Whilst I have admired the approach used by Wneger in the past years of not buying or buying sparingly, I now believe that this is now an outdated practice. The gulf between the real competitors and ourselves is now just too wide. Even the young players that we have will at some point decide to find greener pastures because being hauman, they too are driven by succes and trophies on the mantle-piece. I believe that we are fast getting the reputation that so many Dutch clubs have had in the past - that is, seeking raw young talent from all corners of the world, nurturing and grafting them into potential world-beaters, and them giving them nothing else. This provides ideal opportunities for them to want to look for success elsewhere or be poached by managers who are more driven by immediate success.

I believe that where we have gone wrong is in the fact that we expect to win without the back up of some experience, which we have had ample opportunity and I would imagine, had sufficient funding for. The combination of youth and experience would have got us much greater success and the respectability we so depserately need. The reality is that we are no longer seen as a 'big boy on the block', as we have been for so long. More and more teams now believe that they can beat us and some have gone on to achieve that. This is largely due to the fact that we no longer command that presence (which experience brings) both on and off the pitch. For too long now we have had to put up with the label of being players of the most beautiful game on the pitch, but essentially, winners of nothing. And the shame and pain has to stop. 

This may sound extremely harsh to say but something needs to give...if we are to get the success we are so intent on reclaiming. I for one, do not want to be a fan of a top-eight club in the premieship or only be able to play in the about-to-be-revised second tier of european football. I certainly do not want to be a die-hard supporter of a club that almost wins everthing but ends up with nothing. Think about it, after our invincible season, we had no real tangible success...

I impress upon Wenger to make me eat some humble-pie by turning the situation around. Let me be another gooner who proudly takes his season seat and let me be the one who, once again, brags about the gunners being winners on match day.