Scutch
SpursCommunity Jedi Master
- Jun 8, 2003
- 6,734
- 4,132
Might as well post this in here, too. Bit of a long post, stick with it if you like, if not, no big deal 
Management
Well, if the honeymoon period wasn't over and done with, it certainly seems to be now. Redknapp's last 50+ games in win/loss/draw format replicate that of Juande Ramos, the man he replaced. Last season was hardly disappointing as far as defeats go - only 8 all season, but the lack of a top class striker was very telling, drawing far too many games in which we should have won. Securing a Europa league place was the best we could have achieved in the end, and a superb rare win at Liverpool cemented that for us. Redknapp has taken the blame from many in the transfer window for failing to make up his mind regarding players, with many feeling his tendency to go for the older, more experienced players is not what this club should be aiming towards. Rumoured clashes with Levy over targets and his running mouth to the press all but contributing to an uneasy start to the season, both on the pitch and off it.
Those that expect Redknapp to leave seem to believe that Carlo Ancelotti would be the man to replace him. That's a fair assumption, but could also be way off the mark. Ancelotti would cost a lot of money, not only in breaking his contractual stipulation with Chelsea, but his wages would be huge. Add to that his certain need to spend money in the transfer market and Levy may well be thinking this over a little too much. Perhaps Harry was employed because of his "wheeler dealer" attidude when it comes to spending the chairman's money; bargain basement, loans and free transfers. Maybe a manager like David Moyes would suit Levy more than the Italian. Clearly not one who needs to spend big to get the best out of a team, thus saving Levy money. He may be a Spurs supporter but he's also a business man and he's looking after his best interests, whether we like it or not. I can't see Levy or ENIC selling up, especially with the stadium situation still to be sorted. So we'll have to make do with a few more managerial comings and goings before we see the back of the top line hierachy. Some may be pleased, some may not. It's all about opinions.
Incomings
Well, where to start? Along with the Modric fiasco, certainly the biggest disappointment by far has been our shambolic dealings in bringing players to the club. I think it's been 3 months now we've had the opportunity to enter negotations for players. You could actually argue that it's been more like 2 years. I realise deals can be complicated and drawn out, but bloody hell how can it be so difficult to stump up the cash for players clearly on our radar and within our limits? Vucinic, Leandro, Forlan, Nilmar, Ruiz, Huntelaar, Rossi, Llorente... the list goes on. Ok, some of those players may have been non-starters, but I believe any one of them would improve our strikeforce and were achievable had we sorted out our indecisions and actually put the money on the table, instead of trying to barter by offering far less, being told to do one and then leaving it until last minute to go back in with the same offer. History shows us that tactics like that rarely work. The selling club have no time to get in a replacement and therefore have to reject regardless. Get the business done early and there's no frantic rushing around at the last minute. What is so hard to understand about that? I'm not a business man and I can see the logic in finalising things early, even if it does cost me a little bit extra. Oh, the money. That's the problem right there. It's not that we haven't got it to spend, it's that the chairman want's the best possible deal he can get otherwise it's not happening and we move on to the next target. Eventually we're down to scraping the barrel on deadline day and throwing our money at every club we can, knowing they'll refuse to budge but saving us face in the process because we tried. No we didn't try. We've got Levy seemingly refusing to pay wages and Redknapp not knowing who he wants or whether they'll improve us. Well, in my opinion, Bryan Ruiz would be a better option than Joe Cole. He may cost more, but he's younger, quicker, just as skillful and can score goals. Why is Harry saying he's not what we need and then says he'd love Joe Cole at the club? What the hell for? We've got Pienaar already who's a squad player at best. Joe Cole would be another Pienaar.
Scott Parker - another player that Harry rates. He's tenacious and can win the ball, but he's getting older, his legs are going much like Robbie Keane's did and he's turned us down on 3 separate occasions for more money. Now West Ham have been relegated and no one else seems to want him, in comes Harry to save his day. I'll be honest, I want us to sign him. Not because I think he's what we need, but because I've got that desperate now for us to do something productive.
