So, Cashley Hole finally faced the Boo Boys at The Grove, even though in the build-up to the game it appeared he might be injured. Again. However, Chelsea needed the points too badly to play Wayne Bridge, so he got his ‘homecoming’ of sorts.

So we got our chance to make our feelings known to our former left back. The guy that professed to be an Arsenal fan all his life, the guy that claimed to love the club and the fans and then promptly went and sold his soul to one of our rivals for Russian roubles in the most sordid and backhanded manner imaginable.

Let’s look briefly at the Cashley-gate situation and, more specifically, why he (of all our ex-players) has become such a figure of loathing. Cashley isn’t your average, run-of-the-mill, hate figure. He is not hated as a feared opponent that has occasionally beaten us on the pitch and then mouthed off like Shering-sham, or a constant cheat and diver like Van Nistle-longface. No, Cashley is a whole different kettle of fish. He is a liar and a betrayer of trust, a schemer and a fraud. According to his autobiography, Arsenal offered Cashley £55,000 a week, but (rightly so) not the £60,000 he demanded (allegedly, the extra £5k was to pay his agent). £55,000 isn’t peanuts. That’s more than a lot of us earn in a year. Now, seriously, how much money do you need to live on and set up a nice retirement fund? Cashley displayed one of the more unpleasant human traits; pure, selfish greed.

Now, there is a train of thought amongst some Gooners that we should let it go, just get over it, forget the Judas we turned into a top footballer. Some of these Gooners will say that we wasted our time and effort booing or abusing Cashley at The Grove. Some will say that it is below us to be booing any player and that is probably a valid point. Others will say “What’s the point of booing? It doesn’t put the player off his game. What real purpose does it serve?” While I respect their opinion as fellow Gooners, I disagree with them wholeheartedly where Cashley is concerned.

So why should we boo him? For the only reason that really matters; it’s cathartic. It makes us, the people that feel betrayed by his shallow greed and shocking duplicity, feel better. I can think of no better reason.

Finally, a few questions for Cashley, now the dust has settled a little. I ask you; Why leave a club that you claim to be a lifelong fan of and join a team of mercenaries? Why leave a club where you are on your way to legend status to join a club where you are in or out of a team on the manager’s latest egotistical whim and won’t be remembered ten years from now? Why leave a club playing the most attractive football in the history of the English game, with truly talented players, coached by the best coach in the world for a club that specialises in serviceable, basic and unattractive football, populated with loathsome mercenaries like Fat Frankie Lump’o’lard and (at the time of joining) managed by a man who’s footballing ethos could best be described as ‘throw enough sh*t at a wall and some of it will stick’? Why leave a club with a real sense of tradition and a proper history, incredible training facilities, a huge shiny new stadium filled with 60,000 adoring fans every game to join a tiny, temporarily nouveau riche club, with gates in the 25,000 bracket (give or take) overly-populated with racist fans and run by (and whose continued prosperity relies upon the mood swings of) a bored Russian playboy and a despicable chief executive that is no more than a grubby little money grabbing whore?

And all for an extra £5,000 a week for your parasitic pimp of an agent? Shame.

Cashley, you sir, are a greedy, dirty, little toe-rag and, as such, deserve to be reviled and, indeed, booed. Get used to it, as you can expect more of the same whenever your path crosses Arsenal’s for the rest of your career.