The Daily ITK Discussion Thread - THE GOODBYEEE EDITION 3rd September 2014

[prawnsandwich]

I waver between liking and disliking Levy. I'm still convinced that some investment in the squad in Harry's last January window with us, or paying the extra for Moutinho in AVB's first season, would have considerably improved our chances of qualifying for the CL. In turn, we would have recouped a lot of that cash through CL money, would have been in a better position to keep our star players, and would have been a more attractive prospect for new players. It seems that after Bent and Bentley, Levy is no longer a believer in the 'speculate to accumulate' ethos.

Our current squad is good, but it's not 'top four' good, so I hope he's not expecting that from Pochettino. Unfortunately a lot of our fans will not accept watching us slip further away from the CL contenders (which is what I suspect will happen), and it won't surprise me if this leads to an increasingly hostile atmosphere at the Lane (or at least on a par with the last days of the AVB era), a negative mood in the squad, and more than likely, fans directing their frustration at Pochettino. I'll be very impressed if Pochettino does well enough to still have a job this time next year (though obviously I hope he's given time).

On the other hand, Levy has provided us with a top of the range training facility at no small cost, and is well on the way to sorting out the new stadium, whilst overseeing a sustained period of European football and top half finishes.

Things could be a lot worse, but I can't help the feeling that some better investment, and occasionally paying over the odds for the sake of his manager and the squad, would have put us in a much better position, both financially and competitively.

Tim said today on TS that one thing you can say about DL is he always backs the manager in the transfer market. The transfers in the past that did not happen were not down to DL-they were down to agents and players going for the better deal.
IMO MoPo has a Brendan season 2014-15. He has correctly realised that we needed better defenders and less injury prone midfielders. Improvement is all DL is looking for from MoPo
Tim also said we are a striker away from top 4 and he is right. Maybe if Giroud doesn't get injured we have Welbeck. If it wasn't Africa Cup in January maybe we get Bony.

 

[Spurger King]

Tim said today on TS that one thing you can say about DL is he always backs the manager in the transfer market.

You have a point. Sherwood certainly got everything on his wishlist in January.

Tim - "The last thing we need is more players."

Levy - "Consider it done."

 

[Kaboul'sForehead]

Remember chaps, just because their mods doesn't mean they are always right Not that I think their intention is to have lap dogs, just that some fans can't think outside what they read on a forum post.

Can't think of another chairman in the footballing world at present that I would rather have than Levy. Can you? Fuck the billionaire criminals and the bottom-of-the-barrel-scrapers. Fuck the manipulative and unethical pricks that use media outlets to uproot a player from a smaller club. I think we have a very happy medium in Levy, and I think we have improved and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future in almost all aspects of our football club....no matter how frustrating it can be when we don't spend an extra few £££ in the short term to close the gap between us and the scum above.

 

[prawnsandwich]

As regards the ITKs-some of them were pretty clear about players NOT arriving. And even old 'Arry was getting it wrong when he was manager.
So I will never bash ITK-but only believe them when what they say fits in with what I personally think.

"Believe nothing no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and common sense."-Harry Stottle

 

[bigpalacios]

9m and Rodriguez for Townsend?????

Id accept 9 quid and Rod and fucking Emu.

 

[Archibald&Crooks]

Remember chaps, just because their mods doesn't mean they are always right Not that I think their intention is to have lap dogs, just that some fans can't think outside what they read on a forum post.

Can't think of another chairman in the footballing world at present that I would rather have than Levy. Can you? Fuck the billionaire criminals and the bottom-of-the-barrel-scrapers. Fuck the manipulative and unethical pricks that use media outlets to uproot a player from a smaller club. I think we have a very happy medium in Levy, and I think we have improved and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future in almost all aspects of our football club....no matter how frustrating it can be when we don't spend an extra few £££ in the short term to close the gap between us and the scum above.

Leaving the blatant BSoDL propaganda aside i'll focus on just the one thing….

I think we have a very happy medium in Levy

No matter how much you try to dress it up, there's no way Levy can be described as a medium. Dwarf, Extra Small, Midget or Munchkim yes, but medium? I mean, come onnnnnn…..

Another example of the BSoDL dressing the salad to suit…….

