I don't think many billionaires are actual fans of the clubs they take over these days. City, Newcastle, PSG etc weren't. You just need someone who has an interest in the sport and can see some personal or commercial interest in taking over. Ironically I think the problem is that there are too many clubs with billionaire owners. 15-20 years ago you had a virtual monopoly on the advantage of "buying success" if you were a billionaire. The problem now is that market is more saturated and the monetary advantage of attracting stellar players isn't as marginalised as it used to be. That's the real thing putting off billionaires buying the likes of Spurs (or Livpl or United for that matter).
Personally, I'm ambivalent as to who the owner is and how much money they have. I'm happy enough for ENIC to stay...or go...or bring in patners or co-owners...or whatever... ...my one wish is that we get the sporting management of the club right. Pick an ethos and methodology and implement it. I'm ****ing sick of pretending to be something we're not. There's no point in Levy appointing Mourinho or Conte and not giving them the kind of budget and control that they demand. It's a complete waste of time and money. I'm very happy to aim for a team built around bargains, academy graduates, etc....but let's get a coach who is going to do that well, because Conte isn't...just as Mourinho wasn't. The reason that Conte looks like a short term appointment to get Levy out of a hole of his own making (in the ridiculous appointment of Nuno) is because that's what it was. Until the sporting side of the club is run in accordance with the owner/owners' realistic budget and intentions and done to the best of the ability of all those concerned, we're just going round in ever decreasing circles
The thing is though is Paratici has on paper delivered exactly the types of players Conte should/ could be able to work with. Perisic he has worked with. Bissouma is a player that many people felt to be an upgrade on Hojbjerg (I like both fwiw) yet Conte is doing to Bissouma what AVB done to Paulinho and making him play as a DM, a blind man can see that’s not his position and if he played Bissouma like how he plays Hojbjerg and Bentancur he’d likely see the guy that was regarded as one of the best CMs in the Prem at Brighton. Lenglet has been a decent signing on loan, not as sound defensively as say Romero but certainly the best on the ball of our CBs. Spence is literally a tailor made RWB for Conte’s system, yet he persists with two of the worst players we’ve ever seen above him. Conte wanted Richarlison and yet so far, whether it be a mixture of injuries, style of play, positioning and the player himself, he’s been a complete and utter flop. Then obviously Bentancur and Kulusevski immediately improved us last January. So I’d say Paratici is delivering Conte-type players but for whatever reason Conte is ballsing it up, this style of play is 100% on him and him only. At the start of the season many of us said Conte had been given a good bunch to work with, there was little talk of him not being sufficiently backed and fans and pundits alike predicted a strong top 3 finish so I do think CK is right in that right now it’s hard to blame Levy (or Paratici) for the present state (albeit I do also feel a fresh change at the top would be nice) and so the root cause of a number of present issues is Conte. The fact Eddie Howe is also massively showing him up with a weaker squad further throws shade on Conte’s current management.
Realistically the new owner of Spurs, whenever that happens, will almost certainly be a hefty billionaire because ENIC’s valuation of the club is reported to be in the region of £2.5bn-£3bn. So anyone buying us at that price is going to likely need to be worth double that I’d imagine, at the least. It’s unlikely it’ll be a Spurs fan (albeit would be lovely) but they will probably be someone who can throw a lot of money at it. The question that many fans would be curious of though is how the person/ company got that wealth.
As I've said for basically forever now, we can't compete directly and need to recognise that. We need to structure the club like Ajax, Dortmund and the like, but we're in a stronger position. We can give chances to promising youngsters and have the possibility of keeping them. Paratici has been an interesting start, but the whole club needs to be pushing in the same direction. We need an overall footballing vision. A way of playing the game that's kept to from top to bottom. It shouldn't be this dull, negative, defensive style that the last few managers have preferred. That just pisses everyone off and gives each coach a very short fuse before it all kicks off. Look at Moyes at West Ham for a pretty clear example. He's exceeded expectations by far since joining them for his second spell. A few bad months and the fans want him gone. Results only give you respite from poor football for a while. If they stop, you're done.
