If one is able to step away from the football media’s metronomic swing from one extreme emotion (ecstasy) to another (despair) for a few brief moments, then we might stand half a chance of letting some balanced thoughts occupy our brains for a few moments, at least.
In the Manchester Evening Press, our old pal Guy Poyet has been talking about the modern malaise in the game, namely the desire for immediate success. I’ve made the point endlessly over the years about ENIC looking to invest heavily in infrastructure, but when it comes to the football side of the business, the inherent desire to sneak, pinch or luck an advantage whilst doing things on the cheap.
Sure, ENIC has spent heavily on players over the years, but if they spent wisely or not isn’t borne out by a tour of the club’s trophy cabinet.
Gus, talking here, is speaking about the situation at Manchester United’s woes, but the same principles are applicable to our own mess.
The club needs to think a little deeper and take a different approach and communicate better with the fans. Whoever comes in next, the board has to explain to its supporters what their intentions are.
Send a message to the fans and create something thinking about the next, say three seasons.
Pick a coach, and let him do his job. Let him finish sixth in his first season if he has to, then let him take a few players out and slowly build his own team.
The problem is that people are living with this image of Manchester United from the Sir Alex Ferguson days; they must win. But they are far, far away from that. We’re talking there about a team from almost 10 years ago.
GUS POYET
The cold reality is that virtually no side has the time or the economic cushion with which to wear a spell in the economic wilderness. The debts create the momentum to keep plowing on. Hope that the next guy can get a tune out of the boys.
In Tottenham’s case, the debt was self-inflicted. I’m going for a lie-down.
Manchester United and Spurs meet this Saturday, kick-off is 1730hrs.
Yep.
T
Well, we’ve tried with three managers during this now endless fallow period which started when Levy decided not to back Poch. Short term goals of top 4 at all costs and a complete dismissal of the ‘painful rebuild’ Pochettino eluded to towards the end of his tenure. Where has it got us, apart from nowhere very fast?
Gus is merely echoing what our last four mangers have discovered when trying to fix the endemic issues within our squad, including Conte. The overwhelming message from the football people is “no quick fix”, unfortunately Levy isn’t interested in the realities of football and what can be achieved, and/or how. Whatever feedback he gets from these people is met with indifference and (I imagine) pig headed arrogance and ignorance from the boardroom (Levy).
Needing time in this case is specifically in football terms and over a few seasons. The 23 years ENIC have spent wasting everyone’s time is a separate clusterf*ck all together.
I’m with Gus…
Surely his definition of success would be all that’s happened over the last 22 years regarding the Brand, the Stadium, shareholder profits, and the club’s ability to consistently make headline of some sort & keep the media’s attention, and chins wagging? Hence his bonuses, and his still being the chairman.
From Lewis & Levy’s point of view it’s been a phenominal success, from the 20 something million initial investment to the however many billions Spuds eventually sells for.
How much real estate can we add to our already bulging portfolio
Maybe if we take a closer look at the rest of league since 1991 -1993. Aston Villa, Leicester, Blackburn Rover and Liverpool are the only team outside of ManCity, ManU, Arsenal,Chelsea that has won the league. So with all the well run and great managers passing through how come we have so few clubs winning the league. Prior to 1991 it was the same Liverpool dominated the league. Of the top 4 now ManCity won in 2014 and is now on a run of superior similar to that of ManU, Liverpool and Arsenal with Chelsea joining them. Before1991 we had the occasional teams popping a title but those same clubs mentioned were in the top spots. So they retool and won again and again. Lots of people here spitting anger without looking at the history of the league and moreso the place Tottenham sits. We were a little club in our cozy little home at WhiteHart Lane. The passion and support of the club is far superior to our status in the league. Stature wise as being a part of the big boys, Tottenham has enjoyed more prominence without actually winning the league since they won in 196. So, please remind me of our glory days. All that said, I do believe we need better football people, the rest of the league has always been tripping over themselves to compete with the big boys in the current standings. Nothing much has change, except for more scrutiny via social media and the abundance of other media outlets trying to out do each other.
I’d love to hear what his definition of success is.
The one thing that can be said of Spurs and in particular ENIC is that instant success is not something ever discuss at board or any level. Just the word success would send shivers down Levy’s spine
fair assessment I say cheers.
Please remind us when we had world class players the likes of Ronaldo, Pogba, De Gea, Depay, De Maria, Bruno Fernandez, Varane etc. when we bought and payed £100mill, £80mill etc for a player or in other words when did we pay wages of £500k, 400k,£300k etc. i’m sorry I see that is a cheap shot by comparing Spurs to Man United in any angle. sorry again Spurs never spend real money to real players. we get lucky to have Kane from the academy and he is way way under paid for a striker in his calibre and I feel sorry for him when I look the amount of money spent on for example the Lukaku of Chelsea, the Grealish of City etc. I say wrong comparing and it comes across as giving the Baldy an excuse to compare himself to a well stablished club with a lot of trophies to show. give us a break please cheers.
The problem with United is that no manager has actually been given the full autonomy to put his own stamp on things. There’s always been an insistence of keeping a Fergie presence throughout. Managers have had to work with Fergie-era appointees. Transfers are taken out of the hands of managers and money is mis-spent in the apparent guise of ‘spending’ to reclaim glory. The fans can plainly see inbound wealth being siphoned away from football endeavours towards other interests. And when things go wrong, it’s rinse and repeat with the manager taking the hit.
Compare Spurs to United, it’s pretty much the same scenario. Just replace Fergie with Levy. The difference being Fergie actually delivered glory wheras Levy delivered a portfolio.
Remaining optimistic that ‘this’ is the long overdue, starting from now; Antonio Conte is backed & Fabio Paratici works some magic in the summer.
(No perma-doom & gloom here).
I still remember the rest of the EPL blowing smoke up Levy’s Harris for not buying anyone in a transfer window…went straight to his head soppy melt so he skipped the next 2 windows as well..how has that panned out Daniel..cost the club how much in right backs, midfielders , oh that was the smoke form the NFL and their spreadsheets..got to stop, cannot see for the smoke..
I would say as does Gus , that Utd have the players ( bar Maguire) they just need to stop chopping and changing coaches . Whereas us at Spurs need to chop and change more players ..and stick with a coach , if the coach will stay that is.
This is the sad part about it, Levy has spent a fair bit of money over the years (though nowhere near enough as our position in the net spend table proves), but it has been mostly wasted. He has persisted in playing the losing gambler in an epic search for the new Bale, and hasn’t come remotely close. During that blinkered period the team has stagnated and gone backwards due to a lack of players that could impact the team at the time of purchase. N’Dombele was the sad exception, Levy had a massive brain fart for this one and no due diligence was done on the player. It was noticeable at the time that no other PL clubs were interested in him, which should have raised a massive red flag for the amount of money he cost.
When he has gone for a current player then Levy has reverted to his favourite bargain bucket approach, and has basically bought cheap junk, and has in fact over paid on a number of occasions ending the myth of him being a great negotiator once and for all. Again he has wasted vast sums on multiple junk players when a smaller number of good players would have been the answer. For these stupid oversights he will be losing Harry Kane and making himself the most hated figure in world football by the fans.
A shocking parody of how not to run a football club and a die warning to all chairman who might feel they want to get involved in football matters – that they are massively out of their depth and they need to stick to the boardroom and leave football to those who comprehend it.