Arsenal are deliberately cutting off the next generation

It may have totally escaped your attention (it had certainly escaped mine until a few weeks ago) that Arsenal have, in the last couple of years, altered their policy with regards to Junior Gunners once they are too old to be members anymore. Historically (or ever since the new membership levels were brought in) Junior Gunners would go on to join the Cannon Club before automatically being given Silver Membership. Given that Junior Gunners and Cannon Club effectively have the same access to tickets as Silver this made a lot of sense. It also meant that the future match-going core support should be secure for generations to come. I enrolled both my children as Junior Gunners as soon as they were born and I was content that they would have no problems getting to see Arsenal as they grew up and eventually became adults. What Arsenal have done now is to abandon this policy. They have done this, officially, because there are already too many Silver Members to meet demand and the number available is capped. 

The problem Arsenal gave themselves was that they were keeping a Silver level waiting list where people who are on Red would eventually move in to Silver and gain the access to tickets that the higher band brings. Of course, the constant addition of Junior Gunners made this in to a glass ceiling as nobody on the waiting list would ever be likely to move up to Silver. Arsenal, of course, were making money out of this with no chance of that progression being made. Instead of abandoning the waiting list, or at least reducing it, Arsenal has taken the decision to stop Junior Gunners from moving to Silver Membership. In short, once they get to sixteen, former Junior Gunners can join the Red Membership and the waiting list for Silver. This is a scandal.

I first became aware of this via Twitter a few weeks ago. A friend has since sent me an email he received from Arsenal to "explain" why his son would now become a Red Member. I have copied the relevant content below and it makes for the usual Arsenal bull**** reasoning and contains more holes than a Dutch cheese:

I can confirm that XXXX membership has been renewed as a red member as XXXX membership is set up on a direct debit.  XXXX will be sent a new membership card before the start of the new season; therefore, he should amend his address as soon as possible. 

XXXX cannot progress straight to a silver membership due to the terms and conditions of the Junior Gunner/Cannon Club being amended.

A change was implemented two seasons ago to position Cannon Club Members into the Silver Membership Waiting List based on the date they joined rather than their age.  This decision was made following feedback from fans who feel strongly that the club should be rewarding longevity with the Arsenal Membership Scheme.  In 2012, the Membership Terms & Conditions were updated for the new season to reflect this progression for all Junior Gunners (clause 8.4).   All Terms & Conditions thereafter outlined the progression for Junior Gunners. These are updated every season before supporters renew their Membership.  All affected Members renewing into Cannon Club for the first time received a renewal email which pointed them to the Terms & Conditions.

The number of Silver Memberships available is capped.  Spaces within this level of Membership only become available when a current member decides not to renew the following season.  With the fantastic support and following we have from our fans, it is unfortunate that we cannot offer everyone the Membership type they wish and we need to have a fair and robust system designed for all fans. 

By placing Junior Gunners/Cannon Club Members on the Silver Waiting List in chronological date order of when they joined the scheme, alongside Red Members; this ensures the Silver Waiting List remains fair to all Members with no Membership level receiving priority or fast tracking the process.

Those Members who join at a young age will continue to be rewarded ahead of those joining the Membership scheme at an older age due to the number of years on the waiting list they will accrue as a Junior Gunner or Cannon Club Member.

If you have been offered a Red Membership when expecting Silver I can understand the disappointment caused, however I hope I have explained the rationale for this and our intention to make the system fairer for all members at all levels.  If you choose to join Red Membership you will remain on the chronological Silver Membership Waiting List from the date you joined the Arsenal Membership Scheme.  Should you choose not to renew your Membership unfortunately you would lose your place on this waiting list.

Cannon Club members had a very short wait compared to other fans, whereas now they will be treated exactly the same as all other Member types. I would like to reassure you, we very much still value the support of our Junior Gunners and Cannon Club Members and continue to offer a great proposition for our young fans.

Red Membership offers the same great benefits as Silver Membership.  The only difference is the ticket purchasing window. Red Members can purchase one month (instead of two months) prior to a fixture and there are a minimum of 3,500 tickets available for every Premier League home match. Even more tickets are available through our Ticket Exchange Service – last season over 70,000 tickets were made available through this service.

We take our responsibility to our fans and all supporters of the Club very seriously.  It can be a very difficult process and task at times to try and reward all Members support fairly.  Whilst I appreciate this does not change your personal circumstances in this case, I hope it demonstrates we do not take these decisions lightly and consider a wide range of fan views in our review.

Everyone at the Club values all supporters’ commitment to the Club and the Membership scheme and we believe this is the fairest way to ensure that all supporters are rewarded for their longevity as an official Member of The Arsenal.

