More often than not, the sleepless nights are about the heartbreak, the disappointment, the anguish and the despair. They’re about the anger and disgust for the punditocracy and the hacks who consider it open season on Arsenal.

You can almost taste the bile from the disdain and contempt in which Arsenal is held in the footballing media circles from Sly Sports to the BBC, from Talk Spite radio to the tabloids. There’s a macabre-esque enjoyment of Arsenal’s agony in every sense – and when we say it’s a conspiracy, we’re called paranoid.

Today though, there’s so much to say and write about such an amazing day for the spirit of Arsenal football club. For that however, I’d like to encourage you to visit ACLF where my friend Yogi has written a wonderful piece that captures the emotion and captures the moment. As George our resident pedant puts it, for all the days of anguish that Yogi has kept our sanity, it’s days like these that he deserves the stage to express the magic of the moment.

I have chosen today instead to focus on Arsenal’s most influential unsung hero, Mr Laurent Koscielny. There’s more than enough analysis all over the internet and the media of the now legendary shafting of the heathen horde at Stamford Bridge.

You see, the problem with the English football establishment is that there’s a collective determination to exercise cultural incompetence of breath-taking magnitude. Take the lack of understanding of the fundamentals of football business and finance. English football is the only place on this planet where people still think it’s OK to spend the GDP of most developing countries just to chase trophies.

It’s either a brazen and reckless disregard of the laws of economics as they pertain to football, or spectacular incompetence from a collective that has the IQ of a fence post. It’s the sort of culture that equates high spending to quality, notwithstanding the fact that the rationale for the market pricing is fundamentally flawed. How can it be justifiable for example for Andy Carroll to cost more in transfer fees than Thomas Vermaelen and David Silva combined.

So when the Arsenal scouting system pluck Laurent Koscielny from the wilderness of the French league, he is considered a pariah since he doesn’t conform to the text book definition of a Premiership defender. It’s almost like it’s a crime that they don’t know him so he can’t be that good. Koscielny’s not only fighting the PR battle against the football media and pundits, he’s had to contend with undeserved criticism from Anti-Arsenal Arsenal supporters.

Yet this brilliant young man has something that a lot of defenders don’t have. He is tenacious, dependable, perceptive and applies himself with finesse. He is a dogged defender with absolute class when it comes to the art of intercepting, one on one defending and recovery defending. He is exceptional in the air and excellent in working with the ball on the ground.

Koscielny is also silky in offence and has an uncanny ability to convert defence into attack with one touch football. A very confident player with the ball, he links up very well with the midfield and is perhaps one of the best ball playing defenders around.

The fact that people still talk about Arsenal needing quality defenders without paying Koscielny any respect for what he is currently doing is an insult of the highest order in my humble opinion. If Koscielny isn’t one of the best defenders in the league, I don’t know who is.

In yesterday’s post match punditry by Sly Sports, the punk Jamie Redknapp had the audacity to suggest that Laurent Koscielny had now arrived after that performance against Chelsea. As I was reminded, Jamie was probably the only person in the country who didn’t notice Lionel Messi in Koscielny’s pocket when Arsenal beat Barcelona with panache in perhaps the greatest match of football ever played in an Arsenal stadium.

From the first game that Koscielny played at Anfield, it was so obvious that the boy oozed class. And I gather it’s not just the class. I know a few female Gooners who are willing and ready to copulate with the guy and bear his children.

Granted, he has made some mistakes – but point out to me a defender in the league who walks on water. The media even hail Sideshow Bob at Chelsea as the second coming of defensive messiahs. That’s David Luiz in case you’re wondering who Sideshow Bob is.

If Luiz was that good – why the hell didn’t he play to stop the horror show at Stamford Bridge yesterday. Even after they wax lyrical and go sycophantic about Luiz because he cost £24m while Koscielny cost a few bob according to them, you can’t hide from the fact that Laurent Koscielny stands head and shoulders above the Brazilian defender. Everything they say about Luiz, you can say that about Koscielny with compound interest.

Let’s not forget, Fernando Torres might as well have been sitting on the bench yesterday, that’s how effective Koscielny was. He’s done it to Messi, he’s done it to Rooney and he’s done it to Drogba – and folks still think of this guy like a step child from the wrong side of the rail tracks.

And yet, Gooners around the world are debating who will lose their place in central defence to accommodate the equally magnificent Thomas Vermaelen.

I think people are missing the point. The question is not who will partner Thomas Vermaelen in central defence. The more substantive question is out of Vermaelen, Mertesacker and Djourou, who will be Laurent Koscielny’s preferred partner.

My sense is that Vermaelen and Koscielny will be Arsenal’s first choice central defensive pairing, but if you take it that there will be suspensions and injury as well as the need for tactical changes to counter different opposition – there’s enough games to go around for everyone.

The most exciting thing for me is that Koscielny, Vermaelen, Mertesacker and Djourou are either 25 or 26 years of age. The central defensive solutions at Arsenal for the next 8 to 10 years are on solid ground, notwithstanding the fact that young shining lights like Ignasi Miquel and Kyle Bartley are on hand to complement the squad depth.

Dont forget, if you haven’t yet, follow Stone Cold Arsenal on Twitter and join the growing community. We’re trying to find out where Bruce “We’ll beat the crap out of Arsenal” is hiding.

Here I was thinking it couldn’t get any worse, but believe it or not, the Philistines are in town. They say bedlam is taking over. They’re taking no prisoners as the battle to control the asylum thickens.

