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Daniel Levy - Former Chairman

Raziel said:
In evaluating Spurs you have to understand the context that we are unique in the last 30 odd years

- United, Liverpool & Arsenal got a 2 decade advantage on every other club in Europe by being in the right position at the start of PL & CL money, and all 3 have fudged up that advantage for periods of time in last 10+ years (context to keep in mind when judging Spurs, even with a 20 year advantage, it doesn't always work out).
- Chelsea and City simply threw billions at the problem, breaking rules and with no intention of even vaguely being a viable business (Chelsea lost more than a million pounds a week for the entirety of RA's ownership)

In that context you had Spurs, coming out of a dreadful 90's, brick squad, brick training ground, undersized stadium, lacking the revenue resources of the others above, having to fight the losing your best players as soon as they hit a certain level, and (big part) trying to build that success organically and as a viable business model. To put in context, the ask was

- Rebuild academy and training ground
- Get into Europe (think BMK was first/second time in 20 years?), and the pressure that comes on squad with that (see how Saudi Sportswashing Machine/Villa/other have struggled)
- Establish ourselves as part of top group (top 6 instead of Sky 4)
- Get in a position where you don't have to sell your best players
- Make up a revenue gap to top 4 where you can financially compete for the long term (something Saudi Sportswashing Machine, Villa, West Ham, Leicester have all failed to do)
- Build a new Stadium (something United, Chelsea, Liverpool have all failed to address and is still outstanding)
- Build a squad capable of competing with the best in the world without the glamour/funds to attract the best players
- Get the manager and associated things around the squad right
- And in all of that, you have to add in the unique Spurs things, get our best squad & manager just at the point where we have the least revenue with stadium spend and have to play almost two seasons "away" from home, get the stadium ready to deliver revenue and get 2 years of Covid.

It's all perspective, lots of people say Spurs has failed, sometimes I look back and say it's a fudging miracle we got as close as we did, while having not sacrificed our future, we may have to find a new manager, we may have to spend on the squad but a lot of the infrastructure, revenue and establishing ourselves (we are a regular European contender, we do challenge for top 4) has been done. Villa will fade back in a couple of years, as will others because it isn't about the moment (and yes, the clear criticism of the club was the lack of risk, the pivot to long term over any short term), it's about who will compete in 5-10 years.
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Have you ever had anyone in your family whose emotional needs aren't being met?

You can, as you have done above (and endless times before) go thru things with them pragmatically, realistically, honestly, objectively etc ....it won't make a blind bit of difference.
 
Bishop said:
They are a basket case 100%, but a lot of that is borne out by their ambition.

Ambition and success are obviously not the same thing. We can criticise their decision making, we can criticise their implemention but can't ever claim they lack ambition.
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100%. United can’t seem to get anything right since Fergie retired but it’s definitely not through a lack of trying or ambition. The fact is they are not the pull they once were so they can’t attract the truly elite players in world football anymore so they have to be smart, which they haven’t been.

Can’t accuse us of having the same ambition they have. That won’t change until we get different ownership.
 
Raziel said:
In evaluating Spurs you have to understand the context that we are unique in the last 30 odd years

- United, Liverpool & Arsenal got a 2 decade advantage on every other club in Europe by being in the right position at the start of PL & CL money, and all 3 have fudged up that advantage for periods of time in last 10+ years (context to keep in mind when judging Spurs, even with a 20 year advantage, it doesn't always work out).
- Chelsea and City simply threw billions at the problem, breaking rules and with no intention of even vaguely being a viable business (Chelsea lost more than a million pounds a week for the entirety of RA's ownership)

In that context you had Spurs, coming out of a dreadful 90's, brick squad, brick training ground, undersized stadium, lacking the revenue resources of the others above, having to fight the losing your best players as soon as they hit a certain level, and (big part) trying to build that success organically and as a viable business model. To put in context, the ask was

- Rebuild academy and training ground
- Get into Europe (think BMK was first/second time in 20 years?), and the pressure that comes on squad with that (see how Saudi Sportswashing Machine/Villa/other have struggled)
- Establish ourselves as part of top group (top 6 instead of Sky 4)
- Get in a position where you don't have to sell your best players
- Make up a revenue gap to top 4 where you can financially compete for the long term (something Saudi Sportswashing Machine, Villa, West Ham, Leicester have all failed to do)
- Build a new Stadium (something United, Chelsea, Liverpool have all failed to address and is still outstanding)
- Build a squad capable of competing with the best in the world without the glamour/funds to attract the best players
- Get the manager and associated things around the squad right
- And in all of that, you have to add in the unique Spurs things, get our best squad & manager just at the point where we have the least revenue with stadium spend and have to play almost two seasons "away" from home, get the stadium ready to deliver revenue and get 2 years of Covid.

