Issue 216 of The Gooner from August 2011 has a fresh new look and the only prominent new signing of the summer so far is on our front cover as we try to be optimistic about the nine months which lie ahead. The opening day of the season is usually met with a sense of anticipation and Simon Rose recalls some memories of first games over the years (not all of them good ones it has to be said) in his piece entitled It All Starts Here. Meanwhile, Ben Smee writes a piece defending Arsene Wenger who he believes has been unfairly criticised by large portions of the Arsenal fanbase and is someone we should treasure. There are also articles on the season ticket increase, the self-sustaining model and Liam Brady as well as the full results of our annual Gooner Survey which attracted a record of over 3000 responses. Sometimes they agreed, sometimes they didn’t but either way it provides the biggest and best measure of the feelings of the Gooner Nation you will get anywhere. Many of our regulars are also back for another season – Mickey Cannon, Anger Management, readers letters (under a new name) and In The Away End which this issue journeys into the Stoke chat rooms and forums.