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Daniel Levy - Chairman

glasgowspur said:
It's clear, and has been for a while, that someone, some group, or something is dragging the club down.
Looks more and more likely that its coming from within the dressing room. I would have no hesitation in getting rid of each and every player, we cannot succeed with this going on.
We need to be ruthless here.
Selling a few players at a liss is nothing in comparison to the cost of these fudge ups.
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Indeed.... It is sitting up there in the boardroom.
 
parklane1 said:
And the wasters in the dressing room? you are giving them a clear bill of health. Lets be honest there were players who let down Poch at the end and they are doing the same now.
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Nope... I don't like lots of those either.... and one of the few that I do like and the one I like the most in the whole club wants out.

When any team is rotten though I have found that the problem tends to start at the top. Our recruitment over the past 4 years or so has been completely aimless. First not signing anybody at all, then signing expensive players only to sack the manager before he got a chance to use them, then bringing in a new manager with a completely different style of football to the one just gone so the incoming players are likely to be unsuited, then partially backing that manager, then sacking that manager when he is probably only a third of his way through his rebuild, to probably bring in another completely different type of manager to start again.

Absolutely terrible organisation from the top. When I have a director who keeps on re-arranging the chairs beneath him, I have often found that I need to look at the director instead of concentrating on the level below where the chairs keep on getting re-arranged.
 
parklane1 said:
And the wasters in the dressing room? you are giving them a clear bill of health. Lets be honest there were players who let down Poch at the end and they are doing the same now.
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It's called culture, Spurs have underachieved for way longer than Levy's tenure, the 80's side won 3 trophies in that decade?

I watched a lot of Real Madrid play, and most day to day games they fudging suck (watching Spurs is often better) but when it matters (see CL) those players more times than not, know how to turn up, scrape/fluke/contrive a win out of something. And I think its Ramos who said you don't play finals, you win them. United under SAF had it, players knew the shirt came with expectations and that's why you see ex-united players fudging horrified when Pogba does one of his I couldn't give a fudge appearances.

The Chairman doesn't solve that, some combination of manager and on field leaders (which the chairman can recruit) over time, with results.

What Levy is guilty of is keeping some of the deadwood which contributes, players who should be gone.
 
Finney Is Back said:
Nope... I don't like lots of those either.... and one of the few that I do like and the one I like the most in the whole club wants out.

When any team is rotten though I have found that the problem tends to start at the top. Our recruitment over the past 4 years or so has been completely aimless. First not signing anybody at all, then signing expensive players only to sack the manager before he got a chance to use them, then bringing in a new manager with a completely different style of football to the one just gone so the incoming players are likely to be unsuited, then partially backing that manager, then sacking that manager when he is probably only a third of his way through his rebuild, to probably bring in another completely different type of manager to start again.

Absolutely terrible organisation from the top. When I have a director who keeps on re-arranging the chairs beneath him, I have often found that I need to look at the director instead of concentrating on the level below where the chairs keep on getting re-arranged.
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I can agree with some of what you say but also disagree with other parts of what you say. The main point is that no matter who we get as manager or even chairman ( and that is not going to happen despite how much you and others want it) we need a massive turnover ( not just a couple like s ome have suggested) of playing staff and until that happens we will continue to get nowhere. Lets not forget that s ome of those same players were a big reason that Poch lost his job as well.
 
Raziel said:
It's called culture, Spurs have underachieved for way longer than Levy's tenure, the 80's side won 3 trophies in that decade?

I watched a lot of Real Madrid play, and most day to day games they fudging suck (watching Spurs is often better) but when it matters (see CL) those players more times than not, know how to turn up, scrape/fluke/contrive a win out of something. And I think its Ramos who said you don't play finals, you win them. United under SAF had it, players knew the shirt came with expectations and that's why you see ex-united players fudging horrified when Pogba does one of his I couldn't give a fudge appearances.

The Chairman doesn't solve that, some combination of manager and on-field leaders (which the chairman can recruit) over time, with results.

