Bacary Sagna had spoken out against the clubs deals and Arsene was questioned on this in a press conference. I can’t find the exact quotes but I remember Arsene telling the press that Sagna should not be speaking out about the club and just get on with his job. We know that Arsene defends his players and keeps matters in-house as best he can. Anyone who has followed Arsenal for the last 16 years will already know this but Arsene has also been giving us more and more as time has gone on

Mikel Arteta is charming, professional and quite clearly he is a winner. You can tell that in the way he speaks about the game so like many Gooners, I was very intrigued to read his interview in the Daily Mirror. Many blogs and fans have picked out a number of his quotes such as his deep frustration at our home defeat to Blackburn. We all feel that pain, we all see that ‘straight line’ to the final also, which makes it all the worse.

Arteta hasn’t been quite as derided as Arsene has for his ‘we are not too far away’ comments but I am bemused how this following comment has slipped under the radar, unless I turned up at the wrong party.

“The Champions League is massive. If we don’t get in those spots then it makes everything much more difficult.

“I think everybody knows that. I think the board knows that and hopefully this summer we’ll do something about it.”

On the face of it, it makes sense and I’d be stunned if there wasn’t a large percentage of nodding Gooners at that statement. We want to do better and add quality to the squad all very obvious. But Mikel Arteta is publicly talking about the board. I guess it could have other meanings such as, the board are unhappy about recent goings on and they will force Arsene to take their cash otherwise it is the guillotine for Arsene. Stan and the crew have been slipping in wads of cash into Arsene’s coat pocket but he keeps just leaving it on the desk at the end of the working day. You may buy that but I am struggling with that one to be honest.

Maybe, just maybe Mikel Arteta is doing what Arsene doesn’t do and that is point the finger. Perhaps Arteta has had enough of his manager taking the flack for not spending money or maybe there is no meaning whatsoever, just a passionate player hoping that the club move forward.

Bacary Sagna had spoken out against the clubs deals and Arsene was questioned on this in a press conference. I can’t find the exact quotes but I remember Arsene telling the press that Sagna should not be speaking out about the club and just get on with his job. We know that Arsene defends his players and keeps matters in-house as best he can. Anyone who has followed Arsenal for the last 16 years will already know this but Arsene has also been giving us more and more as time has gone on.

He let slip that profits needed to be made every season to pay for the stadium debts. He keeps hinting that he will tell us more in future if he write a book. Basically what I am trying to say is that I do not believe that Arsene has his very own credit card to the cash reserves. Nobody has told us that Arsene is entitled to the whole of the cash reserves, whatever they may well be at present and supporters have no idea what these have been saved for.

2014 has been underlined as the year that Arsenal take the next step forward financially. Like it or not, Arsenal FC is a club that has to generate it’s own cash. Even if it means buying Mata before CL qualification has been achieved. It has been the way the club has run for decades now and while it always keeps the club safe it has also hindered us in the past on the pitch. I have a hard time getting around the concept that a manager has £70m to invest into the squad when we are 5th in the table and he refuses to do so if he can. It then gets even more messy when you notice that only player sales has seen the club make profits. Perhaps money was only expected to go back in when the club is generating that sustainably. Selling your best players isn’t sustainable, but the landscape has changed thanks to Emirates sponsor, impending kit deal and new television money.

It would be typical if we had the extra financial backing that would prevent the club from having to make profit via player sales just as we do not make the top four for the first time in Arsene’s reign. In truth, the only worry I have of not making the top four is not being able to attract (footballistically or financially) Arsene’s top targets. I could live with a year without CL football if squad building continued just the way the manager had wanted, it may even give us a stronger domestic chance but that is worst case scenario stuff. We want to continue to eat Nandos chicken rather than Sams (I’m a classy guy you see).

Anyway, I am looking forward to the game tomorrow. Hoping that Santi Cazorla and Tomas Rosicky get 70 minutes together at least. I am trying to remain realistic but the romantic in me keeps envisaging one of those nights. It feels more exciting so I think I will hold onto that until full time.

Match preview tomorrow.

’til then.