A thought came into my head as I watched our youth team win 4-1 in the first leg of the FA Youth Cup final last Friday. The crowd of 33,000 - a more than decent turnout for our kids - still made the stadium look quite empty. Not so many years ago that was an average crowd at Highbury, which dipped to twenty odd thousand on occasions. This could happen again and in my opinion probably would have done if we had never had Arsene Wenger as manager.

In the history of Arsenal how often have we expected to win the league? Obviously during the 1930's and then only during Arsene's reign as manager. I remember even late in the first double season of 1970/71 my dad stating we would win nothing, such was the lack of belief we had back then. During the George Graham years that belief was not there despite all the trophies. You always felt George over-achieved although he certainly brought the club out of the doldrums. Now all people talk about are some of his later signings and midfielders who were poor. I still think people exaggerate about some players as Hillier and Selley in particular suffered injuries they never really recovered from. There is an opinion that George lost it but had he remained we may have retained the Cup Winners Cup in 1995 by winning that final. The football had become bland but he never went longer than two years without a trophy. Still, we never expected to win the league, we just hoped.

Onto Arsene who is now an enemy of his own success. He not only brought trophies but a style of football unparalleled at the club. We began seasons not just believing, but thinking we would win the league. If we had better luck with injuries we would have won the league in 2008. Now it is hard to stomach that at the present time we are not good enough. Fans are fickle, many unrealistic with little patience. Some of the football we witnessed this season was probably the worst since Arsene came to the club but there is no doubt we have over-achieved the last couple of seasons.

I think we would be in a far worse position if Arsene were to leave. I believe he will add a few players but buying big name players does not guarantee success. He has tried to build a spirit within the team by players growing up together. It has not worked so far as we have been vulnerable and naive at times. We have also suffered badly with many key injuries over the last two years.

I really believe we are only a couple of players short of a team that can make a challenge again. We are also due a season to get some breaks from injuries. Gallas was world class this season and the most missed when he got injured. He was also our most experienced player in probably the most key position.

For those impatient fans, of course you are entitled to your opinion, but be careful what you wish for. Arsene may become impatient with you and leave. He is building a legacy that will long outlive himself. He is putting the club on a safe footing while many other clubs gamble with their futures. It is one of the things I love most about the man.

He is thinking of the future when he will no longer be at the club when he could probably demand money for players now. He really is looking at the big picture and I am sure we will reap the benefits when Chelsea go bankrupt and sink down a division or two in the future.

When you pay big money to watch your team it can be difficult to have patience, but real fans are in it for life. Next season will be my 43rd and I hope to have many more and one thing I have learnt to have is patience. My great wish is that we have a period of domination as Liverpool and Man U have done. This never looked realistic until Arsene came to the club but I truly believe it is possible in the next twenty years. That’s what I call having patience.