Despite having spent the last few years endlessly warning of the ill-advised nature of the ENIC business model, it is with genuine regret that it has been made clear to Harry Hotspur by sources close to the club, that Harry Kane’s indulgence of Daniel Levy’s brave new, stadium propelled world, is running out of steam.
As has been asked on these pages on countless occasions over time, if you think the whole Daniel Levy brand “jam tomorrow” shtick is tiresome, then imagine being faced with it on the relentless conveyor belt that is working for the old girl, day in, day out.
There have been rumblings, of course, both in and out of the press, however, I am told that Kane’s situation is soon to become one of the worst kept secrets in English football. It took a while, but Harry’s interest in the cause had been waning for some time. Kane is now working on his inevitable exit.
Why “one of our own” would want to quit on us, is now firmly a rhetorical question. Whilst I was uncomplimentary about how I expressed it at the time, there was a truth in the line about “even someone as daft as Kyle Walker saw no point to hang about at Spurs”.
Old Bonzo was proved right, after all, wasn’t he? What good was the magnificent infrastructural investment going to do him? Zero, and so Manchester City not only offered but delivered immediately a colossal pay rise – and a Premier League title winners’ medal.
I am given to understand that a genuine concern of the family, that has two young daughters, is the possible impact on the support network that is enjoyed by both immediate and extended families, if a transfer incurred the onerous business of relocating.
Harry Kane’s commitment to the cause at Spurs has been nothing shy of exemplary, yet his ambitions are not destined to be fulfilled by a football club that has morphed into a profit factory. The collapse of the Pochettino era has divided the fanbase significantly.
Once upon a time, the hue and cry this blog received from former contributors who felt I’d become deranged in my contempt for ENIC. Now, message boards and social media, etc are positively awash with supporters who’ve had enough. People who once did their best to excuse the neglect have quite simply given up trying to defend the thoroughly indefensible.
A footballer’s career is a brief one. If all goes to plan, one can be comfortably retired by 35. Money secures that. Honours distinguish great footballers from the rest of the field. At Tottenham Hotspur, the business model is not geared up to deliver either.
In my opinion, Kane will be sold, and he will succeed elsewhere, as have all the decent players Levy has so diligently dispatched during his tenure. There’s a myopic genius to Levy’s work, to hate or name-call is to miss out on its wonder. It took me several years to work that out. They should name a suite after him. See what I did there?