• Dear Guest, Please note that adult content is not permitted on this forum. We have had our Google ads disabled at times due to some posts that were found from some time ago. Please do not post adult content and if you see any already on the forum, please report the post so that we can deal with it. Adult content is allowed in the glory hole - you will have to request permission to access it. Thanks, scara

Daniel Levy - Chairman

Mourinho made sense IF Levy/ENIC were goling to actually change how they approached things in terms of spending/transfers.

Don't get me wrong, i know money has been spent under Jose, but when the crunch was here BEFORE the pandemic in January 2020 after Kane's injury a CF/number 9 was not broght in, even though the manager/coach said publically he basically couldn't function without one.

Now, that brings into play another discussion about the quality of the coaching ability etc, but the situation was what is was and it wasn't like Jose was any different to his previous MO in letting this be known.

Levy/ENIC didn't get this for Jose...so what was the point of hiring him in the first place if you weren't going to change in terms of buying a significant and needed reinforcement in January for the manager?

So, all in all, the hiring of Jose was just a haphazard gamble to just get through things after things went haywire in the final days under Poch.
I genuinely think Levy thought we had cracked it under Poch, with little to no appreciation that the squad was in terminal decline through a combination of ageing and lack of fresh competition. Even Man Utd can miss out on CL with their budget if things aren’t being managed competently, it isn’t like the old sky 4 days where 4th was the the booby prize for a bad season for the elite.
I do wonder who out of Mourinho or Levy promised the other what they would offer that wasn’t available to their previous counterparts. Either Mourinho said he can deliver within our limited budget constraints or Levy offered him a lot more based on future projections. With the timing of Poch’s sacking you’d have to think that was with the expectation of keeping in the hunt for CL and if last season last injuries and a lack of pre season / signings seen as the reason for a lack of real progress then this season must surely be intolerable for him?

I just really hope that Levy wasn’t so besotted with Mourinho to hand him a contract that didn’t have minimum expectations to minimise the compensation for sacking him, at that point in time I really felt he needed us more than we needed him. Would go against type for him to add emotion to a negotiation.
 
I genuinely think Levy thought we had cracked it under Poch, with little to no appreciation that the squad was in terminal decline through a combination of ageing and lack of fresh competition. Even Man Utd can miss out on CL with their budget if things aren’t being managed competently, it isn’t like the old sky 4 days where 4th was the the booby prize for a bad season for the elite.
I do wonder who out of Mourinho or Levy promised the other what they would offer that wasn’t available to their previous counterparts. Either Mourinho said he can deliver within our limited budget constraints or Levy offered him a lot more based on future projections. With the timing of Poch’s sacking you’d have to think that was with the expectation of keeping in the hunt for CL and if last season last injuries and a lack of pre season / signings seen as the reason for a lack of real progress then this season must surely be intolerable for him?

I just really hope that Levy wasn’t so besotted with Mourinho to hand him a contract that didn’t have minimum expectations to minimise the compensation for sacking him, at that point in time I really felt he needed us more than we needed him. Would go against type for him to add emotion to a negotiation.

All depends on what 'cracked it' meant. If you mean getting top 4/CL money every year then perhaps he did (and again had not much appreciation of how much was down to Poch and his way of working and the squad we had at that particular time). I do fear that the ambition of Levy/ENIC was to actually be the next Arsenal....

I think Jose was hired in a slight panic to a) salvage our season and b) get a star-studded name whose 'shine' would rub off on Levy and make him/ENIC look like they actually had ambitions of reaching for the top. If Levy listened to any 'i've chnaged' monologues from Jose then he is even more silly than some might think given Jose uttered similar guff when he was appointed at Man Utd.

That January 2020 window exposed the failings of both Levy and Jose: the former, in that he didn't get the number 9 that Jose said publicly he needed (like has often been seen before in January at Spurs), the latter, his coaching limitations (lots of his peers would have loved to be able to still be able to work with attackers/forwards such as Son, Moura, Alli etc)
 
All depends on what 'cracked it' meant. If you mean getting top 4/CL money every year then perhaps he did (and again had not much appreciation of how much was down to Poch and his way of working and the squad we had at that particular time). I do fear that the ambition of Levy/ENIC was to actually be the next Arsenal....

I think Jose was hired in a slight panic to a) salvage our season and b) get a star-studded name whose 'shine' would rub off on Levy and make him/ENIC look like they actually had ambitions of reaching for the top. If Levy listened to any 'i've chnaged' monologues from Jose then he is even more silly than some might think given Jose uttered similar guff when he was appointed at Man Utd.

