SC, I should Neg Rep you for that mate but it won't be long before you jump on the Pullis (Pulis) bandwagon.
"Have you all taken leave of your senses ????" Back in the post-Timmy era with a vengeance !!! I mean, Pulis AFAIK doesn't even have a Goon-related tattoo to hate.
Back in the post -Timmy era with a vengeance !!! Not at all. Very sad to see it didn't work out for Tim because it meant we end the season with huge disappointment. From the beginning he was never everyone's cup of tea and well he knew iit, but I do like the way he stood up to the players who were basically legends in their own minds and yet were posing most of the time. There are many at the training ground who were pleased to see the back of him, yet retain a begrudging sense of respect for the way he told the modern day footballer to pull their bloody finger out for the club.
I'm sure all this Pulis talk is pure wind-up. We all know that we need someone a bit better than mid-table mediocrity expectation-levels. Moyes would be better than Pulis, since he, at least, has been firmly planted in the top half of the table for most of his managerial career. I think we've got to move heaven and earth to get Ancelotti or Benitez. But that won't happen, because (a) as Sherwood correctly pointed out, we finished where we deserve to finish, and anything else is punching above our weight, and no decent manager is going to settle for that, and (b) Levy simply won't pay what it will take to get the best managers into the club. Still can't see us ending up with Pulis, though. Despite his commendable efforts with Palace, his rep simply is not high enough for the kinds of delusions that Levy has of our club.
I'm not adverse to us getting Poch, although we have to be pessimistic about his chances. Yes, he's done well with Saints, but the expectations at our club are far higher, and none of us know if he has the character or the ability to match those expectations. I've got to say, that I'd prefer Martinez over any of the managers that are realistically within our grasp.
"Very sad to see it didn't work out for Tim because it meant we end the season with huge disappointment." What is the Timmy legacy for the Academy ?? Should he be getting a fair bit of credit for the way a lot of the kids have developed etc. And on the Pulis front, have you not been surprised how Palace got out of the relegation hole while playing nothing like the rugby football that Pulis was despised for when at Stoke ??
Of course Sherwood deserves credit for the continued progress of the Academy. He was placed there in a position of influence and he was placed there in a position of power. Sometimes the two can be a dangerous mix, and it is a credit to Tim that he never allowed that risk to happen. As I said earlier, he does retain a bit of respect from some at the club albeit through gritted teeth.
Did Sherwood ever take any of the blame himself though? This was something that the previous manager was accused of that I think Sherwood got away with in the media. It's all well and good taking a bit of satisfaction seeing highly paid players taken down a peg or two but to do it publicly without really addressing his own faults was always going to go down badly. He can point to the individual errors and say "no guts", or whatever, but in the majority of our games the players spent the first 20/30 minutes of the game trying to get to grips with the opposition and it's the manager's job to make sure they're prepared. If the players needed a boot up the arse so did he and luckily for us when Levy booted him he went all the way out of the door. I think there was also an issue with trying to command the total respect of the players when he hadn't earned it. Fergie could go mental at players, kick boots around and drop the best player in the team because no one could question he knew what he was doing. With Sherwood he was falling out with players who'd been doing their jobs longer than he had and some of whom had never been accused of not trying or bad attitude by their previous managers so in a way they had history on their side, whilst Sherwood had none. Sorry, this has ended up in a bit of a rant aimed at nothing anyone in particular has said
I think it's called desperation. Yes, Pulis has done a specific job at Palace. But they were probably underperforming with the players they had, anyway. If we were fighting for our lives, trying not to get relegated, then yes, I'd be saying let's get Pulis. But, come on!! We're not that desperate...yet anyway.
"as Sherwood correctly pointed out, we finished where we deserve to finish, and anything else is punching above our weight" IMHO this is bollox and I don't want managers at Spurs who spout this "punching above our weight" bollox. The teams have been under-achieving in the league for years, and only over the past decade has that been rectified in consolidating around 4th place. Now is the time for a manager who believes there is quite a bit more to be squeezed from this squad, and that he has the nous to do so,
There can be no doubt Tim inherited a mess. The full scale of the damage done by AVB has yet to surface. Some of the players had lost respect for the club, it didn't matter who was in charge. Sherwood was not falling out with players who had more qualifications than him, he was standing up for the correct standards of our club.
Are you saying that there is a lot of Club Related Apathy from Players (CRAP for short) or are the players views directed at Levy? Additionally, you don't seem to subscribe to the Pulis Is Spurs Saviour brigade (PISS) so who do you think is capable of turning Spurs around?
I'm hearing that it's almost certainly Pochettino from people that should have some idea. Pinch of salt though, of course.
Sad to say that this is the kind of deluded thinking that Sherwood was banging on about. Are you saying we are better than City? Chelsea? Arsenal? Liverpool (if they manage to keep Goofy), or even United? That's five clubs ahead of us, imo, which puts us in 6th (assuming, of course, that you think we are better than Everton, Villa, and the Toon). I think we should have finished above Everton this season, in 5th; but that has to be countered by the dreadful season that United had. Under van der Gaal , I expect United to be challenging for the title, again; and that edges us back down to 6th (assuming that we can out-perform Everton). People on this board will know that I never wanted Sherwood as manager and that I predicted, very early on, that it would all turn sour, but I have to say that I believe he does have a point that the expectations of fans (and those of Levy) for our club are completely unrealistic. Having said that, I do believe that we are one of that handful of teams (including the Toon, Everton and Villa) that has the chance, under a very good manager, to punch above our weight and be the "surprise" package in any particular season. I don't think we'll be that "surprise" package under the likes of Pulis, Martinez, or Poch; under those managers, we'll achieve exactly what we deserve - no more and no less - which is what Sherwood was on about, I believe.
Morning Mr.Fickle I see now that Sherwood has gone you agree with him. I'm sure he 'll be pleased to know that the famous Mr.HIAG is on his side. POCH? is that to be what we will call him? Hoch Poch? nearly as good as Hod God! Will you give POCH a chance or will you run a hate campaign from the off?
