Toby Alderweireld

[Raziel]

Serious question for people. And before anyone asks I’ll never stop going home and away but I’ve been going long enough I’m at the point that going to football is more about seeing my mates having a laugh and having a good day out. But what is everyone’s genuine expectations moving forward if we continue to sell our best players? I can’t help but feel we are never going to achieve anything other then the odd league cup and top 4 finishes if this is the club ‘ethos’

So let me respond this way

- In the past 10-15 years we have sold Carrick, Modric, Berbatov, JD, Keane, VDV, Bale & Walker and we not only survived, we are significantly a better side today.
- All clubs sell player they don't want to -> United/Ronaldo, Barca/Neymar, Pool/Suarez/Coutinho and Chelseas will likely sell Hazard this summer.

Spurs has managed to finish in the top 6 all but once in the last 12 or so years, and finished in top 4 three times, and that was with significant money disadvantage against the usual 5, plus other clubs spending beyond their means. With the new stadium income, and progress we made as a side, we are likely to improve still.

The decline of the Scum and the fickle nature of United/Chelsea at this point give us a little more opening to establish ourselves.

Re the broader point of odd cup and top 4 finish .. sorry to disappoint you mate, but that's Spurs, even in our best days we weren't a club bringing in dozens of trophies. If you want guaranteed success, there are about 5 clubs in the world to pick from. What we are is a club that hasn't cheated their way up, has a history and tries to play football the right way while being a responsible business and strong contributor to community and charity.

 

[ShipOfTheseus]

So let me respond this way

- In the past 10-15 years we have sold Carrick, Modric, Berbatov, JD, Keane, VDV, Bale & Walker and we not only survived, we are significantly a better side today.
- All clubs sell player they don't want to -> United/Ronaldo, Barca/Neymar, Pool/Suarez/Coutinho and Chelseas will likely sell Hazard this summer.

Spurs has managed to finish in the top 6 all but once in the last 12 or so years, and finished in top 4 three times, and that was with significant money disadvantage against the usual 5, plus other clubs spending beyond their means. With the new stadium income, and progress we made as a side, we are likely to improve still.

The decline of the Scum and the fickle nature of United/Chelsea at this point give us a little more opening to establish ourselves.

Re the broader point of odd cup and top 4 finish .. sorry to disappoint you mate, but that's Spurs, even in our best days we weren't a club bringing in dozens of trophies. If you want guaranteed success, there are about 5 clubs in the world to pick from. What we are is a club that hasn't cheated their way up, has a history and tries to play football the right way while being a responsible business and strong contributor to community and charity.

We finished in the top four four times! Excellent post, though.

 

[Raziel]

We finished in the top four four times! Excellent post, though.

Thanks for the catch .. mental block on that "other top 4 finish"

 

[NaijaSpurs]

I doubt he’s really injured. I think it’s the Kyle Walker situation again.

SO what you are saying is that like Walker last season, Toby has gone to Poch and told him that he wants to leave the club while we are still battling for trophies?

Did you notice that last season Walker stopped tweeting about Spurs and remove all reference to our club to his social media profiles while this season Toby is still supporting his team mates before, during and after matches.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

SO what you are saying is that like Walker last season, Toby has gone to Poch and told him that he wants to leave the club while we are still battling for trophies?

Did you notice that last season Walker stopped tweeting about Spurs and remove all reference to our club to his social media profiles while this season Toby is still supporting his team mates before, during and after matches.

Are you sure about that?
Thought this time last year Walker came out with his Tottenham till I die but whilst on a plane back from a game

 

[El Guepardo]

SO what you are saying is that like Walker last season, Toby has gone to Poch and told him that he wants to leave the club while we are still battling for trophies?

Did you notice that last season Walker stopped tweeting about Spurs and remove all reference to our club to his social media profiles while this season Toby is still supporting his team mates before, during and after matches.

I hope that I’m wrong but I just get a feeling that there is more to this. I’ve not seen any recent updates, so maybe I’ll be totally wrong.

 

[NaijaSpurs]

Are you sure about that?
Thought this time last year Walker came out with his Tottenham till I die but whilst on a plane back from a game

Yeah that was then, but later on after Poch started benching him for key matches and the rumours started to spread he stopped posting. His social media profile described him as an England player and not a Spurs player and there was just a picture of him in his England kit. I know because I checked at the time

 

[NaijaSpurs]

I hope that I’m wrong but I just get a feeling that there is more to this. I’ve not seen any recent updates, so maybe I’ll be totally wrong.

I am not saying he will not leave Spurs but I will be surprised to hear that Toby is fit but Poch is telling the whole world that Toby is not.

 

[El Guepardo]

I am not saying he will not leave Spurs but I will be surprised to hear that Toby is fit but Poch is telling the whole world that Toby is not.