What Levy is guilty of is keeping some of the deadwood which contributes, players who should be gone.
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Simply put Levy has small bald man syndrome in the transfer market. He always has the urge of gaining personal victory and having that one up at the expense of the bigger picture. Master as a money man no doubt about it, but he needs to understand that he is ineffective in the transfer market.

Set a budget, set an overall wage budget and let someone who knows football, deal with matters on the pitch.
 
Raziel said:
It's called culture, Spurs have underachieved for way longer than Levy's tenure, the 80's side won 3 trophies in that decade?

I watched a lot of Real Madrid play, and most day to day games they fudging suck (watching Spurs is often better) but when it matters (see CL) those players more times than not, know how to turn up, scrape/fluke/contrive a win out of something. And I think its Ramos who said you don't play finals, you win them. United under SAF had it, players knew the shirt came with expectations and that's why you see ex-united players fudging horrified when Pogba does one of his I couldn't give a fudge appearances.

The Chairman doesn't solve that, some combination of manager and on field leaders (which the chairman can recruit) over time, with results.

What Levy is guilty of is keeping some of the deadwood which contributes, players who should be gone.
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Like Hitchen for example?
 
Finney Is Back said:
Like Hitchen for example?
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I dont really know much about Hitchen, but from the documentary, he just seems like a lap dog who pulls a stern face to suggest that he is overloaded with work and is trying above and beyond to impress Levy with long winded excuses, which he knows sit well in communicating with Levy ... Levy buys his flimflam as its exactly what he wants to hear.
 
As I have said before you can't just keep doing the same old things and expect a different outcome. To some on here Levy is never to blame - or maybe some say he is only partially to blame - never really his fault though. How many times have we ended up in this situation where our best player(s) decide to leave because they can't see themselves winning anything if they stay? Campbell (sorry to press that wound), Berbatov, Carrick, Sheringham, Modric, Bale and now Harry who is the best striker we have had since Greavsie and didn't cost us a fee - a true legend but forced to head off to get a trophy or two.

Its a TOTAL indictment of ENIC and Levy's MO - DubaiSpur has had it right for a long time - there's no plan to win trophies, just a plan to scrape into the CL now and again and fill their coffers.

Levy hung Harry out to dry with Nelsen and Saha, he hung Poch out to dry with two barren transfer windows until Poch just knew things wouldn't change and i think he held on until he was sacked for a better pay off rather than walking away and he hung Jose out to dry by not going the extra few Mill for Skriniar (yes, speculating, but we knew that Toby was past his best, Sanchez had failed to kick on and Dier wasn't really proven at CB). Jose needed a job and wanted to be in London BUT he has always had plenty of spending power and Levy gets him Bergwyn (were there lots of clubs in for him?) Jack Clarke, Joe Rodon, Ryan Sessegnon - the old MO of buying young and cheap and hoping to improve their asset value on the Balance Sheet.

I saw the Double team and thus the last time we won the League title - many posters on here did not, but so many seem absolutely laid back that there is plenty of time to win things, just believe in ENIC - well after twenty years I don't.

Levy will never let a DOF have his way even if he appoints one - Levy will be into every transfer negotiation - and that means three times the time to get a deal done or bargain hunting on deadline day - nothing has changed or will change...

"We are doomed Captain Mainwaring! Doomed I tell ye!"
 
Jeff Brooks said:
As I have said before you can't just keep doing the same old things and expect a different outcome. To some on here Levy is never to blame - or maybe some say he is only partially to blame - never really his fault though. How many times have we ended up in this situation where our best player(s) decide to leave because they can't see themselves winning anything if they stay? Campbell (sorry to press that wound), Berbatov, Carrick, Sheringham, Modric, Bale and now Harry who is the best striker we have had since Greavsie and didn't cost us a fee - a true legend but forced to head off to get a trophy or two.

Its a TOTAL indictment of ENIC and Levy's MO - DubaiSpur has had it right for a long time - there's no plan to win trophies, just a plan to scrape into the CL now and again and fill their coffers.

