Regular readers will be well aware I despise what have become known as long form pieces that feel the need to take the reader over old ground. The idea of this place was to always always assume we were talking to the top 5% of those readers wishing to be involved. References to Pochettino are not born out of malice, but references to Birkenshaw are intentionally malicious, because that was the last time we were a proper competitive football side. Eh? Once we were really well known as firm that were well capable of lifting a bit of silverware when the occasion presented itself.
I ain’t ‘fraid of no ghosts
As we discussed earlier, this squad is still struggling with the ghosts of Tottenham past. Those squeaking about Mourinho are empowered by the dismissal of Poch, nothing more. The Portuguese on a good day has brought an awful lot of order to what not so long ago was a distempered mess. Several players are now being asked to operate beyond their pay grade. What we are looking at here is a Spurs squad that doesn’t have a B-team. We can offer a half decent A-team and the rest is smoke and mirrors, an illusion. So once again, we have a coach that got us into a cup final, and even allowed us to spend a few precious hours on top of the table, but as per, the whole thing is an elaborate hoax.
It’s terribly easy to spot those unwilling to accept where we really are; they catcall for Dele Alli, and Carlos Vinicius to be played. They demand to know why fringe players who can’t past muster in training aren’t SAVING US against sides that have been champions of not just England, but Europe. Dropped by England a long time ago, and now by a coach with a formidable, global CV. I’d rather call Ghostbusters.
Do not listen to the mindless stone throwers, my friends!
Beyond the past, our immediate future looks decidedly touch and go. For those struggling, allow me to present Exhibit F, namely Frank Lampard. When an Oligarch gives one £200million, and a family favourite get sacked shortly afterwards, it becomes apparent that times have seriously changed.
ENIC, who were royally defended by many for their financial acumen, yet they failed to take out pandemic insurance which Wimbledon did – and they were only sponsored by a nice wristwatch manufacturer. Our biggest sponsor in recent years has been a leading global insurance company. Work it out in your own time.
Levy has saddled us with generational debt for a business model that not one single other football club has ever opted to replicate – and for good reason.
The size of the task before José Mourinho is nothing shy of horrendous. One summer transfer window in, and the Portuguese has to shift the ghosts recently abandoned by the last poor man to carry the THFC yoke.
Mirror mirror on the Shopping Centre’s partition wall
The odds of Mourinho being given anywhere near even the modest funds that the expertise might need are slim to zero! This isn’t conjecture, this is a view based upon over 20-years of ENIC – the overwhelming bulk of which was pre-debt and pre-COVID.
Add to this, we have the curious case of Gareth Bale. The Fairytale Grimm. Only the wrong end of a million Samolians a month. What does the future hold for José Mourinho?
Barring something seismic happening that my 40+ years as a fan cannot possibly conceive of, nothing good.
But fear not, friends, kindly ignore all the reason I’ve posted on this matter. It’s all on José. The guy is terrible news 😉 he’s the poison.
So why make the comment – are you on a wind up?!
Awesome post. Well said
repeat it often enough and you’ll beLIEve it Tappa
like your positivity, mind where you give it.
Lloris was tall enough to win the WC. It’s the guys directly in front of him and especially to either side that are the issue.
Great post and analysis. Excellent summary of where the club is and how it got there. Agree about Poch, Jose and Levy, and I’ll cast another vote for Number 3.
I don’t understand how people don’t see that ENIC is an asset manager, like Fenway, Red Football (the Glazer’s investment vehicle for ManU) and many other owners of big sports clubs, their stadia, media, and surrounding development property. Like any for-profit asset manager, the goal of its sponsors is to maximize their equity investment. ENIC is no different. Other teams like Arsenal, Chelsea, City, PSG, the New York Mets, Jacksonville Jaguars, and hundreds of others are owned by either private individuals, consortiums or sovereign wealth funds – their motivations may be different than equity value maximization.