That January 2020 window exposed the failings of both Levy and Jose: the former, in that he didn't get the number 9 that Jose said publicly he needed (like has often been seen before in January at Spurs), the latter, his coaching limitations (lots of his peers would have loved to be able to still be able to work with attackers/forwards such as Son, Moura, Alli etc)
Yeah cracked it as in top 4 being a minimum rather than maximum and then Mourinho would just add some nouse to win those one off games that were stopping us winning pots.
I know it divides opinion but I still found qualifying for and being competitive in CL a greater achievement and step forward for the club than winning a cup. Just a shame the economic benefit financed the stadium rather than improving or even maintaining the playing squad.

To be fair to Levy I think he has followed up with the managerial failures with successes taking us to a higher level, but he really needs to own this one and get it right next time.
 
I wonder why he brought him in now instead of 3 years ago? I genuinely wonder this by the way.... It was strange for us not to strike while the iron was hot.

Admitting defeat and realizing he 's not as good at getting the rights that he thought he was?
Perhaps it's an appointment from above Levy to get it finally sorted?
 
I think the Jose, erm, period (debacle?) has shown that when it comes to the crunch, Levy/ENIC are mostly chancers when it comes to football ambition beyond actually just making Europe/Top 4.

There have been all kinds of times to prove that mantra wrong but this Jose period says it all in a way few can now argue against.

If for some reason you believed there were mitigating factors as to why Jose failed so miserably in the last year at both Man Utd and Chelsea, why would you hire Jose and still act in the transfer market like you've still got Poch?:p

Before anyone says "but, but, pandemic" firstly: Jose walled that he couldn't function without a number 9 not long after Kane got injured on January 1st 2020 and you don't buy one.

Then, from a few accounts (including from at least one poster on here), some of last summer's buys only happened after the performance in the first league game vs Everton. So again, nothing really changing.

Oh well, at least we have a great stadium, even if we don't have owners who care equally about the football as they do about the Delloite league tables...
Going out and getting an elite level manager shows they lack football ambition?? He was a gamble worth taking (every manager is a gamble, no sure thing), it failed, time to move on.

Mourinho told everyone that we had a great squad, he even stated it on Sky at the start of the season before he got the job. He sold it that the squad was good enough for top 4.

Last summer the transfer window started late, so of course signings came in after the season started, like it did for everyone, nothing to do with the performance against Everton. If you really think that Levy would make a kneejerk decision based on one game and make signings I guess you haven't taken much notice of how he's operated over the last 20 years.

And not caring as much about football as they do about Deloitte tables, absolute bull. Even if they are more interested in money, success on and off the pitch goes hand in hand. Doing better on the pitch raises the profile of the club giving more lucrative deals, success off the pitch gives the funds to invest in the football side. It's in their interest for the football side to be successful.
 
I wonder why he brought him in now instead of 3 years ago? I genuinely wonder this by the way.... It was strange for us not to strike while the iron was hot.
At a guess he probably thought the stadium would've had more coverage in the US by now with NFL, heavyweight title fights etc leading to more of an interest and a bigger deal. Could also be that he thought a deal would be straightforward. Looks like he has got the right person to get the deal done now though, hopefully once everything returns to normal it can be done quickly.
 
I wonder why he brought him in now instead of 3 years ago? I genuinely wonder this by the way.... It was strange for us not to strike while the iron was hot.
Again I think Levy didn’t realise we had peaked and thought he could get more than what was offer at the time. There was some gonads about the right ‘type’ of partner which is probably best demonstrated as gonads when we finally announced our sleeve sponsor as Cinch. The only way waiting for that behemoth of an organisation would have made sense was if they also signed Giroud for us to double down their ad campaigns.
 
At a guess he probably thought the stadium would've had more coverage in the US by now with NFL, heavyweight title fights etc leading to more of an interest and a bigger deal. Could also be that he thought a deal would be straightforward. Looks like he has got the right person to get the deal done now though, hopefully once everything returns to normal it can be done quickly.

Losing the NFL games could well have been a factor.
 
Going out and getting an elite level manager shows they lack football ambition?? He was a gamble worth taking (every manager is a gamble, no sure thing), it failed, time to move on.

Mourinho told everyone that we had a great squad, he even stated it on Sky at the start of the season before he got the job. He sold it that the squad was good enough for top 4.

Last summer the transfer window started late, so of course signings came in after the season started, like it did for everyone, nothing to do with the performance against Everton. If you really think that Levy would make a kneejerk decision based on one game and make signings I guess you haven't taken much notice of how he's operated over the last 20 years.

And not caring as much about football as they do about Deloitte tables, absolute bull. Even if they are more interested in money, success on and off the pitch goes hand in hand. Doing better on the pitch raises the profile of the club giving more lucrative deals, success off the pitch gives the funds to invest in the football side. It's in their interest for the football side to be successful.