Levy hung Harry out to dry with Nelsen and Saha, he hung Poch out to dry with two barren transfer windows until Poch just knew things wouldn't change and i think he held on until he was sacked for a better pay off rather than walking away and he hung Jose out to dry by not going the extra few Mill for Skriniar (yes, speculating, but we knew that Toby was past his best, Sanchez had failed to kick on and Dier wasn't really proven at CB). Jose needed a job and wanted to be in London BUT he has always had plenty of spending power and Levy gets him Bergwyn (were there lots of clubs in for him?) Jack Clarke, Joe Rodon, Ryan Sessegnon - the old MO of buying young and cheap and hoping to improve their asset value on the Balance Sheet.

I saw the Double team and thus the last time we won the League title - many posters on here did not, but so many seem absolutely laid back that there is plenty of time to win things, just believe in ENIC - well after twenty years I don't.

Levy will never let a DOF have his way even if he appoints one - Levy will be into every transfer negotiation - and that means three times the time to get a deal done or bargain hunting on deadline day - nothing has changed or will change...

"We are doomed Captain Mainwaring! Doomed I tell ye!"
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I agree. I think @DubaiSpur has it dead on. Maybe with some colourful language that I wouldn't use, but broadly I agree. I think Levy is a good man who has done a lot of good for the club, worked hard and built the stadium. But it is abundantly clear he does not actually care about trophies, if it means cutting into the ENIC profit margin. If he did, Kane would not want to leave. I'm sure of it. He signed a 6 year contract because he saw the club progressing. Then we made the CL final. And then ever since then it has been blatantly obvious to the entire football world that Spurs are not investing to compete. We are back in our place in the food chain that sees our best players want to leave to give themselves a better chance of winning things. That we have driven a player who would have given his life to the club is a really sad state of affairs. We did it to a Manager who would have done the same.

Frankly with all of this, I find it amazing that people will still find the excuses to back ENIC. We are very clearly regressing to our mean under ENIC, because they will not push the boat out ever so slightly to help us win something. Let's just take a look at the times they could have:

Under Harry: well in the title hunt. We sign Nelsen and Saha in January. We miss out on the CL.
Under Harry: Levy pretends he is serious about signing Aguero. Lots of stuff leaked to the press about how he's on a plane to Madrid, toying with a £30M offer. Obviously it didn't happen.
Under AVB: He had a system where he really wanted a metronome in midfield to make it work. We tinkle around and don't sign Moutinho, because the deal wouldn't quite work for us, for whatever reason.
Under Poch: We go 18 months without signing anyone. After building what was consistently the best side in the country. We screw around with West Brom for Berahino and with Villa for Grealish. We don't get things done.
Under Poch: We pretend we are serious about signing Dybala. Just too difficult a deal to accept because of the image rights.
Under Jose: We know what we get with Jose. I completely would believe Jose would have rather had a new CB than Bale. But clearly we didn't back him to the extent that we could.

In each of these examples, we didn't back the manager, which meant in some cases we back a group of players that have underperformed and were seen as good investments. But more importantly, in each of these examples we have used the bogeyman excuse of 'doing a Leeds' as to why we couldn't make the final push to win something when we were so close. I appreciate people saying that it always seems to be one more player, and we can never compete with Chelsea / City on the basis of cash. I agree with that, but no one can tell me that signing Moutinho was going to make us do a Leeds. Or signing Berahino. Or Grealish. Not when we can spend £30M on Sissoko.

I think the fact is, ENIC are conscious that any money they choose to pump into the club comes straight out of their profit on their investment. So they will only ever do that if it feels like we will drop out of the top 6. It is simply not worth it for them to push on and try and win something, because for them there is no guarantee, so it isn't worth it. I think with Moutinho, they absolutely thought AVB had a good enough squad for the top 6, and anything else would be a bonus. Under Harry, we could have pushed the boat out and made a signing to get us a better chance of winning the league. Yes it would have cost ENIC a few quid. But they could have gone for it. Other owners might. Unless we are bought by oil money, we will never be able to spend like City too. We may always have to be smarter. We may always have to build a culture and a spirit that allows us an edge against competitors with more money. But we can absolutely make a signing when it looks like we are so close to winning something, to maintain the momentum, if it looks like we have everything else in place.

