Q. "Where has our Arsenal gone?" - A. to The Emirates

So plans are in place for several Arsenal fans to take part in a protest before Saturday's home fixture against Swansea. Whether you think it's right or wrong (I'll give my verdict at the end), I think it's only fair to offer a balanced view and look at the reasons for the protest from both a fan and Board perspective.

The tag line that the protesters are going with is "Where has our Arsenal gone?". The answer? The Emirates. The complaint of increased ticket prices, membership costs etc is a completely valid one from a fans perspective. But can you blame the Board for doing it? At the end of the day, we fans are nothing but loyal consumers of a quickly expanding entertainment industry that is in serious risk of flying out of financial control if measures are not taken to "balance the books". The days of family run clubs are well and truly over; enter the businessmen. They don't need to have footballing knowledge, just an understanding of how to turn a product into profit. Unless you are a certain Chelsea or Man City owner, who I'm fairly sure are just doing it for their own amusement.

Arsenal ran up a significant bill when moving stadium from our beloved Highbury, to the state-of-the-art Emirates Stadium back in 2006. It was clear that after that, we'd need a controlled and disciplined approach to our finances in order to pay off the debt, and not spiral into financial ruin a la Leeds United and others have done in the past decade. Players were bought with a "resale" value. Youth was purchased, developed, and sold for particular profit. Very cunning, very clever. And there's no better man to do this than Arsene Wenger. Most importantly, despite this policy we remained in the sacred top 4 of the Premier League, and therefore the Champions League too (which as we know provides huge financial bonuses for qualification alone).

For the first time ever, we have broken the £50m spending limit this summer. Forgetting about who we sold, that is a significant milestone for our otherwise stubborn spending policy. And we brought in players with vast international, European and leadership experience. Yes we lost Cesc (and some overhyped money grabber named $amir), but whereas in previous years we'd have settled for similarly young replacements, we this time looked for experience as the answer. Arteta, Benayoun, Mertesacker and co. All quality players. This leads me to believe that Wenger has begun to see the value in bringing in players of experience to accompany our promising youngsters of Jack Wilshere, Aaron Ramsey, Theo Walcott and the rest. This is the sort of thing we have been crying out for for years. Yet some fans still slate the dealings? We cashed in on two players who didn't want to play for the club. Except for the midfield (let's face it, if you sell Fabregas your midfield simply can't be deemed stronger) I think every other area of the squad is stronger now than it was in May.

Transfer policy done. Now ticket prices.

As I said, we are merely consumers and paying customers to a product (football). Basic understanding of business and economics will tell you that if you have a product that is selling at over 100% it's production rate (or stadium capacity I'll call it), then you have the adequate demand to increase said prices. People are still paying to watch Arsenal every week aren't they? Whether they complain or not, they are. Fact. Sure, the club may have lost a lot of long-term and loyal supporters, but I have no doubt this is made up by new fresh supporters, willing to pay the money to watch the club they love. We must also take into account economic considerations such as the VAT increase, which as Gazidis mentioned when addressing AST members earlier this summer, also had an impact on the increase in ticket prices.

Now, I'm not saying I condone or agree with the ticket prices. I (like most) feel they are too high, and certainly are too high for myself and many others to attend every game. (I miss the old days where I could get in on an £8.50 Junior Gunners ticket...). But when slating the club and the prices, you should think about it from their angle. They have the demand, they want to increase revenue where ever possible, so a ticket increase makes sense from that perspective.

The Arsenal protesters need to realise the harsh reality which is modern day football. Football is a business, run by businessmen (or women, sorry Karen) who will now place financial implications higher than anything else when running a club. That's why finishing 4th is such a bigger deal to them than winning the FA Cup for example. And I can understand that view, but I don't share it.

Having said that, if I were present at the Swansea game on Saturday (I unfortunately will be away in Las Vegas... tough gig) I would be more focused on getting behind the team and manager and getting our season up and running, than causing a scene which will paint a further negative image on our beautiful club. We've taken a battering in the media lately; they love to write crap about us. Some of it true, some of it not. There are way too many negative Arsenal fans out there, who do nothing but provoke these media moguls further into writing their never ending slander against the club's great name. Every club goes through bad patches. If this is our one bad patch for the next 5/10 years, then we've done well (again, think Leeds United). Yes we've not won a trophy for 6 years. Other clubs have gone through longer dry spells. But we are still an English and European super-power. And one of the strongest financially too.

So here is my ultimate message to the protesters. Grow up, man up and actually stop and think about just what you are going to achieve this Saturday. Because you won't get what you want; you'll make us look even worse. Our Arsenal might have moved stadium, but the history is still the same. It always will be. Whether you want to carry on supporting us or not, I'm not bothered. The true fans will always be there no matter what, in one form or another. Whether they can pay to watch every game from the stadium or not, doesn't define the hierarchy of the Arsenal fan in my view. As long as you are supporting the team, where ever you are the in world, you're a valuable Gooner in my eyes.