Weirdly you goons tend to show more respect for what Redknapp done, while many of our own fans, the more idiotic and simple bunch, tend have little respect for Redknapp and his management. But I know most gooners where laughing when we sacked Redknapp as while you lot have every right to poke fun at the fact we never finished above you (even though we had the better team and we screwed up), you where aware that under Redknapp we showed actual quality and could pose a challenge with potential to build. When your rivals are laughing at the fact you have sacked a manager, that says alot!..especially when they are also laughing at the managers appointed after!
They only said that after he left. Gave him nothing but abuse while he was with us. I think it's a case of whatever decision we take, it's the wrong one.
Of course they abused him, we're Totteham, they are Arsenal, we abuse Wenger but know how talented he is and while Redknapp wasn't at that level, when the goons aren't on the wind up or poking fun, they are aware of the great job Redknapp done, managing under Levy and making us competitive as a top four club.
imo your biggest problem is Levy. get him out and you would have stability. as soon as Levy doesn't get his own way he sacks the manager, yet he can't ever say that he made a mistake. for example why did he appoint Sherwood and give him 18 month contract with a get out clause, and then sack him after 6 months. he would have looked smarter if he had said here is the job till end of season, and depending how it goes we will extend the contract. no Levy has to do it his way, yet more of your money goes to an ex-manager, and you start the merry go round of looking for new manager again. he will do the same at end of next season as well.
We'll always give you abuse, that's just the way it is between Arsenal and Spurs. Arry was classic material for banter, what with his tax dodging, twitching, Wheeler dealing outbursts. But we recognised that Arry was a decent manager for a club like Spurs, getting you two top 5 finishes and one season in the Champions League. He also got you playing decent attractive football and the NLDs were the closet they'd been for years under him. So naturally when he was sacked, we laughed. As has been pointed out, Levy is the problem at Spurs. Most Gooners have been saying this for years but the majority of Spurs fans just won't have it. He seems to enjoy some kind of demi-god status with you lot, **** knows why ? Okay he might be good at extracting the best possible price from a club when selling a player, but boy does he know how to go and piss it up the wall. Also his approach to man management is atrocious, not only has he sacked the best managers you've had in the last decade in Jol and Harry, but the way in which he does it tells me he's a little **** of a man.
Nice to get a serious post from you about us and a lot of what you say is true. No doubt financially he has been good for us but it seems he cannot choose a manager, but will sack a good one for no good reason AFAIK. Redknapp and Jol were big favourites with us and I've not heard a good reason for their sackings - though presumably there was more to it than we know. What lead to the insult at the end of your post - do you know him personally?
Fair enough -probably didn't read the sentence as clearly as I should have. Anyway, my main point was to agree with what you said. Just struck me that the last part was a little harsh that's all. There is a lot that goes on at our clubs that we don't know about. The Redknapp sacking was, to me, very strange. Harry's apparent continued friendliness with Levy tells me however that he isn't too aggrieved about what happened - he has shown no bitterness and claims to still speak to Levy now and again. Levy is definitely ruthless, but a little **** - who knows?
No way that Levy is seen as a 'demi-god' but I think the feelings about him amongst Spurs fans are very similar to those of Arsenal fans on Wenger. The pro-Levy lobby (me included) say that the guy has taken us from being mid-table to being competitive at the top, stabilised the club, been very successful in the transfer market, and developed exciting plans for the future despite us having five competitors with greater resources. We are prepared to give him some slack on the managerial appointments because he is trying to find a transformational manager who can really improve us and while he hasn't succeeded with that his record is no worse than most other PL chairmen. So getting rid of him risks all the good things while possibly not improving the bad thing. The anti-Levy lobby concede that he has done well in the past but see the managerial appointments as major cock-ups which demonstrate that we need someone else to take us forward now.
I find that you have a VERY different definition of this than Arsenal fans. We have a LOT of supporters that think that we are not "Competitive at the top". I think you have gone from mid-table to upper mid-table. I absolutely think that this is exactly where Arsenal would be if we hadn't pushed for economic success. Obviously it has worked out spectacularly well for us in that we have managed to stay in the top 4 over the same period, but now look to have money to burn and really compete with the very top clubs. I hate to say it, but I really think our US owners have helped us. Running the team as a business to try and increase its value, whatever the motives behind it, has been the perfect way to increase our chances, increase our fan-base, increase our chance of winning, and increase our stability. I still think that there is no reason why, with a little restraint and self-discipline, why Spurs could not have done exactly the same thing. Our owner wanted to build an empire, a legacy, not just win a few trophies and then toss it aside when something else shiny came along. A good owner and a rich owner are not the same thing.
If we had been in the top four when the champions league started and you had been mid-table I think we'd still have been that way round today. The financial advantages of the incumbents is massive. Other clubs have only broken into the top 4 through massive capital injections. Spurs are the only club to do it through continuous improvement.
Wow, that's an extremely charitable view of him. Let's look at those points in bold in a bit more detail: - You are not at the top, you finished 6th, that's worse than last season and closer to midtable than the top. - Stability ? 9 Managers in thirteen years is not a sign of stability. - 110m largely wasted in one transfer window alone is successful ? - What plans ? if you mean the stadium, you have to pay for that which will mean no more 110m splurges and battling to keep your best players to balance the books. - His record for sacking managers is up there with the most fickle. 9 in thirteen years, the spurs job has become a poisoned chalise. We're quite happy for the pro-levy lobby to continue to advocate that he's doing a good job at Spurs, and that alone should tell you something
Actually, thinking about finances I hadn't realised how tough it will be for clubs like Tottenham (Liverpool too) to secure funding to develop their ground, remain competitive on the field, AND comply with FFP...
I don't think 4th place twice is "breaking into the top 4. I would say you are competing for 6th with Everton in terms of ranking. Arsenal, City, Chelsea, Liverpool and United are "Top 4" far more than Spurs. I think Liverpool will drop down a bit next year, but they will still be favoured to beat you, and so will United. If 5 teams are favourites to beat you, you cant be "Top 4".
We sacked the only manager to get us top four (twice) since the premier league started, so when a club like us sack a manager for finishing 4th, the people in charge better be prepared to invest wisely to ensure they want to progress onto greater things. Instead we bring in crap like Dempsey, Dembele, Chadli and waste the Bale money on players who aren't suited to our team (or league) and now looking for another manager. I said when we sacked Redknapp there is a good chance that will be the last time we finish in the top four while Levy is in charge and unfortunately that may be the case.
