As the Irishman said

[JimmyG2]

As the Irishman said when asked the way to Dublin: 'Well sir if I were you I wouldn't start from here in the first place'. Most fans would agree that where we are now is not a good place to start for anywhere.

When is the right time to take stock, to step off the merry-go-round, and see where we are and what we've got, to re-examine our decisions in the light of our history and tradition. In the middle of a season with a new manager when we are hovering close to, or even in, the relegation zone is perhaps not the best moment.

When is it a bad time to undertake such a process? Perhaps it was when we sacked Martin Jol. We were enjoying our best seasons for many years, two 5th place finishes, and someone decided that although we were on the threshold of moving to the next level this manager was not good enough to keep us there. At the hoped for moment of success we took a look at ourselves and said we are ready but we need a better manager to carry us forward. At that time Jol's record of 1.5 points per game was second only to Bill Nicholson himself.

We all know where that adventure ended: two points from eight games and the new man was gone. We re-evaluated and decided that a short term fix was required and that Premiership survival was the name of the game. It still remains to be seen whether that strategy will pay off. If it doesn't another new manager will be brought in, with a new management team, new tactics and inevitably another new squad. There is no stability and no continuity.

Sacking the manager has been the default setting for the football world in general for many years and for Tottenham in particular for at least the last two decades. It sometimes produces the new manager bounce but like the dead cat bounce on the stock exchange it doesn't usually last.

The average length of stay of a top level manager is just over two years but Tottenham have only managed just under 18 months in the 24 years since Keith Burkinshaw left in 1984. Since then we have had 15 managers.

A glance at the current top six shows that four of them have had their managers for well in excess of this. For over four years at Liverpool; seven years at Everton; twelve years at Arsenal; and the winner by a distance twenty two years at Man. Utd. Chelsea the other 'top four' side had unlimited resources on which to build their success and perhaps Man. City will one day demonstrate that building a side over the long term with a trusted manager is not the only way to go.

Recent discussions on the site have centred around whether certain players are 'good' enough for Spurs and that whether in our current position we should sacrifice our 'traditions' for a bit of pragmatism; do whatever is necessary and get back to tradition and style later; this is a crisis and anything goes.

But when you have a proud history and style of playing established over many years and a world wide fan base reared on the knowledge of what to expect from the club and the team on the pitch you cannot just abandon it for a few months or years. We have done that in the past with certain managers and players; people who didn't get what Tottenham was about and it has not done us any good except in the very short term. George Graham anyone ?

This has nothing to do with having a superior attitude or being under the delusion that we are a 'top four' club who just happen to be at the wrong end of the table. Or believing that we are the only club in the league that have a proud tradition. Every decision has to reflect the values of the club.

I want us to build a squad, not buy one in. I want us to stick with a manager and give them time. Surely we could have found a manager that had the right values and the requisite skills in the past quarter of a century. Or did we sack some of them before they had a chance? Ossie Ardiles for example.

Its the same with players. At present we have a lot of quality in the squad some of which is under performing. A new manager's job is to get the best out of the squad he has before he starts buying in players that are not necessarily better than the ones we have already. Kenwyn Jones for Bent , Palacios for Jenas or Zokora for example.

We are always searching and yearning for that magic player to finish the jigsaw who will pull the team together, or that midfield destroyer who will give the others room to play. A lot is resting on the shoulders of Wilson Palacios who at 24 and with only 18mths Premiership experience is being hailed as the signing that will do the trick.

I would like to see fewer players brought in and for us to be more selective; fewer stop gaps and more quality. I would like us to stop selling our best players. I would like to see more concentration on what happens on the pitch and less on the what goes on upstairs in the office. In the past ten years we have signed over 100 players. Even allowing for young players bought for the future this seems excessive; virtually a new team every year.

This constant changing of manager and players has undermined the progress of the club over many years. I am not a great fan of Harry Redknapp in general although I pay tribute to the fact that he has at least given us a chance of survival. But even if we go down I think he should at least be given the league average of two years.

I said the same about Ramos, and the sacking of Jol was a disaster and not just in hindsight. Let's ignore the Irishman's advice and start from here, think about the next decade and not just tomorrow. Its time to stick rather than twist.


Statistics courtesy of Wikipedia and the 'Topspurs' Archive by kind permission of Jim Duggan.