There is almost 100% correlation in football (and virtually every organized professional sport) between spending and on-field success, notwithstanding lightly enforced regulations to level the playing field like soft salary caps, luxury tax, and FIFA fair play rules. Spurs have consistently ranked below the top tier teams (mostly 5th or 6th) in payroll and transfer expenditure and results on the pitch have actually exceeded expectations in recent years given this relationship. The gap between 5th and 1st in spending is considerable.
So, unless, ENIC were to consider closing the spending gap with the higher spending teams, it will take some degree of superior management, luck or combination thereof for Spurs to ever win anything, let alone achieve long-time success. Levy is a long-time supporter, long before he hooked up with Lewis to form ENIC, but it’s clear his first responsibility is to ensure ENIC’s profitability is not impaired.
I’m not sure how this could be any more clear.
For the sake of Siss, maybe in training they could swop a few seats from Row Z and put them in place of a goal, and then put the goal frame and keeper where row Z seats should be in the stand, then let him practice shooting.
Percy Daltons, “peanuts, peanuts” 😂 Oh and roasted chestnuts from a brazier 😂
Agree indeed, probably the most embarrassing performance ever in a CL Final.
Doomed.
Jose wont be backed.
Jose will take the rap. 15 mill richer. Few more anecdotes for sky tv.
Another schmuk gets the job, will not get backed and on and on.
We’ve been nearly a team for my whole life and nearly relegated once so you’d think id be used to it but its the hope thst kills you.
I think Jose thought he could win the league with Spurs but if he hasnt changed his mind then nearly
Clueless.we are self sustaining. How much ENIC invest in the squad. Like ENIC invest any money. We’ll fatten the squad with our money. Why do we need new owners? We have an owner that takes zero money from the club and another one who gets a wage. What would these new owners do then? Pump their own money into the club? We don’t need it. Property empire? So you think ENIC are buying property with tottenhams money? It’s tottenhams property empire
And built the finest money making infastructure in the world. Be proud
Not the old pandemic insurance red herring again Harry?! As someone else has posted, no other football club seem to have taken it out. Wimbledon/LTA did, and great decision, but they would have done so because their one big annual event would have been at risk, unlike football where nobody would have foreseen that a crowd ban would have gone on this long. Also, as I posted weeks ago, AIA is another red herring – a LIFE insurer, nothing to do with the type that would offer pandemic cover.
ENIC and levy have loosened the purse strings on who’s money?
Their main focus is to make as much money as they can when they sell. ENIC take no money from the club and levy gets a wage. Do you think ENIC could go to Barry burn to organise a boxing match there without tottenham getting any money? It all goes through Tottenhams books not ENIC
It’s designed for many different events. The NFL will rent it when tottenham ain’t using it. 8 games a season I think. Nice little earner for TOTTENHAM
In a normal world they are very pertinent questions, however let me just say that due to history having a tendency to repeat and having watched the activities of the follicly challenged one for 2 decades there are no questions. It ain’t happening.
It’s tottenham Hotspur stadium that can be used for NFL. THE NFL RENT IT FROM TOTTENHAM ON MATCH DAYS. Like they did when the raiders played there. When guns and roses were due to play their tottenham Hotspur rent them the stadium for the evening. Impossible to get any sort of comp tickets from tottenham coz tottenham have nothing to do with tickets for the time it’s rented out. Tottenham get the bar though. All the money made from non footballing events go to tottenham
NOT ENIC
I spoke with villa fans on their way to a game not long after that pathetic offer and they said the bid was even worse than the media had said. Wont shock anyone but yet again another total disaster in the market from a so called business man who as you rightly point out has us saddled with so much debt we are basically un sellable now. But the real beauty of that debt is it gives him a screen to stay behind. We can’t compete because…. those goal posts are constantly on the move but this is the reason we will be force fed for the nxt 300 years or whatever til the debt is paid. Really handy if you look at it like that, because without that debt even the intellectually challenged may question why we signed no clued etc
Read , learn and inwardly digest.
Tottenham’s head of business development, Aidan Mullally, recently revealed that the club are positioning the stadium as a “permanent home” for the NFL outside the US and hope the venue could one day play host to the Super Bowl.