 

[Bus-Conductor]

Here ya go B-C.

http://www.spurscommunity.co.uk/index.php?threads/mateo-musacchio.110938/page-157#post-4177431

Yeah, I found it last night:

Found it:

The company was called Rio Football Services Holland BV, a subsidiary of the Gibralter registered Rio Football Services Limited, which a little bit of googling does indeed tie up to Zahavi. Also tenuously linked to Joorabchian

His agent is Mondial Sport Management / Constantin DUMITRASCU

So far I've found them Registered in France, and listed at an address in Germany. Agent/Director appears to be Constantin Dumitrascu.

 

[Bus-Conductor]

Lads I have some ITK regarding Townsend (probably not a lot more than we already know) from deadline day. Basically my mate from my football team is Andros' cousin and he was told by Troy (Andros' Dad) that Tottenham had turned down a bid of £9mill and Jay Rodriguez before 9pm. Andros was actually pretty sure he was headed to Southampton earlier in the day.

So that's one of the rare moments I'll get information

Are you saying Southampton were going to give us Rodriguez and 9m ?

Either they accidentally removed one of JR's legs when they were operating or Troy must have been at the glue pot.

 

[Bus-Conductor]

Well if it's true I can understand it. Rodriguez' contract is running down now and his value with it. We'll probably pick him up for nuppence in January if we want him. Why take less for a player he obviously has put a decent value on? And especially in exchange for a player just coming back from a serious injury, a player who might not be the same on his return, or might suffer a reoccurence etc etc. It doesn't make sense. Let Rodriguez play games for them before making a move. And then snap him up, like I said, for not much at all.

Just because it's fashionable on SC to rate Townsend as 'shit' or whatever, doesn't mean that in the real footballing world he hasn't got potential and a higher value than was offered. Plus Levy might like to see what Pochettino can get out of him. There are many decent reasons he might have turned this offer down.

We have to remember that Levy etc look at everything with a detachment that us fans can rarely muster.

Except me of course, but thats one of the side effects of having a 12 incher

BSoDL please note: Just because i'm backing Levy on this doesnt mean you've turned me, he's still a **** but i'll give credit where it's due

Welcome to fold brother.

 

[Kaboul'sForehead]

Leaving the blatant BSoDL propaganda aside i'll focus on just the one thing….

No matter how much you try to dress it up, there's no way Levy can be described as a medium. Dwarf, Extra Small, Midget or Munchkim yes, but medium? I mean, come onnnnnn…..

Another example of the BSoDL dressing the salad to suit…….

This is what I think of Levy. The "covered in hair" aspect doesn't apply for obvious reasons.

 

[Bus-Conductor]

I waver between liking and disliking Levy. I'm still convinced that some investment in the squad in Harry's last January window with us, or paying the extra for Moutinho in AVB's first season, would have considerably improved our chances of qualifying for the CL. In turn, we would have recouped a lot of that cash through CL money, would have been in a better position to keep our star players, and would have been a more attractive prospect for new players. It seems that after Bent and Bentley, Levy is no longer a believer in the 'speculate to accumulate' ethos.

Our current squad is good, but it's not 'top four' good, so I hope he's not expecting that from Pochettino. Unfortunately a lot of our fans will not accept watching us slip further away from the CL contenders (which is what I suspect will happen), and it won't surprise me if this leads to an increasingly hostile atmosphere at the Lane (or at least on a par with the last days of the AVB era), a negative mood in the squad, and more than likely, fans directing their frustration at Pochettino. I'll be very impressed if Pochettino does well enough to still have a job this time next year (though obviously I hope he's given time).

On the other hand, Levy has provided us with a top of the range training facility at no small cost, and is well on the way to sorting out the new stadium, whilst overseeing a sustained period of European football and top half finishes.

Things could be a lot worse, but I can't help the feeling that some better investment, and occasionally paying over the odds for the sake of his manager and the squad, would have put us in a much better position, both financially and competitively.

I agree with plenty of that but just want to take issue with the "better investment" or "last window of Redknapp" and "Moutinho" stuff.

I agree that those investments and at other times, investment in the right player could have made a footballing difference.

