Substitutions and FA Cup Finals have for years been important in forming the history of The Arsenal. Had we been able to replace Wally Barnes early in the 1952 Final against Newcastle, the result would probably have been different.

I remember watching the Monday Night Football programme on Sky about a week ago and the subject of rivalries was put to the fans in the fans forum. When the representative from Chelsea was asked about who he saw as his club's biggest rivals he said (much to my amusement) "Arsenal".

I've not seen any Arsenal fanzine reviews for quite a while now so I thought I'd bring you up to date on what's available around Highbury these days, so consider this to be number one in a short series of not very many.

Despite what has been said elsewhere, at no point to my knowledge has the Club declared that the number 6 shirt has or will be retired. Although a number of people have argued that it should be.

I have a confession to make: I am no longer an Arsenal fan. This is not a spur of the moment decision, nor is it one that has its origin in any specific event.

Vic Crescit, special correspondant from Highbury's marble halls, comments on Arsenal's latest brush with the football Babylon....

I should have been happy after Sunday's game at Old Trafford - but I wasn't, not by a long chalk.

Banter and mind games are just as much a part of football as the back-pass rule and fourth officials these days. But even taking this into account, the ‘Manchester United snide remark machine' seems to have gone into overdrive during the past few months.

There are times when I honestly wonder what the football world is coming to. More to the point, it is those who earn their living writing and broadcasting on the game that I am even more worried about.

It is no exaggeration to say that all Arsenal fans worship at the altar of the enigmatic Arsène.

Isn't it annoying? Just when Arsenal supporters everywhere are starting to get their teeth into the new season it has been abruptly brought to a halt for two weeks because of internationals.

If you were to believe the musings of the press hacks, Arsenal have had a disastrous summer in the transfer market losing England's keeper and replacing him with Germany's second choice.

Now that that the curtain has effectively been raised so to speak, the debate as to who the Premiership title contenders are will build in intensity. If you were to ask me whether there are any contenders for the title outside of last years top five the answer would be “No”.

What has Jeffers done to deserve such criticism?

It must have been a couple of weeks after last season was over when I first saw the rumour that Arsenal would only have a transfer fund of £10 million pounds available to strengthen the squad.

In a world that is moving faster and faster all the time, it's very easy to forget some of the little things in life and find yourself taking things for granted.

What a difference a year makes, huh? This time last year the Arsenal were champions, double winners and lords of all they surveyed.

What's the secret to having a successful side? Is it having good attacking players who can score you goals or good defensive players that can keep them out?

You know something, I always have a personal rule – never, EVER waste any more time than I have to when referring to Manchester United.

This summer break is probably Wenger's most important since he has joined the club. He has been with us for 7 years and in that time changed the club in a way that I am sure most of us thought impossible.

Despite our FA Cup victory against Southampton, there can't be an Arsenal fan in the land who isn't disappointed about the way this season has turned out. We've all said it many times already but I'll say it again: Manchester United didn't truly win the Premiership title – we threw it away.

Whilst it is everyone's dream to go and watch your heroes in the Cup Final, it is also everyone's dream to experience the occasion at close hand. I had this pleasure yesterday.

It is ironic that our 2001/02 Double Season began at Highbury with a defeat to Leeds and we lost the 2002/03 Championship also at Highbury with a defeat to Leeds. It's been said before that this match wasn't the turning point of our season, but whether that came at Bolton is open to debate.

I was a committed supporter of the Ashburton Grove project until last year. Creating a modern 60,000 seater stadium seemed to me to be the only way to go to enable Arsenal compete with the best in England (and to a lesser extent Europe) for years to come.

So Sol got banned as we all knew he would, the Video Advisory Panel or VAP as they are know failed to see what anyone watching on a stop frame replay can clearly see. Namely that no contact was made with Sol's elbow to Baby Face's head.