ENIC...

[emiley heskey]

A number of mistakes were made and I think this illustrates exactly why not having a DoF and an aligned Performance Analysis and Management structure has been so destructive.

Our lack of DoF has handed immense power to both Levy and Poch and both have been found wanting. Poch has a blind spot (as all managers do) and loves players that are technically neat and tidy (Lamela, Lo Celso) and will prefer that over players with more pace, power and athletic drive (Bruno Fernandes). In this respect, in addition to countryman loyalty, it was little surprise that Lo Celso was preferred over Fernandes.

I think POCH loved Pace, Power as well.. Hence, He wanted Ndombele who fits the criteria you mentioned ....

 

[AberdeenYid]

I agree there is nothing wrong with being excited for academy products to come through, but to expect that we will challenge Top 4 with them is folly.

You’ll win nothing with kids.

 

[Deleted member 27995]

I agree there is nothing wrong with being excited for academy products to come through, but to expect that we will challenge Top 4 with them is folly.

Solely? No, who is claiming that though?

 

[JME-9]

There's nothing wrong with being excited for young academy products to break through into first team ... Don't hear Chelsea, United or Arsenal fans knocking their current youth crops?

Fucking hell, don't be that guy.

Big difference about being happy when they break through and are good enough you earn the breakthrough

 

[DiVaio]

I agree there is nothing wrong with being excited for academy products to come through, but to expect that we will challenge Top 4 with them is folly.

Who is expecting them to be even in our senior squad?

 

[Deleted member 27995]

Big difference about being happy when they break through and are good enough you earn the breakthrough

Won't know unless they're given a chance. We've got the great hope loan at Southampton, Skipp has now been attached to the first team squad for how long with little to no chance to even prove he could be worth keeping about, Edwards? I could go on, but you get my drift. That doesn't even factor in the two teenagers we bought last summer ... Parrott is the next one isn't he? Needs a chance to prove on way or the other.

 

[SecretLemonadeDrinker]

We were told last summer that there was money available to obtain our targets if we wanted to.
Poch wanted LoCelso to replace Eriksen, and we creatively found a loophole to save ourselves money and still bring him in. What were we saving the cash for?
I don’t think it was as straightforward as LoCelso or Bruno. It think there’s a strong chance Poch wanted both. Probably saw Bruno as an upgrade on Dele. (This might have been part of Pochs ‘painful rebuild’ quote). We agreed a few for Dybala too.

The details of our Bruno offer are out there.
He was available and keen to sign (he’d agreed terms).
Levy was haggling over the terms (as usual), and united stepped in, and paid the asking price.

I don’t think this was a case of spurs lacking ambition. I think we (Levy) got caught out penny pinching once again.

We were negotiating with Sporting for Fernandes in the summer. That's when he said he had agreed to sign for us. Utd didn't firm up their interest until January, by which time we were no longer in the market for the player.

As to what we were "saving the cash for" back in the summer, isn't it common knowledge that it was for the ultimately failed attempt to sign Dybala?

 

[JME-9]

Won't know unless they're given a chance. We've got the great hope loan at Southampton, Skipp has now been attached to the first team squad for how long with little to no chance to even prove he could be worth keeping about, Edwards? I could go on, but you get my drift. That doesn't even factor in the two teenagers we bought last summer ... Parrott is the next one isn't he? Needs a chance to prove on way or the other.

Think you know by performances in the under 23s mate lol not like Jose has never seen them play

 

[daryl hannah]

Basically the stadium project, as lovely as it is, has hampered us for the next decade at least.

We're broke and in debt. I suspect there's a strategy to bringing in players like Nkoudou/Janssen - it means Kane will eventually have had enough and demand to leave - which is £150m to reinvest right there. And the cycle starts again.

You can't go improving the team and risk missing out on a pure £150m return.

 

[Deleted member 27995]

Think you know by performances in the under 23s mate lol not like Jose has never seen them play

Sell them all then. No point paying them dosh if they're never going to cut it ...

 

[emiley heskey]

We were negotiating with Sporting for Fernandes in the summer. That's when he said he had agreed to sign for us. Utd didn't firm up their interest until January, by which time we were no longer in the market for the player.

As to what we were "saving the cash for" back in the summer, isn't it common knowledge that it was for the ultimately failed attempt to sign Dybala?

We didn't by Dybala. Where is that money?