 

[southlondonyiddo]

Unfortunately it comes down to the management of the club since Burkinshaw left saying 'there used to be a football club there'

Just about the only decent thing we've had (Martin Jol) since those days, who they stumbled on anyway, was undermined by the stupid, greedy, not an ounce of footballing common sense, businessmen

Not a hint of class anywhere, from anybody running our club

 

[davidmatzdorf]

Further to reinforce your point about continuity, current top four club Aston Villa have also had their manager in excess of 2 years. O'Neill joined them in Summer 2006. His success was less immediate than Jol's, but they stuck with him.

I would also like to remind people that Jol does not deserve all of the credit for our two years of league achievement. Frank Arnesen was a key component, perhaps even more significant than MJ for the way he assembled the squad that got us back into Europe.

Unfortunately, many of the same fans who berate the management for being greedy and throwing away what we had accomplished are themselves part of the problem. At the beginning of the 07/08 season, after we had lost our first two games, you couldn't open a thread on a fan forum without encountering the easy cliche that Jol was "not the man to take us to next level" and urging Levy & Comolli to sack him.

The same happened with Ramos last Autumn and the same kind of sentiments are already showing themselves, now that we have gone a few weeks without a league win under Redknapp.

What was unusual about the removal of Jol was that most of the fans were still behind him. But that was the exception that proves the rule - and there was nevertheless enough fan unrest for Levy & Comolli to self-justify their pursuit of Ramos.

We have to look closer to the fan-base for the reason for our perennial instabilty and not just issue a knee-jerk condemnation of the club management.

 

[mawspurs]

Excellent post JG2. Stability is basicly what you are saying we need, and as we can see from those teams that get it, it pays off. So lets not get on Harry's back if things don't go perfectly all the time. If we do that then it is like a red rag to a bull for our board and they will axe him and the chance of stability is lost.

Lets see what a manager can do given time instead of the constant chopping and changing. Every time a new manager comes in the whole playing staff ends up changing too, so we are constantly having 'transition' seasons.

It's within the fans power to put a stop to it by giving truly loyal support.

COYS

 

[LewishamSpur]

Easy to agree with, but what if a team is relegated, does it all hold true then? Also that stat about Jol's points per game being second only to Bill Nicholson , does that take into account the 3 points for a win, Jol would have benefited from?

 

[davidmatzdorf]

Also that stat about Jol's points per game being second only to Bill Nicholson , does that take into account the 3 points for a win, Jol would have benefited from?

Yes, of course.

 

[rez9000]

As the Irishman said when asked the way to Dublin: 'Well sir if I were you I wouldn't start from here in the first place'. Most fans would agree that where we are now is not a good place to start for anywhere.

When is the right time to take stock, to step off the merry-go-round, and see where we are and what we've got, to re-examine our decisions in the light of our history and tradition. In the middle of a season with a new manager when we are hovering close to, or even in, the relegation zone is perhaps not the best moment.

When is it a bad time to undertake such a process? Perhaps it was when we sacked Martin Jol. We were enjoying our best seasons for many years, two 5th place finishes, and someone decided that although we were on the threshold of moving to the next level this manager was not good enough to keep us there. At the hoped for moment of success we took a look at ourselves and said we are ready but we need a better manager to carry us forward. At that time Jol's record of 1.5 points per game was second only to Bill Nicholson himself.

We all know where that adventure ended: two points from eight games and the new man was gone. We re-evaluated and decided that a short term fix was required and that Premiership survival was the name of the game. It still remains to be seen whether that strategy will pay off. If it doesn't another new manager will be brought in, with a new management team, new tactics and inevitably another new squad. There is no stability and no continuity.

Sacking the manager has been the default setting for the football world in general for many years and for Tottenham in particular for at least the last two decades. It sometimes produces the new manager bounce but like the dead cat bounce on the stock exchange it doesn't usually last.

The average length of stay of a top level manager is just over two years but Tottenham have only managed just under 18 months in the 24 years since Keith Burkinshaw left in 1984. Since then we have had 15 managers.

A glance at the current top six shows that four of them have had their managers for well in excess of this. For over four years at Liverpool; seven years at Everton; twelve years at Arsenal; and the winner by a distance twenty two years at Man. Utd. Chelsea the other 'top four' side had unlimited resources on which to build their success and perhaps Man. City will one day demonstrate that building a side over the long term with a trusted manager is not the only way to go.

An excellent start. All true and throughly well-analysed.

Recent discussions on the site have centred around whether certain players are 'good' enough for Spurs and that whether in our current position we should sacrifice our 'traditions' for a bit of pragmatism; do whatever is necessary and get back to tradition and style later; this is a crisis and anything goes.

