MORIBUND UNITED

What are the expectations at Arsenal? This is not a diatribe nor a matter of 'choosing sides' This is not about a sense of entitlement; no club is entitled to anything, it's about having expectations based on the resources available.

Every club looks at what it wants to achieve at the start of the season and reflects on how realistic that expectation is. For some it's staying in the Premier league and having a good cup run for others it's finishing in a European place and perhaps winning a cup, for others still its winning the Premier League or Champions League.

I wonder which category we fit into. Looking back in time I think it was clear, now I really don't know.

We haven't had a top class keeper for 5 years; I don't know why. We don't buy top quality players of the ready made variety, a Mata or an Aguerra for example, on a regular basis. We don't successfully develop young players, despite the myth this is actually the case. We sell our better players regularly. The boards ambition is a ECL place. The manager appears to be under no pressure. 

We do not perform consistently as a club that wants to win the league. We are a cup team with no cups. But the money keeps rolling in therefore making everything alright for those running the club. 

Players wages go up, ticket prices go up, the attendant costs of a match day experience go up, revenue for the club goes up but the expectation levels go down.

If we, as supporters, base our expectations on the past or the present we need to look at the circumstances of these times. The club is better off than it was the last time that Arsenal were contenders; 2004/05/06. But achievement levels are demonstratively lower. It's naive not to factor in the changes since then with Oligarchs and Oil money coming into the equation but even still, there is always going to be someone better off than you.

The Club we all support so loyally seems content to be a moribund entity making money but with no real means or desire to challenge for a place back at the top table.