When the history of the Pochettino era and Daniel Levy era is written there will be much that is good, great, and abysmal but the most damaging far-reaching decision was the period when Spurs deliberately froze themselves out of the transfer market.
Not bringing in fresh talent to upgrade the team was bad enough but an equally devastating side effect was that players who were either not good enough or past their sell-by date were not shown the exit.
The natural churn that keeps the existing squad on its toes making sure no one is sure of their place did not happen. It also had the unhappy effect of postponing decisions on players that should have been made in a timely manner and left players unhappy with their contracts and cost the club proper transfer fees, Eriksen, Trippier, Rose, Vertonghen, and now Dele.
Not replacing players at the correct time not only left huge wholes in the squad which still have to be filled e.g. Eriksen and Vertonghen, it also means that the replacement cost has soared with inflation, although COVID-19 will bring prices down, the selling prices will fall also.
Mourinho and the team are still suffering from the effects of Levy’s transfer freeze, to heap all the anger and frustration on Jose’s head is not only disingenuous it deflects blame from the person who was responsible for the gamble on transfers that no other major club in the elite European football leagues has ever done.
James. Remember 8 weeks back when Spurs were top , we both agreed that if THFC was serious about becoming Champions then the transfer window would show intent , IE The January Window. We did not anticipate the Free Fall , more or less , but in our hearts knew that if anything Levy would resort to plan and do nothing. As I have said before it makes no difference who the Manager is. As long as Levy and Enic are in charge then its the same old story .
“The land around the old stadium was bought by various offshore companies controlled by Enic to boost it’s property assets.”
Some proof would be nice – and easy to find – I laid a lot of the stadium and surrounding land ownership out on this blog last week.
ENIC involved in hardball / nefarious tactics to get people to sell – it would not be a surprise considering the number and variety of stakeholders.
In 1980 my late father had his business and livelihood destroyed by the GLC then run by ‘Red’ Ken Livingstone by virture of a compulsory purchase – anyone who thinks you get a fair value has never had that happen to them. My father had a nervous breakdown becuase he no longer had a means to support his family. He got forced out by local government. Businesses around the stadium got forced out by ENIC. Neither are right, but let’s not pretend that ENIC are the devil incarnate and that this type of thing is atypical of large property deals.
ENIC are an investment company, we know that, they are in it to make money, we know that. How do you maximise the value of THFC?
Success on the field and success off the field. The latter is easier to control (in non Covid times) and I think it is fair to say they have done a good good in that regard, even if we would have prefered they focus on the ‘success on the field’ bit first.
Their transfer strategy / policy is what has done for us on the field – simple as that.
The way ENIC conducted itself in N17 when acquiring property provided a fascinating insight into the true nature of the business
Kyle Walker first breaking up the best defence in the league.. Then Moussa Dembele…. Verts and Tintin still haven’t been replaced but they’ve only just left.
Where we are now is indeed a direct result of the 18 months of transfer silence that Levy conducted, thinking he had a manager that could do fantastic things for him without spending.
Wow, what a f*ck up. What a total f*ck up from a cretin who sees himself as a football guru, who unilaterally conducts all transfer business whilst not actually knowing anything about football management.
The result is a side that is now going to be so expensive to fix, it’s going to take years. Years more than José Mourinho is going to last.
Spot on Willie. Seems like a lifetime ago that midfield was clicking on all cylinders and a joy to watch.
100%. Most underrated player we’ve had in a long time imo. The teams best days under Poch was 2016/17 when we played a midfield core of Wanyama, Dier, Dele, Eriksen, and Son. Victor was a staple of the side, starting 35 league matches, finishing second with 86pts. Should have bought N’Didi when Vic got injured, could have gotten him for a good price at the time.
What he said.
This point was quite correctly shouted by the realists at the time and will be forever repeated. Levy was so short sighted even Mr Magoo called him out. Our starting XI was as good as any we have had in a generation, but our bench was ‘meh’. Due to Levy’s negligence the bench effectively became First team players and the bench was poor. For all those fans who think Dier, Sanchez, Davies, Aurier, Sissoko, Lamela and Winks are any good, they are wrong, yet they have collectively played 900 league games for Spurs. Pitiful.
I am relying on you.
I have a particularly good activist yet really decent source in N17 in respect of this, who of course, I was just about to meet prior to this entire covid thing.
