Through the 1980s, fueled primarily by booming property prices, a wealth creation culture permeated through English society and politics. Norman Powell Jersey . Harry Enfield, that eras Ricky Gervais, was on high parody notice. Enfields response was creating the highly reprehensible character, Loadsamoney. Such was the rip roaring response a hit song of the same name was spawned. The cult classic going on to top the pop charts in 1988. Paradoxically, English soccer was on its knees and in the direst of financial shapes. Half empty stadiums, at best running the gauntlet of heightened hooliganism, had become the order of the day. No financial relief could be found on the continent as an indefinite Euro wide ban had been imposed by the governing body on English clubs. The transfer market was almost non-existent save for the highest calibre players. Such was the lack of funds for stadium renewal an Arsenal friend of mine cleverly quipped following Chris Waddless 1989 multi-million £ move from Spurs to Marseilles, if Spurs would now have enough cash to purchase toilet paper for the mens washrooms at White Hart Lane. Dire indeed. Fast forward 25 years and a London tabloid reported Thursday Tottenham was on the block. Purchase price? Loadsamoney. A rather cool £1billion [$1.75b] to be exact. The game changing Premier League, which began play in the 1992/93 season has been the greatest influencer of this extraordinary turn around in English club fortunes both on and off the pitch. With the brand new domestic and global broadcast deal which will net the BPL a record £5.5billion over its three-year lifetime - it is no coincidence we just witnessed a record transfer window. As Canadians vacationed this summer, the BPL Twenty invested a staggering £850m [$1.5b] combined in upgrading their playing squads. To put this into a clearer context, this total surpasses the combined spending of the next big four European Leagues - La Liga, the Bundesliga, Serie A and Ligue 1. No surprising the market leaders were Manchester United, who broke the UK transfer record in bringing Di Maria in from the Barnebeau cold. Only time will tell if this ‘spending your way out of mid table trouble philosophy will return Englands biggest club to former glories. I have my immense doubts good ship MUFC will sail in more calmer and familiar football waters this season. This has nothing to do with their winless start to date – a spineless scoreless draw against Burnley last time out over Labor Day weekend hardly the stuff of legend. A sprinkle of stardust lustre doesnt maketh a team spine; something the inmates of Old Trafford sorely lacked last season. Ironically the £59.7 invested in last springs Champions League Final MVP who made his debut at Turf Moor is well in excess of the total Burnley have invested in players during its entire 132-year history of £45m [$80m]. Coincidentally that figure represents the price Manchester United has struck with AS Monaco to make Falcaos move from the principality to the bosom of English soccer a permanent one. Not done with smashing to pieces the budget, LVG will throw more money at the market when it reopens on New Years Day. At least comfort can be found for the Glazers in the fact they wont have to concern themselves with whether or not the players in question are cup tied for the knock out stages of the Champions League. Liverpool, who had led the rivals in the spending stakes until Di Marias late August arrival, were this seasons Tottenham, who garnered anything but success with their re-investment of the world record fee they received for Gareth Bale. After wrangling £75m [$130m] out of Barcelona for little Luis, they immediately spent those funds. Which if nothing else is clear indication the Nou Camp move was long planned. Not merely a reaction to Suarez leaving his trade mark personal imprint on Giorgio Chiellinis shoulder blade. Table toppers Chelsea, who entertain a perfect Swansea in south west London tomorrow morning, make out the BPL drunken sailor podium -Roman getting his wallet out early and often. My how I wished I was sharing a pint with Arsene when it was announced serial Emirates terminator and tormentor Didier Drogba had made a triumphant return to the Bridge. As for Arsenal themselves, such was the summertime irrational exuberance they managed to nudge tomorrow mornings breakfast opponents, and current BPL Champions Manchester City into fifth place. Well all aware courtesy of the splendid Soccernomics tome from the exceedingly lucid Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski there is no correlation, direct or otherwise between transfer prices and winning titles. Salaries budgets though be a significant indicator. No coincidence silverware success alluded Arsenal for close to a decade and more for their North London cousins. The book then must have formed part of Manchester Uniteds vice chair, Ed Woodwards summer reading list. How on earth else can we account for reports earlier this week the club is about to offer Christiano £300,000 