The idea that ex-Junior Gunners/Cannon Club members enter the waiting list chronologically based on when they joined The Arsenal seems to be honourable at first look (or as honourable as such a stupidly despicable move could be) but it leaves out an element of truth. Or does it uncover a different lie? When it comes to Cup Final tickets Arsenal tell us that longevity of season ticket holders can not be taken in to account as they don't have the membership records from before the stadium move. However, they claim that the former Junior Gunners/Cannon Club, who may have been members of The Arsenal for 18 years, will join the waiting list based on when they became members. How can they do that if Arsenal's membership records only go back as far as 2006? Either they do hold those records and they are deliberately misleading loyal fans when it comes to going to Wembley, or they don't hold the records and are telling fibs about how ex-Junior Gunners will accede to Silver Membership.

Whichever way you look at this it is a mistake by Arsenal. Junior Gunners, if they are to get a seat in the Family Enclosure, have to be accompanied by a Silver Member. Fair enough in many ways. However, in 15-20 years from now no Junior Gunners will be able to get a seat in the Family Enclosure as their Mum and Dad will still be on the damn waiting list! This is as about as short-sighted in terms of the future of Arsenal's support as you can possibly get. It is crazy and it is stupid. No doubt there is some other underhanded money making initiative at play within all of this - that is the Kroenke way after all. As for the platitudes about valuing our support and Red and Silver having the same benefits they might as well not bother with the lies.

Any football club is only there because of the supporters. Without us the club dies. Arsenal Football Club has taken a decision to cut off a large proportion of its future support. That is a dangerous and contemptuous road to go down. Gazidis and his people should be ashamed for sanctioning such a move.

Does Hodgson know of a player called Jack Wilshere?

Pick your best players!

I've been able to see almost all of the games at Euro 2016 since Monday. There has been plenty of Arsenal involvement, and some very frustrating non-involvement for certain Arsenal players. There have been two or three surprise results, not least the unexpectedly brilliant 2-0 win for Italy over Belgium and Northern Ireland's magnificent victory against Ukraine yesterday. The funniest sight of the tournament, however, was Cristiano Ronaldo's teenage tantrum at Portugal failing to beat Iceland. The Iceland team were outstanding on the night and Ronaldo's lack of respect towards them at the final whistle just about summed the bloke up. The fact is that he and his team weren't good enough on the night to overcome the minnows of the tournament and it was a wonderful achievement for Iceland. Seeing Ronaldo close to tears was just a nice bonus.

France left it late again the other night in their game with an also over-achieving Albania side. France rarely looked like breaking them down, and Giroud missed a couple of chances as well as seeing a fine header come back off the post. Koscielny had a really good game in defence for the French. Their win saw them through before the third group game so I suspect there may be one or two being rested for the final game there - Giroud himself might find he is used from the bench against Switzerland. I watched most of the Swiss game against Romania where Granit Xhaka once again was named man of the match. Like Mohammed Elneny he seems to rarely give the ball away, though I saw more evidence of a man trying to play incisive passes on occasion than we get with the Egyptian. What I am not going to do is get as excited about Xhaka as many were online the other day - when he produces the proper goods, or otherwise, for Arsenal I'll make my mind up as to how good he is.

As for England Roy Hodgson got away with it yesterday, big time. To pick the same team as Saturday was fool-hardy to say the least. That he changed things a lot at half-time was, at least, an admission that he had got things badly wrong, but it was lucky for him that Sturridge got the last minute winner for his side - Hodgson would have been taking some serious flak (and deservedly so) had England not won that game. Joe Hart proved yet again that he isn't as good as he thinks he is - I've said for years he has a problem going low to his left. For a start he was in the wrong position for the free-kick, but he then didn't move his feet and couldn't get across his goal to a ball that was hit from around 35 yards. It was far worse than David Seaman getting caught out by Ronaldinho's mishit cross in 2002. 

England created next to nothing in the 90 minutes yesterday. The only genuine chance created (both goals came out of nothing) by the team was the open goal missed by Raheem Sterling in the first-half. Jamie Vardy was, not for the first time, the man in the right place when it mattered to get the equaliser, while the pace and quality of Sturridge in the penalty area dug them out of a hole in injury time. What England need now is for Hodgson to actually show some courage and make changes from the start. The likes of Sterling, Kane and Alli have been poor. Lallana works hard but has no end product or creativity. England do have one midfield player who can genuinely be dangerous and pick a special pass in a tight game, but he isn't being selected! It was beyond my comprehension that Jack Wilshere never got on the field at all yesterday - bringing Rashford on would have been fine if England had actually gone with two central players up front, but it was a Wenger substitution that didn't lead to a change in formation or approach. If Hodgson puts Wilshere in to that team, with either Vardy or Kane up front, then he will create things for them. I'm not sure Sturridge is able to play from the start of games, but he was certainly dangerous when he came on - an impact sub might be the best thing for him right now.

