Sandro Raniere

There is only a small pool of players that can truly take a club to another level though and merely qualifying for the CL isn't enough to attract them, wages is what attracts them which is why the elite are going to places like Anzhi, Zenit, PSG, Monaco, Napoli etc who can pay upwards of £250k a week, Eto'o is on £350k a week for example, Falcao on nearly £500k a week. I don't think clubs truly need a big name player too tbh, who had heard of Santi Cazorla till a year ago or Michu? but both made incredible impacts on the premiership, same with Benteke, he was languishing in some barely heard of Belgian team and set the premiership alight

In last 2 years they still spent not far off £15m buying out AVB's contract with Porto, millions paying off Ancelotti, millions paying off AVB when he was sacked and in last year or so they have bought Oscar, Hazard, Mata, Lukaku etc each for more money that Arsenal's record spend (think it is £16m for Arshavin)

Gazidis doesn't own the club though, it is owned by some American, Gazidis has been trying to wrestle control of the club for years but the yank won't budge no matter how many shares Gazidis buys so ultimately Gazidis is showboating and trying to get the fans oneide in his bid for control of the club, it is hot air for PR purposes as opposed to a serious insight into Arsenal's finances. You are not a plastic fan I agree but I do think your expectations are too high. City and Chelsea can and do spend £200m in a transfer window if needed, they have unlimited funds with unlimited money for wages, both could buy Messi tomorrow for £400m and offer him 800k a week in wages, both would if he showed the slightest interest in leaving, Arsenal can't compete financially with City and Chelsea Then you have Man Utd, the most famous, successful and most prestigous sporting brand in the world, go anywhere in the world and you will find kids wearing Man Utd shirts more than any sporting team in any sport put together, it is most footballers dream to play for Man Utd, again Arsenal cant compete with the sheer pulling power of Utd The Top 3 is virtually a closed shop, 4th is now the new 1st

The main reason is the stadium, Wenger had very little net spend available from the board as they needed to finance the stadium, the stadium came to something like £650m, Emirates put in a good chunk but overall it barely scratched the surface, so Wenger had to be creative in the transfer market and unearth gems and over the years has done this brilliantly Maybe he still has this mentality or the board are not backing him sufficiently but with Chelsea and City having unlimited funds and Utd being the most valuable club in the world 4th is the new 1st

I remember Utd beating them like 8-2 and they still made CL Wenger, even though he is annoying as f*** is a genius, one of the best managers of my lifetime, the sheer insanity of some gooners beggars belief, to find the likes of Vieira in Milan reserves, Fabregas in Barca youth team, Henry a mediocre winger in Juventus reserve team and turn them into world beaters and discover god knows how many other great talents yet still get abuse is unreal The guy should have a statue outside the Emirates and his name chanted with affection at every game given what he has achieved Shows that Arsenal is infested with glory hunters

And be replaced by who? The ingratitude of gooners is unreal after all Wenger has done for that club over the years

Is it any different to our day though? just a fancy word for TEMPING When i was in my teens i did agency work, it was not unusual to get a phone call at 4pm to say 'X company needs someone for 8pm tonight for the rest of the week' We sat by the phone most days waiting for agencies to ring us with any spare shifts

I support Scottish independence It would mean a hell of a lot less Labour MP's in parliament and would probably result in permanent tory rule which sounds good to me

Yes true but since the original bird flu healthcare and medicine have become more advanced, hardly anyone died of swine flu in UK thanks to vaccines and the majority of those that did die had underlying conditions like heart and lung disease. I am sure the healthcare industry is on top of the situation People are bound to die in China because unless you are seriously rich and live in cities you have no real health care

Deja vu First of all salmonella was going to kill us all then bird flu, then mad cow disease, then swine flu then back full circle with bird flu again Zzzzzzzzzz No doubt the Express and Daily Mail will run scare stories about how millions are going to die :rolleyes:

He demanded to leave, wanted to be an automatic starter at a club, unlike Bale he was not seen as indispensible so we didn't stand in his way. We had a Romanian centre half lined up, agreed terms but then for some reason the owner of Steau Bucharest pulled the plug at the last minute, this guy was going to be Caulker's replacement We will buy a centre half but probably not before the Palace game

We have bid for Baines but he doesn't want to go, only wants to play for Utd or stay where he is We have been unlucky losing Vertonghen and Dawson to bad injuries in the space of a few days and Kaboul getting another knock on his knee in training But then again when do we get any luck :(

