jayrivers

He has something like 8/11 top 10 finishes, and 3-4 top 10 finishes with Stoke. For me that points to him being able to bring stability. Most managers these days have a shelf life of 3-4 years before it starts to go stale. But I think his record in the Prem, given the clubs he has managed, is pretty decent.

Well written, and this sums it up for me. Doesn't matter who owns us, money can't be pumped into Clubs these days like a few years ago. I'm happy with the club being ran in a sustainable fashion. That's not to say mistakes haven't been made, and the board have a huge summer ahead of them to right those wrongs!

I was going to ask this... There is an assumption to this, where was the buyout clause reported?

It may not have, but could we financially have kept going the way we were? Could we have added Mane, Pelle, VVD, etc... to the squad had we not sold? Probably not...

This is what appeared to be happening to me. Regardless of what you thought of Cortese. We seemed to be heading to a Leeds/Portsmouth gamble. As we did in the championship under Wilde which sent us on the path to going into administration as it didn't pay off. Personally I prefer us to be ran in a stable a financially viable way.

In the same line of thinking, I'm interested to see what Puel does with a full pre-season and no Europa League. That shaped our season really, and the constant rotation meant we lost out all round.

I guess this is aimed at trying to keep players happy and satisfied with what they are doing? And trying to help to starve off people leaving?

Pellegrini still suspended on Coral at 5/1 Big odds to suspend at unless they know something I would have thought?

I think if it was looking unlikely he was going to sign new contract then this is a good outcome for the club, especially given the £5m compensation! Get a new man in now rather than next season and bag a few quid for their wages.

IF he leaves for everton, them this! I'll have zero respect for him based on very public statements by him.

I think if the board were unhappy with him, or unsure they wouldn't be so keen to get him to sign a new contract, and look towards replacements next year.

I think so yeh. It puts us in a situation where (if they follow through with the threat) we have a worthless asset. And other clubs know this, and you end up in the situation where we are forced to get what we can. Bit like Clyne when he was happy to let his contract run out.

I think he will go for around £20m after liverpool promise to double his wages, but only if he refuses to play again which will reduce his transfer fee as we are forced to sell (ala Lallana)

I was thinking about that, but even so shouldn't someone have thought.. oh we have that company in the other day who were searching for fake bombs with dogs. It's not like they wouldn't have been aware they were using the stadium?

They are still running with that in a new article on thei website

Alan Pardew to come back and finish what he started

said he wants to stay in the premier league as well

But that's only if Liverpool finish 7th, the place is lost. If we finish 7th, we will still get the spot (in the same way as last year - and assume palace dnt win the cup), as that means Liverpool haevn't qualified for the EL through the league. If my understanding is correct!

That's what I thought, but apprently if we have 5 CL berths, we loose a EL berth.

What does that part actually mean, does anyone know?

Every player at Arsenal is injury prone, might not be the case at another club!

Looks like all the kits are CG and/or photoshoped onto them!

Champions league spot to the FA cup winners at the expense of 4th place This I think is the single thing that would make all clubs take it seriously. Also it would blow the league open a bit more, with no teams then really able to promise champions league football every year.

Sky sports seem to be rubbishing the story though... Tottenham have been linked this morning with a move for the Southampton midfielder Victor Wanyama – with some reports suggesting Andros Townsend could be part of the deal. But Sky sources are telling us Wanyama would only be sold “if a stupid offer came in” – and that a new contract for the player has been discussed. We also understand Tottenham have no interest in a central midfielder in this window.

Depends if there is money involved? Unless it's just hot air, it seems we've been keen on Townsend for a while now