Revealed - The 4 signings Villas-Boas did not want at Tottenham

[sunnydelight786]

Ferdinand believes that Villas-Boas was informed by the board that UEFA Champions League qualification was a requirement, with Spurs currently five points adrift of fourth place.
"We lost Gareth Bale and spent over £100m pounds. When you spend that kind of money you forget the fact that they need to settle in.
"Most players that come into the Premier League need about six months to a year for them to settle in - six months if they hit the ground running.
"But in all honesty, the management and the people above were all saying that qualifying for the Champions League was a minimum."

Yet we still sacked the manager.....

 

[SugarRay]

I read this story earlier before someone had to write in and point out that in the original article The Daily Mail had a picture of Jeremy Toulalan instead of Moutinho!

Sums that rag up really!

Only AVB will know if he really wanted all seven. If he did not yet still accepted them all then it was always going to end in tears.

 

[Kingstheman]

Alas, it sounds so Mafia-esque, but you know, not the top of the range Mafia...

 

[CosmicHotspur]

 

[dagraham]

chiriches, eriksen and lamela are the best(or will go on to be) of the 7 signings so i'm glad we signed them anyway.

I agree about the quality of those signings and it makes me question AVB's judgmenet more if there is any truth in this.

However, rightly or wrongly, the manager must approve and have control of the players bought and if there is a grain of truth in this it just confirms what a lot of supporters are fearing about things behid the scenes.

When is it going to dawn on people that our most successful period was when the manager had control of the signings? It doesn't matter whether your a Redknapp fan or not, its just staring us in the face and we seem unable to see it.

 

[mark87]

Oh it's from the Daily Mail? I thought it might have been from a credible source, nevermind eh.

 

[Blake Griffin]

I agree about the quality of those signings and it makes me question AVB's judgmenet more if there is any truth in this.

However, rightly or wrongly, the manager must approve and have control of the players bought and if there is a grain of truth in this it just confirms what a lot of supporters are fearing about things behid the scenes.

When is it going to dawn on people that our most successful period was when the manager had control of the signings? It doesn't matter whether your a Redknapp fan or not, its just staring us in the face and we seem unable to see it.

i can't stand this dof crap either, there's just too much disconnect and passing of the blame. it's hard enough with just levy but add another into the mix and it just confuses things even further. under harry/levy i imagine harry asked for a player and levy gave him a cheaper version - but ultimately one harry signed off on and got on with it. with a dof it's more like the manager asks for a player, the dof says he doesn't rate him, he puts another name forward to levy, they go and sign him and the manager is left with a player he didn't ask for.

 

[mpickard2087]

Sounds like bollocks to me, for starters didn't we try pretty hard for Villa, but he chose Atletico?

 

[KILLA_SIN]

chiriches, eriksen and lamela are the best(or will go on to be) of the 7 signings so i'm glad we signed them anyway.

Well we're glad you have given you Mark of Approval , we will make sure to get your approval on our next Manager so we don't have to listen to you whine about how we should have done it your way

 

[parklane1]

Daily Fail, are they any fans who REALLY believe the rubbish they write.

 

[Flashspur]

I was sick of hearing about Moutinho during AVB's reign. Moutinho this Moutinho that. Bugger me if that was all that was required to fix the problems we were experiencing?

 

[cozzo]

The journalist was on Talkshite last night, he was clearly making it up as he was going along. He had no facts or quotes.

 

[NEVILLEB]

No more excuses for AVB.

He is shit. Case closed.

You can't have one system as a manager and then beligerantly stick with it despite not having the right players.

Didn't work at Chelsea or at Tottenham. If he wants to push on he has to look at himself.

 

[lillywhites61]

The journalist was on Talkshite last night, he was clearly making it up as he was going along. He had no facts or quotes.

Yeh I listened as I drove home from the game, he was asked the question two or three times where /when did you get the quotes and he skirted around them and came out with pretty much nothing, just I spoke to a man who new a man who is close to a man a know AVB!

I do think a certain amount of this may have gone on however and for this reason Levy has to be partly accountable even if AVB excepted the players. And I am a massive believer in Levy and what he has done for our club.

 

[StartingPrice]

I agree about the quality of those signings and it makes me question AVB's judgmenet more if there is any truth in this.

However, rightly or wrongly, the manager must approve and have control of the players bought and if there is a grain of truth in this it just confirms what a lot of supporters are fearing about things behid the scenes.

