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Fans Forum Summary

4 min read
by David Winsley
Spurs1882DW from our message board went to the 'Fans Forum' event last night. Here is his summary of the evening.

Okay, I’ve just got home and it was an absolutely brilliant event. So here goes from memory and in no particular order:

January 2016 Transfer Window

  • There are definitely funds available to strengthen the squad.
  • Daniel Levy (DL) made it very clear that Mauricio Pochettino (MP) will always have the final say on which players are bought or sold.
  • They will look to do business ‘swiftly’ (yeah right), if the right player becomes available.
  • A number of supporters stated they were worried about being one Harry Kane injury away from disaster.

New Stadium

Lots of questions about this as you can probably imagine, so I’ve summarised the main bits.

  • £110m has already been spent on the project so far, and the total build cost is going to be around £500m once finished.
  • Everything is being geared towards being in the fully completed stadium for the start of the 2018/19 season.
  • I’m sure we knew this already, but the new stadium will be corporately named and will definitely not be called White Hart Lane or the ‘New White Hart Lane’.
  • DL said all efforts are being made to secure Wembley (at the reduced 50k capacity) for the 2017/18 season away from WHL.
  • DL said there is no intention to be away from Tottenham for more than one season.
  • DL got a round of applause and made everyone laugh, when someone suggested that we were going to share the Olympic Stadium with West Ham. His exact words were ‘do you think Karen Brady would agree to that?’
  • 1882 got a mention and DL said extensive efforts have been made in the design and choice of materials to make the atmosphere as vibrant as possible.
  • DL said he was very well aware of supporters concerns about ticket prices in the new stadium and there would be a wide-range of pricing options.

1st Team

  • MP & Hugo Lloris (HL) both said that there is an excellent team spirit and sense of togetherness in the dressing room and that everyone was pulling in the same direction.
  • MP said that all the players understand his way of thinking and that he credits his backroom team with raising the fitness level of the whole squad.
  • As we already know, MP said he enjoys working with a mixture of experienced international’s and the young players. His aim is to improve every player in the squad.
  • When drawing up a list of transfer targets at the end of last season, it was widely recognised that we needed a defensive midfielder. However, MP told DL and the rest of the THFC board, that he would turn Eric Dier into defensive midfielder, which he has definitely succeeded at, I am sure you will agree.
  • HL said the vocal support the team receives home and away is the best he has ever experienced in his footballing career.

Other

  • Surprisingly, HL said his idol or hero when he was growing-up, was Pete Sampras.
  • MP said his hero was his father when he was growing-up, but is now DL – this got a huge laugh and round of applause, as I’m sure you can imagine.
  • DL clearly stated that neither ENIC/Joe Lewis had any intention of selling the club, once the new stadium is complete and they are in it for the long-term.
  • Son is the biggest joker in the dressing room, closely followed by Kyle Walker.

Sales of Bale & Modric

  • DL said something very interesting about the sales of both Luka Modric (LM) and Gareth Bale (GB). He stated that the club did not wish to sell either player and that the final decision was made by the manager at time.
  • In LM’s case and as is widely known, Chelsea made a big bid for him, but Harry convinced him to stay for one more season, before getting his dream move to Real Madrid.
  • In GB’s case, AVB decided that he could not offer him what he wanted and was likely to be a disruptive influence in the dressing room, if he was made to stay.

My Observations

  • There is a real feel-good factor around every area of the club at the moment and numerous supporters said how pleased they were with the progress that is being made on and off the pitch.
  • DL is actually a much more approachable and easy-going kind of guy, than I have always thought he was. He’s clearly very intelligent, astute and rightly deserves credit for how far the club has come, since ENIC took-over.
  • It was clear to me that MP and the whole club are very ambitious and positive about the future.
  • Finally, I really got the impression that MP is genuinely the man they wanted as manager, and that he has the complete and full backing of DL, plus the rest of the THFC board.

If I’m being totally honest, there was only one negative to report, which was a question from a female member of LGBT Spurs. She asked a completely inappropriate, confusing and seemingly politically motivated question, which neither HL or MP really understood or knew what to say in response. I didn’t really get it either and it was more of a political statement rather than a question in the end.

Other than that, it was a fantastic evening and I don’t think, I’ve ever been prouder to support our great club. The future’s bright, the future’s Lilywhite as they say.

The above was taken from this forum post.

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