Mate I respect your opinion but I think you are not seeing the context of the current football climate with the crazy TV money. The sort of players which Spurs have been buying over the last 10 years - berbatovs, modrics, carricks i.e those not in the top tier but the next level down, all the clubs around us are now also buying, the Rondons, Affelays, bojans, mitrovic or wijnaldums, m'villa and cabayes. We then have our competitors for top 4 like Liverpool and L'arse blowing us out of the water with their spending power. So where does that leave us? Finishing top 4 or 5 is nearly impossible given the spending power of the likes of Liverpool, and the top 4. Top 6 in the face of this kind of competition from the other clubs is also not a foregone conclusion. So we wait until a new stadium is built - well by then we could be ensconced in mid table. Not possible? Rewind to the Spurs of the 90s to see what we could go back to. So from time to time we need to stick our necks out and bring in that special player to keep us above the stokes, newcastles, southamptons ( fook me how close did Southampton get to us last season) and keep us in that top 6 position. Just my opinion of course.
Likewise buddy. I am taking that into account, believe me. When I see the accounts of Spurs, forgetting accounting treatment for the moment, I see that any cash we generate being ploughed back into the stadium. That's why we are not having net spends in the transfer market. The new PL deal is not in effect till next year, sSo we can't spend that money yet, as we haven't received it.
You are absolutely right, all clubs are adopting the same policy that we are, because it has proved successful. You are absolutely right as well in your assertion that finishing top 4-5 is going to be very difficult, because those other clubs are outspending us. They generate far more revenue than we do on account of rich benefactors, bigger stadiums, better commercial deals and the rest. We have the sixth biggest turnover in the EPL. We have also in the last 5 years spent a shed load of cash on training complex and the stadium project. Not many of the others around us are doing that. If we could have just extended WHL instead of having to build a completely new stadium, we would probably find that we would have far more money to spend in the transfer market.
We are in arguably our most successful period in the league with us being top 6 for the past 5 seasons? We've done that despite us not spending huge amounts net spend in the market. We can and will probably continue to perform at this level. I don't see us going back to the 90s performance levels.
I have said this before, but I rewind to the period when we made those signings post Bale transfer. Everyone was excited because we were spending money and we were getting what was felt at the time high quality signings. It didn't work out as we would have liked but we still finished respectably in the league.
If people think that we are in the market to buy top 4 quality signings, then people are going to be disappointed. The only chance we will have at those high quality players is if the other bigger clubs than us are not interested. Liverpool pay 1.5 times the amount of wages we do. Why would a player choose to come to us for £50k a week when they can get £75k a week at Liverpool or more at the top 4. Only if those clubs are not interested in them. The player will then (if money is their raison d'etre which it is in most circumstances) give themselves every opportunity to play for one of them i.e. not commit to Spurs. Not all players think this way i.e. Alderweireld, Berbatov, Modric etc.... But for every one of these, there is a Rodwell, Depay, Ings etc... that will even if it means less playing time for them. Then, as we will not be spending most on transfer fees, clubs that own the players that we want will give themselves every opportunity to make more money by holding out. Not all, but in the main they will. That's what we are finding.
The approach that our club is taking is the sensible one. It is a business to them, and they will know that there is a school of thought that says "speculate to accumulate". However, this is very risky! Not one club has done this without HUGE sums of money being spent i.e. Emirates Marketing Project and Chelsea. It is safer for them and for a sustainable business, for this approach to be taken and I think this is the best way as well. Until we can get a stadium that will allow us to benefit from naming rights, higher attendances, larger corporate revenues, NFL revenues etc.... we will not be able to financially compete.
We still have 20 odd days left of the transfer window. We have said we are in the market. I am confident that we will sign some players. I am also confident in our transfer record that those players will be good. I can't guarantee it, but probabilities work. I'm not going to panic now and start criticising the club for the way that it is run because I can see the rationale for what they are doing.
