Why only Spurs, Mauricio. Why only Spurs...

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I have been quite clear in recent weeks that I do think Pochettino would be a good choice for Spurs, but I have also raised some concerns about his appointment too.

One thing that I do find strange, if we are to believe that he is a highly regarded and sought after manager, is that he is only linked with Spurs. There has been little interest from other clubs so is he really as sought over as we might be led to believe?

Lewis versus Levy

The latest reports across today's media suggest that Joe Lewis is the one who wants Pochettino as next manager of the club. Levy on the other hand wants Rafael Benitez and is rumoured to be trying to convince Lewis that he is the ultimate man to lead Spurs to success. If these rumours turn out to be true, I wonder whether Lewis will be swayed by someone whose recent history suggests he is not the best judge when it comes to managers.

The Real Deal?

Although it would appear the only team who are interested in Poch is our good selves, there have been rumblings in the past of a club that have been interested in him. In fact, if we go back to the Guardian as recently as February 7th this year, Pochettino was evidently receiving interest from Real Madrid and was quoted as saying he would love to manage them one day.

Cause for concern?

Considering our non-existent 'special relationship' with Real Madrid, well, it is special for Madrid, not for Spurs, I am a little alarmed at this link.

If Pochettino does come to Spurs and do a top job, are we going to find ourselves in a position where after one or two seasons, we lose our manager to them as well. In fact, if Madrid, the Real side, loses the Champions league final, is it not possible that Ancelotti could be off and suddenly Pochettino starts getting courted by Real again?

If that were to happen, I doubt he is going to choose us over them, no matter how much I want him to.

Issues

So, there quite a few issues surrounding Pochettino. Is he as good as some would have us believe? Is he a long term solution which is what the club needs, and who will win the potential power struggle, Levy or Lewis. It is going to get quite tense I feel.

As ever...Come on You Spurs!!!

 

In the modern era I dont think any manager will be at spurs for more than 2 or 3 seasons. I think levy said something recently to that effect. Its just the way the game is now, whether its condusive to creating a good footballing side is another matter. There seems to be a buy out problem with pochetino so wouldnt be surprised if benitez came, even if only for a season ! Think anchelotti may be the dark horse. Coys

 

The previous subscriber thinks that Ancelloti may be the dark horse. I hope and pray that we can get him. He is a top flight manager and coach, and although Spurs are no Real Madrid, he could make a very positive contribution to Tottenham and reshape the entire team and youth academy. Let's think positive!

 

Interesting interview with Sherwood today honest and frank and got a lot more respect for him for it. Nice and refreshing to hear his version rather than these gagging agreements like Avb had signed. Levy wants top four yet doesn't provide a budget for it and we constantly sell our best players so I a agree it is unrealistic to say top four is a minimum requirement rather than a maximum.. If we had shown a little more resolve and kept modric and bale and added soldado and Pamela to an already settled strong side things could be different but Liverpool will find out how strong the real Madrid pull factor is after the WC. Levy has undoubtedly taken the club on from what he inherited but for the next stage we need the new stadium to increase match day revenues to even be on the same page as city Chelsea and them down the road so whoever comes in be it poch or fdb will encounter the same difficulties as his predecessors so he will need time and a final say on all things football to have even a chance of top four! And of course our support!!! Look at the success ath Madrid have' had under similar cicircumstances losing aguero forlan Torres falcao and now Costa in recent years but have backed a young smart tactically astute manager who has managed to build a united belief thru the team and engaged the fans to break the stranglehold of barca and real .

 

Across Europe it is common that the director of football provides the continuity but the first team coach is relatively transient. We are used to longer term deals such as Fergie or serial failures like Moyes or Wenger but that is the rarity. Lets face it....what you're saying is if our new head coach is **** then we sack him and if hes good we risk losing him. Can we stop being so bloody negative about our options?

