I'm a big Spurs fan, and loving Bale so far this year. He is on another level and an early candidate for the 2013 Ballon D'or.
I don't see why it's a forgone conclusion he's going to leave. Tottenham is a legit top 4 team in England, and would have been in CL this year after finishing 4th last year, if not for Chelsea winning it all and taking their berth away. It's not like their recent success is a fluke, they have been trending upwards for a while and have only added better pieces every year. Expect them to become England's version of Borussia Dortmund, a mediocre club who trends upwards and becomes a serious league and CL contender.
Soccer fans tend to be so closed minded when it comes to a new team doing well. Some people seem to have the impression that there are only a few clubs in Europe where you can succeed (Barca, Madrid, Man U, Bayern, Milan, and now Man City).
I'm a big Spurs fan, and loving Bale so far this year. He is on another level and an early candidate for the 2013 Ballon D'or.
I don't see why it's a forgone conclusion he's going to leave. Tottenham is a legit top 4 team in England, and would have been in CL this year after finishing 4th last year, if not for Chelsea winning it all and taking their berth away. It's not like their recent success is a fluke, they have been trending upwards for a while and have only added better pieces every year. Expect them to become England's version of Borussia Dortmund, a mediocre club who trends upwards and becomes a serious league and CL contender.
Soccer fans tend to be so closed minded when it comes to a new team doing well. Some people seem to have the impression that there are only a few clubs in Europe where you can succeed (Barca, Madrid, Man U, Bayern, Milan, and now Man City).
I would argue that the players are the ones who fuel this kind of thinking. If Modric, Van Persie, Fabregas etc weren't enticed by the thought of playing on the world's biggest stages and winning the biggest trophies, they wouldn't have left their clubs to do so. When they were growing up, did they dream of winning the Champion's League for Hajduk or Southhampton? 4th is about as high as Spurs will get in the near future, and is that good enough for the 3rd best player in the world?
I would argue that the players are the ones who fuel this kind of thinking. If Modric, Van Persie, Fabregas etc weren't enticed by the thought of playing on the world's biggest stages and winning the biggest trophies, they wouldn't have left their clubs to do so. When they were growing up, did they dream of winning the Champion's League for Hajduk or Southhampton? 4th is about as high as Spurs will get in the near future, and is that good enough for the 3rd best player in the world?
I would argue if Bale stays and they make some noise in the CL, they can become a top 2 club in England, with the odd league crown. Spurs have a solid roster with very few holes, and made some key signings this season in Dempsy, Dembele, Sigurdsson, Vertoghen. Besides losing Modric, they have been adding better players, not losing them for the most part.
Besides, how many CL titles has Madrid won in the last 10 years? Answer: zero. Man United? 1. Bayern Munich? 0.
If he grows and improves Tottenham even more, it will only help to better his legacy IMO.
Again, I point to the example of Dortmund for how a club can truly improve into a powerhouse in this modern era by developing and keeping their own stars, and adding to them, as opposed to selling them. Or pulling a Man City or PSG and just spending stupid amounts of money to buy wins. I got a lot of respect for Borussia Dortmund, and I think Spurs can follow this route with their current roster.
Plus, I always thought the argument that a player has to prove his worth in more than one club to be considered great is stupid. I'm not saying you said this, but people say this all the time in the Messi v Ronaldo debate. "Ronaldo had been great in England and in Spain, Messi has only proven he's good in Spain, therefore Ronaldo > Messi." Only in soccer is such a stupid argument made. You don't hear Michael Jordan criticized because he was only great for the Bulls, or Mario Lemieux because he was only great for the Penguins.
I would argue that the players are the ones who fuel this kind of thinking. If Modric, Van Persie, Fabregas etc weren't enticed by the thought of playing on the world's biggest stages and winning the biggest trophies, they wouldn't have left their clubs to do so. When they were growing up, did they dream of winning the Champion's League for Hajduk or Southhampton? 4th is about as high as Spurs will get in the near future, and is that good enough for the 3rd best player in the world?
