BrainOfLevy
Michael Carrick
Some great points. The reporting one was absolutely bizarre. Made no sense.
On the Kane’s, I wonder did they think that Harry was a GHod with the fans who understood, by and large, why he wanted to go. Levy’s stock had also plummeted in the last two years. Maybe they thought they couldn’t lose that PR battle and if they threw in “gentleman’s agreement”, that would override the inconvenient fact he has a 3 year contract. What Harry Kane and every footballer who is lucky enough to play for us need to realise is that even if we understand your reasons for wanting to leave, you never, ever disrespect our club by whoring yourself in the media and not turning up to train. It doesn’t matter who you are.
What the Kanes also need to understand is you won’t bully Daniel Levy. Say what you like about him but when it comes to balls and negotiating, he’s the toughest in the business.
I hope they realise what a complete mess they’ve made of this. I don’t think Harry’s a bad lad. I’ve lost a lot of time for him but he’s still a great player and, ordinarily, a great pro. But he’s represented by a complete amateur who has helped destroy Harry’s public image and destroyed any affection most of us had for him.
It's just amazing how they lost the PR war. And amazing that they both seemed to have no idea of leverage. 3 years on the contract, English player, in his prime, one of the best in the world, are we really going to sell to a competitor for less than he is worth?
I was so against Levy like 2 months ago, but this situation has helped me back to seeing his benefits. But I also think there has been a miscalculation of where we are as a club right now. I'm sure Kane genuinely thought Levy would want to sell, that he would want the money, and his whole 'maybe if he can get 100 million for me maybe he'll want to do a deal' probably wasn't actually psychological mastery, I think the Kanes probably thought Levy would want the deal. After all, we sold Berbatov, we sold Carrick, Modric, Bale, Walker. We'd do it in the end, it's all just a ploy.
But I'm really hoping that getting the stadium done means we are actually a club with a different standing in the game now. All clubs will lose players, even United, PSG etc. But we now have more strength, and I wonder if this is the source of the miscalculation. Part of the Kanes probably thinking that the last couple of seasons has sent us back to our 'rightful' place, but maybe they were the blip, and maybe we really are a top 4 side, minimum now.
So yeah...maybe we are in a position to really refuse to sell unless a great bid comes in. I just don't get how City and the Kanes will have miscalculated it so badly. It didn't for one second look like we would waver, that we were feeling the pressure, and we came at it from a position of strength, and it made the Kanes look very, very stupid. Like they were playing a game from 2005, not for today.
A proper, smart reading of the situation would have seen Kane say nothing publicly, but state behind the scenes he wants to go if a good bid comes in. He literally would have been in the exact same situation but without the making up to do with the fans. And he's now needlessly lost 2 games in order to to chase the goal scoring records. It's really good for us, as it shows we are a club serious about competing, not trying to get the money where we can. But for the Kanes....what a hilariously bad mis-reading of the situation, a hilariously bad miscalculation of the moving parts, I am genuinely shocked that one of the best players in the world would play his hand so terribly and have it turn out this way. Genuinely funny - you expect people in positions of power to know what they are doing, and in this instance, a couple of people clearly didn't know. It's always nice to be reminded that not even very successful people have it all figured out!