 

The negativity is what levy has created over the past thirteen years. I want him to get it right but if he can't get it right in thirteen years, I am not going to be optimistic that he can get it right this time.

 

It isnt fair to say that Levy has denied the resources that our managers need. Without a 70k stadium or crooked foreign owners we havent got the resources so we compromise and try to progress using a mixture of selling a big name and developing fresh talent.....incremental progression. Its a recognised business model for sports teams. It can be frustrating for fans as its a lot slower than a sudden influx of £200m oil money. Look where we are compared to 10 years ago .....the problem is that other teams arent standing still either. Arsenal finished 4th with a points total that would normally mean runners-up. Even our 6th place would normally be 4th. It shows how the top 7-8 clubs are pulling away from the rest which is why 10 teams were in the relegation fight with less than a month to go. We have to stay in the peleton and hope we spend our next windfall from a player sale a little better (and it wont turn out as bad as we think btw anyway)

 

If Pochettino leaves Spurs after two or three years for Real Madrid that means we will have qualified for The Champions League and maybe even made a deep run or two. Real will not want him otherwise.

 

Like Lewis cares when was the last time he came to watch a match? Or put some serious cash into the club? And as for Levy i have absolutely no faith in him whatsoever the silent dictator is the single most biggest problem at the club his strangle hold on the club is sufficating any potential manager from turning us into a success, wether its politics, meddling, posturing, short changing, hamstringing he does it all then makes scapegoats!

 

Pochettino has NOT only been linked with Spurs...according to a COUPLE of sources, including the link below:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/tim-sherwood-southamptons-list-potential-3557921

And he has been linked with Madrid and Monaco over the course of the last campaign!

The papers will be the papers, however, with a different story, as to who is ACTUALLY pushing for Poch the most, almost every other day. In the last week alone I have heard Levy, Baldini and Lewis are all, individually, responsible for the apparent interest in the Argentinian.

But if truth be told, I couldn't care less who's idea it is/was as long as it's an idea we get to see come to fruition this season.

p.s A bird has just taken a dump on my car....DAMN YOU LEVY!!!!!!

 

As you may have read in one of the previous blogs, people really need to stop using the stadium size as an excuse. When Arsenal won the double and several other trophies, they were at Highbury which wasn't much bigger than the lane. Yes, we do need a new stadium to increase revenue but to say that our current stadium stops us being competitive is absolute rubbish and Arsenal proved that BEFORE they moved to a new stadium.

 

BIG difference between Spurs (WHL) and Arsenal (Highbury) is a LITTLE thing called REGULAR CL football!!!!

Making that particular comment null and void.

If Spurs were playing champions league football it would certainly help bridge the gap financially with us and the top 4, but with the EMERGENCE (since the days of Highbury) of the riches afforded to Man City and Chelsea, the HANDICAP of playing in front of 36,000 has NEVER been greater.

So,the size of our current stadium, ALONGSIDE the lack of REGULAR CL football, doesn't make it impossible to compete with the BIG boys, but it certainly makes life CONSIDERABLY harder.

 

The arsenal double team is completely irrelevant. That was an era when nobody was spending £100m + in a transfer window. Of course stadium size is a factor. We are simply not able to compete with Arsenal, Chelsea, United, City or Liverpool for a multitude of reasons which include revenue, recent heritage, fanbase and stadium size. I'm not saying that means we can't strive to compete but all these people complaining that somehow Lewis and Levy are not spending money and hoarding all the profit is childish and stupid. We spend what we can. We progress slowly and by increment. We have made incredible progress in the last 10 years. Our club is unique in the modern era in that we make a profit, consistently, while competing on several fronts every season, all without accruing massive debt. It's something to be very proud of.

This is our club. This is how we operate. This is the dynamic that creates the identity of our club. Class and integrity. Doing things right. If you want short-terms fixes and £100m splurges every window, there are plenty of clubs out there for you.

