Pochettino says Tottenham need new five-year plan to compete with best clubs in Europe

[mawspurs]

Mauricio Pochettino insists Tottenham Hotspur must develop a fresh strategy to build on the success of this season, and indicated his unwillingness to work without a clear plan.

Source: Independent

 

[mawspurs]

His comments over the last few days are given more clarity here.

 

[hutchiniho]

Yep, just read this too. Headline article on BBC Sport

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/48235092

Strange time for the manager to be putting the ??? Out there.

Clearly to force Levy’s hand. We’ve never had a bigger one off fixture. Strike while the iron’s hot for Poch.

It’s not going to get sorted before the final though and we need everyone to be absolutely A1 to win this.

 

[Khilari]

I’m more reassured reading that - he hasn’t made his mind up (about leaving us) at all but he clearly wants to know whether expectation will match reality (in his opinion) and whether that reality is where he wants to be.

 

[m*****73]

Love this.

Poch is being as clear and forthright as he has ever been at any time since he joined us.

Basically, he wants absolute clarity - not just for him, but the players, the fans, the media, everyone.

If Spurs want to be contenders, then Levy needs to back him.

On the other hand, if Lewis & Levy are satisfied with being also-rans, not contenders, then he's challenging them to come out and say it. Then we'll all know what the "reality" is - and our expectations/perception will be set accordingly.

Pretty obvious if it's not an ambitious plan, then Poch will be gone. And so will our top players. Couldn't blame them, to be honest.

But I'm hoping that this is the summer that we finally show our ambition on the field matches that off the field. We have the best stadium, the best training complex... now let's commit to being the best team also.

It won't happen overnight, but if Levy commits to it in the same manner as he committed to delivering the stadium, we can do it.

I really hope so.

 

[slartibartfast]

Love this.

Poch is being as clear and forthright as he has ever been at any time since he joined us.

Basically, he wants absolute clarity - not just for him, but the players, the fans, the media, everyone.

If Spurs want to be contenders, then Levy needs to back him.

On the other hand, if Lewis & Levy are satisfied with being also-rans, not contenders, then he's challenging them to come out and say it. Then we'll all know what the "reality" is - and our expectations/perception will be set accordingly.

Pretty obvious if it's not an ambitious plan, then Poch will be gone. And so will our top players. Couldn't blame them, to be honest.

But I'm hoping that this is the summer that we finally show our ambition on the field matches that off the field. We have the best stadium, the best training complex... now let's commit to being the best team also.

It won't happen overnight, but if Levy commits to it in the same manner as he committed to delivering the stadium, we can do it.

I really hope so.

I think it was a good sign that Levy was on the pitch at the end. Say what you like about him but he obviously has a love and passion for the club and was as fkin ecstatic as everyone else. Hopefully he liked the taste. Success breeds success and success is good for business. To not 'strike while the irons hot' as the saying goes, would be foolish imo.
Foolish but unfortunately not surprising.

 

[mil1lion]

Wasn't Levy talking about working on the next project now that the stadium is built? I'm sure they will get together after the final and put another plan in place. Levy said he wants to make us one of the biggest clubs in the world so I have no doubt his ambition will match that of Poch. I would be very surprised if we don't make big moves in the transfer window now. You don't build a stadium like that and not sign top players and give yourself the best chance of success.

 

[yiddopaul]

I think it was a good sign that Levy was on the pitch at the end. Say what you like about him but he obviously has a love and passion for the club and was as fkin ecstatic as everyone else. Hopefully he liked the taste. Success breeds success and success is good for business. To not 'strike while the irons hot' as the saying goes, would be foolish imo.
Foolish but unfortunately not surprising.

That's the problem isn't it. How many times over the years have we been in a position to 'push-on' and take another step up, but failed to do so? On the other hand, how much can we back him? We have a billion pound stadium to pay for, how much will we need to spend to upgrade what we have? Or are we just looking to add numbers so we don't run out of steam?

 

[Spurs 1961]

Looks to me like Poch is saying he has met the targets for the first five years; the stadium is built so what is the ambition of the club now? Does the club ambition tie in with his as a manager? Perfect time to walk away as a success if we win the CL after all the likes of Pep and Zidane do a few years then take time out from the stress of the job. We may lose him unless he is backed in every way

 

[Johnny J]

I think it was a good sign that Levy was on the pitch at the end. Say what you like about him but he obviously has a love and passion for the club and was as fkin ecstatic as everyone else. Hopefully he liked the taste. Success breeds success and success is good for business. To not 'strike while the irons hot' as the saying goes, would be foolish imo.
Foolish but unfortunately not surprising.

