It’s been clear as a bell to the vast majority of us on this site where we’ve been headed for a very long time.
All it would have taken was that small bit of support to get us over the line at crucial times but that support was not forthcoming from our chairman.
What instead did Daniel Levy do during this period of valiant struggle? He knocked down our home. He knocked down our home and leveraging our club’s great history he spent every penny raised on erecting a megalithic retail outlet that happens to have a football pitch at its centre, or is the real centre-piece an NFL pitch, with Spurs now referred to as “anchor tenants” by ENIC staff?
And in the process of doing this Levy buried our club in staggering amounts of debt, so much debt that new words had to be invented to accurately measure it; ‘Generational debt’.
Which for Spurs supporters of a certain age means your kids subs will still be paying for this long after you’ve gone, it’s that good. All this was done, carefully planned to be done, directly at the expense of the footballing team on the pitch.
For Daniel Levy is not a footballing chairman, to be absolutely clear this is a man who measures success in zeroes and ones, not by tin pots in glass cabinets.
When Levy first floated this stadium gubbins there was lots of accompanying talk about THFC needing to be ‘more competitive’ but what people failed to understand at the time was that dear Daniel was never talking about the awfully random pursuit of winning kickball trophies, his vision of competition envisioned acquiring (or building) lots of lovely value appreciating property assets.
The rub or more accurately ‘the fun’ for young Daniel was how to do all this whilst making these assets still appear to be one thing – a football club but at the same time brilliantly hiding their true purpose – as repayment instruments for low interest generational debt.
Rather, annoyingly he was forced to recognize that the football club (for now) appeared to be the only reason the bipedal wallets wanted to engage with his THFC brand. So, how to expend the absolute minimum necessary on the pesky ‘non-retail’ pitch whilst keeping the tills ringing off it?
Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Mauricio Pochettino, the manager who made all Daniel’s dreams come true. For only sub eight figures annually, here was a man who proved he could not only save young Daniel tens of millions in disgusting transfer fees but with only buttons at his disposal could in fact exceed all expectations in non-retailing matters. The fatted cow and the golden goose rolled into one.
For Levy the ROI on Poch was staggering, by simply raising this manager’s relatively tiny salary he could save twenty times the amount and more annually on transfer fees, eventually reaching the Xanadu threshold where he was expending less than nothing on player transfers.
All he had to do was feed Pochettino a vision that slightly enhanced the importance of grass based matters, and he found that through some manner of sorcery unknown to the accountant’s high table this new manager could actually convince these brain-lets to fight and win in a manner previously unseen during ENIC’s tenure.
So this is the backdrop against which all Spurs on pitch efforts have been played out. Forget the micro nuts and bolts, this is the macro meat and potatoes.
But putting current frustrations aside. Putting current frustrations, the Summer’s frustrations, the CL final’s frustrations and the whole of last season’s frustrations aside, we do need to give this team and Poch the credit they deserve; they have for many years genuinely been trying to win something, to build something against tremendous odds.
Sadly they just had no idea who they were dealing with in Daniel Levy. Levy has undoubtedly done Poch like a kipper or should I say Poch allowed himself to be done; he never asked enough questions at the time, he never kicked up enough of a stink when it must have dawned upon him what was really going on, he just kept taking the money, wearing the suit and allowing himself to be mollified by some fireside face-time with Levy.
So yes Poch is complicit, inasmuch as he has allowed himself to be royally cucked. To be fair he just might not have been smart enough as it’s not like Levy didn’t have thousands fully and completely fooled with his ability to do ‘just enough’ to keep the lemmings from the cliff edge.
But back to the team and their efforts, before it all went so horribly wrong.
Just think how tired they must be. God they must they be tired, tired of the project, tired of hearing about the building, being the plucky underdogs and the stories of jam tomorrow, yet all the while still not being able to understand why they are not being supported in going about their primary desire.
They just had to take it on faith from El Pocho, and they did to be fair. In seasons past they gave their all, they watched as hundreds of millions of pounds were ploughed into a new stadium but nothing for the team, no home to call their own and still they soldiered away.
I’d be tired of that, regardless of how much money I was on, who wouldn’t be? Having knocked themselves out for years only to have achieved absolutely nothing tangible for all their efforts then I imagine that one by one they just stopped listening, stopped believing and now finally, stopped trying.