We could have got Moutinho without bankrupting the club. It is important for ENIC not to eat into their profit, and it's important for Levy to maintain his reputation as the fiercest negotiator in football. (I think because it helps with the deals we can get, not because of ego).

People seem to be totally fine with this, and I just don't get it. This whole Kane situation, on the back of the Poch situation, everyone else in football can see it. We are regressing to our mean under ENIC. People who love this club are deciding they are out. How on earth are people ok with this?
 
I also am not surprised Donna Cullen has seemingly been on of their most important members of staff. A PR person that is so close to the top decision makers. Because a massive part of ENIC's ability to continue to do what they do relies on the implicit backing of people like us. Which is why nonsense like Dybala, Aguero and Moutinho happens. I think they are very clever about making it appear like they have shown ambition, and that it was juuuuuuust too difficult to get over the line. When the actual fact is, we prey on financially weak clubs to get bargains.
 
When people say that ENIC don't want trophies....why the heck did Levy get the stadium built, why the heck did he hire Mourinho? It is a shame it was an expensive mistake but surely you can't accuse Levy of not wanting a trophy, it was seen as almost guaranteed with Mourinho.
 
lurker of old said:
When people say that ENIC don't want trophies....why the heck did Levy get the stadium built, why the heck did he hire Mourinho? It is a shame it was an expensive mistake but surely you can't accuse Levy of not wanting a trophy, it was seen as almost guaranteed with Mourinho.
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I'm sure they'd love a trophy. But they won't do what it takes to give the club the best possible chance of doing it. Not if it means eating into their margin a little.

They can literally spare no expense on the stadium, but won't on the squad. One is good for their investment. One is good for us as fans. One is a longer term benefit to the club, one is a shorter term boost where the asset will depreciate. But it absolutely isn't about safe guarding the financial future of the club. If they wanted to, they could chuck a bit more cash in, now and then. But they won't. It isn't worth it to them.
 
lurker of old said:
When people say that ENIC don't want trophies....why the heck did Levy get the stadium built, why the heck did he hire Mourinho? It is a shame it was an expensive mistake but surely you can't accuse Levy of not wanting a trophy, it was seen as almost guaranteed with Mourinho.
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I think the gripe is that we don't go for the big trophies, PL and CL.
You know the ones it's cost city and Chelsea over £1b to buy.
 
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BrainOfLevy said:
I agree. I think @DubaiSpur has it dead on. Maybe with some colourful language that I wouldn't use, but broadly I agree. I think Levy is a good man who has done a lot of good for the club, worked hard and built the stadium. But it is abundantly clear he does not actually care about trophies, if it means cutting into the ENIC profit margin. If he did, Kane would not want to leave. I'm sure of it. He signed a 6 year contract because he saw the club progressing. Then we made the CL final. And then ever since then it has been blatantly obvious to the entire football world that Spurs are not investing to compete. We are back in our place in the food chain that sees our best players want to leave to give themselves a better chance of winning things. That we have driven a player who would have given his life to the club is a really sad state of affairs. We did it to a Manager who would have done the same.

Frankly with all of this, I find it amazing that people will still find the excuses to back ENIC. We are very clearly regressing to our mean under ENIC, because they will not push the boat out ever so slightly to help us win something. Let's just take a look at the times they could have:

Under Harry: well in the title hunt. We sign Nelsen and Saha in January. We miss out on the CL.
Under Harry: Levy pretends he is serious about signing Aguero. Lots of stuff leaked to the press about how he's on a plane to Madrid, toying with a £30M offer. Obviously it didn't happen.
Under AVB: He had a system where he really wanted a metronome in midfield to make it work. We tinkle around and don't sign Moutinho, because the deal wouldn't quite work for us, for whatever reason.
Under Poch: We go 18 months without signing anyone. After building what was consistently the best side in the country. We screw around with West Brom for Berahino and with Villa for Grealish. We don't get things done.
Under Poch: We pretend we are serious about signing Dybala. Just too difficult a deal to accept because of the image rights.
Under Jose: We know what we get with Jose. I completely would believe Jose would have rather had a new CB than Bale. But clearly we didn't back him to the extent that we could.