But when you have a proud history and style of playing established over many years and a world wide fan base reared on the knowledge of what to expect from the club and the team on the pitch you cannot just abandon it for a few months or years. We have done that in the past with certain managers and players; people who didn't get what Tottenham was about and it has not done us any good except in the very short term. George Graham anyone ?

I assume you've heard the expression 'fiddled while Rome burnt'? As I've mentioned on another thread, since the Premiership began, 29 teams have been relegated. Of those 29, only two have managed to be re-promoted and to remain in the Premiership. The other 27 have been relegated at least once more. Last time we were relegated we sprung straight back up and began a mini golden-age, FA Cup winners twice and the UEFA Cup. The playing field (if you'll pardon the pun) is completely different today.

Let's look at the FA Cup itself. Since the start of the Premiership, only 6 clubs have won the FA Cup, and with the exception of the 95 and 08 Finals, it has been lifted by one of the Top 4. In fact, last year's Final was the first time that a Top Four team hasn't appeared in it during the Premier League era.

The reason: money. More specfically, Premiership money. The consequences of relegation are stark, dire, even horrific. And anyone who has an ounce of footballing sense will realise that (not that I'm accusing you of not having sense!). Winning the FA Cup is a glorious achievement, but today, the most important thing for a top-flight club is staying there. And our loyal (but possibly fickle) fans should realise that all the glory in the world will do us no good if we are playing in the Championship next season, and for that reason they should have the nous to realise that sometimes sacrifices have to be made. To draw an analogy, if one was trapped in a burning building, one would commit their every resource to escaping, not wasting precious time and effort to capture a much-loved artifact. Those that do, often end up dead.

This has nothing to do with having a superior attitude or being under the delusion that we are a 'top four' club who just happen to be at the wrong end of the table. Or believing that we are the only club in the league that have a proud tradition. Every decision has to reflect the values of the club.

Incorrect. Every decision should be in the best interests of the club. Again, we go back to the burning building analogy. A person may have a reputation for walking everywhere, but that doesn't mean he/she should not run because they have a reputation for walking.

I want us to build a squad, not buy one in. I want us to stick with a manager and give them time. Surely we could have found a manager that had the right values and the requisite skills in the past quarter of a century. Or did we sack some of them before they had a chance? Ossie Ardiles for example.

That's an admirable stance and one I subscribe to, under normal circumstances. But it's not germaine to the current situation. We're not there yet, but a few more bad results would put us in crisis. And I mean a real crisis, not a media 'Joe Bloggs has cut his finger and can't play' crisis.

Its the same with players. At present we have a lot of quality in the squad some of which is under performing. A new manager's job is to get the best out of the squad he has before he starts buying in players that are not necessarily better than the ones we have already. Kenwyn Jones for Bent , Palacios for Jenas or Zokora for example.

I doubt that Redknapp has not attempted that very thing. However, there is no doubt that the squad he inherited was unbalanced and, judging by the results they failed to get before he arrived, unsuitable for the task in hand. Also, judging a player before he has even kicked a ball for the club is a little disingenuous. There is no way of really telling if a player will fit into our system or not until he is actually on the pitch.

We are always searching and yearning for that magic player to finish the jigsaw who will pull the team together, or that midfield destroyer who will give the others room to play. A lot is resting on the shoulders of Wilson Palacios who at 24 and with only 18mths Premiership experience is being hailed as the signing that will do the trick.

I don't hold him up as the answer to all our prayers, but I do hope that he is a step in the right direction.

I would like to see fewer players brought in and for us to be more selective; fewer stop gaps and more quality. I would like us to stop selling our best players. I would like to see more concentration on what happens on the pitch and less on the what goes on upstairs in the office. In the past ten years we have signed over 100 players. Even allowing for young players bought for the future this seems excessive; virtually a new team every year.

Very much with you on that one, especially the emboldened sentence.

This constant changing of manager and players has undermined the progress of the club over many years. I am not a great fan of Harry Redknapp in general although I pay tribute to the fact that he has at least given us a chance of survival. But even if we go down I think he should at least be given the league average of two years.

I said the same about Ramos, and the sacking of Jol was a disaster and not just in hindsight. Let's ignore the Irishman's advice and start from here, think about the next decade and not just tomorrow. Its time to stick rather than twist.

All-in-all an excellent article, although I disagree with some of the points you make. I think that Premiership survival should be the paramount concern over the next few months, with everything else (except the CC Final) taking secondary status.