That’s an awful place to be for an ambitious professional. They probably can’t form enough words in the correct order to elucidate why they feel the way they do, bless them but feel it they do and having fairly primal instincts they can smell the stench of death about the place. The corpse stinking the place out is the manager and his project. What we are witnessing now is purely the funeral arrangements.
Where does that leave us supporters? Well with the knowledge that the only franchises Daniel Levy is interested in forming are ones with the NFL, by default we supporters are left completely disenfranchised – supporters of an ‘anchor tenant’ team, victim of an aggressive stealth takeover by a man who represents and partially owns a company that has somehow managed to never spend a penny of its own money in support of the thing it owns.
Daniel Levy is not a footballing chairman, never has been, never will be.
Under Levy’s stewardship and ENIC’s ownership, the paucity of investment in the football team has been breathtaking, world-class in fact, Gordon Gekko would be proud.
Did dele by the coupé roller? Nice wip😁
Thats what he’s obligated to do. If you didn’t notice that football was a business, you don’t know anything about the sport. He has a strategy and hes executing it. It involved taking a young and untried manager from Southhampton, giving him a shot, building from the youth divisions and at the same time saving money to build a larger platform for the future. Same as Arsenal!
Trying his best to earn a return for his shareholders.
Is that what he’s doing? Holy hell.
Not corporate parasites; ordinary corporations have to earn money to survive. People who stole whole industries from their people or who stole all the oil wealth from their people don’t need to. In any case, nobody can convince me that giving up seven goals at home (the most in Tottenham history) is because of Daniel Levy. It’s about a lack of professionalism on the pitch and with the coach. The emblem of this team is Delli Ali tooling around in a new Rolls Royce that he recently bought. Thats the attitude, me, me, me. Thats a betrayal of the fans more than Daniel Levy trying his best to earn a return for his shareholders.
Not corporate parasites; ordinary corporations have to earn money to survive. People who stole whole industries from their people or who stole all the oil wealth from their people don’t need to. In any case, nobody can convince me that giving up seven goals at home (the most in Tottenham history) is because of Daniel Levy. It’s about a lack of professionalism on the pitch and with the coach. The emblem of this team is Delli Ali tooling around in a new Rolls Royce that he recently bought. Thats the attitude, me, me, me. Thats a betrayal of the fans more than Daniel Levy trying his best to earn a return for his shareholders.
Theres no way it was going to end any other way. They’ve had the essense squeezed out of the. But, yes the sport has been decimated by corporate parasites.
Chelsea buy every kid going some legally some not that’s why they have a transfer ban.Last season they had 42 players on loan.Over the last five seasons they have been number one for sales @£523.6m They do uncover a gem once in a while but have a huge turnover of players every season.Chelsea have always just gone out and thrown whatever it takes to get the player but have had to curb their ways and are now reaping the rewards of their academy.
Paul Mitchell, who signed Son Heung Min. The Chelsea scouts put our chumps to shame – they have unearthed gem after gem for years (de bruyne, courteois etc) and now the spine of the team is made up of England u21 players. WTF are our scouts actually doing??
Fair points man.. The Longstaff brothers tore apart manure earlier.. I would take hungry young quality players over the likes of eriksen any day.. Most top clubs have a good blend of experience and young… But alan hansens voice always kicks in with me, you cant win anything with the kids… Nothing wrong with quality scouting young talent from any age really.. But you have to have top scouts, and a successful acadamy like benfica for example to train and nurture them…. Problem is we got levy in charge of all our shit micro managing the club in hitler fashion … We had a great scout remember pochs guy paul someone with the black box from southampton? He lasted a few months i believe… I dont know who scouts for us now, judging by the last few years it may be levys wife?
Last season Brentfords striker Maupay had potential scoring 28 goals,Brighton took the gamble and he scored against us yesterday.Potential is all Brightons debutant forward Connoly had before scoring two against us yesterday.Whats all of a sudden wrong with scouting and playing young lads with potential instead of players who couldn’t give a shit and don’t want to play for Poch.
