With the incredible, nay obscene amounts of money being spent by Unreal already, I have been forced to wonder whether the traditional Arsenal way of going about business is in any way still viable.

Now I'm in no way suggesting we should try and match that sort of spending, we can't and at this time maybe only Citeh have those sort of resources in the Prem. Thing is if the playing field changed last year with clubs like Citeh now having enough dosh to match Unreal, what will the playing field be like now at least theoretically other clubs are being bought out. It seems that there is still a desire to own a Premiership club by individuals and syndicates even in the teeth of the current economic situation.

So where does this leave a club like Arsenal, proud of it's traditions and lacking the desire to be financed by a sugar daddy? Can we still compete on a playing field that is so far from level? It could be argued that actually we are no longer playing on the same pitch as the three clubs that finished above us anyway. Does this mean that without the dodgy Uzbekistani (or anyone else for that matter) pumping cash in we are stuffed?

I think we have to hold fire on that one as there appear to be rumbles of concern if not discontent at some of our rivals. Maybe the Beatles were correct, money can't buy love, for the club at any rate. The 'Pool look to have a bit of a fight keeping their current team together. The Chavs having found a seemingly suitable manager couldn't keep him and appear to have a whole new 'Special One' in the wings. The Mancs have sold their best player and pissed off one of their best team players so much he may go to Citeh.

And us? Well despite the *cough* best interests of the media, all our players who have been 'linked' with other clubs, have flat out denied it. So we are left with RvP playing hard to get and Adebayor causing ructions internationally (again). I can understand RvP wanting to win stuff, it's not like all Gooners don't, but he's got to see himself as part of the solution. With players like him and Cesc we have the chance to keep other players, without them, and without financial clout we have no chance. Adebayor I would rather see go now, he's believed his own hype and doesn't seem to want to change back to the honest Ade we first saw.

So obviously money ain't everything, but if we want to succeed and win stuff, we are going to have to rely even more on Arsene finding the right players at the right price. It looks like he may be off to a blinder, let's hope he keeps it up. But we as fans have a part to play if we don't want to become a billionaires play thing. Arsene needs all the support he can get as I can't see anyone else who gives us the remotest chance of still running Arsenal Football Club as an independent club. Maybe it is still possible to do things the 'Arsenal way' but the Arsenal way requires solidarity, it's part of the tradition of Arsenal Football Club and always has been. It's a part that's easy to forget in the current hyperbole and financing models. But an important part none the less.