Spurs thread 2019/20

[JimB]

It was about time that Spurs players start to fuck Levy up for years of penny pinching. He's gonna lose half of that team on free transfers.

I think it's something we're going to see more and more. Top players are now so rich that they no longer need the security of a long contract. They can probably insure themselves for loss of earnings in the event of injury anyway. This kind of thing will probably even happen to City too at some point. Can't force a player to sign a new contract. Can't sell him if he refuses to be sold.

 

[BosnianBlue]

I think it's something we're going to see more and more. Top players are now so rich that they no longer need the security of a long contract. They can probably insure themselves for loss of earnings in the event of injury anyway. This kind of thing will probably even happen to City too at some point. Can't force a player to sign a new contract. Can't sell him if he refuses to be sold.

We definitely will as Wenger correctly predicted few years ago. But we'll see it more where club is tight on giving adequate wages.

 

[domalino]

I think it's something we're going to see more and more. Top players are now so rich that they no longer need the security of a long contract. They can probably insure themselves for loss of earnings in the event of injury anyway. This kind of thing will probably even happen to City too at some point. Can't force a player to sign a new contract. Can't sell him if he refuses to be sold.

I'd feel pretty safe as a City fan. 99% of players want 2 things - competitive wages and trophies. We offer both, Spurs offer neither - it's not a surprise you're going to run into trouble.

We will be at risk when fringe/rotation players get offered monster wages and guarantees of starting football at clubs who can also win trophies, like Sané getting offered €300k a week at Bayern, but I think City will be pretty effective at getting good fees in that situation, and it's nowhere near the problem that Spurs face with starting XI players leaving.

 

[JimB]

I'd feel pretty safe as a City fan. 99% of players want 2 things - competitive wages and trophies. We offer both, Spurs offer neither - it's not a surprise you're going to run into trouble.

We will be at risk when fringe/rotation players get offered monster wages and guarantees of starting football at clubs who can also win trophies, like Sané getting offered €300k a week at Bayern, but I think City will be pretty effective at getting good fees in that situation, and it's nowhere near the problem that Spurs face with starting XI players leaving.

Indeed, City will mostly only face the problem from second choice players and the occasional first choice player who is determined to sign for either Real Madrid or Barcelona. But it will nevertheless impact on City’s finances, like everyone else’s (especially given the value of City’s second choice players) - either in the form of players leaving on a free or ever increasing wage offers to dissuade them from doing so. It will all be complicated further by opposite situations like Gareth Bale’s at Real Madrid - a player on huge wages who is no longer wanted but who no one else can afford to pay.

Spurs’ wages for their top players aren’t so very far behind their competitors now. And their bonus scheme is more generous than most. Once the new stadium revenues start to kick in, I would expect the gap to close even further. Especially now that the club has been able to restructure the majority of the stadium debt on favourable terms. As to trophies, the past does not equal the future. What matters is whether players believe that they can win trophies at Spurs in the future. If they don’t, then they’re not wanted at the club anyway!

 

[KentBlue]

One of Spurs' biggest problems is Kane(pen). I thought he was abysmal the other day. Ok, you can't really judge by watching highlights on TV, but it appears I'm not the only one who sees hims as becoming a serious liability in the months ahead.

 

[cookster]

Indeed, City will mostly only face the problem from second choice players and the occasional first choice player who is determined to sign for either Real Madrid or Barcelona. But it will nevertheless impact on City’s finances, like everyone else’s (especially given the value of City’s second choice players) - either in the form of players leaving on a free or ever increasing wage offers to to dissuade them from doing so. It will all be complicated further by opposite situations like Gareth Bale’s at Real Madrid - a player on huge wages who is no longer wanted but who no one else can afford to pay.

Spurs’ wages for their top players aren’t so very far behind their competitors now. And their bonus scheme is more generous than most. Once the new stadium revenues start to kick in, I would expect the gap to close even further. Especially now that the club has been able to restructure the majority of the stadium debt on favourable terms. As to trophies, the past does not equal the future. What matters is whether players believe that they can win trophies at Spurs in the future. If they don’t, then they’re not wanted at the club anyway!

Arsenal were also sold the new stadium dream. Their match day revenue is double ours but they are still miles behind.

 

[mancityvstoke]

Spurs losing made my weekend even better.

Only Stoke let me down.

 

[Aja]

One of Spurs' biggest problems is Kane(pen). I thought he was abysmal the other day. Ok, you can't really judge by watching highlights on TV, but it appears I'm not the only one who sees hims as becoming a serious liability in the months ahead.

I think Son has a different profile but he was really good when playing in a strikerish position without Kane.

 

[JimB]

Arsenal were also sold the new stadium dream. Their match day revenue is double ours but they are still miles behind.

The fact that Arsenal built a new stadium and subsequently regressed doesn’t mean that Spurs will do the same. You need to look at the finer details. For starters, it might just be that Arsenal’s relative decline starting just as they moved to their new stadium was entirely coincidental. Because by then, Wenger was no longer ahead of the curve, as he had been, and in fact became something of an out of touch (albeit football romantic) dinosaur by the end; Abramovich happened; then ADUG; the George Graham stalwarts in defence had all grown old and retired; and the key players who won them that rash of trophies in the late 90’s / early 00’s - Vieira, Bergkamp, Henry and Pires - all left and were never adequately replaced.

But even if we are to say that their stadium build was largely responsible, there are key differences.

When Arsenal began construction, their revenue was £135m. Spurs’ revenue last season, before the new stadium bounce, will have been three times that amount.

Arsenal also took on significant debt for a large property development programme which failed to realise anything like the hoped for profit because of the property crash and credit crunch from 2008. Furthermore, their credit was secured at pre crash interest rates. Spurs’ credit is secured at historically low rates. Arsenal did restructure their debt with a bond offering but still at higher rates than Spurs will have to pay.

Lastly, the vision behind and the versatility of the new Spurs stadium means that it will be a greatly superior income generator than even the Emirates - especially in terms of attracting non football events.

But all of the above, while relevant to your post, isn’t really relevant to the particular issue that was being discussed. No one was claiming that Spurs will now enter a golden era as a consequence of the new stadium. There is no telling whether trophies will be forthcoming or whether we even go the other way and fall out of the CL places. The point about increased revenues was simply to say that Spurs will henceforward be able to further close the wage gap with their competitors.

 

[mancityvstoke]

No pie charts ....I'm disappointed