“Bring me the head of Arséne Wenger” is the deafening refrain that can be equally heard from the shadowy alleyways around the Holloway road and the ether that is the Arsenal blogosphere.

Sir Harry Pearce and his Spooks have gawked in amazement at the sheer noise and traffic that is overwhelming their listening stations only to find that bitching about Arsenal is spiking internet traffic like a nonsense. Off he sends Dimitri and Malcolm (no wait, Malcolm left the service, right?) – it’s minimum wage Tariq – Yeah, off he sends Tariq to redirect the Arsenal chatter on the web to the Samaritans website and TheSuicideBunker.com.

“If those Arsenal bastards want to commit suicide, then get them off my frigging grid before I blow a gasket”, Sir Harry demands. We’ve got the Russians to deal with.

Meanwhile, at the Islington Cathedral, the masses file into the church awaiting the arrival of the doomed casket carrying the remains of ArsenalHasNotWonATrophyFor7YearsAndHaveOnlyGot16PointsFromTheLast16Games FC. The casket slowly navigates the streets of Islington towards the cathedral in a cortege flanked on either side by twin cannons mounted on top of carriages drawn by the 4 horses of the apocalypse.

Sly Sports News lead the procession with Mr Transfer Deadline Day himself – Jim White marching as he blows the trumpet to the tune of “Judgment Day”, as Jeff Stelling, Paul Merson and Phil Thompson sing along with gusto that would put the town crier to shame.

The front pews of the cathedral are filled by a smug Red nosed Ferguson and his lackeys Alex McLeash, Tony Pulis, Sam Allardyce and Phil Brown. Happy Harry sits in the row behind though he’s constantly occupied on his Blackberry trying to confirm whether his case file with Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs was hidden in the imminently arriving ArsenalHasNotWonATrophyFor7YearsAndHaveOnlyGot16PointsFromTheLast16Games FC casket.

As the Right Reverend Alan Brazil of the Talk Spite parish rises to meet the casket, the multitude stand and join in a solemn chorus of “Kumbayah my Lord Kumbayah – Arsenal’s dying Lord Kumbayah”.

“But where’s Arséne?” a voice murmurs from the shadows of the media box at the balcony.

“You didn’t hear?”, John Cross responds. “They beheaded him like William Wallace, quartered him and had his head mounted on a stick outside the Waitrose on Holloway Road. Looks like he’s a bit short for this funeral”.

“What about the Arsenal fans? Don’t’ they attend their own funeral?”

“Well, I hear those whose bodies were recovered from the mass suicide on Saturday evening are still awaiting identification and can only be processed after that”.

As Reverend Brazil takes the pulpit, the congregation sits and awaits the final sermon as the Arsenal Armageddon is complete.

“Dear friends. We gather here today to witness the demise of an institution that dared challenge the establishment, an institution that despite our warnings and cautionary advice, thought that they could get away with doing things differently from anyone in the game”.

“Let this be a lesson to any other club that tries living within its means and refusing to sign the English backbone that we told them to sign. How dare they”

“We will hunt you down and kill you. At Old Trafford, At Ewood Park, even abroad at the Nou Camp. We will hunt you down and crush you with the wrath of a mighty iron fist that will ensure we make an example of you”.

“When we tell you to spend money, you must. When we tell you to buy Gary Cahill and Scott Parker, you must listen to us. When we tell you that Man City are taking over the world by spending the equivalent of the GDP of most developing countries around the world, then you must respect that. This is the way football will run, otherwise you will end up in this casket in front of me”.

As the camera pans around the enclosure usually reserved for family, the spokesman for the Arsenal Supporters Trust can be seen weeping silently next to an equally silent gentleman and former owner who watches sombrely. Happy Harry receives a text that his fixer at Southwark Crown Court was arrested by his namesake Sir Harry Pearce, defender of the realm. He too starts weeping but it’s not in solidarity with the Arsenal folks, its more to do with his case file still being active.

As the pallbearers led by Wright and Merson picked for selling their souls to the highest bidder are joined by Stelling and his crew to lead the procession out – the Camera spans to a quiet corner of the cathedral where Cesc sits with his minders Xavi Hernandes and Carles Puyol, who constantly whisper in Spanish “you could have been in that coffin my friend”.

The casket for ArsenalHasNotWonATrophyFor7YearsAndHaveOnlyGot16PointsFromTheLast16Games FC is led out to its final resting place at the Royal Arsenal Museum in Woolwich. The deafening silence for this final procession is only disturbed by the sound of Rednose Ferguson loudly masticating his chewing gum.

Damn wait! Was this a dream?

5 games in and judgement day has been written. If you didn’t know better, you’d think United has already won the title. What do we know anyway, Arsenal is in a relegation dog fight, we better start acclimatizing to football grounds we’ve never been used to – some of which hold 67 people with room for a few dogs.

Mind you, a game against Shrewsbury Town is just the game we need to get us used to playing in the lower leagues.

If you want to find out what happened in the rest of my dream, follow me on Twitter and I might just reveal all.
Related Articles:

• The Arsenal Great Dane Bites
• Football is not Immune to the Economic Downturn
• Is Arsenal Legend Status A Licence To Spew Diatribe?
• Arsenal’s Sanity Will Pay In Europe
• Watch The Grave Digging Pundits Squirm About Arsenal’s Title Challenge

Last evening, there was a captivating debate on ACLF about the extent of racism in football. Yogi’s joint has this eclectic mix of fascinating characters who occasionally take a spin outside football and indulge in profound discussions about politics, police states, the economy and many other colourful topics.

