As JFK stated at his inauguration in 1961 ‘Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country’. A quote held up for many years as an embodiment of liberal patriotism devoid of the right wing jingoism and xenophobia, of pride rather than hatred and bitterness. Many have considered Arsenal’s output for the nation since Wenger’s arrival to be a pretty paltry contribution.

Arsenal’s relative dearth of English talent in the last ten years has seen us portrayed as public enemy number one by the tabloid press and xenophobic opposition fans - Spurs, Man Utd, Chelsea and West Ham in particular. The latter club’s fans take great pride in the number of their own, or products of their youth system, who took the trip to South Africa this summer prior to the detritus which befell the national side back in June. Equally, they sneered at the absence of Arsenal players included in Fabio’s squad. It’s funny then that the events of the last few days should have gone unnoticed by such ‘patriots’ or their ideological bedfellows in the English press.

In a bid to bring through new blood, along with Manchester City and Chelsea, Arsenal suddenly have the highest number players called up for England. However it’s not just those who were selected for Wednesday’s squad but those who opted for self-elimination that’s noticeable. Firstly there’s former Tottenham keeper Paul Robinson, whose goalkeeping talent is only slightly better than his devious namesake who used to run the Lassiter’s complex in Erinsborough. Despite this, he feels it appropriate to produce the breathtakingly arrogant statement in mitigation of his premature retirement that ‘I don't see myself as a number three or four keeper and find that role very frustrating’.

In other words, his statement reads as if ‘I’m not picked regularly don’t bother considering me for selection’. Another former Tottenham ‘star’, Darren Bent has ruled himself out of the friendly on Wednesday, citing an injured back. Admittedly I’m not medically qualified enough to question Bent’s honesty, however he has since revealed that his omission from the World Cup squad last summer lead him to consider retirement from international football at the age of just 26. Contrast this with Theo Walcott’s approach. In 2006 he was called up before his time, which placed a huge weight of expectation on his young shoulders – no complaint from Theo. He was dropped for South Africa in 2010 partly due to his poor form - tears, but again no complaint. Recalled this week after the Golden Shower that did go in his place failed to cover themselves in glory – unquestionably Theo took his place in the squad with no complaint. Also consider Keiron Gibbs who seems to have bounced back from his Champions League semi nightmare error perfectly well.

At 30 Paul Robinson has quit at a very premature age for a goalkeeper, considering how Shilts, Seaman and James all carried on until they were nearly 40. However looking over past keepers – Seaman, Shilts, Clemence, Banks – Robinson would never have even got a look in if he was born in an earlier era. He doesn’t even match up with past 2nd stringers like Chris Woods, Nigel Martyn or Gary Bailey and should be grateful someone as mediocre as he was born in such an era of a dearth of English goalies and gets the chance to play international football on a fairly regular basis. Better goalies like Lukic, Rimmer and Bob Wilson were never this lucky with their chosen nation.

On the subject of quitting early, Wes Brown has stated that ‘At the age of 30 I feel it is right for me to stand aside and let younger players come through, which allows me to concentrate on my club career’. A ridiculously soft option when you consider that Adams and Keown still made themselves available for selection right up to their middle thirties. In fact the latter part of his resignation statement is really all you need to read into. ‘United is bigger than England’ is what rings out loud and clear, as it was also with Paul Scholes’s rather premature retirement in 2004 at roughly the same age as Wes Brown is now.

When it comes to United before England, see Michael Carrrick. Deems himself unfit to play for England on Wednesday, though surprisingly fully fit to play in the Community Shield. Also irritating to see a certain rotund United centre forward play well against Arsenal and all comers last season, yet produce nothing but insults to England fans showing their displeasure at the borefest that was the Algeria match last June. It was also alleged that Ryan Giggs’s choosing Wales over England in the early 90s was at the advice of Alex Ferguson, robbing England of a solution to their lack of a left sided player for the best part of a decade. Nothing of substance has ever backed this up; however can you image Fergie recommending England to a dual nationality player? Well that’s what Wenger did last week.

Ghanian born, but Broadwater Farm raised Emmanuel Frimpong came highly recommended to England by Wenger last week, who had advised his young protégé to choose the three lions over the black stars. Frimpong, along with Wilshere, are two of the nine players eligible to represent England from Arsenal’s FA Youth Cup winning side of 2009. All three Arsenal players selected for the Hungary game happen to be aged 21 and under, in contrast to Chelsea’s established three who if not 30 plus then are very close to approaching their fourth decade.

Therefore if you ask what Arsenal has done for England, it’s probably sending a clear message to big time Charlies like David Bentley and Jermaine Pennant that they are not owed a place in the Arsenal starting line up merely on the basis of their passport. Sadly for far too much of the current England line up, it’s very much a case of ‘what my country can do for me’. Hopefully our emerging school of ’09 can prove to be a generation minus the ‘alpha male’ ego syndrome that according to Tomas Mueller was the reason his countrymen so easily despatched of England back in June. So as far as all of the pseudo patriotic anti-Arsenal opposition fans are concerned, all I can say is, in the words of Stone Roses’ 1989 hit ‘She Bangs The Drums’: ‘Kiss me where the sun don’t shine, the past was yours but the future’s mine’.