Levy - End Of Season Letter

[indianspur]

Oh right, so on taking over the club, and bearing in mind Graham got sacked from Arsenal for taking bungs from agents, ENIC find a parcel full of money in Graham's office and when asked about it he said it was fines taken off players that he hadn't decided what to do with yet - ENIC should just let that go, because we MIGHT beat two teams much better than us to win a cup?

I think you're forgetting the REASON Graham was sacked in all of this, which had nothing to do at the time with his on pitch performance.

id be very careful about throwing around accusations like that

 

[indianspur]

iirc Spurs sacked Graham because he spoke to the press about "having a limited budget in the summer" and Levy and Buchler took offence.....yes silly reason, but it did seem at the time Levy was looking for the slightest excuse to fire Graham

 

[Grassroots]

It may have had a lot to do with the fact we really never took to him and was not shy in pointing that out.
I think levy is quite sensitive to us as fans really.

 

[africanspurs]

After Berbs first season his end of season letter said that no first team players would be leaving.

I guess that was the summer after Carrick left.

Hmm, i dont think so. the wording for the two were different and definately gave different impressions. the berbs season sounded more like we dont want to sell and we will do our best not to sell. the year of modric was a categorical , no sideways type statement "we will not sell no matter what for no amount of money. period"...that kind of stance

 

[BrainOfLevy]

In the Thanks Tim thread, it seems like a few people who know a little about what was going on at the club at the time were questioning why Levy didn't do the due dilligence required with the AVB appointment. Which is exactly the point I've been making in this thread.

 

[We are Tottenham]

We don't really need drastic spending at all. Few incomings here and there but nothing major.

I think we need at least seven new players to have a chance of Champs League........................!

 

[Kingdawson]

In the Thanks Tim thread, it seems like a few people who know a little about what was going on at the club at the time were questioning why Levy didn't do the due dilligence required with the AVB appointment. Which is exactly the point I've been making in this thread.

:ross:

 

[BrainOfLevy]

:ross:

Why the laughter? I'm basing this off Steff's comments for one?

 

[milo]

In the Thanks Tim thread, it seems like a few people who know a little about what was going on at the club at the time were questioning why Levy didn't do the due dilligence required with the AVB appointment. Which is exactly the point I've been making in this thread.

What due diligence should he have done?

 

[BrainOfLevy]

What due diligence should he have done?

As mentioned in the Thanks Tim thread, he should have more closely examined how AVB would react in certain situations, which if some of the comments in that thread are to be believed, some at the club are disappointed Levy didn't do because he was taken by the presentation and interview AVB gave.

 

[thfcsteff]

What due diligence should he have done?

I will bite.
The word was that the interview and strategy were brilliantly presented, that the man is quite obviously very smart and very 'able' but that when under pressure, he is not especially good at adapting to the situation(s) at hand. Further, that it should've been ether established that both men were on the same page with regards to signings, as it started to become clear soon after his appt that they were not. At that point, the main question was how much damage it was doing to their ability to work together. I think there's little doubt that when under severe pressure AVB reverted to a 'type' of sorts (bunker-mentality) and was unable to come out from there. Put simply, he fell out of love with things due (I believe) to what he perceived as not getting his own way. I personally think that's wide of the mark, as he might not have got his way entirely (and there's no doubt the Bale thing ****ed him over big-time) but he did get the chance to build a squad with that money. Personally I feel sorry for him and sorry for Levy, the whole thing became a pressure-cooked cluster**** which was not helped by AVB's increasingly fraught behavior and the media. One thing I don't believe is that it was 'all Levy's fault'...AVB did his bit to **** things up too. But perhaps Levy could've been a little sharper in picking up AVB's potential to 'bunker down' so to speak...

 

[indianspur]

What due diligence should he have done?

was it that hard to look back at how AVB handled the whole Chelski situation.....yes he has some difficult cnuts to deal with, bit AVB behaved very oddly at times there and there was enough warning for Levy to reject the idea of appointing him.

 

[jts1882]

I agree with Steff's description of what happened*. The problem with using the Chelsea situation to judge AVB is that it leaves no possibility that he might have learnt from his mistakes there (playing the high line regardless of players available, writing off and excluding players, etc) and how he handled the pressure. He was a young manager who perhaps rose to far too fast and would be wiser for the experience. Unfortunately he didn't, but was it so unreasonable to give him the chance and think we would behave differently because of the experience?

* Except on Bale. AVB must have realised that Bale would be sold once the world record price became a possibility.

 

[braineclipse]

I agree with Steff's description of what happened*. The problem with using the Chelsea situation to judge AVB is that it leaves no possibility that he might have learnt from his mistakes there (playing the high line regardless of players available, writing off and excluding players, etc) and how he handled the pressure. He was a young manager who perhaps rose to far too fast and would be wiser for the experience. Unfortunately he didn't, but was it so unreasonable to give him the chance and think we would behave differently because of the experience?

