I get your point. I do think though that Song leaving is a special case where there must have been a track record for destabilizing the dressing room or something. Otherwise the only guy we lost who was on a long term contract was Fab (and we all know what happened there)

Too much player power, plus loyalty is dead in football.

Too much player power, plus loyalty is dead in football.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Add oil and arab money to the mix and you have one big mess...shame really football has really sold its soul we just starting to see the evidence.

Depends on the club in question though and the board's stance about keeping a particular player, doesn't it?

Look at the way things went with Spurs and Modric last summer, compared to Arsenal and Song this.

No that I care in this instance. I actually quite like idea that in the wake of van Persie moving to Utd, Arsene found out about Song waving his backside at Barca and promptly washed his hands of him.

Spot on really, if a player wants a move nowadays he will get it by any means necessary. The contract is just to protect the selling club.

i guess a long term contract puts a tiny bit more power on the club.

Basically all a contract means nowadays is that the club can make life very difficult for a player who's trying to leave, but it hardly benefits the club in question, and in RVPs case, one year of grumpy looks from Wenger wasn't much of a stick.