We should have struck while the irons were hot in the last couple of summers. We've massively overachieved compared with our wage bill and investment in the squad (rather than facilities). Just think what could have been had we actually invested in a top quality midfield, for a start.

 

[Smokinhotspur]

We tend to direct our ire solely on Levy (wrongly imho) as the man who holds the keys to the blueprint. It is Joe Lewis the 70% owner of ENIC (that we never hear a word from) who is the main man here. I remember a comment from Pochettino when interviewed after we beat Palace at the opening of the new stadium. He was told by the reporter that JL was present. His answer was interesting and is quoted below:

"He’s here? I don’t know. I saw Daniel before the game. Nobody said to me he’s here."

For all we know Levy may share MP's ambition and be keen to push us forward in a strong way but as a 30% owner, his hands are very much tied.

By putting these messages out in such a strong way, he is achieving several things:

- signalling to the players that want to leave (and he wants to keep) that he also shares their ambition and is willing to put his neck on the block to drive the club in that direction hence buying us a bit of time before they make decisions about their futures.
- same goes for players we are trying to buy who may be interested in joining us but are also subject to strong interest from bigger clubs. They may question the vision of the club and require concrete details on what objectives we want to achieve before making a decision.
- strengthening Levy's hand in future negotiations aboard the Aviva with Lewis about the blueprint
- last but not least, giving us the fans a bit more transparency on the direction of our club and what is real versus perceived in that sense.

God, I love this man.

 

[whitesocks]

Why is he having this debate in public? He talks to Levy every week surely?
MP knows full well what the problems are. Building the stadium was the easy part. Paying back the loans is the tricky part.

Until we get a naming rights sponsor, we are behind in the timetable to get on top of this debt. And we all know what our south london neighbours went through after their stadium move - money was tight for years and that was with a sponsor.

This is the 'reality' of the situation and making a big hole in that debt is the next 5 year project.
We do that by staying in the premiership obviously, visits to the champs league if we can and getting the academy producing regular gems. Maybe we'll win (another!) cup.

MP knows all this and knows we know it. He knows Levy will tell him it will be our biggest summer spend in history and he wants us to win the league or some other twaddle.

MP has all the info he is going to get, so he just needs to decide what he wants to do. I don't understand why he would want to first unsettle everyone with rumours.

 

[Ben1]

Why is he having this debate in public? He talks to Levy every week surely?
MP knows full well what the problems are. Building the stadium was the easy part. Paying back the loans is the tricky part.

Until we get a naming rights sponsor, we are behind in the timetable to get on top of this debt. And we all know what our south london neighbours went through after their stadium move - money was tight for years and that was with a sponsor.

This is the 'reality' of the situation and making a big hole in that debt is the next 5 year project.
We do that by staying in the premiership obviously, visits to the champs league if we can and getting the academy producing regular gems. Maybe we'll win (another!) cup.

MP knows all this and knows we know it. He knows Levy will tell him it will be our biggest summer spend in history and he wants us to win the league or some other twaddle.

MP has all the info he is going to get, so he just needs to decide what he wants to do. I don't understand why he would want to first unsettle everyone with rumours.

A lot of great managers know its the only way to get what you want. And right now, Poch holds all the cards in getting what he wants.

And yes, Poch knows we've been saving money and he probably believes that will continue. If so, his 'project' is somewhere else and rightly so.

 

[Smokinhotspur]

Why is he having this debate in public? He talks to Levy every week surely?
MP knows full well what the problems are. Building the stadium was the easy part. Paying back the loans is the tricky part.

Until we get a naming rights sponsor, we are behind in the timetable to get on top of this debt. And we all know what our south london neighbours went through after their stadium move - money was tight for years and that was with a sponsor.

This is the 'reality' of the situation and making a big hole in that debt is the next 5 year project.
We do that by staying in the premiership obviously, visits to the champs league if we can and getting the academy producing regular gems. Maybe we'll win (another!) cup.

MP knows all this and knows we know it. He knows Levy will tell him it will be our biggest summer spend in history and he wants us to win the league or some other twaddle.

MP has all the info he is going to get, so he just needs to decide what he wants to do. I don't understand why he would want to first unsettle everyone with rumours.

Do you think he really hasn't tried to address this in private? He also made noises last summer and two windows on we all know how the story went. It is now make or break.

