Sic Transit Gloria Mundi. So it would appear that swathes of empty seats and the prospect of the financial pain of a desolate prawn circle, after the installation of more Club Level seats this summer, has finally forced a response to the interminable outcry for change at the Arsenal, signalling the end of a glorious era.

As far as I was concerned Robin van Persie was dead to me from the moment he came over to bid us all adieu, at the conclusion of last season’s campaign at The Hawthorns.