The Daniel Levy thread

[BK007]

I just want to qualify for Europa, however we do it. That is something we cannot lose.

Fuck top 4/CL bullshit. Ain't ever gonna get it with this kind of fucking policy.

I would also like to finish ahead of as many as possible out of Shitty, Chavski, Arse, Victims and Manure and behind as many as possible out of Saints, Swansea, Palace, Leicester, not going to go as far as Spam.

Basically that. I want Levy to be shown up for the tit that he is but make sure we don't get mocked too much by the assholes traditionally above us and still have European football to attract other players next year once Lloris leaves.

Might have to post this in another more appropriate thread too.

 

[yankspurs]

To answer answer the question in the thread title: Yes, ENIC is holding Tottenham back

 

[ILS]

To answer answer the question in the thread title: Yes, ENIC is holding Tottenham back

And the new stadium is not going to make one bit of difference as Levy's mentality to transfers will still be the same.

 

[Disconosebleed]

I've always given Levy the benefit of the doubt, but this time the penny-pinching gambles haven't paid off, and the squad has suffered hugely for it.

I don't think our first team is any weaker than last season - we didn't lose anyone we especially needed to keep, after all - but we didn't improve our already-substandard central midfield and we now have NO alternative to Kane. If we're lucky, that won't be an issue, but it's a huge risk to rely entirely on one striker.

Those down-sides are probably just about evened out by the purchases of Alderweireld in particular, plus Son who hopefully should give us a bit more in attack. I'm not convinced Wimmer, Trippier or N'Jie will necessarily add much in the short-term.

So comparing our squad this season to last, there probably isn't a massive difference overall - a slightly improved first-team, but a significantly depleted squad.

HOWEVER...

Pretty much every team around us have improved significantly. Arsenal fans are understandably pissed off at not adding another striker or defensive mid, but they've now got one of the world's best goalkeepers replacing two 'decent' keepers from last season. Liverpool have added significantly, which could go one of two ways (you only have to look at how our range of buys after Bale left turned out) but, on paper at least, improves them. United are in a similar position, although I think there's less doubt about the players they've signed. City are further away than ever, Chelsea look under-par compared to last season but it's unthinkable that they'll finish below us. For me, the top four is more unlikely than it's been for a long time - the last few years we've always fallen short, but we had a right to believe. This year, I don't think it's in the least bit realistic.

That's those teams above us taken care of, but those below us are now a legitimate threat to us. Crystal Palace now have real strength in depth and a solid first eleven that can compete on a game-by-game basis with anyone. Same can be said of Swansea. Southampton and Everton are more or less in the same boat as us.

Realistically, this is now our competition, on that third tier of sides beneath not only Chelsea and City, but United/Liverpool/Arsenal in the chasing pack. Put it this way - the last few years, since Redknapp left, most would agree we've been below-par. Even the year we were close to pulling it off, we were consistently saved by Bale. We haven't been any good in three years, and in those three years our mediocre performances have seen us finish a respectable fifth. The improvements in the mid-table pack, hoovering up good players from the continent with their new TV money, mean that mediocre performances could very well see us finishing seventh or eighth.

This is not a knee-jerk reaction. It's something that has been clear at least since the start of the season, if not further back where you could at least question how good signings like Cabaye, Ayew and Cech might be. It's not even something that would have been solved by Berahino IMO, as he's not suited to playing up front on his own. The inability to sign a proper centre forward of any sort is laughable - Austin at £15m was obviously gettable and not overpriced given that he showed last season he's capable of scoring 15 goals in a terrible team - and even starting the season with Dier/Mason/Benteke as the options in centre mid was unacceptable, let alone getting beyond the deadline without improving it.

So yeah...in summary - we're stood still while everyone else has moved forward, and therefore we have moved backwards. We're further away from the top four than ever, and are now in a larger chasing pack than last season. For me, finishing fifth with our current squad is now a realistic possibility rather than an expectation, while we're now in a chasing pack which is suddenly larger than it has been in years. Mediocrity and inconsistency will no longer be enough to achieve the respectability of a fifth-placed finish. And the frustration is that it wasn't a difficult puzzle to work out, the holes in our squad are glaringly obvious.

 

[MattyP]

I'd like to congratulate Daniel Levy for making Ed Woodward and Man Yoo look vaguely competent, that's got to be something for him to be proud of.

