I'm surprised to see Sassuolo so high, but it's much tighter in general, as you suggest. The top 7 in revenue made up the top 8 in the league this season, plus Lazio. The fascists seem like an odd omission from the revenue list too, in my opinion.
PL stuff : please log in to view this image Linear for the usual suspects, then near-linear for the rest.
Two questions. How many times has has a Frank team beaten an Ange team? When Ange finished 5th in the league last season, where did Frank finish? I like Frank, and I think he's a sensible choice, if you haven't won anything. He's less of a maverick, less box office. A slightly less charismatic and attacking and aggressive Pochettino. He probably has the more balanced and calm characteristics than either, he won't kick out in press conferences, and he is very astute tactically. Sensible. Unlike some on here, I think there is lots to disagree with in the club statement. I think Levy and the board are being disingenuous when they say "We cannot base our decision on emotions", when they are giving the manager a bunch of kids to build a squad with because they feel like they are good enough to compete on all fronts. "It is crucial that we are able to compete on multiple fronts and believe a change of approach will give us the strongest chance for the coming season and beyond." More questions. What are they basing this on if not emotions? What does 'compete' even mean in this sentence? Is our squad as strong, deep or good as any of the top 6 teams? If giving us the strongest chance was really the goal, and crucial, we'd have more experienced players in the squad and better cover for key positions as a given. Does this "change of approach" also include them buying better more experienced players to go with the kids, and actually backing the manager? Or are you going to expect Frank, who whomever the sorry idiot is who comes in, to pull a rabbit out of the hat and ask him to cook gourmet food with no spices in the rack, and Tesco basic ingredients. Last question. Why am I finding myself in agreement with this guy twice in the same year?
There's a piece in the Times which feels like the apocrypha for the Club Statement Here's the relevant snippets, because paywall And **** knows why the indenting option causes sections to repeat... Snippet 1 Everyone wanted a piece of Ange Postecoglou at the end, which was a mark of the impression he made. The players would not let him leave after the final game of the season against Brighton & Hove Albion, as Dominic Solanke pulled him back for one last photo with his family. The fans sang his name and one journalist shook his hand. Staff had collected memorabilia from the Europa League final — ticker tape, team sheets, names on doors — and asked Postecoglou to sign them. Before the final, Levy’s mind was made up. He consulted senior players and the club sounded out Thomas Frank at Brentford and Bournemouth’s Andoni Iraola. Yet even Levy was swayed by the celebrations. He was still teetering before that 4-1 defeat by Brighton, and it took another 12 days before the announcement finally came. it was not only the results. When the pressure mounted, the club were unimpressed by Postecoglou’s antics and believed certain players checked out. There were concerns about attention to detail and fears that the injury situation that derailed his first two seasons could, with the added strain of the Champions League, be repeated in a third. Others made a connection between his high-intensity methods and the high number of muscle injuries. Medical experts estimate that about half the hamstring strains are linked to sprinting, and Tottenham were posting unusually large numbers for both. This season, ten Spurs players suffered hamstring injuries and in February, at the height of their injury crisis, 39 per cent of their injuries had been hamstring related, compared to the league average of 23.5 per cent. Tottenham were the top team for sprints (4,200) in the Premier League. Even with nine men against Chelsea in November 2023, Postecoglou refused to adjust. “It’s who we are mate,” he said afterwards, while at half-time, according to one source in the dressing room, he told the players: “Even if there’s five or six of you out there, you don’t stop running.” Those ideas grated with medical staff, who warned Postecoglou early in his first season the data for sprint and high-intensity distances in training was too high. Postecoglou insisted the players needed to endure to adapt. Staff were dismayed when he ignored advice around how long players should stay on in games, particularly those returning from injuries. They told him the risk rate of recurrence for a hamstring injury doubles after an hour but Van de Ven played 79 minutes against Chelsea last December, before going off with another hamstring tear. insiders at Tottenham felt Postecoglou gambled too often and