Yes, we have a tradition of beautiful football and that should be honoured and enhanced as much as possible. But not right now. If for no other reason than this: How much beautiful football will be able to play in the Championship when our best players leave and we come up aginst the likes of Burnley who will look to kick the Lilywhite stuffing out of us?

 

[southlondonyiddo]

Further to reinforce your point about continuity, current top four club Aston Villa have also had their manager in excess of 2 years. O'Neill joined them in Summer 2006. His success was less immediate than Jol's, but they stuck with him.

I would also like to remind people that Jol does not deserve all of the credit for our two years of league achievement. Frank Arnesen was a key component, perhaps even more significant than MJ for the way he assembled the squad that got us back into Europe.

Unfortunately, many of the same fans who berate the management for being greedy and throwing away what we had accomplished are themselves part of the problem. At the beginning of the 07/08 season, after we had lost our first two games, you couldn't open a thread on a fan forum without encountering the easy cliche that Jol was "not the man to take us to next level" and urging Levy & Comolli to sack him.

The same happened with Ramos last Autumn and the same kind of sentiments are already showing themselves, now that we have gone a few weeks without a league win under Redknapp.

What was unusual about the removal of Jol was that most of the fans were still behind him. But that was the exception that proves the rule - and there was nevertheless enough fan unrest for Levy & Comolli to self-justify their pursuit of Ramos.

We have to look closer to the fan-base for the reason for our perennial instabilty and not just issue a knee-jerk condemnation of the club management.

Take your head out of Levy's ass mate. The guy has no class and reminds me of a slimy politician

 

[southlondonyiddo]

Yes, of course.

Of course it doesnt you idiot (Apologise If wrong:wink

I dont actually know If it does but surely the person working that out would have taken that into consideration or he needs a good slap!

 

[Gilzeanking]

Out come the rose tinted spectacles about Jol . Yes he was very popular with the fans wasn't he . His shortcomings have all vanished in the mists of time while warm memories remain. There are numerous other factors involved in his stats . Its the players that do the work .

Whats the sense in saying we don't want to be a selling club ? , of course not . Of course we wish the academy brought players through instead of spending on new ones . But be more realistic . Long term managers..of course , but do you wish Hoddle was still at the helm ?

nice wish list JG2 but I don't see where any of this gets us .

 

[DiscoD1882]

Tottenham Hotspur football club is like triggers Broom he has had the same broom for twenty years, despite the fact that it has actually had 17 new heads and 14 handles.

 

[ErikTheViking]

Wish those words where mine. And they are, only I speak norwegian, so nice of you to translate exactly my toughts, and what I've been talking about all night. Coulld everyone just read the tottenham history book, get how we got the sucsess in the 60's,70's etc. You can get trophy's by 1) "There is no stability and no continuity" or 2) a big name and a insane box of moneeeeey( anyone? )...... NO

It's so easy to say, Martin Jol. I can understand it, get a better known manager, proven in europe, get bigger names to sign. But WTF. When Levy(who I respect) took charge of this club he talked about how he wanted to continue the proud history and tradition to this club. In the name of Bill N.... WTF?

Now we are stuck with Harry Redknapp. I don't think he is a great manager, he's fresh air in white hart, and yeah, maybe keep us up(any guy who speaks OK english should do that job). I don't like his signings, I don't like the p'mouth squad if that's what he's want.

This is no longer the tottenham I falled in love with, this is panic, failure, careless and on the field; cowards.

Sorry for the bad english and all that. Just had to let it all out.

I'll have to admit I've lost plenty of my passion over the last two years, how things being handled, how we change the squad every window. What's left? king`s knee! F***! F***!

 

[AJ]

I agreed with many things you said. But one thing I have to comment. You said that we should stop selling our best players. How, exactly? I mean that it's a universal phenomenon, the most successful clubs tend to get the players they want regardless of the 4 or 5 year contracts the players have with their former clubs. The reason for this is that one can't and one shouldn't keep players who don't want to be at the club. Now we reach the key question: how do you make a player of genuine class stay at a club of our size?

The answer comes down to belief. A player has to believe that the current club is the best choice for him, for his career. All good players want to win things. We have to make them believe it's possible at Spurs, we have to convince them that we are moving forward. Players want to develop as footballers. We have to make sure that they believe that their abilities can't be better nurtured anywhere else. Something similar to what Wenger has done with his young prospects. Players want to be a part of a squad with strong feeling of togetherness, almost like a family. We have to create a situation where this sense of unity can develop. Players obviously want to make money as well, they're after all professional footballers. We have to have a good enough financial position in order to keep them satisfied and also we have to make them believe that things will further improve when we for example reach the Champions League.

