season.

That foundation of culture is really being laid, from a young players’ standpoint but also from other players around the dressing room, like Granit Xhaka and Alex Lacazette for example, who have seen different things during their careers and have provided huge support to such a young group, which speaks volumes about them.

These senior players understand there will be bumps in the road and be patient as team-mates learn on the job. I think the senior players and the coaching staff have struck a fine balance this season and that’s how we made strong progress on the pitch.

As a club we need to make sure we are buying well, players who can elevate us in terms of quality but also players who are right from the perspective of culture and mentality and I think that showed on a number of occasions this season.

When our backs were against the wall with results and injuries we responded well. Yes, we’re in a tough position right now after the last few matches in terms of qualifying for the Champions League, but I think the lessons learned along the way will serve us very well going into the future. Sometimes feeling a level of frustration is the best motivation you can have.

In those tough moments, when we’ve had opportunities as a squad, as a staff, as a club, to fracture slightly, I think with this group and the mental fortitude that we have now, we all came closer together. Like the three defeats to start the season. I think those moments brought us closer together across the whole club and I think that’s what’s served us well.

We have a group of people that are very tightly knit and are passionate about Arsenal Football Club getting to the top of the European game and I think they have the work ethic to go ahead and get it.