OK, don’t get round to posting much as I have a very busy high pressure job and I had a desk in full view of my boss.... anyway, I now have an assistant (a man city fan ) to do all my work and a desk in a nice quiet office where I can concentrate on the more important things in life… like discussing the mighty spurs
Anyway, I have been reading posts with interest regarding our start to the season and AVB, and it seems that opinion is well and truly split on AVB after some poor performances (not hoping for another AVB debate by the way), but my question is more to do with the performance of our chairman - who also seems to split opinion on here.
I think we all seem to agree that Levy is doing a good job of running a tight ship and securing the long term security of our club. He also does a great job of getting players on long contracts and thus securing top dollar for players when they want to leave (Arsenal take note )….
However, is Levy making the right decisions to bring success to our club? And is he in touch with what we the fans want or is he just making spurs an attractive prospect for sale in the future to make profit for him and Joe Lewis?
One argument is this – that Levy has missed out big time over the past few seasons in establishing us as a top 4 side by his penny pinching, and thus has missed out on the financial benefits which that (would normally ) bring. We all know how we are literally desperate for a striker of real class that would make the difference. Harry mentioned it after the qualified for the CL a while back – that Torres type signing that would make the difference. I think we all thought that with CL qualification that a big name signing would be on the way, but over two years later we are still waiting. We have got a lot of money through the door since then, mostly for squad players, which sadly has not been reinvested by buying top quality players that we needed to push on. Perhaps Levy has been keeping us on very sound financial footing in order to get the stadium built, which is commendable, but with no CL football and an un-entertaining product on show due to the cashing in of our best players, will we struggle to fill the stadium? And would we ever get the investment required if we are not in the CL? Surely the best thing to have done was to spend the big bucks, secure our long term CL place at the expense of the other penny pinchers Arsenal, and use the ongoing CL revenue to fund our stadium and ongoing investment in the squad?
Levy =
The other argument is this – that Levy has done exactly the right thing in being prudent and has kept us there or thereabouts at the right end of the table with a young squad full of players on long contracts without spending hardly any money at all after taking players sales into account. Thus, within the next few years we will be able to afford to build the stadium without getting into unserviceable levels of debt and increase our spending power, just as the FFP rules some into play which will level the playing field with the clubs which are being kept afloat with high debt levels or Arab / Russian money. This has been the right thing to do as it secures the long term success of the club. Torres type signings were always a pipe dream anyway as we could never afford the wages without breaking our wages structure. In any case, buying one or two players for 30m+ would not have guaranteed CL football anyhow (see Leeds, Liverpool, Chelsea) and it would have put us in a risky situation which could have set us back years and jeopardised the new stadium if we did not get CL money. Better to invest small amounts on young players and on keeping a competitive squad together until we have the resources to compete.
Levy =
So which camp are you in? Has Levy done the right thing, or has his penny pinching ways set us back years and let Chelsea and Arsenal off the hook, just as we had the momentum to overtake them?
Discuss
Levy - Good or Bad?
posted on 6/11/12
To spend or not to spend..
The time to splash the cash was summer 2011 when we had CL money. The board split the procedes and put half (around 30m) into the new stadium and academy.
A mixture of Levy's negotiating skills and a strict wage structure saw us miss out on big names and end up with Saha
Investing the money that could have been splashed on Damiao has hurt us in the short term but protected our future. I think the same reasoning applied to the signing of a young, ambitious manager.
I want to see us sign top players but I can appreciate the direction the club is going in. For those reasons I hope AVB is given time because if it works we could be amazing in a season or two.. with a signing or two
posted on 6/11/12
Levy is doing a good job for Spurs overall but has left us with a weaker squad than last season.
I understand that money will no doubt be going towards the new stadium but a couple of outstanding signings would give us a real chance of making the top 4 this season.
With the current squad we wont make the top 4, it is simply not good enough to ride several injuries.
It wouldnt be so hard to except if we could actually start to see a few bricks being laid and the new stadium work begin........ but it frustratingly all seems to be taking forever and I am sick of waiting.
posted on 6/11/12
Lots of Spurs fans seem to be saying Levy should be have invested in one, hopefully two superstars, rather then half a dozen merely "good" players to establish you as a contestant CL team.
Problem is until you become an established CL team it's near impossible to attract those star players. A squad of "good" players is needed, to get a CL place two years in a row before any superstar will come.
This is true of any team, even city promising massive wages couldn't get the biggest names until they were already a top four team.
posted on 6/11/12
Dramatic Exit
Nothing to do with top four. Basically if you offer any player loads of money, wherever you are in the league they will come. If Spurs reached top four, and offered a player say £70 grand a week, and another club finished 12th and offered them £150 grand a week, where do you think that player is going to go. And Spurs are not going to offer silly wages, and I don`t blame them. Football will implode with the current wage and transfer structures.
Nothing clever about keep raising the bar on wages and transfer fees.
posted on 6/11/12
Comment Deleted by Site Moderator
posted on 6/11/12
Sandy
Maybe, but the sort of superstar some are talking about would be attracting more offers than a simple either or.
Of course wages offered need to be competitive, but many players, most even still desire the kudos that comes from playing at the very top. Although maybe I'm guilty of wishful thinking on that.
posted on 6/11/12
"Exactly, if the good and bad results had been more evenly spaced last season people would say he did a great job to get 4th and was just incredibly unlucky that it wasn't enough."
But he didn't. So we didn't.
But we did judge him on what he let slip.
And giving credence to the school of thought that he cannot cut it when both the expectation and pressure is well and truly on at the higher levels.
posted on 7/11/12
We bought Bent, Defoe back, Pav and Ade. Levy did his bit then and will do so again when the deal is right.
I am hoping that the right deal will be done in January.
posted on 7/11/12
I cant see this Levy could have signed one player instead of two and then could have paid 100 k a week.
Dont you think the current players would immediately be knocking on Levy's door cos I know I would. If I was signed and told that the maximum Spurs would pay would be 70 k a week and that was my wage then fine but if all of a sudden a new signing came in earning more than me I would be less than happy.
Levy in general has done great for Spurs but when it comes to managers he really seems to get it wrong. Ignore my AVB thoughts and talk about others.
The way he got rid of BMJ was simply disgraceful for a start. The Ramos appointment was a disaster as was the Santini one.
He also sacked a manager just before a cup semi final if my memory serves me well. A manager he should never have appointed in mine and a lot of other fans eyes.
On the business / financial side he is excellent and has backed most managers with as much cash as the club could afford at the time but manager wise he always seems to get something wrong IMO.
For the record I am 100% in agreement with the strict wage cap and not going ridiculous in the transfer market. We may not see Spurs win the prem in my lifetime but at least I know I wont see them go bust again I saw that once and once was more than enough
posted on 7/11/12
"We may not see Spurs win the prem in my lifetime but at least I know I wont see them go bust again I saw that once and once was more than enough"
Which those who have no memory/understanding of Spurs circa 1991 fail to realise.
But there is a flaw in that argument : ENIC are not paupers. They don't have to do a Sugga Daddy FC, but they could inject more capital now for 1/2 key players if the ROI is making Spurs a CL piggie trough incumbent.