When is it going to dawn on people that our most successful period was when the manager had control of the signings? It doesn't matter whether your a Redknapp fan or not, its just staring us in the face and we seem unable to see it.

Yeah...and the best players where those signed under the previous DoF

What is strange is that there is a chorus that the DoF system just does not work - and yet it works fine on the Continent, and the Head Coach (cf, not manager) who has just lost his job worked under it with success on the Continent, stated explicitly (if my memory serves me well) when he joined, that was part of the attraction (for Levy) and the deal, that AVB was okay with the DoF system, and even got the DoF (or similar) he lobbied for.

There is something that isn't connecting. I can't quite put my fingers on it. JJ says we had Isco all but wrapped-up, until maloik on it. He wanted Hulk, Moutinho and Villa - all of whom are over a certain age, no matter what difficulties, complications or even plain unwillingness there was there. He wanted Soldado, Paulinho and Capoue, all of whom are over a certain age. But he didn't want Eriksen and Lamela who are considered by many to be two of the hottest young prospects in European and even World football?

Strange. From the sounds of it, it is a problem the stem of which was visible under Mr Redknapp, and plenty of other managers/Head Coaches the World over - the manager/HC requires immediate success, and therefore the players to achieve it, at the cost of long term planning. But part of the explicit purpose of the DoF system is to mitigate squad building away from the individual vagueries of a series of managers hirings and firings.

I'm not sure that the tension would just evaporate if we went back to good ol' British style management - not unless every manager was guaranteed Fergie time, and so was happy to develop youth and bring them through even though the immediate consequence might be five years of relative dross before dividends start to be paid. Is the Chairman, and, more importantly given their predilection for booing managerial decisions, like substitutions, within a few weeks of a manager's tenure, really accept five years of mediocrity, turgid play and flirting with relegation? I guess most of us know the answer to that, already

 

[coldasice199]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...-did-not-want-four-seven-summer-signings.html

Dreadful source, but could this be the reason AVB's team wasn't our attacking norm?

I believe we were really trying for Villa, which never came off and getting Moutinho seemed mega unlikely as Monaco would have blown us out of the water, both in fee's and in wages.

This mirrors Martin Jol's sacking for me though, where he wanted Elano and a host of other players that would have probably been good, only to get players he didn't really want.

AVB has an idea on a system that he believes in, where he has the correct personnel to fit that model. I hope things work out well, but I've got the feeling that Levy has cocked this up. If we flop at the end of the season, I hope he holds his hands up. Conversely, if we somehow manage champs league, I'll concede it was a masterstroke. It just all seems really disorganised to me.

 

[tiger666]

No

 

[dagraham]

Yeah...and the best players where those signed under the previous DoF

What is strange is that there is a chorus that the DoF system just does not work - and yet it works fine on the Continent, and the Head Coach (cf, not manager) who has just lost his job worked under it with success on the Continent, stated explicitly (if my memory serves me well) when he joined, that was part of the attraction (for Levy) and the deal, that AVB was okay with the DoF system, and even got the DoF (or similar) he lobbied for.

There is something that isn't connecting. I can't quite put my fingers on it. JJ says we had Isco all but wrapped-up, until maloik on it. He wanted Hulk, Moutinho and Villa - all of whom are over a certain age, no matter what difficulties, complications or even plain unwillingness there was there. He wanted Soldado, Paulinho and Capoue, all of whom are over a certain age. But he didn't want Eriksen and Lamela who are considered by many to be two of the hottest young prospects in European and even World football?

Strange. From the sounds of it, it is a problem the stem of which was visible under Mr Redknapp, and plenty of other managers/Head Coaches the World over - the manager/HC requires immediate success, and therefore the players to achieve it, at the cost of long term planning. But part of the explicit purpose of the DoF system is to mitigate squad building away from the individual vagueries of a series of managers hirings and firings.

I'm not sure that the tension would just evaporate if we went back to good ol' British style management - not unless every manager was guaranteed Fergie time, and so was happy to develop youth and bring them through even though the immediate consequence might be five years of relative dross before dividends start to be paid. Is the Chairman, and, more importantly given their predilection for booing managerial decisions, like substitutions, within a few weeks of a manager's tenure, really accept five years of mediocrity, turgid play and flirting with relegation? I guess most of us know the answer to that, already

All very good points.

Your right that most of the best signings were made under Comolli (which is why he looks back on his time with us as a success). As we know though, the best players don't always make the best team. They have to be the right players. Ability is only one aspect.

