The only problem with this long term 10-20 yr plan is that our rivals are not going to stand still either. To cement ourselves in a top 4 position would mean permanently replacing one of Chelsea, City, Utd, or Arsenal, and hold off what is liable to be a very strong challenge from Liverpool. Given the financial clout of the first three, I can't see that happening. The Goons are our only realistic target as things stand, and that's not going to be easy either.
"Levy is the only reason we have a squad as good as we have. His strategy has generated cash by signing players like Carrick, Berbatov, Modric and Bale who were all sold on at a huge profit which was reinvested in the squad. We've got the sixth most expensive squad in the league and it will likely finish sixth and seventh at worst. It still has a good chance of fifth and an outside chance of 2nd to 4th." Levy is at the very least the reason that Spurs now finish in the PL exactly where their financial power suggests they should. The under-achievement has gone. The football in the main has been good to watch. And every so often we pounce on the complacency of those with greater financial power (the Poool, Chelsky etc) . Whether ENIC have missed their window of opportunity since 2010 (CL, new stadium opening date etc) , time will tell.
Power i don't share your view regarding the long term strategy as much of that is flawed so there is no confusion, more I'm not going to praise Levy for a long term plan that I believe will always be flawed when it comes to champions league football. Levys plan would be more effective in Germany or Netherlands, as in such leagues teams can build long term without having to compete with a high number of financially strong clubs. With this current strategy, we are clearly cemented as a top six club with the occasional movement depending on form but as you can see a club like saint's can match us for a season, Everton may match us another season or West Brom may catch us another year while we fall further behind the bigger clubs. I've said this many times but I do believe we missed our chance to invest when we qualified for the champions league and the only way we will ever return to the top four is if we abandon this current strategy. That is a view that will only be proven right (or wrong) in time but each year that passes I see nothing to change my opinion and the door for champions league football has been shut. If in the mean time we bring through youth players and occasionally play good football or hammer Chelsea or the goons at home, that's great for memories and enjoying moments of the season but long term we're falling further behind the big clubs in terms of realistically being in with a chance of top four.
And this is what fans like Power don't take into consideration. Teams can match us quite easily with a bit of luck and ambition while the current top five are all ambitious and have a mix of long term planning with short term planning. Its going to be interesting to see what Levy (and his Dof, and head coach and scouts and directors) decide what should happen to Lamela, Paulinho and Soldado, the three big money flops while Peter Crouch, a player we sold many years ago (because it made financial sense) is still going strong.
There is also a big difference between a one off challenge, and a consistent one. As you have said, Saints are challenging this year. Can they maintain that year after year? I very much doubt it. We challenged briefly a couple of years back, Everton have been there, or thereabouts, but fallen away. Unfortunately, a consistent challenge nowadays requires money - lots of it. Unless we get taken over by some super rich conglomerate, we are not going to be able to maintain a consistent challenge to the three clubs I mentioned in the earlier post.
We can't abandon the current strategy, Boss. The FFP rules don't allow us to spend any more than we currently are. You're right about the other clubs not standing still, though. Chelsea have definitely gone all out in the youth department, for a start. It's hard to see how anyone's supposed to dislodge the current sides above us without fudging the rules or an utter collapse by one or more of them. The Champions League gives enormous rewards to those in it, while the Europa League seems designed to be both a hindrance for those that start in it and a crutch for those that drop into it.
That's why luck will have to play a part. We need to have a young squad of players who will get rapidly better together with an above average manager who will get the best out of them along with a recruitment structure that makes sure it is all sustainable. We've never had that before all at once.
That is all, of course, possible. However, if history repeats ( it usually does) those young players will move on. For me, a large injection of capital - probably via a takeover, would be our only chance of competing on a regular basis.
As I have said, I can see us, or another club possibly challenging in a given year when things come together and one off the big boys falls away, as Utd did last year. Things came together for us three years ago, but we have been unable to sustain. And there lies the problem for us, and other would be challengers. Utd faded and immediately went out and spent 150+mil. We're not in that league.
