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Some ITK from COYS:

Early impression of Mitchell is of a very hard worker who is focused on producing two lists of names asap; one list of players for the first team squad that will fit MP’s scheme, and the other of younger players to develop for the future.

Some/many of the latter he had already earmarked while at Southampton. People around the club have been impressed at the thoroughness with which he collects and analyses player metrics.

He is expected to submit his list by the end of the weekend, then discussions will take place as to the feasibility of those targets for this window and the summer window, after which the player acquisition team will have a distilled list of targets for the upcoming window.

His marching orders include identifying at least two names for the first team squad that are viable targets for January.

At this stage there’s not a great deal of confidence within the club that the half dozen players who MP would like to trim from the squad are of interest to other clubs at a price that is acceptable to DL, or (in one case) at a wage that is acceptable to the player. The more of them that can be moved on, the more players we can target.

At the risk of boring you into a coma…

One of the biggest problems caused by Levy & Co. is their complete unwillingness to take a hit on a player and move on.

Duff players at football clubs are like the fat, cholesterol and cellular waste that blocks up arteries. All they do is interfere and impede.

I worked in the rag trade for too long. One vital thing that you had to learn was spot, and spot quickly was when you’d bought badly. You need to get out of whatever the howler was and reinvest whatever you could salvage into something that was actually selling. That’s called cutting your losses.

Staring at stock that nobody wants, marked up at full price is a practice that can, if repeated often enough, result in a bailiff taking the offending items off of your hands for you.

Levy & Co.’s inability to shift deadbeats (bad stock) is something that has handicapped Spurs for the duration of ENIC’s tenure.

It’s plain to blind man with a bag over his head ,that Sir Blastalot has an extremely limited future as a Premier League footballer. The time to sell him is undoubtedly now, while pundits are still cooing over his pace, his determination and his ability to have a crack at goal.

It is my educated guess, we won’t trade him. We will almost certainly have this guy shackled to us for years to come.

Players like Harry Kane who come up through the ranks and show significant signs of development are a delight, but a rarity. The rewards both on the pitch and therefore the spreadsheet are so glorious, (the stock so cheap) that time isn’t a massive issue.

However, sad to say, but these days when a Premier League club buys in a player, that player has to work straightaway. He has to deliver. Time to bed in, to gel etc has become an indulgence that nobody can afford.

The modern game has made both players and indeed managers as nothing more than stock. Is it selling?! Is it not selling?! There’s no grey area. Don’t score for 4 games – it’s a drought. Lose four games – you’re getting sacked in then morning.

The Norwich City CEO made my skin crawl the season he fired Chrissy Hugton. He referred to playing staff as ‘software’ – corporate jargon as irksome as you’ll probably ever hear. As awful as that CEO might be, he’s actually right.

If the stock isn’t shifting, if the software is incompatible, then it needs to go.

The argument will be made about player contracts being the fly in the ointment here. That when a player wants out, they simply come our with some cobblers about a gentleman’s agreement, or tell you that their head has been turned.

But I’d counter that by saying that this is only partly to blame. The nub of the matter is the football clubs’ ability (for want of a better phrase) to play shops. Players are your stock.

Naff players that nobody wants to buy – are bad stock. It’s not complicated!

Giving a player like Hugo Lloris a hefty contract is a good thing, because if his head were to get turned, and let’s face it, it’s far from inconceivable, then THFC are due accordingly hefty compensation when he is sold.

But giving mediocre players, such as Lennon and Townsend big contracts, simply gives them more to cling onto when you’re trying to move them on.

My point (which won’t shock) is that for all the guff spouted about what a good businessman Levy is, the truth is, he’s no good at playing shops. He hands out hefty contracts to everyone. And he doesn’t fit the right software.

So (I hear a lone voice cry from the cheap seats) How come the bailiffs haven’t been round then, if he’s a bad as you say?!

Well the simple answer to that, is no matter how bad his buying is, hundreds of thousands of saps like you and I keep throwing money at him, irrespective of the stock’s value. You couldn’t make it up.

Spurs have won just one League Cup under ENIC. But as long as the club doesn’t get relegated, and the money keeps gushing in, who cares?

What ENIC have achieved can be listed on the bag of a cigarette packet. They’ve remained solvent, serviced debt, and made a lot of (mostly) rather untalented young men millionaires.

The reason we’ve had a new manager every year, is beacuse the bloke hiring the managers was either incapable of hiring the right man, incapable of supporting the right man, or guilty of both!

The introduction of Mitchell is welcomed. But all the helpful appointments in the world are completely futile, if the chairman makes the final (and usually bad) overriding decision.

 

 

 

 

 

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