Arsenal fans are planning to protest against Stan Kroenke at the FA Cup final, but shouldn’t this be one day when we put all that aside and get behind the team 100%?

We can’t sing at the moment.

Not about Arsene Wenger anyway.

The vast majority of Arsenal fans are, regrettably, convinced that there is no going back for the manager. He is not deemed capable of taking the club back to the dizzy heights of his early reign, and so recent improvements are considered short term sticking plasters. “One Arsene Wenger” is unlikely to echo around the stands at the Emirates again until our longest-serving manager finally announces his departure, whenever that may be.

We can’t sing for him.

Equally, though, Arsenal’s current run of form has taken something of an upwards swing. Results have improved, with eight wins in the last nine and five on the bounce. But perhaps as crucially, given our feverish appetites for good football, performances have also improved during the latter part of that run.

We can’t sing against him either.

But that leaves Arsenal fans in a kind of purgatory.

We’re dissatisfied, but we can’t express that dissatisfaction through the usual channels.

Next, Enter Stan Kroenke…

We need a new target

Enter Silent Stan Kroenke.

He’s the ideal candidate to bear the brunt of our frustrations after a mixed season.

After all, he doesn’t speak, so how can he defend himself?

Last weekend, our players battled hard to grind out a potentially vital but ultimately futile result. But around the stands, the “Red Army, Red Army” ostinato gave way to a rather more agitated song. “Get out of our club! Get out of our club! Stan Kroenke, get out of our club!”

Fans who usually don’t open their mouths were standing to join in, shades of “spend some f**king money” all over again. I only wish that we sang songs in support of the team quite so vociferously.

But does Kroenke deserve to be chanted at?

Your guess is as good as mine.

I don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes at the club.

Clearly things aren’t rosy in the Arsenal garden, judging by the number of cryptic comments Arsene has come out with in recent weeks.

Certainly I’ll be waiting with bated breath for his autobiography if and when he ever leaves.

It is possible to get a little insight into what might be going on in the ivory halls, just by looking at some of Mr Kroenke’s other ventures, especially Stateside.

The truth is, though, that we’re still just guessing.

Next, Put yourself in his shoes…

Put yourself in his shoes

Imagine if one of your customers was unhappy because they didn’t believe your company was delivering value for money.

Let’s say they got it into their head that it’s your fault, and therefore you should be made to leave your company, even though they have no idea who’s to blame.

You’d be pretty hacked off if they started a campaign about it.

Maybe it is your fault, maybe it’s not, but it’s pretty unfair to be faced with a campaign based on hearsay and conjecture, rather than hard evidence.

Stan Kroenke could turn out to be the scourge of Arsenal Football Club, but so far I’ve seen little evidence suggesting that’s the case, only conjecture.

But that’s by-the-by.

On Saturday, I don’t particularly care if you think he’s an angel sent from above or the devil himself. Any views on Stan Kroenke should be kept out of Wembley.

A stadium ban, if you will.

It’s an exciting day, a chance to win a real, shiny trophy.

It’s exactly the kind of day that we bemoaned a lack of for nine long years between 2005 and 2014. It should be the pinnacle of our season (not difficult, I know, given how frustrating it’s been!) not a sideshow to a protest an owner.

To me, that would apply no matter who the owner was – a mismanaging miscreant or a misunderstood servant.

Next, It’s a final!…

It’s a final!

Every single voice in the stadium should have one objective, and one objective only: to drive their team on to victory.

That means 28,000 Arsenal fans supporting their team as one, not bickering over the pros and cons of an owner who famously keeps his cards close to his chest.

If – and hopefully when – we win the cup, the story should be about Arsenal Football Club, not the bickering between its boardroom and its stands.

Let the story on the back pages be about our successes, not our failures.

Frankly, if anyone wants to lower themselves to the point of protesting during an FA Cup Final, they should at least have the decency to “spend some f**king money” on a proper banner, rather than a cheap and nasty print-at-home sheet of A4.

It’ll help them attract the cameras better, too.