What struck me about the discussion yesterday was the level of understanding and ignorance in equal measure when it came to the reality of racism in football. It was a discussion triggered by the suggestion by former West Bromwich defender Brendan Batson that affirmative action was needed in English football to open up opportunities in management for blacks and other ethnic minorities.

So, in the sporting world’s rendition of General William Sherman’s 1865 special field order No. 15, is it time for English football to start handing out the “40 acres and the regulation mule” to managers of colour?

The redistribution of arable land to freed slaves was an effort to give them a chance to make a living in recognition of the clear disadvantage they already faced. Even as far back , that representation of affirmative action was deemed necessary to try and redress inequalities stemming from generations of slavery, despite its revocation after Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.

And here we are nearly 145 years later, and the “Rooney Rule” (nothing to do with that other one from Manchester) is seen as the only viable mechanism to break the establishment’s stronghold on the status quo when it comes to the lack of black managers in football.

Racism, like with most other “isms” is an emotive subject on any given day, and one commonly misunderstood characteristic is how racism manifests itself. It doesn’t have to be overt or explicit for it to exist. And in most cases, it is subconscious, subtle and hidden under the surface.

We’ve seen the numerous high profile initiatives and campaigns in football like “kick It Out” that in my opinion, are feeble and toothless PR exercises for the establishment to show that it is doing something. Only this week, the England football team were training with the “Kick it Out” bracelets to show the media and the world that they were sensitive to the racism experienced in Bulgaria during the fixture last week.

I know it’s feeble and spineless because it’s not nearly enough and not gutsy and deep enough to effect any changes. Footballing authorities are more interested in spending time witch-hunting banned managers for misdemeanours like sending signals to the bench from the stands via mobile phone, instead of tackling clear cases of racism.

It was only recently that Sergio Busquets of Barcelona blatantly abused an opponent with explicit racist slurs and FIFA and UEFA concluded that there wasn’t enough evidence. Gil Grisham from CSI would have built a case against Busquets from the TV footage even without leaving his sofa.

But it isn’t just the racism in the stands and terraces, and the racism on the field of play. When it comes to management, officiating, and the board room, the trend continues. It’s shocking that out of the 92 registered association football members, only Chris Hughton at Birmingham and Chris Powell at Charlton are black.

At the highest level of football, we’ve seen the likes of Paul Ince, Ruud Gullit and Jean Tigana take charge of top football clubs, but is that nearly enough?

I don’t buy the argument that there aren’t enough black or minority professionals capable of doing the job at the highest levels. The fact that not many are even pursuing the opportunities in management is symptomatic of the fact that they are not likely to get the chance to manage at a high level, even if they were extremely competent and capable.

Nobody’s advocating for not giving the best man or woman the job. In an ideal world, the best candidate triumphs. But idealism and reality are two parallel universes. The reality is that the footballing establishment still live in the stone age and represent values and principles that are out of step with the modern world.

There’s a lot of noises about change, and a lot of noises about inclusion and diversity. They say “but, can’t you see how colourful the Premier league and the football leagues are? We have black, Asian and Hispanic players happily plying their trade alongside white folks”.

The blunt truth is that despite the player diversity numbers, racism is still alive. It’s taken a long time to get to where we are, but there are still tangible cases of racism towards players. My sense is that it got to a tipping point where it was impossible to ignore the talents of exceptional black players and that’s the reason barriers started breaking.

Sweden in the summer of 1958 was probably not prepared for a black 17 year old Edson Arantes do Nascimento (Pele), but history will suggest that the world will never forget him. Pele spectacularly announced himself on the world stage despite the “hostile” conditions towards black players.

Much more work has to be done in other areas of football, whether in management and coaching, or in the board room. As much as the establishment might want to rationalize or justify what is happening or what initiatives have been put in place, not nearly enough is being done.

If we need to hand over footballing’s equivalent of 40 acres and a mule, then it needs to happen. It’s criminal that opportunities for minority professionals in a game of such a high percentage of minority players is almost non-existent.

This isn’t about handing over jobs to disadvantaged folks for the sake of political correctness. It’s about recognizing that we’re not even starting from a level playing field and we have to do something drastic about it. It’s about getting them to the table. Those who are good enough can take care of themselves from there.

Don’t forget, we’re getting into this tweeting thing now. Join me on Twitter.

As the troops roll in from the wilderness of international football, Arsenal fans look forward to a mouth-watering prospect of seeing the long awaited new faces grace the hallowed turf at the Emirates. Ordinarily, playing Swansea wouldn’t be such a big deal, but it’s safe to say that Arsenal probably didn’t get the memo about the Premier league starting on 13th of August.

Well, considering our freakish start to the season, a game against Swansea at home, with shiny brand new signings and a rejuvenated spirit is the only way to go. Everyone from the tea lady at Stoke City FC to my 82 year old neighbour has had something to say about Arsenal’s alleged crisis.

Perhaps the most rewarding thing in all this dooms day nonsense is that despite the worst start to a season Arsenal has ever made in my memory, Tottenham are still below us on the table. There are indeed still small mercies in life. Even when you consider the witch hunt against the Arsenal medical staff for allegedly engineering constant injuries to our players, the only other team with a worse injury record than us are Tottenham.

My sense is that it’s a good thing that we’ve got the demons out of our system early this season. It’s hard to see how things can get any worse than they have been, and thankfully, the ghastly transfer window is closed for another 114 days. It’s been a summer of torturous nonsense, speculation, conjecture and outright bullshit peddled by all and sundry in the name of “exclusives”, “transfer talk”, and everyone thinking they know what is happening yet they know bugger all.

