Player Watch: Gareth Bale - Retires

Twizzle said:

jizz

Click to expand...

Not right now, dear - I'm full.

This is getting long

Khilari said:

I don't work in business so my apologies if you or others here do and have a far greater appreciation for what's happening.

But I'm fairly sure this sort of a deal is complex. Particularly more so when being attempted by a club that has lost a significant chunk of its operating profit (CL and ticket sales). More even when you consider that Tottenham have never been on par in terms of salary payment as any of the teams we have been competing with in the top 6. And even more when you consider the financial outlay that was put forward in funding in almost its entirety the building of a new £1bn stadium.

He's no oligarch nor is he a nation with which to bankroll the team and yet, he has made a number of bold moves when it comes to transfers. Many have not paid off but I'm not sure that's necessarily his fault.

I'd suggest that any deal DL is attempting to cut that may pave the way for a player of Bale's calibre to join Tottenham is likely to be intricate, carefully put together and a monumental effort on his part.

Whether you are happy with the word genius or not is subjective, but let's not downplay how complex or audacious this move may be.

Click to expand...

If Levy gave A&C a life saving emergency tracheotomy with a switchblade and a straw he wouldn't call Levy a genius

Tucker said:

I remember the day we got him back. That was emotional.

Click to expand...

Walking back from Selhurst Park in a Klinsmann wonderland

Fidget said:

This is getting long

Click to expand...

We've already had plenty of erection gags...

Fidget said:

This is getting long

Click to expand...

Not right now dear, I’m full.

HodisGawd said:

I'm not saying this deal is a masterstroke. I'm saying his whole long-term strategy that has made this possible is a masterstroke.

Click to expand...

How would you describe the long term strategy that left our squad riddled with average or past it players, out on it's knees and short in several positions?

Archibald&Crooks said:

Who's downplaying? It's a deal, a complex deal for sure but one that pretty much any chairman of any football club would do, it's not so riddled with intricacy that there's only a few people in the world that could manage it. We're not talking cracking the Enigma machine here.

I'm not suggesting he deserves no credit and like I said, fair play to him IF it happens but Genius? Masterstroke? Nah. Not for me.

Click to expand...

I think you make a good point here, it's impressive that Levy is potentially about to close a deal of this magnitude because it's Levy and he is super prudent.

The reality is when you look at the package as a whole the majority of chairmen in the league would give their right nut to sign a player of Bale's ability for the reported price. Villa just paid £20m for Arsenal's reserve keeper.

That said fair play to Levy if he does this Bale + Reguilon double deal, incredible boost to the whole club.

Dirtysanchez6 said:

I really need this confirmed today so I can actually get to sleep tonight ??

Click to expand...

i think we all do, but suspect it won't be announced until tomorrow.

TheAmerican said:

So all along all we needed to do to get Bale back was drop out of the CL, go into Europa League and play like a mid table team. Mad we didn’t try that before!

Click to expand...

Not quite in it yet. Eek.

Hercules said:

We already know the two obvious things since last night. Expect more excitement to come out between now and this week ?? Too much to take in right now. But we have been starved, and now maybe the feast. The German giant of 6ft 6. Sorry his name slips me, but initials of ‘W is true talk from the media.

Click to expand...

Archibald&Crooks said:

How would you describe the long term strategy that left our squad riddled with average or past it players, out on it's knees and short in several positions?

Click to expand...

We should probably do something about that... Like sign Lo Celso, Ndombele, Sess, Clarke, Reguilon, Bale etc...

Donki said:

Stadium delayed, Levy's fault!
Bale/Berbatov/Modric et al is sold, Levy's fault!
Poch looses a one off CL final, Levy's fault!
COVID stops match day income, Levy's fault!

Levy signs Bale back in an heard of deal...... the stars and planets did it.

Fuck me.

Click to expand...

Levy has to take responsibility for the stadium it's his project, I doubt many blamed him for getting good deals for Bale/Modric, If I remember he was heralded for the deal he got for Bale. Replacing Berbatov with Frazier Campbell, yeah he has some responsibility for that.

