Don’t worry about me and my views, listen to the words of Glenn Hoddle. Not sure, then look at the players ENIC sold (I skipped Bale as I’m sick of the sight of him) and look at the players ENIC gave lengthy careers at Tottenham.
I used to work with a guy who was incredibly reliable at producing brilliant insights about the business. When looking at a number of inadvertent mistakes a colleague had made. He suddenly proclaimed, ‘This isn’t incompetence, we’re dealing with, it’s sabotage!”
Sitting on the couch leaves nowhere to place the light box 😏
Expenditure has never been the problem, the problem has always been recruitment and a refusal to cut our losses. During the earlier years of ENIC, we used to make bulk purchases of players with great potential. As a result, even if 1-2 out of 7 players reached their potential, the squad would improve overall so for every Toby and Jan, we had Wimmer, Kabul, Vlad, Rodon(?), Davis(?), Dier(?), and players who’s names I can’t even recall now. This strategy can be successful for small clubs who are able to make bulk purchases, but big clubs don’t improve making bulk purchases with potentially great players (Bryan Gil, Sess, Sarr are all probably not gonna make the grade).
We have been moving away from this strategy over the past 2 years, but the transition is what has hit us hard.
If he had an ounce of feeling for the club he should. He won’t though. He is a charlatan.
I don’t believe these people care 1 ounce about football. I’m afraid they represent the gentrification within the sport, I’m no class warrior but these people that sympathize with the boardroom and excuse failure, on the basis that it simply must be done this way are completely out of touch.
Who do they represent the views of exactly other than their own little twisted world view? Plonkers.
Really well-written post, sir. 10-15m is a king’s ransom, even in the crazy reality of the footy world.
Great vlog HH. Spot on in this one, when you spell it out like that it seems all the more disgraceful.
I’m not sure where Daniel goes for here, if Conte walks because of his nonsense he’s finished isn’t he? Surely?
Just today, I tried to make the point to some people on social media that Levy is a failure of a chairman AND businessman. You’d be surprised at the fervor of the bootlickers; I just hope they are an ever-shrinking minority.
They love him for putting us 1.2bn in debt and no trophies over 13 years – what would they do if we actually lifted a cup, any cup?
I enjoyed the vlog or vid or whatever the right technical terminology is. I have written on many occasions, amongst others, that the amount of money that Levy has squandered by his incessant and unnecessary redundancy profligacy is a disgrace and should be enough reason in a properly run and accountable business to result in his dismissal. Sadly , this does not appear likely to happen. £14 million to NES for four months work! Yet Levy is still described by the MM as a “shrewd negotiator and hard headed businessman”. An extremely debatable description. Hoddle’s comments were interesting in that they highlight the lack of imagination and decisiveness that is needed in the transfer market to have a successful transfer policy which results in success on the pitch. I am of course referring to Morientes and Eto in this particular case but the list is endless of our mishaps and misjudgements in the transfer market since Levy was appointed CEO.
Some fans ask the question as to why would the likes of Mourinho and Conte come to Spurs? Short answer to that is of course filthy lucre but I also believe that there is the question of two formidable egos who might also consider that they had or have the personality and will power to persuade Levy to change his MO, in my opinion a fruitless task which will inevitably lead to Conte’s ultimate failure and dismissal. But more than that, one could argue that both Mourinho and Conte are like fine wins that have been sitting in a cellar too long and that they have both become corked. If you think about it, as long as you realise that you have a short shelf life but you will get well remunerated, why not take the Tottenham gig, particularly if you are coming to the end of your career. What’s to lose? You have a great CV but is failing at Spurs going to be detrimental to your reputation? Not really because very onlooker , spectator, commentator and observer in football knows that there isn’t a manager in world football who can achieve success whilst Enic own the club and Levy runs it.
Finally, one other good point was that you can viscerally loathe Enic, Lewis and Levy and still be a Spurs fan.
I agree with everything you’ve pointed out, which reaffirms my befuddled response to both Maureen & Conte’s choosing Levy’s Spuds as the place to go; what on earth are they thinking? Either a belief that they could make a silk purse out of a tired old sow’s ear, or that Levy will ultimately give them enough money to build a squad worthy of their CVs, shows in the first case – a lofty misunderstanding of their own talents; and in the second – a phenomenal level of naïveté regarding our Chairman’s MO.
I end up struggling to accept either could realistically be true, which is why I regretfully end up plumping for the ‘largely in it for the loot’, and low club expectations = low reputational damage, conclusion.
Our minds are so saturated with information about the various wages to be found in the otherworldly arena of Premier League football that it’s easy to lose sight of just how enticing 10 to 15 million pounds a year is, even to someone already very wealthy.
Decent vlog. I agree wholeheartedly about the money wasted on paying off managers. Daniel is far too trigger happy when it comes to sacking managers and far too indecisive when it comes to recruiting and backing them. I think DL has been in way over his head for a long time when it comes to the football side of things. He’s struggling now and he’s struggled for a while.
I still believe recruiting Conte will be positive for our club. However, if there is one chairman in the league who could f&ck this up, it’s Daniel Levy.
There is so much speculation surrounding our club, as there always is. I think by the end of December we will have a clearer idea of how the players are reacting to Conte’s methods, who will succeed under him and who will have to go. Next year is a World Cup year and I hope that provides the impetus to some of our fringe players to request a move away even if DL isn’t keen on letting them go on the cheap.
Mr Levy won’t change his ways overnight but I’m hoping that the arrival of Paratici, Conte and the upcoming World Cup will force his hand and help us all move in the right direction.
You make a good point H about the players we could have bought with the money Levy has had to spend paying off managers.It’s such a short term strategy.
What I don’t get is why Levy having tried his punts which haven’t worked insists on pricing them out of a move when they really need shifting.That just invites them to sit out a contract until they can leave for nothing.Levy certainly doesn’t win in these situations nor does the club,having these players taking up valuable squad places.He really doesn’t do the football side of things at all well I’m afraid.
Spot on vid. Nobody can successfully argue with any of that. Transfers and players are the key. Looking forward to Glenns book. The Morientes fiasco was widely reported. But I never knew we were close to getting Eto, who was truly world class.. I’ve only just realised the funny signs in the background have gone from the daily brief.. BTDM.