“But suppose there was actually a fine, in the guise of the Wembley rental being doubled from the previous season for each match played there. Could some of our depressing run of results, where we didn’t show up, made uncharacteristic errors or didn’t get decisions in our favour be a form of points deduction, easily between 20 and 30 points, that effectively scuppered our season before it got going (and that the players are aware of?).”…………… ? “Suppose”? Was there a fine or not? Im not aware of the facts and figures but I am going to look them up now! I thought Joe Lewis had 3 or 4 billion in the bank a couple of years back when the team went on holiday on his yacht!!!! You are not telling me we are skint surely!? #:/
“A fish rots from the head down’.. Gordon ramsey………. Levy has hand picked all our managers and players since 2001.. He is the man in control therefore its his responsibility
……………….”by a man who represents and partially owns a company that has somehow managed to never spend a penny of its own money in support of the thing it owns.” If it wasnt so gut-punching true it would be funny! Do I remember correctly that some years ago Spurs were offered Sergio Aguero and Alexis Sanchez for 18 million for the pair? What happened to Leandro Damiao? Why the fk are we not screamming at Gareth Bale to come back, and bring 3 or 4 of his current teammates with him!!!! Levy sux….time he went into some other business. Knows phurk all about football.
Dem arl in it togeda man. Tick as teafs. Alan sugar?
I agree that the stadium project harmed the short term prospects for the club because they used money to build it that might have gone for players but lets face the facts, the teams that rely on Russian Oligarchs and Middle Eastern sultans for their money never gave a shit about cost because they throw away billions on loads of worthless shit. The game has evolved to be a stupid billionaires game. That doesn’t mean the the player on the pitch at Southhampton gives up. It certainly shouldn’t be an excuse for the player or coach at Tottenham.
The only fan base owners i have ever known is portsmouth…. Who won more than us in that time i believe.. They won all the lower divisions… And even won an fa cup not so long ago……… Portsmouths fa cup verses spurs league cup ten years prior… Levy is in his own league my friend
LMFAO, how much are you being paid to ‘get across this’ Lezza? You Sir are a plant.
Potential my arse. Potential to what ? Take us into the championship? Stroll on back to flat earth central with your insidious breezy disorder.
I think we need them in the first team atm! #:/
I think we need them in the first team atm! #:/
The topmost person in the corporate hierarchy is Joe Lewis. ENIC owns 85% of THFC and Lewis owns 70.6% of ENIC. Sugar no longer has any shares in THFC, having sold his remaining shareholding to ENIC in 2007.
I may be using strong words, but I am far beyond any feelings of anger my friend. But by using discernment and wise choices rather than being treated as an all too common sheep and finding solutions that can bring about change for the best are the only way forward. Under a gas light in Tottenham, several school friends discussed an idea…
The topmost person in the corporate hierarchy is Joe Lewis. ENIC owns 85% of THFC and Lewis owns 70.6% of ENIC. Sugar no longer has any shares in THFC, having sold his remaining shareholding to ENIC in 2007.
Well written and great points,some of our young prospects have instead of playing for the under 23 gone on loan and will be better for it in the long term.Marsh,Roles,Sterling,Amos,Georgiou to name a few.We have also seen the emergence of as you said Parrott and Tanganga.I saw some of them play preseason and have potential.
You talk a lot of sense and understanding of the bigger issues surrounding Levy.
Sorry to interrupt the self -flagellation and angst currently being expressed. I truly wish that I had the definitive answer to put everyone, myself included, at peace with our present predicament. Sorry, I don’t. However, I’m more than happy to point the finger at Levy because he is an obvious target, for perhaps not so obvious reasons.
As you are aware, Levy signed off on the magalithic homage to the NFL, over-budget and late. So late in fact that he had to go cap in hand to the Premier League for permission to open the new venue in the back-end of the season. Something that was against Premier League rules but necessity had forced Levy’s hand due to the build hemorrhaging cash that needed to be recouped sooner better than later. And the Premier League agreed but at no time has there been any talk of a penalty or fine for this rule breach.
But suppose there was actually a fine, in the guise of the Wembley rental being doubled from the previous season for each match played there. Could some of our depressing run of results, where we didn’t show up, made uncharacteristic errors or didn’t get decisions in our favour be a form of points deduction, easily between 20 and 30 points, that effectively scuppered our season before it got going (and that the players are aware of?).
The Premier League is a business that promotes its brand – the success of that brand determines how much money it generates because it has competition out there it needs to stay ahead of. Tottenham aren’t fitting the brand right now – the project was a novelty that was tolerated until the CL final (which was unfortunately against another English team) and our grace period is now over. Unless we buy “names” to fill our team, like Liverpool and City do, we are not regarded as enhancing the PL brand, regardless of how good our football might be (which it isn’t at the moment). However, “names” cost money in transfer fees and wages that don’t fit in with ENIC’s business model, so Levy balks at shelling out the amount of money required. Until that changes we will be perennial also-rans.
