Levy's Plan

[parklane1]

Net spend on transfers is an meaningless figure on its own. It only considers one aspect of player costs and doesn't take account of why a team is buying and what they are getting.
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Don't say that as its one of the things that fans go on about when they are having a bitch, now they will have to find another reason.

 

[braineclipse]

There is also an argument that buying the wrong players has a negative effect on the whole season and longer

Spot on. The cost of a failed signing is much greater than just the money wasted.

We also have little to no idea how much Pochettino rates our young emerging players. I really want an upgrade on Sissoko, but Pochettino might think that Onomah will be that player for example.

 

[Legohamster]

As news filtered through that Stan Kroenke was completing a full buy-out of Arsenal that valued the club at £1.8billion, those in the know pointed to the fact that Daniel Levy believes Tottenham Hotspur is worth even more.
Levy has long denied Tottenham is being fattened up for a sale, but there is a belief that £2bn would be the magic figure that would see ENIC, for whom he is managing director, relinquish control.
Chief executives, directors and chairmen who have attempted to do business with Levy will not be surprised by the figure, as he has long adopted a similar approach to the transfer window.
The Spurs chairman places a high value on his own assets and likes to buy at the bottom of the market. But, with under 24 hours until the Premier League deadline passes, Levy faces one of the biggest dilemmas of his tenure. Stick or twist?
His supposed £2bn football club that, all being well, move into one of the best stadiums in Europe in mid-September are yet to spend a single penny this summer. That may yet change before 5pm on Thursday, but it does not appear there is a late bargain to be had.

Levy believed he could take advantage of Aston Villa’s precarious financial state over Jack Grealish and nobody would have argued with his logic when the Championship club could not afford to pay their wage or tax bills.



But, whether or not it is bad luck or bad judgement, the fact is Tottenham’s £25million bid for Grealishthat was rejected on Tuesday night would have been accepted a month ago before new owners Nassef Sawaris and Wes Edens walked through the door.
Now Tottenham will only get Grealish if their offer tops £30m – a figure that has raised eyebrows outside Villa Park and would not enhance Levy’s reputation of extracting maximum value from his deals.
Of course, it should not be forgotten that Levy and Tottenham made a superb start to the summer by completing their two most important pieces of business before the World Cup had even kicked off.
Manager Mauricio Pochettino and star man Harry Kane signed lucrative new contracts to put off any suitors. Zinedine Zidane quit Real Madrid a week after Spurs had tied down Pochettino and Kane returned from the World Cup with the golden boot after agreeing his £200,000-a-week deal.
While Chelsea were forced into a corner by Thibaut Courtois, who entered the last 12 months of his contract and effectively went on strike, and Arsenal are yet to tie Aaron Ramsey down to a new deal, Tottenham has once again been a trouble-free environment this summer.

Heung-Min Son, Erik Lamela and Davison Sanchez have also signed new contracts and Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen are still expected to follow. In terms of keeping his best players, few do it better than Levy these days.



Tottenham insiders never expected a large influx of players this summer, with the club willing to sit tight if top targets such as Antony Martial could not be landed.
Pochettino explained in his book ‘Brave New World’ why he favours giving young players a pathway to bringing in new faces for the sake of it.
Recounting a trip away with Levy, Pochettino wrote: “We spoke about why I prefer to give homegrown kids chances rather than signing players and the problems that can be caused by buying players you don't need. Leaving a signing on the bench is not the same as having an academy graduate as a bench-warmer.
“I was able to explain to him in detail how, the more defined your playing style is, the more difficult transfers become, because either a player gives you something specific you're lacking, or you're better off not signing anyone.”
Further complicating this window for Tottenham is the need to bring in an extra homegrown player, which perhaps helps to explain the Grealish pursuit, or face starting the season with a reduced squad.
Only seven of Tottenham’s playing staff meet the requirements to be classed as homegrown by the Premier League, one less than the minimum required, so, as it stands, the club could only name a squad of 24 for the domestic season rather than the full compliment of 25.



The real surprise has been the static nature of Tottenham’s exit door, given Levy had aimed to raise around £150m by selling Tony Alderweireld, Danny Rose and Moussa Dembele, as well as some of the club’s fringe players.

Manchester United could still reward Levy for holding his nerve over Alderweireld, but there is not a club willing to pay the £50m Levy once valued Rose at and Dembele looks most likely to see out the final year of his contract.
Tottenham will still have until August 31 to try to raise funds and offset any money they spend in the final hours of the Premier League window by selling their unwanted players overseas. But European clubs believe they are about to benefit from a shift in power.
No longer can Levy use the Premier League cash to negotiate with European rivals by trying to tell an Inter Milan or a Fenerbahce that desperate English clubs are willing to spend upwards of £15m on the likes of Moussa Sissoko or Vincent Janssen.
Of course, Levy will be able to argue that European clubs must pay top dollar for his players because he will be unable to replace them, but he is likely to find it hard to find too many people falling for that trick.



