Is the club’s finances in more dire straights than we are aware of?
This would explain the apparent policy of only looking to recruit a manager that is available and for which no compensation needs to be paid.
It also would explain the “policy" of not trying to go all out to win something on the basis that Levy has conceded that we can no longer compete with Man City, Man United, Chelsea, Liverpool and now Leicester for honours or CL positions.
Finally, this would also explain why he seems poised to offer the manager’s job to Fonseca – someone who failed to get Roma into the CL positions in Italy and was then sacked as a result. Roma finished 7th and therefore qualified for the European Conference League as we have done. This is obviously not a choice based on his CV.
I really do wish Fonseca well (if his appointment is confirmed), but I am resigning myself to the idea that we’re going to be a mid table (or just above) club for a few more seasons until the club’s finances improve. Although the irony is that, success on the field is what is required to improve finances.
Has Levy Raised The White Flag?
posted on 10/6/21
comment by Huddlestone's Afro - Rock you like a HurriKane! (U15375)
posted 16 minutes ago
I'd take new owners in a flash but I think we lose our perspective sometimes about where the club is - tell it to Saints fans who lose their best players every year, or Newcastle fans with Ashley in charge, or anybody outside of the top 6-8.
Spurs were in a cycle that should have ended with a trophy won in the first year of the new stadium - we didn't. Levy got desperate and tried to force the window open for an extra season or 2 with 'Mr Trophy' himself, that failed too.
Look, bottom line is that Levy should have gone, instead he's hired a DoF to start the cycle again. Spurs are rebuilding and this talk of not being ambitious enough is just naive in my opinion.
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Why is it naive?
If you look at the possible appointments Levy could have made then this has all the hallmarks of a club lacking in ambition. Removing Poch and Conte from the debate for a second, if you're looking for the types that share the same progressive ethos the club wants then you'd probably say that Ten Hag and Potter are the two that share that profile. One has taken Ajax to the CL semis playing amazing football and dominating the Dutch League. The other has taken a stagnant Brighton team that previously defended their way to scrape survival every year and turned them into a smart, well oiled attacking team with an xG the top clubs look at with envy. These are just two managers that fit the profile AND have a clear pedigree of success. They're also both at clubs meaning they will require a compensation fee for their services.
Then theres Fonseca. A journeyman with 11 clubs in 15 years as manager. His only real experience of top level management is in Serie A, where he failed to get Roman anywhere near CL football and won 4 out of 24 games against the top 8 in the league. They finished 7th last year before he was sacked and replaced with the man we've just sacked. He's also one of very few managers to take charge of Porto and not win the league. I believe he finished third. He has virtually no track record that would suggest this is a man on the up. He's plateaued at being very, very average. He's been at it for 15 years. He's not exactly an apprentice. Oh, but guess what, he's free and won't cost the club a penny.
THAT's why this stinks of a lack of ambition. I'd love to hear your reasons to the contrary.
posted on 10/6/21
Fonseca is much better than some of the overzealous comments on here
posted on 10/6/21
*would leave you to believe
posted on 10/6/21
comment by Edinspur - voted Spurs poster of the year 20-21 (U1109)
posted 2 minutes ago
Fonseca is much better than some of the overzealous comments on here
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Care to elaborate? It's very easy to come on here and play the pragmatist but what hard evidence do you have that this is anything other than a financially driven, cut costs appointment.
My guess is you don't know diddlysquat about Fonseca. Not saying I do other than the bits I've read in the last 24 hours but I can't stand it when fans start pouring cold water on our anger just because they think they know more than than the rest of us. Prove it.
posted on 10/6/21
comment by Citizen Smeg. Viva la revolution (U6574)
posted 26 minutes ago
The rumours are we have been turned down by everyone we have approached and this Roma bloke is the best we could get that would accept.
If that’s true then wow. Just wow.
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Can't imagine why Ten Hag would turn Spurs down, when it's been publicly and repeatedly made clear that he's 5th choice at best
This really has been bungled.
posted on 10/6/21
Lolol look here Fridge, I know it’s your M.O. to come on here and get unnecessarily hysterical and petulant. However there is no ‘pragmatism’ about it, it’s reacting to the situation like a grown up.
We hired a DOF to be in charge for footballing issues - one of his main jobs is to appoint the manager. Our DOF has Fonseca as one of his top candidates - it’s pretty simple.
Regarding the manager himself? I’ve known about him for a while and have said on numerous occasions that Everton should have signed him when he left Shakhtar. He did a brilliant job both there and at Braga.
I’ve actually been less impressed with him regarding the job he did at Roma, however the heavy European trouncing’s can be excused as that’s part of their DNA.
posted on 10/6/21
comment by fridgeboy (U1053)
posted 1 hour, 49 minutes ago
comment by Huddlestone's Afro - Rock you like a HurriKane! (U15375)
posted 16 minutes ago
I'd take new owners in a flash but I think we lose our perspective sometimes about where the club is - tell it to Saints fans who lose their best players every year, or Newcastle fans with Ashley in charge, or anybody outside of the top 6-8.
Spurs were in a cycle that should have ended with a trophy won in the first year of the new stadium - we didn't. Levy got desperate and tried to force the window open for an extra season or 2 with 'Mr Trophy' himself, that failed too.
Look, bottom line is that Levy should have gone, instead he's hired a DoF to start the cycle again. Spurs are rebuilding and this talk of not being ambitious enough is just naive in my opinion.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Why is it naive?
If you look at the possible appointments Levy could have made then this has all the hallmarks of a club lacking in ambition. Removing Poch and Conte from the debate for a second, if you're looking for the types that share the same progressive ethos the club wants then you'd probably say that Ten Hag and Potter are the two that share that profile. One has taken Ajax to the CL semis playing amazing football and dominating the Dutch League. The other has taken a stagnant Brighton team that previously defended their way to scrape survival every year and turned them into a smart, well oiled attacking team with an xG the top clubs look at with envy. These are just two managers that fit the profile AND have a clear pedigree of success. They're also both at clubs meaning they will require a compensation fee for their services.