Ok, I’ll admit that I’m just speculating as I’m probably far from the truth. I just don’t like my instincts here. But as I say I’m probably talking nonsense

 

[alekaras]

Serious question for people. And before anyone asks I’ll never stop going home and away but I’ve been going long enough I’m at the point that going to football is more about seeing my mates having a laugh and having a good day out. But what is everyone’s genuine expectations moving forward if we continue to sell our best players? I can’t help but feel we are never going to achieve anything other then the odd league cup and top 4 finishes if this is the club ‘ethos’

We are slowly becoming one of the big boys now. And we'll have the financial muscle to offer competitive wages. So we won't have to scrape the bottom of the barrel to attract talent. Will we compete for the Pogbas and Messis? Of course not. But we will attract up-and-coming talent. For every Carrick we lose we'll find a Dier. For every Toby a Sanchez. For every Bale a Dele. We'll keep them for 3-4 years and they may move on. But during that time we'll be very competitive. We'll actually be very competitive for longer than that because a. we'll have a continuous assembly line of players moving in as others move out, and b. have a team that is greater than the sum of its parts. The only person we can't afford to lose is Poch. So don't worry. As long as he's around, we'll be fine.

 

[thfcsteff]

Serious question for people. And before anyone asks I’ll never stop going home and away but I’ve been going long enough I’m at the point that going to football is more about seeing my mates having a laugh and having a good day out. But what is everyone’s genuine expectations moving forward if we continue to sell our best players? I can’t help but feel we are never going to achieve anything other then the odd league cup and top 4 finishes if this is the club ‘ethos’

We stopped selling our best players some time ago.

 

[thfcsteff]

I hope that I’m wrong but I just get a feeling that there is more to this. I’ve not seen any recent updates, so maybe I’ll be totally wrong.

I think it is pretty clear. We are not going to pay Toby 130 or whatever a week. There is an offer on the table and if he wants more, good for him. We have clearly judged we must earmark that money for others. Personally? I agree. A fully-fit Toby is a beautiful thing, but Sanchez and Verts are tremendous and Sanchez is getting better every single minute.

 

[Olle73]

Toby WAS one of our best player. He ISN'T since he is or has been injured. Will he BECOME one of our best player, again? No one on this forums knows anything about his, but time speaks against it, unfortunately.

 

[thfcsteff]

Toby WAS one of our best player. He ISN'T since he is or has been injured. Will he BECOME one of our best player, again? No one on this forums knows anything about his, but time speaks against it, unfortunately.

Fair comment for sure. We shall all see...

 

[Spur of the moment]

Toby WAS one of our best player. He ISN'T since he is or has been injured. Will he BECOME one of our best player, again? No one on this forums knows anything about his, but time speaks against it, unfortunately.

However with someone like Toby there's a good chance he will go on improving with age. True there are signs he may be slowing but what he may lose in speed may well be more than compensated for by what he gains in experience, nous and leadership. I hesitate to cite the example of that brick John Terry but you'll know what I'm getting at.

 

[Gutter Boy]

However with someone like Toby there's a good chance he will go on improving with age. True there are signs he may be slowing but what he may lose in speed may well be more than compensated for by what he gains in experience, nous and leadership. I hesitate to cite the example of that brick John Terry but you'll know what I'm getting at.

Chelsea defended pretty much in their own box. We play a high line. We all saw with Dawson what happens there - and he's gone on to have 4 more great years at an non-high-line side.

 

[Jurgen the German]

I think we will be playing a dangerous game if we let TA go personally. I accept that Poch is building something bigger, we want to become a club that can easily replace players and slowly build a system which doesn't rely on "stars" but a big reason why we are where we are today is because of the players, it's a collective effort from the players, Poch and Levy. I don't accept that we can just easily replace players. I know we have replaced stars for as long as I can remember but eventually it catches up to you, look at Southampton. Not saying things will ever get that drastic for us but its not unthinkable to suggest there may be some kind of drop off if we allow the likes of TA and Rose to be sold. Which will a shame as we are so close to actually winning some of the biggest prizes in football.

It will only make matters worse if we sell said stars to our competitors in the league. I can live with selling our best players abroad but why should we even entertain the idea of selling them to the likes of United or Emirates Marketing Project who both have a dire need for a top class centre back?

 

[Bedfordspurs]

I think we will be playing a dangerous game if we let TA go personally. I accept that Poch is building something bigger, we want to become a club that can easily replace players and slowly build a system which doesn't rely on "stars" but a big reason why we are where we are today is because of the players, it's a collective effort from the players, Poch and Levy. I don't accept that we can just easily replace players. I know we have replaced stars for as long as I can remember but eventually it catches up to you, look at Southampton. Not saying things will ever get that drastic for us but its not unthinkable to suggest there may be some kind of drop off if we allow the likes of TA and Rose to be sold. Which will a shame as we are so close to actually winning some of the biggest prizes in football.

It will only make matters worse if we sell said stars to our competitors in the league. I can live with selling our best players abroad but why should we even entertain the idea of selling them to the likes of United or Emirates Marketing Project who both have a dire need for a top class centre back?

It has to be to a team abroad or not at all

Id rather keep him and play him until his contract runs out than let him go

He would be what 31 then?

 

[StephenH]

Let hope all the options are on the table.
My big fear is Pochettino is not convinced TA's fitness will not now take the high fitness levels needed in the current system.

 

[Spur of the moment]

Were we not saying something similar about Dembele a short while ago?