For Wales I thought Aaron Ramsey was absolutely outstanding yesterday. I am one of his biggest critics but he was the best player on the pitch as far as I'm concerned. Alli tried to rough him up in the first few minutes and Ramsey stood up to the little Tottenham scrote brilliantly. He then spent the rest of the match running rings round him in the midfield as the England team couldn't really get close to him. It was Ramsey's best performance since his golden spell at Arsenal a couple of years ago. When he plays like that he is outstanding, keeping it simple and limiting the fancy rubbish.

I watched Germany as well last night and it was a poor game, the first 0-0 of the tournament. Mesut Ozil seemed to be auditioning for a role in a remake of The Invisible Man for most of the match. In the first-half he was doing a brilliant job of being where the ball wasn't. When Andre Schuurle came on Ozil was suddenly much more involved and was denied a goal by a superb save from Fabianski. However, it was easy to see, once again, why he frustrates me so much and, from what I understand, he is just as annoying to Germany supporters.

There will be another blog post very late tonight. I have been planning an article for a couple of weeks on what Arsenal have decided will happen when Junior Gunners memberships expire. This article will not paint Arsenal FC in a good light. It will be on here when you wake up tomorrow morning.

Even the press have worked it out

This could have been another Heysel

I'm starting to type as the Italy v Belgium game is about to kick-off so I have one eye on that while writing - I'm surprised to see Thomas Vermaelen getting a start for the Belgians. I didn't get to write last night as I originally planned. Having driven back from Dorset yesterday, after driving down there Friday and spending Saturday at a family wedding, I didn't feel like it to be honest. I also wanted to see Ozil play for Germany without the distraction of writing a blog. As it turned out, such was the boredom dished out by the Germans in the second-half I might as well have written something after all. Ozil, of course, set up the injury-time clincher for Germany but was as frustrating to watch as ever as far as I'm concerned. I digress.

I watched the France game in my hotel room on Friday night and I was really pleased for Giroud that he got the opening goal. He had missed a couple of good chances before half-time but the goal he got was a really good centre-forward header. The goal by Payet got the tournament off to the right start really as a host nation doing well always makes it more enjoyable all round. Unfortunately by that time on Friday evening the darker side was already emerging in Marseille. I will come on to that towards the bottom of this post as what I want to say needs to be seperate from the football itself.

My Dad, brothers and nephew were able to take advantage of my wedding issues (it was the wife's family) by having my tickets for Switzerland v Albania in Lens on Saturday afternoon. I'm told it was a decent game with lots of missed chances and that Granit Xhaka made a good first impression on my family. Surrounded by Albanian fans my nephew was resplendent in Arsenal shirt with "Xhaka 29" printed on the back and wrapped in a Swiss flag for the day. Hopefully I'll get to see the next Swiss game on the TV and get a decent look at Xhaka myself for the first time.

I watched (very) brief highlights of Wales v Slovakia when I got back to the hotel on Saturday night. I wasn't surprised to see Aaron Ramsey badly at fault for the Slovak equaliser, or missing an open goal with a free header. However, having read that he got the assist for the Welsh winner I was very shocked to see that it wasn't quite how I'd imagined. Instead of a slide-rule pass it was actually yet another show-boating cock-up by Ramsey that saw the ball run loose for Robson-Kanu to mis-kick it past the goalkeeper. Ramsey really does wind me up and that ridiculous hair makes him look an even bigger chump.

As far as England go I was reduced to following it via an intermittent 3G signal giving me access to Twitter. When I saw the starting line-up I couldn't quite believe it. Leaving out Vardy and Wilshere, but selecting Lallana and Sterling, made no sense to me whatsoever. Vardy has played in the warm-up matches and has done well in his England appearances. Sterling has been worse than Walcott all season. As for leaving out Jack I just don't get it. Having got in front, and I'm told created a number of opportunities thanks to Wayne Rooney, it was obviously disappointing to concede a soft equaliser in injury-time. However, you reap what you sew and when you have a back-four including Smalling and the Tottenham full-backs (who are never, ever in position when opponents break forward) you are asking for trouble. Fail to beat Wales and England could be staring down the barrel of yet another early exit - changes are needed against Wales with Bertrand, Wilshere and Vardy just three of the players who really need to come in to the side.

I was home to see all the games yesterday. Croatia were deserved winners in their match, while Northern Ireland simply didn't get the tactics right against Poland. For an hour they tried to do nothing but defend, failing to realise that Lewandowski is really the only genuinely top player Poland have. They didn't put anything like enough pressure on Szczesny at the other end. When Washington was brought on to play alongside Lafferty then Northern Ireland were the better side and should have scored through either Washington or Steven Davies (or both) to force at least a draw. 

