It has not been a good summer – and of course I’m not talking about the weather. Once David Dein had gone, the rumours abounded as to who would be next through the revolving door: the clumsy Baptista – fine; homesick Reyes – sad, but adios; nearly-but-not-quite Aliadière, even the virtually goalless Freddie – okay. But surely not Henry, Fabregas, or even Wenger, heaven forbid? At times I dreaded turning the pages of the daily paper, wondering what new revelation might appear in the sports section. Then suddenly our man had gone. On June 23 I dashed out to buy The Sun to read his ‘exclusive letter’ which confirmed the awful truth – though we now realise his marital problems were probably a factor. But at the time it felt as though my footballing world had imploded. How could TH let his fans down? £16m? A pittance!

Fortunately, browsing the Online Gooner – and talking to a fellow Gooner, my daughter Marcia – kept me sane. Gradually the feelings of doom and gloom started to lift. Trawling through the heartfelt sentiments of a multitude of kindred spirits, it began to cross my mind that this might not be the disaster it appeared to be. After all, TH14 was injured most of last season; there were even fears he might never recapture his former greatness. More to the point, people had become aware that Thierry was not the appropriate captain for our youngsters, who were seemingly overawed by the great man. His moodiness and posturing didn’t make it any easier. Indeed, with Arsène’s focus on developing youth it was beginning to seem possible that M Wenger had actually orchestrated the move.

Now though, I’m filled with optimism. Robin VP and Theo are fit again, Cesc has re-committed, Arsène looks far less likely to leave and Gilberto Silva will surely prove to be a much better captain than Henry (assuming he gets the nod). Da other Silva, Eduardo (DuDu) sounds exactly what Dr Wenger ordered and will hopefully score the straightforward “fox in the box” goals that TH sometimes seemed to think were beneath his dignity.

Finally, if you’re still not convinced, think back just a few months: Arsenal had suffered that narrow defeat in Paris and finished fourth in the Premiership. Then we had a season in which we did the double over the champions-elect, beat Liverpool three times and almost beat Ch€lski twice (3 times if you include Cardiff) – and all of this effectively without our French talisman. On top of that, many teams struggle in a new stadium; a full Ashburton seemed awesome to fans, so imagine playing there as a 17-year-old. Maybe this year we can once again take apart those mid-table sides like Villa, West Ham and Portsmouth, against whom we struggled last season.

Although I’ll miss Thierry’s silky skills, we still have the memories of those fantastic, beautiful goals. I shan’t, however, miss his negative effect on the team. Beautiful football without an end product is clearly not enough. For me, things are definitely on the up – imagine if Arsenal could actually pull off the Premiership title in the face of all that upheaval and the financial muscle of the competition. And no, I am not getting carried away with the 2-0 win at Barnet. So let’s hear it for the lads. And remember that old saying: every cloud has a Silva lining. And ours has two.