Rudderless Spurs

Cut adrift from the top 4 again, no proper manager in place, no identity in our play, players ambling around no fight dodging responsibility, looking to be a struggle to even qualify for Europa/Conference, Kane looking ever more ready to put that transfer request in, even Arsenal are back on our tails....

It's just a complete shambles and sorry state of affairs.

When we couple this with what's going/gone on away from the football being in huge debt, ESL debacle, still no naming rights for the NFL bowl, no money for a proper rebuild without selling yet stockpiled with players that need to be sold but won't generate anywhere near enough for what's needed (unless we sell the gems which will put us back even further), highest priced tickets for the Villa game in the league, Steve Hitchen still at the club, big money signings absolute flops etc.

It's just a catalogue of things that have been going on throughout ENICs tenure but seem at this moment in time instead of it being 1 or 2 of their repeated failings they've all come at once and it's absolutely soul destroying.

Is anyone excited for the summer window?
Does anyone trust the next manager will be able to turn this all around?
Does anyone think wel of shifted half this squad of wage thieves?
Does anyone think wel sign some instant hit the ground running make a difference players?
Does anyone think wel land a hit the ground running manager?

I wrote a thread once about Toxic leadership centred around Levy n got mainly pelters for it, but this guy has overseen these repeated mistakes time n time again, the recruitment strategies are completely flawed, the sporting strategy is completely flawed, the club has literally no bar setting/drive/direction, there's no challenge it's completely rudderless.

It's no wonder our better players are disillusioned by it all, as a fan base we are because it's just a circus.

We need proactive and aggressive movement in the window and that needs to be acted and worked on immediately with a new experienced manager that is trusted to crack on and build a side in his image asap.

Failure to this (which we will) will leave us dropping further down the league.

Tottenham Hotspur FC need to fix up and get it's act together, if we want to be a big club then ffs start acting like one.

 

There is a lot of truth in what you have said. The next move is key because we need someone who can manage a reasonable size squad shake up with ideally a minimum of 8 being replaced but realistically 6 or 7 being moved on. It’s important that whoever comes in is better at getting more out of what players remain than we have seen at the end of Pochs tenure and throughout 70% of JMs term.

I don’t personally think it matters what people have done in years gone by, JM and Bale are examples of that. We need players and a manager that suit today’s game and more importantly today’s opponents. We need someone who is backed by the board with both funds and player transfer decisions as well as someone who has a modern approach to football and footballers to improve both the attitude of the squad and the quality of our performances.

It seems a bit bleak at the moment but with the right appointment and a willingness to sell several players, it can only get better. If we keep Dier, Aurier, Doherty, Sanchez, Moura and Lamela (at the very least) next season will be as disappointing as this.

In an ideal world, we get sold to a rich football fan, willing to invest but in reality, football is a money pit and the best we can hope for is for funds from player sales being fully released back into signings and players signed on their ability to integrate into our squad and the fresh mentality and approach of whoever our next manager will be.

 

We don’t always agree Felon and Thfc but 2 great posts about our current state.Unfortunately Levy has lost the plot after the super league fiasco.The new manager should have been in place now with time to plan for the future.The one thing that must happen but I fear it won’t is Hitchen must be replaced with some one that can identify good players and Levy should remove himself from football matters and stick to the business side.

 

To think we had Mitchell and now have Hitchen

 

Mourinho was attacked after reverting to a team block early season after scoring for fun, then the 3-3 v hammers showed that as a back five with Aurier, Sanchez, Dier, Etc we couldn't defend, so he reverted to a low team block to solve the problem. 4th highest scorers in prem shows we did attack more than given credit plus Kane having best ever season with Mourinho. It looked like he was at the end of his tether probably trying to show Levy where the problem was. Now we can see maybe the manager wasn't the problem. Lloris, Aurier, Sanchez, Dier, Sissoko, Lamela, Bale & even Hojberg who in 60 years as a supporter is the most one dimensial holding player I've seen. Modric & Huddles tone were both better but could also play. Hojberg is 10yd square and back. Check out Kante as an example. All need to go

 

I have to say, on some occasions I’m not sure if PeH tackles or gives the ball away more but he is defo the best of a very average bunch. Bring back Skipp and sign Bassouma

 

The ESL thing was bizarre but if I was a betting man, I would say that is not over…the timing of sacking JM was very odd, even though him leaving was the best thing for all concerned. We really need to punt Hitchen ASAP although I think they know which manager they are getting and whoever it is can’t say yet as they are with another team.
As much as I’d like it to be Rodgers, my money would be in Potter and he might just surprise us all.

 

The short of it:
I believe that Levy might move on this year, his time might be up and someone else might be better placed to bring the club forward and up.

The long of it:
The summer transfer-window looked like it was done like at a well-functioning club:
The manager identified weak areas, the scout found players and the chairman bought them. Some buys might not have worked out perfectly but the strategy was clear. As an example: How many CBs has Man City bought? Not all worked out well but using their apparently limitless resources they bought CBs until they'd solved the problem.
But back to Spurs. Then the Bale-transfer happened.... From the outside it looked like the chairman and the scout thought it would be a good idea to surprise the manager by making a big-money transfer without involving the manager. I don't know if that is what happened but it looks like it might have happened that way. To keep it a surprise then they must have told some big-whoppers of lies or at least one big lie of omission about the amount available for transfer.
Such a transfer undermines the authority of the manager at the club & makes it impossible to plan for a season.