Then theres Fonseca. A journeyman with 11 clubs in 15 years as manager. His only real experience of top level management is in Serie A, where he failed to get Roman anywhere near CL football and won 4 out of 24 games against the top 8 in the league. They finished 7th last year before he was sacked and replaced with the man we've just sacked. He's also one of very few managers to take charge of Porto and not win the league. I believe he finished third. He has virtually no track record that would suggest this is a man on the up. He's plateaued at being very, very average. He's been at it for 15 years. He's not exactly an apprentice. Oh, but guess what, he's free and won't cost the club a penny.
THAT's why this stinks of a lack of ambition. I'd love to hear your reasons to the contrary.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I respect your point of view here and I'm as frustrated as anyone but I personally think that there's ambition and then there's blind foolishness. Going for Poch and Conte WAS ambitious, paying the price to get either of them was too much to ask - that's not a lack of ambition it's pragmatism.
Levy then handed the search over to the new DoF and he picked his man. I'm sure the lack of compensation helped but I personally think that anybody outside of Poch and Conte is a complete coin filp, so why not go for someone who will gel with the new DoF.
posted on 10/6/21
comment by Huddlestone's Afro - Rock you like a HurriKane! (U15375)
posted 31 minutes ago
comment by fridgeboy (U1053)
posted 1 hour, 49 minutes ago
comment by Huddlestone's Afro - Rock you like a HurriKane! (U15375)
posted 16 minutes ago
I'd take new owners in a flash but I think we lose our perspective sometimes about where the club is - tell it to Saints fans who lose their best players every year, or Newcastle fans with Ashley in charge, or anybody outside of the top 6-8.
Spurs were in a cycle that should have ended with a trophy won in the first year of the new stadium - we didn't. Levy got desperate and tried to force the window open for an extra season or 2 with 'Mr Trophy' himself, that failed too.
Look, bottom line is that Levy should have gone, instead he's hired a DoF to start the cycle again. Spurs are rebuilding and this talk of not being ambitious enough is just naive in my opinion.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Why is it naive?
If you look at the possible appointments Levy could have made then this has all the hallmarks of a club lacking in ambition. Removing Poch and Conte from the debate for a second, if you're looking for the types that share the same progressive ethos the club wants then you'd probably say that Ten Hag and Potter are the two that share that profile. One has taken Ajax to the CL semis playing amazing football and dominating the Dutch League. The other has taken a stagnant Brighton team that previously defended their way to scrape survival every year and turned them into a smart, well oiled attacking team with an xG the top clubs look at with envy. These are just two managers that fit the profile AND have a clear pedigree of success. They're also both at clubs meaning they will require a compensation fee for their services.
Then theres Fonseca. A journeyman with 11 clubs in 15 years as manager. His only real experience of top level management is in Serie A, where he failed to get Roman anywhere near CL football and won 4 out of 24 games against the top 8 in the league. They finished 7th last year before he was sacked and replaced with the man we've just sacked. He's also one of very few managers to take charge of Porto and not win the league. I believe he finished third. He has virtually no track record that would suggest this is a man on the up. He's plateaued at being very, very average. He's been at it for 15 years. He's not exactly an apprentice. Oh, but guess what, he's free and won't cost the club a penny.
THAT's why this stinks of a lack of ambition. I'd love to hear your reasons to the contrary.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I respect your point of view here and I'm as frustrated as anyone but I personally think that there's ambition and then there's blind foolishness. Going for Poch and Conte WAS ambitious, paying the price to get either of them was too much to ask - that's not a lack of ambition it's pragmatism.
Levy then handed the search over to the new DoF and he picked his man. I'm sure the lack of compensation helped but I personally think that anybody outside of Poch and Conte is a complete coin filp, so why not go for someone who will gel with the new DoF.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Because surely he has to show some semblance of a manager on an upward trajectory. Sure, he won at Shakhtar but who doesn't?! There might be plenty of managers in League Two that would get on well with Paratici but you wouldn't want them taking charge of the team. You can't just plump for the nearest yes man. Where was Fonseca on his list when he was helping to appoint 4 managers after Conte left Juve? Nowhere.
This is clearly an appointment advised by Paratici based on the financial restrictions the club have laid out. It seems convenient that he's gone for a manager in Serie A and not looked elsewhere. What's wrong with Potter? He's employed so he'd cost money.
Sorry, if you pay the most for season tickets in the Premier League then you expect the same level of investment from the club elsewhere. If they can be frugal, so can we. I'll pocket that money and spend it on something worthwhile.
posted on 10/6/21
someone who failed to get Roma into the CL positions in Italy and was then sacked as a result.
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He wasn't sacked, they just didn't renew his contract. It might seem like a minor difference but facts are important.
posted on 10/6/21
comment by ● Billy The Yidd ● 2020* 2021* (U3924)
posted 10 hours, 4 minutes ago
We are essentially owned by a multi billionaire, if there is a reason why Lewis could not loan the club £200m - £300m or whatever, I would love to hear it.
The problem is, ENIC are insistent on running the club at a profit at all times, they will not speculate to accumulate or compromise the balance sheet.
Best business practice this may be, but it has already proven that it will not put trophies in the cabinet, or keep top players.
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As I have said previously, Joe Lewis and Tavistock expect all their satellite companies like THFC Plc to operate as stand alone businesses. If they cannot manage that then Lewis and Tavistock will not bail them out.
Would you rather have the Glazers, who have robbed United blind?🤔🤬😤