Akinlolu Dairo 
Looks like we are definitely going to need Batman now. Robin once again bites the dust and, to be honest, this feels just like the beginning of many to come. Two captains in a row looks too much to bear. Which leads me to my next line of thought - take all Arsenal players, line them up and ask each one of them without fear or favor if they would rather continue with the club and I think we might only have Jack Wilshere standing (and maybe Mr. Frimpong). I think, deep inside, they all want to leave, so every one of them just targets a season of superlative performance and then, Exodus.
The two sides have arguments to convince and confuse. Ivan Gazidis speaks about 'self-sustainability', that evil monster that has bedeviled the club for seven years now. It sounds like a plan every reasonable person should agree with. We shouldn't spend more than we earn. We shouldn't rely on oil money. We shouldn't have our fate in the hands of one man. But, of course, it's coming at a cost. A huge one at that. After all the love of last season, when Robin could not put a finger wrong, after all the songs, after all the praise, after all the adoration and adulation, he is still willing to throw all that away for the uncertainty of pastures new. That suggests a huge disconnect. The players no longer see reason with the club management.
The major purpose of a football club is to win trophies, and it looks like Arsenal has digressed from that purpose. We have had players who left because of obvious monetary rewards; we had one who left for love of another club. How do we explain this imminent departure? Love of trophies? We definitely cannot begrudge him for that. Just when it seems like the doom and gloom is all over, we get sucked right in again. I don't think he should be made to honour the last year of his contract. It's of no use. The love is gone. Allowing Vieira and Henry to leave marked the beginning of the exodus. It was when we admitted that we were incapable of winning trophies, it was when we signalled we could allow our best players to leave, that it gave players a marker to point at and say, 'If your greatest (arguably) legends could leave, how much more for me?'.
It's sad to see players whom Arsène and Arsenal have stood by during difficult times decline to repay the faith. Trust me, Diaby's next and wouldn't that leave us all in amazement if not amusement. It simply tells us one thing - of all these, Love, Faith, Loyalty, Trophies, Trophies is the greatest.
Something needs to be done; a middle ground, a compromise, needs to be reached. There has to be a way of keeping our best players and also keeping pace with the sustainability model. This 'doom of the captains' needs to be arrested. Captains represent the bloodlines of the team. The one who stands strong when every other falls, the one who motivates the team when everything looks bleak, the one who yells at the others, where the hell do you think you are going, I've been here for a hundred years!
Between 2005 when this trophy-demise commenced and now, Manchester United has had three captains with two hanging up their boots at the club and the third still in active service. Chelsea has had just one, and he's still very much in active service. Liverpool, with all their crises, have had just one as well. While darling Arsenal, the 'family' club, where everyone loves and looks out for one another and WAGS get together, has had a whopping five (Robin include) with NONE retiring from the club, every single one seeking greener pastures.
A sad indictment of all we stand for.
Forever a Gunner (even as it gets difficult season after season)