When I say abandon, I don't mean simply just throw money, endless amounts of cash, as of course there are correct ways to run a club and FFP rules dictate the figures, its more about the type of player we sign or target and we're happy to spend 100 million on foreign talent yet did anyone at the club stop and think we need proven experience? I doubt it! This summer will tell us if the club have learned from them signings and if we're happy to take a loss on the flops and use the revenue to sign a proven premier league player or someone who offers quality needed (yet has no resell value) For example we could end up selling Lamela, Paulinho and Soldado for a combined fee of 20 million (half jesting) but use that 20 million to sign a proven premier league player that would offer more to the team then any of the mentioned three have offered, or are we going to give them another year and hope they turn out decent? Still, we do have to accept its now virtually impossible to get back into the top four (under our current setup) and we need a collapse of one of the current clubs.
We can a,ways spend, but have to sell first. A large injection of capital can come in many forms, whilst following or neatly circumventing FFP rules - as City have demonstrated.
I personally think that a great leveller for everyone would be to a) change the FFP rules because right now they smack of clubs that have spent big in recent years pulling the ladder up behind them and b) changing the home-grown rule so that only English-qualified players (i.e.. not those that could have qualified but have since been capped for other countries) count and that they only count for the club they were permanently contracted to when they made their PL debut (Fabregas for example would count as home grown for Arsenal but not for Chelsea). But thats perhaps a discussion for another thread.
There's too much money in the champions league to allow those who DON'T qualify for it regularly to create a consistently strong squad. As soon as a player becomes top quality in a team not regularly in the champions league they jump ship to one that is so they can earn the money that is associated with teams that are in it (Bale, Berbatov, Carrick, Modric). Positive feedback at it's very worst. Being good makes you rich, getting richer makes you better, getting better makes you richer. What would be refreshing is if the CL prize money given to the four CL clubs for however far they get in the compo was forcibly distributed evenly to all clubs in the league that they play in. Though I suppose that would then make it even harder from promoted sides to survive in the prem. But at least it would give less financial motivation for players to jump ship from 5th/6th place teams and create a bit more competition a the top between more teams.
When you say a proven premier league player do you mean someone like Fernando Torres or Andy Carroll or Stuart Downing or Adam Johnson? Signing anyone for £20m is hit and miss.
Or you could mention Bassong, Parker, Kaboul, Crouch and Defoe. I've never said there is any guarantee by signing premier league players, its about getting the balance correct rather then focusing solely on one type of signing as we have done in recent years. The team has youth, it needs experience and it needs proven premier league talent. We are lacking when it comes to the correct balance so if we continue to fill the club with foreign players it will just result in more flop signings and the balance of the squad lacking.
Quite likely but knowing which ones they are is harder than you think. And it hardly ever makes sense for us to sell any player for less than we think they are worth because that is just subsidising the buyer. The problem is that the players' future performance is what matters not the current or previous performance and almost all managers and fans take too much notice of small amounts of data. We gave Lamela, Soldado and Paulinho long term contracts and our job is to get the best out of them unless something we 'knew' when we bought them has been found to be untrue. But in our position buying young players for around £10m is probably the best approach. They might turn into £30m players of £3m players and we can afford the latter. Buying an established player for £30m is much more likely to get you a £10m player than a £40m one.
If a club pays an overinflated fee for a player, that turns out to be a mistake, the most sensible approach is to accept a mistake has been made, move that player on and invest them funds in improving the squad. Keeping dud signings at the club (long term), players that are a lost cause, brings nothing positive, in any sense. Plus what we believe the player is worth, may not be the actual market value of the player so again we have to accept we over paid. Giving them two full seasons I can understand as the club have given all three every opportunity to show if they can perform and have a future but Pochettino has to be backed (if you believe he is the right man).
When I worked as a trader in the City, we all followed the golden rule that the first cut was the easiest to take. That holding on, hoping your position would come good, generally just resulted in things getting worse and you losing more money. If you'd got it wrong, take the hit and try to get it back on another trade. It strikes me that the same law could be applied to players. If youv'e made a mistake, and its clear that it is a mistake, then sell. Hanging on will generally only cost you more money overall. . In my view, our "mistakes" should be sold and the money used to try and get it right and improve the balance and quality of the squad.