* Except on Bale. AVB must have realised that Bale would be sold once the world record price became a possibility.

I agree too.

Also it has been claimed that only weeks/months after signing and agreeing on the overall long term transfer strategy of the club AVB turned around and wanted Hulk and Moutinho. If true that's not really something you can always find out in advance no matter how good your due diligence is.

 

[BrainOfLevy]

I agree too.

Also it has been claimed that only weeks/months after signing and agreeing on the overall long term transfer strategy of the club AVB turned around and wanted Hulk and Moutinho. If true that's not really something you can always find out in advance no matter how good your due diligence is.

Of course you can!

This is exactly what I've been saying. If AVB gives a presentation that says 'here's my plan to get us into the CL/title challengers in 3 years' and Levy likes it, but doesn't go deep enough into what exactly the restraints will be at a club like Spurs, then that's something he could have done. AVB for example could have understood his objectives to get top 4 to mean that top class players he recommends would be signed to get him there. He could take the requirement to play youth or use transfer committee signings to be less of an impact than it actually is. And conversely, Levy may think that he's been understood, and he has set out exactly what the requirements will be and what type of players will be signed. If they both think they agree but haven't gone enough into depth on it then there is a failure there in due diligence. If they haven't gone enough into depth in terms of 'if it all goes tits up and we can't get our preferred targets and have to defer to a number of suggestions of the transfer committee, how would you react?' then they should have.

 

[DTA]

Of course you can!

This is exactly what I've been saying. If AVB gives a presentation that says 'here's my plan to get us into the CL/title challengers in 3 years' and Levy likes it, but doesn't go deep enough into what exactly the restraints will be at a club like Spurs, then that's something he could have done. AVB for example could have understood his objectives to get top 4 to mean that top class players he recommends would be signed to get him there. He could take the requirement to play youth or use transfer committee signings to be less of an impact than it actually is. And conversely, Levy may think that he's been understood, and he has set out exactly what the requirements will be and what type of players will be signed. If they both think they agree but haven't gone enough into depth on it then there is a failure there in due diligence. If they haven't gone enough into depth in terms of 'if it all goes tits up and we can't get our preferred targets and have to defer to a number of suggestions of the transfer committee, how would you react?' then they should have.

What if levy done exactly that, but avb still changed his tune once appointed

 

[BrainOfLevy]

What if levy done exactly that, but avb still changed his tune once appointed

Then AVB is in the wrong.

 

[thfcsteff]

I have always wondered what would've happened if he'd got Moutinho…ah well, onwards!

 

[milo]

I will bite.
The word was that the interview and strategy were brilliantly presented, that the man is quite obviously very smart and very 'able' but that when under pressure, he is not especially good at adapting to the situation(s) at hand. Further, that it should've been ether established that both men were on the same page with regards to signings, as it started to become clear soon after his appt that they were not. At that point, the main question was how much damage it was doing to their ability to work together. I think there's little doubt that when under severe pressure AVB reverted to a 'type' of sorts (bunker-mentality) and was unable to come out from there. Put simply, he fell out of love with things due (I believe) to what he perceived as not getting his own way. I personally think that's wide of the mark, as he might not have got his way entirely (and there's no doubt the Bale thing ****ed him over big-time) but he did get the chance to build a squad with that money. Personally I feel sorry for him and sorry for Levy, the whole thing became a pressure-cooked cluster**** which was not helped by AVB's increasingly fraught behavior and the media. One thing I don't believe is that it was 'all Levy's fault'...AVB did his bit to **** things up too. But perhaps Levy could've been a little sharper in picking up AVB's potential to 'bunker down' so to speak...

I'm not trying to get anyone to bite, it was a genuine question.

My recollection from the time AVB was appointed is that it was widely reported that Levy had questioned AVB extensively on what went wrong at Chelsea and sought assurances that this would not happen again. Again the reports at the time were that had assured the club that he had learnt from his experience at Chelsea and would not repeat his mistakes. I think that you have suggested that there were similarities between AVB's end at Spurs and Chelsea. What else could have Levy done to check that another AVB meltdown was not a possibility?

 

[milo]

I agree with Steff's description of what happened*. The problem with using the Chelsea situation to judge AVB is that it leaves no possibility that he might have learnt from his mistakes there (playing the high line regardless of players available, writing off and excluding players, etc) and how he handled the pressure. He was a young manager who perhaps rose to far too fast and would be wiser for the experience. Unfortunately he didn't, but was it so unreasonable to give him the chance and think we would behave differently because of the experience?

* Except on Bale. AVB must have realised that Bale would be sold once the world record price became a possibility.

The rumour at the time he was appointed Chelsea manager was that he was on our radar too but Levy thought that he needed more time at Porto before he was ready for the Premier League.