So I like to think of myself as someone who can see both sides of an argument, and not simply hold an entrenched view.

I have been arguing on this thread that the owners are not the ones resposible primarily for the mess we are in. And I maintain that stance re the January transfer window. I think that our failure to bring in a forward player was principally born out of an intransigent 'strategy' where certain 'Goldilocks' players have been targeted; it has been determined that we will not pay over the odds for anyone who does not fit the player and age profile that we have identified, and the club lacked the ingenuity; flexibility and nimbleness to pivot and deal with an immediate situation.

But as I have said, I think the real issue stemmed from the Summer and even the couple of years before this. It is indisputable that Arteta has focussed on other parts of the pitch to the detriment of our forward line. It is likely that he has a large part to play in the strategy above and that his natural focus has seen us collect defenders and midfielders rather than look to try to match our competitors up front.

And when we look at the Summer, I think a different picture emerges of the Kroenkes. I thought Arseblog's post was interesting this morning in pointing out that our main signings - Calafiori and Merino - could only be signed once we had sold ESR and Nketiah. I think this is very telling. There has clearly been some kind of spending limit or non-negotiable put in place - even when it comes to key signings endorsed by the manager. I suspect that this sits on top of, or is at least intertwined with the 'Goldilocks' approach that I refer to above. The logical conclusion therefore is that KSE is neither prepared to go the extra financial mile to fund even primary targets, nor to spend over certain limited amounts on 'emergency' signings.

I said in an earlier post that it does not make sense for the owners to deny us an opportunity to win the league, but on reflection I think my view should be modified. I think the Kroenkes were willing to invest sufficiently in the club to make us competetive, and would like us to win things. But I believe now that they are simply not prepared to spend the money required to make this a probablilty rather than a possibility. And sadly I don't see this changing. I think we are back to the 'top four is a trophy' situation that existed under Wenger for so long - the difference being that for a lot of this period there was some merit in this - given the need to pay the stadium debt etc. CL football ticks the financials box. Winning trophies is merely from the owners' standpoint the icing on the cake. If we want more evidence of this, we can look to our reported targets - Cesko; Gyökeres; Williams. All good players but none of them 'sure things' like, say Isak would be. And none in the bracket of, say, a Rice. We need to thank our lucky stars that Saka was home grown.

We are not a 'small time' club, but we are an also ran. And I think that any manager will have his work cut out to win things given this.