“It is an NFL stadium and that’s the key message,” he said. “From the very start during the design phase, we have had the NFL in mind. The anchor tenant is Tottenham Hotspur, but this is designed to be a permanent home for the NFL outside the US.”
Legoverlass you’re talking rubbish re the stadium. The debt is Tottenhams debt NOT ENIC.
Excellent question. There is nearly a billion pounds worth of debt to take into account. I suspect that there is a large gulf in numbers between what Enic might ask and what another institution is prepared to pay, judging by the methods our much beloved chairman employs in the transfer market. That is to say, to value any outgoing player at twice what he is worth and to offer a selling club half what the player is worth. To return to one of your favourite topics, in Grealish’s case, our famed transfer market negotiator, offered a quarter of what he was worth which has now become a tenth. Welcome to Levy’s world.
Excellent post? He’s talking rubbish. Taking money from the club? That’s not true. I’m telling you. Anchor Tennant’s? Rubbish. Tottenham own everything. Well the bank does.
To be fair I doubt it was the trickiest decision van dick ever had to make🤣🤣🤣🤔🤔🤔
He is the worst I’ve ever seen. All he does is point and run about. Gets out jumped by vardy on the back stick when he’s a big boy and should deal with it all day. Never looks a threat in front of the opponent goal, and reminds me of the old atari game where you bounced the ball off the other wall and I strongly suspect thats how he learnt his passing skills. Terrible terrible player and the people that big him up are equally culpable because they are supporting an absolute disaster. Him jose and most of all levy out
Sorry its only 1. Unless I’m mistaken they didn’t buy the club until after the 99 win
Rubbish. ENIC haven’t taken a penny from the club.
I don’t want to have to say stuff like that, but thats exactly as I see it. The blind faith in either the manager or chairman is lunacy as far as I’m concerned. If the rumors about aurier and hugo are right and I can see it tbh it just points to huge problems behind the scenes. Not all of the blame for that can go on jose but to clear him of all blame is equally ridiculous. Cheers al
ENIC did not purchase the land. Tottenham did. Tottenham Hotspur own the stadium. We are not anchor Tennant’s.
ENIC DO NOT TAKE A SINGLE PENNY FROM THE CLUB
You’re talking rubbish
Used the term? Where? Stop lying.
Mine.
How much is the club worth??
Great post, well written. Apart from Enic’s desire to make money and build up their asset value at the minimum expense of strengthening the team properly, the major problem is Levy’s insistence on interfering in football matters, particularly player recruitment. He has a hopeless track record on appointing managers and deciding on transfer targets. Until we have a professional team running player analysis, scouting and recruitment, we will continue to flounder as the manager, no matter his track record, will never receive the players he wants and will be saddled with Levy’s fantasy football picks. Of course, if Enic had the wits to see the problem and fix it, it would still come down to how much they would be prepared to invest in the squad, rather than their burgeoning property empire. My conclusion to the continuing clusterfu** that is Enic and Levy is that we need new owners. It is all very well declaiming “better the devil you know”, but where is it getting us? Just another Groundhog Day.
ENIC OUT!
Great Article Billy.
Ah yes shepherded by Van Djik!
Villas captain and supremely confident stylish creative playmaker we tried to buy on the cheap in 2018!!
He was shepherded David, ‘Dont let him pass to Son, Let him shoot ‘. Result Misery.
Yes, He is no Footballer, I just smile when I see him on the ball , to think that he ‘Won an Award ‘ just shows how good the squad is.
But unless I am mistaken we owe enormous gratitude to Lord Sugar for saving Spurs from bankruptcy at the time?
Who is this Grealish that you speak of ?
Great Stuff . ‘When you’re all at sea, Deliverance is that distant shore’.
I think that Levy is no more A Tottenham Man, than Alan Sugar was ,in truth.
Yes, Hugo is no Schmeichel, The Father , and he is definately No Captain.
Shitloads because of recent repeated failures in the market. Levy has created this problem. No one else. We need a huge buyer. No idea who. ENIC OUT. The fans need to unite in this.
