Quality discussion...so if somebody doesn't agree with u then the abuse has to flow...people like u make me laugh. Good grown up discussion lol...............
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I’m not a levy fan boy but we could do much worse let’s be honest.
Spot on
We could have had the dildo barons.
I think he’s turned it around to a great extent. We have the right fit manager after quite a few false starts, regular CL football & a billion quid Stadium on the horizon. That’s not bad for starters. He’s by no means perfect but what we have is sustainable growth & a club to be justifiably proud of. We’d all love to win everything right now, but every season has been fun since Poch landed.
Oh no he isn't.
We had Sugar .. These anti levy must be post sugar or have short memories
The evolution of ENIC / Levy has been interesting.
Started off with the classic move of bringing in a fan favourite in Hoddle. An easy way to get the fans onboard straight away.
Then came Santini. Not much to go on, but at the time he was an ambitious signing, and we looked a bit more solid. I remember those handful of games showing a very different Tottenham to the one I was used to. It showed that Levy was prepared to go against the grain of our traditional style.
After Santini ran away to the circus we got lucky with his assistant coach, Shexshy Martin Jol, stepping up. Levy got lucky here. Jol was a stopgap, but ended up laying down solid foundations for us to be a force in the league again.
At this point, in my opinion, Levy got sloppy and greedy. Our form took a downturn and Levy didn’t hesitate to ship him out...in an embarrassing manner. A shockingly disrespectful way to replace a manager that had finally given the club some bollocks again.
In came Ramos. Though I didn’t like the manner of Jol’s sacking, I remember thinking that Ramos was an astute appointment. A strict attitude, success in Europe, a dead ringer for the priest in The Exorcist...sounded good. Let’s not forget he delivered our only trophy under Levy too.
But then came what I consider to be Levy’s low point. Selling Berbatov and being absolutely fucked over by United in the process by being painted into a corner to take Frasier ‘no option to buy’ Campbell. What a fucking mess. I believe that played a massive part in Ramos’ downfall (well that and playing Bentley at LB and saving King for the Europa when we were rooted to the bottom of the table).
This led to Levy’s second stroke of massive fortune...
As we know, Harry was hired to save us from relegation. We were in the shit and Harry really was the best man for the job. Levy wasn’t lucky that we stayed up; he did well to accept the situation and go for the right man for the job. He got lucky when Harry turned us into a great team, though Levy was integral to us landing Modric, VDV, and Bale. I suspect Harry was only ever meant to be a short term solution, and whilst Levy did get lucky here, it’s to his credit that he stood by him all the way up to his court case. Harry spat in his face as soon as the England job became a possibility, and, well, the rest is history.
A fairly constant approach from Levy has been his interest in whip cracker managers. All of his unforced appointments after Hoddle have been managers who had reputations for a certain brand of strict coaching and an emphasis on premium fitness levels. Santini, Ramos, AVB, and Pochettino. AVB was another appointment that made sense on paper. Young, successful, a ‘philosophy’, I can see the attraction. Unfortunately they were a mismatch when it came to who he wanted, and who we could afford. Things could have been so different if he’d landed Moutinho.
Sherwood...let’s skip that part
Pochettino was a very similar appointment to AVB in a lot of ways. Young, a clear philosophy, an emphasis on fitness, and a bit of a risk. Only this time he’s actually planted seeds in the club that have taken root.
We’re in uncharted territory now. Previously Levy’s most successful appointments have arrived through circumstance rather than planning. Jol and Harry were never expected to be more than a short term solution to a problem. There’s an argument for Ramos, considering he actually won a trophy, but everything after that was a tsunami of shit. With Pochettino we’re finally seeing a manager providing sustained good performances that are in line with Levy’s managerial preferences.
Come next season we’ll have an incredible training ground, a beautiful new stadium at the Lane, a great manager, a great team, and (probably) CL football. At that point Levy fully deserves to consider it a job well done.
Started off with the classic move of bringing in a fan favourite in Hoddle. An easy way to get the fans onboard straight away.
