David Dein’s name was mentioned a few times during the Q&A. This rather strange perception that David Dein was the messiah that brought us trophies is utter madness. David Dein did not push Arsene into buying players. David Dein did not send his personal scouting system around the world to find talents like Vieira, Petit, Anelka, Overmars, Ljungberg, Pires etc etc It was the manager. When David Dein was around we were not scrimping and saving, fighting against huge investment with one arm

Yesterday I was apprehensive yet a little excited to see how Ivan Gazidis would handle the shareholders questions. I was glued to Twitter as there were a few kind souls who kept us all updated.

Gazidis must have expected an evening of very tough questioning, the fans anger and frustration has been clear. The club are not stupid, they read the blogs, they hear the phone-in shows on various radio stations.

The club know how the fans feel at present and I am sure Gazidis was prepared for the onslaught. Some of which I thought was understandable.

Issues such as the players acknowledging the away fans after every game is a must and I am surprised that this still has not been addressed. Why has the cost of Silver membership increased so dramatically and why are reserve games no longer shown. There were many more good questions being put to Gazidis and the club.

There was a pretty negative tone towards the manager and his coaches which I found somewhat distasteful. We all have our opinions on the squad but that is all they are. More than ever, there seems to be this know it all attitude of some supporters where they feel far more involved than they are.

There certainly appears to be this football manager mentality where all of a sudden everyone is an expert. Because of this criticism on the manager increases.

I scratch my head when I hear people say ‘Right, I will give Wenger one more year to get this right or he can go’

Are some people playing Football Chairman 2011 in their minds. It is down to the people who run the club and not myself or any other Arsenal supporter. 

If I had a penny every time I read the phrase ‘if I can see it then why can’t Wenger’ then I would be filthy rich right now. The decisions on the playing side is taken by the manager, he is the guy who has won actual trophies, the guy who gets paid to make real decisions and not spurt out random opinions like ‘Lorik Cana’ is the missing piece and then have absolutely no responsibility for that opinion.

Names, formations, systems are too easily thrown around without enough knowledge on those subjects and everyone has the answer.

We have failed to take the next step to win trophies, there is no doubt about that. Fingers need to be pointed in the direction of both players and manager but at the same time context needs to be applied to that criticism.

The question was put to Gazidis about the managers future and would he envisage a time when he may have to fire Wenger. Gazidis’ answer was clear.

“We 100% support Arsene. We’re 100% behind him. I 100% support him and think he’s done a fantastic job through what’s been a difficult period for this club. Bare in mind we’ve been in competition with clubs that have essentially unlimited spending power. Other clubs like Manchester United generate far more revenue than we do and in that environment I think Arsene has done a remarkable job of making sure we stay at the top end of the game”

We can kick and scream about not winning trophies and that includes myself, we can point the finger at what we believe is missing from the squad and which other managers around Europe may have done better in certain situations but let us not ignore context. Who is our competition? what are their resources? and have they managed to get in a better position than we have with less tools?

I am not suggesting that we should not question the manager. I believe that with the squad we had and the position we found ourselves in, we should have won the league. Whatever Wenger was doing in the run in was obviously not good enough. Something went badly wrong and he must shoulder some of that responsibility. But we are in a position where we can build and improve. Wenger and Gazidis have made it clear that this is the intention.

David Dein’s name was mentioned a few times during the Q&A. This rather strange perception that David Dein was the messiah that brought us trophies is utter madness. David Dein did not push Arsene into buying players. David Dein did not send his personal scouting system around the world to find talents like Vieira, Petit, Anelka, Overmars, Ljungberg, Pires etc etc

It was the manager. When David Dein was around we were not scrimping and saving, fighting against huge investment with one arm tied behind our backs, also known as the Emirates stadium debt.

Our arm is being gradually freed as the months go by and the debt is decreasing. I think we will see more and more investment into the squad over the coming transfer windows.

Getting back to the Q&A I thought Gazidis spoke very well, came across as understanding and also told people what they wanted to hear. He has a good way of doing that. Many people say that Arsene is the king of spin, I don’t agree with that at all. I believe that he speaks his mind most of the time and sometimes should hold back with some of his opinions as they are not always what supporters want to hear.

One subject that pretty much everyone can agree with and enjoy is the prospect of shiny new incoming players. Apparently Wenger and Gazidis have been working hard behind the scenes and have spoken to a number of targets.

Lille have apparently confirmed that we are in advanced talks with Gervinho although it seems that we have not yet agreed a deal with the club. As long as Lille do not start playing silly buggers then I expect him to be an Arsenal player in the next few weeks.

According to Sky Sports, we are stepping up our interest in Chris Samba. Not quite sure what stepping up means. No quotes, no evidence of any stepping up or down. I get the feeling that they just wanted to write another article about Samba and Arsenal.

Imagine if there was absolutely no truth to any of the Samba or Cahill interest from Arsenal. That would be hilarious. Apart from the media, which proof is there that we are trying to sign these players?

Agents? Arsenal? Blackburn? Bolton? Nada, zilch, nuffink. I think we just need to sit tight and wait for things to happen. You’ll go mad if you don’t.

Back tomorrow mad people.