Tottenham Hotspurs have rised a lot over the last two years, climbing the table and showing great ambition. Now they are probably one of the 4th strongest English clubs in the transfer market (and no I dont mean QPR, City, Chelsea and Spurs ). I now feel they are just a couple of top players away from a title competing side. But they were not always this way. In fact just a few years ago they were possible Engish footballs biggest underachievers. Despite having some really decent players and well respected managers they found them selves averaging in mid table and spending time kicking around the relegation zone. They have a lot of comparisons to us. Like us they tried to solve their problems with expensive British transfers. Darren Bent and David Bentley gave Spurs fans a feeling that we are currently very familiar with. Jermaine Defoe left for Pompey only to be resigned 6 months later for a much higher fee (over double in fact). But they seemed to learn from that and take a different strategy, gaining a beady eye for a bargain. Players like Van Der Vaart, Holtby and Adebayor arriving. They saw the bright side of loosing top players like Modric and investing the funds gained on balancing the talent out through out the team. They also spent big money on some promising young talent and brought through some talented youngsters. When Gareth Bale first arrived he seemed to bring a lot of bad luck. But now he is the face of the club. Aaron Lennon has become a big part of the team. Young defenders Walker and Caulker have matured in to decent players who I'm sure will have bright futures. You would never believe now that not to long ago Spurs were underachieving so heavily. But they set a good example of how a well run team can break the big 4 with out spending huge amounts on transfer fees. It just takes a little longer than Manchester City. Spurs are far from the finished article. But you have to admire how well they have advanced. We can do that to.
It is but some wont agree and then the Spurs fans will get involved and it will be carnage. You're my fav poster.
This thread is actually comparing Spurs a few years ago to us and how Spurs are now a top 4 club. They over spending on British players who were unsuccessful and made some awful business decisions. The comparison is more to us last season now this season. Spurs were actually worse off than us, but they are now a top 4 club. They represent how a club can grow when run properly, but that it wont be an instant leap to the top of the league.
The overpriced, British players thing seems to be Comolli. He put us both back a few years with some shocking, big money signings, although he did sign us both some good players on the cheap too. Unsurprisingly, I agree with this thread, we have gone about things well Villa are a bit of a warning now to clubs, they over reached trying to get 4th and when it didn't happen their whole plan fell apart.
I agree about Camolli. I think he judges it all on stats and this money ball thing. Downing got the most PL assists at Villa. David Bentley had a similar record at Blackburn. Darren Bent scored at an incredible rate for Charlton. I was shocked by how you went under both Jol and Ramos after both managers started so well. You seemed to have a decent team (though nothing on your current team) with Keane and Defoe up front. We ruined Keane for you though...
Spurs last 3 years have probably had their best team for 50 years but haven't won a thing. I'd probably be dissapointed with that if I was a spurs fan. To spurs I think qualifying for the champions league (which they've only managed once) is the be all and end all and I think 3rd or 4th is the highest they'll be able to finish in foreseeable future unless they up their wage structure and sign a couple of top quality players as they can't compete finacially with the likes of us, man utd, Chelsea, man city or even arsenal if they decide to spend. Keeping hold of bale for a long time is a must I think he's their only real top drawer player.
You posted on our board about this thread Jol did really well with us even up until he was sacked. The trouble was he was rarely given a say in transfers meaning that we had players that just didn't fit in and the squad was imbalanced. Comolli seemed to think that everytime Jol asked for a winger what he really wanted was an unproven centre mid. Ramos was a whirlwind and after he won us the League Cup the side went plummeting downhill, I think we only won two games league games after the League Cup final. I still think Ramos is a good manager but when you can't even speak the language and upset half the squad by imposing very strict fitness and diet regimes it's not easy.