So Levy’s dilemma is this. Twist and potentially overpay for players with no guarantee of bringing big transfer fees in. Or keep his hand in his pocket and ask Pochettino to produce more miracles with a nucleus of players who enjoyed successful, but tiring, World Cup campaigns with their various countries.
Whichever route he takes will attract debate and criticism, but Levy has always been tough enough to roll with the punches and won’t let anybody tell him that Tottenham are not worth more than Arsenal, whatever happens.

 

[monkeybarry]

The quotes from Poch tell all the story.
A couple of new contracts will be big signings for me.
I am a bit surprised we don't see the value in Toby on that front.

I'd like one in, ideally CM, because it asks different questions of the opposition. But I'm comfortable with the squad and using KWP, Amos, Skipp, Onomah more.

 

[SteveAWOL]

Net spend on transfers is an meaningless figure on its own. It only considers one aspect of player costs and doesn't take account of why a team is buying and what they are getting.

Any serious analysis has to include wages. I think we would be 6th wages plus net transfers, as the extra transfer spending by West Ham and Everton is unlikely to bridge the wage gap. So Poch has done an excellent job given our expected position of 6th, but its silly to think we should be finishing 17th based on net spend.

The other factor is why you are buying. Obviously the intent is to make the team better overall. This is more difficult when you have a team playing well with young players who are getting better. Players who will definitely make us better are out of our price range (especially wages). There is no point just spending for the sake of it, although Sissoko seems an example of that.

A history of bad buys will also distort the net spending. Levy rarely buys a total bust. For players who don't work out we usually recover most of the money and often make a profit. Bentley is the only total bust recently. If you spend badly and lose a lot on a player, then the net spend will accumulate. This is one reason why the total spend is also worth looking at as part of the bigger picture. We have spent quite a lot on players, but we haven't had to take the loses which I suspect would be seen with West Ham.

Desperation also encourages bad buys. When you have team playing well you can pick and choose, when you need something badly you have to take more gambles. The one area where we haven't done well is strikers.

Player retention is another factor. If player turnover is high, then you are forced to buy from absolute need more often. As every transfer is a gamble to some extent this is likely to lead to more bad buys. Our habit of regularly rewarding new contracts seems to have kept most players happy. The ones who are not are the ones who want contracts beyond our means. Our team stability seems to have coincided with the switch from our high net spend, low wage model about six years ago. Wenger seemed to go the other way. For years he paid high wages and was prudent with transfers and had a stable team. Few players left before he got the best of them and went on to better things. Then he started letting players go.

FWIW, cumulative wage bills over the past 6 seasons... our most recently published figure remains less than any of our peers were paying back in 2012...

ManU: £1,257million
Emirates Marketing Project: £1,236million
Chavski: £1,200million
ARSEnal: £1,050million
Dippers: £988million
Spurs: £614million

At least our turnover is starting to catch up with the Sky Five, well everyone bar the financial juggernaut that is ManU!

 

[ricky2tricky4city]

FWIW, cumulative wage bills over the past 6 seasons... our most recently published figure remains less than any of our peers were paying back in 2012...

ManU: £1,257million
Emirates Marketing Project: £1,236million
Chavski: £1,200million
ARSEnal: £1,050million
Dippers: £988million
Spurs: £614million

At least our turnover is starting to catch up with the Sky Five, well everyone bar the financial juggernaut that is ManU!

So United or City have spent the cost of a NWHL more than us in just wages in the last 6 seasons.

 

[BrainOfLevy]

The quotes from Poch tell all the story.
A couple of new contracts will be big signings for me.
I am a bit surprised we don't see the value in Toby on that front.

I'd like one in, ideally CM, because it asks different questions of the opposition. But I'm comfortable with the squad and using KWP, Amos, Skipp, Onomah more.

I thought that was a really good article and other telling bit was the idea that the club always expected it to be a relatively quiet window anyway. It’s just certain things have conspired to make that come true.

I imagine if Fulham didn’t get promoted it would be Rose out Sess in. If United wanted to play ball earlier it would have been Toby out De Ligt in. And probably Moussa out, N’Dombele in.

As it happened, Fulham got promoted, United have been trying to drive a hard bargain - probably knowing Toby’s contract clause for the next year - and the early transfer window closure meant we couldn’t be certain we’d get Dembele out before signing a replacement. The Toby situation probably slowed things with Martial as well who I’m sure we liked, and Grealish was an opportunistic thing based on financial problems that almost went away.

