Ploughing through my in-box this morning, in amongst the offers of Viagra, how to “make you woman love you long time” and an offer to “hook up with lovely Russian ladies” were a few emails from or about Arsenal. Whilst the Viagra ones are comical, the notes from Arsenal are worrying.

For the first time in many years, the Club are sending out emails imploring Red and Silver members to purchase tickets for the Wigan game just a couple of weeks before this important league match. However I can’t help thinking that they are using underhand tactics to cover up what could be an embarrassing number of empty seats.

The first email that arrived stated that paper tickets would be sent to all members but just over half an hour later, another email arrived saying “Sorry – we got that wrong, paper tickets won’t be issued after all but – hey you lot, don’t forget to buy your tickets”.

Because the PR side of the club are pretty useless when it comes to honesty and transparency, I suspect that this is little more than a ham-fisted way of raising awareness for a match where tickets just aren’t selling. Maybe I’m barking up the wrong tree but previous PR disasters lead me to my conclusion.

Immediately afterwards, an email arrived from AISA offering their usual brilliant service of spare tickets for members. Recently I have noticed that loads more tickets are becoming available, especially in Club Level. The Wigan match will probably still sell out but these emails worry me because every match at the new stadium used to sell out within a day or so of going on sale and spares were very hard to come by.

We are now seeing a gradual decline in long-term attendance and by that I mean the genuine supporters that attend most matches. Several fans are starting to pick and choose which match to attend probably for two reasons - the financial crisis and that only the most successful clubs play in front of full houses every week. Anything less than a constantly packed stadium will severely dent Arsenal’s business plan and the ability to service the £250 million loans.

Whilst 99.99% of true Gooners will be at Wigan, I bet a lot of less committed fans thought after the Hull, Stoke and Villa matches “I’m not paying £50 to watch that lot under-perform again” hence the unsold tickets.

The current online editorial highlights the problems that are leading to things going badly wrong on the pitch and these potentially empty seats highlight that those problems are starting to have a large impact off the pitch. If results, attitudes and performances continue to be poor, a domino effect will start – firstly on the pitch, then in the stadium, the club shops and it could end with our best players looking to join Flamini and Hleb in sunnier climes.

I find that a part of me secretly hopes that the stadium will be half full for the Wigan match. I say this because I can’t see anything else that will shake Arsène, the players and the directors out of their bloody complacency. Maybe then they can begin to put right the all too obvious problems that are blighting our club and start earning their ridiculous salaries.