Then came Santini. Not much to go on, but at the time he was an ambitious signing, and we looked a bit more solid. I remember those handful of games showing a very different Tottenham to the one I was used to. It showed that Levy was prepared to go against the grain of our traditional style.
After Santini ran away to the circus we got lucky with his assistant coach, Shexshy Martin Jol, stepping up. Levy got lucky here. Jol was a stopgap, but ended up laying down solid foundations for us to be a force in the league again.
At this point, in my opinion, Levy got sloppy and greedy. Our form took a downturn and Levy didn’t hesitate to ship him out...in an embarrassing manner. A shockingly disrespectful way to replace a manager that had finally given the club some bollocks again.
In came Ramos. Though I didn’t like the manner of Jol’s sacking, I remember thinking that Ramos was an astute appointment. A strict attitude, success in Europe, a dead ringer for the priest in The Exorcist...sounded good. Let’s not forget he delivered our only trophy under Levy too.
But then came what I consider to be Levy’s low point. Selling Berbatov and being absolutely fucked over by United in the process by being painted into a corner to take Frasier ‘no option to buy’ Campbell. What a fucking mess. I believe that played a massive part in Ramos’ downfall (well that and playing Bentley at LB and saving King for the Europa when we were rooted to the bottom of the table).
This led to Levy’s second stroke of massive fortune...
As we know, Harry was hired to save us from relegation. We were in the shit and Harry really was the best man for the job. Levy wasn’t lucky that we stayed up; he did well to accept the situation and go for the right man for the job. He got lucky when Harry turned us into a great team, though Levy was integral to us landing Modric, VDV, and Bale. I suspect Harry was only ever meant to be a short term solution, and whilst Levy did get lucky here, it’s to his credit that he stood by him all the way up to his court case. Harry spat in his face as soon as the England job became a possibility, and, well, the rest is history.
A fairly constant approach from Levy has been his interest in whip cracker managers. All of his unforced appointments after Hoddle have been managers who had reputations for a certain brand of strict coaching and an emphasis on premium fitness levels. Santini, Ramos, AVB, and Pochettino. AVB was another appointment that made sense on paper. Young, successful, a ‘philosophy’, I can see the attraction. Unfortunately they were a mismatch when it came to who he wanted, and who we could afford. Things could have been so different if he’d landed Moutinho.
Sherwood...let’s skip that part
Pochettino was a very similar appointment to AVB in a lot of ways. Young, a clear philosophy, an emphasis on fitness, and a bit of a risk. Only this time he’s actually planted seeds in the club that have taken root.
We’re in uncharted territory now. Previously Levy’s most successful appointments have arrived through circumstance rather than planning. Jol and Harry were never expected to be more than a short term solution to a problem. There’s an argument for Ramos, considering he actually won a trophy, but everything after that was a tsunami of shit. With Pochettino we’re finally seeing a manager providing sustained good performances that are in line with Levy’s managerial preferences.
Come next season we’ll have an incredible training ground, a beautiful new stadium at the Lane, a great manager, a great team, and (probably) CL football. At that point Levy fully deserves to consider it a job well done.
Good post. I enjoyed reading it and respect your opinion, even if we dont agree..we as spurs fans should be able to talk over our opinions in a civilised way. It may even get one or two of us to think differently about a few things. I'm concerned that we've been above that Woolwich lot and now with Wenger on his way out maybe they will spend there way out of the hole they have dug themselves. Just maybe we have missed our chance to really put them to the sword. Maybe we are not as good as a lot of people say, maybe it's just that Woolwich have been so bad..I hope I'm big time wrong but can't shake the feeling that this is just a brief period of us sticking it to that other lot who claim to be a North London team.I have had to watch them winning premier league titles at the lane and would love to give them some of their own medicine along with that other london mob in blue ...i love my club, COYS
All good positive stuff - and he's right to emphasise the milestones we have achieved this season. All too easy to say we 'want more' like Oliver Twist but we are hugely ahead of where we were 5 or 10 of 15 years ago.