So, we've finally signed a decent striker. Fantastic. Don't get me wrong, Adebayor is a fine signing. I was delighted when we got him in. A loan deal isn't normally ideal, but I guess it's a no brainer in this case. We simply can't afford his wages, so fair play to City for subsidising. Thanks for those 5 goals they put past us, too. Triffic. If he does well, we may purchase him at the end of the season. I've no idea how that would work, but I guess that's for the chairman and new manager to decide. If he's not what we need, we send him back to City. Sorted.
In that respect, Adebayor is arguably the best we could have got. Hopefully he'll replay us in goals and contributions to winning points.
Brad Friedel. 40 years old, in 2 games he's conceded 8 goals, yet he's prevented us from shipping at least 15, with some of his saves top drawer. Seems to be our new number 1. Again, splits opinions, but with a solid back line in front of him, things can only get better.
I won't mention Coulibaly or Ceballos, as they'll be used in the reserve team, but I will question our loan move for Yago Falque. What's going on there, then? Teams usually loan out players on the basis that they'll be getting regular first team football. Infact, even the players should be expecting this otherwise they may as well stay with their parent club or look to move somewhere else. Harry coming out and claiming he'll be used in the Europa and Carling Cup games is hardly pen to paper worthy. A truly baffling signing.
There are so many more things worth mentioning with regards to incomings, but the downfall is clear to all: We always seem to leave it far too late to conclude our business. When will we learn? How many more mistakes will it take?
Outgoings
Who would have thought with 1 day to go we'd have our deadwood still at the club? Hutton, Bassong, Jenas, Giovani, Bentley, Crouch/Pavlyuchenko. The majority of those guys should have gone by now to free up squad places and wage allocations. They aren't going to be shifted in the next day, so we'll be left with them - or certainly the majority of them. I'm pleasantly surprised we managed to offload Robbie Keane - he wouldn't have gone to the Championship so we were very lucky that LA Galaxy made a move for him when they did. Add to that the departures of Jamie O'Hara and Jonathan Woodgate. Around £8m sales, so far. Wilson Palacios should be a Stoke player soon which will vacate another squad place and add to our funds, but that's about how far we've got with outgoings. Players have been linked with moves away, but none have materialised, yet. Disappointing.
I think the biggest shock this window were the comments made by Luka Modric. This shy and down to earth chap who wouldn't say boo to a goose, freely speaking in an interview about his desire to join Chelsea, who he deemed to be a bigger club than Tottenham - the club he signed a 6 year contract with not long prior. This saga has taken over our window, involving and disrupting not only our pre-season and first 2 games, but also the hierachy at the club, from chairman level all the way through to the players. At this stage it would have to be deemed suicidal to give in to Chelsea's ever increasing offer. How Luka will respond to that when the clock strikes and he's still contracted to Spurs will be very interesting, certainly for the weeks and months ahead. You have to weigh up whether we should accept a £35m - £40m offer now, knowing we won't get a replacement in within a day, but having the money to then spend in January. Or don't accept, save face and look strong from the statements made, and perhaps never again receive such an offer as Chelsea look elsewhere.
From my perspective, it's quite clear : Luka, man up, sit down and shut up. You're going nowhere, deal with it.
ITK's
To put it simply, how many leaks do we have at this club? We've had more ITK's this summer alone than we've had combined over the last 2 years, IMO. Some of them clearly talking far too much about things they don't know about, while others just claiming Twitter and newspaper stories as ITK. There are certainly a fair few who are trusted, a few on Spurscommunity alone who we owe huge credence and several more who have passed on top quality information over the last few years. A massive :clap: to you guys. Imagine a window or season with no insider information or rumours to get us talking about. They don't have to share the knowledge they have, but I for one am very humbled that they do.
1 day to go
Expectations? Sadly, it's gotten to that stage once again where I feel we've left it too late. A predicament we've seen ourselves in many times over. The January window was horrible closing to a late Charlie Adam bid, and only the van der Vaart signing last year saved that window, even though the fax machine almost screwed that up, too. We've not got a lot of time to build on our success of last season and certainly the season before. But if we don't do something right in the hours that we have left, things could start to go badly wrong.
