ENIC...

[SpursSince1980]

So serious question, when does the Levy/ENIC out movement begin? There have been a few occasions where they haven't backed the managers when we need a lil more spending on top quality but we were given a squad player.

Surely the time has come to now force them to put real money in or get out?

Uh, what? When does it begin? As far as I know this has been an annual ritual since the age of the Mayans.

 

[Dirtysanchez6]

Is there a hitchen thread ? I think our problems roots steam from the recruitment and scouting system as much as anything else. I mean that 18 months with no signings right now we are feeling that no doubt about it!! On top of that though, what’s the plan ? What’s the vision ? We used to have a plan of buying talented young players and it could create an exciting team ! I just don’t see one now our recruitment seems very reactive. Scared to risk it on young talents like eze etc! I don’t know this clubs has me scratching my head atm tbh it’s abit of a mess! Personally think we need rid of hitchen and levy needs to step back from transfers and get a DOF in

 

[Fittster]

How can you be sure Hitchen is identifying top talent but is blocked by Levy / Mourinho?

I agree that until you have a single DoF with overall control of scouting and the appointment of coaches (not managers, coaches) that the responsibilities are all over the place and a mess is likely.

However I see little evidence that Levy will ever step back to focus purely on the commercial side of the club so a scatter gun approach is likely until he/ENIC move on.

Ultimately I don't see change happening until Joe Lewis decides he's too old to continue.

 

[Dirtysanchez6]

How can you be sure Hitchen is identifying top talent but is blocked by Levy / Mourinho?

I agree that until you have a single DoF with overall control of scouting and the appointment of coaches (not managers, coaches) that the responsibilities are all over the place and a mess is likely.

However I see little evidence that Levy will ever step back to focus purely on the commercial side of the club so a scatter gun approach is likely until he/ENIC move on.

Ultimately I don't see change happening until Joe Lewis decides he's too old to continue.

You see hitchen in the documentary talking about how having a settled squad who have been together is our strength ! That’s a levy yes man all day long

 

[dtxspurs]

Steve Hitchen is stealing a living at this point. He is absolute shit at his job.

 

[LeParisien]

Steve Hitchen is stealing a living at this point. He is absolute shit at his job.

Strong feelings about uncertain facts

 

[Hazelton]

Steve Hitchen is stealing a living at this point. He is absolute shit at his job.

Steve's hitchen a ride?

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

I have to really question Jose and the transfer committee on Doherty.

I know at the time we were playing a lopsided 4-2-3-1 with Aurier almost playing as a RWB but Jose must have known that when playing better teams Doherty would have to drop back into an old fashioned RB position and/or if we play Regullion on the other side then we can’t really have them both as wing backs in which case why not sign an actual right back instead of a guy who has been drilled week in week out to play as a right wing back. I’ve played RWB and it’s completely different to RB it’s honestly just straight up a different position so im not surprised MD is struggling to be honest as he’s simply not a RB and at 29 I doubt he will be coached into one.

I loved the guy at wolves but for me this smacks of poor transfer planning and execution on all parts. Bergwijn is another one, we signed him because he was an opportunity, sure he’s a decent young talent but honestly it just seems like we have no actual clear plan with our player recruitment and it’s so frustrating when you compare us to Leicester for example and even West Ham who have signed players who go well together.

Man.U are another example under Ole, they went back to signing English (Maguire, Wan Bisakka etc) talents which is in the core of Man.U DNA and mixed in some world class stars e.g. B.Fernandes, Cavani etc.

We just throw shit at the wall and hope it sticks we have done for years and years and years under Levy and not matter who the manager is this is why we will always struggle to get over the line and be consistent.

I wish I was a fly on the wall in transfer committee meetings I really do as the snippets we’ve got from the AON doc and ex players and mangers and some ITK pretty much all points towards Levy being too involved in the football side and there not being a clear structure or plan when it comes to player recruitment and aligning that with the manager.

AVB said he wanted likes of Hulk, Moutiniho etc and ended up getting Dempsey.

Redknapp wanted x y z players when pushing us towards top of table and he got Saha and Nelson

Poch seemed from what we know to be offered all sorts of shit which he turned down but when he did push for players he wanted it was either ones who flopped like Janssen or ones who were very unlikely to be attainable like De Jong, De Ligt etc.

Jose has said Bergwijn wasn’t his choice and now rumours are he didn’t want Bale etc etc but then when he does sign off on players we sign a RWB to play RB and the back/up striker we wait until end of the window to bring in that Jose specifically wanted he ends up barely ever playing the fella.

Honestly I really think either we need a proper top level director of football who can come in with a philosophy of recruiting young talented players who will fit a DNA and style which the fans want and that will be successful and Levy needs to step away from the football side and get rid of Hitchen and re-vamp the scouting network, we need an aligned plan on player recruitment.