leaned too heavily on players’ opinions, which led to overly optimistic judgments around recovery times. Snippet 2 In the big moments, his messages landed with the players, who found his pre-match speeches were like nothing they had experienced before. Postecoglou understood the importance of narrative — he walked around the training ground reading newspaper articles on his phone Yet Postecoglou was often too outspoken and the club grew weary of some of the needless confrontations. He risked revolt when he cupped his ear at the Tottenham supporters, goading them after they booed his introduction of Pape Matar Sarr, who came on and thought he had scored against Chelsea in April. He argued with fans after defeats away to Bournemouth in December and Fulham in March, the latter coming just before the international break, when Spurs began discussing possible replacements and enquired about Roberto de Zerbi at Marseille. Yet Postecoglou was often too outspoken and the club grew weary of some of the needless confrontations. He risked revolt when he cupped his ear at the Tottenham supporters, goading them after they booed his introduction of Pape Matar Sarr, who came on and thought he had scored against Chelsea in April. He argued with fans after defeats away to Bournemouth in December and Fulham in March, the latter coming just before the international break, when Spurs began discussing possible replacements and enquired about Roberto de Zerbi at Marseille. None of it should have been a surprise. When Brighton considered Postecoglou to replace Graham Potter in 2022, they researched his character and saw the more belligerent side of his personality as a red flag. Brighton predicted trouble given the scrutiny would be even more intense in the Premier League. And while Postecoglou always had an explanation ready for a defeat or bad run, the contradictions caught up with him. He said the players would “adjust” physically to his methods, but in his second season the injuries were worse than ever. He said his high-risk approach would never change, but success in the Europa League owed more to the Ange-wall than Ange-ball. Why was that pragmatism embraced in Europe but ignored to his cost in the Premier League? He warned against the idea of one trophy being a “holy grail” for Tottenham but before the final said winning in Bilbao could be a definitive moment. He said he loved the tough times when his methods were questioned but when those questions came in the aftermath of defeats, he regularly refused to answer them. Some players lost trust in Postecoglou’s judgment on injuries and in the final weeks, one or two seemed to come and go as they pleased. Tottenham spent nearly £400million across Postecoglou’s two years, which was the fourth-highest in the league, and replaced Kane with the £60million Solanke. But the spend on wages is still modest and moves in January were slow, when a threadbare squad desperately needed reinforcements. Last summer, the club swerved some more expensive targets, including Conor Gallagher and Eberechi Eze, who could have made all the difference. Crucially, Tottenham underestimated the physical implications of Postecoglou’s methods. They failed to give him the depth his style of play would need. The Europa League triumph may have been the end for Postecoglou but it could be a start for Tottenham. That was the angle of the last question, before Postecoglou left through the exit door, a stadium security guard giving him an impromptu pat on the back as he went. “I love how it’s made people feel, that they now can proudly say their club is a trophy winner,” Postecoglou said. “That’s done, and I’m super proud of that.”
I know I sound like a broken record but look at Burkinshaw's first 4 seasons. We won a major European trophy ... something we ain't done since 1984. 41 years of no European trophy and 17 yrs of no trophy and he's rewarded with the sack. Maybe he wouldn't have pushed on but he and we deserved the opportunity to see
Times have changed. Virtually nobody survives relegation nowadays, for example. Losing 22 out of 38 league games deserves the sack. Some of our cup performances were ****ing awful, too. Scraped past Coventry and deserved to lose. Got taken to extra-time by Tamworth. Nearly blew a 3-0 lead against ****ty Man Utd. Lost to AZ. Won the most important one, of course, but had to change his whole philosophy to do it. I'd also point to our ridiculous injury situation, which he seemed to recognise was his fault. We can't keep sacrificing our players' health to an unsustainable system. It's the main reason I'd go nowhere near Iraola.
Bored of it all already. Socials are just a stream of tributes from players, everyone and their dog pretending they were Ange in and hadn’t given him dog’s abuse all season and the same couple of managers going round the rumour mill depending which bullshit you read.