Far too many City's, far too many United's, only 1 Hotspur. To dare is to do
Management
Well, if the honeymoon period wasn't over and done with, it certainly seems to be now. Redknapp's last 50+ games in win/loss/draw format replicate that of Juande Ramos, the man he replaced. Last season was hardly disappointing as far as defeats go - only 8 all season, but the lack of a top class striker was very telling, drawing far too many games in which we should have won. Securing a Europa league place was the best we could have achieved in the end, and a superb rare win at Liverpool cemented that for us. Redknapp has taken the blame from many in the transfer window for failing to make up his mind regarding players, with many feeling his tendency to go for the older, more experienced players is not what this club should be aiming towards. Rumoured clashes with Levy over targets and his running mouth to the press all but contributing to an uneasy start to the season, both on the pitch and off it.
Those that expect Redknapp to leave seem to believe that Carlo Ancelotti would be the man to replace him. That's a fair assumption, but could also be way off the mark. Ancelotti would cost a lot of money, not only in breaking his contractual stipulation with Chelsea, but his wages would be huge. Add to that his certain need to spend money in the transfer market and Levy may well be thinking this over a little too much. Perhaps Harry was employed because of his "wheeler dealer" attidude when it comes to spending the chairman's money; bargain basement, loans and free transfers. Maybe a manager like David Moyes would suit Levy more than the Italian. Clearly not one who needs to spend big to get the best out of a team, thus saving Levy money. He may be a Spurs supporter but he's also a business man and he's looking after his best interests, whether we like it or not. I can't see Levy or ENIC selling up, especially with the stadium situation still to be sorted. So we'll have to make do with a few more managerial comings and goings before we see the back of the top line hierachy. Some may be pleased, some may not. It's all about opinions.
Incomings
Well, where to start? Along with the Modric fiasco, certainly the biggest disappointment by far has been our shambolic dealings in bringing players to the club. I think it's been 3 months now we've had the opportunity to enter negotations for players. You could actually argue that it's been more like 2 years. I realise deals can be complicated and drawn out, but bloody hell how can it be so difficult to stump up the cash for players clearly on our radar and within our limits? Vucinic, Leandro, Forlan, Nilmar, Ruiz, Huntelaar, Rossi, Llorente... the list goes on. Ok, some of those players may have been non-starters, but I believe any one of them would improve our strikeforce and were achievable had we sorted out our indecisions and actually put the money on the table, instead of trying to barter by offering far less, being told to do one and then leaving it until last minute to go back in with the same offer. History shows us that tactics like that rarely work. The selling club have no time to get in a replacement and therefore have to reject regardless. Get the business done early and there's no frantic rushing around at the last minute. What is so hard to understand about that? I'm not a business man and I can see the logic in finalising things early, even if it does cost me a little bit extra. Oh, the money. That's the problem right there. It's not that we haven't got it to spend, it's that the chairman want's the best possible deal he can get otherwise it's not happening and we move on to the next target. Eventually we're down to scraping the barrel on deadline day and throwing our money at every club we can, knowing they'll refuse to budge but saving us face in the process because we tried. No we didn't try. We've got Levy seemingly refusing to pay wages and Redknapp not knowing who he wants or whether they'll improve us. Well, in my opinion, Bryan Ruiz would be a better option than Joe Cole. He may cost more, but he's younger, quicker, just as skillful and can score goals. Why is Harry saying he's not what we need and then says he'd love Joe Cole at the club? What the hell for? We've got Pienaar already who's a squad player at best. Joe Cole would be another Pienaar.
Scott Parker - another player that Harry rates. He's tenacious and can win the ball, but he's getting older, his legs are going much like Robbie Keane's did and he's turned us down on 3 separate occasions for more money. Now West Ham have been relegated and no one else seems to want him, in comes Harry to save his day. I'll be honest, I want us to sign him. Not because I think he's what we need, but because I've got that desperate now for us to do something productive.