The problem is, that will always be a truism in football. Not just for us but for almost every team, every year. At some point you have to draw a line, and wherever you draw that line you will always be that one signing away from the quantum improvement.

I would have loved Moutinho and think he would have made a huge difference. But I understand that no single purchase is worth compromising financial security. And even if we'd signed him and he improved us our rivals with more money would just go out and buy more weapons. And we are never going to win an arms race.

 

[Spurger King]

I agree with plenty of that but just want to take issue with the "better investment" or "last window of Redknapp" and "Moutinho" stuff.

I agree that those investments and at other times, investment in the right player could have made a footballing difference.

The problem is, that will always be a truism in football. Not just for us but for almost every team, every year. At some point you have to draw a line, and wherever you draw that line you will always be that one signing away from the quantum improvement.

I would have loved Moutinho and think he would have made a huge difference. But I understand that no single purchase is worth compromising financial security. And even if we'd signed him and he improved us our rivals with more money would just go out and buy more weapons. And we are never going to win an arms race.

I get where you're coming from, but I still feel that in those cases Levy drew the line in the wrong place. With Moutinho he publicly stated he wanted to work with AVB again, and would have been as close to a replacement for Modric as we could get. The fact that it sounds like he wanted to come should not be downplayed - for years we all read stories in the papers about how we had thrown money at players, only for them to turn us down. That signing would have been a huge statement of intent, a massive vote of confidence in AVB, and the perfect way to offset the sales of Modric and VDV.

I was at the Norwich game right after that summer's transfer window closed, and the mood among the fans (as far as I could discern) was very negative even before we'd kicked off. So many people feeling downbeat about the window, and the club's ambition. That mood carried over to the game, and ended with a large number of fans booing AVB's second ever home game, as we drew 1-1. Wouldn't it have made more sense to spend heavily on one player, rather than on Dembele, Dempsey, and Siggy? This is not hindsight - I and others felt that way at the time. It made sense in so many ways to bring him in, but instead Levy tried to spread his bets and inevitably it backfired.

As for the 'last window of Redknapp' stuff - we didn't need to spend big...just wisely. Instead we chose to deplete our squad depth at a critical time, and try to paper over the cracks with short-term (and ultimately ineffectual) solutions like Nelsen and Saha. We would have been better off sticking with what we had, but (to be fair, somewhat understandably) Levy chose to take the opportunity to cash in on Pav, Gio, Corluka, and Pienaar. Granted they weren't pulling up trees for us, but certainly would have been better options to have for the last few months of that season.

As for the arms race...our 'rivals' are already in one with each other anyway. Our spending wouldn't make much difference to how they go about their business. Nobody is expecting us to compete financially with the billionaires, but my overall impression is that Levy's brinkmanship may have saved us a bit of money short-term, but has cost us financially and competitively in the long-run.

 

[Bus-Conductor]

I get where you're coming from, but I still feel that in those cases Levy drew the line in the wrong place. With Moutinho he publicly stated he wanted to work with AVB again, and would have been as close to a replacement for Modric as we could get. The fact that it sounds like he wanted to come should not be downplayed - for years we all read stories in the papers about how we had thrown money at players, only for them to turn us down. That signing would have been a huge statement of intent, a massive vote of confidence in AVB, and the perfect way to offset the sales of Modric and VDV.

I was at the Norwich game right after that summer's transfer window closed, and the mood among the fans (as far as I could discern) was very negative even before we'd kicked off. So many people feeling downbeat about the window, and the club's ambition. That mood carried over to the game, and ended with a large number of fans booing AVB's second ever home game, as we drew 1-1. Wouldn't it have made more sense to spend heavily on one player, rather than on Dembele, Dempsey, and Siggy? This is not hindsight - I and others felt that way at the time. It made sense in so many ways to bring him in, but instead Levy tried to spread his bets and inevitably it backfired.

As for the 'last window of Redknapp' stuff - we didn't need to spend big...just wisely. Instead we chose to deplete our squad depth at a critical time, and try to paper over the cracks with short-term (and ultimately ineffectual) solutions like Nelsen and Saha. We would have been better off sticking with what we had, but (to be fair, somewhat understandably) Levy chose to take the opportunity to cash in on Pav, Gio, Corluka, and Pienaar. Granted they weren't pulling up trees for us, but certainly would have been better options to have for the last few months of that season.

