Finney Is Back
Andy Thompson
The only thing I ask is that managers get judged by the same criteria.... One cannot say that Jose didn’t get the players he wanted and not make the same allowance for Pochettino. One cannot say that Poch was backed well (despite such a low net transfer spend) and then state Jose hasn’t been backed well (despite higher net spend).There’s always a grey area with signings, successful ones seem to be attributed to managers and poor ones to Levy or the committee. If Levy has really forced the three players you mention on a manager who had us punching above our weight then we are in big trouble, his role should be to provide the parameters for the budget and negotiate, maybe pass on opportunities offered by clubs directly to him but not actually decide who we sign.
When Mitchell left it felt like Poch either asked or accepted that he would have a bigger role in the decisions (title change to manager) which was then followed by his statement that title needed to revert due to some dissatisfaction with what was happening.
I do think our transfer committee needs significant improvement however.... Starting with Levy removing himself from it as quickly as possible other than setting a total budget.