Almost all of those points come down to the manager. He is the key figure in providing the circumstances where those things can happen. Jol had many good qualities. It was evident that back then the squad was united and the players fought for each other. He also made our players believe that we're moving forward, at least until the last few months. What he didn't excel in was the development of players. It was reported that our physical training wasn't what is required at the top level. In fact, this was quite evident in our performances as well, we conceded many late goals. We also had some fitness issues: Mido, Robinson, Huddlestone for example.

Ramos, on the other hand, sorted out the fitness issues with healthier diets and increased physical training and the results on that front were magnificent, there was an athlete inside Tom Huddlestone after all. On other fronts Ramos wasn't as successful. He couldn't create a sense of unity, since he couldn't communicate with the players well enough. Also, he made too many changes to the squad in a short period. That disrupted the team spirit as well.

Then what about Harry? One can't really evaluate his period yet, but there are signs of positive development in some areas, but there are also some worrying signals. His managerial pedigree in terms of results is quite impressive. Winning the FA Cup at Portsmouth was something remarkable although they only had one really difficult tie on their way to Wembley. Also 'Arry's tenure at West Ham was very successful. Taking them to fifth place in the league was even more impressive than Jol's feat at Spurs. So one could assume that the players believe in their manager's ability to bring success.

The worrying signs, in my opinion, are mostly related to team spirit. A manager shouldn't criticise his players so openly in the media. His way of dealing with the media and assessing the players' performances there is like he positions himself as an outsider. He looks at the players as a commentator, not as a person who should have the players' confidence in order to work with them day after day, training session after training session. He seems to consider players as commodity, as footballing machines rather than individual human beings. It's not like the players in the same team will not feel for each other, when their manager blasts some of them in the media. So it doesn't affect only the player in question, it affects the whole squad. Also, I'm not sure that Harry truly realises what is nowadays required from truly successful Premiership footballers in terms of physical ability and fitness. It has been reported that the amount of physical training has been reduced by Harry's regime and we'll see what happens in the longer term once Ramos' regime's effects fade away.

Is Harry the right manager to create a situation where our best players will feel that White Hart Lane is the best place for them, that they're convinced that we have something special, something that others can't offer? Or does he even care about that? Is he willing to just wheel and deal new recruits in through the door as soon as our best players feel it's time to move forward. I'm hoping for the former, but fearing for the latter.

 

[SpursMadDave]

Yes we can all remember Jol as a great guy, imagining him with his hand round Defoe's shoulder or giving him a bear hug.... I can also remember all the times we seemed to be in control of a match and then the inexplicable substitutions came and matches turned.... Im not saying we should have sacked him, he was just learning the hard way like most of us do in work everyday. Yes we should have stuck with him, he seemed to genuinely have pride and beliefs and was a person most could admire and for once we actually had a manager that other teams coveted. But the love affair has ended so to keep harping back is pointless...
Its not just the manager though, when we had Staltieri and Lee as regular full backs we enjoyed our best season defensively for decades, but we STILL complained, Stalteiri made mistakes and Lee was not great going forward and couldnt pass... A lot of supporters seem to think we DESERVE better all the time and nothing is good enough, our best players should be hung drawn and quartered for even thinking about leaving our proud club, even if they will be much more succesful elsewhere.... I fear we are turning into the Newcastle of the south and thats not a good thing. Other clubs are refusing to deal with us or our manager, results and performances are appaling, we are paying over the odds for average players and linked with truly dire prospects like Bellamy and Cole.... I cant see anyone wanting to join us right now can you?
Everyone on here has a different answer, this player is shit, that player cant do this etc etc etc.... they can all kick a ball and all get paid a lot of money for it, they need to start earning it and putting in a preformance every game. For me the only player who have earned their money this season are (in no particular order) - Pav, Dawson, Gomes, Ekotto, Corluka (mostly), Zokora, Lennon, O'Hara.... Thats not enough, some of those are not the best technically gifted but at least look like they are proud to wear our shirt whenever they are called upon.

A wholesale clear out right now is out of the question, as is sacking yet another manager so lets hope we can dig ourselves out.... if we keep Lennon & Pav fit we might just do it....