The negativity around Arsenal has been nothing short of suffocating and some sanity should be restored when the football comes back. There’s no hiding from the fact that since we lost the Carling cup final, we’ve only won 2 Premier league games against Blackpool and Man United. Clearly, that isn’t good enough, and steps have been taken to improve this. We need to let the changes take shape and back the team to the hilt when they step across that white line.

It’s a long season and Li’l Jack and Vermaelen in particular should not be rushed back under any circumstances. Abou Diaby is also due back in training by the end of this month, with Song and Gervinho being let out of jail after this weekend. With the 9 new additions, the squad looks healthy and we can focus on the football.

There are many who still have a hangover about the prodigal son’s return to Broke Back Barca, and the assertion that he should have been replaced therefore we are a weaker squad. Assuming you can find a replacement for “he who sold out to Broke Back Barca” – you have to ask whether elevating an individual to superstar status is the answer.

Surely, Thierry Henry and the prodigal son should have taught us the downside of building a team around an individual. My sense is that we need more players in the team to take responsibility and not to have the expectation that the team will be carried by an individual with superhuman ability when times get tough.

We now have experience with the introduction of players like Santos, Mertesacker, Arteta, Benayoun, Gervinho and Park to complement our resident generals like Van Persie, Vermaelen, Sagna, Arshavin and Rosicky.

My sense is that Wenger is tweaking our style of play to a more direct “in your face” counter attacking style to deal with the teams that come to the Emirates to park an aircraft carrier in front of goal. Possession football has its flaws and hopefully the pace of Theo, Gervinho, The Ox and Ryo will help with getting behind the defence lines.

The season starts Saturday and we’ve got everything to play for.
Related Articles:

• The Bastards Are After Arsenal, The Whole Phucking Lot Of Them
• Arsenal’s Pursuit Of The Holy Grail

Claiming that “We was robbed” has to be the under-statement of the decade.

And so we learn the true cost of challenging the establishment. It was naive to think that it’s impossible for any referee to have a worse performance than Lee Mason did in the home game against Everton.

When David Moyes cowardly unleashed the media on Cesc Fabregas, you would have thought that the Arsenal captain had actually called the referees mother a 2 dollar STD infected hoe.

But Cesc actually raised a legitimate question that needs to be asked time and time again. Who the hell is paying these referees?

The only way to explain the breath-taking miscarriages of justice on the field is either by recognizing that the referees are incompetent; or they’re corrupt. If they are incompetent, why does Mike Riley keep them in a job.

But then again, why are we expecting anything from Mike Riley, probably the most incompetent referee to be promoted to lead the pack of wolves.

The blunt truth is that what happened on Tuesday and the media circus that followed it have cost Arsenal big time. We have literally rattled the snake and the serpent is biting back.

How dare we question the integrity of referees? You should have heard the seething pundits and hacks breathing fire and brimstone on the Arsenal. Apparently, we are bringing the game into disrepute by questioning the integrity of the officials.

What a load of nonsense. These bastards have no integrity. They have no moral leg to stand on. They are low life cretins who shamelessly implement the corrupt agenda of a Neolithic establishment.

Anyone who thinks that there’s no anti-Arsenal agenda needs to wake up and smell the coffee. Forget the establishment ganging up on all fronts, the sheer bias and mismanagement of games is unacceptable.

This is not a theory, this is fact. To which I refer you to Walter’s running referee performance record on Untold Arsenal. Walter is an active referee himself and has laid out in black and white, the referees performances this season – and the results are shocking.

So I ask again. Who the hell is paying Phil Daud on the side? Who is Phil Daud sleeping with?

Daud has personally been in charge of 4 games involving Arsenal that have had contentious and unbelievable decisions against us. Once is a mistake; twice a coincidence; three times – and it’s a conspiracy. Four times or more – it’s just bang out of order.

Our players can’t ask for justice on the field without being reprimanded; our manager can’t say anything that will unleash the pack of wolves on us – so we’re going to ask and we’re going to continue asking until the corruption in English football is addressed in the same way the Police got involved in Serie A.

The evidence is there – and this is not a theory.

The only two disappointments I have from yesterday’s game are the injury to Djourou and the fact that Diaby didn’t get his money’s worth for that red card.

Diaby should have punched the living shit out of Barton and knocked his teeth out. He should have put him on a stretcher and made sure in no uncertain terms that he will not hesitate to defend himself from a 3rd career threatening injury in as many years. Barton is a certified thug who has only one intention and that is to injure Arsenal players.

The referee was clearly not going to protect him; and to be honest, I’d rather Diaby is out for 3 games than out for the rest of the calendar year with yet another broken leg.

The irony of course is that even after all this – we’re better off only 4 points adrift of the Manure. So – are they in a crisis and all now?

And just in case we forget – it was this weekend a year ago that Aaron Ramsey got assaulted by Ryan Shawcross.

Watching last night’s game between Middle Eastlands and Liverpool, I had this conversation in my head about what was going on. Part of me was kind of pissed off that Liverpool rolled over and let the Mancunian Chavs tickle their bellies, pat them on the head before sending them back home with a reality check.

Another part of me was pissed off that Arsenal didn’t bury a 10 man Liverpool last weekend. Like many, I’m rationalizing that a point at Anfield is a precious point during any part of the season; or I’m rationalizing that it was the first game of the season, Li’l Jack Willy showed a bit of understandable and acceptable inexperience in the lead up to Liverpool’s goal, Arshavin was just about getting out of the dressing room, we didn’t have our first choice squad on the pitch – yada yada yada.

