Agreed, Stan. When a player loves his club, as much as Jan loves Spurs, it can blind him to weaknesses that the rest of us see all too easily. We should forgive Jan for that, Stan.
Ibra is basically past it although he no doubt will offer some goals. If your club is to move on to the next level a player you have to be looking at is Lukaku. £60 million would probably be enough to prize him from Everton. Do you think your two shysters will have the stones to make that step? It's patently clear that there isn't enough goals from your strike force especially when Harry as he as so many times this season has 'gone missing'. I see this as your time of opportunity to cast off the shackles of mediocrity to become another Arsenal whereas you would be seen as a top four club. Will it happen? I'm pessimistic as I know they will probably bring in another cheap Danish bozo. What say you?
Pooch has come out and said that Spurs are not ready to win a trophy. This flys in the face of Harry Kane saying that anything less than top 4 and a trophy this season would be a disaster. Personally, I think Pooch is trying to head off a player exodus and fan revolt by trying to let them down gently now, instead of when they implode at the end of the season.
If the stories that Loris, Lame & Ali Daley are set to leave are to be believed a Uropey Cup place will not be enough to keep them on board in my honest opinion.
Some good theories being touted, here, lads. It will be interesting to see how these play out in real time. @FosseFilberto If Spurs really are looking at that Bozo bloke, I suspect he's a fairly decent clown-forward, better than the amateur one we current have, in Janssen. @PISKIE I like the fact that Kane is talking, with passion, about us wanting to win trophies. It shows just how much he loves the club and how much he wants to give us fans something to be proud of. Neither am I surprised that Poch is down-playing our ability to win things just yet, because he wants to dampen the pressure on his players; that is what a good manager should do. @Ginger Marks You really do not want to believe every story you hear in the press. But, if we do lose any of our stars, we will find others. Remember how certain people reacted when Bale went to Madrid? Apparently, Spurs was a one-man team, and without Bale we were going to be reduced to a "mid table" team. What actually happened is that, after a period of re-adjustment, we became a better, stronger team, with better consistency. In other words, do not be afraid of change, Mr Marks; embrace it and enjoy the challenges that it poses.
Whereas your lot don't usually wait that long!....you always want to be ahead of us in everything!....
I would say it's realistic to dampen the expectations of Spurs players, as they are unlikely to win anything this season, although they do have a small chance in the FA cup, which for a club like Spurs would be a massive achievement, given that you haven't won it in over 25 years. That said, you have to expect that players like Lloris, Kane and Ali (if he can sort out his temperament) will want to have a chance to play at a top club where they have a realistic chance of winning trophies on a regular basis.
There was a time during our move to the Emirates where we had to sell our best players to balance the books. That said we still finished in the top 4 every season whilst that happened. Spurs will be facing a similar problem financing their new stadium and trying to stay competitive on the pitch. That's even without Spurs being a regular top 4 finishing club.
It doesn't challenge me or Chelsea because Spurs have a history of being a selling club wherein lies the problem for your fans. I was talking objectively about what your club needs to move forward. I know deep down that you also believe your manager is being held back as regards to transfer funds for top performers whilst your board rakes in the profits. Your club needs Jesus Christ as manager under Levy as he seems to be the only person who could make a silk purse out of a sows ear.
We know there's not a lot of money, but wasting the bit we've got on Sissoko wasn't very clever. I suppose we could balance that with £5 mill paid for Alli. Which makes me wonder how many more potential stars there are down in the lower leagues, just waiting for somebody to notice them. It's getting harder and harder to find quality at any sensible price and I think that's why our youth policy is where we will be concentrating.
£30m on Sissoko was ridiculous. Especially for Spurs, given that you already have Wanyama and Demeble (I know they are not like for like, but they are similar). There are unearthed stars in the lower leagues, but as you say it's getting harder to find the real gems. Developing youth is the obvious next step, but it's a long term project that doesn't always bear fruit, as Arsenal have discovered. Also during that time of developing, you have to try and hold onto your best players as they naturally want to win things, and not necessarily wait for 7-8 of their team mates to mature into winners. Kane seems content to play for Spurs (for now) but I think you will do well to hold onto players like Lloris and Ali. It's going to be interesting watching how Spurs manage their stadium move, financing it and try to hold onto their best players over the next few years. Given Arsenal's experience, it was tough and you have to expect some sacrifices, and that was even with having one of the best managers and still playing Champions League football and Top 4, Spurs don't even have that keep the fans happy.
Yes, there are exciting times ahead for Spurs. The important thing, as far as I am concerned, is that we are steadily moving in the right direction. Look at the evidence: finishing top 4 more consistently over the last few seasons a gradual but progressive move from top-mid-table club to top 4 club improved wage-structure to keep our better players World Class youth academy superb young manager (rated as one of the best in the World by numerous other top managers) the construction of a World Class stadium All of this is evidence of progress, and it bodes extremely well for the future. Will the season spent playing home games at Wembley throw us off course? Will the move to the new stadium unbalance the side and send up spinning backwards? Any reply that anyone gives to those kinds of questions can only be speculative. Perhaps yes, perhaps no; only time will tell. Those with an agenda to belittle our club will speculate along negative lines, and those seeking to defend the club will speculate along positive lines; but neither opinion is more valid than the other, and neither opinion should be taken seriously. I prefer to focus on the progress that the club has made, season in and season out, over the last decade, because the facts do not lie; and they demonstrate a highly positive vision for the future of the club.
I think Kane could learn a lot from a player of Ibra's proven abilities, which would serve only to improve his overall game, and help him develop into the World Class striker that England so desperately needs.
It will be a tricky period to navigate financially. But if there's one thing we trust Levy to do, it is to balance the books and keep us in the black. I know that he has concocted some multi-million £'s deal with the NFL whereby our ground will be used for 2 NFL showcase matches per year over 10 years, in exchange for a massive increase in our publicity and market reach in the States, and some major sponsorship deals on the side. Just did a quick search and it is interesting that our total net spend since the PL began is significantly lower than your own (around £60million). This, combined with the fact that your wage structure is (with the greatest respect) somewhat insane, and I think we are better positioned to cope with the stadium burden than you were. To be quite honest, I don't think a single Spurs fan could care less if we stopped spending big bucks for a few years anyway. Almost every player we've ever signed over £15m has turned out to be utterly ****e, so why bother? Soldado, Paulinho, Janssen, Sissoko, Bentley, Bent...the list is painful. Our biggest success stories in the market have undoubtedly been the 'budget range' of players: Alli, Toby, Wanyama, Vertonghen, Dier, Davies, Eriksen, VDV, Walker, Rose, Bale, Berbatov, Lennon, Assou-Ekkoto, Adebayor ...bloody hell that's just off the top of my head. All players cost under £12m and you're basically looking at a list of some of our top performers in PL history. The bottom line is, without the unlimited oil money of City/Chelsea/United, the key is to spend carefully and wisely. Aside from Modric, I can't think of a single 'big bucks' signing who we could instantly see would improve the team. The likes of Dembele and Lamela have taken years to justify their price tags. Ultimately, all clues point to the fact that we aren't very good at splashing the cash, yet excel at spending prudently and wisely.
