Two large banners were on display at the London Stadium yesterday afternoon, both demanding that Tottenham Hotspur owners ENIC cease their involvement in the club.
Both banners carried the legend “ENIC OUT” and referenced money.
This blog has long been of the view that ENIC has not been a force for good at Spurs, based upon the investment in the playing personnel over a sustained period and trophies won.
THFC is after all a football club and football teams need to introduce fresh players in order to be successful, this is a non-negotiable pillar of being a top tier football club.
Under Mauricio Pochettino’s reign for two back to back transfer windows, Spurs were to the only side in any of Europe’s top 5 leagues not to buy a player.
More generally, THFC’s net spend has been miserable or magnificent, dependent upon one’s outlook.
Jamie Carragher described it as “unacceptable“.
This is a continuously challenging environment and one cannot simply ‘opt out for a bit’ in order to focus upon bricks and mortar based projects, no matter how noble the intent might be.
Obviously the banners would have been ordered either in response to Mauricio Pochettino’s dismissal. Tottenham had been playing poorly all season, plus it’s a reach to suggest that Jose Mourinho’s appointment midweek would have given any printer enough of lead-time to get the work done for Saturday morning.
The grounds for demanding Levy & Co. pack up and give someone else a go are extremely well documented in the archive of this blog, which in a nutshell can be summed up in the following sentence: One piece of silverware in just under 20 years.
Finally, ENIC do something good for the football team, something indisputably exciting for the club, and it is met with disenchantment.
The time to protest was long before this weekend.
Remind me to never buy a football club.
“anchor tennants” 😂😂😂 gets me every time.
Something else that may suit Mourinho about working with this group of players is that there are few big egos to clash with his own. I imagine they would all respect and listen to him. No Pogbas here.
People really need to move on. Poch was toast, no going back. Yes he should have been backed but how long are people going to hold on to that? Not worried about Jose too much, better explanations than i could give as to why have already been shared by others here but IMHO with this very welcome and very well executed move Levy has bought himself to the start of next season for me. Two transfer windows to back Jose to sort out who stays, who goes and who arrives . Then we’ll know if he’s serious about not repeating mistakes of the past.
Privately I expect that Mourinho and Levy have both acknowledged that Spurs do need to buy players. It is undeniable the squad needs strengthening.
Nevertheless, from a PR aspect, it naturally comes across much better if he comes in, says how happy he is with the squad as it is and gets everyone onside, before he inevitably culls those members of the squad he ultimately decides are surplus to requirements.
To be honest I fully expect Levy to back him in the transfer market. He has no option and contrary to idle media gossip we have the money. I expect a replacement for Erikssen – Bruno Fernandes, a top young CB – Ruben Diaz and a RB – Youcef Atal. Plus resign Toby and Jan.
Whilst I agree with your comments re Mourinho’s current demeanour and attitude at the start of his tenure, these can quickly disappear when things start to go wrong. I sincerely hope he brings success to the club. As you said, his track record speaks for itself, but the squad needs improving, and I don’t buy all his guff that he doesn’t need to buy players. Enic and Levy will never change their ways and they will not back him in the transfer market which is what was and is currently needed.
Agreed. At this point in time what is in the past is in the past, Poch included. However what is undeniable, is that ENIC’s fingerprints are all over the most damning statistic of their tenure, which is one solitary trophy in 18 years, statistically our worst such run since the second world war. They have finally taken a step designed, at least in part, to remedy that wholly unacceptable state of affairs.
So what I would say to the naysayers and the disenchanted is this. Mourinho, love him or hate him, has won more major trophies in his career (20) than we have won in our entire 137 year history (17). He is by far the most successful manager this club has ever appointed. so he must be given a chance by the supporters and he must be backed by ENIC.
So far he has made all the right moves, atypically humble, as usual articulate, but sensitive to the mood of players and supporters. This augers well for the success of his tenure. He appears genuinely happy to be here and enthused about the squad he has inherited. It seems that his recent acrimonious divorces from Chelsea and Utd have lead to an honest period of reflection and soul searching, to regenerate himself as a manager. That is a dangerous proposition for our rivals.
“To dare is too dear”, I rather liked that banner and it was very apt. I am afraid that Poch was eventually broken by the Enic vampire squid led by Levy. When does the CEO of a company get awarded a huge pay rise for going 100% over budget, and a year late in completion, coupled with deceiving season ticket holders? Oh I know, when he owns 30% of the holding company. Levy is a micro managing, anally retentive control freak who will never change his modus operandi which will lead to clashes with Mourinho with the inevitable consequences. For Spurs to actually win something, rather than lining Enic’s pockets, they will have to invest substantial money in the team and this will not happen. Welcome to a further continuance of Groundhog Day at Spurs, the anchor tenants.
He wants these players? Half of them are off and out of contract. He seems to like Dele though.
