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

[World's End Stella]

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)

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.

[SWv2]

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.

They only have next season after this one I think.

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

[Rich]

They only have next season after this one I think.

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

The Arsenal

[Luis Anaconda]

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.

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

[World's End Stella]

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

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.

[SWv2]

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.

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

[Luis Anaconda]

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.

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

[Peter]

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

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.

[Luis Anaconda]

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.

PSG is a big possibility

[World's End Stella]

PSG is a big possibility

Barcelona?