Levy knows he's ****ed up. Gates are low, moral is lower and fan tolerance is non existent. He needs decent football for the fans to believe in and get behind so I will be amazed if he don't get players that Conte wants. The atmosphere was toxicon Saturday but no where near as toxic as it could be and he knows this. Conte is not a manager to mess about...there are no doubts about him ... unlike JM
Levy could hide behind Poch after his implosion in the league and emotional state at the culmination of our CL final campaign. Levy could hide behind Jose as being past it, toxic and a shadow of his former self. Mason was a stop-gap. Levy could hide behind Nuno as a manager forced on him by circumstance, even if that circumstance was very much of his own making. Levy can’t hide behind Conte. He is a manager in his prime and a proven trophy winner in England. He was an unrelenting winner as a player and is in the business of proving he is the same as a manager. Don’t get me wrong I’ll judge Conte on his merits once we see his teams play but all past evidence suggests that if this goes wrong it will be Levy not doing his job properly rather than any failings from the manager.
Trust me, Conte will get money to spend or he wouldn’t have taken the job. Also he will walk the second he feels he’s not being backed and that will look a million times worse for Levy than it would Conte. There is nowhere for Levy to hide now.
It does have to be said that the cards seem to have been played in Levy's favour over the course of the next 6-9 months as players such as Kessie and Brozovic are entering the last six months of their deals while Vlahovic has eighteen months on his contract and has refused to sign a new contract, which means we can potentially bolster the squad with an injection of quality without having to potentially spend £50m+ per player to do so - which also offsets the probability that we'll be selling players either below what we were expecting to get for them or, in one or two cases, likely at a loss (i.e. Aurier going for nothing)
Saturday was an important moment for the club and its fans. I've been saying for a while that things would change when the booing starts...and that's what happened (along with decreased ticket sales, memberships, merch, etc., etc.). No business can succeed when its customers are leaving in droves and making the stadium toxic for players, owners, sponsors, etc. We've seen Mourinho appointed, only to be given Bergwijn, when he wanted a striker and Rodon, when he wanted Skriniar. Mourinho makes it easy to blame him for the inevitable divorce...and that's what happened. By the time we got round to paying him his compensation, fans were so happy to see him gone, that the reasons for his failure were forgotten. By contrast, Conte won't **** around. If he feels that he's being let down or jerked around, he'll walk...straight into a really top job. If that happens, the toxicity level of the fans will go well beyond Saturday...and rightly so. As Alasdair Gold said, the club has to stop pointing to jam tomorrow and "focus on the now." Conte has to be backed, in line with what he was promised, or his appointment will buy only the briefest of delays in calls for Levy's and the owners' heads. Money will have to be found and Paratici given freedom to deliver the players that Conte needs...and that starts on Jan 1st. By the end of January, it should be apparent if things have really changed and whether, Levy no longer having his office at Hotspur Way, is more than just a token gesture.
I think Levy knows he’s gonna have to back Conte and I think Conte himself has assurances, especially as Paratici is here too with whom he’s had a previous working relationship with. You don’t hire this type of manager without intent to back in my opinion. Though in fairness we haven’t actually had limited investment in recent seasons, our problem hasn’t been spending money it’s just how we’ve spent it. We’ve pissed away so much money on absolute no-hopers and that’s where Paratici and Conte need to ensure that the funds they do have they spend wisely and they don’t sign more Ndombele’s or Lo Celso’s like the previous transfer committee did. I like Paratici’s summer signings though albeit we needed more but based on how Romero and Emerson are beginning to settle and the excitement of the glimpses we’ve seen from Gil, I think Paratici knows what he’s doing and now he’s got a manager that he knows very well, it should bode well for January and beyond when targeting players. At least that’s what I hope anyway.
One of the biggest things I’m hoping from Conte is ruthlessness with the squad. I feel like Nuno and even Jose felt they could polish too many turds and that played some part in their failures. Whilst I think there’s a good few players who’ll massively benefit from Conte, there are others that are just lost causes and need to be binned 1st Jan. Hopefully Newcastle become our best mates this coming window, we could really use their help. I’d celebrate the likes of Winks and Dele leaving just as much as signing someone like de Vrij or Kessie.
It would be big to be able to shift some more deadwood. It isn’t easy to do but if we actually sign the replacements first then it’ll be clear to those who we want out that they have no place in the team. I feel like many in previous years were sat on big pay packets and called the club’s bluff by saying they wouldn’t leave, knowing they’d still get minutes eventually and the club couldn’t afford to buy before selling. I’m also hopeful that Paratici and Conte will be less emotionally invested in seeing some players succeed because I also think that’s been a factor in hanging on too long for some.
I too am here for the Conte killings. The players will know by know what all of us fans know, that this isn't the manager you can complain about to get him fired. He is the least questionable manager we have had in living memory. You either do the damn work or you accept you're below the required standard. I'm not sure Potter would have commanded the same respect from the players, some of whom who think they are too big for the club. In Conte we have a manager that is indisputably 'bigger' than any of the players. Hopefully this will silence the bitching amongst the squad. It's sad that this is even a situation that can exist, but at least Levy made arguably the one move that he could make to have the most impact. I am happy for Levy. He has seemingly put the final pieces of structure in place that allows him separation from football issues and decisions. The players, and pundits, can no longer blame Levy for not doing his part to ensure victory, assuming of course there is adequate movement in the upcoming windows. I actually think Kessie alone as a signing in this window would make the world of difference. As good as Skipp and Holberg are, I don't think they would be first choice in any top 4 clubs pivot, in the same way that Dembele and Wanyama would have been. Kessie and Sarr next season looks like the possibly the most significant upgrade since Dembele left. I thought it could have been N'dombele in that pivot but he's not was defensively solid as I'd hoped or imagined, and he appears to be more useful further forward, in a freer role. If this plan works and we do indeed invest in a few players and move up into the top four again this season, which has been slightly unrealistic but is now entirely possible, what will the pundits have to talk about where Spurs are concerned? Optimistic I know, but I look forward to them having to put due respect on Levy's name, along with the ENIC out brigade.