It’s very likely Frank will be our next manager and it will be interesting to see how we line up next season. 23/24 season Franks Brentford were predominantly set up as 352 / 343 but last season Brentford were mainly 433 with the DM dropping back into a back three , fullbacks pushing on and wide forwards coming more inside in possession. Very similar to how we played under Poch with Dier as the DM dropping back and Walker and Rose bombing on. Every Spurs fan and his dog knows we need a top quality DM so hopefully under Frank this will be a priority signing as we don’t have that player ( maybe Gray one day ) in our squad. He prefers a midfield three with a DM and two number 8’s either side, one of them is usually more attacking and creative like Damsgaard and we have Bergvall, Maddison, Bentancur, Kulu and Sarr so we are well covered there. I’d love us to sign Eze but not sure how he would fit into Franks vision as he prefers wide forwards ( Mbeumo and Schade ) who are direct with pace. Obviously he could come to Spurs and set up in a totally different playing style but this is the way he fundamentally likes his teams to play.
Spurs scraped promotion on a nervy final day too (a precursor to the infamous Austria vs West Germany game ?? ) . Anyway, different times as stated. The numbers finally decided, and Ange is gone. The season did not finish to the financial detriment of the club, and Ange forever gets his CV + financial + banter payoff.
The player tributes are to be expected and not unusual in this era, not sure if Romero and Bentancur are big on social media, but they are notable by their absence, and actually maybe the two who are most 'affected' by his leaving.
Understand the player tributes and no problem with them but just adding fuel to the fire for the new narrative from media and pundits that sacking Ange was a terrible decision like they’d been singing his praises all season and not trying to get rid of him at every opportunity. Also remarkable how many opposition fans seem to now be massive Ange fans with nothing but praise for him.
The tabloids pretending they hadn't spent eighteen months saying he was naive and needed to be sacked is pretty obnoxious, too
Robert Vilahamn is set to be sacked as coach of the Spurs Birds Who finished one place above the relegation zone...
Rival fans loved him as manager of Spurs. Lost a lot of games, defensively wide open and said memorable things to the press. If he gets another Premier League job, I’m sure it will be the same with his new side.
I don't think we're in a position to afford proper experience. We can't compete with 4/5 other teams in the same league as us when it comes to wages and transfer fees, let alone other big clubs around Europe. And when you factor in the sad truth that those teams have won exponentially more trophies than us in recent years, the reality is that we just aren't a prospect for established talent. This I feel has been a lesson learned the hard way over the past years. We naively thought moving to a big shiny stadium would elevate us into a 'big club', but it didn't. And so we saw a conveyor belt of bang average players signed for huge fees and on wages too big to ever get rid of them. Ndombele, Lo Celso, Richarlison were all massive red flags that out self perception was dangerously broken. And even when it goes somewhat well, such as splashing huge sums on the likes of Solanke and Brennan, we're hardly seeing players who are elevating us to the next level. If anything, they're seen as successful simply because they aren't as poor as the other big money signings who preceded them. In the experienced talent market, we compete with City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and United. And we can chuck in Newcastle and Villa as viable options too while we're at it. That's a race we're never going to win. Our new approach is to prioritise signing young promise and nurture it into (hopefully) top class talent. This is a far less risky strategy as transfer fees will be lower and so will wages, so if it all goes pear shaped, that player will be easier to shift. Ange simply wasn't the manage to deliver on this vision. For me, the straw that probably broke the camel's back were the comments he made immediately after winning the EL where he called for us to sign experienced players in the summer. He isn't wrong, but what he's asking for isn't possible and this ultimately is the reason he couldn't continue as manager. He needs the same tools that Jose and Conte needed to be successful and we just aren't a big enough club to give him those tools.
Forgive me for being cynical but if I was a player I also wouldn't mind playing for a manger under whom there would be zero consequences or repercussions for me if I turned out dozens of ****e performances across a season, as long as I performed well in a handful of cup games at the end of the season.
I don't read the Times but thank you for sharing. This is a superb summary of everything that was wrong with Ange. The web of self-contradiction was maddening by the end of it all.
100% correct. The idea that Ange 'just needed the proper backing' fails to acknowledge that, that's exactly what BMJ, Harry, Poch, Mourinho and Conte needed...and didn't get. Under Levy and ENIC, no manager/coachhas got the necessary backing...and none is going to, either. Let Paratici and Lange find us young talent and diamonds in the rough and maybe...just maybe...with the right coaching and a bit of patience... The alternative is more high fee, with low wages, mediocre talents, delivering failure that leads to high coaching turnover. Of course, ENIC could always take their money and set us free...