Maybe it’s just easier to get pissed off with Liverpool for rolling over last night and letting Moneybags City bitch slap them all over the park.

But it’s worth observing that even this early in the season, the new order in English football is realigning itself and its going to cement itself very quickly. They say the table doesn’t lie, and I’m making an early prediction that the current top 4 will finish in the Champions League places at the end of the season.

If you asked me, I’ll unashamedly proclaim that the final order in the top 4 will be alphabetical; but then again I’ll ask – what the hell did you expect me to say?

Clearly, a few people have been drinking that cool-ade stuff down the Tottenham Lodge in preparation for their tussle with the Young Boys of Bern. The 28 minutes of the first half of last Tuesday’s match between the Spuds and the Young Boys was the best 28 minutes of football that I’ve watched in a very long time.

Even then, ‘Appy ‘Arry and Big Bad Billy G seemed to have drank too much of that stuff to propel them to delusions of grandeur that leads them to suggest that the Spuds can win the title .

There’s a vicious rumour going around Seven Sisters road that revenge of the 1913 revolution of North London is nigh. Or maybe it was Henry Norris’s wheeling, dealing and politicking that relegated Spuds to the 2nd division in favour of Arsenal staying in the 1st division that pisses them more than a move from South East London. I forget why the Spuds have such an inferiority complex.

Manchester United on the other hand are going through a very interesting period. I suppose those with a more sunny disposition might call it a rebuilding time for them. If I was cynical, I’d suggest that they’re following the Arsenal development model to the tee – only they’re what, 5 or 6 years late?

To be honest, I don’t think the powers that be at United would have noticed the Berlin wall falling if it hit them on the way down. We get reminded that their predicament is justified because of their successful haul of trophies in the last 18 years. We get told that if it wasn’t for the Glazer family, they would be well run and debt free. Yeah – blame the Glazers alright, but the end result is that Manure is a financial basket case.

The bottom line is that Manure bought the title when they had the chance and it’s kind of ironic that their so called youth development policy is now being lauded as a virtue. I suppose that’s why they’re now paying main street prices for relatively unknown players just like an old sage of ours does.

Either way, United is not the club that they used to be and it will show this season. I get bemused when it’s suggested that Arsenal don’t have strength and depth in defence, yet Manure and even Chelsea are threadbare beyond their first choices. But I suppose they have youth.

If you haven’t been around for a while, you’ll notice that Chelsea are already being coronated as the 2010-2011 Premier league Champions. If you believe some media houses, they’re on track to scoring 228 goals this season while only conceding a few goals here and there for good measure.

Chelsea’s defence is suspect – they’ve only got away with it this far because they haven’t been properly tested by the teams they’ve played.

“But they can only beat the teams in front of them”, I hear the murmurs in the shadows.

Well, as long as selective amnesia is not applied as Arsenal is accused of being flat track bullies. The Gunners too, can only beat the teams that they play – it just doesn’t apply to the Chavs.

Nevertheless, Chelsea’s dominance as the Moneybag specialists is being overhauled by Middle Eastlands; in the same way as Manure’s dominance as the model club is being overhauled by Arsenal’s organic development. It’s the new order of the footballing establishment.

The question is whether the virtuous cycle of building wonderful things from the ground up like Arsenal is doing will overcome the vicious cycle of buying things like they’re running out of fashion the way Middle Eastlands are doing it.

As another season concludes, the clouds gather over N5, less hope than before previous seasons seems to be prevalent this time though. It is hard to gauge the overall feel amongst fans, so extreme are interpretations of the status, potential and future of our club.

A full range of predictions are available, from Arsenal being well placed to be a super power for the next decade, through being a work in progress right down to the thoroughly disgusted and exasperated fans who feel that a substantial change is required in both the squad, but most significantly the manager’s position.

There are several charges laid at the door of Le Boss at the moment by those dissatisfied with his performance over the last few years.
I shall deal with them in a semblance of chronological order. I don’t imagine that there were too many dissenters around 2004, I think the rumblings seem to start at the end of the Invincibles side.

In the most iconic image of the season, Arséne Wenger remonstrates after being unreasonably sent to the stands at Old Trafford

Wenger – The Dismantler

I have read time and time again in the sports pages and on blogs the phrase “Wenger dismantled the Invincibles”. A hugely successful team, a team that made history of course, full to the brim of winners, of athletes, of strapping six footers. Of players that understood what it was to play for the Arsenal. And certainly they were.

However, Mr Wenger saw fit to take this team of men at the peak of their powers and scatter them to the four winds, to Spain, and Greece, and the west and east ends of London, the south coast, even put them out to pasture.

Is this really a fair charge? Even a sensible one?

In order to really analyse this criticism, let us take the main figures in that ’Invincibles’ side, case by case;

Jens Lehman

His time was up early in the 2007/08 season after a couple of costly errors saw Almunia given the goalkeepers position. Firstly, this was now three seasons after the unbeaten run, and Jens was now 38 years old, I think it’s fair to say that his time at this level of competition was drawing to a conclusion.

Given that in that season we put up a considerable title charge, I think we can say that (at the time) Almunia was worth his starting place.

Bisan Lauren

Sadly, Lauren’s time at Arsenal came to a close after a huge amount of time out with a knee injury, and left in January 2007 for Portsmouth. At the time Eboue had featured prominently in the run to Paris in 2006, and in my opinion looked a phenomenal prospect at right back.

Since then of course we have also had Bacary Sagna join the team, and he certainly has been solid, if not always hitting the heights of his first season.