It's all perspective, lots of people say Spurs has failed, sometimes I look back and say it's a fudging miracle we got as close as we did, while having not sacrificed our future, we may have to find a new manager, we may have to spend on the squad but a lot of the infrastructure, revenue and establishing ourselves (we are a regular European contender, we do challenge for top 4) has been done. Villa will fade back in a couple of years, as will others because it isn't about the moment (and yes, the clear criticism of the club was the lack of risk, the pivot to long term over any short term), it's about who will compete in 5-10 years.
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Fantastic summary, great post.
Each year we will have minnows like Villa, Brighton, Everton, Saudi Sportswashing Machine, Leicester, Preston North End challenging our spot in the "Big 6" and trying to haul themselves up into a "Large 7" or "Tubby 8" but realistically if we are pulling in £X00m more money than them each year, we should be able to stay ahead IF we play our cards right.
 
Glenda's Legs said:
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Comes over really well there...........

Given what Spurs has done for the wider community in his time, the jobs and infrastructure, its a well deserved award

Looks in good health which is good to see
 
The bit about Chelsea is really revealing to me - shows such a negative mindset in that the first thing he says is how tough a place it’s been for us, rather than focusing on being positive on what we can achieve. Supports a lot of what Ange said about a lot of negativity / pessimism pervading the club
 
DaveT316 said:
The bit about Chelsea is really revealing to me - shows such a negative mindset in that the first thing he says is how tough a place it’s been for us, rather than focusing on being positive on what we can achieve. Supports a lot of what Ange said about a lot of negativity / pessimism pervading the club
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He is very jovial when he said it TBF and he isnt wrong. Also its an off the cuff interview and he isnt at the club anymore, so in fairness he can say what he likes now
 
DaveT316 said:
The bit about Chelsea is really revealing to me - shows such a negative mindset in that the first thing he says is how tough a place it’s been for us, rather than focusing on being positive on what we can achieve. Supports a lot of what Ange said about a lot of negativity / pessimism pervading the club
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I may have to dial down the realism I regularly espouse, if it gets viewed as negativity/pessimism?
 
MartyFunkhouser said:
He is very jovial when he said it TBF and he isnt wrong. Also its an off the cuff interview and he isnt at the club anymore, so in fairness he can say what he likes now
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Yeah I can see that point of view too. I mean, he’s not wrong as you say. It just felt significant that they were the first words out of his mouth on it, like it becomes self-fulfilling and gives the players and out before they’ve kicked a ball. A realist maybe, but not sure it’s the words of a winner. And this is from someone who is a big supporter of Levy and v appreciative of what he’s done for the club.

I’m possibly overthinking it …
 
DaveT316 said:
The bit about Chelsea is really revealing to me - shows such a negative mindset in that the first thing he says is how tough a place it’s been for us, rather than focusing on being positive on what we can achieve. Supports a lot of what Ange said about a lot of negativity / pessimism pervading the club
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Oh give it a fudging rest, he is speaking the truth, it is a tough place for us to go.
 
DaveT316 said:
The bit about Chelsea is really revealing to me - shows such a negative mindset in that the first thing he says is how tough a place it’s been for us, rather than focusing on being positive on what we can achieve. Supports a lot of what Ange said about a lot of negativity / pessimism pervading the club
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Have you seen the posts on here and elsewhere about that Chelsea game? Unbridled negativity. When I first looked at the run of fixtures when Tudor came in, I instantly wrote Chelsea off too. 36 years of humiliation has an impact.

Thing is, right now they're brick and it's not like we have the same team as 36 years ago or even 5 years ago. We should have a chance of beating them and we should believe we will beat them so you actually have a point.
 
DeanoAustin said:
Have you seen the posts on here and elsewhere about that Chelsea game? Unbridled negativity. When I first looked at the run of fixtures when Tudor came in, I instantly wrote Chelsea off too. 36 years of humiliation has an impact.

Thing is, right now they're brick and it's not like we have the same team as 36 years ago or even 5 years ago. We should have a chance of beating them and we should believe we will beat them so you actually have a point.
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Yes of course. I’m not blind to our history there.

From a psychological perspective - probably beyond the wit of some people here, not aimed at you pal - I find it interesting. The person at the top sets to tone for the rest of the club and if they’re conveying negative vibes, it wouldn’t surprise me for them to deep downwards.
 
DaveT316 said:
Yes of course. I’m not blind to our history there.

From a psychological perspective - probably beyond the wit of some people here, not aimed at you pal - I find it interesting. The person at the top sets to tone for the rest of the club and if they’re conveying negative vibes, it wouldn’t surprise me for them to deep downwards.
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I do suspect there were expectations to improve those records in the club though, I doubt as Chairman there was a flat our acceptance of failures to the levels the Ange interview has made people think (not you BTW). Levy hired and fired alot of managers which was proof there were some standards to hit.

I suspect this interview was as it sounded, as an outsider/fan rather than chairman of the board
 
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