Something is not working though. The system may work at other clubs on the continent but its failed too many times for me at Spurs to just ignore. Part of the problem may be that as well as a DOF, we have Levy sticking his oar in on signings and football matters, then Sherwood and who knows who else.

As for the good ol' style British management, I think everone assumes that a manager who wants control has to be Harry type "dinosaur". Look at Wenger. He was the epitomy of a modern manager, revolutionising the way Arsenal (and English football as a whole) played and prepared for games, with a focus on developing youngsters. Would he relinquish control? Would he hell.

I'm sure there are modern, progressive managers out there who have a long term plan but still want to run the football side of the club themselves and have control over transfers. Maybe your right though in that such a manager wouldn't be given the time to build something.

 

[DEFchenkOE]

Sounds like bollocks to me, for starters didn't we try pretty hard for Villa, but he chose Atletico?

By all accounts we did, maybe we took a little long or maybe he stalled while his agent tried to get him a better move. In all honesty if I was in his position and age with a family etc and didn't have no real intention to move abroad then I'd also chose moving from Barcelona to Madrid and playing CL football as opposed to going to England and playing EL.

 

[StartingPrice]

All very good points.

Your right that most of the best signings were made under Comolli (which is why he looks back on his time with us as a success). As we know though, the best players don't always make the best team. They have to be the right players. Ability is only one aspect.

Something is not working though. The system may work at other clubs on the continent but its failed too many times for me at Spurs to just ignore. Part of the problem may be that as well as a DOF, we have Levy sticking his oar in on signings and football matters, then Sherwood and who knows who else.

As for the good ol' style British management, I think everone assumes that a manager who wants control has to be Harry type "dinosaur". Look at Wenger. He was the epitomy of a modern manager, revolutionising the way Arsenal (and English football as a whole) played and prepared for games, with a focus on developing youngsters. Would he relinquish control? Would he hell.

I'm sure there are modern, progressive managers out there who have a long term plan but still want to run the football side of the club themselves and have control over transfers. Maybe your right though in that such a manager wouldn't be given the time to build something.

I meant to edit, and say that, of course, there is a good chance that the original story is BS

You're right, the best players don't necessarily make the first team, and the first thing that Mr Redknapp did when he got the chance was balance it out - most notably with the purchase of Palacios. The problem is that this seems to be another part of the mythos being created around the Redknapp reign: just like so many folk contrasted AVB's turgid football against teams that parked the bus against RatKnip's exciting, flowing football, when the truth was that we were just as turgid againt bus-parkers under RatKnip, it is a fallacy that RatKnip was so great in the transfer market that the fans just sat back basking in his genius. The sad truth is that whenever RatKnip wanted a player, hordes of Spurs fans gnashed their teeth in despair and bewailed their fate. I actually thought it might be a good idea getting someone like Gary Neville in for his experience and nous, just to see the season out - but not only was it excoriated to an unbelievable degree, but years later I actually read a post on here blaming our failure to maintain our position that season not on the fact that we bought him, because we didn't, but on the fact that we didn't sign him but Redknapp wanted to. I mean WTveryF? And then there was the case of Pienaar - folk just weren't going to accept him no matter what.

Something isn't working, I agree. I believe I was the first one to comment that Levy was acting like a de facto DoF with Redknapp, and that he should butt out and either go with a Head Coach/DoF or a traditional manager, no matter what the consequences for Mr RatKnip - shit or get of the pot, Dan! Now, he appears to have shat, but he's only gone and sacked the bluddy Head Coach, again. Now, I don't know what has gone on behind the scenes, what I do know is that after the Saturday match I had just literally ran out of the energy to defend AVB (see the back end of the match thread for my reasoning)
- but it still does feel like a job that needs continuity to succeed has once again been cut off mid sentence.

My issue, really, isn't whether it should be DoF/Head Coach OR traditional style manager. I can see benefits of both, and want the club to succeed, not my personal predilection to be justified. So I don't care that much which model we go with. But we need whoever it is under whatever model to be given time, and for the Chairman to do what he is good at and not play FM - and that requires the right appointment to be made. Can Levy do that and then not meddle if results drop, etc.?

Just for clarity, I was never part of the anti-Redknapp brigade, though on individual issues I could and would disagree with him. But the fact that the DoF/Head Coach hasn't worked as well as we hoped it sure as sugar ain't shite doesn't suddenly mean that Levy was wrong to dismiss RatKnip. He was dismissed for an accumulation of reasons, and not, as the meeja mantra goes because he didn't get CL. Nothing subsequent is going to change that.