Hand up if you hate summers as a Gooner?

That’ll be all of us then!

I’ve always admired Arsene Wenger for finding unknown players and turning them into gems. It makes me proud when we find an Anelka or a Vieira and turn him into one of the world’s best players. I fully expect Theo to follow suit (no pressure, son) and Merida to continue the conveyor belt of successful development.

I, like most of us, believe we should go out and buy a couple of world class players to really make a difference next season. We’ve missed out on Ribery but at £17m I’m not convinced that he was worth the money anyway. We’ll miss out on Eto’o given how much he costs and the bidding war allegedly breaking out between Milan and the Scousers.

It doesn’t worry me that Arsene continues to buy foreign players despite the fact that they usually require a season to get acclimatised, if they do at all. I’m quite happy to see our multi-cultural team take the field every week with not a Brit among them (until Theo starts to shine!)

I’m not even totally disheartened about the fact we’re now being linked with a move for Ya Ya Toure, Kolo’s brother, despite the fact I saw him play for us on the Austrian tour at the same time Gael Clichy joined the squad four years ago.

But what really really REALLY bugs me, is the lack of respect for the club and for the fans that some of our most important players have shown lately.

You can put it down to the naivety of youth when Cesc Fabregas is quoted as saying he regrets signing an eight year contract and that he will join Barca at some stage. We all know he will go back to Barca – that seeing out his career in North London is as likely as Tottenham ever winning the Premiership in our lifetime. But hang on a minute. This is the guy we gave a break in senior football. This is the guy we have turned into an international. Highly skilled, he was a captain in waiting.

Then there is Thierry Henry. Everyone knows he had a close relationship with David Dein and that clubs such as Barca will try and unsettle him this summer. After all, if a Spanish club doesn’t try and unsettle one of our best players during the summer, something is wrong, isn’t it (Anelka, Vieira anyone)?

But Thierry Henry is our captain. The man who leads the team out. The focal point of the club. I’m one of the fans who believes last season was a one-off…a natural consequence of playing so many games for so many years and then being expected to play so swiftly after the World Cup last summer. I fully believe he’ll be back to his old self next season and still get 20 goals. But will it be for us?

His comments, coupled with those of Cesc, have created more instability that the club and us the fans simply do not need. These are the words of a man who is either trying to get himself a move or get answers from Arsene and the club about their own commitment. Will AW sign a new deal? If he does, I would expect him to do so next winter, as has previously been the way, rather than now. Will we sign some big names to give Utd and Chavski a run for their money?

In a way you can sympathise with his concerns. But, in case you didn’t get it earlier, he is our CAPTAIN!!! He has a responsibility to protect and defend the club, not unsettle it further. He has a responsibility not to tout himself about, even if privately he does want to move.

I was in the pub the other night when Engerlund took on Estonia. My gang of Gooner mates were all there, most chatting away about life, the universe and everything – apart from the game going on. Club before country every time.

But I thought about David Seaman and the troubles he had with high profile gaffes. Martin Keown running around Horseface like a man possessed and then accepting his punishment when the punishment was meted out. Tony Adams going through his problems and the club not trying to defend his crimes. Especially Tony Adams. The man who was tapped up by Fergie. And when did we hear about that? Towards the end of his career or beyond, when it didn’t matter anymore.

TA was Mr Arsenal and had a loyalty to the club I don’t expect Henry or Fabregas to share, however much we’d like them to.

But when our own players, the icons of Ashburton, start to do as much damage as the agents, hacks and unscrupulous clubs, to unsettle us, you have to ask if it really is time to cut and run.