- Aug 13, 2005
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I think one of the problems our club has had over the last 3-4 years is that we are always looking to the horizon.
“We will be be a big club once we are consistently in the top 4” “We will be able to challenge in the transfer market once the stadium is finished.” Our model has always been to sign potential and turn them into stars (and it’s worked by and large.)
But we are a big club, we can challenge now, and the thing that matters the most is what we do in the here and now.
For me in appointing Mourinho the club has changed MO somewhat, this isn’t so much a project to be built now, it’s a team that’s been tweaked and refreshed ready for a push at winning things. I genuinely feel like we are finally acting like a big club. Everyone will point to the Bale signing as the boost the club needed etc. But oddly enough, for me it’s the Doherty signing that impressed me, a player in his late twenties, from a team that finished in the top ten, with relatively little sell on value coming in to be an immediate starter. We never used to buy that type of player because we were worried about two or three years down the line.
Mourinho isn’t here for what might be possible in two years time, he’s here for what’s possible right now, and that’s really exciting to me. If he’s still here at the end of next season, that probably means he’s been successful. We can worry about if he stays or not then.
This is the point I made when we appointed him, yet you had people who couldn’t understand it. Some still wanted “the project”. None of our best players want that. They want to win yesterday not in 2 years time. There was moaning that he’d only be with us 2/3 seasons. Well, that’s the lifespan of the modern manager. Poch was an exception to the rule and especially that of a manager at THFC.
The signing of Bale is the one that points to us wanting to make a statement this season. Harry Kane must of woken up that day even more pleased than any of us. He probably thought, maybe I won’t have to move to win something, if this is the calibre of player we are bringing in. Let’s hope he’s fit to play some part against West Ham and we pick up where we left off. I don’t think it’s a coincidence our form picked up with his signing at all.