There is much discussion at the moment about the direction of the club and its ambitions in relation to whether we can win trophies. However if we examine recent history and trends as they are today, the chances must have declined further compared to last year and ultimately points to fans losing patience with the present model and being seduced and swayed by the advances of the American, or even worse the Uzbeki.

During the two years that the stadium was being built, most of us reluctantly accepted the argument that budgets would be tight and we could not expect a lot of transfer activity. By the end of that period Bergkamp, Pires, Edu, Lauren, Vieira, Campbell etc had all left for one reason or the other and not been adequately replaced eg Hleb, Rosicky - one couldn’t score and the other is always injured.

Last season it is generally acknowledged that we fell short due to a lack of experience and more pointedly a lack of squad depth. Arsene Wenger’s statement that the key in the close season was to keep the squad together rather than to bring in new names, when balanced against the subsequent loss of Flamini, Hleb and the likely departure of Adebeyor means that nearly a third of last season’s outfield first team may have gone when we kick off in August.

Yes we have brought in Nasri, but regardless of how good he may eventually turn out to be he will still need to settle in to a league commonly thought to require a min of six months, and will also need to develop an understanding with the likes of Fabregas and co.

Ramsay may be one for the future but he’s not going to replace Flamini’s drive this year, so all in all we will start the season weaker than last year with the first 11, and with the likes of Gilberto and Lehmann gone we will have even less experience to call on from the bench.

Therefore Wenger’s target of keeping the team together has not been achieved, and this is due to the wages structure. Whilst most of us in our more lucid and reasonable moments may commend Arsenal for this, we also all know that it won’t change the behaviour of the other teams or more importantly footballers in general.

Who is to say Nasri won’t have a couple of good seasons as the team ‘develops’ again but remains trophyless and then decides to take a payday with the Spanish or Italians. And there you have the ongoing issue.

Wenger is on record as not wishing to kill a youngster by bringing in too many names, but he also concedes we lack some experience, and then watches a good part of the more experienced part of the team disappear in the last few weeks for the paycheque.

Are we doomed to repeat a cycle of bringing in youngsters who don’t win anything for a couple of years but develop enough to be offered a pay day with other big clubs who have no problems with the big wages? And in return we are rewarded with the fantastic football we have become accustomed to.

If so, how much longer before the sweet whisperings of those who would take us over will become too much to ignore? Another season, two seasons? Because all the messages coming out of Arsenal are that we are not going to change this model for the foreseeable future.

I have read articles about how we only win a trophy on average every x years etc and that we should not sacrifice our principles etc but I now believe this misses the point.

We have already sacrificed our principles for the balance sheet, we were told the new stadium would enable us to compete with the likes of United etc. but we seem to now be saying that for the foreseeable future we will be selling our main players each season either because we won’t pay them what the big clubs will pay them, or because we will need the money to finance other moves.

The new stadium brings in far more revenue than Highbury did but also needs the debt to be serviced. How long can we balance that against not achieving on the pitch in terms of results – i.e. trophies?

Whether we like it or not there is little loyalty now in football and the best players will not remain with us if they can get a better deal elsewhere. We will either become a feeder club for the euro giants whilst also being everyone’s second favourite live team to watch, or we will eventually succumb to either the American or the Uzbeki.

The future may be bright for some but to me it’s murky.