The final insult to the fans

Never bashed Levy once on the whole satisfied with him. On this occasion he has performed poorly.

Has he ever put is hand up. The Bale-gate money, the managers, the high staff turn over, the gagging clauses,the clubs that vow not to deal with Spurs, the Scum's trophy cabinets, the bungled stadium plans... Guilty as charged!!! Sure his son can do a better job.

 

In general terms I am happy with the window and believe that we have a young and exciting squad of committed and developing players. The problem these days is that the Transfer window is dominated by the media and in truth we fans have no real idea of what is really happening and whom we are truly interested in signing. There is so much speculation and I am sure that in the last few months we have been associated with up to 100 new players. We should be proud of the youth that we have in our squad and in particular how many have come through our Academy. Yes the squad is short of real experience and title winning players but the potential is huge. I believe that this season will be tough and will be a roller coaster ride at times but I think we will get stronger as the season progresses and although I am not expecting to win anything or even get a top 8 finish I am excited about the future if we retain and develop the core of this squad. Europa experience this year can be followed by a real tilt at the top 4 in 2016/17 and I am as always excited about the future

 

Thanks for the reply Dublin .. listen while your living in Dublin, if you ever get the chance to go to an All Ire Final make sure you go .. Helps to remember what it was like when players only cared about winning and the jersey on their backs ... Not trying to big up our own game , i love football just as much but in the long term money hasn't done it any favours from a supporters perspective anyway ..

 

I know that Levy did not have a back up plan yesterday, but apart from that, what do you think he did wrong?

 

I have a very good idea about the GAA ethic. I recall chatting with one volunteer who was extremely passionate about it. He though it was outrageous that he and many others like him should give freely of his time, and then have to pay Sky subs to watch games. As he rightly pointed out, it it were not for the unpaid volunteers, there would be no Gaelic games to watch in the first place at any level.

But you are also right about "the shirt". After nearly 150 years, the game is still very close to it's grass roots origins which is no bad thing. I don't know about now, but when the FA was based in Lancaster Gate, it's phone no was ex-directory so that they didn't have to speak to fans.

 

I think it's slightly embarrassing how many people have taken Peace's words as gospel.

To me it looks like he tried to play poker with DL and now has a miffed manager, a striking striker and no £25m.

He went all in with his pair of aces before the flop, and DL folded. And he's given away his tell on the first hand. If he'd kept his mouth shut and didn't go public, he could have politely rejected the offer (as Everton did with Stones), still have kept a happy none-the-wiser striker and could have expected renewed interest in January. Now he's left with a toxic asset that he'll be lucky to get £5 for, let alone £25m! Who in their right mind is going to pay him top dollar for a player that has so publicly said that he's not going to play for the club again.

So bravo Mr Levy, well fought!

We'll pick him up half price in the January sales...

 

To be honest Pochettino and The Chairmans statement today saved me about an hours worth of writing in an attempt to enlighten the TYPICALLY ignorant fan about the method behind this summers transfer business.

I was going to cover everything in my post from finding the right players, with the right PROFILE to fit into MP philosophy - to a tactical breakdown of how the FLUID front 3 style Pochettino wants to deploy, means that no one man will be leading the line in the conventional sense, anyway, making the need for an array of striking options less of an urgency/necessity.

Pochettino WANTS to (be able) use a similar system to the one deployed by the Barcelona team managed by Pep Guadioula , or the Spanish team that went on to achieve Euro and World cup glory - with a false no 9.

Does this mean that MP did NOT want another out-an-out striker to help ease the workload on Harry Kane? No! I just believe it meant he wasn't desperate!

Listen, I WON'T go into all the different topics regarding our summer transfer business, as the statement virtually covers it, but what I will say is that I believe we have enjoyed a GOOD, if unspectacular, summer window.

The squad has moved ever closer to matching the managers, and Chairmans vision for THFC, whilst the club has been left in a good position come Jan should Mauricio wish to make a couple of additions.

Look, I won't lie, I was a little disappointed by the clubs failure to bring in another Striker AND Central Midfield presence by the time the window had closed on Tuesday. Yet, funnily enough, I was also impressed by the same fact.

I found myself pleased by the clubs decision:

• Not to panic into spending over the odds in order to save face.
• Refusing to panic into buying someone for buying sake.
• Underlining their commitment to supporting the managers philosophy by only seeking targets who can carry out his demands his demands.
• Trusting the young players at the clubs disposal to step up and earn their spurs...(sorry couldn't resist)

At the time we spent the Gareth Bale money, as exciting as it was seeing us cherry pick some of the brightest young talent across the world from other clubs, it ALWAYS felt as if there wasn't a whole load of method behind it.

Yes Spurs were signing quality players, but I was often left wondering if acquisitions were made with a CLEAR understanding of how these individuals were going to fit into the then AVB's system.

Well, I have NO SUCH CONCERNS this time around, on that score, and in Clinton Njie, I believe we could have found ourselves a winger who has all the required tools to develop into an orthodox striker.