On a side note, could the PL end the farce and just award Liverpool the EPL trophy now. Their “luck” is becoming an embarrassment (or an affront) to genuine football fans.
The fact they were in a CL final was a vast over achievement not a failure. If there was any backing we would have won trophy’s. Liverpool were behind us 2 years ago. They prove the point.
Sputtering anger and raging at the world won’t solve spurs problems. Fan based owners don’t win cups. The teams who do have billionaire backers like Sheikh Mansour at City do. They who see football as a vanity project like buying the most expensive Rembrandt win these days. Sorry, cold hearted snake? Levy isn’t in the same league as Mansour.
Not Levy’s fault? Are you a Mr Byrite employee? Do you want a new house with a functioning swimming pool though nobody can swim and sit in the front room being force fed cheap beer and watching Corry on the brand new portable monochrome? Mind you, Corry might have some fun involved, though not too much I hope, might jump up from the Argos coach in excitement and cause damage.
I blame the players for performances and results and attitude,I blame Poch for man management,tactics,selection and bad signings but if it makes it easier then blame Levy for employing them and all that goes with it.Did ENIC have to fight off other investors eighteen years or so to take over Tottenham a mid table team or where they the only ones with the business acumen and money to take a risk at a time when many lost millions in football clubs.I don’t know all the answers relating to Levy and how he runs the club and don’t know whether you do either so by making the remark blame it on Levy,I was suggesting it’s always the topic on your site and trying to be smart.Too much time and energy is spent on worrying about how much so and so is worth if it was that easy we would all be investing in football clubs.We all live nowadays in a society were we are entitled to have our say about how things are run,who to blame when the shit hits the fan and at the same time not be at all liable.I am a Spurs supporter of over fifty years and it pains me to watch them recently but as for losing any sleep over ENIC or Levy I will leave that to you Harry.
Why have we abandoned the policy of signing young British players with potential? The policy brought us from relegation contenders in the 1990’s to title challengers. Carrick, Defoe, Jenas, Lennon, Walker, Rose, Bale, Huddlestone, Dier, Alli etc. The policy was incredibly successful. It all stopped after Alli signing, who Levy signed on the recommendation of Pleat. Did Pochetiino put a stop to this? Why have so many clearly talented British players in the last 4 years been allowed to join rivals while we stood by? James Madison was CLEARLY going to be an outstanding player. We didn’t even make a bid when he first went to Norwich, and then Leicester. A blind man could have seen his potential. Same with david brooks (who I believe is an outstanding outstanding talent) and Daniel James. It doesn’t take a genius to see these guys’ potential.
I think Pochetiino is probably to blame. We haven’t signed one player of this ilk since his arrival (Alli was a Pleat signing), and Poch is supposed to have tried to stop the Clarke signing. It’s beyond belief that we’ve completely abandoned a policy that got us to where we are.
I type this while I watch a Chelsea team with 4 academy players (Mount, Abraham, Hudson-Odoi, Timori) and more on the bench, dismantle a Southampton side. This Chelsea team is the new Spurs – they will soon be providing the spine of the English team like we used to. Our academy, apart from Parrott, has absolutely nothing coming through. What in God’s name are the scouts doing?
There needs to be a complete clearout of coaches and scouts at youth level. They’ve left us in a position where there’s virtually nothing coming through. We need to be a club, given the debt, to be ahead of every other club when it comes to hovering up talent. Instead, we’re way behind on that front too. Find out what genius at the club thought Madison wasn’t good enough (Poch isn’t blameless here), sack him and sack all the other scouts/coaches too. Time to start again and build from the youth up.
The blame is on the topest person. Where does sugar fit into this? According to eaststand he has 30% of the club (I don’t think he does)
Wishful thinking, mate.
We’re leveraged to within an inch of our lives, and the cash the business generated organically – that money’s existence was denied – and then splurged on a shopping centre.
This team is sick of the sight of each other, dysfunctional, and we are not ‘one of the bigger teams’, we are frauds.
Not one successful football club on this planet has pursued the ENIC business model. Not one.
