New season, same old story at the Emirates

PRIOR to Saturday’s Premier League prelude, there seemed to be a prevailing mood of diffidence amongst perplexed Gooners gathering around the ground for our first game.

The majority of us are praying that le Prof’s sleeve still contains two or three aces, to be played before the transfer window closes, which might yet address those deficiencies that were all too evident when last season’s fruitless campaign faltered and which haven’t exactly been helped by the subsequent departures of Hleb and Flamini.

The “party line” from the suits at the club concerning the robust health of Wenger’s war-chest, rings ever more hollow. Strolling to the ground, I passed the building site of the soon to be completed Highbury Square development — a hotch-potch design, which in my humble opinion, has failed miserably to incorporate the grandiose (listed) art-deco facades of the East and West stands of the old stadium, with modern brickwork buildings that have more of a council care home appearance, than a millionaire’s paradise – followed by the umpteen empty blocks of flats, lined along one entire side of Drayton Park, which need to be occupied before they add any income to an alleged £90 million (€113m) return from the old stadium.