Candid Juande Ramos Interview about Spurs....

[KILLA_SIN]

Then perhaps the compromise should be "well you can have one/two and have to bring through youth to fill the gaps" rather than "OK, we can't afford that, here are 3 players for those positions who cost about 2/3 of that but aren't really similar or as good"?

Do you think that the players we have bought in the AVB tenure are considerably worse than the ones he wanted? We have changed managers this season had 4 disastrous results and are fifth and three points off fourth. To me at least that says that we have put together a good squad with quality. I personally don't believe we have bought as much mediocrity as some would claim.

 

[Mustard]

Dunno, but all signals point to Champions League qualification next season motherfucker!

New stadium too fatherfucker!!!

 

[nightgoat]

That's unfair, and worse, a distortion of events. Modric hardly hit the ground running. It took him a couple of seasons to get good and four to become "world class". You're manipulating the truth to tell your story. Ramos was up against it.

It's not a distortion at all. OK, Modric didn't immediately reach the levels of performance that got Real interested, but he was still the most talented midfielder in our squad. Most of us could see from his first season that he'd be a great player for us, and Wenger's insistence that he was too light-weight for the PL massively smacked of jealousy that he hadn't signed him.

The fact remains that we still had a very good squad - Bent and Pavlyuchenko weren't of the same standard as Keane and Berbatov, either individually or as a partnership but they were still better than what most PL teams had. Bent was our top scorer that season. He can hardly moan about being handicapped in the transfer market - Jol had wanted an experienced defender virtually the entire time he was manager yet Ramos was allowed to sign injury prone Jonathan Woodgate for £8m in his first transfer window. Does he seriously think Levy sold Berbatov and Keane because Bent wasn't getting enough game time? Of course he didn't. Ramos is the one distorting events there.

But that is a midfielder and not a replacement for two strikers. I don't read it as a massive chip on his shoulder I read it as someone who feels hard done by and to be honest I don't blame him.

True, but Modric was the creative, tempo-setting midfielder we'd needed since Carrick had been sold. We were overloaded on strikers when we had Berbatov, Keane, Defoe and Bent, but Eto'o and Villa? Get real, Juande. There was no way we would have signed Villa a year before Barcelona signed him for €40m. No way we'd have signed Eto'o from Barcelona. Maybe if he'd set his targets more realistically he wouldn't have ended up so frustrated.

Ultimately, Ramos had a good squad that was massively underperforming. He can blame Levy and Comolli as much as he likes (and neither of them were without blame) but the team's performance was his responsibility. Redknapp came in and immediately got results, even before the transfer window. Some of the stuff we played under Ramos was the worst we'd seen since Gross.

but Modric wasn't the best then, he was just promising

Valid point, but like I said before he was still an improvement on the central midfielders we had at the time.

 

[FinnYid]

As for Mc'd's - it honestly wouldn't surprised me if certain members of our squad were eating there at the time.

I see no problem with occasional McD, even those into sport much more dependant on physical aspects can do it occasionally. Key issue is not doing it often / regularly.

 

[14/04/91]

I Think one of your quotes there was referring to Modric (his advice that we sign him) and the other about Berbatov's desire to leave - I never read anything in the article where he contradicted himself and said we shouldn't have sold Modric in spite of him acting like Berba

But in general he accuses us of being happy to sell players on for a profit (and mentioned Modric) but didn't have a problem with selling Berbatov because he wanted to leave.

We sold both of those players, and Bale (and Keane) because they all wanted to leave. It's not Levy's fault, it's not the club's intention or philosophy it's just cirumstance. Any player who performs that well for us is coveted by a Champions League regular and offered oodles more than we can afford. Player wants to go, we have to sell. But we make sure we get the right money.

 

[Blockbuster]

Who cares what that charlatan has to say. he stole a living at Spurs. his record after the League cup win was relegation form and he deserved to go.
his record ever since shows what a massive flop he is.

 

[michaelden]

Commoli

The guy was a charlatan and a cad, and shouldn't be allowed near football.

