Many words have been written by fans & journalists since David Dein resigned from the Arsenal board of directors in April 2007 citing “irreconcilable differences” between him and the rest of the board. I am as worried by this development as any Arsenal fan but for the last two years I have been on the Fans Forum where regular meetings are held between the Arsenal board (usually Keith Edelman) and various fans.

The last meeting was held on 29th April 2007 immediately before the Fulham match so I waded in with a couple of searching questions to Mr Edelman. I asked him directly for information and re-assurances about the current situation as a split on the board was very worrying for the fans. His answer was that they are opposed to a Kroenke takeover as they do not know what his motives are and that the current board WILL honour their commitment not to sell their shares for at least 12 months so a take-over is not possible in that period.

Edelman also informed us that he and Peter Hill-Wood have requested a meeting with Kroenke and the only agenda the board have is to find out what Kroenke’s intentions are in relation to Arsenal. I’ve read lots of background on Kroenke recently and his nickname is “Silent Stanley” – he seems to be living up to that at the moment!!

I also objected strongly to Hill-Wood using terms like “We don’t want his sort at Arsenal”. Arsenal’s press lady apologised for this but stated that the “comment” was made to none other than Harry Harris after Harris called the Chairman at home, looking for some juicy gossip. As we all know – Harris is one of the biggest tossers in Fleet Street so we can draw our own conclusions as to the accuracy of Hill-Wood’s comments. If Harris rang me at home I’d dial 1471 and then order 500 pizzas to be sent to his house!!!!

The assembled fans then left Edelman and the board in no doubt that we are not happy with the uncertainty around the Club at the moment and we asked for further re-assurances that money will be made available to Arsène Wenger during the close season. Edelman assured us that it would and stated that the board have never turned down a request from Arsène to buy a player. One of the season ticket holders on the Forum really pushed Edelman on this, saying that Arsenal must be able to compete with Man Utd & Chelsea in the transfer market - we were left with the impression that funds will be available to strengthen the squad this summer if Arsène wants to.

For the first time in my two years on the Fans Forum, Keith Edelman spoke really passionately about Arsenal and that was good to hear. Whatever decision the board make in relation to Kroenke, I hope it takes Arsenal forward in the long-term as despite the huge sums being talked about, men like Kroenke / Malcolm Glazer / Randy Lerner didn’t become billionaires by chucking money away – every time they invest they want more (lots more!!) in return.

I realise that we probably know less than 10% of what really goes on at a Club like Arsenal but the fans thoroughly had their say at the last Forum meeting of the season and hopefully the Club will take our views on board.

Sadly I think we’re in for a long, football free summer of rumour and counter rumour about Arsenal as the old hacks on Fleet Street try to relieve their boredom. I just hope that Keith Edelman’s assertions about summer spending come to fruition as the Fulham match (despite the win) and the 19 point gap between us and the Mancs showed once again that we are desperately in need of some new talent next season.

My time as a representative of Silver Members on the Fans Forum has now finished so I would urge any equally bolshy fans to apply to the Club for my place – we need to keep the Club aware of our feelings as we enter a very important period in our history.