As for the arms race...our 'rivals' are already in one with each other anyway. Our spending wouldn't make much difference to how they go about their business. Nobody is expecting us to compete financially with the billionaires, but my overall impression is that Levy's brinkmanship may have saved us a bit of money short-term, but has cost us financially and competitively in the long-run.

I'm not sure whether Levy was making the decisions to cash in on those player, I'm sure he wouldn't be selling players like that if managers weren't telling him they didn't want them.

The rest is all a bit hard to discern fact from fiction for mortals like us. I would have definitely preferred Moutinho to Dembele, Siggy and Dempsey but if Porto are saying in July they want the buy out 30m€ then we (the committee inc Levy) probably decided to move on and hope players like Dembele and Sig could turn potential into product.

If they'd have stuck to that line and we'd have tried to wait it out and not bought the likes of Dembele and Sig, everyone would almost certainly be mooing about why there was no plan B and C etc. As with players like Arshavin and Damiao.

Fuck knows what anyone on the committee was thinking re Dempsey, I will never figure that one.

 

[prawnsandwich]

9m and Rodriguez for Townsend?????

Id accept 9 quid and Rod and fucking Emu.

Luckily you are not involved in any Spurs transfers.

 

[prawnsandwich]

View attachment 15298

This is what I think of Levy. The "covered in hair" aspect doesn't apply for obvious reasons.

YOUR so wise?

 

[bigpalacios]

Luckily you are not involved in any Spurs transfers.

Why? Rod and Emu would be like Ardiles and Villa all over again.

 

[Everlasting Seconds]

I get where you're coming from, but I still feel that in those cases Levy drew the line in the wrong place. With Moutinho he publicly stated he wanted to work with AVB again, and would have been as close to a replacement for Modric as we could get. The fact that it sounds like he wanted to come should not be downplayed - for years we all read stories in the papers about how we had thrown money at players, only for them to turn us down. That signing would have been a huge statement of intent, a massive vote of confidence in AVB, and the perfect way to offset the sales of Modric and VDV.

I was at the Norwich game right after that summer's transfer window closed, and the mood among the fans (as far as I could discern) was very negative even before we'd kicked off. So many people feeling downbeat about the window, and the club's ambition. That mood carried over to the game, and ended with a large number of fans booing AVB's second ever home game, as we drew 1-1. Wouldn't it have made more sense to spend heavily on one player, rather than on Dembele, Dempsey, and Siggy? This is not hindsight - I and others felt that way at the time. It made sense in so many ways to bring him in, but instead Levy tried to spread his bets and inevitably it backfired.

As for the 'last window of Redknapp' stuff - we didn't need to spend big...just wisely. Instead we chose to deplete our squad depth at a critical time, and try to paper over the cracks with short-term (and ultimately ineffectual) solutions like Nelsen and Saha. We would have been better off sticking with what we had, but (to be fair, somewhat understandably) Levy chose to take the opportunity to cash in on Pav, Gio, Corluka, and Pienaar. Granted they weren't pulling up trees for us, but certainly would have been better options to have for the last few months of that season.

As for the arms race...our 'rivals' are already in one with each other anyway. Our spending wouldn't make much difference to how they go about their business. Nobody is expecting us to compete financially with the billionaires, but my overall impression is that Levy's brinkmanship may have saved us a bit of money short-term, but has cost us financially and competitively in the long-run.

Adding to that the season of finishing 4th but not progressing to CL, which is just plain bad luck. You are correct in everything you are saying, and when we also were deprived of a second run in CL, I think the club, as far as a top-4 club goes, became messed up.

 

[fatpiranha]

Fuck knows what anyone on the committee was thinking re Dempsey, I will never figure that one.

They were probably thinking "Here's a guy who scored 23 goals last season which is 5 more than any of our strikers got and he only costs £6M".

 

[Blackrat1299]

Why? Rod and Emu would be like Ardiles and Villa all over again.

We know who would be up who's arse!

 

[RuskyM]

I'm confused, we're buying an emu?