This is not some brilliant, ‘other way’, this is at best blind opportunism, at worst, an asset stripping exercise that was planned and executed by a drunk.
A poignant piece H and eloquently expressed. There are many truths contained in it and my only point of disagreement is with regard to the prime mover at ENIC. It is not Daniel Levy and never has been. Joe Lewis sets the corporate agenda and determines the business philosophy and operational strategy of ENIC. As the junior partner and Lewis’s protege, Levy merely follows his master’s voice. If Lewis determines the books at THFC are to be balanced annually, then Levy delivers, if he didn’t he would be out.
It is entirely within Lewis’s remit as to whether he wishes to invest a penny of his own money in THFC and in 18 years, as the de facto owner of THFC, he has never done so and never will. Levy, with less than 1/4 of the net worth of Lewis, is small fry corporately by comparison and not in an autonomous position regarding ENIC. It is Lewis’s vehicle and Levy owns less than 30% of it.
In fact I have sometimes wondered if Levy had the same financial clout as Lewis and owned ENIC, whether he would pursue the same business strategy. I can’t imagine that Levy has enjoyed being shafted on transfers all these years by Abramovic, for example, because of ENIC’s tightwad transfer approach, nor enjoyed being the object of fans ire regarding lack of on-field success, due to a corporate strategy and business paradigm determined by his boss (Lewis).
For years Spurs have been punching above their weight. We have had the lowest net income, the lowest net spend and lowest salary expenditure, by far, of the top 6 up until the last two years. That income gap has now closed very considerably to the point where we have actually overtaken Arsenal and closed the gap on Chelsea and Liverpool, all the while maintaining Champion’s League qualification. Poch and Levy both deserve credit for that.
My contention therefore is that it is Joe Lewis’s singular lack of ambition toward on-field success, that has stultified the progress of our great club, rather than Daniel Levy’s. Levy’s lot is to be the perennial whipping boy for his master’s paucity of investment in the necessary players needed for winning silverware, as opposed to prioritising servicing shareholders, corporate investors and bondholders. Is Levy complicit, yes, however it is also just possible that he might be as much of a victim of Lewis’s/ENIC’s spendthrift corporate agenda as Poch.
Daniel Levy:has rightly been taking serious flak both on this page and in the media – penny pinching players wages and leaving 3 of them free agents(with no replacements),spending too little (and far) too late and above all not commencing the re-structure last season by bringing in new players then. But what about Joe Lewis?. With all his billions,if he had been even 5 percent of a fan, could easily have injected serious money into the club as as share capital with the proviso that it was for” war chest” purposes ;i.e new players, (By new players I mean the finished product and not some young wannabe that Levy can buy cheap and sell expensive).Lewis must be the greediest of all.If he had the slightest affection for the football club and its fans -who made up his initial bread and butter in North London he would (and certainly could) do something positive money -wise.You are quite right in likening Levy to that loathsome creature in “Wall street”, except tn omitting to say that BOTH Lewis, and Levy are afflicted with the the Gordon Gekko “virus”!! These guys have put together a “wonderful”, capitalist-on steroids model of income stream for themselves.Bugger the football and double bugger the fans.
We will never raise our heads “for real” until someone else buys Enic out. Can’t really see that happening whilst Levy is the sales negotiator.
If Levy, who can FUCK OFF by the way, guarantees Poch £200 mill to spend as he wants, which is not going to happen, he will tinker with the tactics, Jose style at his last moments at Cheatski so he could be free for the Man U job without looking to bad, that’s that. Good luck to him, ain’t too many who could have taken us so far with both hands tied behind his back and a contract ensuring he cannot say too much just now. Anybody notice the Ask Spurs on the website is switched off? Just wanted to know if the club would be sold as a going concern, or just the Football Club with the facilities, training ground and as yet unnamed sports stadium at WHL being retained and available for rent by any new football team owners? Good business by a cold hearted snake, never mind the cool Mr Levy. Still, do not think Jose would come anywhere near the club without a massive wage and spending guarantees. Maybe another wandering minstrel, Rodgers? Likes to leave clubs midseason. Roberts who has learnt to toe the line? No chance of European Champions League next year, so assets such as Kane will be affordable to limit generational or short term profit loss. The shit has hit the fan and the fans. WE ARE FUCKED!!! Anybody want to start a Hotspur of Tottenham FOOTBALL Club? Start out at Hackney Marshes or Enfield Town groundshare? Till we get into the League and build on with only fan based owners with a constitution ensuring this could never happen again. COME ON YOU HOTSPUR of TOTTENHAM!