Your statements about the finances also sound a little presumptious. Yes there will be some restrictions to work within due to the stadium but also recognise that the revenue that clubs generate these days especially from TV is in a completely different stratosphere to the times when the Emirates was built so we need to be careful when drawing parallels. With NFL, boxing fight nights and all sorts of other events we will be generating nice revenue streams. I do agree that the naming rights will be a big piece and our profile as a CL finalist has certainly done that no harm.

We should also not think about this being solely about money, transfer budgets, wages etc. It is also about ambition and ways of working. When your club is unable to quickly wrap up a deal for the likes of Grealish when Leicester show the way with the Maddison deal early in a window, then you have to question "the way we operate'. I think these are the sorts of things he is getting at.

I don't see the comments as unsettling. If you read between the lines he is hitting on multiple audiences with these statements and I love him for it.

 

[HobbitSpur]

I might be completely wrong but I am not worried about anything.

Everything that he said was pure common sense.

He has never said anything that he quoted has not happened or will not happen.

He is just stating what is required to take us to the next level.

If any aspect of what he talks about does not happen then he would walk away. But in reality so would any other normal same person.

So if everything regarding investment, strength and a new plan for the future does not materialize he will walk.

But I have not heard once in any transcript that talks will not happen or will never happen. So therefore, the only natural conclusion to make is that they will happen or at the very least he is confident that they will happen.

I for one am not worried until or if the narrative starts to shift.

 

[Bilko]

Is it not all about our wage ceiling?
So skilfully maintained by Levy.
Players that could have demanded significantly higher salaries in other clubs signing up for lesser amounts-till now.Levy (and Lewis) can be congratulated-now please move on to next level and hopefully the reason for our much bigger stadium

 

[bigspurs]

Talking publicly in this way has rarely ever convinced Lewis/Levy to do anything other than to get annoyed. They hate managers talking to the media like this (Redknapp being the extreme example of course!). It’s embarrassing for them. They’re old-school and like to do things in a discreet kind of way.

Poch has to be a little bit careful here I reckon. Fingers crossed Lewis/Levy both have the brains and ambition (and cash) to try to move this club onto the next level, before we miss our window of opportunity. Surely now they understand this. Poch’s only mistake is being too good at his job and getting us to a Champions League Final, having spent nothing! I’m worried that this gives Lewis/Levy the excuse they need to say that not much investment is required etc.

 

[Smokinhotspur]

Talking publicly in this way has rarely ever convinced Lewis/Levy to do anything other than to get annoyed. They hate managers talking to the media like this (Redknapp being the extreme example of course!). It’s embarrassing for them. They’re old-school and like to do things in a discreet kind of way.

Poch has to be a little bit careful here I reckon. Fingers crossed Lewis/Levy both have the brains and ambition (and cash) to try to move this club onto the next level, before we miss our window of opportunity. Surely now they understand this. Poch’s only mistake is being too good at his job and getting us to a Champions League Final, having spent nothing! I’m worried that this gives Lewis/Levy the excuse they need to say that not much investment is required etc.

I don't care what they like. I've had enough of the smoke and mirrors and I suspect so has the manager. Poch is in a very strong position and is making the most of it so good on him.

It is time for Lewis and Levy to be clear where we are going and what type of future we should expect in our new stadium. Are they setting up the club for a mega sale and a nice return for both of them? Do they want to hang around, see us compete at the upper echelons of the game and actively support that with investment? We need answers to these questions so fans also have some degree of visibility of the context in which they are purchasing their season tickets etc...

 

[parj]

Why are people taking this as a message aimed at only Levy? I can guarantee that these conversations have already taken place and are being finalised. You don't make this plan in the 4 weeks before the transfer window opens again.

This is a message to the players we want. If we come knocking we want you to take us to a new level. You are a key player we have identified. This is aimed at making them want to push their agents and clubs to join tottenham, maybe flush a few out that we didn't know would consider coming to us.

Poch and Levy do not fall out in public, that's a fact.

 

[FibreOpticJesus]

Is it not all about our wage ceiling?
So skilfully maintained by Levy.
Players that could have demanded significantly higher salaries in other clubs signing up for lesser amounts-till now.Levy (and Lewis) can be congratulated-now please move on to next level and hopefully the reason for our much bigger stadium

But he is clear in his statement that the plan is not about spending more or less money.

His statement is clear. We have achieved all that we can under the current plan (probably ahead of expectations) and that to progress we need to move forward under a different 5 year plan.

I believe Poch had Levy’s blessings to make the statements to the media so that it sends a message to our current squad and the proposed new ones.