Spurs miss the target as Baldini and Levy bury heads in the stands

As the January transfer window slowly ebbs toward its conclusion, Spurs have still failed to make any signings and another player we have been heavily linked with will not be joining Spurs.
Fabian Delph has signed a new contract with Aston Villa today, adding to the number of players who would rather stay where they are or join anyone but Tottenham Hotspur.

In recent times, we have been linked with Benteke , Bony, Delph and at the moment Danny Ings. Whilst the Danny Ings transfer may come through, the information coming out of White Hart Lane suggests that Spurs are highly unlikely to make any signings in this window, although Kaboul and Paulinho are expected to leave. Adebayor is one we would like to see go, but no be wants to pay his wages and it looks like we may have to get used to the fact that he will finish his playing days at Spurs, adding little to the squad whilst collecting a huge salary. Good business from the master businessman Daniel levy then.

Even more concerning are rumours starting to circulate that if Spurs do not qualify for the Champions league for next season, Vertonghen and Eriksen are likely to move on as they were promised Champions league football by the Spurs chairman when they joined the club.

The only way we will be playing Champions league football next season is by winning the Europa league as I do not think that we will finish in the top four with the current squad. As I talked about yesterday, the current squad lacks quality and as we draw closer to Thursday/Sunday football again, I worry that we seem unable to capture the signings of players we clearly need.

Out of Benteke, Delph, Ings and Bony, and I would have liked to see all of them sign for Spurs. What a show of intent that would be from the Spurs chairman. Instead, we may get one of these in Danny Ings, although Burnley are said to be insulted at our £5 million valuation of the Burnley marksman.

One of the reasons that Levy chose Pochettino was that he wanted a manager who would nurture and develop the youngsters we have, and it is possible that rather than making signings in the window, we will bring players such as Pritchard back from their loan spells.

Now, I am not against that at all, in fact very far from it, but to nurture the young talent, we need to have the quality around them. They will learn about application and desire from the likes of Mason and Kane, but from the likes of Lamela, Kaboul, Paulinho, they will learn little.

Support for Pochettino is still very much divided amongst Spurs fans, but I don't believe that our failings in the transfer market can be laid solely at the door of him.

The person I would blame is Franco Baldini. It was he who chose Lamela and convinced Levy that he was worth the largest transfer fee in the history of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club.
I won't cast too much blame over Soldado as with his record in Spain, he was someone that we should have been getting the best from, but sadly, despite all of his efforts, he has not done the job he was hired to do, score goals.
Baldini was also influential in the signings of Paulinho and Capoue, 2 players who have struggled to justify their fees and certainly haven't justified their places in the match day squad.

We now, of course, have Paul Mitchell who joined us from Southampton to help with player recruitment. So, in the first window he is in the job, neither him nor Baldini have managed to get us players that we wanted. Whether the manager, Sorry head coach wanted them is another matter entirely. I get the distinct impression that Pochettino is not exactly thrilled with being a head coach, but I think more will come of that in the summer when our best players are linked with moves away from the Lane.

And then there is by best mate, Daniel Levy. The ultimate Bond villain who sits in the stands, passively Looking down on his tenth manager struggle to get any consistency from his players. There are some that argue that Levy has brought the best players in the World to Spurs, but for all of the quality we have seen come to Spurs since 2001, we have also seen the quality leave and not be replaced.
Modric, Bale, possibly Berbatov have all left and never truly been replaced. Lord Sugar heavily criticised AVB for spending money like he was in a sweet shop but I don't think he had as much say in player transfers as levy would like us to believe. Sugar seems closely protective of Mr Levy but sugar is not someone I have a great deal of time for.

It appears to me that both levy and Baldini are running a treadmill of low rate players who do not add the quality that we so desire and need at our once great club.

Since 2001' Daniel Levy and Joe Lewis have concentrated on the PLC and slowly but surely whittled away the essence of the Football Club. I have said before and say again that Sir Bill must be doing somersaults in his grave.

I question why players don't want to come to Tottenham and for me the answer is easy enough. Players can see from the outside they would be joining a club that has aspiration of success without the men at the very top actually demonstrating their intent and as another Tottenham target turns his back on us, it has to be time for changes at the very top.

We may take a trophy this season by winning the Capital One Cup, but not even a second trophy in nearly 15 years can hide the fact that Joe Lewis and Daniel Levy have not delivered success to Tottenham Hotspur Football club.

To dare is to do, and it is now high time that we all dared to take a stand and ask for ENIC to start answering questions about why have they failed rather than them giving us the usual excuses that occasionally appears on the official website.

Rather than come on you Spurs, today I feel it is time to demand Glory back at the lane. To achieve that though, the club needs to be in the right hands, which right now it is not.

