Summer wasn’t very enjoyable last year, Arsene’s contract was running out, we lost Henry, Dein had been sacked. Kroenke came in and then when Dein couldn’t see him to marshal a takeover, he jumped into Usmanov’s arms. There were genuine fears of fifth place with Spurs threatening to gatecrash the big four, we risked the loss of our manager and there were a lot of debates among the fans over who was the right choice to lead the club.

Yet this summer, we have come off a campaign where we led the way for most of the season before a late collapse, Arsene has committed himself to the club and the board are committed to the lockdown to ensure nobody can take over at Arsenal. Kroenke seems to have no wish for a takeover at the moment and the board’s original frosty reception has changed to a welcoming one, and while we still need to replace Dein and the recently departed Edelman, the position of the club seems a lot more stable now.

While it is rare for a board or the head of the FA to be loved and a lot easier to be hated, our own board’s policy of spending within our means divides fans and quite a few would prefer someone else to control the club. Having someone who can keep the club safe and making the right choice of manager is a vital duty. Fail and the club can be put in danger, succeed and you give the club a base for that right manager to build from.

Look at the stable clubs: most of them have been successful, or relatively successful by their own standards. Manchester United were hampered at one point with Ferguson not only wishing to retire but also being involved in a nasty clash with two large shareholders which probably influence his desire to retire. The fighting between Cubic Expression and the manager damaged Man United and they were far from the dominating side of before.

The best thing the Glazers have done is keep Alex Ferguson when there were doubts about him and speed up the transfer process, which has allowed Ferguson to claw Man U back to the top of England even win the Champions League again. Yet the Glazers have to stave off the debt and know that finding another manager to replace the best British manager in the last decade will be very very difficult.

Everton kept Moyes even after a difficult second season, allowed him to splash the cash and now they have another shot at the UEFA cup. Aston Villa stagnated under Doug Ellis but the appointment of Martin O’Neill and Lerner coming in has allowed Aston Villa to progress back up the table, nearly grabbing the fifth place spot, no panic sacking when last season saw Aston Villa go through a horrid run. Blackburn may be disappointed and possibly Mark Hughes has taken them as far as he can but regular top ten finishes is a good achievement. The owning trust wouldn’t refuse a good offer but they have kept Mark Hughes happy, kept his position secure and backed him to relative success despite that.

Portsmouth have had a successful season, an FA Cup win, top half, going to Europe and good football, Redknapp is secure and does seem to have stopped questioning the owner - but remember what happened under Mandaric? While he saved the club, he drove Harry Redknapp and Jim Smith out and if not for the return of Redknapp with relegation staring them in the face, he would have taken club back down again.

Mandaric has since taken Leicester City down, bizarrely sacking Martin Allen early on in the season and in the end, three managers equalled relegation. Boro’s Gibson has tended to stick by his managers, with Robson he got some finals, with McClaren he got the club’s first trophy but as yet, Southgate has yet to reach such heights while Sunderland stayed up and Roy Keane is still building his squad from the side he inherited into one he hopes will get into the top half. The only real failed stable club this season has been Reading where Coppell was unable or unwilling to get players in and their late collapse doomed them but on the whole, it has been a successful season for stable clubs.

Wigan and Bolton both lost skilled managers due to resignations and chose to hire the admired assistants with sadly predictable results. Bolton’s Sammy Lee’s open attacking play had some benefits but the defence was torn apart and he was sacked, his replacement Gary Megson was a surprise choice. To his credit, despite the loss of Anelka, he steered Bolton out of danger but now has to build a team, something he has failed to do at any of his clubs.

Wigan’s Chris Hutchings started well but after Heskey got injured, results slid and he was quickly sacked rather then be given a chance to regain earlier form But the appointment of Bruce was a master-stroke, he got them safely out of relegation and should be able to keep them up again. Both clubs have stable chairman and after initial errors in their appointments, they got in someone who could rescue the situation. If they hadn’t then both chairman’s aid in getting to the Premiership would be forgotten and they would have been blamed for one mistake.

Many other clubs have been badly affected by instability of differing sorts. Chelsea’s attempts for long term stability have been undermined by many things. Sacking Ranieri seemed harsh at the time and some of his buys for Chelsea under Roman proved to be excellent but a new owner will sometimes want to install his own man. Jose came in amid much fanfare and was very successful but Roman’s advisors often clashed with Jose, whose own attitude didn’t do much to quell the troubles.