Ashley Cole

There really isn’t much to be said here. I certainly don’t think Arsene can be held culpable for this departure in 2006.

Sol Campbell

Well, perhaps now he’s back and been a real injection of fighting spirit as well as putting in some outstanding performances (his goal celebration at Stoke will stay with me as an iconic Gooner moment, where the players and fans are in total empathetic harmony), this could be perceived to have been a massive loss.

However, at the time, I feel that the club treated him well. I’m still not entirely sure what was at the root of his loss of form, I believe he was having personnel problems. Gallas was brought in that summer, and at the time this seemed more than adequate replacement for a player who seemed to be on the wane.

Kolo Toure

A substantial profit has been made on a player who it is looking very much like we got the best years out of. A real Wenger find, a right midfielder transformed into a calm centre half, who never really asserted himself, but was a superb player to have alongside a more naturally gifted defender.

His timing & commitment could be outstanding at times, and he is a player I thought would finish his career at Arsenal. The big money came knocking, and the chance of a final payday as well as the disharmony with Big Bad Billy G saw Kolo skipping up the M1 with a certain Mr. Adebayor.

This of course has seen Thomas Vermaelen take over at the back, and he certainly looks like a significant improvement.

Freddie Ljungberg

Freddie is another player in this list, who was into his twilight time at Arsenal when he left. He participated in the first season at the Emirates, but had been injured consistently for some time, and had certainly lost some of his “mojo”.

Alex Hleb, was starting to produce some fine performances, and gave the side a capacity to beat a man in a fashion we have not had consistently for some time. A fabulous dribbler of the ball, although infuriating at times, between him, Eboue & Theo we had cover on the right side when he left in 2007.

The Arsenal 'Invincibles' Team - Premier League Champions 2003 - 2004

Robert Pires

In my opinion, Bobby Pires is the only member of the ’Invincibles’ who left too early, directly as a result of club policy. So many times the season after leaving Highbury I saw the ball roll diagonally, and fruitlessly past the far post, exactly where super Bob would normally be gliding towards to steer it home.

His reception when we played Villareal last year was incredible and deserved and I feel warmer than those extended to Vieira and Henry for this reason. Both Henry and Vieira had courted moves, and this took a little sheen from their return. Tomás Rosicky’s addition to the squad tempered the loss, but Pires’s quality and value to the squad was a big gap to fill.

Patrick Vieira

I don’t think there’s much doubt that Patrick left at a good time, the previous summer’s wrangling over his transfer didn’t sit well, and although he has seen some success since he left, most people will agree his impact on games was diminished.

Who can forget the game against Juventus when he was disposed by Pires of all people? A sublime tackle that was the origin of a passage of play that led to Juventus chasing shadows before Cesc Fabregas slotted in a peach of a goal from just outside the box.

Gilberto Silva

After Pires, I think Gilberto Silva was the only other player who maybe would have been of benefit to keep within the squad. With the clumsy manner of the captaincy being given to Gallas coupled with the energetic rise of Flamini, I think his days were numbered at the club.

Dennis Bergkamp

Well, there was a wonderfully symmetrical sense of destiny with Dennis choosing to hang up his boots to coincide with the retirement of Highbury. Certainly his playing time was largely reduced, especially with Reyes still looking to be an excellent attacking player, and also Adebayor arriving and having a minor impact.

Thierry Henry

As with Vieira, Titi’s courting episode with Barcelona the previous summer had meant this wasn’t as crushing as it might have been. It even seemed the season afterwards that his presence had been a hindrance.

I remember on several occasions in his final year with us, he looked disinterested, although he was still producing the goods in bursts; his demeanour can’t have been a positive influence in the dressing room or on the pitch.

So overall after Vieira left having lifted the FA Cup, another 4 players left/retired in 2006, 2 in 2007, and by the start of the 2008/09 season only Kolo was left. Most of these players were the wrong side of thirty at the time of departure, and although valuable experience was undoubtedly lost, it is worth noting that after Henry left a substantial title challenge was registered.

I would say that the departures after the 2007-2008 season were more damaging in a way, losing Matthieu Flamini, Lassana Diarra, Gilberto Silva & Alex Hleb meant that only Cesc Fabregas remained of that midfield after Rosicky succumbed to the early stages of his injury problems.

I would never wish to seem that I am rewriting history, or bad mouthing former players who gave us all so much success, and played for the Arsenal with outstanding distinction. I am merely using these points to illustrate what I consider to be an injustice towards the manager.

Saying that he dismantled the Invincibles almost implies Arséne Wenger is some sort of saboteur.

The ’Invincibles’ team had peaked together for all our benefits, but sadly it faded together too, and the gradual disappearance was rather more organic than sometimes reported.

In the next instalment, we’ll examine the next charge laid at the feet of the Arsenal manaager, Mr. Arséne Wenger the Gambler.

So a few weeks ago, we’re waxing lyrical about the prospects of scraping through and snatching the title from them lot up north. Since losing to Barcelona a month ago, we’ve only clocked 1 out of 12 possible points and that’s just not good enough to win anything, and there’s no way around that.

If we’re to be honest with ourselves, the team has really struggled to recover from the mauling the Catalans unleashed on us – or should I just say the mauling that Lionel Messi unleashed on our unsuspecting makeshift defence.

The impact caused by the injuries that have decimated the squad will only be an excuse for so long before it becomes the rod that literally snaps our back. We’ve had to depend on understudies in crucial positions in the squad, but the least you can expect is that those called upon to provide cover will apply themselves professionally and effectively to do the job they’re called on to do.