On the other hand, if you compare him to Lukaku, that's where he really starts to look a good deal - especially as Lukaku is multiple choice as a bad investment, given Man Utd paid £75m for him when £75m was a headline fee, while Chelsea paid £97.5m when the market started to get hyperinflated The weird thing is he actually is a gamechanger, but not in the way people expect: as he's got heading ability we have changed our approach to accommodate him, most obviously with Perisic...problem being he usually plays on the RW and not a CF, so we have changed our approach to fit the guy we play out of position to basically play the role jay Rodriguez used to at Southampton
Even if we got such an owner, it is unlikely that we would be allowed to spend like Chelsea or City unless they paid off the cost of the stadium as FFP would certainly penalise us heavily.
I'm not sure it does, because Lukaku is just another overpriced striker but generally been of a higher pedigree with a marginally better strike record. That's more of a game tactic changer, not a game changer. Game changers are the players that come into a side and elevate the team, Modric done that with us, van der Vaart, Eriksen etc all did, as did someone like Toby when he joined Jan at the back. Richarlison is basically an expensive squad option, because no matter how it's dressed up, he isn't better than Kane, Kulusevski or Son (minus this season's form) and he hasn't so far elevated Spurs to a new level, nor likely will if we're being honest. He's a decent player and it's good to have him in the squad when you compare the calibre of other squad players we have but at £60m it's likely we won't get value for money out of this deal unless he either becomes a first teamer and hits 20+ goals a season or becomes a Solsjkaer-esque super sub in games/ big games and grabs crucial goals at times of need.
He's done better than many expected but it's early days. They are playing with no pressure as they are the 'newbies' on the block. The real challenge is further down the road when they have to juggle four competitions, start going into every game with the pressure of being favourites (and a scalp for the opposition to claim), and once the changing room starts to fill with big money egos, that's when the real measure of him will be revealed.
For me, the one comfort in what Arsenal are doing now is that they are showing teams like us that it is possible to stick to a project and despite spending a fraction of what other teams spend, still launch a proper title bid all while playing good attractive football. Part of Conte's latest moan yesterday was about how "other teams" spend £200-300m every year on new players so it is farcical to expect us to compete. Well, Antonio, there's a young Spanish bloke just down the Seven Sisters who used to be derided as Pep's bib folder who is currently proving that theory wrong.
Managers mostly do no harm but hardly any do real good. I think it's a perfectly rational strategy to change them frequently until you find a good one. The trouble is we found Pochettino and then let him have too much influence so things went wrong.
The obnoxious thing with Arsenal's current position is that it looks uncannily like the GoonAnon bollocks that Arteta was spouting just as much as their fans were when they bottled Top 4 last season has galvanised the team
To be fair Arsenal's project hasn't been a cheap one. I'm pretty sure they're around the third or fourth highest spenders over the last five years and they've not been in the CL during that either. Granted Arteta's not been there for five years but he's still been backed quite heavily and most of his XI are his (and Edu's) signings, though his signings have largely been successful to some degree, how he finishes this season will determine just how successful they'll have been but it's looking very promising... unfortunately. Conte's just going into self destruct mode in my opinion. I'll be very surprised if he lasts the season the way things are going and personally I wouldn't lose sleep if he walks in the near future. Tired of the tactics and moaning. Zero enjoyment at the moment.
It certainly doesn't and money alone certainly isn't the only or even the best answer. Just look at the two Manchester clubs. Both have spent in the region of £1.3bn since SAF retired. Both maintain wage bills in the top 3 of the country. The comparison stops there. One club operated with a clear vision and strategy, the other staggered around like a drunk at closing time and now find themselves years behind their rivals. I'm of the opinion that there is almost more than enough money and wages in Spurs to achieve really special things. With perhaps a modest injection of capital and/or a windfall from player sales (hasn't really happened since Walker left if we're honest), we've more than enough money. What we are lacking is brains. I'm in full agreement with Brian and PNP - if the club had a unified, cohesive vision from top to bottom, we'd be on another level to the going round in circles nonsense we've gotten ourselves stuck in.
