The one thing I do want to note if Nuno goes tomorrow - I think most of us are united in wishing him well in his next role.
He was out of his depth here from day one - he was here because he was cheap, and was and is a mid-table coach.
But he's also a good guy, who probably tried his best - and the continual storm over the club during his tenure was less down to him than down to the owners who threw him into that position to begin with.
Unlike Mourinho, who was an odious failure on a human and a professional level, Nuno retained his dignity. And in the long run, I don't think anyone at Spurs will hold any ill will towards him.
I’m not convinced it’s so much that Nuno is out of his depth, as it suggests our club as it’s run now is somehow that deep. We’re back to being a top 6 side at best, and Nuno has had a ridiculous amount to deal with in his first few months. I completely agree with you, no one should wish him any ill whatsoever, but I just think our problems run way deeper.
Sacking Poch was terrible, and since then every bad decision has compounded that utterly awful one. So this whole managerial search to appoint Nuno reflects very badly on Levy, if indeed he goes tomorrow. And it reflects really badly on Paratici, since he was the one that made the decision (as is his right) to go for a coach known for solidity and shape rather than possession football.
But this is where I think the problems run deeper. I don’t think Nuno is bad or out of his depth, and I totally see the logic in appointing him. Good guy, create a family atmosphere at the flub, focus on the training pitch and let Paratici handle the football business side. Be willing to work with young players. It’s all there…the logic is sound. I even think the subbing of Moura was a totally sound decision, assuming the logic is United’s back 3 narrowed the middle and Lucas isn’t one to go on the outside.
But basically, I just think the problem is one of alignment. Have said it before. It’s not that Poch was amazing (he was) but it’s that he saw that to be a leader, and really take a club like ours forward, you need that alignment. And he saw when certain players were coming to the end of their cycle with us, their motivations changed, and we needed them moved on else alignment would be lost.
It’s one of those were I think all the individual players in this saga…I can see their logic. Everyone is right to an extent. Poch was obviously right. I understand why Levy thought Jose would be a remedy. I definitely can understand why Jose had some problem with a section of our players that didn’t have the top mentality. And I think Paratici’s moves were understandable (and Levy’s to step back from the football side). And Nuno, I see what he’s trying to do. I think he’s had all manner of problems to deal with, (the red list international breaks, Kane) and I think there are clearly a group of players in this squad that take the tinkle out of this club. Hugo is alluding to it, PEH is alluding to it. Dele and Winks being left at home for a Carabao Game is a really bad sign. Rumour that Reggy was on the beers on Friday night. There is a group that is too willing to down tools if they aren’t playing, or if they can blame the manager, and it means we can never really get some momentum forward.
I’m not sure what the answer is. I think it’s really difficult. At least Levy is trying to step back. But beyond that, I think we need someone who can come into this club, really decisively set a route forward, and people can get on board or fudge off. I don’t think Mason is that person. The bag egg players will give him and his inexperience too many problems. Maybe Conte is. Nuno has probably been on a hiding to nothing because of the very long and very public managerial search. Which means that the players will give it a shake, and the moment cracks will start to appear in results, they’ll let him take the fall because they know he doesn’t have the authority with a two year contract.
So yeah, I’m not sure. And maybe Poch never would have gotten the chance to really establish that authority had Kane’s free kick at Villa never gone in, which makes it all the more a magical moment given what it lead to. It was an absolutely perfect ‘I’m trusting in you young guys ahead of these bag egg pros and you’re gonna take us places’ and that moment validated it all. But the problem is since Poch was sacked we’ve never stuck at something. We didn’t back Jose, and we need someone in the seat who we know we are comfortable sticking with so that the players know the authority of the Manager can’t be questioned. Nuno just doesn’t have that because of the length of his contract and the way he came in.
Maybe we need luck. We need a magical moment that everyone can get behind. Or we need someone like Conte who through sheer self belief in his own ability and through reputation means the players can’t question him and the club will back him over all else, initial results be dammed. But we need to stick at something, we need to be willing to do it. Honestly I think too many players take the tinkle, we have started offering nice wages and we can sign good players who don’t then have the hunger to fight, better themselves and make this club what it means to be when we will still be outcompeted financially.
But until we figure out a path forward that we will actually stick with, be comfortable with it, and get that alignment right across the club back, I think we’ll keep bouncing around these cycles. It’s very sad given how close we came, and no doubt a few people have made some very bad decisions in the last couple of years, but the route forward comes from setting a path and being confident in it. Paratici was clearly trying to say we should be sticking together with Nuno in his comments last month, but if we aren’t going to really back him, we need to find someone we will, and actually do it.
I really hope we can figure it out.