I get why some fans have had enough of Levy. He has chosen 3 managers that have improved us (jol, Redknapp and pochettino) but also chose some terrible choices. Some are terrible with hindsight (Ramos and Santini) but others were obviously at the time. Hoddle was a horrific man manager and that was well know. Having Pleat as an 8 month caretaker was plain stupid. AVB was a moronic decision. As was essentially another 8 month caretaker nice but dim. No idea where to start with JM. Same with Conte. I've said it before...for the past decade or so but levy should not have any involvement in choosing our manager. 3 positive choices out of 12 (not including Ange as he is still our manager) is not great but he actually got lucky with Jol being there when Santini left. He has made more obvious mistakes (listed above) than right choices. Off the field he has completely changed the club for the better and has done a good job of making us financially stronger but decisions such as choosing to put club staff on furlough to save next to nothing and to join the ESL were huge **** ups that were only reversed when fans kicked off. The continued pricing of fans out of big games (ie £71 for the cheapest NLD ticket) and removing concessions for OAPs has rightly passed fans off. If fans have turned against Levy these issues are a big part of it IMHO.
I don’t think anyone has discredited them for the stadium and training ground but one could easily argue that’s been done just to make a huge ROI on their initial investment. There has been very little times where fans have gotten the impression ENIC have gone all out for on-field success. And when they began charging the highest prices in Europe to watch what they’ve been dishing out these last 5 or so years, you’re only going to further alienate a fanbase.
Every bad result it seems the levy good/bad debate goes on. Personally I think a lot of the criticism thrown at him is completely wrong but over 20 years is a long spell for anything so would be interesting to see what new owners could do. I guess the problem is we need people with billions to buy the club, then billions to pump into transfers to be able to spend more than the current incumbents do and continue to ensure the commercial side keeps improving to keep on top of FFP. How do those people so against levy and enic go about getting rid though unless they know anyone with billions of pounds lying around ready to invest in a football club? The protest route clearly doesn’t work as it is as I’ve seen more people in the queue outside of chick king than there were protesting outside the ground.
ENIC/Levy give the manager what they always give the manager, same as before the stadium, same as after, same as always their target, the 6th or 7th best squad, with the right manager, avoiding injuries, other big teams underperforming on a good year we could get CL. On the flip side some bad injuries and perhaps the wrong manager you get what we’re seeing now. But the real issue is if you’re happy trophy-less and best of the rest, because ENIC clearly are, their investment growing nicely, that is their ambition as they continue their property & entertainment project. But if you want something different you absolutely have to look beyond the manager because the stadium has changed nothing as far as ambitions, as does any manager change, all superficial.
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club that was, long since ceased being a serious sporting institution, it`s character has been replaced as part of a entertainment and sports brand, of which a triumphant football team is no longer essential to the success of the business. There is no desire from the board, even in the slightest, to push the boat out to achieve success on the football pitch, every decision made is a business one rather than a sporting one. We will all remain on Levy`s roundabout of underachievement until he & ENIC disappear.
It certainly wasn't a serious sporting institution when ENIC took it over. Our current league position, now thought to be a disaster, was generally about where we finished back then. The only club which has actually improved more over the time ENIC have been in charge is Man City whose owners have about 100,000 times the resources as ENIC. ENIC have invested every penny earned in the team. That hasn't been enough to catch up so far.
The business would be worth twice as much if we won the League or CL. Odd that such great businessmen have never noticed that. They just have limited resources.
I felt that this was just another game that we've seen repeatedly recently. Lots of missing players on our part and a well-drilled low block on theirs, resulting in a narrow defeat. We're free-scoring and dangerous when the opposition allow us to be, but fairly toothless when the other team sit back. There have been exceptions when we've scored early and a decent pass from Son to Johnson might've changed that yesterday. The whole team is underperforming due to tiredness, fatigue and poor confidence, in my opinion. I've seen some discussion about the match officials and they generally follow a similar pattern, unfortunately. Let lots of **** go early on, which isn't in our favour, then clamp down later when we're chasing the game, which also isn't in our favour. This match was a wonderful example of both that and our complete inability to be awarded a penalty in domestic competitions. There were a couple of shouts that Pawson didn't award and the VAR officials were never going to overturn. That we're one of the most attacking sides in the division and haven't got one in about 30 games is rather questionable, for me.
That`s all very good and yes they have done brilliantly to elevate the business side of things, but it is not translating to significant improvements on the pitch. It`s the same old same old, Levy still won`t pay the wages to attract the best players and still prefers signing players as an investment rather than an essential cog in the team. The whole football operation is amateur, complete buffoonery, the football team is not set up to be successful and it blunders from one disaster to the next, if there is a plan I would love to know what it is. The whole club needs new direction from some new faces at the very top, whoever they may be.
Doesnt reflect in the manner they build teams there is no evidence to suggest that they get it you don’t need the most money you need to know how to build a team Levy doesn’t know this lack of success is ample evidence of this
Some owners are into football to make money. Search “The Glazers”. Have Spurs owners who think the same? If sold tomorrow, Spurs would represent a huge return on their initial investment. Strangely, financial success these days doesn’t require a team to be successful on the pitch. Being high profile, getting into CL regularly, having other income streams (stadium etc) is enough without winning silverware.
This isn't true. Since buying the club ENIC have put in £150m of their dosh. That was during Conte's time as coach. That's it. £100m was spent on players, the rest is still in the club's accounts. They loaned the club £50m to build Lilywhite House and Sainsbury's, since repaid in full. Up until the stadium build was in full swing, all monies spent on buying land, paying fees, building costs, interest, appeals etc. .came out of club funds for the stadium, Stratford and all the other stuff. All of it was football generated. ENIC has no issue at all in using large amounts of football money for non-football purposes...and has done on numerous occasions in the past. If investors aren't found for the hotel/appartment build, they will have to do so again...and soon. The competition for finance and priority of interest between football/non-football activities is one of ENIC's least attractive traits.
The thing with Pleat being caretaker for 2/3 of the season is that, in the circumstances, it was the right decision: we were in negotiations to bring in Arnesen as DoF at the end of the season, so bringing in a manager sometime between November-January could have been an issue six months down the line if they refused to work with Arnesen Problem is, nobody suggested the possibility of a DoF who might want to undermine the incumbent manager a few years down the line...
SpursWeb still haven't recovered from their massive Levy Out protest where only about 18 people showed up, and even more humiliatingly Levy was actually inside the ground at the time and didn't even notice there was a protest outside
Totally agree. Of course it helps to have more cash to spend, but as Chelsea and United have amply demonstrated in the last 5-10 years, it isn't an inevitable outcome if the people spending the money have pigshit for brains. Our net spend since we sacked Poch has been close if not identical to Liverpool's, sometimes vastly exceeding it (this past summer being the most recent example). It's clearly not what you spend, it's how you spend it and doing things as dumb as changing your manager every two years isn't going to help in the slightest. Nor will spending £60m on Richarlison. Nor will stacking certain areas of the squad with 4-5 options for one position and leaving others with zero cover. Manure for brains.