If he can base his game on the likes of a Tevez, Aguero, Henry and/or Eto, and develop his game upfront around pace, movement and quick, incisive combinations,and also adapt to the demands of the role itself, then we could potentially have a REAL star on our books!

Son is another player who will add GENUINE pace and dynamism to our attack, as well as superb technical qualities/attributes.

And given Eric Diers EXCELLENT start to the campaign in a holding mid role, I think we have more than enough to be able to make it through to Jan, in good nick, before assessing our options again.

At the end of the day, Spurs have PLENTY of young talented players that NEED to play games in-order to aid their development.

The likes of Townsend, Lamela, Pritchard, Carroll, Alli, Dier, Kane and Mason (to name just a few) will all fancy their chances of getting that game time now, with the make up of the squad being the way it is. And that can only be good news in terms of harvesting an even more competitive culture within the team/club.

 

I sincerely hope that because Tottenham did not sign a striker a lot of the whinging, hostile plastic fans go away and support another team, I have been totally embarrassed how some so called supporters have totally failed to support...spreading bile and hatred amongst yourselves and the club, the manager and chairman have been made a laughing stock and you lot have created it...not Levy, not Pochetino.....you, so called fans....you should be ashamed.
Critism is normal but done with so much hatred, bile and hostility is not acceptable in my book, the gutter media do not help but unfortunately you prefer to believe The Sun and The Star rather than the club. .... I expect the usual nasty replies but I never bother to read them so do your worst.

 

And here lies a major problem for me , a lot of these younger managers with their so called philosophies , they all want to play like Barcelona .. The problems for them is they dont have players anywhere near the quality needed to pull this off properly .. Messi , Xavi , Iniesta , true greats , backed up at diff times by players like Henry , Ibrahimovic , Sanchez , Villa , Pedro , Mascherano , Puyol the list goes on and on ... On top of that the spine of this team had been playing this system ( philosophy ) since they were in nappies so for me and i could be completely wrong about this , trying to emulate this system is living in cloud cookoo land .. Even the master himself Pep is struggling to emulate it at Bayern and they have some real quality players .. What you seem to end up with are teams with majority of possession 65+% , but its all backwards and sidewards going nowhere , they create very little in terms of quality chances but will out do their oponents in the stats due to pot shots from afar .. On top of this none of these teams seem to be able to defend properly without the ball .. Their main defensive strategy being keep possession , if they dont have the ball they cant score .. Its all so slow and laboured if its not executed properly, its too easy to defend against and too easy to score against even when the opposition sees very little of the ball , as little as 30% or less .. I.m.o you need top top players to pull this off ....

 

He tried his best to pull a Perez/Madrid on WBA, unsettling the player, thinking he had all the power, running down the clock, under bidding trying to get 1 over.

It was bully boy tactics and it backfired spectacularly.

Now personally theres nothing wrong with a haggle but leaving it till the last hours trying to force hands on all of our terms is highly disrespectful and imo the wrong way to do buisness.

It does not paint us in a good light at all the highest ambassador of our club made us look cheap, nasty and pathetic.

 

What did Peace actually say? Let me put my own analogy on it. It was like listening to a woman who had been propositioned with "cash for favours". Of course all self respecting women should be outraged, but when they mention that the amount offered was insulting, most reasonable people would conclude that there is an amount where they would not feel insulted.

Whether he intended it or not, Peace was sending mixed signals. You are right what you say about Peace going public. All that did was fan the flames, especially with the ambiguity of the complaints made by him. You don't start shouting that a player is not for sale, and then complain about the price being offered. If he is not for sale, then the price is irrelevant.

But don't take my word for Peace's crass stupidity, look at what Pullis had to say about the way that Spurs conducted themselves. And with that in mind, I can say that those people who think that Mopo was coerced into making a joint statement, really need to ask themselves why it would be necessary to coerce Mopo into agreeing with Pullis. Anybody noticed that Peace does not appear to have commented on the fact that his own Manager undermined his posturing?

 

Good post. What I find most ridiculous about those who say, "Levy should have paid the extra", is that apart from the fact that we are the only team that thought he was worth even 20 mill, none of these complainers know what the "extra" is. It is ironic the number of people who are telling Levy how to run the business are in effect telling Levy to give Peace a blank cheque. AND THEY THINK THEY KNOW HOW TO RUN A BUSINESS?

 

Problem is first and foremost it's a multi million pond business
Which every week sells its product when 36000 turn up and the next move in the business is to make sure the stadium is built

 

My gripe isnt with the price imo i dnt think Berahino is worth more than 20mil and i also dont think hed improve us much at all.
Its the Antics of Levy n co who if identifying SB as their main priority marquee target then make your final offer early and if Brom arent entertaining it you either move to plan b or you move on altogether and save face.
Start submitting bids at the last minute having let it bubble on for weeks hoping that it forces the other party to fold is not respectful and paints our whole club in a bad light.
The results are we now have to attempt 4 competitions with only 1 viable striker (thats tired and still looking for a 1st goal), people will talk up Son Njie Chadli as credible but they are not Lone strikers in the only formation we play they are make shift attacking mids.
Son and Njie are still to be introduced let alone bed in and will either be out of position or Poch will have to adapt (dnt laugh) the system meaning the blinkered philosophy which has been drilled to the existing side is all up in the air. Like the start of this whole season thus far no balance no strategy not ready.
Also weve upset yet another Chairman and Club, will SB (remember our no 1 target) be comming anytime soon if Peace etc have anything to do with it?
And we have came out of all of this looking desperate unorganised and unproffessional.
Levy fans are doing their best to make out this was all nothing, part of the plan and that we were in control the whole time are as deluded as Levy himself.