Many opinions on our players on the board. Is Kane trying? Is Dele finished at Spurs?, Is Winks the new Pirlo? , will Dier continue to carry the managers confidence (does he speak Italian?) Is Ndombele our worst ever signing or just being mishandled? Is Lol Celso really as bad as some of our posters seem to think? Everybody seems to agree that Conte is the man to resolve these questions, we should have a few more answers by xmas, and who knows maybe a lot more questions. At least we are back to more interesting times at Spurs.
Yeah I really hope he does cull a bunch. I think the last couple appointments since Poch, the club’s hoped the managers could polish too many turds and it’s been almost an impossible task. Yeah Potter wouldn’t command the same respect but equally I’d have hoped he would’ve been backed if it was him who we hired. I think in terms of options, Kessie would definitely be our first choice midfielder if he were to join. Though I do truly believe that in time, Skipp will be a fantastic player. He’s already been better than Hojbjerg and all our other mids this season I’d say, albeit it’s probably not much to brag about when watching Ndombele and Lo Celso trying to kick a football and Captain Crab in the background constantly side stepping whilst Dele manages to make himself look even worse than the Crab. I think Levy just needs to ensure that Paratici and Conte can do their jobs with no interference. It was only last January Levy still didn’t fully trust his manager when he blocked Dele’s departure and he needs to make sure that whoever the Italians decide on who to buy and who to sell, they’re sufficiently backed, because if this duo fail and the feeling is that they didn’t have the tools and backing needed, Levy wont have anywhere to hide.
Conte’s visa arrived this morning so he’s 100% able to take charge of the game today. He “observed” training led by Mason the last two days. Backroom staff who’ll be joining him in the dugout are set to be announced too.
Looks to me that Paratici was signing Conte players all along, so with their history this appointment was always on the cards. It looks like there was not a budget for what Conte wanted in the summer, so Paratici got half of them while Nuno was there then he will get the rest on Conte's arrival. To be fair to Levy (tin hat), without the ground being full and American football/boxing paying the mortgage, money was always going to be tight.
I wonder what % annual of the "mortgage" can be paid by realistic "sweating" of the stadium asset with non Spurs events ?? Every pound taken via the above is another pound available for Spurs to fund on-pitch matters.
Levy got plenty of plaudits for the stadium and for the early Poch years. Now, he's taking flak for failing to heed the advice of Poch and Mourinho and appointing Nuno. I don't see that he's got any real cause for complaint...and I doubt that he'll be bothered very much, if at all. It's all about the booing. Levy's concern is to get the fans back onside, filling the stadium, spending money on beer, food and merch. He's only doing that by providing a product that people will pay top dollar for. Appointing Conte is a big step forward. I lapsed my membership this summer (pre Nuno) in protest at the club's failure to address the footballing issues over a period of 3 years. I'd love to be going tonight, but I'm going to wait until we see what backing Conte gets. I recall the confidence that followed Mourinho's appointment and how he would get the club's backing to carry out Poch's painful rebuild. He didn't and Mourinho was a waste of more time and money. This summer, we were fobbed off with Nuno, when it was obviously going to fail...and quickly at that. If Levy and ENIC have finally realised that they can't skimp on the primary reason that fans support the club, to see good football and hope to win things, and finally invest to do just that, the hacks will give him credit and I'll happily spend my money on Spurs again, but it has to be earned...just as the current criticism has been.
...unless it gets spent on building a hotel...or an extreme sports thingy...or a golf course...or sacking yet another unsuitable manager.
By no means am I saying that Levy is beyond criticism, but he appears to now be sorting it out in big style. The plan was always to build the infrastructure to create more income streams to fund the football team with the profits. He is a visionary who was very much thinking long term. Levy is playing chess, whilst everyone else, including most of us fans, want him to play checkers, understandably. Levy knows he is only a few moves away from checkmate. The Conte signing now makes this slightly more apparent to everybody else. Many pundits swore Conte would never come to Tottenham, and now he has. If Kessie signs in January it'll become even clearer that Levy intends to win and stay winning. The hacks will give him credit. I'm sure, but it will be reluctantly. They love to call Levy tight, claim he doesn't spend money, claim the best players have to leave to win things and so on, commentate on matches with an anti-Spurs bias. Let's see how long it takes for them to take Spurs seriously once all of the pieces are in place. I look forward, optimistically I know, to them tripping over themselves as they struggle to let go of these cliche narratives and approaches. It's a long shot now, but if Tottenham manage to get into the top four at the expense of Man U, it'll be very interesting to see what the likes of Gary Neville, who said 'he hopes Kane leaves Tottenham for the sake of his career', has to say in the aftermath. I mean Jamie Redknapp is going to have to work on an entirely new shtick.
I told you so. My man on the ground tells me Conte had breakfast at Costa this morning (favouring the choco twist and flat white combo) before heading to the training ground. More updates to follow.