2nd? In your dreams mate...the sad thing is that the simpletons who hate competition & want to ship off anybody of real class from an emerging club truly think that only 5 or 6 clubs deserve to have a hope...guess that's what the crap CL format gets you. Yep, Spurs don't deserve Gareth Bale! Sugar daddy's FTW...sad to see the demise of the game coming.
I would argue if Bale stays and they make some noise in the CL, they can become a top 2 club in England, with the odd league crown. Spurs have a solid roster with very few holes, and made some key signings this season in Dempsy, Dembele, Sigurdsson, Vertoghen. Besides losing Modric, they have been adding better players, not losing them for the most part.
Besides, how many CL titles has Madrid won in the last 10 years? Answer: zero. Man United? 1. Bayern Munich? 0.
If he grows and improves Tottenham even more, it will only help to better his legacy IMO.
Again, I point to the example of Dortmund for how a club can truly improve into a powerhouse in this modern era by developing and keeping their own stars, and adding to them, as opposed to selling them. Or pulling a Man City or PSG and just spending stupid amounts of money to buy wins. I got a lot of respect for Borussia Dortmund, and I think Spurs can follow this route with their current roster.
Plus, I always thought the argument that a player has to prove his worth in more than one club to be considered great is stupid. I'm not saying you said this, but people say this all the time in the Messi v Ronaldo debate. "Ronaldo had been great in England and in Spain, Messi has only proven he's good in Spain, therefore Ronaldo > Messi." Only in soccer is such a stupid argument made. You don't hear Michael Jordan criticized because he was only great for the Bulls, or Mario Lemieux because he was only great for the Penguins.
I would argue that your chairman has a history of selling his top players like Berbatov and Carrick in addition to Modric. I mean no disrespect to your club, but the two Manchester clubs and Chelsea are on a different financial level, along with Barca, Real, Bayern, and a few others. Players want to play for these teams because they always challenge for domestic titles and always qualify for the Champion's League, and also they get paid more.
As far as Dortmund go, they sold Nuri Sahin to Madrid and Lucas Barrios because he pouted his way out. Now Levandowski looks like he might be headed for Munchen, and there was some controversy about Sven Bender's move south being blocked as well IIRC.
I would much rather see teams rise and fall because they develop players better and make good purchases, but football has an aristocracy to it that is very hard to overcome without a billionaire owner.
I would argue if Bale stays and they make some noise in the CL, they can become a top 2 club in England, with the odd league crown. Spurs have a solid roster with very few holes, and made some key signings this season in Dempsy, Dembele, Sigurdsson, Vertoghen. Besides losing Modric, they have been adding better players, not losing them for the most part.
Besides, how many CL titles has Madrid won in the last 10 years? Answer: zero. Man United? 1. Bayern Munich? 0.
If he grows and improves Tottenham even more, it will only help to better his legacy IMO.
Again, I point to the example of Dortmund for how a club can truly improve into a powerhouse in this modern era by developing and keeping their own stars, and adding to them, as opposed to selling them. Or pulling a Man City or PSG and just spending stupid amounts of money to buy wins. I got a lot of respect for Borussia Dortmund, and I think Spurs can follow this route with their current roster.
Plus, I always thought the argument that a player has to prove his worth in more than one club to be considered great is stupid. I'm not saying you said this, but people say this all the time in the Messi v Ronaldo debate. "Ronaldo had been great in England and in Spain, Messi has only proven he's good in Spain, therefore Ronaldo > Messi." Only in soccer is such a stupid argument made. You don't hear Michael Jordan criticized because he was only great for the Bulls, or Mario Lemieux because he was only great for the Penguins.
Your last point ignores that there are different top teams in soccer and they are different from one another. Mario and Jordan didn't need to change clubs to prove they could dominate the NHL and NBA.
And spurs tie it up less than 2 minutes later 
