- Jul 29, 2011
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I think the massive distraction of building the stadium also needs to be taken into consideration. Levy has clearly prioritised his legacy and making it as "perfect" as possible and this has meant other areas have been neglected. Some of that was an unwillingness to spend (or take a loss on getting players out) but I think it was also not given the priority and attention it needed.I wouldn't call it a fuck up, they've just got into new territory that not so many in football get to and not been quick/ruthless enough to react.
For football managers the average life cycle is what, a couple of years? Three/four at max. People like Alex Ferguson as the obvious example, who are there for several generations of the football team and are ahead of the curve and have the instinct as to when to renew or refresh, or make ballsy calls and/or get rid of previously key pieces of the puzzle, don't happen these days. Guardiola, Mourinho, and the other 99.9% of managers out there come in, spunk some money to get a core group of players, last as long as they get something near 100% out of them - then they quit or usually are sacked. Very few managers these days has to experience rebuilding, 'knowing' when to get rid, and do this whilst maintaining results.
This goes for Poch. It's one thing being able to turf out dissenters early on, or fringe players who aren't in the team, but an entirely different scenario getting rid of key players that you have had some relative success with, might have built strong bonds and affinities with, still somewhat performing for you, and might leave you facing the wrath of fans for selling a favourite, plus quizzical looks from the boardroom. Maybe he wanted more change, maybe he didn't, but on the evidence overall he's reached new territory and probably not been ruthless , especially as someone who demands 100% buy in and his teams are all about effort and commitment.
Go back to the example of a Fergie-type character, with experience of renovating a team.... Two years or so ago when Lloris stopped sweeping up, and got more erratic in general, you reckon they wouldn't have spent a bit of money on a keeper and brought in a serious rival, if only to light a fire under Hugo's arse? When Alderweireld first started his contract shenanigans, he'd be fucked off ASAP, instead we allow the contract to wind down and now have to replace him at the same time as an increasingly ancient looking Vertonghen. Danny Rose gets umpteen chances to lose focus/mouth off. Eriksen is allowed getting on 18 months of poor form. Even the Alli's and Kane's, those at the top of the tree, are allowed to lose focus and/or not work as hard and get into a comfort zone. Would that all be tolerated.......? Kyle Walker was the only one where a big call was made, but even then it was at the time where Trippier was arguably showing more and a replacement was there waiting.
But I think it's new territory for Levy as well. In his tenure it's been a different playing field. From the mid table misery era of dross teams it's easy to keep overhauling the squads and buying new players, whilst the ones you lose are either the very best ones snapped up by those higher in the food chain or ones usually on the fringes and/or flopped you obviously want rid of. Now we're at the point where we're at, or at least very near the top table, and we've had our best team for many a year and it's been probably our most settled as a result. Improving it becomes more difficult, especially when you're financially weaker than other teams around you, but there is also probably an element of being unsure as to whether you should be looking to make any real changes to the squad if they're performing and have a good age profile and room to improve still. And, like Poch, this goes with selling players too who have brought some relative success, when you always have the question mark of will a new signing come in and ultimately pick up where was left off.
So I honestly do think a lot of it is down to Poch and Levy getting into a situation which they haven't encountered or experienced before and not known how to tread the path. I don't think it's negligence, and I wouldn't either bemoan wasting the last 5 years. You never have 'it' bottled, managing and running a football club is always an ongoing process with bumps in the road. At this point we look like we've struggled to transition from one point in time to the next, and we can easily take steps forward again if we get enough things right.
Clearly the point of a football club is what happens on the pitch and so should always be the number one focus but with something of this scale I think it's understandable.