For Arsenal’s supporters, and indeed many of the club’s employees, it is the timing that is the hardest part to understand. Last week’s announcement to staff that 60 jobs are at risk of redundancy came just months after the club won their first Premier League title in more than two decades, and just a few days after Mikel Arteta signed a lucrative new contract.

Supporters and staff might have expected this to be a triumphant, celebratory period in Arsenal’s history. After all, they have a brilliant team, one of the best managers in the world, an engaged fanbase and last year generated record revenues. Instead, though, the mood within the club is low. As a consequence of these job losses, morale has plummeted.

Telegraph Sport understands that several experienced and influential figures have already left Arsenal, or will be leaving in the coming months, in addition to the process that has put 60 jobs at risk. There is significant change and instability within many departments, which contrasts sharply and uncomfortably with the settled nature of the men’s first team under Arteta.

Reviews of this nature are challenging for any business, of course. But they are harder to justify for Premier League clubs, especially those that are as big and successful as Arsenal. Rightly or wrongly, removing regular jobs will always be looked upon badly by the outside world when there is a small group of staff, namely the senior players, who earn millions of pounds every year.

This is the bubble in which clubs such as Arsenal, who employ around 850 people, operate. A tiny percentage of celebrity employees take home a huge percentage of the company’s money. The rest of the staff, especially in the corporate side of the business away from the club’s training ground, live normal lives with normal salaries. These are the people who will be affected. For many supporters, who regard Arsenal not as a business but as a community institution, it leaves a deeply unpleasant taste in the mouth.

Why is it all happening now, so soon after Premier League glory? The simple answer is that Arsenal would have taken this course of action irrespective of whether they finished first or second in May. A change of leadership in September last year resulted in Richard Garlick being named chief executive, long before the title was won. As a newly appointed chief executive, Garlick has overseen a review of the club’s operations. Arsenal also worked with management consultants Boston Consulting Group.

It is all underpinned by an unwelcome financial reality: Arsenal have made seven consecutive years of losses. The accounts for last season have not yet been released, but they will almost certainly show another loss, and potentially a sizeable one. Winning the Premier League boosts the club’s image and long-term earning power, but it does not immediately help the bank balance. A consequence of the club’s incentivised bonus structure is that it can actually be more profitable, in the short term at least, for Arsenal to finish second.

The justification for the internal changes is that Arsenal must use their resources more efficiently to generate more revenue. The premise is straightforward: the more they can generate off the field, the more they can invest in the team. And the more they can invest in the team, the more they will generate by being successful.

It is also possible that some of the 60 who are affected by this process will have opportunities to move into different roles within the club once the restructuring efforts are fully under way. The consultation process, Telegraph Sport understands, is ongoing.

In time, perhaps, the vision will become more clear to staff and Arsenal’s financial firepower will become supercharged, leading to sustained success on the field and meaningful growth off it. But for now, there are clearly many within the club who do not have faith in that long-term plan and feel disheartened, concerned and unsure about why any of this was truly necessary.

It does not help, either, that Arsenal and Arteta have been so keen in recent years to portray the club as a place of togetherness. When Arteta brought a chocolate labrador named Win to the training ground, he did so because he felt that Arsenal “are a family” and that they “need a dog to represent that family”. He said in 2023: “I think there are still things at the club that can be done to connect with people. To be more caring with people, to show love.”

Such sentiments, evidently, feel rather hollow to the affected employees and their colleagues at times like these.

In truth, the “family” at the training ground has never been particularly connected with the rest of the club. London Colney, where his coaches and players are based, is Arteta’s primary domain and concern. The Spaniard does not have the time to be talking at the water cooler with teams from the commercial and retail departments.

This, presumably, is why Arteta was so unhappy to be asked about the redundancies in a press conference last week. “This question is not for me,” he said. “Obviously I am not the right person to answer that question.”

The club’s owners and executives are the people to answer these questions. So far, with the process ongoing, they have been unable to do so. Time will tell how damaging or otherwise the departures, and indeed the internal discontent, will be to Arsenal’s prospects as a team – and as a club.