I think everyone agreed that our outgoings were a 9/10 to be fair, I certainly did. In terms of incomings though, I think it was borderline abysmal. There was a seemingly decent platform to build upon and we didn’t do as such. I’d say only Liverpool had a poorer window than us from a “big six” perspective. I think we’ve (the club) put too much hope and pressure on Bergvall, Gray and Odobert turning into great players far too quickly. The law of averages would unfortunately say at least one of them doesn’t pan out, I hope that won’t be the case but we’ve seen how football works. Gil and Sarr had hugely promising reputations in Europe when we signed them, one’s more or less gone and the other is struggling quite badly. I truly believe the complete neglect of trying to strengthen for the right now can affect how good our future may (or may not) be and despite my current grievances with his tactics, I genuinely feel for Ange. I think we’ve left him up **** creek.
This is a really strong argument and actually quite a depressing read, mainly because not a word of it isn't true. I think it is reflective of the general aftermath of leaving WHL which is the fact that we totally lost our way on the footballing side of things for a very long time. But there is definitely a bitter irony that we charge top dollar for a club that is essentially back where it was under BMJ, behaving in the market like a Brighton, Wolves or Brentford but paying much more to do it because we have a big shiny stadium.
Our problem is that the five clubs who win nearly all the English trophies have either outperformed us financially for 50 years or have had access to almost unlimited spending before ffp took hold. So we are still in the catch up phase. Despite having the fourth highest income we still only have the sixth most expensive squad. That should still move in our favour but it will remain a gradual process.
That's the wrong perspective surely. If we had £150m less income we would have no chance of competing and would likely be overtaken by Newcastle, West Ham and Villa so we could struggle to finish top half. The Poch years were good simply because we bought a squad worth more than £500m for just over £100m. Relying on that happening again isn't any sort of strategy. In a few years time we will have a squad which is the third or fourth most expensive and if a decent number of youngsters turn good could actually be the best in the League.
I've already explained why I think that. In the present climate income in the PL relates to performance, we have raised our income. You may have to be patient for the effects to come to fruition but they will happen. Of course other clubs will be trying to increase their income too. We have raised our bar but the PL bar is also raised. I don't think there is much doubt that without the infrastructure/income hike we would be going backward. This whole thread is premature IMO to be having such discussions after just 4 games into a new season is crazy. We have changed our squad considerably from last season and once again people expect instant results, it always takes time. Man City, Liverpool, Arsenal, all took a number seasons to launch their threat. Man U. are still trying after Ferguson left. We are Spurs we always have fans who are by nature pessimistic (with good reason, over the years) a few poor results triggers the fears and disappointment from years of watching the club and then the collective hole gets dug. I am standing away
The worry many fans have is that three of the five clubs you've referenced have advanced plans of their own for new stadia in the near future. The window of opportunity to catch up and overtake is therefore narrower than I think we realise.
Another interesting twitter post. Let's not allow for history to be re-written by people who thrive on negativity. Not saying that I am overly optimistic, but I believe it's way too early to be too down about things.
what i would say those, that was artetas first 10 games or whatever it was. I think he was pretty bad 2nd year as well but you aren't really comparing like for like
In the video from that twitter post, they are discussing Arteta's second season I believe, when the same AFTV heads that are now claiming that Ange is 'washed' and that Spurs are in the mud after four games, were calling for Arteta's head in winter of his second season. If we are going to compare, we should be comparing like for like. He came 8th, 8th, 5th, 2nd and 2nd again if I'm correct. Now look. If they had got their wish and the club axed him, they might not be challenging now. Who knows? Not saying that we'll definitely be challenging in two seasons, but our best chance from here is to back Ange and roll with the punches. He hasn't finished as low as 8th yet. We are four games in to season two for goodness sake!! Hopefully Levy and co. hold their nerve and do the right thing by Ange and deposit funds where necessary, and actually follow through on the rebuild that should have happened a long time ago.
The recruitment policy that we've implemented is completely dependent on the management of the club being 100% committed and holding their nerve. We've bought young talent. We need to have a plan how to allow that talent to improve and gain confidence and experience. Now is the time for leadership from the owners and board and to make decisions to support the direction that's been chosen... ...we shall see.
Just managed to watch my recording of the match. The goal was a foul but of the sort which are often missed. If the ref saw it and didn't give it then I don't think VAR should have overturned it. But the trouble with this new rule that the onfield call should generally stand is....what if the ref simply didn't see it because he happened to be looking at something else? It didn't affect the result but something needs to be done re the enforcement of the rule on how long goalkeepers can hold the ball. Raya had it in his hands for more than 25 seconds at one point!
Their chronic timewasting and feigning injury were never addressed by Gillett at all. There were supposed to be new rules introduced for this season for exactly this situation, but nothing happened, for some reason. I have no idea why, as it's clearly not good for the sport as a product and means of entertainment, if nothing else. Timber should also have been sent off. The initial foul was a yellow, in my opinion, but what he did afterward was clearly another one. How did Vicario end up with one for an incident in which his shirt was grabbed two-handed and he didn't touch the bloke doing it? That we somehow picked up 5 yellows in that first half, which has to be some sort of record, to their 2 says it all.
Don’t understand comparing the success of our window incomings by looking at other clubs They have their needs, we have ours ours weren’t met as required the fact that other clubs had a poor window does not solve our problems
No, but it may be that there was an issue across the industry, rather than with the club. Not saying that this was the case, as I don't think it was, but the argument's there.
The time wasting was also matched by the most blatant - frankly ridiculous - ground-gaining at every throw-in and free kick. I mentioned previously that at one point they were trying to take a free kick for offside from 5m INSIDE Spurs half! On most of those occasions the officials intervened, but that was effectively just another form of time-wasting.
