I don't think you're that much of the poor relation, but Levy adopts a different business model. I admire that in many ways, but it does mean that the club relies heavily on the academy system and shrewd acquisitions in the transfer market. In both respects, that's worked a treat over the past 2-3 years, but the ability to identify future prospects at youth level or in the transfer market (on a limited budget) is hit and miss. Nobody can foresee how a player will ultimately develop - including the necessary mental element required to perform consistently at the highest level. At some point the question will be posed to Levy - spend big (fees and/or wages) or fall behind the clubs competing for honours.
Not many boards have a pet red devil, we got 2....that's like spotting a Dragon. The Spurs board is full of top posters and you're safe here, no one will offer you out for a one on one lol
I would put Spurs and Southampton in a very similar bracket (not meaning to be funny here) with Spurs being more successful at it. They both find gems at reasonable prices and play/maintain a very good standard of football, the difference is, Spurs keep hold of their gems and Southampton get raped.
We should also try to ensnare daveunited or the evilreddevil. Though the latter will be difficult, as our Woolwich neighbours have provided so much WUM fodder of late he seems to be camped on their board.
I really do hope so, you can tell Vinnie tries his hardest but things just don't seem to work. Scored a good goal last night though, great work from GK, too!
That is why we are building a stadium. It's not a vanity project, it's to help us get the resources to compete with you guys.
Speak for yourself geez, I'll cut a mug if they pipe up. Me and my boys will come for anyone... please log in to view this image
I don't know why people don't get this point. What I like about Levy and Poch is that despite the stadium not being an issue, they won't pay over the odds on players. It's not that we can't afford the targets, it's that people are trying to take the pee with the prices. Barkley would be a good signing at £25-30m, not so good at £50m, Dembele good at 20m, not so good at 40m. The message is clear. We won't be held to ransom with high fees and wages, because we don't need to buy. Yeah, we want to, but we are already doing better than anybody expected, and we are developing players. We don't have to jump 3 or 4 places in the league for next season to be a success. Nobody is expecting us to win the league at all costs. Also, when your biggest star players cost you 5m and free, it puts some perspective on value for money. Having said all of that, I do hope some players come in during this window, as depth of squad is what cost us last season, but I also hope that even when we have a new stadium that this shrewd and refreshing approach continues to some degree, and that we compete on quantity of quality rather than just frivolous expense. Let the manager earn his money.
Does anyone else recall that a few days ago Daniel Levy said that he doesn't know who we might be interested in? I'm sure that I read that. Could this be true? I think so. Mauricio Pochettino has earned Levy's trust and Levy is enormously busy dealing with the stadium and sponsorship issues (and so he should be). We've cleared out the perceived problems in the scouting/recruiting department. Mauricio understands and shares our recruitment philosophy. It's not like with Harry when back turned he comes back with a bunch of OAP's. This possible change of club policy could partially explain our lack of dynamism in recruitment. Either that or Levy's syphoned off the best part of £80m to buy cheese? Mmmmmmm cheese.
Totally agree. Buying young players or bringing academy players through not only saves cash, it should get better results in the long run. You get players who are totally committed to the cause and have the right way of playing drummed into them. There is almost no discernible difference in outcomes between signing £5m players and £30m ones so why waste the money. I'm also convinced that playing time is key to development. Wimmer is really suffering from not playing whereas Davies is the opposite. Signing a bang average central midfielder for £20m to increase squad depth just stops the likes of Winks developing. Our squad is so young that we only need to look to add two or three players a season and all of those can come from the academy if they are good enough.
Am I right that we now have no players that were originally signed by Harry? Walker was the last one?