The clashes got worse, Jose refusing to promote from the reserves while failing to get the players he wanted, even having players forced on him. By last summer, things looked bleak and despite attempts to patch up relations, the problems had not been dealt with so with the team struggling, Jose was sacked. While Jose should take some blame (his selling of creative players and never adequately replacing them made for a boring side) allowing others to interfere with matters disrupted the club.

The replacement Grant was a shock at first but, after an understandably faltering start, he would get Chelsea back on track and even get them to a CL final. Doing well enough so that I thought the press were only stirring things up but no, Grant was sacked before he could build his own team and despite an impressive first season. While all three Chelsea managers walked away with an enhanced reputation, the goodwill towards the owner has slipped away and the club has become something of a joke. While they should remain powerful with Roman’s money, respect and long term stability will elude them until Abramovich keeps a manager and sorts out the quarrels.

Liverpool went into the season with high hopes, the new owners offered them a new stadium, money to spend and with the likes of Torres and Babel leading the attack, this would be the year they were genuine title challengers. Despite good additions to the team, a challenge for the title never materialised and they spent most of the season keeping Everton at bay. While not solely to blame, the problems in the board did not help either, Benitez’ position came under threat and the knowledge that the owners had gone to see another manager could have fatally undermined him.

Liverpool fans’ dreams into a nightmare, the stadium seems like getting nowhere, some of the players haven’t been fully paid for, Hicks has failed to raise funds and the owners are fighting each other with DIC circling. Benitez overpricing the players he wishes to sell and only offering player swap plus cash for Barry suggests his transfer budget isn’t very large in this important summer for Liverpool. If Parry continues to handle transfers, if the boardroom situation isn’t resolved and money doesn’t come in then will Liverpool go backwards? Will Benitez walk away? I don’t envy the Liverpool fans who have to watch all this.

For Manchester City, this season should have been seen as a success, while Sven hasn’t overcome the striking problems Pearce suffered, they were out of debt, they had a very skilled manager who redeemed his good name, played good football, got into Europe and finished in the top half. This should have been a summer where City fans eagerly awaited the new season as Sven, now with whole summer rather than a few weeks, brought in players to make an effort for the top five, instead they are rebelling against the owner.

Thaksin’s controversial ownership of the club was quickly forgotten due to their brilliant start and even as they plummeted down, no word was muttered against City as a club. Yet rumours started to circle that Sven was in trouble during the second half of the season, Thaksin did little to quell them and in the end, despite the efforts of his advisors, made clear Sven had no future. The players were unhappy, the fans are furious and while Sven leaves with his once battered reputation restored, City are not being shown in a good light. While Thaksin is right to sue the papers that claimed he had put the whole squad up for sale, he should wonder why people would believe such a thing in the first place.

Spurs are Spurs, they had dreams of fourth place and some Arsenal fans feared they would get it but Spurs managed to sabotage their own chances. Martin Jol had done well to get into top five every season and has been rewarded by repeated backstabs from former Arsenal scout Comoli. If Spurs felt Jol couldn’t take them any further then they should have had the courage to sack him early on last summer rather then the pathetic and cowardly efforts behind his back. At the start of the season, when Spurs were caught pursuing Ramos, Jol was fatally undermined, the team plummeted and he was sacked.

Even the sacking was a joke, the fans and media knew of it midgame, way before Jol did and resulted in the fans chanting Jol’s name throughout. Jol left with dignity and popularity while the Spurs board were left with red faces, looked incompetent and underhand. Ramos started well, a cup win for the traditional false dawn but their form late on has been shocking, managing only 11th. Even with Ramos in charge and a cup win, Spurs are still having trouble, Comoli knowing he has to come good this season or get the sack.

West Ham might have finished tenth but spent much of the season with Curbishley and the board not always seeing eye to eye over squad size, nor might the board be impressed with the inability to push on in second half of the season, the situation there doesn’t seem that secure. Newcastle being Newcastle, this summer should be stable by their standards. The new owner Ashley doesn’t seem to be from the Shepard school of ‘fatally undermine Bobby Robson then fail to replace him’ ownership.