Sounds like we will get Rose out, but may well keep Dembele, and hope Winks and Onomah can seize their chance. And we are banking on the fact that Toby won’t be too disruptive considering he knows he can leave in a year and is good mates with the Belgians.

Overall, new signings would have just replaced outgoings. But because of various reasons we are kicking that can down the road for next summer. And that means our squad is no weaker, and we’re banking on improvement via cohesion.

 

[Bullet]

So United or City have spent the cost of a NWHL more than us in just wages in the last 6 seasons.

And Cheatski. And pretty much Pool and Arse too. Huge sums are spent on wages... they are more important than transfer fees, when you consider the high likelihood that you recoup what you pay out, 3 years later

 

[nayimfromthehalfwayline]

So United or City have spent the cost of a NWHL more than us in just wages in the last 6 seasons.

Amazing, hows that for perspective?

 

[SteveAWOL]

So United or City have spent the cost of a NWHL more than us in just wages in the last 6 seasons.

Indeed... whilst the difference between Spurs’ wage bill and that of ARSEnal or Liverpool is merely enough to pay for the Olympic Stadium...

ManU: £1.257bn (+£643million)
Emirates Marketing Project: £1.236bn (+£622million)
Chavski: £1.2bn (+£586million)
ARSEnal: £1.05bn (+£436million)
Dippers: £0.988bn (+£374million)
Spurs: £0.614bn

 

[Modric THFC]

Looking forward to the Levy letter.

 

[nayimfromthehalfwayline]

Itll write itself.

As it stands we have kept the same team that finished 3rd last year. Signed the manager and key players to better deals.

Its such a good side we have proven unable to strengthen it further, which was always hard to do.

Maybe we wanted players who ultimately were out of reach, new stadium, exciting times, blah blah

 

[Modric THFC]

Looks like he's taking the rest of the day off

 

[NaijaSpurs]

So, with one point out of a possible nine, it really looks bleak in the CL. But I am not annoyed at the players or the coach. If you qualify for the CL and you fail to strength happen. I am not angry, but if I were Kane I would definitely have seconds thoughts about having a long term career at Spurs if there is going to be a continual failure to make us competitive

 

[Bullet]

So, with one point out of a possible nine, it really looks bleak in the CL. But I am not annoyed at the players or the coach. If you qualify for the CL and you fail to strength happen. I am not angry, but if I were Kane I would definitely have seconds thoughts about having a long term career at Spurs if there is going to be a continual failure to make us competitive

We were competitive, and Kane missed a hatful of chances today. Also, Lloris.

 

[Gazza Dazzla]

Oh GHod here we go! This place is going to be embarrassing for 10 days now, spoiler alert, we lose to City as well so don you tinfoil hats!

 

[PochettinoPochettinoPochettino]

So, with one point out of a possible nine, it really looks bleak in the CL. But I am not annoyed at the players or the coach. If you qualify for the CL and you fail to strength happen. I am not angry, but if I were Kane I would definitely have seconds thoughts about having a long term career at Spurs if there is going to be a continual failure to make us competitive

I said a few years ago, Kane will give us one year in the new stadium before he gets itchy feet. He might now only give us half a year.

How long though can the likes of Kane, Eriksen, Alli give us before they actually want to win a trophy? We could face a mass exodus like Arsenal did and we aren’t even in our new stadium yet. I wouldn’t blame any player who has given us 3 or 4 years minimum and hasn’t won a thing and is also on a lower salary than other players in similar positions

 

[NaijaSpurs]

Oh GHod here we go! This place is going to be embarrassing for 10 days now, spoiler alert, we lose to City as well so don you tinfoil hats!

On the contrary, there is nothing to see here. The moment we did not sign anybody in the summer I felt we would suffer for it. That apart, I think it would be a major achievement if we manage to finish 4th in the league. I was not optimistic for the CL but I hoped I was wrong.

But on the whole I have been impressed with the Poch considering the fact that he is hamstrung, which is why I am not bitter, and I have not slagged of a single player this evening.

As for your reference to Emirates Marketing Project, I hope we can get a result against them, but if we don't, then it is no big deal as far as I am because they are a superior team to us, but I am behind them I can assure you.

 

[Finney Is Back]

So, with one point out of a possible nine, it really looks bleak in the CL. But I am not annoyed at the players or the coach. If you qualify for the CL and you fail to strength happen. I am not angry, but if I were Kane I would definitely have seconds thoughts about having a long term career at Spurs if there is going to be a continual failure to make us competitive

Based on performances we should sitting pretty on 6 points right now. I am annoyed that we didn’t strengthen, but I don’t think it had an impact on the 3 CL games (especially considering how long Poch takes to actually start playing new recruits).

 

[StephenH]

Hell and damnation is upon us, woe, woe and thrice woe!