- Jan 15, 2017
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I've heard this phrase a lot recently, as I did when Mourinho, Poch, AVB, Redknapp, Ramos and well...pretty much everyone went into a transfer window in their honeymoon period at Spurs manager. I'd like to say I agree with it - given that Conte is certainly a lot more qualified than some of the names I've mentioned and our squad certainly needs some investment. However, I'm not sure I understand what people mean or expect when they say they want the manager to be "fully backed".
Quite understandably, people were angry at Levy in 2018 - to go an entire summer without signing a single player was unheard of, especially with the club in the Champions League having been on the verge of challenging for the title in the last couple of years. So in 2019 we had the right to expect big things especiaally having the money from the Champions League run. By all accounts - Pochettino identified Ndombele, Lo Celso, Sessegnon and Clarke as priority targets - all of which were delivered, at a high price, including beating Man Utd to Ndombele's signature as a real coup. The struggles of these players have been well documented, and of course what people remember about this window is actually who we did NOT sign - Dybala and Fernandes. Once again, people were angry at Levy, claiming that Poch had been let down again.
In came Mourinho. In his summer window, we signed seven players despite being in the middle of a pandemic and the club's entire business model of the past decade having taken a battering that nobody saw coming. Yes we missed on on Skriniar and had to settle for Rodon, but with a club legend in Bale coming back alongside proven Premier League performers in Doherty and Hojbjerg and some exciting young players coming from abroad in Reguilon and Vinicius with Hart to add some experience, our fans were salivating and people on this very board were calling it a "ten out of ten window". As we all remember, things quickly imploded, Mourinho implied he wasn't happy with the squad, and our very same fan base that had been crowing loudly at few months earlier were now frothing at the mouth again, clamining that Levy had once again failed to back a high profile manager and signed a load of duds.
Then again this summer - the majority of you declared the window a success - https://www.spurscommunity.co.uk/index.php?threads/summer-2021-window-rating.147141/ - Now I think they were made to look a lot worse than they are through poor coaching, but it didn't take long before our fan base had declared Gil too lightweight, Gollini and Emerson useless and that once again, Levy had failed to back his man. You see a pattern emerging here.
My question is therefore, before we start getting into looking at things with hindsight, is what does "fully backed" mean to you?
I want Conte to sign some top players and turn us into a top side. But it's a layered, nuanced game that we're playing here. We are in a January transfer window which is always an awkward time to sign players, out of Europe, and coming off the back of an £80m and £64m loss in the past two seasons (£144m total). So what do you consider to be the key criteria/strategic landmarks that would signify the manager being "fully backed"? Easy to just say "sign whoever he wants" - but it's not always as simple as that...
What if, like Andre Villas-Boas, the players Conte picks out as "first choice" are completely unrealistic targets for a club in our position?
What if the player in question is available but his club say they want double the transfer fee to sell now instead of in the summer?
What if the player in question wants astronomical wages that would shatter our existing structure (let's say £200k+ more than what Kane and Son are already on)
What if he finds a squad player that he feels will improve the side, but that player is in his 30s, wants a long contract and particularly high wages?
What if he wants a couple of specific players but each of them would cost over £100m each, with Paratici recommending a few alternatives of a similar profile that would be in the £20-40m bracket?
Or perhaps - you are happy with a bit of "wheeler dealing" in January, and think Conte should be patient and wait until the summer to do any real business?
Bearing in mind the club has just lost £144m in two seasons - what does "fully backing Conte" look like to you?
Quite understandably, people were angry at Levy in 2018 - to go an entire summer without signing a single player was unheard of, especially with the club in the Champions League having been on the verge of challenging for the title in the last couple of years. So in 2019 we had the right to expect big things especiaally having the money from the Champions League run. By all accounts - Pochettino identified Ndombele, Lo Celso, Sessegnon and Clarke as priority targets - all of which were delivered, at a high price, including beating Man Utd to Ndombele's signature as a real coup. The struggles of these players have been well documented, and of course what people remember about this window is actually who we did NOT sign - Dybala and Fernandes. Once again, people were angry at Levy, claiming that Poch had been let down again.
In came Mourinho. In his summer window, we signed seven players despite being in the middle of a pandemic and the club's entire business model of the past decade having taken a battering that nobody saw coming. Yes we missed on on Skriniar and had to settle for Rodon, but with a club legend in Bale coming back alongside proven Premier League performers in Doherty and Hojbjerg and some exciting young players coming from abroad in Reguilon and Vinicius with Hart to add some experience, our fans were salivating and people on this very board were calling it a "ten out of ten window". As we all remember, things quickly imploded, Mourinho implied he wasn't happy with the squad, and our very same fan base that had been crowing loudly at few months earlier were now frothing at the mouth again, clamining that Levy had once again failed to back a high profile manager and signed a load of duds.
Then again this summer - the majority of you declared the window a success - https://www.spurscommunity.co.uk/index.php?threads/summer-2021-window-rating.147141/ - Now I think they were made to look a lot worse than they are through poor coaching, but it didn't take long before our fan base had declared Gil too lightweight, Gollini and Emerson useless and that once again, Levy had failed to back his man. You see a pattern emerging here.
My question is therefore, before we start getting into looking at things with hindsight, is what does "fully backed" mean to you?
I want Conte to sign some top players and turn us into a top side. But it's a layered, nuanced game that we're playing here. We are in a January transfer window which is always an awkward time to sign players, out of Europe, and coming off the back of an £80m and £64m loss in the past two seasons (£144m total). So what do you consider to be the key criteria/strategic landmarks that would signify the manager being "fully backed"? Easy to just say "sign whoever he wants" - but it's not always as simple as that...
What if, like Andre Villas-Boas, the players Conte picks out as "first choice" are completely unrealistic targets for a club in our position?
What if the player in question is available but his club say they want double the transfer fee to sell now instead of in the summer?
What if the player in question wants astronomical wages that would shatter our existing structure (let's say £200k+ more than what Kane and Son are already on)
What if he finds a squad player that he feels will improve the side, but that player is in his 30s, wants a long contract and particularly high wages?
What if he wants a couple of specific players but each of them would cost over £100m each, with Paratici recommending a few alternatives of a similar profile that would be in the £20-40m bracket?
Or perhaps - you are happy with a bit of "wheeler dealing" in January, and think Conte should be patient and wait until the summer to do any real business?
Bearing in mind the club has just lost £144m in two seasons - what does "fully backing Conte" look like to you?