Puma will be handing over some rather large suitcases of cash to slap their cat across our kit. Roughly £30m a season according to reports which includes some front loading action, a little like the Emirates deal which assuming likes of Manchester United have been living in different worlds. Alex Ferguson has done a remarkable job in building trophy winning teams and he is to be congratulated for his work in what is now known as his final season

Arsenal are not kicking a ball until the weekend but today has already been a crazy day of football for us. Firstly the Mirror broke the news that Puma will be handing over some rather large suitcases of cash to slap their cat across our kit. Roughly £30m a season according to reports which includes some front loading action, a little like the Emirates deal which assuming will be wheeled under the nose of the manager for the summer.

When you consider that we were being paid roughly £9.86p for combined kit and stadium deals up until now, you can see how roughly £60m a year from new commercial deals will catapult us into a different bracket.

The club have been saying this for some time now, they have been banging on about 2014 as the year where things can change for the better not that everyone wanted to listen mind.

Some have convinced themselves that the club are thieves of the night, pick pocketing fans and sticking the cash at the bottom of the boards own personal wardrobes.

I have long held the belief that we need to wait until the summer before we can judge as to how to far we have come. If we need to make more than we spend this time then I will hold my hand up and admit that something is a little fishy but with the new deals plus the increased television cash should mean that stadium debt repayments and any other debts should be sorted without the need to mention any of our current players.

It just goes to show that Arsenal and the likes of Manchester United have been living in different worlds. Alex Ferguson has done a remarkable job in building trophy winning teams and he is to be congratulated for his work in what is now known as his final season of management. But while we are all mentally wriggling around in new cash, Manchester United have been pulling in plenty more than that and for some time now.

Losing players to big wages or stumping up the cash for top shelf targets has never been a problem for the old enemy. Even in the good old days when oil money had yet to exist in the game in the same way it does today, we were still streets behind Manchester United commercially, not as it was post Emirates but still far enough to say blimey, we need to catch up. Since then we have had to chop our spend big time while Manchester United had to increase theirs to compete with Chelsea and then Manchester City.

Maybe these new deals have brought the two clubs closer to 2004 rather than 2009 for example. Still not on the same level which can I say is not something to be ashamed of. Manchester United are perhaps the wealthiest club in world football, comparing our sponsorship deals with theirs and getting annoyed is a little silly.

Arsene has been a little hit and miss in the transfer market in the last few years, it is difficult to argue otherwise. Chamakh, Squillaci, Park, Santos and one or two others haven’t been able to make the grade for one reason or another. Mainly quality so Arsene will have to step up another level to push us closer to the top and give us a fighting chance in all competitions. With more spending power behind him, he now has a chance to bring in the players he wants rather than trying to find alternatives to those players who instead move to Chelsea, Man City and so on.

Speaking of Chelsea, the game tonight against the chicken hoppers is so important to all three clubs, especially us North Londoners. While I have been staining my perfectly white and ironed y-fronts at the prospect of another bloody late Gareth Bale winner, I have almost forgotten about the alternative. A Chelsea home victory while putting third out of reach, we will have a big advantage for the fourth place. Anyway, I don’t want to talk too much about that game, it will unfold how it unfolds. There is no jinxing or double reverse jinxing, what will be, will be.

I really want us to finish in the top four though and it is not for the competition so much, although I would miss it if we were absent for even just one year. It is because I want this to be as good a summer as possible, leaving aside the hefty financial advantage it gives you it is more about the players you target.

Arsene may have a list of four strikers for example that he wants in order of priority but the top two will only leave for guaranteed Champions league football. In a year where we could be filth rich for a change, I want that number 1 striker, buying striker 3 or 4 isn’t ideal when trying to close 20 point gaps. It is even worse when you consider the possibility that number 1 striker may join Tottenham instead.

Anyway, what are you worried about? Can’t this wait until the summer for goodness sake? There are two more games and 6 points to play for. Get a grip I say.

’till tomorrow.