I was at work today so I haven't yet seen anything of the Czech Republic v Spain match. I understand Petr Cech had a great game in goal for his lot, while Tomas Rosicky was all action in helping his defence for most of the game. I also hear that the Czech's might easily have got a result despite being largely outplayed for most of the ninety minutes. That's a shame really as any side with Fabregas in it, but who leave out Santi Cazorla, I would like to see fail. Republic of Ireland missed chances in the first-half that would have given them a great start to the tournament and I'm not sure a point this afternoon will be enough for them to progress ahead of games with Belgium and Italy.

Now, about the trouble in Marseille. I have seen, read and listened to a lot over the last few days. At no point have I heard anything that tells me the trouble was "caused" by England fans other than their mere presence seeing them targeted by local French thugs, Russian fans, and then followed up by a brutal French police. I have become sick of people who have never been to a football match abroad (and in many cases never in England either) telling us what's what with regards the fighting. It is most instructive, I believe, that even the media seem to have realised now that their lambasting of the "English thugs" has been totally misplaced. The football writers in the press corps, to their immense credit, at no point chose to throw criticism the way of the England supporters. Being used to travelling with England they have no doubt seen exactly what has happened down in Marseille. The reaction of public figures, like MP Andy Burnham, was a genuine disgrace - he jumped in with both feet, as did the FA, to condemn the "embarrassing" behaviour before even considering whether or not he had the facts to hand.

I have seen others claiming that the English should have just moved away when bottles and chairs were thrown at them. This is utter tosh. Firstly, where do you move away to? It's easier said than done. Secondly, it is not the English way to run from that provocation. Rightly or wrongly the English fans will stand and fight in those situations and this is always the thing that makes the press, as it did initially this weekend.

What happened on the day of the match, both in the city and in the stadium, was the most scary aspect of the whole thing. The French authorities have now revealed that 150 Russian men were behind the trouble. We are told that they were "highly trained and very organised" in the way they attacked English people - and the attacks were totally indiscriminate. If you were in the wrong place at the wrong time you could have been one of the unfortunate souls to be seriously badly beaten by these animals. The words "trained" and "organised" are the ones that have struck me in this though. And it is also very interesting that not one of these 150 men have been arrested despite the presence close-by of a large amount of police - the same police who have been caught on video hammering stricken England fans while they lay on the ground injured. So 150 "highly trained and very organised" Russian men have run amok in a French city and not one has been nicked. It would come as absolutely no surprise to me if it is revealed in the future that these men are state sponsored by Russia to show some kind of intimidation to the little Englanders. They attacked like an army might. Bit of a coincidence.

The scenes at the end of the game had chilling reminders of Heysel about them. The sight of people sprinting across the terrace and climbing to safety while pursued by the Russian animals was scary to watch. Had that fence not been quite so easy to scale then who knows what injuries would have been suffered by the frightened, and innocent, people (including women and young children) as they attempted to escape.

Taking an England game to Marseille after what happened at France 98 was always a stupid thing to do by UEFA. To take England v Russia there was even worse. The lack of security at all the other grounds is even more alarming. Given the security state in France right now how is anyone able to get a flare or a fire-cracker or, worse still, a flare-gun(!) in to the stadium? A number of games have now seen the flares etc set off - these are essentially small bombs and/or firearms that are getting in to the games. At Lens on Saturday my Dad tells me the security check was a cursory patting-down of pockets at the very entrance to the ground - there was no metal detecting wand or airport style screening that we might have expected. In short the security at Euro 2016 is a joke. Is it any wonder though when you see how the French police handled things in Marseille?

Here we go...

I wanted to write a quick piece regarding what will be seen here over the next month. I won't be saying anything about Jamie Vardy (I don't do the gossip stuff) other than this - if he doesn't want to play for Arsenal then we should forget it immediately. 

There is a very important piece about Arsenal, and the fans who are the future of the club, that I had been hoping to write this week but time and other commitments have caught up with me. In short I have been forwarded an email regarding what now happens when Junior Gunners reach adulthood. I will get around to writing that blog at some point in the next week.

Down to the immediate business and, of course, Euro 2016 begins tonight. Giroud and Koscielny are expected to be in action for France in the opening game. I will be looking to cover the tournament, as usual, from an Arsenal angle. I will also comment from time to time on the home nations, especially England. Tomorrow is a big "Arsenal" day at the tournament with Granit Xhaka, Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wilshere all likely to be involved at some point. That being the case, as I am away tonight and tomorrow, the first Euros piece should be up at some point on Sunday evening. That, at least, is the aim. 

Regular readers will know I am not a fan of the international game, especially when it is played in the form of friendlies, or qualifying mismatches with the likes of San Marino, in the middle of the football season. However, when it comes to a tournament it relieves the boredom of the close season and gives us some football to watch. The home nations interest this year, plus Republic of Ireland (I'm going to see them play Italy in Lille) should make for plenty to have more than a passing interest in, and the Arsenal players give us an added incentive to watch the football. I hope it's as good as the last World Cup was as that should see plenty of goals and some really good games. By the time it's over we'll be on the verge of pre-season training and that means getting back to Arsenal as quickly as possible.