Excellent, Mr Sandro , Excellent .
We must understand that reaching the CL final was a Fluke , a Perfect Storm . Thanks to VAR against Citeh and Moura having a Rosenthal against Ajax. Spurs had lost the Final even before a Ball was Kicked.
He got 7 new players last summer, I don’t see where the money is coming from to give him 11 more. The I need new players excuse can be used only so long — even at clubs of unlimited resources like Man U — before you are invited to leave and not come back.
Thats it . In a Mouldy Old Nutshell.
Easier said than done.
Whats the alternative American billionaire owners?
Some Chinese consortium?
The Sultan of Brunei?
I can only recall 2 speculative takeover bids both of which failed one from private investment company Cain Hoy, the other tentative offer from Mark Guttenberg?
Evokes vivid memory of that Sissy moement at Anfield when running through on goal he had 2 options shoot or square the ball to Son. With the ball ending up in Row Z you guessed it!!
Yes to all that.
He might put in a shift,but he is pretty rubbish at everything he does.And please don’t talk about his shooting prowess.
ENIC OUT ENIC OUT ENIC OUT ENIC OUT
A couple of quite significant questions unanswered there …
What sum of money would it require to upgrade all those players, and where do you see that money coming from?
ENIC OUT ENIC OUT ENIC OUT ENIC OUT ENIC OUT ENIC OUT ENIC OUT ENIC OUT ENIC OUT ENIC OUT ENIC OUT ENIC OUT ENIC OUT ENIC OUT ENIC OUT ENIC OUT
5? Not a single one would get into the top 4 starting elevens. Toby perhaps but he’s apparently only good enough for Wycombe away not Liverpool home. While Dier watches the opposing striker ghost in behind him for a tap in.
AND made the club very rich indeed! 9th most vaued by Forbes. Better than Juventus. He needs a few shiny trophies in the cabinet though.
If only my friend….
Audi cup?
Thats the bad news. Any good news?!!!
Exactly. It’s got further and further away from football. As I’ve said before, look what ENIC did to Vicenza, not that you can find much info anymore in English, their fans were livid. That’s their modus operandi every time. You said it….they are a land investment company. Simple.
Under Levy’s stewardship we have what won 2 league cups in 25 years?
I’m hoping Levy reads this blog and makes it so!!
Ahahahahahaaaaaaaaa!!
Cheery soul I am, possibly hastening both Kane and Son’s departure, the nightmare scenario which ought be seriously contemplated is if we don’t win any silverware this season and finish outside the top 4 which given Kane’s long term absence I fear is a distinct possibility!!
Another one who sees reality. Triffic stuff.
Yours??! It ain’t even ENICs hahaha! Gawd love ya…
Well that makes ENICs reps and Levy clueless then cos they used the term. Heavy wallowing in the Egyptian river here. Don’t blame ya though, it’s a painfull thing to admit.
ENIC maybe but Levy is a Tottenham man and wants a few trophies to complement his business genius.
Great post.
I am in the Category 3 scenario as well.
It is clear to me that Jose will be given the time to gradually build the squad needed to be highly competitive with an eye to developing the academy players to reduce costs.
We need to gradually buy decent youngish foreign players to replace the aging ones in the team.
Hojberg, Rodon, Reguilon are a good start. Sabitzer and hopefully Vinicius (to show why we should buy him) to be added next year??
I will be happy to win a cup or two this season and get CL.
People saying we have regressed need to remember most of the players in Poch’s era have reached/past their prime.
I counted maybe 9 of those played in or reached a CL Final.
First and foremost is CL qualification for the money it brings in, the rest doesn’t matter.
For Levy that is.
Excellent post
A big fat zero to list of players quoted.
I hope to bring some reason to the discussion;
Enic & Levy – yes their main focus is making money from THFC. Now there are a few busines models they could have followed to do that. The one they chose was a long term one to invest in the clubs infrastructure first in order to increase revenues to levels that would enable the club to compete better in the transfer market as well as making it attractive to players because of the great facilities. That is not a defence of Levy / Enic, it is an observation based upon the facts. They went for success off the ptich ahead of pursuing success on it. Success off the ptich is easier to control.