People with good reputations tend to have options and people with options tend to avoid knowingly going into bad environments. If the chairman encroached so much on the responsibilities of the manager then the working environment seems bad. So it might be that to be able to hire a director of football and a manager with good reputations then the environment has to be fixed first and the only way to fix it (that I can see) is that the chairman steps aside.

Levy was good for Spurs for a very long time, however, a person with different qualities might be needed for this different stage.

 

Levy will sell Elvis and will buy the Beatles. Again.

 

No, it started earlier. JM wanted to sell Ndombele. In the hindsight it was a correct move. Levy overruled him. That was the beginning of the end.

 

I think you mean Levy will sell Elvis and will buy Shakin Stevens

 

Just watching Fulham go behind to Burnley .If it stays the same they will be down.I only mention this because some idiots have suggested Scott Parker as our next manager god forbid.But you would not put it past Levy if it is cheap

 

Yep and Wel struggle bad

 

my mate is a Fulham fan and he is baffled by Parker’s decisions week in, week out. From team selection to substitutions. It seems Fulham fans are very keen for a Parker to join Spurs which tells a big story. If we choose Parker for any reason, we are in big trouble next season

 

Always amazes me how Spurs are literally the only club that has and tolerates such p;ss poor effort from the players.
You don't see relegated/relegation sides meander around like we do careless, pointing, barely jogging etc
How do we manage to find the most unprofessional players in the game and not just 1 or 2 but over half a squads worth ?

 

I can honestly say that in all my 55 years of going ‘ over the lane’ apart from the almost winning things. My love for THFC is waning.
We have no coherent style our defence plays as individuals. A captain should be in the thick of it not in goal . Although I despised JM our players need to look at themselves.
I’d rather go down with our sinking ship than drift aimlessly without a rudder but TTID.

 

After 40 years as a Spurs fan including 10 years as a season ticket holder i'm ready to walk away. ENIC have destroyed the club by running it purely as a business and not a football club. There is no plan to invest and to try and to win trophies which football is and "Glory Glory" is supposed be about. Every decision Levy/ENIC take is normally the wrong one and serves only to create further shame/humiliation on our loyal fanbase.
They still have the cheek to put posters up around the ground saying the "game is about glory".
ENIC's business plan is not even geared towards champions league football. Infact the new stadium is the COMPLETE OPPOSITE of what we'd hoped it would be. Rather than "taking us to the next level" the stadium guarantees that ENIC will make huge profits (60K full house guaranteed most games) plus the NFL plus other events etc. This means they no longer have to chase the champions league for profit! We can finish 7th/8th occaisionally reach a semi-final and that will be fine for them.
I do not want to hear about how we're in a better position than we were in the 90's. The 90's were a transition period after the club nearly went out of business in 1991 and most of us lowered our expectations. Even when ENIC came in we were patient. There was alway "next year". Not anymore. They've had 20 years of consistent repeated failure. Now we are back in the Tim Sherwood scenario as per 2014 with the next AVB to come in.
There are so many unanswered questions and baffling decisions most of which Felon has written about. Why is Steve Hitchen still calling the shots on recruitment after a disastrous record? Is Eric Dier still going to be at the club next year? I do not see any light at the end of the never ending ENIC tunnel. Their decisions this summer will be motivated only by sustaining their investment business i.e. finishing in the upper part of the table and continuing to con the fans.
We cannot compete with billionaire oil clubs in any capacity. The middle of the road players that we sign live in a comfort zone becuase they know full well the club is not there to win trophies/compete. We are now in a situation where West Ham have a better squad than us. Pathetic. ENIC have milked Kane/Son for all they are worth and it is a sign of how bad the other players are that we have failed to win a single trophy with these great players.
All or Nothing? Nothing.

 

I agree with Felon and have been saying this all season that even clubs like Fulham and West Brom show far more energy than we do and this is why I was so disappointed with Mourino.Whatever his tactical decisions I would have thought he would insist on work rate.I have said it before that Mason apparently was shocked at the fitness of our players as was Solskar at united when he took over.Maybe these players that we don’t sell should get a shock appointment as manager and some one like Mr Dyche whose Burnley don’t know how not to give 100 per cent would shake a few up.We all know City have great players but if you don’t work you don’t play for them.

 

I see Levy has delivered the finger to the fans this week by announcing that he will charge supporters £60 to watch the game against Villa.This is the highest by any club and Burnley are letting in fans for free.We should boycott game but unfortunately we have too many weak minded individuals who will go whatever and this is why Levy gets away with it.I really am beginning to hate this man

 

I didn't know that.
From the outside it looks (to me) like Ndombele might be a bit unhappy, possibly he is homesick. If Mourinho thought that Spurs could manage without Ndombele and Ndombele wanted to be somewhere else (a club in France) then it would make sense to have sold him. Possibly the deal would have to be a complicated hire/purchase loand with obligation to by etc etc etc but it might have made sense to have sold him.

Ndombele appears to be a great footballer, however, sometimes even great footballers need to be moved on to improve the team.

It almost seems like decisions are being made to please fans without thinking about if it would be good for the club. I suspect many fans would have been upset or even angry if Ndombele had been sold and possibly that was one consideration. Bringing in the fans favourite Bale might have generated a lot of goodwill for some fans and possibly that was also a consideration.
As is I suspect a transfer in of someone like Kante/Ndidi/Bissouma might have been better for the club but if it came at the cost of not having Bale and/or Ndombele some fans might have been angry and upset.