For the best part of two years, football fans up and down the country have been envisaging the demise of Arsenal as a major force in English football.

Among the accusations thrown at the club are a lack of spending power, poor squad strength, an over reliance on youth, and a manager fast running out of ideas and the energy to keep the club in sight of the top two.

Thanks to countless media articles speculating about our lack of investment compared to  Manchester United and Chelsea, as well as ambitious smaller clubs like Tottenham and Manchester City, this attitude has begun to creep into the psyche of Arsenal fans, who are beginning to question for the first time the old adage that "Arsene Knows".

To counter these arguments the first aspect to consider is the financial one, as success on the pitch is more often than not linked to success off it.  The past couple of seasons have seen an interesting trend in Arsenal's spending patterns. In 2004 they reported a net transfer outlay of £23.6million, which dropped to £12.1m in 2005.

The club actually made a £3.9m profit in 2006, as well as a nominal profit in 2007. This year should see as a conservative estimate) a profit of around £10m thanks to the sales of Thierry Henry, Freddie Ljungberg, Jose Reyes, Jeremy Aliadiere, Fabrice Muamba and Lassana Diarra.

This means that over the last five years there has been a net outlay of less than £5m per year, further showing that Arsene Wenger has done a remarkable job keeping Arsenal within the top four while replacing a whole team of invincibles (bar Kolo Toure). He has managed not only to keep his first-team strong but invest in waves of young talent which are yet establish themselves within the first team but promise a bright future.

The reason for Arsenal's prudence? The Emirates Stadium - the very same stadium that promised to put the club on a level playing field with the big guns of European football. A short-sighted view would be that when the Arsenal moved into the ground at the start of the 2006/07 season its new revenue streams should have put the club in a much better position to lavish cash on the first team.

The reality of the situation is that the stadium project is far from finished. Until the Highbury Square project is complete and the Queensland Road site sold, the club will continue to pump millions of pound into property development.  The upside of this strategy is £350m of turnover from property alone over the next two financial years. Added to the football income, the club can expect to generate £750m over a two-year period, far outstripping any other club in world football.

This season just gone should see the first time that the stadium has begun to truly pay dividends. Now the loans have been refinanced, and without any more one-off exceptional charges, the club is expected to post a profit before tax of more than £50m (football only). If Arsenal were to continue with this strategy and level of success, the club could be essentially free of debt by the summer of 2010.

It is an enviable position to aspire to in this day and age, especially when compared to the legacy the Glazers are leaving in Manchester. Turnover-wise the club has established itself in the big five of world football and, moving forward, there is no reason why Arsenal won't be able to compete at the highest level for top transfer talent.

On the pitch it is claimed Arsenal have a weak squad and can't keep hold of their players. Well, right now the first team would most likely comprise Almunia, Clichy, Gallas Toure, Sagna, Rosicky, Gilberto, Fabregas, Hleb, Van Persie and Adebayor. This team could more than hold its own in the Premier League, but it is in the promise of youth that Arsenal seem so strong.

Discounting "elder statesmen" such as Senderos, Hoyte, Diaby, Fabianski and Eduardo, and factoring in the expected signing of Samir Nasri, Wenger could field an XI of Mannone, Traore, Song, Nordtveit, Djourou, Nasri, Denilson, Ramsey, Walcott, Bendtner and Vela.

With not one of the aforementioned ineligible for his country's under-21 squad this season, surely there is not a club in world football who can boast such an array of young talent on the fringe of the first team - and this is not to mention the exciting crop of English talent bubbling just below this level, headed by Mark Randall, Jack Wilshire, Henri Lansbury, Kieran Gibbs and Jay Simpson.

This plethora of talent means the majority of fans remain relaxed at the prospect of losing Adebayor and Hleb. If they don't won't to wear the red and white of Arsenal, then there is a queue of talent waiting to take their place.