 

[SirNiNyHotspur]

Spurs fan 20 years into ENIC's 5 year plan.... the future's bright

 

[Metalhead]

I've always given Levy the benefit of the doubt, but this time the penny-pinching gambles haven't paid off, and the squad has suffered hugely for it.

I don't think our first team is any weaker than last season - we didn't lose anyone we especially needed to keep, after all - but we didn't improve our already-substandard central midfield and we now have NO alternative to Kane. If we're lucky, that won't be an issue, but it's a huge risk to rely entirely on one striker.

Those down-sides are probably just about evened out by the purchases of Alderweireld in particular, plus Son who hopefully should give us a bit more in attack. I'm not convinced Wimmer, Trippier or N'Jie will necessarily add much in the short-term.

So comparing our squad this season to last, there probably isn't a massive difference overall - a slightly improved first-team, but a significantly depleted squad.

HOWEVER...

Pretty much every team around us have improved significantly. Arsenal fans are understandably pissed off at not adding another striker or defensive mid, but they've now got one of the world's best goalkeepers replacing two 'decent' keepers from last season. Liverpool have added significantly, which could go one of two ways (you only have to look at how our range of buys after Bale left turned out) but, on paper at least, improves them. United are in a similar position, although I think there's less doubt about the players they've signed. City are further away than ever, Chelsea look under-par compared to last season but it's unthinkable that they'll finish below us. For me, the top four is more unlikely than it's been for a long time - the last few years we've always fallen short, but we had a right to believe. This year, I don't think it's in the least bit realistic.

That's those teams above us taken care of, but those below us are now a legitimate threat to us. Crystal Palace now have real strength in depth and a solid first eleven that can compete on a game-by-game basis with anyone. Same can be said of Swansea. Southampton and Everton are more or less in the same boat as us.

Realistically, this is now our competition, on that third tier of sides beneath not only Chelsea and City, but United/Liverpool/Arsenal in the chasing pack. Put it this way - the last few years, since Redknapp left, most would agree we've been below-par. Even the year we were close to pulling it off, we were consistently saved by Bale. We haven't been any good in three years, and in those three years our mediocre performances have seen us finish a respectable fifth. The improvements in the mid-table pack, hoovering up good players from the continent with their new TV money, mean that mediocre performances could very well see us finishing seventh or eighth.

This is not a knee-jerk reaction. It's something that has been clear at least since the start of the season, if not further back where you could at least question how good signings like Cabaye, Ayew and Cech might be. It's not even something that would have been solved by Berahino IMO, as he's not suited to playing up front on his own. The inability to sign a proper centre forward of any sort is laughable - Austin at £15m was obviously gettable and not overpriced given that he showed last season he's capable of scoring 15 goals in a terrible team - and even starting the season with Dier/Mason/Benteke as the options in centre mid was unacceptable, let alone getting beyond the deadline without improving it.

So yeah...in summary - we're stood still while everyone else has moved forward, and therefore we have moved backwards. We're further away from the top four than ever, and are now in a larger chasing pack than last season. For me, finishing fifth with our current squad is now a realistic possibility rather than an expectation, while we're now in a chasing pack which is suddenly larger than it has been in years. Mediocrity and inconsistency will no longer be enough to achieve the respectability of a fifth-placed finish. And the frustration is that it wasn't a difficult puzzle to work out, the holes in our squad are glaringly obvious.

Your post is clearly not kneejerk and I totally agree. I know that there are a lot of people on here who were either horrified or found the idea of signing Austin laughable but I still don't see how it was better not to sign a striker than sign Austin (unless he had very significant injury concerns). The guy can score goals and has shown a great attitude by knuckling down and getting on with it rather than moaning about not getting a move away from QPR.

 

[jurgen]

I wonder if he's considered hiring someone else to directly perform parts of his role, as he seems very comfortable and able in the property development side of things, but on the football side he seems to be dwindling as a force - no more Levy getting one over on people. Football is still a bit of an old boys game despite all the money and technology, and it may be that as a CEO as it were - he'd be more suited to specifically delivering the stadium and giving up the reigns to someone else regarding running the football club? He's also clearly shat on a lot of cornflakes before and perhaps the upper echelons of football aren't so quick to forget ...

