No, sorry Manchester United yobs. This isn’t me declaring that I am parting ways with Arsenal and am seeking favour elsewhere. I’m not interested in your overtures. So jog right along, thank you very much.

So now that the 2010-2011 Premiership season is over, I invited myself to take a glance at the Premier League Table, to confirm my worst fears more than anything.

Yes, Arsenal finished fourth. How embarrassing.

It’s even worse for me as a firm believer in Arsène Wenger. How do I even begin to explain the tumble from the top a few, short months ago by the Gunners? The old man certainly hasn’t made defending him any easier. He’s been astonishingly obstinate this season, refusing to blame his players (or indeed, himself) even when they jolly well deserved it.

It’s been a weird sort of season. How do you reconcile the fact that Arsenal beat Chelsea, Manchester United and Barcelona in the last six months of the season with the fact that in the exact same period they lost to third-rate Bolton Wanderers, Stoke City and Birmingham City? How do we come to terms with both the heady highs and the unrelenting lows, like the crushing defeat to Birmingham in the Carling Cup Final and the astonishing 4-4 draw to Newcastle United which effectively ended our title hopes? What does one say of the beautiful football, the young talent and complete lack of any sort of silverware in the last six seasons?

I’m just exhausted with football at the moment. The off-season couldn’t have come sooner. The last Arsenal match I sat through was the win against Manchester United in early May. I haven’t been able to emotionally deal with watching Arsenal crumble before my eyes weekend after weekend since then.

Personally, I choose not to dwell on the blame part of being a fan. Yes, Wenger made a mistake by not shoring up his defences with some good purchases last year. With Tomas Vermaelen out for most of the season, it was left to Johan Djourou and the calamity twins Laurent Koscielny and Sebastien Squillaci to man the backline trenches. Frankly, much like the Maginot Line, the two Frenchmen were rubbish at defence.

And yes, Wenger should have provided Robin van Persie (the best Gunner this past season) with more reliable striking partners than the fragile Marouane Chamakh and the stupidly egotistical Nicklas Bendtner.

In Wenger’s defence, the squad he had assembled at the beginning of the season was capable of winning the League, the FA Cup or the Carling Cup. I don’t know why they didn’t. Well, I do. They didn’t win enough games. No, what I mean is I don’t know why they couldn’t fight hard enough to win.

Pop psychology bores me, so I’m not about to get into the “missing X-factor” or “lack of drive” or whatever other mental reason analysts like to give for Arsenal’s failures.

What I’m definitely keen to see happen this transfer season is the exit of Francesc Fabregas, Tomas Rosicky and Gaël Clichy. The first two are obviously quite unhappy at Arsenal, and despite their massive talents, tend to play like their minds are elsewhere. They were also the senior players in the team and unlike Van Persie, have failed to imbue the team with any sense of urgency and desire to play for silverware. Clichy was just terrible as a left-back. He had no excuse either – he’s not a newbie at Arsenal.

I obviously desperately hope that Wenger will replace these men with seasoned footballers, proper game winners like we used to have. The Gunners manager’s prized youth policy is brilliant, except I believe that for now, Arsenal does need to temper youth with battle-hardened experience.

I hope every Gunner out there is stocking on Red Bull and peanut butter. God knows we love our club, but by the looks of Arsenal’s summer transfer sheet, it looks like we’re in for the same exhilarating and ultimately unsatisfactory ride next season. Oh well. C’est la vie.