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osama
I think AVB went too far in the other direction after his experience with Chelsea. What he took from that was that as a young manager you really need the senior pros, the big guys in the dressing room, to be on your side. So he set out not to alienate the likes of Friedal and Lennon and, very quickly, Dawson. I don't believe - or at least I don't want to believe - that our dressing room is as powerful and clique-ish as Chelsea's though.
VdV's story is a little up in the air for me. I love the player and was devastated when he left but I'm not terribly convinced by anything he's saying in public, because his whole marriage has come out as a total mess and he probably had a lot of personal turmoil during that period. I'd assume that relationship would be priority numero uno, not Spurs or football.
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In any case I don't think we're so much more ludicrously-run than any other club in football. Without a benefactor, we're competing against clubs with substantially more resources than us (christ even Saints outspend us comfortably these days) and that means we have to take more risks than a Chelsea/City just for a chance of success. We're more dependent on 'lucking out' on a great manager than they are, simply because we're riding the margins on everything. If Chelsea has an average manager or mediocre scouts that's fine, they have enough money to make up for it everywhere else. We practically have to be brilliant in every department just to keep in touch.
People talk about how well-run clubs like Swansea are, but I think it's a lot easier to overperform from, say, 15th to 8th than it is from 7th to 4th, relative to resources. Imo the main reason for that is because the hardest challenge in football is to break down teams that are happy with a point, whereas it's a lot easier to be well-organized and wait for counters in games. And the 'resource gap' is far wider at the top than in the middle or bottom. It's not terribly surprising that only one club besides us have broken into the sky four - and Everton did that before City came in and took up another slot.
So I can't really blame Levy for rolling the dice and gambling, because we need a golden unicorn of a manager, and you don't get a golden unicorn on the first try (or the fourth, or the fifth...). I also can't really blame our managers for not getting us to the promised land because every time they come in, they're being handed some other guy's team, and then when they do get to make signings, a lot of the decisions our 'transfer committee' makes make me uncomfortable because it feels like Moneyball (Sig and Dempsey may have good goalscoring stats and Dembele great passing/tackling stats, but a lot of the less quantifiable qualities just weren't right what we needed) but I can't really blame our scouts too much either because we need to hoard and obsess over every penny. The only people I can really blame are our medical staff, who I've only heard negative things about.
Having said that, there are a lot of things I would like to see Levy do, besides miraculously get that stadium built without digging into our transfer pot in this shitty economy. The main one is to see us establish a long-run football philosophy and set ourselves from the grassroots on up to play it (see: Swansea if we're being modest, Barca if not), so that we don't need an SAF or Wenger to come in and totally transform us from the top down. Because we're never going to luck out on an SAF or Wenger ... so we'd better focus on getting everything else in place instead, so we don't have to put all the pressure (and concurrent rewards and blame) on one guy to save us.
I blame AKON.
Backs to the wall, everyone Levy, Baldini, Sherwood, players get to the end of the yr to show their worth.
As a spurs supporter want it to work out for everyone. 4th spot is still attainable if we can go on a winning roll.
As a spurs supporter want it to work out for everyone. 4th spot is still attainable if we can go on a winning roll.
A few days too late but I wanna draw a conclusion from my first poll. It does surprise me that AVB (31) and Baldini (15) in addition got fewer votes than Levy (54) . I think a lot of supporters who still believed in AVB`s tactics, philosophy preferred to blame Levy and then especially after the League Cup exit the players(40). I think about 10 members or so took the blame on all 4 , fairplay to them, but a bit too easy for me. If it` true that AVB wanted Hulk Moutinho and Villa instead of Eriksen Lamela Soldado, well that would explain the "bedding in period" of Lamela. For me it`s a big plus for Levy and Baldini for not signing Hulk(overrated/overpaid) and Villa(best days behind him) and it`s no excuse for AVB why his tactics failed. I think those who didn`t blame AVB(31), blamed Baldini(15) but we all can blame Levy(54). I hope in a few months we can all agree that it was the right decision to sack AVB. It`s up to the players now and Sunday wasn`t a bad start, a taste of the football we were used to be proud of / known for.
COYS
COYS
Half Baldini, Half AVB.
If AVB is gone, so should Baldini for wasting a truck load of money.
If AVB is gone, so should Baldini for wasting a truck load of money.