Not surprisingly he's giving rival clubs no indications of what he and Mauricio have planned for the Transfer Window - but in some ways his comment ' We had three players, Jan, Christian and Harry, named in the PFA Premier League Team of the Season – making it 11 in the last three years – more than any other club'. says a lot. 11 Players in the PFA team over the last 3 seasons says we have had a decent team, over the last 3 years, and just as the squad has made steady improvement since Martin Jol's time in 2005 (albeit sometimes strengthening in one position weakening in another), I'd expect there to be a continuing improvement looked at over a period of a couple of seasons, even if that sometimes means we lose an experienced player to bring in a younger player with high potential.
Looking at our rivals such as Woolwich - we have overtaken them in the last few years, and the same can be said of Chelsea, whilst regardless of the result today, we have beaten Liverpool in league position for all bar one or two seasons in the last 10 and I'd say we were neck and neck with ManU these days despite their far larger financial resources. Who would have thought that 10 years ago ?
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Sadly the 'facility fee' (ie no of times teams are on tv) shows that broadcasters are still showing Chelsea, Woolwich Liverpool, Man U and Man City more than Spurs, even though most neutrals would say we have a great team and broadly would expect us to be shown as regularly as the others - which in turn means we get less than our results deserve.
I actually can see why Woolwich would get more games, a touch of gallows humour and worth the extra money they received for it as I got to watch more meltdowns. The one that really gets on my tits is Utd. Their football is shite, it's routinely criticised as such yet in the entertainment business football is, we are inflicted with it.
Agreed with ManU - but its the media obsession with Mourhinio who plays dire football and only cares about winning.
But I think the reason the others get shown more is that there are far more pundits who played for or support the others than Spurs - so its nothing to do with current day stuff but how the football world was 10 or 20 years ago !
And why are there more pundits at say Sky from liverpool & Woolwich? Probably because the executive that recruits them supports that team.
It makes sense in a way. Most of the people working in those fields grew up when United and the Dippers were the two giants in England. So it is not a stretch to think that a lot of the people working in football media in England these days grew up as United or Dipper fans. Throw in a lot of pundits being ex players for those clubs and you got yourself a stew
I think if us (and others) had taken the Europa League seriously for all those years Uefa wouldn't have ever put the prize of Champions League qualification into the mix.
Sky and BT kept on bigging up United in a vain attempt to trick the casual viewer into thinking that City hadn't won the league by November.
Good post. Difference between AVB and Poch is that AVB had failed quite spectacularly at the chavs whereas Poch had done a good job at Southampton. Personally, I'd always favour going with someone who has done well at a smaller club rather than one who has "the experience" of failing at a big club.The evolution of ENIC / Levy has been interesting.
Started off with the classic move of bringing in a fan favourite in Hoddle. An easy way to get the fans onboard straight away.
Then came Santini. Not much to go on, but at the time he was an ambitious signing, and we looked a bit more solid. I remember those handful of games showing a very different Tottenham to the one I was used to. It showed that Levy was prepared to go against the grain of our traditional style.
After Santini ran away to the circus we got lucky with his assistant coach, Shexshy Martin Jol, stepping up. Levy got lucky here. Jol was a stopgap, but ended up laying down solid foundations for us to be a force in the league again.
At this point, in my opinion, Levy got sloppy and greedy. Our form took a downturn and Levy didn’t hesitate to ship him out...in an embarrassing manner. A shockingly disrespectful way to replace a manager that had finally given the club some bollocks again.
In came Ramos. Though I didn’t like the manner of Jol’s sacking, I remember thinking that Ramos was an astute appointment. A strict attitude, success in Europe, a dead ringer for the priest in The Exorcist...sounded good. Let’s not forget he delivered our only trophy under Levy too.
But then came what I consider to be Levy’s low point. Selling Berbatov and being absolutely fucked over by United in the process by being painted into a corner to take Frasier ‘no option to buy’ Campbell. What a fucking mess. I believe that played a massive part in Ramos’ downfall (well that and playing Bentley at LB and saving King for the Europa when we were rooted to the bottom of the table).
