Not a great Easter weekend. Spurs now in with a real shout of winning the title.

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Originally Posted by Ash

Spurs are the best side right now. Probably not while Chelsea went on what looked like their long, title-winning run.

There were plenty of existential moments when Arsenal were the best side in seasons that they did not win the title.

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This is very true but there was a large portion of last season, up until they imploded with 3-4 to go, that I also then believed they were the best side in the league.

A keeper the equal of any other, the best defence in the league, a very effective and functional midfield and a forward line with a striker as good as any in the league. Then they went and improved on this in the summer with the excellent signing of Wanyama.

While Kante has been getting rave reviews from every angle this season I have not seen a better midfield footballer in the PL than Dembele.

Even when they lose a player like Kane and most predict imminent doom they just carry on.

While the points difference in only 10 or whatever we appear on a whole different level (at this moment).

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Originally Posted by Ash

It is about more than the people we know, and I agree that many Chelsea fans are worse than Spurs fans (and there are reasons for that) it is about a kind of geo-political control of the hinterlands.

I walked past The Lane yesterday, with their grand construction site now resembling a new stadium, at a moment when their club could be riding the crest of a wave to some geniune success, possibly even standing on the edge of a seriously glorious era, while our club spirals downwards into goodness-knows what, and it was a sobering moment.

On the boards around the site were photos and momentoes of Glory Glory Tottenham Hotspur. "Harry Kane scores a goal in Europe!" "Spurs win a football match!", "Harry Kane top scorer in the League!" "Here is us winning the league in black and white!". Proper DVD-release of a league cup tie win stuff.

For all the 'mind the gaps' and 'power-shift in North London' that we've come to laugh at over recent years they are finally actually going to finish ahead of us, and could even actually win the fùcking double, and possibly by beating us twice in the process. If the dominance that we take for granted, which makes Arsenal the default team in large parts of North London, is over, then we might start seeing kids in Tottenham shirts deep in Arsenal country, which is almost unheard of now for many-a-year.

And for those that live more in Spurs territory, like poor old Berni there, I shudder to think what the implications could be.

Ivan will notice a dip in one of his revenue-streams too when the tills in the Spurs club shops start to ring more regularly than in his own.

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While the next few weeks could be painfully (though they won't win the league), I don't think there future is as rosy as you are making out. By all accounts the cost of their stadium has doubled and it took some serious wheeler-dealing (sorry Twitchy) to raise the funds. TV money makes a huge difference but Lewis has never been one to dip his hands in his own pocket to help them out hugely. Dele Alli signed two new contracts last year and is still "only" on 50 grand a year. Jesse Lingard has just signed one at United for 100,000. No way are they keeping Kane, Alli etc on the wages they pay at the moment - or possibly Pochettino, which would be the biggest blow, as he appears to know what he is doing when signing players unlike most of the other clowns who have had the job (and while Levi has done well here his record for hiring decent managers is hardly inspiring for them)

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Originally Posted by Ash

Spurs are the best side right now. Probably not while Chelsea went on what looked like their long, title-winning run.

There were plenty of existential moments when Arsenal were the best side in seasons that they did not win the title.

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'existential moments'? In football?

You gave me a red for 'leverage' so I'm afraid this one is as nailed on as they get.

'Ave it :redcard:

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Originally Posted by World's End Stella

'existential moments'? In football?

You gave me a red for 'leverage' so I'm afraid this one is as nailed on as they get.

'Ave it :redcard:

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**** off, ref. You can't send me off for a mere tautology. I was using the word in its meaning of 'in the moment' to distinguish a team in good nick from one which performs well enough in 38 games to win the league.

And it's a proper word. You used leverage as a verb, which a Yanqui, corporate buzzword-bingo crime.

