Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has remained tight-lipped on his future after see his side miss out on a place in the top four for the first time in almost two decades.
The Gunners held up their end of the bargain by beating Everton 3-1 at the Emirates Stadium on the final day of the season, but victories elsewhere for Manchester City and Liverpool ensured that they finished fifth, one point adrift of the Champions League places.
Wenger is still yet to reveal whether he will stay at the club beyond the end of his current contract, which expires this summer, but he insists that the most important thing to focus on right now is the club's situation.
"Look, my personal situation tonight is not so important. I care about this club. Even if I leave one day I will love this club until the last day of my life, and I want this club to do well and that's all I care about tonight. It's not my personal situation, it's just how well the club responds next season. You have been at the games and you cannot say that the environment for the players was especially positive," he told reporters.
"I don't know. What is important is we do our job. We are professional people and part of being professional is as well to perform when the environment is not positive. We have not to look there as well as an excuse, but I just say it's a fact - it doesn't help. I don't know yet because we have not started the Champions League yet, but [missing out on the top four] is very sad. For 20 years we were in it and it's the first year that we will not be in it.
"It's very strange because, for 75 points, we are only one point short. Of course you can look everywhere for where we dropped these points, but since January it's been a very difficult environment for different reasons.
"Some you know about, and that's very difficult for a group of players to cope with that. There are some other reasons that we will talk about another day. Psychologically, the environment for this group of players was absolutely horrendous and I'm very proud of what they have done, the way they responded and finished the season."
Arsenal must now turn their focus to next weekend's FA Cup final, a match which Laurent Koscielny will miss after being sent off during this afternoon's win over Everton.
Barney Corkhill