 

Does anybody think this is a reasonable net spend for a club that finished fifth in the league last year and been consistently finishes top six looking to break into top four. Also factor in the massive reduction in wage bill and £80m record pre tax profits.
Now I'm neither pro levy or levy out I take each situation as it comes. Berahino obviously had a price tag which I believe we met hence his threat to go on strike. I don't believe having followed the story closely over the last few days levy did wrong in unsettling the boy we simply bid for a player we liked! WBA made it public to drive the price up and made it personal also.
Where levy did get it wrong as he often does is fail to deliver the tools necessary for the job in hand leaving again the manager exposed(who is treading water already as a coach/manager at this level) and will inevitably be sacked. Sunderland game is now massive.
He again leaves deals late and tries to underpay missing out on primary targets leaving little or no time to get an alternative.
Redknapp jnr was spot on when he says it costs us points every year,if u want to be big u gotta look big and pay big if u want top players.
Witsel another prime example of a deal left late. Is this by chance or designed to miss out to keep the coffers full. I dunno.
RAMOS id like to know why u were disappointed not to sign a mid and CF and what u think the consequences will or may be?

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So when Tony Pullis speaks out against his own chairman to say that Spurs did nothing wrong, should I believe him or you?

If Spurs offered a fair price at the end of the day, and it would appear that most of the independent experts say we did, how is that a problem? As for under bidding, what is wrong with that. If you are looking to buy a house, you try to get it as cheaply as possible. Do you think that when someone enquires "How much do you want for Townsend", we don't inflate the price while the other side doesn't try to low-ball us?

Do you think Everton were disrespectful because they waited until the last minute to buy Lennon?

I have to conclude that in your usual rush to hate Levy you have made a fool out of yourself with this so called "explanation".

I only have one criticism of Levy regarding the lateness of this deal, and that is that there was no "plan b" to bring in another player. But I also think this was a blessing in disguise for us. We now know that we were about to sign another Adebayor/Modric/Berbatov, that when a better offer comes along will shaft us just as quickly. And of course, the buying club will know that they don't have to pay market value because we always give in to this type of player.

But just one other point to consider. While you are criticising Levy's cheapness, does it occur to you that the reason the player wants to join us is because of the cheapness of Peace. This is a player that less than two years ago was being paid 850 per week at a time when the average PL salary was 20k per week. So average professionals were earning in a fortnight, what he earned in year. Now he is reputedly earning 10-12k a week. The average PL salary is now 31K per week. Compare that to stingy Levy giving Kane two new contracts in a period of less than six months with a reputed salary of 30-35k per week. Peace could almost certainly have deflated this by saying that he would give him a decent pay rise, but has not done so.

When I consider this, I have to wonder why Peace is not the one being labelled a cheapskate. I have this image of a smug Peace, reminding himself how good he has been to this refugee, and telling anyone that will listen, "Yes, and he only costs us 10k per week. I know that may not seem like a lot, but you have to remember, that if he was back in Burundi, he would be happy to earn $2 a day"

 

Thanks for your reply, but that comment was not directed at you. It was specifically about those people who say "Levy should have paid the extra".

As for whether SB koins us, much as I wanted him here and I thought he would be a perfect partner for Kane, I am hoping that Levy says, "We don't need another Adebayor"

Regarding Peace, I think when this has calmed down and people begin to look at it clinically and coolly, they will see that Peace's posturing was the real problem here. The fact that his own manager has contradicted him, should tell you all you really need to know.

 

A fool?

Dublin in any sale there are factors in which either the Seller or the Buyer holds the cards.

If you are desperate to sell the buyer holds the cards, if you are desperate to buy then the seller holds the cards.

Its basic supply and demand.

As you mention houses if you are selling your house but have no need to move imediately in an inflated market anyone would have a lowest value and if thats not met then your not going to fold and accept the chancers offer are you?

 

Agree with a lot of what you say.

As far as Redknapp jr is concerned, he is becoming as relevant as rent-a-quote father. All that is really relevant regarding the SB transfer, is that we offered a very good price (too much IMHO) and they refused to sell. That being the case, it would not have mattered if we had made the offer in June 1945.

Your suggestion linking paying big to the Redknapp comment needs explanation. Are you suggesting that we should have offered more for SB? Pullis thought our offer was a good one.

 

Yes you are right there, but at the end of the day you made several comments about how Levy's conduct of this matter had brought disgrace on the club, and as I went through them, I gave several examples that showed these were common occurrences etc used in other businesses and clubs and you have not responded to this.

The issue is not about supply and demand. It's about the allegedly reprehensible business tactics that you described Levy as using.