Getting a supposedly elite manager who was elite because most of the time HE SPENT BIG and then NOT spending big/quick when said elite manager needed it? Well that tells its own story doesn't it?

Listening to Jose saying similar stuff that he also said before and after he was appointed at Man utd who have FAR MORE resources than us? What did Levy think he could do with us that he couldn't do at Chelsea and Man utd who BOTH HAD FAR BIGGER BUDGETS than we could ever dream of having and far more than their competitors? If Levy thoight we were actually in that position at the time of his appointment he had a funny way of showing it the first chance he had in January 2020.

Transfer windows can start early, late, on-time whatever, it doesn't seem to change how or what we do in them does it, see January 2020 and the need for a number 9. Plus we had someone post here that the main reason some of those late signings came in was after watching us after the Everton game. So if we'd won (which was entirely feasible as it was a tight match even though we weren't exactly great) perhaps no Bale, Rodon or Reguillon. Says it all. I'm sure there will be another reason/excuse next time. There always is.
Levy not do kneejerk? Have you forgotten us breaking our transfer record to buy Sissoko or replacing Berbatov with Frazier Cambell lol!

Yes, i believe money does go hand in hand with football success, but when push comes to shove and you have to go that extra mile and quickly to go for a title challenge etc, i don't believe Levy/ENIC are indeed that bothered, see January 2020 plus several other windows. Spending a bit to get top 4? Yeah
 
At a guess he probably thought the stadium would've had more coverage in the US by now with NFL, heavyweight title fights etc leading to more of an interest and a bigger deal. Could also be that he thought a deal would be straightforward. Looks like he has got the right person to get the deal done now though, hopefully once everything returns to normal it can be done quickly.

I'd imagine by now in normal circumstances it would have been expected that we'd have displayed the multi use potential of the stadium to the watching world - NFL, Rugby, Boxing, Concerts and more, potentially even an NFL franchise on board, there's no way any naming rights deal signed before then would have been valued correctly
 
Last summer the transfer window started late, so of course signings came in after the season started, like it did for everyone, nothing to do with the performance against Everton. If you really think that Levy would make a kneejerk decision based on one game and make signings I guess you haven't taken much notice of how he's operated over the last 20 years.

And not caring as much about football as they do about Deloitte tables, absolute bull. Even if they are more interested in money, success on and off the pitch goes hand in hand. Doing better on the pitch raises the profile of the club giving more lucrative deals, success off the pitch gives the funds to invest in the football side. It's in their interest for the football side to be successful.
From what I can make out....

if we’re up brick creek and look like we might get relegated then open the purse strings.... If we look like we’re close to finally winning a big trophy then close the purse strings?
 
I'd imagine by now in normal circumstances it would have been expected that we'd have displayed the multi use potential of the stadium to the watching world - NFL, Rugby, Boxing, Concerts and more, potentially even an NFL franchise on board, there's no way any naming rights deal signed before then would have been valued correctly
NFL franchise is a hell of a long way away I think. If we’re very lucky we may end up with 4 games a year.
 
NFL franchise is a hell of a long way away I think.

Probably, that's why it was more if an after thought/potential - the rest is true though, show the potential sponsors they aren't just sponsoting a PL football stadium but a true multi sports venue with events throughout the year and the number increases.
 
From what I can make out....

if we’re up brick creek and look like we might get relegated then open the purse strings.... If we look like we’re close to finally winning a big trophy then close the purse strings?

Or Building a stadium meant we had to tighten our belts.

Someone posted before a breakdown of our transfer spend before the ball started rolling on the stadium and it was competitive, since moving in and finals cost have been known we're 4th highest net spenders in the league - seems pretty clear to me.

Who would have thought a stadium build would have an affect? :eek:
 
At a guess he probably thought the stadium would've had more coverage in the US by now with NFL, heavyweight title fights etc leading to more of an interest and a bigger deal. Could also be that he thought a deal would be straightforward. Looks like he has got the right person to get the deal done now though, hopefully once everything returns to normal it can be done quickly.
Can't believe this needs spelling out. Its so obvious.
 
Or Building a stadium meant we had to tighten our belts.

Someone posted before a breakdown of our transfer spend before the ball started rolling on the stadium and it was competitive, since moving in and finals cost have been known we're 4th highest net spenders in the league - seems pretty clear to me.

Who would have thought a stadium build would have an affect? :eek:
It’s just that we were told the transfer budget was ring fenced during the build yet we spent very little net during that period, even with the unexpected boost of regular CL participation.
We built a new factory but to the detriment of maintaining the machinery in inside. In isolation the post stadium build windows have been decent imo, it’s just that we are arguably playing catch-up from a lower base then the time we started because of the austerity.
 
Back