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Daniel Levy - Chairman

Bedfordspurs said:
So your saying we should just pay more wages
Everything comes back to money
It’s that simple isn’t it
Spend more and pay more
I mean Liverpool at the time had more money than us, made more money than us and weren’t spending on other things.
They still pay more than us by about £3m a week
It happens. Some clubs have more money than others
Where would the money come from to pay the extra?
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That's all it ever boils down to.
Eg...
'with a wage bill at 40% we clearly had room to accommodate blah blah blah...' based on what?

Based on zero understanding (and no willing to understand) the overall financial picture of the club along the timeline.
 
ricky2tricky4city said:
That's all it ever boils down to.
Eg...
'with a wage bill at 40% we clearly had room to accommodate blah blah blah...' based on what?

Based on zero understanding (and no willing to understand) the overall financial picture of the club along the timeline.
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I’m all for paying more if we can afford it
But I’m all for keeping the club on solid footing too
It’s why a businessmen is needed to balance things
 
billyiddo said:
Rodgers still has a lot going on with Leicester atm so I'd watch that space rather than call it as done - interesting the bookies still consider him a favourite. ETH - Ajax supposedly had an extension clause that they activated rather than he signed a new deal. Me personally, I'd be as happy with Potter as i would with either of those because i think it would show that we are looking at what the manager has in his locker, rather than what he has on his honors list. He also knows the league and presumably has an idea of our squad strengths and weaknesses which should help in the short term.

@Modric THFC done a breakdown last night i think of some of the negative parts of Rodgers managerial record and it does have me second guessing him a bit - terrible record in Europe and no Rangers to contend with at Celtic does color his achievements somewhat.
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If ETH wanted to come though, he'd come. Same as if Poch wanted to have gone to Madrid, he would have gone. There was this talk of 'Poch didn't turn them down because they never made approach', when it was blindingly obvious they kicked their media machine into gear, and Poch just wasn't going to say he wanted it and wasn't going to force the issue. But if he wanted it, he would have gone.

It's a two way thing. I think if we are a good project for someone, they will come. And if they are good for us, we'll approach them. I just don't get someone sticking it out at Ajax if our job is available, unless they really don't want to work within the ENIC plan.
 
BrainOfLevy said:
If ETH wanted to come though, he'd come. Same as if Poch wanted to have gone to Madrid, he would have gone. There was this talk of 'Poch didn't turn them down because they never made approach', when it was blindingly obvious they kicked their media machine into gear, and Poch just wasn't going to say he wanted it and wasn't going to force the issue. But if he wanted it, he would have gone.

It's a two way thing. I think if we are a good project for someone, they will come. And if they are good for us, we'll approach them. I just don't get someone sticking it out at Ajax if our job is available, unless they really don't want to work within the ENIC plan.
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did I miss us offering him the job?
 
Diamond Lights said:
People don't like to criticise ENIC too harshly given where we were as a club in the 90s. Although i'm not in that camp.

Everton, like us, also ever present PL team who, compared to the 90s, were utter brick finishing 15th etc like we were. Now they're a different kettle of fish, like us because the money from the PL and being ever present in the division has allowed the team to improve from where they were 20 years ago, just like us.


The simple fact is we're run as business first and foremost, and Levy likes to do things on the cheap. People can pat themselves on the back saying "Levy spends, look he made signings for Poch in his final season" which conveniately ignores the fact we brought Ndombele in early, and Lo Celso and Sessegnon were end of window signings as usual. Because the priority isn't on the pitch.

Levy is no different to the Glazers, people need to remove the rose tinted spectacles thinking he gives a brick about on pitch issues, he does the bare minimum to keep us competing but maximise our revenue. Same as Kroenke too.
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Is all modern football a business = yes
Does Levy run Spurs as a business first = yes
Does he do "the bare minimum" = no

Within your budget does not equal on the cheap

- We need a CB badly, the last three quality CBs in the PL (VVD, Maquire, Dias) all went for over £80M (plus incentives, agent fees, etc.), we cannot fudging afford that, we may not like to accept that as fans, but we can't.

The on the cheap is easily disproven

- The money spent on training facilities and stadium is way over what even a satisfactory build would be. Levy could easily have delivered a stadium for half the price, easily could have left out the area regeneration stuff, list goes on ..

Don't agree with his decisions = your call, don't agree with our transfer policy = same, don't think they are best for the club = same

but the tired narrative of "he doesn't give a brick", same as Glazers/Kroenke? do we have no fudging screens on our stadium and seats that can't be sold because the fudging roof has leaked for years? is the directors sucking huge dividends out of the club yearly, did the club sit on insane interest rates for years (for loan to buy club)? that mate is don't give a fudge

This thread is amazing, Everton are now better run than us? their best season in how many years and they are still below us in our worst season in how long? they have a "plan" for a stadium, fudging brilliant.
 