This led to Levy’s second stroke of massive fortune...
As we know, Harry was hired to save us from relegation. We were in the shit and Harry really was the best man for the job. Levy wasn’t lucky that we stayed up; he did well to accept the situation and go for the right man for the job. He got lucky when Harry turned us into a great team, though Levy was integral to us landing Modric, VDV, and Bale. I suspect Harry was only ever meant to be a short term solution, and whilst Levy did get lucky here, it’s to his credit that he stood by him all the way up to his court case. Harry spat in his face as soon as the England job became a possibility, and, well, the rest is history.
A fairly constant approach from Levy has been his interest in whip cracker managers. All of his unforced appointments after Hoddle have been managers who had reputations for a certain brand of strict coaching and an emphasis on premium fitness levels. Santini, Ramos, AVB, and Pochettino. AVB was another appointment that made sense on paper. Young, successful, a ‘philosophy’, I can see the attraction. Unfortunately they were a mismatch when it came to who he wanted, and who we could afford. Things could have been so different if he’d landed Moutinho.
Sherwood...let’s skip that part
Pochettino was a very similar appointment to AVB in a lot of ways. Young, a clear philosophy, an emphasis on fitness, and a bit of a risk. Only this time he’s actually planted seeds in the club that have taken root.
We’re in uncharted territory now. Previously Levy’s most successful appointments have arrived through circumstance rather than planning. Jol and Harry were never expected to be more than a short term solution to a problem. There’s an argument for Ramos, considering he actually won a trophy, but everything after that was a tsunami of shit. With Pochettino we’re finally seeing a manager providing sustained good performances that are in line with Levy’s managerial preferences.
Come next season we’ll have an incredible training ground, a beautiful new stadium at the Lane, a great manager, a great team, and (probably) CL football. At that point Levy fully deserves to consider it a job well done.
I aint got time to read the whole thing through this time
But I presume he remembered to thank the fans for his £6,000,000.00 bonus this year?
I googled NLD project earlier and was a bit surprised to see it was ten years ago that the scheme was first committed to. The following decade has seen THFC follow the Lyon model of spend / investment almost to a T. And I think we all have to say it’s worked well.
But it would be wrong not to pause for a moment and question where the money was saved and where and how it was subsequently spent.
I remember some restructuring of the clubs finances left the football side of ENICs THFC interests with 50 million debt when it was previously debt free and then that money was used to buy surrounding property.
Which begs the question as to how much the football club paid for all of the land deals and then opens up a debate about if Austerity was necessary for the commercial side of ENIC rather than the football side of THFC. Outside of Tottenham what income does ENIC generate to then invest in its principle asset or was the principle Asset propping up everything else - maybe it was a bit of both.
I am honestly not sure how the finances work, but simply put if they have been expecting stadium costs since 08 have been paying for it over a decade, then can we still be told that Austerity must continue and might do so for another decade?
Hopefully someone more in the know can add some detail to how this all works. I am not out to knock Levy or ENIC, I am generally just interested if it’s all “true”
But it would be wrong not to pause for a moment and question where the money was saved and where and how it was subsequently spent.
I remember some restructuring of the clubs finances left the football side of ENICs THFC interests with 50 million debt when it was previously debt free and then that money was used to buy surrounding property.
Which begs the question as to how much the football club paid for all of the land deals and then opens up a debate about if Austerity was necessary for the commercial side of ENIC rather than the football side of THFC. Outside of Tottenham what income does ENIC generate to then invest in its principle asset or was the principle Asset propping up everything else - maybe it was a bit of both.
I am honestly not sure how the finances work, but simply put if they have been expecting stadium costs since 08 have been paying for it over a decade, then can we still be told that Austerity must continue and might do so for another decade?
Hopefully someone more in the know can add some detail to how this all works. I am not out to knock Levy or ENIC, I am generally just interested if it’s all “true”