 

[knowlespurs]

every window
end up with more money
and a squad with huge holes in it
and a last day embarrasment, its beyond belief, if it wasnt so painful it would be funny

 

[danielneeds]

every window
end up with more money
and a squad with huge holes in it
and a last day embarrasment, its beyond belief, if it wasnt so painful it would be funny

You could say we end up with more money - but it's all obviously being funnelled into the stadium costs. Ok you could say ENIC are using PL TV money to pay for the stadium, which will eventually raise the price they can sell the club for, but in the end we'll still have a strong footing for the next 40-50 years.

 

[adamsky]

How are we about the same? We have better defenders and better attacking midfielders. We only really had one striker last season anyway.

Our squad is arguably weaker than before and with all the Europa games it could easily compromise our already poor league form

 

[am_yisrael_chai]

You could say we end up with more money - but it's all obviously being funnelled into the stadium costs. Ok you could say ENIC are using PL TV money to pay for the stadium, which will eventually raise the price they can sell the club for, but in the end we'll still have a strong footing for the next 40-50 years.

Sorry but how does ENIC getting more money for the sale of the club help the club in any way ?

 

[danielneeds]

Sorry but how does ENIC getting more money for the sale of the club help the club in any way ?

It doesn't. I'm just saying all this TV money is going to the new stadium now, instead of being pissed away on wages and fees. Now obviously the new stadium will be fundamental to securing the future of the club.

On the other side of the coin you could say they are using all that money to secure their own financial legacy when selling the club.

 

[RichieS]

Our squad is arguably weaker than before and with all the Europa games it could easily compromise our already poor league form

'Weaker' in numbers perhaps but certainly not in quality. The midfielders we shipped out were barely getting games (and barely is generous to some of them) and can any of our false 9 type options really be any less effective than Soldado and Adebayor?

 

[am_yisrael_chai]

Daniel Levy is like a bi-polar person. He is very good, not as good as his press, at the commercial side of the club - stadium, training facility, sponsors, while being really bad at the football side - managerial / coaching appointments, DoFs, player acquisitions. The logical suggestion would be for him to exit the football side by appointing someone qualified for the role, ideally someone with Spurs history, in the same role as Rummenigge at Bayern. Were it not for his history as manager I think Hoddle would be the perfect guy for the job if it was made clear he was never, not even as caretaker, going to be in the coaching role again. Sadly I think history will prevent that. Mabbutt would be another candidate but I'm not sure he has Hoddle's football knowledge. Left field candidate would be Maxi Miller, bleeds Spurs and I think has been pretty successful in business.

 

[am_yisrael_chai]

It doesn't. I'm just saying all this TV money is going to the new stadium now, instead of being pissed away on wages and fees. Now obviously the new stadium will be fundamental to securing the future of the club.

On the other side of the coin you could say they are using all that money to secure their own financial legacy when selling the club.

I'm on the other side of the coin

To be honest I think Levy would be far better placed spending his time finding the much needed stadium sponsor than haggling over £2m with Jeremy Peace.

 

[Hoddle&Waddle]

You could say we end up with more money - but it's all obviously being funnelled into the stadium costs. Ok you could say ENIC are using PL TV money to pay for the stadium, which will eventually raise the price they can sell the club for, but in the end we'll still have a strong footing for the next 40-50 years.

C'mon mate, stadium or no stadium there is no excuse for going into the first game of the season with one recognized striker, let alone end the transfer window 4 games into the season still with one striker.

 

[danielneeds]

I'm on the other side of the coin

To be honest I think Levy would be far better placed spending his time finding the much needed stadium sponsor than haggling over £2m with Jeremy Peace.

I'm sure he has been spending a hell of a lot of time on it. The fact is though - if we've been putting money away for the previous 4 seasons whilst we've had no net spend, and can increase that now for the next couple of years, thanks to the new TV deal, there's a chance that together with naming rights we can have the majority of the stadium paid for when moving in.

We're basically doing our austerity before moving in, unlike Arsenal who had the shiny new mega stadium, but were hamstrung paying for it for 5-10 years.

 

[danielneeds]

C'mon mate, stadium or no stadium there is no excuse for going into the first game of the season with one recognized striker, let alone end the transfer window 4 games into the season still with one striker.

Nope, that is just poor planning. I was talking more about the net spend, and clear austerity to squirrel away cash to pay for the new stadium.

 

[RickyVilla]

I didn't think so until this evening but yes it looks like he is. The mood that I am in he can fuck right off back to the chocolate factory.