"Daniel Levy is trigger happy" is a common perception of our chairman, but is he? Bigemc pulls on his rubber gloves and examines the myth, the man, the legend and his managers.
Trigger happy Levy
There is a popular narrative that has been repeated ad nauseam since AVB’s departure in December: Levy is trigger-happy. And, if it’s popular, it must be true. The only problem is that it isn’t.
The pundits are quick to point out that ten managers over the last fifteen years would say otherwise, but that list contains three caretaker managers including Tim Sherwood (let’s be honest, that’s exactly what he was no matter what his contract said). The pundits would say that seven in fifteen years is still not great, and this time they’d be right.
However, it’s no worse an average than any other Premier League team, in fact it’s slightly over the league average of 1.77 seasons per manager. I’m all for having a discussion about whether all teams are trigger happy (they are), but that’s a different conversation.
[linequote]As fans, we have become increasingly demanding of our managers as we have become a more successful team during the last decade[/linequote]
Let’s take this question a step further and look a little closer at Mr. Levy’s record. Of those remaining seven, four of them served as our manager for two or more years. Of those that didn’t one was Santini and one was Ramos. Suddenly, he’s not looking so quick on the draw, at least not compared to the people who really need to take a look at their patience with the gaffer: us. As fans, we have become increasingly demanding of our managers as we have become a more successful team during the last decade.
It’s astonishing how quickly the knives come out for our managers, even the successful ones. Every punter is well within their rights to complain about the manager, but that doesn’t mean they should necessarily exercise that right at the first sign of trouble.
Just look at our most recent bosses: Tim got tossed in at the deep end with no real experience to speak of and AVB lost one of the best players in the world and had to help seven new ones adjust to a new league. Yet we lambasted them for failing to attain that mythical instant glory we seem to crave now.
[linequote]It’s not just Levy who needs to give Pochettino a chance to develop the team, but us as well[/linequote]
With Sherwood, I was as guilty of this as anyone. I voiced my skepticism from day one and struggled not to properly vent my frustration at his strategy, or at least what I perceived as a lack thereof.
Again, everyone of us can have their own opinion of our manager and should voice it, but as Pochettino assumes the reigns at The Lane, it’s not just Levy who needs to give him a chance to develop the team, but us as well.
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8 Comments
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30/05/2014 @ 1:51 pm
Levy is vastly more passionate than we take him for. Fans accuse him of building up the club so as to sell it on but the money that has been invested could of secured a far better return in another business.
30/05/2014 @ 2:07 pm
Absolutely – the modern game means no long term managers any more. Wenger stands way out in front now. Behind him are Pardew and Alardyce with 4 years each and they are both pretty much hated by their fans.
In terms of coverage we are becoming the Milwall of the press. Figured all skewed to have a go at us. Graham was sacked without a ball being kicked. Santini walked and as you say Tim was only ever interim. They love to blame Levy for selling our best players but if we had a manager getting us Champions League every season they might not leave. Other than Tim who actually managed to get some good results (without and decent performances) all of the managers looked like they could be successful when hired. However by the time they were fired most fans probably thought it was time to go, other than perhaps Tim and Harry but they damaged themselves with their behaviour off the pitch.
30/05/2014 @ 3:33 pm
Finally some perspective. Poch has some great talent at his disposal and plays the Spurs way so I think we can really kick on next season if we give him the time he needs to work out the kinks and find his best side.
30/05/2014 @ 5:36 pm
Pochettino will be gone inside of three years, why? If he’s good enough he will become a proven premiership manager at the top level and will get an offer from one of the big four, and if he’s not good enough spurs will continue their search for the ideal manager.
Bit of a witch hunt going on at the moment.. Levy might do himself a favour and tell the truth about Redknapps departure. As Jamie Redknap is’nt going to stop trying to get levy sacked for a while yet, or at least until he works out theirs no one to sack him. All this slagging the club off can’t be doing spurs any good in the transfer market.
Spurs is a well run club that converts £’s into points far more efficiently than the clubs with bigger turnovers. The pundits like to compare us to clubs with wage bills £60+ million a year bigger than ours so they can accuse spurs of failing. Well in my view the very fact we are compard with clubs that spend more than our turnover on wages should be recognition enough that Levy knows his game and knows it well.
30/05/2014 @ 6:50 pm
If mr.Levy would leave the football alone,not be swayed by toxic element of our “fans”,and concentrate on the finances and leave the football side to those that know what there doing we might just get somewhere.But will he ,would he I doubt it.
30/05/2014 @ 7:23 pm
If Levy would have budgeted to invest in the team in January ANY of the last 3 January windows
We would be in champions league
Very clear to see that is where we fail, it’s naïve to think that you meet all your football needs in the summer.
Period
31/05/2014 @ 2:01 am
In response to Bazza, I thought it was pretty bloody obvious to everyone why Redknapp was sacked? He played his hand, went for the England Job, had all the media swanning over him as the messiah of English football and then when Hodgson got the job, asked for an extension of his contract at Spurs for more coin after he’d taken his eye off the ball!!
I believe we’ve got the right manager in Poch to progress us now and I for one am excited about what next year brings..
COYS
01/06/2014 @ 11:52 am
TBH you can look at our managerial appointments over the Levy era and make a case as to why they were employed and subsequently let go