 

how can you justify signing Soldado based on his record yet in same sentence slate Lamela who had exceptional form at Roma?

 

What we need is stability and changing manager every season won't bring that, no matter who the owner is. Pochittino has already said he doesn't expect anyone to arrive in this window, but does expect a few to leave. So why is anyone concerned that players the all knowing media have linked us with haven't been signed? As for wanting bony, benteke, Delph and Ings??? Where would thy have left Kane? And to get three forwards in would mean losing at least two! And as you already said no one is coming in to buy the 'deadwood' so it's not going to happen! Perhaps the title of your piece should just have been ' Daniel Levy and why I hate him' because all it is, is a dig at the guy, no one knows what goes on behind the doors of the club, or why certain players aren't bought or sold! So why not deal in facts rather than make believe?

 

Just another plastic football fan that thinks signings during transfer windows is what makes football interesting. Until Poch is satisfied he has extracted everything out of the squad he has, why would he add to it?

 

Pochettino is just as bad as his predecessors; making 9 changes for yesterday's match is just suicide.Any manager who says he is " happy with his squad" needs to be replaced.Fingers crossed for next Wednesday at Bramall Lane,but I won't hold my breath.

 

To the pieman...some facts ..we have had 10 managers under Levy some of which you could not make up....our net spending in the last 5 years is almost zero..this means we have sold our great players to buy new ones....where has the sky money gone? Last fact for you to consider is that the present team apart from lloris..vertonghen...and erikson are the most sterile group I can remember since the ginger pele played up front...ask yourself why no one is linked to buying spurs? God even bristol city and bournemouth have benefactors now! Its cos Lewis takes money out ..hes never put anything in... it wont change till they are gone...

 

Who said Delphi was actually on our list of wants? You read to many newspaper articles written by journos who have been fed by agents looking for a new contract for their client!

 

When Will everyone realize that levy is all that's wrong with tottenham , he is a chairman that wants to be a manager that wants the spotlight No doubt if he could get out on the pitch he would . I've said it before when redknapp took over he got rid of the technical director and we started to look like a good side and Harry was beginning to take the limelight so levy got him out restored the technical director and we slowly started to get worse and worse . Until he goes or we get bought out things will not change or get better consistently sells our best players and buys the wrong option I'd like to see mabbett . Hoddle. Sheringham.king bought in to the club and a chairman who give a **** about football .

 

We have the owner, chairman, head coach, staff to many to mention, players etc etc that we have. One might wish it were otherwise. Me, I think we have a pretty good set up.

Further more I think allmost all squad additions have been good. At least they seemed good at the time. So some have not settled as we all had hoped. But that was never going to happen.

So let's support the ppl we have. whining and moaning does not really help, does it?

 

Agree dellboy how can u be happy with this squad unless levy has told u to be...agree with bringing in young academy guys like mason etc but we desparately need a modric ...and someone who can score goals ...and quick..

 

Utter bollox. Study the accounts. Not a penny gone missing. Every penny re invested.

 

Good luck with 7th bazza...best were gonna get mate...if if employed 10 people in the same job in my company and sacked them all id be down the road myself....

 

I admire you for writing this, but it is such a naive article. You say Delph does't want to come to Tottenham. What makes you say that? Tottenham have never had any interest in buying Delph. He is not an upgrade at all. If you seriously thinking adding a massive signing on fee plus £5m transfer fee and £60K per week would be good business for a run of the mill player you are crazy.
Levy took a calculated risk on Adebayor. He cost very little and Man City subsidised a huge part of his wages. For a while it worked. It's tough when a player does what Ade does, but blaming Levy is cheap.
You state it would be a statement of intent to get Bony. Where exactly do you think Tottenham Hotspur are going to find £30m and £150K per week? And do you think Bony would have joined Tottenham when he can earn whatever he wants at a team funded by a multi multi billionaire?
And Levy promised Jan and Eriksen CL did he? How the hell did he do that? Utter, utter nonsense. No one came in for Eriksen and he was delighted to join Tottenham. At the time Jan may have felt we had a good chance of CL, but if he has actually tried a bit harder we might just have made it.
But anyway you're right let's buy Bony, Benteke and Ings; let's pay them all £150K per week. Let's get Delph as well why not. Let's sell all the deadwood. You really are living in cloud cuckoo land.

 

Agree that Baldini has to take responsibility for recent transfer windows. 5 of the team that played Leicester were part of the £100m spending spree. 18 months later, their performances clearly show that they cannot cope with premier league football.

However, that is the hand that Poch was dealt and he has to rotate the squad. Poch has done really well to get players super fit and avoid injuries (unlike Gooners). He has also shown that the back up players don't want to train properly and consistently prove why they are not in the team. He hasn't needed to slag them off unprofessionally like previous managers have done. He now needs Levy/Baldini's support to get rid.