I don't think many people blamed Levy for losing the final, though I'm sure the 0 additions certainly didn't help our cause and he and Poch share the responsibility for that. I don't think too many people are blaming Levy for Covid either funnily enough. Infact the majority of the forum was understanding about the need for deals to be a certain way this summer.

What he does take some blame for is letting a squad which was within touching distance of achieving great things in 2017, turn into a shell of it's former self as we didn't refresh the squad and we've seen two managers struggle to revitalise the teams mentality as they suffered from the lack of freshening up.

So when he finally does do a great thing and it is a great thing he's doing making this signing, it does get a bit tedious how many people rush to call him a genius or it's a masterstroke when it isn't. It's pushing the boat out and taking the risk, it's fantastic he is doing that and I wish he did it more often but let's look at the reality of the deal. Relative to bales standing within football, it is low cost for a player of his quality. You will not find many better deals for value for a player of Bales quality. The reason we're able to do it is because Bale is a former spurs man and he was absolutely adored by the fans and most likely wants to come back to a place he feels loved, not because of a chairman. We're also able to do it because Madrid want him out so badly that they're willing to pay half his wages and they barely want a fee. If anything they want us to take him more than we we're willing to do as it sounds like we're going to do a loan.

So well done to Levy for pulling the trigger and taking the risk but let's not get overzealous and overdo the praise. Much like the reaction after everton was over the top in a negative way and we needed to wait and see what happens over the 3 weeks, let's try and be a bit more balanced in our reactions. I think he's having a good window, I've said as much on every deal so far he has done. The reguilon deal, sounds like it was fairly straightforward as United did the leg work and then let their "prestige" get in the way and I praise him for not doing the same at spurs. I'm glad that Levy is showing that he wants the club to succeed on the pitch, I said yesterday I think the Bale signing was needed as a statement to the players and fans that the board want the club to a top competitive team, he's done that. However can we please please save the rushing to the ENIC thread to shower him with grandiose labels of genius and mastermind because he did what any chairman at a club with our stature absolutely should do when things look like they're turning to shit.

absolute bobbins said:

If Levy gave A&C a life saving emergency tracheotomy with a switchblade and a straw he wouldn't call Levy a genius

Click to expand...

I just think that the past few years Levy has fucked up big style on a few things, mainly transfers and the squad. Fuck up after fuck up.

One signing later and he's a genius, i'm not saying he shouldn't be praised for doing this deal. i'm not saying he deserves no credit, i'm just saying that some of the words being used are a bit over the top

ReadieSpur said:

We should probably do something about that... Like sign Lo Celso, Ndombele, Sess, Clarke, Reguilon, Bale etc...

Click to expand...

Yeah, lets look at that in order.........

Half a season
Not many games at all even when available
Hardly a look in
No games whatsoever
Not signed yet
Not signed yet

Doing something about that sure worked out well.

Amo said:

300k per week is 15m per year. That's a 30m transfer fee on £300k wages assuming they're not lowered further. Another 10m for Real and that doesn't actually seem that bad at all considering it's a very very specific set of circumstance.

Click to expand...

Since Bale is collecting this 'signing' bonus, no doubt paid in weekly instalments, we could claim he would be on a Kane level wage of £200k p/w and the bonus is £40m.

I'm not sure what you mean about these very specific set of circumstances - are we breaking international law with this deal?

SpartanSpur said:

That said fair play to Levy if he does this Bale + Reguilon double deal, incredible boost to the whole club.

Click to expand...

This is it.

Can we not make what should be a really enjoyable thread yet another Levy good or bad debateThere are enough threads in Spurs chat for that.

He’s done some good stuff, some bad stuff, and a fair bit in between. Really not worth the circular discussion of what merits outweighs what failures and vice versa.

Supporting Spurs boils down to more than whether you like the owner or not, or at least it should.

Archibald&Crooks said:

Yeah, lets look at that in order.........

Half a season
Not many games at all even when available
Hardly a look in
No games whatsoever
Not signed yet
Not signed yet

Dong something about that sure worked out well.

Click to expand...

I'm not sure any of those are Levy's fault though. All we can ask is that he allows for the investment. The team has been backed (even before Bale and Reguilon)