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BrainOfLevy said:
If ETH wanted to come though, he'd come. Same as if Poch wanted to have gone to Madrid, he would have gone. There was this talk of 'Poch didn't turn them down because they never made approach', when it was blindingly obvious they kicked their media machine into gear, and Poch just wasn't going to say he wanted it and wasn't going to force the issue. But if he wanted it, he would have gone.

It's a two way thing. I think if we are a good project for someone, they will come. And if they are good for us, we'll approach them. I just don't get someone sticking it out at Ajax if our job is available, unless they really don't want to work within the ENIC plan.
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I can see what you're saying, but would that not be the same thing Madrid fans would say about Poch not coming to them. ie why would he stick it out at Tottenham. Either could easily be accused of lacking ambition?

Of course there could be other reasons ETH didn't want to move to London.
 
ricky2tricky4city said:
I can see what you're saying, but would that not be the same thing Madrid fans would say about Poch not coming to them. ie why would he stick it out at Tottenham. Either could easily be accused of lacking ambition?

Of course there could be other reasons ETH didn't want to move to London.
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I think Poch genuinely did want to stick it out at Tottenham though! Whether or not Madrid fans understood that, we had a project which he was really invested in. Poch was also a unique guy that believes in positive energy etc. But he genuinely did want to stay.

What I am saying is, why do we not have a project that ETH will want to come and do? Maybe Ajax has some thing going on that we don't know about, but I just can't understand why he isn't jumping all over it.
 
Baleforce said:
did I miss us offering him the job?
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No, but we clearly met him. It clearly didn't work out. Maybe Levy decided he just wasn't very impressive.

I think what is much more likely, given he is a progressive, modern, attack minded coach that can work with young players, is that we were interested in meeting him. And I think ETH said 'here are my expectations'. And I think we backed away. And my question is...why? If that did happen, it's a pretty realistic scenario, why do are we not able to provide a project that matches this expectation?
 
BrainOfLevy said:
No, but we clearly met him. It clearly didn't work out. Maybe Levy decided he just wasn't very impressive.

I think what is much more likely, given he is a progressive, modern, attack minded coach that can work with young players, is that we were interested in meeting him. And I think ETH said 'here are my expectations'. And I think we backed away. And my question is...why? If that did happen, it's a pretty realistic scenario, why do are we not able to provide a project that matches this expectation?
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Did we, has that been substantiated by a reliable source?

If so, how do we know he was the one that said no rather than us?
 
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BrainOfLevy said:
I think Poch genuinely did want to stick it out at Tottenham though! Whether or not Madrid fans understood that, we had a project which he was really invested in. Poch was also a unique guy that believes in positive energy etc. But he genuinely did want to stay.

What I am saying is, why do we not have a project that ETH will want to come and do? Maybe Ajax has some thing going on that we don't know about, but I just can't understand why he isn't jumping all over it.
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I agree about Poch, it's all about 'feel' for him and also what stage he was at with his project with us, he's a man of honour. (Or as much as can be in the football world).
You would feel that we are the perfect next step for an Ajax manager, especially one that has achieved pretty much all he can with them. FWIW I thought he was a worthwhile candidate but for some reason I'm not upset he won't be coming. Not sure why though:)

As I say maybe something else didn't make it a good fit for him, family etc.
 
BrainOfLevy said:
No, but we clearly met him. It clearly didn't work out. Maybe Levy decided he just wasn't very impressive.

I think what is much more likely, given he is a progressive, modern, attack minded coach that can work with young players, is that we were interested in meeting him. And I think ETH said 'here are my expectations'. And I think we backed away. And my question is...why? If that did happen, it's a pretty realistic scenario, why do are we not able to provide a project that matches this expectation?
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Maybe he wanted guarantees that he would have the job there and then, and Levy was still looking at other targets as well.

Maybe Levy wanted to introduce a particular DOF that ETH didn't like.

Maybe ETH said he wanted to sell Kane to fund a rebuild and Levy said no way.

The thing is we just don't know.
 
BrainOfLevy said:
No, but we clearly met him. It clearly didn't work out. Maybe Levy decided he just wasn't very impressive.

I think what is much more likely, given he is a progressive, modern, attack minded coach that can work with young players, is that we were interested in meeting him. And I think ETH said 'here are my expectations'. And I think we backed away. And my question is...why? If that did happen, it's a pretty realistic scenario, why do are we not able to provide a project that matches this expectation?
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If Levy can offer a project that Jose accepts, I doubt we can't offer a project that ETH will accept.
 