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Originally Posted by Luis Anaconda

While the next few weeks could be painfully (though they won't win the league), I don't think there future is as rosy as you are making out. By all accounts the cost of their stadium has doubled and it took some serious wheeler-dealing (sorry Twitchy) to raise the funds. TV money makes a huge difference but Lewis has never been one to dip his hands in his own pocket to help them out hugely. Dele Alli signed two new contracts last year and is still "only" on 50 grand a year. Jesse Lingard has just signed one at United for 100,000. No way are they keeping Kane, Alli etc on the wages they pay at the moment - or possibly Pochettino, which would be the biggest blow, as he appears to know what he is doing when signing players unlike most of the other clowns who have had the job (and while Levi has done well here his record for hiring decent managers is hardly inspiring for them)

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Doesn't Joe have to act as guarantor for the loan though? And you have to hand it to Daniel, he drives a good deal for them when buying or selling. There's a pub on the High Road with his picture and a caption: "More ales than he's had managers".

Saw Donald Sumpter shuffling around by South End Green on sunday. Poor old fella didn't look in the greatest condition. Looked just like his Maester Luwin.

http://oyster.ignimgs.com/mediawiki/...esterLuwin.jpg

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Originally Posted by Ash

Doesn't Joe have to act as guarantor for the loan though? And you have to hand it to Daniel, he drives a good deal for them when buying or selling. There's a pub on the High Road with his picture and a caption: "More ales than he's had managers".

Saw Donald Sumpter shuffling around by South End Green on sunday. Poor old fella didn't look in the greatest condition. Looked just like his Maester Luwin.

http://oyster.ignimgs.com/mediawiki/...esterLuwin.jpg

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Must be knocking on a bit. Not as if he has to worry about Winter coming anyway

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Originally Posted by Luis Anaconda

While the next few weeks could be painfully (though they won't win the league), I don't think there future is as rosy as you are making out. By all accounts the cost of their stadium has doubled and it took some serious wheeler-dealing (sorry Twitchy) to raise the funds. TV money makes a huge difference but Lewis has never been one to dip his hands in his own pocket to help them out hugely. Dele Alli signed two new contracts last year and is still "only" on 50 grand a year. Jesse Lingard has just signed one at United for 100,000. No way are they keeping Kane, Alli etc on the wages they pay at the moment - or possibly Pochettino, which would be the biggest blow, as he appears to know what he is doing when signing players unlike most of the other clowns who have had the job (and while Levi has done well here his record for hiring decent managers is hardly inspiring for them)

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The stadium shouldn't have any impact on their ability to pay wages as I would expect that the increased TV revenue would allow them to easily cover the additional wages required to keep Ali, Kane et al. It will impact their ability to compete in the transfer market until the stadium is built as any cash reserves will probably be used to fund the stadium to keep the loan to a minimum. However they seem to have a very good group of very young players there so their need to go into the transfer market may be small. Once the stadium is built, they should have additional money provided the increased revenues associated with the stadium exceed the annual interest payments on the loan (as they did at Arsenal to the tune of £30mil per year) which they are likely to in this time of low rates.

All of which sounds great, until as you point out, Pochettino leaves. It is that which they will fear, I think. Not the impact of the stadium.

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Originally Posted by World's End Stella

The stadium shouldn't have any impact on their ability to pay wages as I would expect that the increased TV revenue would allow them to easily cover the additional wages required to keep Ali, Kane et al. It will impact their ability to compete in the transfer market until the stadium is built as any cash reserves will probably be used to fund the stadium to keep the loan to a minimum. However they seem to have a very good group of very young players there so their need to go into the transfer market may be small. Once the stadium is built, they should have additional money provided the increased revenues associated with the stadium exceed the annual interest payments on the loan (as they did at Arsenal to the tune of £30mil per year) which they are likely to in this time of low rates.

All of which sounds great, until as you point out, Pochettino leaves. It is that which they will fear, I think. Not the impact of the stadium.

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They only have next season after this one I think.

Not sure where Pochetinno goes in the near future, PSG maybe.

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Originally Posted by SWv2

They only have next season after this one I think.

Not sure where Pochetinno goes in the near future, PSG maybe.

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The Arsenal :cloud9:

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Originally Posted by Luis Anaconda

Must be knocking on a bit. Not as if he has to worry about Winter coming anyway

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Henry Winter?

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Originally Posted by Burney

Henry Winter?

