For a while it seemed as if we were going to be stuck with him. When transfer deadline day arrived and Cashley was still in our back pocket, I seriously started to think about having to cope with his unwanted presence. I’d come to see him as pollution that was contaminating the pure spirit of our team.

Fortunately, I’m now able to write ‘good riddance’ which I do with anger and bitterness but also with a little sadness. It’s a bit like seeing pictures of a lovely little kid and discovering that he grew up to be a terrorist. Ashley was once that lovely kid. He went to school with my nephew Kevin so we always kept a special eye out for him. So why, Ashley, did you go over to the dark blue side?

The easy answer is, of course, money and there’s no doubt that Cashley is an avaricious, money-grabbing idiot. It must be hard living off only 55 grand a week so we can understand his sense of betrayal at not being offered 60 grand by David Dein. Which, of course, justifies the words he’ll use in his book about being ‘hung out to dry’ by Arsenal. Using words like these, and ‘slavery’ even, come out of living a life warped by too much money not by too little. And, as a result of the money, mixing with new chav friends like Terry and Lampard and thinking you’re one of the celebrity boys with celebrity Wags. He thinks we’ll admire him when he appears on Celebrity Love Island. Oh Ashley, how sad, once you were a lovely little kid. Now you think you’re a brand like Beckham.

Brand’s a word I use a lot in my recent book Winning together: the story of the Arsenal brand, written with Matt Simmons. There we analyse what a brand is really all about – it’s not you Ashley – and we go into the values that make Arsenal different and special, and that make us as fans loyal to the brand. We write about loyalty to each other as a value, as well as courage in the face of adversity, pride in the past and being positive about the future. Concepts that are beyond Ashley’s understanding.

But not beyond the understanding of Arsene Wenger, the man who best embodies the Arsenal brand. Arsene will have been saddened by Ashley’s behaviour, but I’m sure he has known, ever since that secret meeting with Kenyon and Mourinho came to light, that Ashley had to go. ‘Loyalty to each other’ is an idea Arsene truly understands and he inspires it in those footballers he’s influenced and made great – Weah, Vieira, Henry, for example.

But Cashley is good not great. Good as a footballer but pathetic as a human being. It’s good that he’s gone. And we can really have a laugh when Ashley and Cheryl appear on TV screens this autumn in that documentary series of their idyllic life. I can’t wait to see the Chelsea fans squirm with embarrassment.

Oh, and one final thing. You’d better start thinking about the song that you have to sing to all your team mates as part of the Chelsea Masonic initiation ceremony. I suggest “I who have nothing”.

Ed’s note – We have three copies of John and Matt Simmons’ book ‘Winning together, the story of the Arsenal brand’ to win in out online competition. Go to the front page and hit the red ‘Up for Grabs’ box on the left hand side of your screen for details of how to enter (once our webmaster gets the opportunity to update the comps page anyway)