I get the sense though, that Arsenal have developed a propensity, habit even, of being comfortable with doing things the hard way. I don’t know about you, but many a game this season have left me crouching in a foetal position on the carpet in front of the TV chanting all manner of obscenities and ritualistic hogg wash in a clear attempt to ’suck’ the ball into the opponents net in the final minutes of the game.

On the days that I’ve attended matches at the Emirates, I’ve found my heart racing like a nonsense and wishing I had a stiff brandy to gulp down and calm the nerves. I don’t know if you’ve noticed that at the Emirates, the stadium announcer never says what the added on time is on the public address system. It happens at all other stadiums the minute the 4th official indicates how much extra time is being played, but never at the Emirates.

I’m sure it’s by design to stop our players from panicking and just playing on until they can’t do any more legally, but it really doesn’t help if the time stamp on the score board is screaming with how long you still have to endure the torturous excitement.

This season, we’ve really pushed the envelope when it comes to doing things the hard way. It’s not just the late, last gasp goals that leave you shaking your head in bewilderment. It’s also the way we’ve dropped or given away leads, the way we’ve sometimes laboured when there’s no need to, or even the way we’ve approached games.

Believe it or not, there’s only 4 games this season – Burnley, Hull and Blackburn (all away), and West Ham at home – that we’ve scored a goal in the first 15 minutes in any game. I may be wrong on that stat, so please feel free to correct me; but those are the 3 games that I remember us taking an early lead.

That alone is an indicator of how hard we prefer to work, and if it’s any consolation, if we were ever to be the beneficiaries of the first ’helicopter Sunday’ of the Premier league, then it would have been a long arduous and painful journey. To tell you the truth, I’m not sure which is more nauseating; Chelsea winning the double or United winning a 4th successive title.

I’m clear of the fact that what is most definitely nauseating is the fact that we could finish on the same points as that lot up Seven Sisters way. Even when we had clear daylight between us and the Spuds, we just had to go put ourselves in a situation where we needed a point in the last game.

I personally think my manager of the season – Roy Hodgson, will field a reserve team as he rests his players for the biggest game in the history of Fulham.

They have given an excellent account of themselves this season and I’m fully behind them and cheering them on as they face Atlético Madrid for the right to take the inaugural Europa league home.

Regardless of which Fulham team takes the field, it will be criminally negligent for Arsenal to let 3rd place slip away. I can understand if the fight was tight and we scraped through – but I have a problem that firstly, we could have wrapped this one up a long time ago, and more painfully, the fact that it’s Tottenham bum rushing us like a panty sniffing stalker.

Either way, it looks like I’ll be stuck with Arsenal TV for this one. At least Dan Roebuck and Nigel Winterburn are enthusiastic commentators with an Arsenal bias.

Much has been said about the new 25 man squad rule with all of its veiled attempts at protectionism. Pick any newspaper or read any football blog, and the big story over the last few days has been the squeezing of chuffers at the Premier league table to force a new squad system with the ’home grown’ bias.

So the Premier League chairmen had a gentleman’s agreement and shook hands on it. That’s what they say, but is it even legal?

British Airways executives and Virgin Atlantic bosses famously had dodgy telephone conversations to try and fix ticket prices that begun with ”This conversation didn’t take place….”, and it’s not surprising that they’re in the dock staring down the barrel of a long stretch as a guest of the state.

Richard Scudamore, the Premier league CEO is quick to point out that the benefit of such a system will help promote youth and increase the chances of ’home grown’ players (whatever that actually means) making it through the ranks. If ever there was a veiled attempt at protectionism…well

There’s a small matter of a European Law though, that prohibits restriction of trade and for all intents and purposes, is open to interpretation. All it takes is for a good lawyer to prove that this rule actually restricts the movement of players in some shape or form within the EU.

It’ll only take one player to get a raw deal when they’re shipped off to another club they don’t want to go to in order to accommodate over 21 year old players.

The truth is that if I tried in my company to implement employment restrictions on the number of men or women, the number of over and under 25s, the number of gay or straight people, the number of disabled people, the number of black or white people, the number of ugly or beautiful people, the number of fat or thin people, or the number of parents and non-parents; I’d actually be in remand waiting for a jail sentence for crimes against employment law.

My sense is that there’s too much money at stake in football for such a rule to go unchecked, and I suppose I have a bigger problem in the overarching message about protectionism that this rule breeds.

I don’t subscribe to the notion that such a policy acts to ’save’ indigenous football as it provides the message that the foreign influence in the EPL thus far has inherently impeded local prospects. I said this as much in our ’How English Is the English Premier League’ series.

Local prospects have a bigger problem than the global nature of the EPL. It’s a much deeper rooted problem that is a nightmare for the English FA to deal with and is the reason why I submitted that England will never win the world cup until the establishment comes out of the stone age and change their paradigm and mindset about the game from top to bottom.

However you look at this though, Arsenal is more equipped than any other EPL club to cope with this protectionism rule. The work that the club has done over the last few years has ensured that we have the best crop of talented and experienced under 21s in the top flight who can readily supplement the 25 man squad.

My sense is that it will only be a matter of time before the ruling is challenged by someone who is pissed off by it, and it won’t just necessarily be a player who’s nose is left out of joint. I wouldn’t put it past a club decimated by injury and having few options to cope turning to the courts for recourse.

Either way, the situation makes the job of hacks that much more difficult. It’s amazing how every year, the silly season starts earlier as the media shit stirring goes into full effect. I have a theory that editors systematically bust the balls of sports writers (well, at least those with balls) to come up with any sensationalist nonsense about player transfers.

