I agree with
@King of Norway 's post in that we should be able to take the middle ground. Labels such as levy-apologist, anti-levy police and levy-hater aren't helpful to have a constructive debate but I take them for what they are; banter. I have never said Levy is perfect even if that is what
@Superhudd thinks!
That being said, I don't agree with the point about leaving transfers late and will just respectfully agree to disagree on that. You can only buy a player from a club if they are prepared to sell. These players do not have price tags on them. Sterling cost £50m, Lennon £5m, Depay £25m, Wickham £12.8m, Benteke £32m, Wijnaldum £15m, Son £18m and N'Jie £14m. Make sense of that! So for clubs to be "offended" at receiving a bid below their valuation is offensive and naive in itself. In any negotiation you are taught to leave emotions at the door. If you're too far apart, you just say you are too far apart and see if another bid comes in. Hardly drama of the season. It's naivety to assume that you pick up the phone and just ask how much is Player X. It's naive to assume that an offer is derisory. It's naive to assume that transfers are not paid by stage payments.
Levy has a lot to answer for, but his transfer strategy is not one of them imho. People that say he should take more risks have much less knowledge of the finances than he does so to ask someone to take more of a risk, when there's no risk of your own without full knowledge is just wrong. People that say he has bought the wrong options (Saha, Nelson) again are blaming him when the ire should be aimed at the manager. The manager has the final say. For people that get frustrated with missing out on player X or Y that another club has bought have no knowledge of whether the club wanted them in the first place or for what reasons the club decided to not pursue.
There is a phrase of innocent until proven guilty, yet the man is tried and sentenced without any more fact than an opposing opinion from the other party. Everything else is conjecture and people's own interpretation of the events. Well if that's the way you opine as to who is to be "blamed", then if that is not a definition of bias, I do not know what is. The reason the transfer did not go through is because we did not offer enough. The reason why we didn't offer enough is probably because we couldn't afford it. Not because Levy likes to see his team struggle without the tools that it wants.
Re Harry's comments - All I can say is I'm disappointed in him. He says in the same interview that he thought it was a good fee and the manager wanted to sell. Then he says Levy out-bluffed himself. What's the bluff? He obviously wants the player for a fee that he is willing to pay. Ultimately, as seems to be the case from statements from both sides, Berahino was the one of a few targets and our sole target left coming to the end of the window. So who loses out if that transfer doesn't happen. The club and Levy. It stands to reason therefore that Levy did everything he could possibly do within his constraints to buy the player. Ultimately it was a no. So we move on.
Poch has come out and said himself that he either wants his player or nothing at all. He has also come out and rubbished the only one striker comment. I like that they have put out this comment, and I like that they have not mentioned any names. I like that we don't conduct our transfer business in the public domain and I like that he generally keeps schtum. As
@Raziel says, he owns the club, he's the chairman, so he can do what he likes. His actions generally are in the best interests of the club as he and Lewis have the most skin in the game. He gains only if and when they sell the club.
He's not perfect but he's a darn site better than some of the other options out there.