 

[emiley heskey]

Basically the stadium project, as lovely as it is, has hampered us for the next decade at least.

We're broke and in debt. I suspect there's a strategy to bringing in players like Nkoudou/Janssen - it means Kane will eventually have had enough and demand to leave - which is £150m to reinvest right there. And the cycle starts again.

You can't go improving the team and risk missing out on a pure £150m return.

Then what's the point of building a stadium if we can't improve in this decade? Why go broke building a stadium then? I thought we were saving money in the last two decades and built stadium in return, and we will get return on the stadium by bringing through more revenue

 

[DiVaio]

We didn't by Dybala. Where is that money?

In Poch recompensation, Mourinho, Gedson loan, Bergwijn, Lucas/Sissoko/Toby new contracts?

 

[SecretLemonadeDrinker]

We didn't by Dybala. Where is that money?

A valid question, certainly. But it isn't pertinent to our having not signed Fernandes. The question was asked: why were we working on a creative financial solution to signing Lo Celso other than to be able to sign another player? The person who asked that question was, I think, suggesting that Fernandes was that other player. My recollection is that Levy was trying to free up funds to sign Dybala, not Fernandes.

 

[emiley heskey]

In Poch recompensation, Mourinho, Gedson loan, Bergwijn, Lucas/Sissoko/Toby new contracts?

How about Eriksen money? So If Dybala was signed we would not giving new contract to Lucas/Sissoko?

 

[mr ashley]

We were negotiating with Sporting for Fernandes in the summer. That's when he said he had agreed to sign for us. Utd didn't firm up their interest until January, by which time we were no longer in the market for the player.

As to what we were "saving the cash for" back in the summer, isn't it common knowledge that it was for the ultimately failed attempt to sign Dybala?

Yes fair point, My bad.
I’d totally forgotten that Bruno only signed in January. It’s amazing how long ago that feels now. To think that agreeing a fee for Dybala was also part of this seasons plan also feels bizarre. Feels like a decade ago.
I still think it was either Bruno or Dybala, but Levy dithered, messed it up and by January it was clear Jose wanted other areas strengthens, like CF. Which he also messed up by being penny-wise

 

[SecretLemonadeDrinker]

Basically the stadium project, as lovely as it is, has hampered us for the next decade at least.

We're broke and in debt. I suspect there's a strategy to bringing in players like Nkoudou/Janssen - it means Kane will eventually have had enough and demand to leave - which is £150m to reinvest right there. And the cycle starts again.

You can't go improving the team and risk missing out on a pure £150m return.

We're in debt, certainly. But very far from broke (though COVID19 is doing its best to put a dirty, great spanner in the works). Once the stadium is fully up and running again, I'd estimate that it will be worth anything between an extra £50-100m per annum to the club over and above what the old stadium brought in. That is more than enough to service and repay the debt.

 

[emiley heskey]

Yes fair point, My bad.
I’d totally forgotten that Bruno only signed in January. It’s amazing how long ago that feels now. To think that agreeing a fee for Dybala was also part of this seasons plan also feels bizarre. Feels like a decade ago.
I still think it was either Bruno or Dybala, but Levy dithered, messed it up and by January it was clear Jose wanted other areas strengthens, like CF. Which he also messed up by being penny-wise

If levy searched on google about Dybala's contract situation, he would have known about his image rights issue. Why he didn't do his due diligence before going for Dybala and stuck with image rights issue ?

 

[JME-9]

Sell them all then. No point paying them dosh if they're never going to cut it ...

Pretty clear the majority of youth team players do get sold or released big man! Smart thing would be to loan them first though have some common sense there ?! Loan see if they cut it in the championship or prem then review the situation that’s usually how it goes ?

 

[Wheeler Dealer]

Basically the stadium project, as lovely as it is, has hampered us for the next decade at least.

We're broke and in debt. I suspect there's a strategy to bringing in players like Nkoudou/Janssen - it means Kane will eventually have had enough and demand to leave - which is £150m to reinvest right there. And the cycle starts again.

You can't go improving the team and risk missing out on a pure £150m return.

I suspect pre-covid, ENIC had a clear plan and strategy to pay off debts associated with stadium build and they probably had a good idea of revenues they could generate over the coming years. The current situation will provide a need to re-write strategy and business plan. No one could have predicted the unprecedented times we find ourselves in, but I expect some form of normality to prevail in the next 6-12 months and then the stadium can start to generate a return, albeit later than pre-planned.