So, another season gone, another season without silverware and, as usual the knives are out for anyone who can be held responsible, Wenger, Flamini, Hleb, Adebayor??, even Rosicky and Van Persie have been blamed purely for being injured

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By: Rupert Scott

So, another season gone, another season without silverware and, as usual the knives are out for anyone who can be held responsible, Wenger, Flamini, Hleb, Adebayor??, even Rosicky and Van Persie have been blamed purely for being injured.

The beauty of being a fan of the beautiful game is the ups and downs this comes with and with Arsenal there are always plenty to draw on.

I would first like to speak to the critics of the Professor. Arsene Wenger is widely regarded as the greatest manager in the world and, whilst we have been lacking in silverware in recent years I see no reason for people to run out of faith in the genius of Arsene. How quickly people forget the claims that Spurs would be replacing us in the top four, that our team could not perform without Henry… How wrong they were, Spurs didn’t manage a top ten finish let alone top four and, having led the premiership for most of the season we ran out of steam towards the end and suffered hugely from the injuries to some key players. In all then how can Wenger be criticised for what Spurs fans must see as the equivalent of turning water into wine!!! Moreover we achieved this whilst maintaining our position as the team the majority of neutrals would still want to watch.

There are lows in every season and for me one of them will be mattieu Flamini leaving the club at the point of him starting to achieve his potential however if it is right for him to go then it is right for him to go. Arsenal will never be held to ransom over money, nor will we compromise ourselves as a club due to the demands of one individual. I do with mattieu all the best in Italy and hope he continues to find the inspiration he found with us.

In terms of the depth to the squad, we already have a suitable replacement for Flamini in the form of the bizarrely familiar face and stature of Diaby. I expect great things of him and feel that next season will be his chance to shine as this season was for Flamini.

There are comments on websites suggesting that Adebayor is at some point at fault for our inconsistent finish to the season, this is the same Adebayor who has scored 30 goals for us in all competitions and has more than filled the vacant boots of the iconic Henry. The same vacany has also allowed for the emergence of Theo Walcott, a terror to defences up and down the country who is looking likely to become one of the greatest forwards to put on the shirt. We also now have Song making an impact in the squad and what an impact he is making. The same can be said for Mark Randall who very nearly scored his first premiership goal on the last day of the season. we also have Carlos Vela the prodigious young striker coming back from Spain to boost the attack not to forget the outstanding performances put in by Sagna and Clichy, arguably the two best wingbacks in the country.

So, all these people looking to find fault with a club that is still not surviving from the donations of Communist blood money or taking the dollar out of the American dream (an American dream that doesn’t include football). People so easily forget that we are the only club in the big four still run as a football club, still working to a P&L, still finding diamonds in the rough and turning them into the greatest players the world has ever seen. We won’t become a club that buys big name players who are past their prime and are only in it for the money. The dream of Arsenal is to ‘make’ players because they play for us, not to pay over the odds for someone who might not work.

In a sport that is now dominated by money and is becoming more dominated by the manipulations and “quick buck” scenarios created by the agents we are the diamond in the rough I was referring to. We play with passion, we unearth the stars of the future and we will continue to do so as long as we keep Arsene working his magic and retain the very core that makes us who we are as a club

something that the rest of the “big four” really wish they still had.

The future is more than bright. The future is cannon-shaped