Daniel Levy - Chairman

[billyiddo]

We needed someone "who knew how to win the big stuff and who could drag us over the finishing line",

No we didn't, not at that time - that team was finished and it was a massive, massive mistake by anyone that thought the only thing missing at that point was a 'winner' of a manager to get them over the line - not only does that opinion show a compete lack of understanding of where that team was at that specific point, it also does a disservice to what the previous manager had been able to eek out of them in the 18/19 season.

 

[Raziel]

I agree with most of what you said prior to this, but I will never concede that hiring Jose was a bad decision by Levy. And I have always loathed Jose, both his manners and his football. And no one would argue that he was anything other than a bad appointment - in hindsight.

BUT general consensus was that we never hired managers who had led anyone into battle on the big stage and won anything. We needed someone "who knew how to win the big stuff and who could drag us over the finishing line", and that Levy shopped managers off the discount shelf. Jol, 'Arry, Jose's errand boy, Nuno, even Poch and Santini, all pretty much nobodies in the grand scheme and/or who failed when it really mattered. Exception perhaps being Ramos with his UEFAs, and he won us the only trophy in 25 years, the coveted Audi Cup excepted.

Then suddenly THE Jose Mourinho becomes available. Yeah, a little rusty around the edges and he didn't exactly cover himself in glory at Utd, but nevertheless he still won something there. A proven winner of the biggest trophies and at multiple clubs, and a manager who would've laughed himself silly if we had approached him 15 years earlier. He had won something at every fekkin club he'd been at. A manager supposedly ingrained with that "winning mentality" that everyone said we'd lacked for eons. If anyone - honestly - didn't see him as our opportunity to finally win at least a cup, well, hats off to them for being clever. And then they can go to bed with the shame of lying both to us and themselves.

Bad manager yes, but not a bad decision.

People are often so desperate to not give Levy any credit that they fail to understand most of those decisions have a decent amount of the right thinking behind them

Jol - beginning of the modern version of Spurs trajectory, connected with fans, first set of elite players (IIRC), first time back in Europe
Ramos - Got a cup
Harry - a stopgap that turned out to be a stroke of genius, and if he didn't self sabotage himself whoring for the England job could have pushed on even further
AVB - Was a promising manager that stalled
Poch - Another promising manager, this one worked out
Jose - Impossible to evaluate because of Covid, everyone will say "you don't hire Jose unless you open the chequebook", the intention was there, except a few months later the club was losing a 100M+ of revenue.
Nuno - Hindsight says fans/media were the dumbasses here
Conte - Got back to CL, self destructed for personal reasons

Now, do I agree Jose/Conte broadly weren't aligned to our club culturally? yes, do I understand why the decision was made? yes

 

[Muttley]

I agree with most of what you said prior to this, but I will never concede that hiring Jose was a bad decision by Levy. And I have always loathed Jose, both his manners and his football. And no one would argue that he was anything other than a bad appointment - in hindsight.

BUT general consensus was that we never hired managers who had led anyone into battle on the big stage and won anything. We needed someone "who knew how to win the big stuff and who could drag us over the finishing line", and that Levy shopped managers off the discount shelf. Jol, 'Arry, Jose's errand boy, Nuno, even Poch and Santini, all pretty much nobodies in the grand scheme and/or who failed when it really mattered. Exception perhaps being Ramos with his UEFAs, and he won us the only trophy in 25 years, the coveted Audi Cup excepted.

Then suddenly THE Jose Mourinho becomes available. Yeah, a little rusty around the edges and he didn't exactly cover himself in glory at Utd, but nevertheless he still won something there. A proven winner of the biggest trophies and at multiple clubs, and a manager who would've laughed himself silly if we had approached him 15 years earlier. He had won something at every fekkin club he'd been at. A manager supposedly ingrained with that "winning mentality" that everyone said we'd lacked for eons. If anyone - honestly - didn't see him as our opportunity to finally win at least a cup, well, hats off to them for being clever. And then they can go to bed with the shame of lying both to us and themselves.

Bad manager yes, but not a bad decision.

I genuinely tried to convince myself that Jose would be good for Spurs, but I knew deep down he wouldn't:

- He had not adapted his nurturing of these young guys and it was massively evident at Utd e.g. the Luke Shaw incidences. It's not quite like bringing Brian Clough back from the grave and managing nowadays, but it is the modern equivalent.
- His football tactics had been overtaken by a new generation of managers. You couldn't setup in the way that prevailed in the earlier part of his career, but I did like some his shaping of the team.
- He wouldn't cope with the quality of the players we had, or the lack of, and he wouldn't work with the kids. That proved out as he ended up without a single U21 in his squad.
- Jose was never going to be interested in building a squad the Spurs way. It was always going to be sort term fixes.

Ultimately, Jose has and had lost his superpowers. You don't really believe it until you see it close up and personal when he is at your club. Then you see the narcissism that goes with the man. He is toxic, but he's also not a great manager nowadays.