 

[Joe_Rey]

Are the depths of and reasons for the problems at the club completely clear? Step 1 for the club is to recognize they have a structural problem. Then they need to figure out what that problem is.

I don't think I'm naive in this. I actually started following Tottenham because of Jol (I'm Dutch) and became a fan. I stuck around when Jol left (read this site almost daily) and I've seen some truly unexplainable things happen (on and off the pitch).

To get it out of the way, I believe things started to go wrong when Arnesen left and Commoli came in. I have no way of knowing, but I feel quite strongly that the undermining of Jol in the summer of 07 was the reason for the bad start of the 07-08 season and the subsequent leaving of the big man.

Since then a lot has happened and we're now back to losing too many games. Our players show up against better teams and let us down against the rest. Ramos is as great a coach as Jol, as is Harry (probably, although he has yet to completely convince me).

We have a couple of great players and some very good players. I seriously believe we don't have good or average players. They're all up there.

So why don't they perform regularly? Why do they get back to their underperforming ways after honeymoon periods? Why do they recover when they've left the club?

I have no answer, only questions. I seriously think the problem is structural and the club should undertake efforts to get a clear picture of the problem. Only then can they work to solve it.

One last question: why is a succesful manager replaced when it is determined he has some weak areas? Why don't we keep such a manager and help him improve in those areas? "Martin, you're doing great but those fitness levels should be better. Don't you think a new fitness regime could help us avoid throwing away a 1-0 lead? Here, this new Spanish fitness coach can help you."

 

[davidmatzdorf]

Are the depths of and reasons for the problems at the club completely clear? Step 1 for the club is to recognize they have a structural problem. Then they need to figure out what that problem is.

I don't think I'm naive in this. I actually started following Tottenham because of Jol (I'm Dutch) and became a fan. I stuck around when Jol left (read this site almost daily)...

One last question: why is a succesful manager replaced when it is determined he has some weak areas? Why don't we keep such a manager and help him improve in those areas? "Martin, you're doing great but those fitness levels should be better. Don't you think a new fitness regime could help us avoid throwing away a 1-0 lead? Here, this new Spanish fitness coach can help you."

You should post more. That was excellent.

 

[adwanhussein]

I have to agree with DM in this respect.Yes, Spurs were calling for a manager who will take them to the next level,Champion League football.That what started the disaster which was unfolded in the sacking of Jol and the flight of Berba and Keane.I still think that Levy is pumbing money to keep the Spurs as a respectaple club without any ulterior motive and to keep them as a viable force in the Premiership .His spending at a time of economic crunch is admirable and he must have the intrests of the club at heart.

 

[JimmyG2]

A lot of good points and responses, thankyou.
Firstly ,in general, being a football fan is an art not a science and I try to be optimistic sometimes in spite of the facts.
My main point is about stability and not rejecting players and in particular managers so often. My other belief is in maintaining the values and traditions of the club handed down through generations to keep the link with the Nicholson era and the 'Glory Days'
I remember these, increasingly hazy memories I admit, but try not to throw them in the faces of the younger fans.
Do we maintain these, and we can argue forever as to what exactly these values and standards are, in the face of relegation? Yes we do, we have no choice in my view.
The club doesn't belong to the current Chairman, manager,or fans. It is shared by players ,managers and fans past and present and held in trust for the next generation.
Did I mention that I was hopelessly romantic in my view of Tottenham?
Nor am I starry eyed about Martin Jol.Like all managers he had his faults.But I recall some good football under Jol and a 'happy club' The point was well made about helping managers rather than sacking them if they have particular areas of weakness.
I take the point about 'the interests of the club' being paramount but these do not always clash with the values of the club.In some ways our values are what the interests of the club are all about.
There is a catch 22 in the idea that we shouldn't sell our best players. We cant hold them if we are not a top club and we cant become a top club if we don't. I would prefer a tougher line to be taken on contractual obligations . There are a number of examples of players who weren't let go. Adibeyor, Lampard, Barrythey all stayed and are making valuable contributions after agitating for moves.
My belief is that Spurs have a tradition of playing good, attractive football and that is how we should play under all circumstances. I believe also that is the route to success and that it should not be compromised.
If we cannot achieve success by playing good football then personally I dont crave it. The football comes first and that by cutting corners you often end up in the middle of nowhere. Its not the destination thats important we must enjoy the journey or the trip is not worth while.
These are not facts just apoint of view.

 

[ballingarry]

ya but is there a paddy irishman joke hidden in there somewhere!!