Yes we are sponsored by an insurance compnay so why didn’t we take out pandemic cover like Wimbledon? I have no idea, but I do know that Wimbledon is a different risk profile to THFC and I am 100% certin the premium would be much. much lower. I also know of no other Prem Club that took out pandemic cover – so ALL the owners of ALL the prem clubs need sacking if that is the criteria we are using to measure them by.
Levy’s biggest faults are trying to get everyone on the cheap (none of us like to overpay when we buy stuff, but neither are we all cheapskates and in football sometimes you have to take one for the team) and the other fault is that they have followed a policy of profiling the ‘type’ of player the manager / coach wants rather than the actual players he wants. Klopp / Liverpool wanted VVD, they didn’t settle for someone with his ‘profile’, they waited and got who they wanted.
So I don’t blame them for the training ground / stadium policy, but I do blame them for the transfer policy.
Poch – one day in years to come, I would not be averse to seeing him back in charge, but let’s see. He took us to a better level and he deserves appreciation for that. What annoys me is that at the time his stock was at its peak, the end of our first season at Wembley, he was being courted by RM, went to Spain and did an interview and was talking about how now was the time for Tottenham to be brave. He has never expalined what his version of brave was in that scenario, but just a few days later he signed a new 5 year contract at 8.5M per year and we didn’t buy any players that summer. Not my idea of brave, but perhaps he meant brave was not buying anyone and sticking with the squad we have. That was a mistake – he was holding a lot of the aces at that time and he should have demanded signing the players he wanted to take us to trophies as part of signing that new contract, if Levy declined / sacked him he would have been snapped up by Madrid, he was in a no lose situation and he let us down big time.
Jose – It was time for Poch to go and I wanted Jose in. There are 3 scenarios as I see it. 1) Jose is finished – his methods no longer work.
2) His methods still work but his players need more time to perfect them.
3) His methods still work but he does not have the players to impliment them.
I have been firmly in camp 3) even before Poch was sacked. The other day I posted that we need at least 10 new players if we are serious about the title. I was challenged on that but did not respond, until now.
I would ask you to consider the following;
In a normal season (this one is unusual beacuse it is compact with no fans) City, Liverpool, Chelsea & Utd would be the teams we think we need to do better than to win the league. How many of the following would get into their starting 11 or even be higlhy sought after targets for them in the transfer market?
Hugo
Aurier
Doherty
Sanchez
Dier
Toby
Davies
Winks
Sisokko
Lamela
Lucas
Vinicius
Bale
Dele
Bergwijn
15 players in that list, if you can honestly name more than 5 who are good enough for the City, Liverpool, Chelsea or Utd starting 11’s then my opinion that we need 10 new players is wrong.
If you cannot, then you know eacatly where our problem lies.
6 of that list started against Liverpool, 7 of them finished the match.
Why backfire??
Dele doesn’t want to follow the coach’s instructions then he doesn’t belong in the team. Same as what happened with Rose. The best manager in EPL Ferguson left no doubt that he was the boss! The board backed him.
It seems to me that Levy is doing the same by not interfering.
Levy and ENIC are definitely in it for financial profit but it is also clear they have loosened the purse strings a little for Jose. They want some trophies to show off in their fantastic new stadium. After that happens well I hope the academy brings out some decent players as I would agree money will be tightened.
Lloris is too short for a keeper and I would replace him also but need to prioritize others first. Lloris’s reflexes will diminish as he ages further – probably looking at a home grown keeper though.
What about a keeper that commands his own six yard box instead of one rooted to the goal line ?
This is the perennial question, the dross that have walked through the clubs doors is scandalous, probably with a smirk on their faces.
Did people actually watch the match v Liverpool??
Some here with their comments would suggest that we were parking the bus!
Spurs had 60% possession for much of the 1st half! The commentators were finding the match enjoyable to watch!!