or close to $550,000 a week every week for three years. Oh my! Is jolly olde England about to lay witness to world footballs very first £100 million man? Well past time then to make Alan Greenspan BPL Commissioner. Double Header BPL action live on the TSN Radio Network Saturday - Chelsea v Swansea 10:00am et / 6:00ampt and Liverpool v Aston Villa 12:30pm et / 9:30am pt Noel.Butler@BellMedia.ca @TheSoccerNoel on Twitter Patrick McCaw Raptors Jersey . Listen to the Rangers vs. Kings live on TSN Radio starting at 7pm et/4pm pt. You can also stream the post-game press conferences live on TSN. Norman Powell Raptors Jersey . Patty Mills scored 15 points, Tim Duncan had 10 points and 11 rebounds in limited minutes, and San Antonio trailed for only 11 seconds late in the first quarter of a 103-90 victory over Portland on Wednesday night. http://www.nbaraptorsonline.com/Authentic-Kyle-Lowry-Jersey/ . The 29-year-old German, the 2011 overall World Cup champion, says she has decided "to end my career now.SPIELBERG, Austria -- Red Bull doubts coming home will be an advantage, as Formula One returns to Austria this week for the first time in 11 years. Team drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel finally ended Mercedes six-race winning streak by finishing 1-3 in the Canadian Grand Prix two weeks ago. But just when their F1 fortunes have taken an upturn, they dont believe their home track, the old A1 Ring redubbed the Red Bull Ring, will give them anything more than an emotional boost in the Austrian Grand Prix. Even then, teams that have been eating Red Bulls exhaust for the last four years are keen to pay them in kind on their home track. "It adds a bit of extra motivation," F1 leader Nico Rosberg of Mercedes admits. "It would be really special to win on the A1 Ring." Ricciardo and Vettel believe rival Mercedes will bounce back from its hiccup in Montreal, and go into the Austrian GP as deserved favourites. "The gap is still big," Ricciardo said on Thursday. "Weve got a bit of steam from the last race. Were all really excited - the home one for Red Bull - but (closing the gap) is still going to take a bit of time, its not going to happen overnight." Vettel thinks Mercedes is likely to have sorted out the technical mishaps from Montreal. "Everything else would surprise me," Vettel said, adding his teams goal was to get as close as possible to its dominant rival. "If a chance comes up like in Canada, we want to be right there to take it." Only engine troubles have stymied Mercedes this season. In Montreal, Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton had the same problem at about the same time, when their rear brakes overheated. While Hamilton went out, race leader Rosberg managed to limit the damage and lost just one place. "Its work in progress," Rosberg said of his team technicians trying to solve the problem. "We are confident its not happening again. We dont need to go extra conservative." Despite his second DNF of the season, Hamilton took positives out of tthe Canadian GP. Kyle Lowry Raptors Jersey. "Weve only gained from that experience," the 2008 world champion said. "The cars been fixed so that wont happen again. ... We have a lot races ahead of us so a couple of DNFs are not concerning me too much now. I have done my optimum but there is still room for improvement." The Austrian GP was last held in 2003, when Michael Schumacher triumphed on his way to the sixth of his seven world titles. Only four drivers have raced on this circuit -- Jenson Button, Kimi Raikkonen, Fernando Alonso and Filipe Massa. It will be the first time for Ricciardo and Vettel. Although the track has been modified only slightly, the 11-year-old race data wont be much help as the series has drastically changed with the introduction of the hybrid cars. "To be honest, I dont remember anything ... I have no memories," Alonso said. "(It) is a very short circuit, so there are only five or six corners around here where you can make the time, so I expect all the cars to be very close. One or two tenths (in time), you can make a lot of places, so you just need to make a perfect lap." Teams will rely heavily on their simulations, and need to gather as much data as possible during practice on Friday and Saturday morning, especially on surface characteristics. Those could change between the first and second practices as rain has been forecast for Friday afternoon. At 4.3 kilometres, the track is one of the shortest on the calendar. However, it has fast straights and features only nine turns, with just the first three to be taken in low gear, and it includes two DRS zones -- after the second and the ninth turn. In these zones, drivers are allowed to alter the angle of their cars rear wing flap to reduce drag while attempting to overtake. Until the Canadian GP, Mercedes was racing in a league of its own. Rosberg leads with 140 points, Hamilton has 118, and next-best was Ricciardo, on 79. Vettel was fifth with 60, but he and Ricciardo are hoping coming home will make a difference. ' ' '