The long goodbye for Hector Bellerin

Good news for Hector, bad news for Arsenal

I was worried when I read that Hector Bellerin had made his full debut for Spain at the weekend. I'm now even more worried as he has been named in their full squad for Euro 2016. None of this is to say that he doesn't deserve to be there - if he gets in the side then I predict he will be one of the absolute stars of the tournament. The problem is that we've been here before with a superb Arsenal youngster, ex of Barcelona, spending five or six weeks in the company of the total a***holes that play for Barca and Spain.

We all knew that Fabregas would end up back at Barcelona at some point. What we didn't appreciate was that his place in the Spain squad would be used by that cess-pit of a club to tap him up via the likes of Puyol, Pique, Iniesta, Xavi and, for some bizarre reason, Pepe Reina of Liverpool. Every time Fabregas went away with Spain he had the drip, drip, drip of those players in his ear hole telling him how he was wasting his talent at Arsenal and needed to come "home" to the Nou Camp. I still get angry at Fabregas allowing them to place a Barcelona shirt on him at their celebrations of the World Cup win. It was only a matter of time then before Fabregas caused enough strife at Arsenal to force his way out. The fact that his move back to Barcelona wasn't overly successful on a personal level - despite being involved in a number of trophy wins, he never got ahead of the more famous and experienced midfield players there - will not have any bearing on the future of Bellerin.

I will go out on a limb right now and say that, by the time we get to proper pre-season training the Barcelona media machine will be in action dropping stories about Bellerin. Pique and his mates will be on at him throughout the next five weeks or so to unsettle him at Arsenal. A successful tournament will see Hector become a permanent feature of the Spain squad and so it will begin to turn his head. Like Fabregas he is a Barcelona kid. The lure of a return, despite any public protestations to the contrary, is there for him. Spending time with those w*****s from Barcelona will not be good news for Arsenal. If it doesn't happen this Summer, then next year will probably see Bellerin being properly pursued by Barcelona having been continually prodded by their players in the Spanish team. I reckon that Hector Bellerin won't be at Arsenal when the 2017-18 starts, or at least by the end of the 2017 transfer window. The long goodbye begins now. 

Squad Review Part Four - Strikers, News on a new Arsenal Captain?

The Arsenal goals trust

The final part of the squad review focuses on Arsenal's attacking players. It's fair to say it wasn't a vintage year for any of our main goal scorers, though the most creative player in the group did have a productive season. If only we'd signed a top class centre-forward to actually put away the opportunities on a more regular basis...

Mesut Ozil

He ended up one short of Thierry Henry's record number of "assists" in a season. This, of course, is a Sky Sports created Premier League record which has only become remotely a "thing" since the invention of Fantasy Football. There was a period, however, in mid-season when Ozil was untouchable as a player in the Premier League. Undoubtedly it was his best spell at Arsenal as he dominated games week after week. From that point on it was inconceivable that he wouldn't beat Henry's mark but he regressed to the disinterested image that has been the main feature of his time with us. At the same time he was let down by those he created for at times. For me he doesn't take enough responsibility by taking players on and he certainly doesn't shoot enough or score enough goals. There was talk mid-season about him maybe moving on but that would be a massive shock now.

Olivier Giroud

Giroud scored well in excess of 20 goals again across the season, and that is easily forgotten. The reason it's forgotten is that his form after the Liverpool game in January was absolutely awful. He put in a great display against Huth and Morgan when we beat Leiester at home, but from there on wasn't worth a place in the side until the final two games. He scored a good hat-trick on the final day but it shouldn't cloud what had gone on in the preceding 3 months. At the same time it shouldn't be forgotten that he got another hat-trick at Olympiacos in the magnificent team display that got us through in 

the Champions League and he was flying at that point. With the drying up of his goals went our Premier League challenge. Giroud is a good centre-forward, but he isn't a top one. If he was our reserve striker, mostly deployed from the bench, I would be more than happy with him.

Theo Walcott

What went wrong Theo? He started pre-season really well, picking up where he'd left off the previous campaign, and did well in the early going in the Premier League. The game at home to Man Utd was a demonstration of all that can be good about Theo. His pace and movement destroyed their central defenders and made the room and goals for Alexis and Ozil on the day. Naturally he was injured shortly thereafter and didn't come back until December. Nevertheless he scored a spectacular goal in the win over Manchester City that put us five points clear at Christmas. He then enjoyed another extended run in the side to the end of January but his performances grew more and more woeful. He came on and got the important equaliser at home to Leicester but it was downhill again after that. Things got so bad that he actually had the crowd howling with laughter when he characteristically fell over the ball at home to Palace. His Arsenal career seemed to have come full circle in that moment and it was difficult to differentiate between 2016 Theo and the young boy that made his debut in 2006 on the first day at the new stadium. He has been unluckily left out by England after playing an important part in their qualification for Euro 2016 and he now stands at a crossroads. He signed a new contract last year, but his Arsenal career seems to be going nowhere. We all still want him to succeed, but is he really worth yet another chance?