I remember being excited when he came, after reports of his successes with Arsenal... how wrong I was. He wasn't absolut tosh but he did make some bad buys. I think his worst offence though was his tendency to buy player because they were promising without thought to whether there was a need for them. Hence our unbalanced squads

 

[Nocando]

I see no problem with occasional McD, even those into sport much more dependant on physical aspects can do it occasionally. Key issue is not doing it often / regularly.

I remember reading comments from a world cup winning English rugby player who was probably at the peak physical condition. He said there are times when you can eat what you like (I.e after a game) because your body will just absorb it and burn it off.

Its all about management.

 

[nightgoat]

Nothing we didn't already know, or could make educated guesses about. We sold our best players, spent a fortune on dross, panicked, brought in Redknapp and half the players we'd sold the year before. And then Commoli went to Liverpool and the exact same happened there.

The guy was a charlatan and a cad, and shouldn't be allowed near football.

He did a great job at Liverpool.

 

[Mullers]

True, but Modric was the creative, tempo-setting midfielder we'd needed since Carrick had been sold. We were overloaded on strikers when we had Berbatov, Keane, Defoe and Bent, but Eto'o and Villa? Get real, Juande. There was no way we would have signed Villa a year before Barcelona signed him for €40m. No way we'd have signed Eto'o from Barcelona. Maybe if he'd set his targets more realistically he wouldn't have ended up so frustrated.

Ultimately, Ramos had a good squad that was massively underperforming. He can blame Levy and Comolli as much as he likes (and neither of them were without blame) but the team's performance was his responsibility. Redknapp came in and immediately got results, even before the transfer window. Some of the stuff we played under Ramos was the worst we'd seen since Gross.

If we sell Adebayor and Soldado and bring in Moutinho, we'd be fucked and this is basically what happened to Juande.
You say he should get real but we aspire to compete with the best and get a CL place and we sack managers/coaches who don't achieve that, we did enter into negotiations about Villa, so there was a chance there. Ramos rightly points to the 51 million Redknapp spent and feels slightly pissed. We don't get Arshavin, instead we take a YTS cast off from Man Utd.
That is the ultimate insult, we sell our best player to our rivals, they give us some kid who cant get into their side, for some prem league experience. I was absolutely fuming at the time.

Yes I give credit to Harry for turning things round but Levy definitely hit that panic button too early, we were never going to get relegated that was bullshit.

I'm always going to have a soft spot for Ramos because he gave us our first and only trophy and memories that I will never forget. The 5 - 1 against Arsenal, then coming from 1 - 0 to beat that other scum 2-1. Teemu taking the piss out of Drogba, Berbabitch and Keane sharing a hug at the end and Ledley holding up the trophy.

 

[nightgoat]

If we sell Adebayor and Soldado and bring in Moutinho, we'd be fucked and this is basically what happened to Juande.
You say he should get real but we aspire to compete with the best and get a CL place and we sack managers/coaches who don't achieve that, we did enter into negotiations about Villa, so there was a chance there. Ramos rightly points to the 51 million Redknapp spent and feels slightly pissed. We don't get Arshavin, instead we take a YTS cast off from Man Utd.
That is the ultimate insult, we sell our best player to our rivals, they give us some kid who cant get into their side, for some prem league experience. I was absolutely fuming at the time.

Not really. After selling Berbatov and Keane we still had Bent and Pavlyuchenko. Like I said, not of the same standard, but still both good strikers. If we sold Adebayor and Soldado we'd have Harry Kane as back up. The current equivalent would be if we sold Adebayor and Soldado and Sherwood then complained "Wah! Levy didn't buy me Falcao and Ibrahimovic!" whilst losing to Cardiff and Norwich.

He can complain all he likes about Redknapp having £51m spent in January, but we'd already spent £66m in the summer window, in addition to the £22m Ramos had spent in his first transfer window. That's £88m spent in two transfer windows.

 

[Japhet]

Oh you mean like the way Sherwood treated coupue?
Every manager good, average or bad will have their favorite and least favorite player. Live with it.

What do you mean 'Live with it'? Capoue was never stripped of a squad number or made to train with the youth squad, and in case you didn't know, I've been as loud as anybody asking for Capoue to get some game time. There is a difference between not picking a player and doing what Ramos did which was very disrespectful un totally unnecessary.