If Levy, who can FUCK OFF by the way, guarantees Poch £200 mill to spend as he wants, which is not going to happen, he will tinker with the tactics, Jose style at his last moments at Cheatski so he could be free for the Man U job without looking to bad, that’s that. Good luck to him, ain’t too many who could have taken us so far with both hands tied behind his back and a contract ensuring he cannot say too much just now. Anybody notice the Ask Spurs on the website is switched off? Just wanted to know if the club would be sold as a going concern, or just the Football Club with the facilities, training ground and as yet unnamed sports stadium at WHL being retained and available for rent by any new football team owners? Good business by a cold hearted snake, never mind the cool Mr Levy. Still, do not think Jose would come anywhere near the club without a massive wage and spending guarantees. Maybe another wandering minstrel, Rodgers? Likes to leave clubs midseason. Roberts who has learnt to toe the line? No chance of European Champions League next year, so assets such as Kane will be affordable to limit generational or short term profit loss. The shit has hit the fan and the fans. WE ARE FUCKED!!! Anybody want to start a Hotspur of Tottenham FOOTBALL Club? Start out at Hackney Marshes or Enfield Town groundshare? Till we get into the League and build on with only fan based owners with a constitution ensuring this could never happen again. COME ON YOU HOTSPUR of TOTTENHAM!
If Levy, who can FUCK OFF by the way, guarantees Poch £200 mill to spend as he wants, which is not going to happen, he will tinker with the tactics, Jose style at his last moments at Cheatski so he could be free for the Man U job without looking to bad, that’s that. Good luck to him, ain’t too many who could have taken us so far with both hands tied behind his back and a contract ensuring he cannot say too much just now. Anybody notice the Ask Spurs on the website is switched off? Just wanted to know if the club would be sold as a going concern, or just the Football Club with the facilities, training ground and as yet unnamed sports stadium at WHL being retained and available for rent by any new football team owners? Good business by a cold hearted snake, never mind the cool Mr Levy. Still, do not think Jose would come anywhere near the club without a massive wage and spending guarantees. Maybe another wandering minstrel, Rodgers? Likes to leave clubs midseason. Roberts who has learnt to toe the line? No chance of European Champions League next year, so assets such as Kane will be affordable to limit generational or short term profit loss. The shit has hit the fan and the fans. WE ARE FUCKED!!! Anybody want to start a Hotspur of Tottenham FOOTBALL Club? Start out at Hackney Marshes or Enfield Town groundshare? Till we get into the League and build on with only fan based owners with a constitution ensuring this could never happen again. COME ON YOU HOTSPUR of TOTTENHAM!
The teams a bit shit at the moment that’s all I know or care about really. Need the team to do well for the community to do better. All this American fanfare I’m gonna pop along to later would be so much better if the football team could match it. (Levy must know this,he’s lucky the sun has come out) The vibes won’t be flashy amongst spurs fans there. I’m gonna fly the “blip” flag. Its all I’ve got.
Its just facts. If people can’t see it now, there’s not much point in anymore talk.
I don’t know if you have noticed we are that weaker team .
“Funeral arrangements?😂😂😂😂😂 gonna get buried are we?😂😂😂😂 when’s that then? Hope its not one of them dress code funerals. Tottenham gonna get bury😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂. Enjoyed reading that bit a work. “Buried😂😂
Everyone can blame Daniel Levy but let’s face the facts that to get to the elite in soccer these days takes a gigantic amount of money, Russian Oligarch money. Levy is playing the long game for the club and a stadium and deals with other leagues is part of that. NY Yankees and Man City have partnered soon many others will be because that is the nature of the global game. Nothing stopped Tottenham from beating Liecester to the cup except failure on the pitch. Nothing stopped them from winning the Champions League last year except failure on the pitch. The reality is that the game has changed for good and it’s not changing back. Evolve or get relegated. Tottenham, for whatever short term problems they have, have evolved and are now one of the bigger teams. There are already several potential billionaire buyers of Tottenham that would throw money at players like the other big teams if they get to own the club. It may well come to that. In any case, it does not excuse players who are paid to bring their A game every day and don’t.