Alexis

He appeared knackered in the early going this season having played the Copa America (and he does so again this year) but still had enough to destroy Man Utd in October. His hat-trick at Leicester had seemed to announce he was back at his best. However, he went on a lean run before injury at Norwich kept him out for a while. This should have been just the break he had needed but when he came back in the side he was frustratingly poor, and wasn't working anywhere near as hard as he had in the past. His constant coming inside with the ball became easy to defend against as the opposition now had him well scouted and worked out. His equaliser at Spurs showed he was still the man for the big moments, however, and a move to the right-wing when Iwobi came in to the side gave him a new lease of life. His goal scoring form returned at the end of the season, and the presence of both Coquelin and Cazorla in the final game brought out the best in the little Chilean as he now had more space opened up to him. We need him to come back fit from his exertions in the USA.

Danny Welbeck

Injured for almost a year until his sensational return to the pitch against Leicester. Welbeck weighed in with a nice few goals, and his partnership with Iwobi was a real breath of fresh air late in the season, but he still misses more than his share - the last minute cock-up in the Watford FA Cup game springs to mind immediately, and he had also missed a couple against Leicester before that last-minute header. He didn't complete a full game at any time, and Wenger was clearly wanting to use him sparingly - Giroud's form made this less possible. Concerningly he was constantly having his injured knee iced immediately after every time he played, before seriously injuring the other knee at City and cruelly missing out on the Euros as a result. Like Giroud he isn't the answer, but he can play in a number of positions across the front-line and is a valuable asset. If only his knees can recover...

Joel Campbell

Surprisingly not transferred before the season started he was an anonymous figure early on. He played in the League Cup game at Spurs where his work ethic was eye-catching, and his willingness to make a tackle particularly impressive. He got a massive slagging for the Sheffield Wednesday game, completely overlooking the fact that he was actually putting in a shift on the night. When he got his Premier League chance at Swansea he took it with both hands, scoring a lovely goal in to the bargain. For some reason he never really got a proper run despite impressing just about every time he played. The Swansea home game saw him score one of our best goals of the season and turn in one of the best individual displays as well. When Wenger took him off the crowd went crazy with derision at the Manager. This seemed to serve for Wenger taking against Campbell even more as he was involved less and less, with Walcott inexplicably continually gaining selection ahead of him. I think Campbell is an excellent player. He works hard, creates goals, scores goals and is perfect as a squad man - and he's done all of this playing out of position on the wing.

Alex Iwobi

The surprise package of the latter part of the season. He actually had a very impressive pre-season campaign and scored in the Emirates Cup win over Lyon. Mostly deployed as understudy to Mesut Ozil for the FA Cup games he got a shock start in Barcelona where he combined to great effect with Danny Welbeck. He did the same again at Everton a few days later and scored a superb goal, before netting his first home goal a week after that. His style in those early games set him apart at a time when the rest of the team looked stale and slow going forward. Alex played in a few different positions as well, including a deep-lying midfield role late on at West Ham where he controlled the game in the last 15 minutes. This boy looks to have a great future ahead of him right now and he has come on incredibly in the last 18 months or so.

Jeff Reine-Adelaide

Signed last Summer he burst on the scene against Lyon in the Emirates Cup with a look of Vieira or Diaby in the way he carried the ball through midfield in to attack. He got his rare first-team appearances playing wide and impressed in doing so - not expected to feature all that much he was an unused Premier League substitute in a number of matches early on in the season. Having watched him play some under-21 and FA Youth Cup games towards the end of the season he was less impressive and I hope he hasn't started to go backwards already. Next season is a big one for the young French player where he must kick on to bang down the door of the first-team squad, and maybe secure a loan deal.

Three of the young strikers in the squad went out on loan for the season. Serge Gnabry went to West Brom and was back at Arsenal by Christmas - Pulis was not the right person to be overseeing the development of anyone from Arsenal. He was back in the under-21 team for the last couple of months without getting another chance in the first-team. I'm not sure what the future is for Serge. Yaya Sanogo went to Ajax where they very quickly worked out he was awful. He, too, returned to Arsenal at Christmas but was then sent to Charlton for the remainder of the season. He scored the luckiest hat-trick I've ever seen while he was there, as well as being sent-off for a heinous elbow (though he was being fouled at the time) resulting in a suspension. He has no future at Arsenal, surely?! Finally Chuba Akpom is at Hull and will be hoping to be in the squad for their play-off final at Wembley tomorrow. Having enjoyed a highly successful pre-season tour with the first-team he has failed to impress enough in the Championship, with questions raised on more than one occasion over his attitude. He was ahead of Alex Iwobi at Arsenal a year ago, but is now firmly behind him. This pre-season, if he is still at Arsenal, will be make of break for Akpom.

