Cortese said it to begin with, back in the summer of 2009. You all believed him before actions were made.
For certain? You can't, but on the balance of evidence (Pochettino leaving when we knew that proof of ambition/willingness to invest/keeping star players was a major factor in him staying, players seemingly wanting to leave, complaining to the media that the board needs to show ambition, etc etc) it's far easier to conclude ambition is waning than thriving.
Objectively, he was given a better offer. No amount of ambition would convince him to stay if he thought he could get to the champions league faster with Spurs (and looking at their resources, it's not exactly a crazy conclusion to reach).
I think most people thought he was too ambitious until he began backing it up. He earned our trust that he was incredibly driven and keeping everything together.
while i'm not encourasged by poch leaving... isn't it plausible that tottenham have the same or greater ambition and could be seen as closer to realising it?
Sure, but it possibly shouldn't have come down to a Southampton vs Spurs situation - if he trusted our ambition/direction after Cortese left, he'd have signed a new contract before Sherwood ever left, back when the board tried to get him to.
And the players aren't being kept in the loop, due to the instability right now. It's possible that things might start to change, as stability is (hopefully) coming. As I said, its a patience game right now imo.
one account has it that he had determined to leave as soon as cortese was gone anyway, with PSG an option. we might still be ambitious without having the same reality distortion field that cortese had. if PSG was really an option, no surprise his head left.
He laid out a five-year plan, stating ambitions to invest heavily in a return to the Premier League, and to keep investing from there to get into Europe. It was the kind of promise you either deliver on or are castigated for, because there is no hiding behind vague, interpretable cliches. People take digs at Cortese for not communicating with the fans, but he didn't feed us any crap. He said what he wanted to turn the club into, and set himself a very high bar.
Then that's some really terrible leadership. Keeping the players on the same page as the club's direction is something they should probably prioritise. Even so, that's hardly a great sign of our direction, and if we're going to believe that then it still doesn't explain why so many players are calling the board out publicly, and a few of them having their heads turned towards the exit.
my explanationf or that is that poch also has a reality distortion field. he's brainwashed all the players he favoured. the article about him not being a tactical manager rings true. he's a boot camp manager with a great line in sports psychology. p.s. how many senior pros have been lamenting his departure?
It's hard when half of them are all across the world for varying reasons, such as world cup focuses or other international duties, which you would assume is their main focus right now.
Well the England players are back in this country so the board should have spoken to Lallana at the very least.
They might well have done. Lallana hasn't come out recently and said anything. I get the feeling though, the focus is on England right now, and club matters can wait. I get that vibe from the guys.
I'm sure the club is more than capable of contacting its players wherever they are on the planet. They could communicate with them easily enough if they were on the moon. And I'm sure they do.