So, we've finally signed a decent striker. Fantastic. Don't get me wrong, Adebayor is a fine signing. I was delighted when we got him in. A loan deal isn't normally ideal, but I guess it's a no brainer in this case. We simply can't afford his wages, so fair play to City for subsidising. Thanks for those 5 goals they put past us, too. Triffic. If he does well, we may purchase him at the end of the season. I've no idea how that would work, but I guess that's for the chairman and new manager to decide. If he's not what we need, we send him back to City. Sorted.
In that respect, Adebayor is arguably the best we could have got. Hopefully he'll replay us in goals and contributions to winning points.
Brad Friedel. 40 years old, in 2 games he's conceded 8 goals, yet he's prevented us from shipping at least 15, with some of his saves top drawer. Seems to be our new number 1. Again, splits opinions, but with a solid back line in front of him, things can only get better.
I won't mention Coulibaly or Ceballos, as they'll be used in the reserve team, but I will question our loan move for Yago Falque. What's going on there, then? Teams usually loan out players on the basis that they'll be getting regular first team football. Infact, even the players should be expecting this otherwise they may as well stay with their parent club or look to move somewhere else. Harry coming out and claiming he'll be used in the Europa and Carling Cup games is hardly pen to paper worthy. A truly baffling signing.
There are so many more things worth mentioning with regards to incomings, but the downfall is clear to all: We always seem to leave it far too late to conclude our business. When will we learn? How many more mistakes will it take?
Outgoings
Who would have thought with 1 day to go we'd have our deadwood still at the club? Hutton, Bassong, Jenas, Giovani, Bentley, Crouch/Pavlyuchenko. The majority of those guys should have gone by now to free up squad places and wage allocations. They aren't going to be shifted in the next day, so we'll be left with them - or certainly the majority of them. I'm pleasantly surprised we managed to offload Robbie Keane - he wouldn't have gone to the Championship so we were very lucky that LA Galaxy made a move for him when they did. Add to that the departures of Jamie O'Hara and Jonathan Woodgate. Around £8m sales, so far. Wilson Palacios should be a Stoke player soon which will vacate another squad place and add to our funds, but that's about how far we've got with outgoings. Players have been linked with moves away, but none have materialised, yet. Disappointing.
I think the biggest shock this window were the comments made by Luka Modric. This shy and down to earth chap who wouldn't say boo to a goose, freely speaking in an interview about his desire to join Chelsea, who he deemed to be a bigger club than Tottenham - the club he signed a 6 year contract with not long prior. This saga has taken over our window, involving and disrupting not only our pre-season and first 2 games, but also the hierachy at the club, from chairman level all the way through to the players. At this stage it would have to be deemed suicidal to give in to Chelsea's ever increasing offer. How Luka will respond to that when the clock strikes and he's still contracted to Spurs will be very interesting, certainly for the weeks and months ahead. You have to weigh up whether we should accept a £35m - £40m offer now, knowing we won't get a replacement in within a day, but having the money to then spend in January. Or don't accept, save face and look strong from the statements made, and perhaps never again receive such an offer as Chelsea look elsewhere.
From my perspective, it's quite clear : Luka, man up, sit down and shut up. You're going nowhere, deal with it.
ITK's
To put it simply, how many leaks do we have at this club? We've had more ITK's this summer alone than we've had combined over the last 2 years, IMO. Some of them clearly talking far too much about things they don't know about, while others just claiming Twitter and newspaper stories as ITK. There are certainly a fair few who are trusted, a few on Spurscommunity alone who we owe huge credence and several more who have passed on top quality information over the last few years. A massive :clap: to you guys. Imagine a window or season with no insider information or rumours to get us talking about. They don't have to share the knowledge they have, but I for one am very humbled that they do.
1 day to go
Expectations? Sadly, it's gotten to that stage once again where I feel we've left it too late. A predicament we've seen ourselves in many times over. The January window was horrible closing to a late Charlie Adam bid, and only the van der Vaart signing last year saved that window, even though the fax machine almost screwed that up, too. We've not got a lot of time to build on our success of last season and certainly the season before. But if we don't do something right in the hours that we have left, things could start to go badly wrong.
Far too many City's, far too many United's, only 1 Hotspur. To dare is to do