In other news Aaron Ramsey has been awarded Mikel Arteta's number 8 shirt at Arsenal. This means he is definitely staying, I would say. However, there is still no number awarded to new £30m+ signing Granit Xhaka - the Arsenal commercial team give with one hand and take away with the other! After all, why try and make loads of money out of a new major signing, eh? 

Pictures have also emerged of Laurent Koscielny wearing the armband at the photo-shoot for the new kit. I've only seen these linked on Facebook so I can't speak for the veracity of them. I can't tell whether they've been doctored to look that way, but he certainly seems favourite to be the new skipper - as I wrote the other day, the Villa game should have given us a big clue.

Squad Review Part Three - Midfielders

How we missed these two

The third part of the annual end of season odyssey sees my take on the midfield players in the Arsenal squad this season. There are a lot of them so let's get on with it.

Tomas Rosicky

TR7 was kept on for another year as Wenger exercised the option to extend his contract. Unfortunately he was once again absent for almost the entire campaign due to injury. That has been a consistent theme during his ten years with Arsenal which is such a shame when you consider the ability of the man. I was upset that he wasn't given a place on the bench for the Villa game so that he could get his much warranted crowd ovation. He did get a silver cannon for his contribution to Arsenal and the esteem he is held in by the other players was clear when they formed a guard of honour for him wearing his shirt. Thanks Tom and good luck. Hopefully we'll see him back in September for the game against AC Milan legends.

Mikel Arteta

The Arsenal Captain was largely restricted to writing his programme notes for most of the season. His only starts were in the Champions League and League Cup while a seemingly chronic calf problem kept him out for most of the time. It looked for a while that his swansong would be a less than convincing contribution to the defeat at West Brom. Thankfully he was granted the chance that Rosicky didn't get and he came on to a hero's welcome with a few minutes remaining against Villa. That his final touch as a professional footballer (Arteta has retired as a player) should be to score a goal was a great way to finish - I refuse to acknowledge it as an own-goal by the Villa goalkeeper. It was incredible to see the normally unflappable Arteta in floods of tears at the end of the game. He has served us brilliantly since joining from Everton, adapting his game unselfishly to suit the needs of the team. I don't begin to understand why Wenger can't find a place for him on a coaching staff that includes the likes of Banfield and Primorac, so he leaves with all our good wishes. Thanks Mikel, you've been a fine Arsenal Captain - class in every way.

Jack Wilshere

Another season wrecked by injury and tarnished by unwanted headlines for his behaviour when out and about. I can only hope he isn't going to waste his brilliant talent simply because he can't get through his head that he has a responsibility as a professional footballer. I love Jack and he was a stick-on for the England squad as long as he could get fit before the season ended. Any idiot doubting why he is there has never seen him play - Jack is THAT good. His presence at Euro 2016, assuming he doesn't get injured again, could actually benefit us going in to the new season as he will be fit and ready to hit the ground running. For me he should be the new Arsenal Captain, but it isn't going to happen.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain

The Ox had a great start to the season with the winning goal at Wembley against Chelsea. It was all set up for him to run through this season and be the star player we all know he should be. Instead he has seemingly gone backwards. Joel Campbell correctly took his place in the side for a while and Alex has looked a forlorn figure when he has played. At the same time it is a cruel blow that injury has seen him miss another international tournament, though I'm not sure his form would have got him in anyway as it's turned out. He has been linked with a move to Leicester but I would be annoyed if he was allowed to leave - there is still time for The Ox to make it big at Arsenal but he has to stay fit and fight for his place.

Aaron Ramsey

This bloke frustrates me more than any other Arsenal player right now. We know he can do it but he insists on trying to be too clever at every turn. I'm sick of the back-heels and fancy flicks which consistently see us lose the ball. Of course one of them came off in great style at Tottenham with his magnificent goal there but that was the exception to the rule. Wenger seems determined to shoe-horn him in to the side in any way he can, regardless of the detrimental effect on the way the team plays. He slows us down going forward and doesn't work hard enough in defence. His lack of pace also shows him up in the Arsenal midfield and he often looks like he's wading through treacle when in a straight race for the ball. Of all the players in the Arsenal squad Ramsey is the one I wouldn't be upset to see leave. Controversial? Only among those who don't go regularly.

Santi Cazorla

How we missed the little Spanish wizard. I have to say that, up to the point of his injury, I felt he wasn't playing as well as the previous season. The 3-0 home win over Man Utd was an exception in that run where he was outstanding. However, once he was out of the team you began to realise how good he is. For someone so small he never shies away from a tackle and his quick feet get us going forward. He can beat a man which immediately creates space for himself and others. When he was finally back for the last game of the season we saw what we've been missing. It's a shame for him that he has been overlooked by Spain thanks to his injury. Maybe that will serve as motivation for him to show his best again next season.