What’s with the negatives vibes on Jose?
We had chances and half chances also unlucky offside goal in the 3rd minute by a whisker. The team was really open and we were coping quite well. Unfortunately errors cost us in defense and that happens.
Jose has shown the team is still a work in progress and needs a couple more players.
Sabitzer next summer and another decent defender will be required.
Only 50 ….!
You don’t know how lucky you are .
Amen.
Who buys players tho? This is a question that needs answering. Because all the way to rednapp wanting Cahill and Tevez and getting Saha and Nelson the wish list and actual recruits never seems to match up. As much as I’m anti Jose, based on dross football that will see kane and son walk because they are fed up defending, he’s said he didn’t want bergwijn. I simply don’t believe he asked for gedson Fernandes. So the same underlying issue remains
Peanut man?
We hit the jackpot with Alli, Eriksen and Son?
Whilst I fully concur with your sentiments in fairness to Levy funds have been released to managers past and present but unless we are blaming every recruit on Levy’s decision we have bought a lot of dross!
Hallelujah
I feel I have to post as certain people on here are delusional in the mindless support of Daniel Levy. It’s fine being positive but not to the extent you become delusional. Any idiot can be a fanatical defender of Levy and ENIC, and it appears there is one here who seriously needs medical assistance.
Levy and ENIC are in it for one thing only and that is a financial profit for the parent company and the investors. All the building is purely to enlarge the value of the club and the property portfolio on the open market. These parasites don’t care whether we win a title or not as long as we finish in the top 4, that is their only requirement and they do the barest minimum to achieve that.
We will never win a title under the stewardship of Levy and ENIC. Levy will always buy the cheapest option so we get a Lo Celso instead of a Fernandez every time. The man is not only afraid to spend but also utterly incompetent as we can all see from the Dembele and Grealish fiasco’s.
As the author states we have no strength in depth ever, so regardless of how good the manager is we will always fail, as we have failed throughout his tenure. The evidence is there for all to see, and even the thickest of imbeciles that frequent this blog should be able to see the obvious. All this nonsense about us winning titles etc. is just pure fantasy and wishful thinking. We won’t win anything of consequence under our current owners.
Get real and smell the coffee. Fans who think otherwise based on our history are Levy’s idea of a dream fan – gullible mugs. They twitter and waffle on about the glory to come under Levy and ENIC, but they’ve been saying this for how many years? Fools.
Despite his limitations Sissoko alays puts in a shift and occasionally teases us when he is in a scoring position!!
Yes but after a break from here I’m still reading strange comments. Bottom line with him was when all the players were asked who the best player at the club was, none said kane or whoever, which isn’t to knock kane, he’s made himself arguably the best in the world, they all to a man said dembele. So the people who trained with him all day said it, thats good enough for me
And yet Dembele had his critics?!
Yep. Did well in the first four years of the 80s domestic cups and a bit a Europe. Then el Tel in 90 91 grabbed us a cup.
Anywhere else rather than n17 it would appear weird 🤣
Sissoko. And some people probably even on here will tell us that hes a good player. Hes worse than tramezani!!! I don’t think people realised just how important dembele was to us.
All a bit weird.
I’d rather see Skippy than Winks in the side.
Where is Skippy loaned out to Norwich?
Spot on.
The Foxes have Maddisson and Tielemans.
Our N London rivals have exciting Saka and Emile Smith-Rowe.
We have ????
And we all know who’s fault it is we didn’t land him. Also that mcginn at villa i think would be a perfect partner for hojberg
In case it escaped anybody what the Spurs side were missing against Liverpool which Alan Brazil recently mentioned on his Talksport breakfast show is a Jack Grealish conduit type player.
Having gone a few weeks without mentioning his name I thought I would again because he is exactly the CREATIVE spark we require!!
Despite Jose’s positive qualities the darker side of his character over the likes of Alli (which has badly backfired following Kane’s long term injury) and Luke Shaw is very questionable and completely at odds to the more affectionate happier less intense Harry Redknapp style of management!!