10 years ago ENIC buys spurs and Daniel Levy become our chairman. " months later Sol Campbell (who had been allowed to run his contract down walks out to join Arsenal on a free transfer costing us around £18m (this is what Man Utd offered 2 yrs previously) we were told that we should have sold him as he had every right to say he'd re-sign a new contract and then change his mind.
6 years ago Michael Carrick demands to leave. We get £18m (after being the only team willing to take a punt on him 2 yrs previously buying from West Ham for £2.5m). He had 2 yrs left on his contract and he was refusing to sign a new one. We forced the price up from £10m first offered. We were called a selling club as a result.
That same summer Frank Arnesen (then DoF at spurs) resigned to join chelsea. We refuse to let him go and end up with £6m and an agreement that they can not bid on our players for 3 yrs. We are accused of being a feeder club for the rich and powerful in the Premier League.
4 years ago Liverpool make a public approach for Robbie Keane. He states that it has been his boyhood dream to play for them. Liverpool (who had come 3rd in the league and looked like they could be serious challengers the following year) agreed to make a sizeable contribution to the Sir Bill Nick Charity Foundation in return for us not making a complaint and paid £21m for Keane. This again provoke accusations that we were a selling club.
" months later Berbatov (after going on strike) was finally sold to Man Utd for £32m. This was shown to be further proof that we were a feeder club.
We refused to pay the quoted transfer figures for a striker... namely Arshavin whose club wanted over £20m for him.
The following summer we decided to sell Darren Bent who threw a strop via twitter cos we wanted a sell on clause and £10m for him. This comes to fruition 18 months later when we receive a further £6.5m from his sale from Sunderland to Villa (meaning we lost no money on the deal as we bought him for £16.5m).
A year ago we refused to sell Modric to Chelsea for £22m which eventually rose to £40m. We are told that this is pointless stubbornness from Levy as players have all the power and you should keep a player who doesn't want to stay. We also refused to match Man City's demands for Adebayor's loan or West Hams valuation on Scott Parker until they compromised. We were told this damaged our season.
We refused to spend the £25-£35m we were being quoted for a striker in the January transfer window which apparently also cost us last season.
This summer We have refused to match Adebayor's wage demands of £175,000 per week, to sell Modric to Real Madrid for £25m or to pay £20-30m for a striker.
Now...I accept that some mistakes have been made but we have gone from mid table at best to flirting with relegation at worst until 2004 to being a top 5 club 5 times in the past 7 seasons (on the other 2 we won the Carling Cup in one and missed out on UEFA competition by 2 pts in the other).
We have played in 2 carling cup finals, 2 fa cup finals, come 4th twice and got to the 1/4 finals of the CL in the last 4 years.
This is massive progress yet the press and some fans are slaughtering us for being tight!
Look at the stupid money spent by United; City and Chelsea....money buys success?
Now look at Leeds & Portsmouth; Look at what liverpool spent last season.
We are a very well run club ... the only serious transfer **** up we've mad in years (re financial losses or potential losses) is Bentley.
United rarely sell a player for profit (Ronaldo and Beckham accepted) City are losing money hand over fist as are Chelsea (transfer wise) But they can all afford it...maybe.
We can't...so I'd rather have a penny pinching owner than be faced with financial melt down cos we thought it was worth chasing the dream like Rangers, Leeds, Portsmouth, Wednesday etc.
I remember 1991 and us beng saved from bankruptcy by selling Gazza and winning the FA Cup and don't wanna go back to them days.
6 years ago Michael Carrick demands to leave. We get £18m (after being the only team willing to take a punt on him 2 yrs previously buying from West Ham for £2.5m). He had 2 yrs left on his contract and he was refusing to sign a new one. We forced the price up from £10m first offered. We were called a selling club as a result.
That same summer Frank Arnesen (then DoF at spurs) resigned to join chelsea. We refuse to let him go and end up with £6m and an agreement that they can not bid on our players for 3 yrs. We are accused of being a feeder club for the rich and powerful in the Premier League.
4 years ago Liverpool make a public approach for Robbie Keane. He states that it has been his boyhood dream to play for them. Liverpool (who had come 3rd in the league and looked like they could be serious challengers the following year) agreed to make a sizeable contribution to the Sir Bill Nick Charity Foundation in return for us not making a complaint and paid £21m for Keane. This again provoke accusations that we were a selling club.
" months later Berbatov (after going on strike) was finally sold to Man Utd for £32m. This was shown to be further proof that we were a feeder club.
We refused to pay the quoted transfer figures for a striker... namely Arshavin whose club wanted over £20m for him.
The following summer we decided to sell Darren Bent who threw a strop via twitter cos we wanted a sell on clause and £10m for him. This comes to fruition 18 months later when we receive a further £6.5m from his sale from Sunderland to Villa (meaning we lost no money on the deal as we bought him for £16.5m).
A year ago we refused to sell Modric to Chelsea for £22m which eventually rose to £40m. We are told that this is pointless stubbornness from Levy as players have all the power and you should keep a player who doesn't want to stay. We also refused to match Man City's demands for Adebayor's loan or West Hams valuation on Scott Parker until they compromised. We were told this damaged our season.
We refused to spend the £25-£35m we were being quoted for a striker in the January transfer window which apparently also cost us last season.
This summer We have refused to match Adebayor's wage demands of £175,000 per week, to sell Modric to Real Madrid for £25m or to pay £20-30m for a striker.
Now...I accept that some mistakes have been made but we have gone from mid table at best to flirting with relegation at worst until 2004 to being a top 5 club 5 times in the past 7 seasons (on the other 2 we won the Carling Cup in one and missed out on UEFA competition by 2 pts in the other).
We have played in 2 carling cup finals, 2 fa cup finals, come 4th twice and got to the 1/4 finals of the CL in the last 4 years.
This is massive progress yet the press and some fans are slaughtering us for being tight!
Look at the stupid money spent by United; City and Chelsea....money buys success?
Now look at Leeds & Portsmouth; Look at what liverpool spent last season.
We are a very well run club ... the only serious transfer **** up we've mad in years (re financial losses or potential losses) is Bentley.
United rarely sell a player for profit (Ronaldo and Beckham accepted) City are losing money hand over fist as are Chelsea (transfer wise) But they can all afford it...maybe.
We can't...so I'd rather have a penny pinching owner than be faced with financial melt down cos we thought it was worth chasing the dream like Rangers, Leeds, Portsmouth, Wednesday etc.
I remember 1991 and us beng saved from bankruptcy by selling Gazza and winning the FA Cup and don't wanna go back to them days.