In each of these examples, we didn't back the manager, which meant in some cases we back a group of players that have underperformed and were seen as good investments. But more importantly, in each of these examples we have used the bogeyman excuse of 'doing a Leeds' as to why we couldn't make the final push to win something when we were so close. I appreciate people saying that it always seems to be one more player, and we can never compete with Chelsea / City on the basis of cash. I agree with that, but no one can tell me that signing Moutinho was going to make us do a Leeds. Or signing Berahino. Or Grealish. Not when we can spend £30M on Sissoko.

I think the fact is, ENIC are conscious that any money they choose to pump into the club comes straight out of their profit on their investment. So they will only ever do that if it feels like we will drop out of the top 6. It is simply not worth it for them to push on and try and win something, because for them there is no guarantee, so it isn't worth it. I think with Moutinho, they absolutely thought AVB had a good enough squad for the top 6, and anything else would be a bonus. Under Harry, we could have pushed the boat out and made a signing to get us a better chance of winning the league. Yes it would have cost ENIC a few quid. But they could have gone for it. Other owners might. Unless we are bought by oil money, we will never be able to spend like City too. We may always have to be smarter. We may always have to build a culture and a spirit that allows us an edge against competitors with more money. But we can absolutely make a signing when it looks like we are so close to winning something, to maintain the momentum, if it looks like we have everything else in place.

We could have got Moutinho without bankrupting the club. It is important for ENIC not to eat into their profit, and it's important for Levy to maintain his reputation as the fiercest negotiator in football. (I think because it helps with the deals we can get, not because of ego).

People seem to be totally fine with this, and I just don't get it. This whole Kane situation, on the back of the Poch situation, everyone else in football can see it. We are regressing to our mean under ENIC. People who love this club are deciding they are out. How on earth are people ok with this?
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Regressing to our mean is us achieving at a level that we should. Not sure how that is a bad thing.
I do agree with some of what you're saying. DL pooped himself when we got CL final, not because he didn't want to spend money, but imho because he knew that expectations would go through the roof. Expectations that we were not at that point in a position to fulfil.
Poch biggest problem was getting us where we wanted to be 18 months to early.
This is a journey, and we have taken a few wrong turns, detours and had a few unscheduled toilet stops on the way, but we will get there.
Problem will be when the passengers realise the destination isn't the same for everyone.
 
So last summer in the middle of a global pandemic that effected nearly every club in football. Daniel Levy, financial genius, should know that no club has any cash.

But he sat down with Harry Kane, who had then 4 years remaining on his contact, and told him if you stay another year we will let you go next summer.

There was no danger if any club buying him last summer. Even Pogba knuckled down at United knowing Real couldn't afford him anymore.

Levy isn't even competent at the one thing he was supposed to be good at anymore.
 
glasgowspur said:
Regressing to our mean is us achieving at a level that we should. Not sure how that is a bad thing.
I do agree with some of what you're saying. DL pooped himself when we got CL final, not because he didn't want to spend money, but imho because he knew that expectations would go through the roof. Expectations that we were not at that point in a position to fulfil.
Poch biggest problem was getting us where we wanted to be 18 months to early.
This is a journey, and we have taken a few wrong turns, detours and had a few unscheduled toilet stops on the way, but we will get there.
Problem will be when the passengers realise the destination isn't the same for everyone.
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Because we've missed chance after chance to actually win something when we were much closer, to back managers to let them get the plans in place that they were hired for / built their reputations on, and we are now back to where we were 7 years ago. We have a great new stadium and our best player, an academy graduate who loves the club, wants to leave. We have not made meaningful progress on the pitch, and we are falling back. That's why I think it is a bad thing. Our reputation in the game is clear - we are not the place to go to win trophies.

A lot of people seem pretty convinced that 'the journey' is going to lead to success. I'm just not convinced. If the stadium was to be a real game changer, I don't think we lose Poch, and I don't think we lose Kane.
 
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