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Nothing that irredeemably evil, b

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Originally Posted by World's End Stella

The stadium shouldn't have any impact on their ability to pay wages as I would expect that the increased TV revenue would allow them to easily cover the additional wages required to keep Ali, Kane et al. It will impact their ability to compete in the transfer market until the stadium is built as any cash reserves will probably be used to fund the stadium to keep the loan to a minimum. However they seem to have a very good group of very young players there so their need to go into the transfer market may be small. Once the stadium is built, they should have additional money provided the increased revenues associated with the stadium exceed the annual interest payments on the loan (as they did at Arsenal to the tune of £30mil per year) which they are likely to in this time of low rates.

All of which sounds great, until as you point out, Pochettino leaves. It is that which they will fear, I think. Not the impact of the stadium.

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To compete with the wages on offer at the Manchester clubs and Chelsea, never mind Barca, Real and Bayern who would be sniffing around the likes of Alli, Dembele, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Eriksen, would require not only a massive investment (again I shall use the example of Alli currently being on 50 grand and Lindgard on 100,000 - do you not find that staggering) but a considerable change in their policy. Not too much of a stretch to suggest to do this at a time when they are financing a stadium and have actually said there would be some constraints on their spending

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Originally Posted by Luis Anaconda

Nothing that irredeemably evil, b

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A White Wànker if ever there was one.

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Originally Posted by Luis Anaconda

To compete with the wages on offer at the Manchester clubs and Chelsea, never mind Barca, Real and Bayern who would be sniffing around the likes of Alli, Dembele, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Eriksen, would require not only a massive investment (again I shall use the example of Alli currently being on 50 grand and Lindgard on 100,000 - do you not find that staggering) but a considerable change in their policy. Not too much of a stretch to suggest to do this at a time when they are financing a stadium and have actually said there would be some constraints on their spending

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They will be getting 80mil+ from Sky going forward annually, no idea how much they were getting with the old deal but it sounds like they will be able to increase wages significantly just because of the television money. You think the big clubs in Europe will be sniffing around many of their players? I would guess Ali and Kane only.

But my main point was that the impact of the stadium will have less impact on them and their ability to compete than losing the manager will. As Wenger was to Arsenal in 97, so Pochettino is to Spurs now.

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Originally Posted by World's End Stella

They will be getting 80mil+ from Sky going forward annually, no idea how much they were getting with the old deal but it sounds like they will be able to increase wages significantly just because of the television money. You think the big clubs in Europe will be sniffing around many of their players? I would guess Ali and Kane only.

But my main point was that the impact of the stadium will have less impact on them and their ability to compete than losing the manager will. As Wenger was to Arsenal in 97, so Pochettino is to Spurs now.

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I would say Alderweireld and Dembele are as good as any in the league.

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Originally Posted by World's End Stella

They will be getting 80mil+ from Sky going forward annually, no idea how much they were getting with the old deal but it sounds like they will be able to increase wages significantly just because of the television money. You think the big clubs in Europe will be sniffing around many of their players? I would guess Ali and Kane only.

But my main point was that the impact of the stadium will have less impact on them and their ability to compete than losing the manager will. As Wenger was to Arsenal in 97, so Pochettino is to Spurs now.

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Yes - the latter is a fair point. As for clubs sniffing around their players I would be hugely surprised if there wasn't considerable interesting in the Alderweireld, given the paucity of centre halfs around (40 million and upwards suggested for Van Dijk!). Real could certainly do with a centre back. Similarly, Eriksen would attract much attention

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Originally Posted by Luis Anaconda

Yes - the latter is a fair point. As for clubs sniffing around their players I would be hugely surprised if there wasn't considerable interesting in the Alderweireld, given the paucity of centre halfs around (40 million and upwards suggested for Van Dijk!). Real could certainly do with a centre back. Similarly, Eriksen would attract much attention

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You are cheering me up slightly with all of this. The key is getting the manager out. That should be enough to stop all this nonsense and he must be in the queue for some top jobs now.

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Originally Posted by Peter

You are cheering me up slightly with all of this. The key is getting the manager out. That should be enough to stop all this nonsense and he must be in the queue for some top jobs now.

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PSG is a big possibility

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Originally Posted by Luis Anaconda

PSG is a big possibility

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Barcelona?

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Originally Posted by World's End Stella

Barcelona?

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Said he wouldn't go there as he is ex-Espanyol - wouldn't believe a word he says though