1. Chelsea 2. Man City 3. Man Utd 4. Liverpool 5. Spurs 6. Arsenal 7. Newcastle 8. Swansea 9. West Ham 10.Everton 11.West Brom 12.Villa 13.Sunderland 14.Norwich 15.Southampton 16.Cardiff 17.Stoke 18.Fulham 19.Hull 20.Palace Golden Boot - Lukaku First Manager Sacked - Jol This is based on the assumption that Suarez stays, Rooney stays, Bale stays Spurs will be there or their abouts but i think our defence will leak too many goals to make CL Liverpool will score for fun with Sturridge and Suarez, enough to make CL Newcastle surprise package of the season, Remy will get 20 goals for them if fit

Self employed people don't get holiday pay, sick pay, maternity pay and other perks, they don't work they don't get paid same with freelancers, IT contractors etc, it is not the exclusivity of zero hour contract workers

The main advantage for companies employing people on zero hours contracts are they do not have to pay sick pay, holiday pay, maternity pay and other stuff regular workers have to be paid that are forced on employers by the EU The workplace and labour market is changing, more people self employed than ever, zero hours contracts etc

Nothing should be done at all People should be thankful to have a job of any sort, it is an employers market unless you have very specialist skills Start burdening business with more regulations they are less likely to take on staff

He has been out for 9 months with a torn cruciate ligament, of course he will have not played for Brazil in that time but at the time of his injury he was the first choice DM for Brazil national team and will be when he returns

Never seen Chadli play but the company I work for Holland is our 2nd biggest market after Germany and Dutch people have spoken to about him give very positive feedback indeed, plus he was bought on the recommendation of Vertonghen and Dembele who play with him in the national team Paulinho I had never seen play till the confederations cup but he looked sharp and physical, again he was bought on the recommendation of a player, Sandro, his CM partner in the national side. Even if Bale wanted to go there is Levy to contend with for Real Madrid

He is on 85,000 a week here at Spurs If and its a big if, he goes, he would probably be on double that at Real

Unless Bale goes on strike I think Levy will win this one I don't think he will go on strike as he is building a global brand, becoming the next Beckham in terms of sponsors and very much portraying a clean cut image (bar his diving) Going on strike and getting a reputation as a sulker will tarnish the image of 'Brand Bale' so I don't see him doing it More likely he will stamp his feet a bit behind the scenes but once the season starts he will be professional and get on with the job and likely leave next year Of course going on strike would probably mean he has to go this summer but i just dont see it

I think Bale will go eventually, I would be surprised if he is there when the transfer window closes next summer but I don't see it being this summer, almost certainly next Firstly Levy is a long way off accepting any offer, secondly by the time he did there would be little time to secure a replacement, thirdly Bale has recently become a dad, his parents look after the kid a lot, I don't see Bale clearing off to Madrid and just hiring nanny's in the early life of a child when it needs to bond with parents and grandparents This time next summer the kid will be about 15 months old, lot easier to go move abroad. Can never say never but i would say 20% chance at best of Bale going this summer

Its unlikely but possible :) We finished 1 point behind Arsenal last season and they have not upgraded yet this summer We have added Paulinho and soon Soldado United and City have changed managers and no one knows how they will adapt I think Chelsea will win the title but we are a contender for Top 3

Our top ITK says the offer is £45m cash plus those 2 players plus the loan of an unnamed Real youngster for a year He also says Levy is highly unlikely to accept the offer There is little or no chance of Bale going 1) He is the face of FIFA 14, in a Spurs shirt, can you imagine how much EA would sue Bale for if they have to reprint every copy of the worlds best selling sports game? 2) He has been paid a 7 figure sum as the public face of BT Sport, he would have to give that back plus compensation to BT It is just Marca / Real playing mind games hoping Levy will fold, wont happen

There are in reality 6 teams in the Premiership United City Chelsea Arsenal Spurs Liverpool The rest are there to make up the numbers and fight among themselves for the remaining places, effectively a 2 tier league Of the teams that matter: Old Trafford - 75k Emirates - 60k Etihad - 47k Anfield - 45k Stamford Bridge - 41k White Hart Lane - 36k Chelsea are bankrolled by a sugar daddy so don't rely on capacity, so we have 9000 less people attending a home game than our nearest rival, that is probably revenue wise 20-30m a year or more, serious money We are smaller than Goodison, Villa Park, St James' Park and Stadium of Light yet on the pitch blow them all out of the water So we are punching above our weight, revenue wise we are 10th in premiership yet consistently finish in Top 4-5, great achievement

Of our rivals it is by far the smallest, smaller than Old Trafford, Eastlands, Emirates, Stamford Bridge and Anfield by quite a distance The fact it is bigger than Hawthorns or Craven Cottage or Selhurst Park for example is of little or no consequence because those teams are not rivals for league places or players we are after