Ramos worked well under a Dof at Sevilla. Virtually all European clubs employ a Dof so if we just want to hire someone based on them working with a Dof then there is a large section to choose from and if Levy wants to bring in Rafa then he should be prepared to spend, so its a non starter.
Probably not really surprising. No club likes being called 'small'. In reality it probably harbours back to the Glenn Hoddle days when he left us for his 'spiritual home'. But for me the worst thing Spurs ever did to use was to give us Tommy Forecast as a make weight for Bale. Whoever orchestrated that deal ought to get the freedom of White Hart Lane!! I hope I'm not proved wrong but I think the strategy at Saints is to let the media specualte about all our big names (including Pochettino) because we know they will all be here next season. Benitez would be a good call for Spurs IMO but whoever Levy appoints he has to give him time which does not appear to be in his nature
I have a lot of time for saints but your a small club in comparison to ourselves, yet that isn't a dig. We're a small club compared to Man Utd, its just reality. No point deluding yourself into believing the club is bigger then you hope. Reason I'm not keen on your manager is his style of play needs a certain type of player, matched with your squad was perfect for him, good blend of youth and experience, no big names and no real big expectations. With us he will face huge pressure from the outset and I would prefer us to bring in someone with experience and someone who can work with the current squad and add key players, rather then tear it up and do another big rebuild.
Yes, but Benitez has shown that he can succeed in various countries and in different set ups. Being able to work under or alongside Baldini would just be a plus. I think that the Pochettino and Benitez speculation is just agent talk, as they both attempt to get themselves better contracts, but I can't see you keeping all of your better players. The financial position of the club is fragile and I'd expect Shaw and Lallana to go, at least.
Saints have one half-decent season, and suddenly they are trying to push their weight around with one of the big boys! Unbelievable!
I guess it's a plus but only if Rafa could work with Baldini. This is why its such a risky setup in this country, or the way we approach it, as we seem to create drama by employing a Dof. Off hand I don't know the Dof at certain clubs but I know their players and manager, with us everyone knows our Dof for the wrong reasons and would really prefer us to move away from the setup.
Depends who you think are the big boys. You are with us fighting for the scraps after City, Pool, Utd, Chelsea and Arsenal have had thier fill. You have had a good season with most of the players that you bought in proving to be pretty **** (maybe next season they will be better) but you have managed to piss away the Bale money. If you do manange to get a manager that is willing to take on that job, I am pretty sure he will want another 100 mil which Levy is unlikely to give. Spurs have not been a major force for 40 years, but then Wolves used to be pretty handy as well. You are judged on your recent form not in your history books. You have a stadium that fits 4000 more than St Marys, have players on huge wages without the backing from Arabs or Russians, your club could implode if you keep on chasing that dream of being a BIG BOY. Utd will basically get a new team this season so I can see you fighting for 6th place with Everton and us if we invest abit and keep our key players. Lets not forget you are the number 3 club in youy city
Jesus, don't rise to HIAG, that's what he's after. We respect your club (Southampton right?) and we know we are not in the financial league of City and Chelsea, so relax. Just for clarification - you were getting a little hot under the collar - are you under the impression we have Russian or Arab backing, and that we have players on massive wages? If so, not sure why you think that.
We may need a functional upgrade so that newcomers to Spurs 606 are automatically taken to a page labelled "HIAG" . Together with a "yes, I have read the ..." tickbox before being taken to Spurs 606 proper.
I was saying that without (SORRY WILL EDIT THAT NOW) the backing of Russians or Arabsteams will find it almost impossible to compete with Chelsea and City. Spurs have a smallish stadium and no sugar daddy so trying to get into the top 4 could destroy your club.Pool did fantastically but did not have the squad when injuries kicked in. The top 4 is being contested by 5 teams and maybe Spurs, Everton or even Southampton could break in 1 year but not every year Southampton are in a good position as we have a large catchment area for youth players, whereas you have to fight against the likes of Chelsea who promise the earth. So in reality 90% of your squad has to be bought at premium price and premium wage. The plan here is for 50% from the acadamy which brings down the wage bill, has huge potential for sales and means we have no problems with the new rulings regarding wages and nationality
"So in reality 90% of your squad has to be bought at premium price and premium wage" Has never happened. And never will with Levy as chairman. You do have my sympathies for continually being asset-stripped and remaining in that lower vicious circle.
Ok makes sense now. I think everyone admires your club for the development of players - especially us . The one good thing about Sherwood's time is the promotion of academy players, so maybe we will move to a model closer to yours.
I think that'll definitely be the case when (or if, I should say!) our new stadium gets started, transfer budgets will no doubt be minimal and therefore a reliance on youth will be needed.
There's no chance of implosion because we break even(with small profits and losses each year) and there are no significant liabilities. £90mill a year might be a lot for wages(still about £40-50mill short of the top 4, except Liverpool) but it's proven to be a sustainable cost for us over the past 3 seasons, even without any CL football. Clubs that implode are ones that overstretch, like Villa who kept their best players by paying them more than they could afford, before Lerner decided enough was enough and canceled that strategy of making losses to try to compete with the top 4. Under our strategy we've had our ups and downs but the club's always been stable and in the past 10 seasons we've been 4th, or within 2 points of 4th, as many times as not. Stadium size doesn't have as big of an impact as you seem to think, our 4k more in capacity doesn't represent a small difference in the clubs anymore than Chelsea's 5k more than us does. Wasted the Bale money? Yawn, history tells us that we never truly waste money. For every Bentley and Bent there are Berbatovs, Modrics, Bales and Llorises. If we do sell a couple of last summer's signings I think we'll see in the transfer fees that the rest of the footballing World doesn't write the players off as quickly as our lazy media does.
The wage bills of those around us, according to the Guardian: City: £233m, Liverpool: £132m, Chelsea: £179m, Arsenal: £154m, Everton: £63m, Man Utd: £181m, us: £96m. Villa, QPR and Fulham all paid out more than Everton, too. Factor in net spending on transfers and a similar pattern emerges: City: £89.8m, Liverpool: £20.3m, Chelsea: £53m, Arsenal: £32.5m, Everton: £16.5m profit, Man Utd: £66.7m, us: £9.8m profit.
I'd actually put us at 4th, as I am prepared to give the Spanners credit for beating us three times this season. Our last match against them (with Sherwoodie in charge of players who clearly were not playing for him) was an utter disgrace.
Thanks, I didn't realise Liverpool's had risen again, I thought they'd got it down to about £110mill.