Everyone can blame Daniel Levy but let’s face the facts that to get to the elite in soccer these days takes a gigantic amount of money, Russian Oligarch money. Levy is playing the long game for the club and a stadium and deals with other leagues is part of that. NY Yankees and Man City have partnered soon many others will be because that is the nature of the global game. Nothing stopped Tottenham from beating Liecester to the cup except failure on the pitch. Nothing stopped them from winning the Champions League last year except failure on the pitch. The reality is that the game has changed for good and it’s not changing back. Evolve or get relegated. Tottenham, for whatever short term problems they have, have evolved and are now one of the bigger teams. There are already several potential billionaire buyers of Tottenham that would throw money at players like the other big teams if they get to own the club. It may well come to that. In any case, it does not excuse players who are paid to bring their A game every day and don’t.
Throwing together a team of players who were retuning from injury,having their first game of the season,having their debut or just anyone that wouldn’t be his first choice was bad management.The senior players watching at home have the opportunity of winning that cup denied and thrown at them at the end of every season by our rivals reminding us of not winning anything and not a medal to show for it.Why can’t we always have 6/7 first choice to increase our chances and not weaken the side until it’s unrecognisable while still rotating.
That implies you have a point to make – which I’d be interested to read.
We’ve discussed at some length ‘on here’ how flawed Poch is and issues with players etc, however to sneer at the all roads leading to Levy is disingenuous, at best.
The fuckwittery of the ENIC model is now staring you in the face, what do you have to say to it? ‘Oh it’s always Levy’s fault on Harry Hotspur”… please tell me you came armed with more than that.
Bravo👏
Businesses trickle down from the top, it’s not the guys in the loading bay that have scuppered Pochettino.
Poch is flawed, we know that, but a man fed on starvation rations can’t be cited as part of his own demise, because he failed to improvise in order to stay alive.
Get in a time machine. Pull that 340M GBP back out of the stadium, give it to Mauricio and let’s guess what he does with it, eh?
Levy has NEVER backed a manager in 20 years – all he’s done is buy and sell like a rag n bone man.
As a football chairman, he elevates charlatan to a new level.
There was enough quality and experience in the side against Colchester to have brushed them aside with ease.It was the application of the players and the manager that let them down.That malaise was more than evident yeatersay also.
As pointed out by Paul in his excellent piece above we are now in a very bad place with seemingly no light at the end of the tunnel without the sufficient investment.
If it’s on this site it’s always Levys fault,it’s easier that way
A great piece H well written by someone who truly cares about our club .
“Having knocked themselves out for years to win absolutely nothing”maybe if Poch actually took the lesser cups seriously and didn’t go out of his way to play our weakest team,we may have won something.Winning brings a winning mentality,if the players see you show contempt for a cup it won’t inspire them to win it.
A wonderfully heartbreaking piece. An underperforming car crash of a football club would be high on the list of 1st world problems but it us inherently sad what has become of THFC.
I get bored of hearing ‘all’ of this is ENIC and Levy. I completely agree they treat the club as a business (which it is btw), for me the problem is every investment they make needs to show a return in THAT financial year – there’s no 3-5 year plan on squad investment. Players are seen as commodities with a value that has to show ROI that year.
A lot you say I agree with, but come on! Levy didn’t pick Moura for the CL final? Levy picks the starting XI? Levy take N’Dombele off at half time? Levy keeps picking the rancid Eriksen week on week? Levy puts Sissoko as RB before KWP… esp when Sisso is so important in our MF?
I’m a big fan of yours and continue to be. These are only my opinions, nothing more, but for me the issues run a lot deeper than ENIC/Levy
Keep up the good work
I hope Poch isn’t ousted. I think he has been brilliant for us but it doesn’t look good for him. I have no doubt wherever he goes next he will win things with the help of proper backing from an ambitious chairman. What a shame we have Levy/ENIC.
This is a great piece and a horribly accurate statement of the current situation. The question is what should real Spurs supporters do now? I do not live in the UK but even if I did, I would never set foot in the new emporium, despite supporting Spurs since 1962, as the thought of putting any money into Enic or Levy’s pockets would make me retch. On a more practical level, any Spurs supporter who starts a campaign to oust Enic and their henchman Levy will win my undying support.
Winter is here according to mrs moley I have just had a sumptuous helping of liver n opinions peas mash n bacon life isn’t so bad after all unless spurs is your team .