Raziel said:
No one is, the only other major stadium builds in PL recently

- Arsenal, made huge mistakes, bad interest rates, not really designed for non football events, corporate facilities behind us, knocked them out of contention
- West Ham, got a fudging freebie (with lots of questions)

We have done an amazing job with the stadium, the issue was simply timing/outside scenarios

- Poch unfortunately burnt out (and so did team) at just the wrong time (and I really don't believe buying one or two more players would have changed that)
- Covid has fudged everyone but money doping clubs, with full stadium revenue and non football events, perhaps we could have got Skrinar (as example) and what difference that could have made even to this season (we have lost 20 points from winning position, one top class CB could have saved what % of that? half of that would put us in 3rd)

This is all the same conversation in a bricky loop

- For years, Levy/ENIC was here for a quick flip
- Then the stadium planning/build was a red herring that never was going to happen (yes, this was a conversation on this board for years)
- Then it was the net spend conversation, i.e. we were never going to spend more than we earn
- Now it's we won't take the new stadium revenue (when it comes online) and apply it to players, or won't spend for managers/whatever (despite it being shown when Levy believes he has to do something, e.g. to let go Poch/Jose, he does it regardless of cost)

It comes back to the same thing

- People actually thinking RA at Chelsea is a good model? wtf, all the debt is still on the club (money they could never pay back) and they exist purely on his mood/goodwill
- Same as above, it is the sugar daddy want.

Levy is playing the long game, always has, in the long run it's the right decision

- In two years with full revenue, non-football events and potential NFL collaboration, we will have a different conversation, problem is no one wants to wait.
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You'll do this loop a thousand times mate.

A couple of things to add.
The ESL thing. As the ESL train pulled in Levy had no choice to accept a place on board. Anyone who says they would have refused is being disingenuous at best. BUT with the long game WE are playing we are actually better off in the current set up (as are Chelsea/City but for different reasons) as we are growing our financial power up and above most teams organically and sustainably.

Also supporters (if they can be bothered) might want to look at what was happening at the club off the field at the time of the no incoming transfer windows. Poch was 100% right that we needed to refresh the squad and Levy would agree (most of us could see that) BUT at that time all that could be offered was sell to buy due to unplanned circumstances. You can drill down into the specifics and there have been many believable reasons why Eriksen Toby might have not gone and some less believable reasons why Rose couldn't of gone.
Levy is obviously a risk averse guy, the Ndombele Lo Celso etc should have happened the summer before, but couldn't due to risk and circumstance.

But because 'circumstance' doesn't have a face that you can put on a dart board, it's hard to accept.

Its a shame as if everything went as scheduled Poch would have evolved the team as and when he wanted and would probably still be here. (Worth thinking about @BrainOfLevy)

Don't be surprised if this summer is a struggle as well, covid was (obviously) never planned for and certainly has no end date that Levy believes in (sensibly). As I say he's risk averse. Uncertainty is kryptonite to that kind of guy.
 
Baleforce said:
Did we, has that been substantiated by a reliable source?

If so, how do we know he was the one that said no rather than us?
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I just want to get away from this 'we offered him the job, he said no' idea. Because that's not what I'm saying.

What I am saying is, we want a progressive, attack minded coach who can work with young players. He should be a top candidate in that regard. Even if you don't want to accept me met him, at least give me that we should at least meet him, at some point. In the same vein as Poch didn't turn down an offer from Madrid, because they never actually offered him the job, he still made it so he didn't go. If Poch wanted Madrid, he would have gone. And I think if ETH wanted us, he would have made it happen.

I am sure that what happened is that we met him, we set out our vision for the role, and he set out his expectations around what we needed. And what I am curious / slightly concerned about, is that the vision we are setting out is not a strong enough pitch to convince Ajax's manager to leave. I am sure they both came to the conclusion that their visions were incompatible, and I am concerned as to why that might be. Would ETH be demanding City money? Probably not? Would he be demanding a weekly supply of 10 cigars, each rolled on the thigh of a Cuban virgin? Did he just absolutely, really not want to live in London, because the culture was just so wildly different from Amsterdam?

I am concerned that we don't have a project that the Ajax manager wouldn't be jumping all over. And I firmly believe if we are now in the stadium and ready to really reap the benefits and make a real push into the top echelons of the European game, ETH and many other managers would be stupid not to take it. Compete in the PL. Work with Kane. Great stadium, training ground, academy. Pretty deep squad. Probably double or treble his salary.
 
Baleforce said:
United, Liverpool?
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Their fans would probably stage a protest against the heritage of their historical ground being pulled down.

Liverpool have redeveloped recently but it’s probably a fine line in terms of what they’d gain for the cost with their current capacities and lower ticket prices in general up tNorth. For us it would be reasonable to expect doubled matchday income but the it’s the other events that could yet be the real game changer.

I was intrigued with Chelsea’s plans, after failing to find a site and a difficult site to redevelop I still wonder what the impact of 3 years at Wembley would have on the team and their ability to get 60k? Mitigated by the fact it would have been a complete gift from the owner?
 
ricky2tricky4city said:
If Levy can offer a project that Jose accepts, I doubt we can't offer a project that ETH will accept.
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I think our standing when Poch was sacked was way higher for potential managers than it is now.

Back then, we still looked like a club that was about to take the leap, but there was an argument to be made that the manager had run his course, and the squad just needed a new voice to get them back to where they are.

I think the last 2 years have shown the football world exactly what problems we have, exactly the restraints we face, and it has shown some pretty poor decision making on the football side. I am pretty sure a lot of top candidates are deciding this isn't the place to build their career.
 
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