Where I disagree. Since the premier league started, the top players are always signing for the big money clubs and are happy to take big wages to sit on the bench or go on loan (Chelsea have 22 players on loan. Who knows, some may have become Spurs players in a different era?) When Spurs have tried to compete and pay out big wages (Adebayor & Soldado) (Rebrov & Postiga) we signed players who big clubs were not interested in and wasted the fans money.

I'm sure that when an up and coming player was available at the right price, Spurs have gone in as well to try to sign another Modric or Berbatov. But it's not a guarantee that these deals will come off unless the player/agent truly wants to prove themselves at our club instead of warming a bench for a top 4 club.

So, in the meantime, why not bring through some homegrown players and some hungry players who want to give 100% for the shirt rather than waste £100m again? Why not give the kids a chance and build a squad with depth and committed players. The 'superstarculture' has not and will not suit Spurs in the modern day Premier League.

 

I have never come across a chairman who wants the spotlight less. He does not want to do interviews; he does not crave the limelight; he does not want to pick the players; he does not want to buy the players - this is why he desperately wants a D of F. Where do people get the impression that he meddles? It is utter nonsense. Levy desperately wants Tottenham to be successful, but won't gamble the crown jewels. The only players we have lost that we would have wanted to keep have gone to the biggest 2 clubs in Europe - Man U and Real Madrid - and the profit on Carrick, Bale, Berba and Modric was £130m. No doubt some fans believe Levy could actually have stopped them going like Man U stopped Ronaldo going - oh wait a minute....... I don't have the answers but breaking into the top 4 when 2 places are nailed on and Man Utd and Arsenal have enormous stadiums makes it tough. And please don't say Southampton because just once in a blue moon a 'smaller' club might punch above their weight.

 

You sound just like an angry 'couch supporter', pontificating on and on and without a scrap of evidence on the in's and out's you are prattling on about.
Please, either stop writing altogether or write something with a scrap of reality in it.

 

Completely agree. This club is going nowhere with the current ownership, chairman and board. That is the essence of the deplorable state of things at Tottenham.

 

Interesting that people mention teams with bigger stadiums. Well, yet another of levys failings so far. We are still waiting and it looks increasingly like we will be playing in Milton Keynes in the not too distant future.
Our net spend in the last five years is less than Burnley.
As for levy wanting success? If you want success you cannot keep selling your best players. You just cannot do that. We sold one player in Gareth Bale and bought seven. Seven of whom only Eriksen is fit to lace his boots.
Pointing to my 'hatred' of levy is pointless as I have never, as regular readers will know, said any different but hate is a strong word. I dislike he runs our club.
I take the point that Levy doesn't like the limelight, but take a look at how he responds to criticism. He regurgitates the same old rubbish on the official website.
He fails to answer the questions that the Spurs trust put to him time and time again. That isn't staying out of the limelight, it simply proves his disdain for the fans.

I am asked to provide facts, so here is me for you. On the sacking of Harry Redknapp who provided 2 4th place finishes and a Champions league quarter final, ths is what Daniel Levy said on the official Spurs website:
" myself and the board felt that this was the right time to take the club in a new direction." Now, whatever you may think of Harry and the whole England job fiasco, to say we needed a new direction was a brave shout.
Would anyone like to talk me through how that new direction is now taking shape? All I can see is that we have gone backward.
Levy has hired the managers and fired them. If he wants a director of football, shouldn't he consider choosing one who provides value for money?
At what point can anyone argue that Baldini has provided value for money?

1 trophy in 15 years.
No new stadium.
Best players sold.
Money poorly re invested.

Baldini and levy want success?

 

After thirty plus years of spending my wages following the club I love until recent years when the club have priced the average fan out of the game, I reserve the right to question decisions regarding the running of the club.
My club, your club.
I am not angry as you put it, but rather disillusioned that after 15 years we are still waiting for success. As you will know, Spurs are a club that many regard as a sleeping giant, although at present we are nearly comatosed.
As you will know, if you have read my other articles, I am blunt in my views and of course there are two sides to every story, but I believe our transfer policy is extremely flawed. I have never been a fan of the DOF role because I believe a manager should decide who plays for his team. Alan Pardew at Newcastle had to manage players that he did not choose.
I can't see how that can work but the fact Baldini has identified talent and wasted money yet keeps his job just further proves that levy is a very poor judge of character.
My opinion only of course.

 

Im with Pieman , Bazza & Big Mal 100 % on these issues . Too much speculative nonsense and their misconceived ideas of how the club is been run is spouted by others .