 

So you are yet another Spurs fan who is quite happy for us to fight on several fronts, sell our best players and achieve nothing?!
As I have consistently said on many occasions, I am aware that we are financially well run but how the hell is thirteen years me wanting a quick fix?

 

Spurs rely on CLEVER buys rather than (ENORMOUSLY) expensive buys. It has been a policy (which Levy has implemented) which has served us well in the past, and that WILL continue to serve us!

Spurs can't afford quick fixes, so we have to take a different approach.

And that 'different approach' has seen us witness PLENTY of talent grace the turf at WHL. .i.e. Carrick, Lennon, Davids, VDV, Modric, Sandro, Lloris, Berbatov, Bale, Soldado and Dembele to name JUST a few!!! And with Levy at the helm you can be sure that there WILL be PLENTY more!!!

The sobering truth is, though, until Spurs can secure REGULAR CL football, we will ALWAYS struggle to keep hold of our best players when the likes of Madrid come calling.

For Pete's sake, EVEN, clubs that CAN provide REGULAR CL football lose players to the Madrids and Barca's of this world.

We MUST understand where we are on the food chain. And although we have made GREAT strides in climbing that particular ladder over the last 10 years, we STILL have some way to go before we reach where we ALL (including our Chairman) want this club to be.

PATIENCE, UNDERSTANDING and SUPPORT is what is required at Spurs... NOT IGNORANCE, ACCUSATIONS and FINGER POINTING.

 

Lol!!! Lack of Champions league football is definitely an issue. And the fact that other than Redknapp Levy has continually failed to deliver a manager who can deliver champions league football, sold our best players and is still spinning stories about the new stadium is the fault of everyone EXCEPT levy!? Brilliant!

 

Of course 13 years is a very quick time to be expecting more. I must remember to deal with my ignorance and terrible accusations that are not based on fact. I must be more patient and wait for another 13 years to see regular champions league football. Okay then.

 

The point I'm making is that I don't think we can expect much more progress over the last decade than we have had, given the factors we've all discussed. I think we could've won the Europa in the last 5 years and another cup. Probably. But the league and the champs league are different and it takes a long time and good management to get there. And this isn't to defend Levy, I happen to think he is bad for the club but take him out and put someone else in with the same dynamic and we're pretty much in the same place.

As for selling best players, I don't see there's any issue to criticise. You can't keep players that want to leave. Why would you stop a player going to the most glamorous club in the world? I have more of a problem with selling players that just needed a different kind of manager. Of all the outgoing transfer business in recent years, the one that still grates is Huddlestone. With someone giving him discipline and keeping him off the burgers, he could've been a great. There isn't another player like him in the league. He belongs at the lane.

 

You are failing to consider that when Arsenal didn't have the stadium, there wasn't the same competition so your comments simply aren't valid.

 

Until you UNDERSTAND football, and all that it entails, you will ALWAYS struggle to comprehend what it takes to BUILD (and not simply buy) a football team/club.

EVERYONE has acknowledged that Levy has made some mistakes, BUT most reasonably minded/educated, football, people, will also say he has helped TRANSFORM this club too.

Even Tim Sherwood, who was SACKED by Levy a few days ago and could have EVERY reason to feel bitter, came out and spoke in GLOWING terms of Levys EFFORTS to move Spurs forward.

Do those efforts mean he won't make mistakes? NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

But do those EFFORTS mean he is trying to improve Tottenham Hotspur, with, what HE perceives, to be the CLUBS BEST interests at heart? YESSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!

It's NOT that difficult to grasp, surely.

Just look at the players I listed in my last post (and the MANY more besides). If I told you Spurs would have that level of talent on the roster 10 years ago, you would NEVER of believed me.

It's difficult to compare Spurs with ANY of the top 4/5 teams in England, as we have had to come from a LONG way behind in this race, and have ALWAYS been playing catch up. So the FACT that we still are, in SOME regards, is hardly surprising, but the truth is we ARE catching up!!! However slowly SOME of you feel that progress has been.