I feel like Arnesen & Baldini & Comolli all did half decent jobs to be fair and when we used to sign young talented British players it really started to help us build an identify and improve our league finishes, the likes of:
Robinson
Walker
Dawson
Rose
Carrick
Jenas
Huddlestone
Lennon
Bale
Defoe

Then we also made some really astute international signings moving on from that who didn’t cost the earth such as:
Lloris
Toby
Jan
Wanyama
Eriksen
Son

But we’ve also made far far far too many poor signings which just weren’t the right fit for us, I know I know all clubs make some good and bad signings but it’s just frustrating that we seem to have a scattergun approach to signings now and our succession planning is pretty poor, possibly because Levy holds onto players we need to shift for too long. Also we don’t have the millions and millions of the Man.U’s, Chelsea’s, City’s etc so as Poch used to say we need to be smarter in the same way Leicester are now being with their excellent recruitment.

Here are some we’ve still not really properly replaced:
Walker - no RB we have signed has come close to his level when he left us
Jan - Dier is no Jan is he!
Rose - Regullion is good but he’s basically on loan from Real and it’s taken us ages to get someone of his quality in
Wanyama- only this season have we properly replaced him with PEH
Dembele - Ndombele finally seeming like a good replacement but again took ages
Eriksen - not replaced. Lo Celso is closest we have but he’s not the same as Eriksen and he’s always injured
Bale - funny that we now have him back but Lamela was supposed to replace Bale and 7 years later we’ve had to bring a 31 year old Bale back...
Back-up striker - why can’t we get this right. Mabye we could’ve also considered a tactical tweak so we could play a striker we sign WITH Kane which would’ve opened up more doors

Jose’s league form is worrying but Levy, the board, Hitchen & Co need to have a long hard look at themselves, mainly Levy because something isn’t right behind the scenes with our set-up on the football side of things.

 

[IamSpurtacus]

to my season ticket friends on this forum - given the current state of play (results and entertainment wise) - will you re-new?

I'd imagine this will be a factor in danny's decision - who would want to see this shower every week?

 

[shelfboy68]

to my season ticket friends on this forum - given the current state of play (results and entertainment wise) - will you re-new?

I'd imagine this will be a factor in danny's decision - who would want to see this shower every week?

It's about time fan's voted with their feet and voices because levy and co have been taking the kids out of the fans for years disgusting collection of business administration.

 

[IamSpurtacus]

It's about time fan's voted with their feet and voices because levy and co have been taking the kids out of the fans for years disgusting collection of business administration.

Yeah - the fact the head of biz dev described the team as "anchor tenants" says a lot about how they think about this business

Here's a prescient article from TWENTY years ago...

AEK warn Spurs over Enic

Tottenham fans have been warned not to expect a significant investment in the team from their new owners - by the chairman of AEK Athens, the Greek club which Enic have already backed.

www.theguardian.com

a choice quote

"AEK's chairman, Cornelius Sierhuis, today revealed his belief that "the investment of Enic in Tottenham does not bode well for their supporters".

"Their investments in football clubs have failed, with the exception of Vicenza thanks to an exceptionally clever manager, and all largely because of an inability or unwillingness to fund in accordance with their stakes," he told onefootball.com.

Sound eerily familiar

 

[Hercules]

Yeah - the fact the head of biz dev described the team as "anchor tenants" says a lot about how they think about this business

Here's a prescient article from TWENTY years ago...

AEK warn Spurs over Enic

Tottenham fans have been warned not to expect a significant investment in the team from their new owners - by the chairman of AEK Athens, the Greek club which Enic have already backed.

www.theguardian.com

a choice quote

"AEK's chairman, Cornelius Sierhuis, today revealed his belief that "the investment of Enic in Tottenham does not bode well for their supporters".

"Their investments in football clubs have failed, with the exception of Vicenza thanks to an exceptionally clever manager, and all largely because of an inability or unwillingness to fund in accordance with their stakes," he told onefootball.com.

Sound eerily familiar

Brilliant!

 

[shelfboy68]

Yeah - the fact the head of biz dev described the team as "anchor tenants" says a lot about how they think about this business

Here's a prescient article from TWENTY years ago...

AEK warn Spurs over Enic

Tottenham fans have been warned not to expect a significant investment in the team from their new owners - by the chairman of AEK Athens, the Greek club which Enic have already backed.

www.theguardian.com

a choice quote

"AEK's chairman, Cornelius Sierhuis, today revealed his belief that "the investment of Enic in Tottenham does not bode well for their supporters".

