Last night Ivan Gazidis invited members of the Arsenal Supporters’ Trust (AST) and the Arsenal Independent Supporters’ Association (AISA) to the Emirates for Christmas drinks and, flanked by Mark Gonnella, Tom Fox and Ken Friar, handled a potentially volatile situation with frank honesty which is understood to have won over most of those in attendance.

Perhaps the provision of chocolate cake helped. (“Qu’ils mangent de la brioche…”)

Rejecting another chance to spout well-honed platitudes, the Arsenal CEO admitted that the current state of affairs was just not good enough and that everybody in the club was working to fix what many (if you believe that cunny Stuart Robson) believe is a broken club.

“I think I am frankly tired of getting up here and delivering the same message,” Gazidis told assembled fans.

“Tuesday night was not good enough and it made us all upset and angry.

“I would like to apologise to all of you, especially the fans who travelled up there. It was unbelievable support as ever and you deserved better.

“That is something we will work hard to put right. We all work here and are desperate to deliver the success and trophies we all want.”

While it’s great that those fans who attended last night left the stadium feeling like they’d been treated with respect by the club’s hierarchy – not exactly the case following the recent AGM – it remains to be seen whether the same candid tone is used through official channels to placate the millions of Arsenal fans around the globe who also put their heart and soul into supporting the club.