 

[absolute bobbins]

Nothing we didn't already know, or could make educated guesses about. We sold our best players, spent a fortune on dross, panicked, brought in Redknapp and half the players we'd sold the year before. And then Commoli went to Liverpool and the exact same happened there.

The guy was a charlatan and a cad, and shouldn't be allowed near football.

Didn't he sign Bale?

 

[Eric_s]

Like Hull at home and um..er.

Yep it is funny you're right.

Of course I am right. Ramos record at other clubs he manage prove I am right.

 

[Shea]

But in general he accuses us of being happy to sell players on for a profit (and mentioned Modric) but didn't have a problem with selling Berbatov because he wanted to leave.

We sold both of those players, and Bale (and Keane) because they all wanted to leave. It's not Levy's fault, it's not the club's intention or philosophy it's just cirumstance. Any player who performs that well for us is coveted by a Champions League regular and offered oodles more than we can afford. Player wants to go, we have to sell. But we make sure we get the right money.

Well he actually said he felt it was better for Berbatov to refuse to play than play and not make the effort because he didn't want to play and he said under those circumstances what can you do if a player is never going to play properly for you?

He only mentioned Modric to say he was a good signing and that he recommened him - I didn't see any reference to his sale or that we shouldn't have made it.

He said we would never win the league because our business model is to buy and sell players for profit and loss first and foremost above and beyond the success of the club on the pitch i.e. when he said he was basically forced to play Darren Bent because his other strikers were sold and not replaced due to the fact the club and made an investment in Bent and wanted him to increase in value

He actually expressly stated that he didn't have a problem with want away quality players being sold - he said the problem is them being sold and not replaced (as when he was left with Bent and Campbell and a lost Pav after Keane and Berbatov were sold)

He didn't say anything about having a problem with us selling players - and didn't mention Modric at all in terms of our sales he just said that we can't expect to win anything when we sell established players and do not replace them and only buy young players for the future instead who we hope to make money on (like he said he wanted to replace our strikers with Villa and Eto'o but was given Campbell, Bent and Pav)

I'm not supporting Ramos's claims or rejecting them - just trying to clarify you're issue because you seem to have misread the article (or at least read it very differently to me)

 

[Sum Monsterism]

Didn't he sign Bale?

and one Aaron Lennon, I think. To say DC was a fraud is quite silly. His transfers were not instant successes; but few ever are.

 

[Mullers]

Not really. After selling Berbatov and Keane we still had Bent and Pavlyuchenko. Like I said, not of the same standard, but still both good strikers. If we sold Adebayor and Soldado we'd have Harry Kane as back up. The current equivalent would be if we sold Adebayor and Soldado and Sherwood then complained "Wah! Levy didn't buy me Falcao and Ibrahimovic!" whilst losing to Cardiff and Norwich.

He can complain all he likes about Redknapp having £51m spent in January, but we'd already spent £66m in the summer window, in addition to the £22m Ramos had spent in his first transfer window. That's £88m spent in two transfer windows.

Bent did ok while he was here but super Pav was a bust, I can't believe your serious with that Harry Kane comment, I'd like to see us competing for CL football with Kane as our top striker, he could even get in the side when Defoe was sold. Nothing against the kid but not a replacement for those two.

I would assume that Levy wouldn't even inquire after Falcao or Ibrahimovic let alone enter negotiations. If you enter negotiations with a player then obviously there is a realistic hope that they may sign.

As for the money spent it's all very well saying that we spent 88 million but he wasn't the one who spent it and you also got to look at who we spent it on.

 

[eddiebailey]

As for Mc'd's - it honestly wouldn't surprised me if certain members of our squad were eating there at the time.

But to be fair, for Pav MacDonalds was gourmet food.

 

[FinnYid]

If we sell Adebayor and Soldado and bring in Moutinho, we'd be fucked and this is basically what happened to Juande.

No moaning and blamehedging changes fact that with same squad, pre £51m, he got 2 points in 8 and Harry 15 in 12 games. Try to explain that Juande. Or the fact that prior the sales you managed barely point per game in the spring at PL.

 

[absolute bobbins]

and one Aaron Lennon, I think. To say DC was a fraud is quite silly. His transfers were not instant successes; but few ever are.

Shush, you're not helping my point