"Their investments in football clubs have failed, with the exception of Vicenza thanks to an exceptionally clever manager, and all largely because of an inability or unwillingness to fund in accordance with their stakes," he told onefootball.com.

Sound eerily familiar

I think this is no surprise although there will be some on here who will want you sacrificed like wicker Man style for this little nugget well done mate.

 

[Goobers]

As an Irish fan I am also a fan of Doherty - I think he is a good player than can be really effective in the right system. I thought when we signed him we were moving to wing backs - fine, no probelm. But he is not being used in the right way and is not a good enough player, in my opinion, to adapt.
I imagine he will be with us next season but I don't see us getting the best out of him which is such a shame.

 

[Metalhead]

15m per year. This is all on Levy, only hope is that Jose wins something (LC or Europa) and they come to a "mutual agreement" he leaves with his record in tact and gets to mouth off about winning everywhere he's been with a slightly lower pay off.

And Levy can resign, he can stay on to sort out the rest of the development, but it's time to give it up.

If he wins Europa with us he can mouth off all he wants and deservedly so.

 

[Metalhead]

So serious question, when does the Levy/ENIC out movement begin? There have been a few occasions where they haven't backed the managers when we need a lil more spending on top quality but we were given a squad player.

Surely the time has come to now force them to put real money in or get out?

How? Who would buy them out?

 

[Dirtysanchez6]

to my season ticket friends on this forum - given the current state of play (results and entertainment wise) - will you re-new?

I'd imagine this will be a factor in danny's decision - who would want to see this shower every week?

I’ll literally only be renewing because I cant wait to be back at a full capacity stadium the atmosphere the day it will be great ! The football if things stay the same will be horrible but basically not being able to go for a season and a half is making me renew

 

[BringBack_leGin]

to my season ticket friends on this forum - given the current state of play (results and entertainment wise) - will you re-new?

I'd imagine this will be a factor in danny's decision - who would want to see this shower every week?

Absolutely I’ll renew. I support Spurs the club, good and bad, not any particular individual.

 

[azza]

Any season ticket who wants to protest against ENIC but still watch their team should not spend any money in the stadium or merchandise. 20,000 fans doing that will have an impact

 

[SecretLemonadeDrinker]

Yeah - the fact the head of biz dev described the team as "anchor tenants" says a lot about how they think about this business

Here's a prescient article from TWENTY years ago...

AEK warn Spurs over Enic

Tottenham fans have been warned not to expect a significant investment in the team from their new owners - by the chairman of AEK Athens, the Greek club which Enic have already backed.

www.theguardian.com

a choice quote

"AEK's chairman, Cornelius Sierhuis, today revealed his belief that "the investment of Enic in Tottenham does not bode well for their supporters".

"Their investments in football clubs have failed, with the exception of Vicenza thanks to an exceptionally clever manager, and all largely because of an inability or unwillingness to fund in accordance with their stakes," he told onefootball.com.

Sound eerily familiar

I wouldn't say that there is anything prescient about it at all.

All onions, I know, but I'd say that ENIC have done very well by Spurs fans, on balance. We are an unrecognisably better club in every way than we were when they took over. The only thing that's missing is silverware, save for that one League Cup win. But our luck / mental fortitude must surely take a turn for the better in those huge games and moments eventually.

Save for Manchester City, for obvious reasons, there is only one club that has surpassed Spurs for beating the overwhelming odds (Sky 4 cartel; oil money owners) facing challengers to the top 4 since ENIC took over............ and that's Leicester. Their title win will probably never be surpassed for implausibility. But we shouldn't forget that everything that season - absolutely every last, little thing - fell in their favour. Not least the incredibly unlikely coincidence that all the top clubs simultaneously chose that season to have a stinker. We were considerably better in 2016-17 than Leicester had been the previous season but Chelsea were even better still. So we won nothing. Tough luck.

Nevertheless, we have been there or thereabouts, routinely challenging for top 4 and silverware for the past decade. We played in a Champions League final - something I never dreamed possible when ENIC took over. We have the best stadium in Europe - which seemed equally impossible. We have the foundations from which to launch sustained challenges for silverware going forward.

Obviously, ENIC are no Abramovich or Mansour. They haven't given us what those other owners have given to Chelsea and City fans respectively. But such owners are the exception rather than the rule. It's not really a fair comparison. At the other end of the spectrum, we don't have to compare ENIC to anything as extreme as Ridsdale at Leeds, as is the cliche. We can, however, legitimately compare them to the various regimes at similarly sized clubs like Everton, Newcastle and Aston Villa to know that we have actually been pretty fortunate.

Sure, if it was a beauty contest, ENIC are certainly no 10. But they are a solid 7, or maybe even a borderline 8.

And I know that none of you would kick an 8 out of bed.