Mathieu Flamini

Wenger said at the start of the season that he wouldn't play. Flamini stayed nevertheless. Within a month he had scored two goals, one a fantastic volley, to beat Tottenham at White Hart Lane and his song was sung long and loud by the travelling Gooners. He ended up playing fairly regularly, or at least being in the match day squad, for most of the rest of the season. You can never fault Flamini's desire and effort. He was unfairly pilloried for the penalty at home to Barcelona. If all the players put in the work that Flamini does then maybe we might still have won the Title. He's done really well in both his spells at Arsenal as far as I'm concerned and I wish him all the best. And if he does become a billionaire through his business interests I hope he comes back and buys Arsenal off the disinterested American.

Francis Coquelin

The other man we missed badly once he was injured. We all knew it was a gamble to go in to the season without signing a genuine back-up or competition for Coquelin. Wenger didn't do it and it cost us. When he did come back he missed Cazorla alongside him at times, but why he was dropped for a number of games I just can't work out - my suspicion is that he probably had a word or two to say to the slackers in the squad and we all know Arsene doesn't like that sort of thing. The signing of Xhaka will seemingly give that competition to Coquelin (who should have been another contender for the armband) and he might just have a battle on his hands to start next season. I love Coquelin and I hope he rises to the challenge - it is a joke that he is yet to get a call-up to the France team given his contributions over the last 18 months.

Mohamed Elneny

The only January signing didn't make a league appearance for weeks after his arrival. When he did play he seemed to like a shot or two on his debut in the FA Cup against Burnley. This was quickly banned by Wenger and he settled in to the more controlling areas of our midfield play - by that I mean he became the master of the sideways pass. He doesn't give away the ball when he passes it and this endears him to large sections of the crowd and to Arsene Wenger. As I've said here before, however, it's all a bit Ray Wilkins for me. There is little creativity from him as he rarely plays the ball forward. At the moment he lacks the physicality for a Premier League midfield player - a pre-season spent bulking up might make the difference there. His superb goal at Barcelona points to the fact that he can do the spectacular when he puts his mind to it. Hopefully we will see a different player now he has had the time to settle in properly.

Ismael Bennacer

He came on as a sub in the loss at Sheffield Wednesday when Oxlade-Chamberlain and Walcott both limped off early. Bennacer has the diminutive stature of Santi Cazorla but not yet the physical strength. As a result he was overwhelmed on the night by experienced Wednesday players but was one of Arsenal's better performers. I can't see him making it here, however, as he hasn't set the pulse racing in his under-21's appearances since then.

Glen Kamara

The young Finn started the game at Hillsborough and, although he very much tried his best, he was a long way out of his depth on the night. Wenger should have given him some respite long before he finally took him off late in to the match. He spent the second half of the season on loan at Southend but made only 3 appearances (according to Wikipedia) which doesn't smack of a big future - I don't know if maybe he got an injury there. He is 21 later this year and, with the plethora of midfield options ahead of him at Arsenal, seems unlikely to break through.

Ben Sheaff

The young Englishman was an unused sub at Sheffield. He's a bit of a free-kick specialist who has also been used at right-back late in the season for the under-21 team. Next season will be a big one for him if he is to make an impression on Arsene Wenger.

Chris Willock

He has come to the fore in the junior sides in the second half of this season and made the bench in the FA Cup. Willock is quick and skillful, maybe a little one-footed (though that never stopped Van Persie early in his career) but with a good eye for goal. He is an exciting prospect and I am certain he will be involved with the first-team in pre-season. If he can lay a marker there then promotion to the squad list at the start of next season is not out of his reach. A loan spell no doubt beckons at some time after the early rounds of the League Cup.

Of the players that were involved last season, and in pre-season, there have been three notable loans. Gedion Zelalem played a full part in Glasgow Rangers successful campaign and started the Scottish Cup Final last week. Ultimately, however, he hasn't kicked on to the expected level and I'd be surprised if his Arsenal career lasted beyond next season. Ainsley Maitland-Niles spent the season at Ipswich and was a regular in the squad up until a reportedly bizarre incident involving his mother, who is also his agent apparently. This was not the first time she is alleged to have "had words" with his bosses after being reportedly ejected from the Arsenal training ground during an under-21 game last year. He was the furthest advanced of the youngsters in the previous season, with an ability to play in a number of positions. I hope this hasn't damaged his career beyond repair at Arsenal. Finally Jon Toral was a late call-up to the pre-season tour last year having been surprisingly left out initially. He went on loan to Birmingham for the season and has had an outstanding time there, winning the player of the season awards at St Andrews. He could have done no more to try and impress Arsene Wenger, but I doubt his future will be at Emirates. He can console himself with the knowledge that very good Football League career is his if he wants it.