The land around the old stadium was bought by various offshore companies controlled by Enic to boost it’s property assets. Who knows how much pressure was brought on businesses to sell to Enic, including the infamous steelworks? One could make the comparison that Joe Lewis and his associates used similar tactics, if somewhat more robust, to acquire land in Patagonia.
Nothing about ENIC rang true from the moment we won the League Cup. We didn’t even attempt to consolidate, we sold everyone off!
Agree. I think he was naive enough to believe that if he delivered decent results on a paltry budget, he would be backed in the transfer market by our much beloved chairman. When he realised that this was never going to happen, it soured his relationship. I know he signed a lucrative contract and fans will say that he was complicit in knowing that Spurs would not sign anybody for two transfers but I do bot believe this. You have been very sceptical about Enic and Levy for a long time. and you have been proven right. Expose Lewis for what he is and the whole miserable charade that is now THFC.
Yup
Poch was a patsy.
You have a forum. I am just an idiot putting random ramblings on your site. Lewis in Patagonia is a scandal that should be exposed. I think you are the man for the job. I have provided the bullets for you. Is he or Enic a right and proper person to own a PL football club?
Some may question my thinking here but I believe that the failure to replace Wanyama was the beginning of this downhill slide for Spurs. Prior to his arrival Verts and Toby were complaining about the lack of cover for the back four,particularly as injuries were starting to impact Dembele ‘s playing time. The arrival of Victor largely resolved that problem. Once it became clear that his injuries were potentially career threatening Levy should have made it a priority to sign a ball winning midfielder to make a nuisance of himself and drive the transition out of defense. It never happened and the results were there for all to see as Eriksen in particular found himself forced into more defensive duties that finally stifled his enthusiasm for the game (and which may to some extent have hastened the demise of Alli). Sure there were other big holes in the squad but defensive midfield was a gaping chasm that has only recently been filled by PEH.
There’s some dark guano at play – that’s for sure
Buy shite. Expect shite results.
That was a chilling moment that few people have mentioned. He sounded to me like a provincial hairdresser telling a client that washing your hair once a week was more than enough unless you were a rock star…
I find this post somewhat ambiguous because you link Poch with Levy as the proponents of this failure to reinforce the squad when it is entirely on Levy. Why do think that Poch told the board to be brave. He knew well before the CL final that that particular team was close to imploding.why do you think that Poch remarked in public that he was only the coach and not the manager.Levy promised Poch funds but only after various players were sold. Back to the ludicrous mantra that Spurs were different from other clubs and had to sell first before buying. I ask the question, why? Levy then overvalued the players that Poch deemed to be surplus to requirements to requirements. Eriksen was valued at a ludicrous £150 mill, based on the sale of Coutinho by Liverpool. He priced Alderweireld at circa £75 mill and a clearly knackered Dembele at £30 mill. If Levy had been successful, he would have received an approximate £250 mill to be supposedly spent in the transfer market which of course would never have happened. The net result of Levy’s incompetence was that very little money came in to reinforce the squad and we went two transfer windows without signing a player. When is Levy going to be called out for his continuous executive failure?
Time for the President of Patagonia, aka Joe Lewis, to fire this useless piece of s**t.
Quite right James a number of us are guilty of blaming the symptom rather than the cause i.e. Levy. When we were at peak Poch we finished the season unbeaten at home and with the best defence in the league. The beginning of the end for Poch and the squad was selling the best RB in the league for £50m and replacing him with a £25m reject. We still had some memorable performances such as Madrid at home in the CL but the one that sticks out for me is when we beat Joses Utd at home 2 nil when Eriksen scored inside 20 seconds. We played Utd off the park that night with Vertonghen and Davies camped on the halfway line playing like midfielders, Dembele bossing it. It was a joy to behold. It is downright gross negligence that a chairman sitting in the stands for these games did not capitalise on the potential of Poch and that squad of players. Vertonghen is one of the finest players I’ve seen in my lifetime play for Spurs, its a travesty he doesn’t have tin pot to show for his years of service with us.
This always takes me back to the Amazon doc and Ben Davies PhD stating “why all the fuss about buying new players” it is to replace average players like you Ben
Yep, 100%.
Wilful neglect by Levy, no signings for a year… What was that even about?
We are a joke, Levy is a joke and bad dream…