It never happened, probably due to not signing anyone for 18 months and then sacking him after making 3 signings when 2 of them were injured and one of them was adapting to PL pace. I’d understand people offering up the idea that he may not have been the one to take us to the next level because results were dropping, if it didn’t coincide with a lack of signings - and outgoings - for 18 months, and if he hadn’t called for us to buy better furniture as a club a year or more before he was sacked. He was absolutely a guy capable of taking us on further.
And frankly if anyone of our squad decided they didn’t want him back, they can tinkle off. Same players that brief that Poch’s training sessions are too hard, and Jose’s sessions are too easy. We need to get back to backing the manager, whoever it may be, and not trying to please half a squad at a time because they don’t like what their boss is asking them to do.
I agree with GB. I think Poch is an emotional guy, and one of his strengths is in harnessing that trait to inspire a feeling that his club is an amazing place to be. I think we really fudged up when some players decided Spurs wasn’t for them anymore, making Poch’s ability to create a spirit more difficult than it had ever been. Levy as his manager should have harnessed that IMO, because short of ENIC investing more, our only choice is to compete by having a better spirit. Wrong call made, because we assumed this was a top 4 squad minimum when actually a lot of what got us there in the first place was the culture he created.
I think if Poch was genuinely backed in terms of decision making around who goes, and gets decent backing for who arrives, I think that’s our best chance emerging from the horror of the last 2 years and getting back on an upward trajectory. It’s definite fanfic for me, but I just won’t ever shake the feeling that letting him go (or not making him feel that he was our guy no matter what) was one of the worst decisions Levy has ever made.