I get bemused when I hear the term ’linked to’ as in a player has been linked to Arsenal, or any other club for that matter. Who the hell links these players if it isn’t the same bunch of hacks who sit in Fleet street pubs all day concocting transfer rumours to fill news columns. Their fantasy transfer stories are usually based on video game experiences and have little to no bearing on the reality.

I particularly like the articles published as fact that don’t even have an author’s name and is tagged as ’by Football Correspondent’ or ’by Staff Team’. And they also quote an inside source as the origin of their hackery attempt at a story.

This 25 man ’home grown’ player rule will really rack their brains this time as speculating on transfers won’t be as straight forward as it’s always been. It’ll take a bit more thought and creativity.

I know for sure that in my line of work, if I constantly published the amount of faecal matter that we see in the tabloids promoted as fact, I’d be out of a job every time round. I do wonder whether these guys have a modicum of respectability when they look in the mirror after a day of concocting news they’ve peddled to the world as fact.

What most people don’t realise is that other journalists around the world take these stories as fact and rehash and republish them cementing the rumour and innuendo as credible news.

If you have the passion and fire for Arsenal, and you feel you want to share your thoughts, your passion and your emotions with the thousands who read this blog daily, visit our Write For Us page to find out more.

So the run is over. We have finally lost to them lot down the road and I must say, it did hurt quite a bit. Take a step back though, and you realise how frustrating, infuriating and anger inducing it must have been for them to endure 10 years without a league victory.

Let them have their day in the sun; we still have bigger fish to fry. We will always have bigger fish to fry.

However, I am going to say something that may bring me down in the eyes of other Arsenal supporters. Here it goes.

I am jealous of the Spuds. I am jealous of how united their support is behind the team and the manager. We are in a position that they would kill to be in, yet our supporters seem to take defeat as an excuse to turn on the team, to turn on the manager.

Now it would seem the trend is to turn on the medical staff. Suddenly, a team that is in the title hunt and consistently in the Champions League needs a major overhaul. How is this the case?

As I said in my first post on this website, I normally don’t travel into the Arsenal Blogosphere until a couple of days after a defeat. I’d rather not douse the flames of disappointment with the oils of reactionary comment from Football Manager Specialists.

The day supporting your team becomes drawing up shopping lists of players who you believe are better than what your team currently has is the day I want to stop supporting Arsenal Football Club.

Why is there no pride in the project that we are currently undertaking? Our academy is the envy of many, and most if not all Premier League Clubs are playing catch up with us.

Our decision to live within our financial means has resulted in us budgeting towards a future free of debt, whilst nurturing young footballing talents. Why is it so hard for people to believe that once the debt has been serviced, every penny we make can be reinvested back into our playing squad if needed?

I am proud that Arsene won’t be bullied into paying over the odds for players who aren’t worth it. We were after Felipe Melo until Juventus decided to gazump us with an offer of 25million Euros, and Arsene would not go into a western style saloon shoot-out for a player that he did not believe was worth that.

In the January transfer window, the calls for a striker were deafening. I ask these so called supporters who have a shopping list to hand, who could we have bought who would be able to settle in straight away and have a better goal ratio than Nicklas Bendtner has had since returning? That’s 9 goals in 11 games by the way. Not just consolations. Invaluable goals. Match changing goals. Match winning goals.

Wenger refuses to spend unless it is completely necessary and I stand by that. I stand by financial prudence. Manchester United could not afford to keep Carlos Tevez, and bought in Michael Owen on a free. United’s financial instability is starting to impact on their ability to reinvest in the squad, at a time when we are starting to be able to just the opposite.

We were close this season, and next season we will be even closer. We may not even win anything again, but we will be nowhere near closer to bankruptcy. We will not be relying on a trio of bankers to save our club from the clutches of debt with… more debt?

I don’t know too much about the Red Knights, but I don’t know too many people with £1billion to throw at a football club in this financial climate. But that is another blog post altogether.

My point is this. Don’t use the excuse of the manager being tight on the purse strings as a whip to beat him with. Praise him. Calls for Usmanov to hoover up Lady Nina’s shares so that he can be our Eastern European sugar daddy are born out of frustration at our lack of silverware, and not rational thinking as to the future well being of our club.

As fans we should rally behind the team after a defeat, not carry out a post-mortem into the deficiencies of this team and the manager. Defeat should be the cue to come together even tighter, to get behind this team and show them that they have our unwavering support.

It is not a time to jump on your favourite scapegoat. It is not a time to ridicule a manager who has brought so much to our club, and will continue to do so years after he has gone.

Title or not, I am proud of what this team has achieved through the adversity from not only outside but, more cruelly, from within.

Supporters. Let’s Support.

Speaking of supporters, you might have missed us talking about Arsenal ‘customers’ masquerading as supporters. We’ve even broken down the anatomy of your typical Arsenal doom and gloom merchant so that you’re able to pick them a mile off.

And don’t forget that you can find Nyasha at Nashis Arsenal when he’s not writing for Stone Cold Arsenal every Friday.

We thought Darius was anal when he worked on Holloway Road right next to the Emirates and had a fantastic view of the stadium from his office window and took lunch time walks to see the construction and enjoy the magnificence of the finished stadium.

Nyasha and his mates used to steal footballs and cones from the training ground at London Colney before Wenger tightened the security. They have to get their footballs from JJB nowadays (or is it the DW).

Also, if you haven’t yet, we’d like you to subscribe to Stone Cold Arsenal to receive automatic updates of our content.