Yes, ex West Ham. They are awful and it was close in the end. A friend just texted me and asked me what’s going on, he hasn’t payed attention to football for a while and he’s just heard about Mourinho. He said, last time I heard Poch was new Messiah now Mourihnos manager. Has the world gone crackers?
I replyed Tottenham are dead.
But he never had the players he wanted despite the money. Now he has the players he wants but no money. It may suit him better!
Haha so true! It’s clear the team was in decline. Mourinho could be a great manager for us. I have a sneaky suspicion he’s revelling in the opportunity to prove people wrong and the fact that we remain underdogs for trophies.
He just never seemed comfortable at Utd. Maybe being back in London will suit him better. He certainly seems to have something back.
Statements so far. No money. Doesn’t need players. Can win the title next year.
Facts. Had money at Utd. Tons. Admitted he couldn’t compete. Has a debilitated squad with key players out of contract and leaving.
You cannot correlate the statements and the facts.
Really, is anyone falling for it a g a I n??
Mourice has already said in an interview that is has joined based on the “project” under Levy, I dont have a problem with a sustainable model but all our profits go back into bricks and not pricks……..I’m not sure…..time will tell…
The last sentence is sadly so very true and how ever this pans out they will make a small fortune . They have a bad record of choosing and treating managers and all for different reasons real bent out of shape thinking to most decent normal folks. There is split opinion about the magical one but one thing for sure he will be here for 18 months minimum. I just hope that leopard has changed his spots and improved the way he coaches and gets with the times ,,modernised. He does seem calmer,happier and not a sullen self centered individual. The next 8 weeks then transfer window will be the first test. The worst west ham team in as long as I can remember was not a test at all . I hope he has changed and it does work . Coys
I’ve paid the price for my mistakes. Long ones.
Yeah well I’m all for giving people a second chance just like many many people have given me. Simple. I’ve messed up bigger than you can imagine in my life and have been forgiven and given a clean slate. Long live forgiveness. Jose do your ting Breda.
I wouldn’t say this appointment wipes the slate clean for levy. I maintain he was the party most deserving of having to clear their desk this week.
But we live in Orwellian times. Times in which levy is hailed for “delivering” a stadium at THREE times its estimated cost and a year late. In the process he has disappeared all of the proceeds of poch and the players’ onfield success while wrecking the only spurs side that has threatened the title in most people’s lifetimes.
The Mourinho appointment itself seems to have been a panicked arse-covering exercise once he’d been told to get lost by Leicester. And sorry Tappaspur I do not regard somebody to be a super fan for wilfully erasing Mourinho’s recent past from their minds — the three sackings for turgid losing football, lost dressing rooms and petulant one word answers in press conferences. Or all the horrible signings he was incapable of improving. (His ten at Man U: Bailly, Mkhitaryan, Pogba, Lindelof, Lukaku, Matic, Alexis Sanchez, Fred, Dalot and Lee Grant.)
So no, I will back Mourinho and the team but maintain that in the past two decades virtually any other corporate accountant could have done a better job than levy and do not understand why he has been allowed to remain in post.
Botch ? He was a broken record , he lost the dressing room , was found out and got sacked . lets see how many ENIC OUT banners get into the New Place .
What we should’ve done is no longer important as is can’t be changed. It’s about what we are going to do. I just don’t get why fools can’t see that. Can imagine in the not to distance future the open top bus on the manor with the big cup and moaning fake fans still banging on about the old lane. Saha and Nelson 😂😂
The cup thing was infuriating but I think that came from the ENIC priority’s and pressure of mandatory top 4.
He was broke because of the situation, which he put himself in undeniably. The damage was done so it became untenable. Still the fact remains, we were flying and he should have been backed then. Showing ambition after all that is like cutting your legs off and then buying a skateboard. The CL team was there to lose, sadly. Although, they shouldn’t have really been there at all.
I would have agreed with you a season ago.
Backing Pochettino the broken man he became would have been a waste of money.
Poch was a serial chocker and that was to a great extent about him refusing to even try to win cups.
He runs a team good enough to get to a CL cup final and then send out 11 strangers?
Poor old Poch was unbackable a good while ago mate.
I’ve already seen some scum you tube media channels explaining why Poch was completely to blame and how the players were sick of him etc, baseless lies. Most on here, predicted this collapse a long time ago, I’m a loss to the sudden surprise and knee jerk reaction when it happened. Poch took the money and turned into a mad parrot cos he was trying to manage the unmanageable. But there’s one reason only this all happened. The owners.
I just said on previous blog, anyone who thinks this appointment is ambitious or positive is gravely mistaken. Ambition would have been backing Poch and backing Redknapp when we were challenging. This is another PR exercise employing a man who failed at Utd with more money. Another reset in the endless jam tommorow merry-go-round.