That tells me it was a very last minute deal, Madrid made it aware the player was available, Levy called Redknapp and told him he was available and Redknapp agreed that the signing take place so it was a combination of both levy and Redknapp making that deal happen.
I think there is a lot of sleight of hand from the accountants. Even the super rich clubs don't have enough ready cash to splash the sums quoted.
Pochettino is a very mixed bag, to me, but I like him on balance despite him being the kind of coach I don't like. Part of it is that I'd rather back anyone associated with Spurs than knock him if he seems as if he might deserve the benefit of the doubt. Part of it is that I simply get a good feeling from him. He seems like a good guy who's determined to win and knows what he's doing. Any of those impressions might be wrong, of course, and he has a way of oscillating terrifically on the "knows what he's doing" front. Also, he needs to keep shaving and wearing a suit. Spurs are named after a medieval nobleman who looked notably sharp. Dressing down and sloppiness are inappropriate. Aside from Pochettino's tactical shortcomings or lack of them, we don't have a single attacking player with real pace, as you say. If we could add a Yarmolenko or better, who could open up the right side, we might just have a real shot at fourth after all. Instead, of course, it's no Yarmolenko, and the one player we have who is able to use pace to worry teams is out indefinitely.
I thought the Harry quote on VdV was to the effect that Levy basically called him up at the last minute on deadline day and said "I've got VdV, do you want him?" which definitely suggests that in that case, Levy bought him with little or not consultation from the manager. Levy bought Dier last Summer too I think. Funnily enough neither VdV or Dier have turned out too bad...
This is how I remember it too. I'm sure someone can find a clip of Harry somewhere. Football is 90% about the players. You buy/have the best ones you're more likely to win. Transfer budgets, wage bills, trophy cabinets and the league table show this pretty well.
I don't believe Levy would sign a player without a manager's approval. No manager in their right mind would've said no to van der Vaart joining their club so Levy getting that over the line after having informed Harry of his availability was brilliant work. If Dier was a Levy signing then I highly doubt Poch would've said no to him for Levy to still sign. The kid started the first few games of the season despite Dawson being fit, so if Poch was truly against his signing I doubt he would've started so early on. There may be times where Levy says no to a manager's target in terms of fee (Moutinho/ Hulk/ Schneiderlin if you believe press stories) but I wouldn't believe for one minute he would sign a player behind the manager's back. He may offer cheaper alternatives at times which frustrates manager's in to reluctantly agreeing too (Stambouli/ Dempsey etc) but that's the only grunt that I think a manager would with Levy. Moving on to manager talk, Pochettino seems to be a bit of a marmite character amongst some, 50% see him as the wrong guy, 50% the right, I am one of those who believes he's the right guy for us. Comparing him to other managers is quite difficult, especially with Redknapp. I was a massive fan of Harry, if I had it my way he'd still be our gaffer but since Harry left, there's been a huge change in football in my opinion. With Harry, the whole speedy wingers was still a thing, Bale and Lennon done so much damage on the left and right respectively that it made our system work perfectly, especially with players like Modric, van der Vaart and an on form Adebayor doing the business. Over the past couple years, the inverted winger is now the "in thing", it had been making it's way into top sides over recent seasons (starting with Messi/ Ronaldo I'd say) but if you look at 90% of the teams in Europe, they now play with this type of player, it's similar to how it was a decade or so ago when the defensive midfielder became the in thing to have, the inverted wingers are now the current trait for teams. How many natural wingers are still at their peak in today's game and considered one of the best in Europe? The likes of Messi, Ronaldo, Bale, Neymar, Ribery, Robben, Di Maria, Hazard, Sanchez amongst many others are all players who tend to play in an inverted manner rather than running the lines and whipping in crosses. I think this began to happen when the modern day full back was able to keep pace with the winger and thus prevent a lot of crosses coming in, so now the inverted winger cuts inside which causes a full back a problem as they then try to defend with the weaker foot. I think the problem Poch has with our inverted system is that we have a severe lack of creativity from CM, our first choice wide players aren't the quickest and so rely on skill and technique, plus the backing of someone who can lay the right passes, with Eriksen aside we don't have a midfielder with that sort of vision. I know you can't sign a Luka Modric every week but we flourished from having players like him play deeper, similar with Hudd as well. Nabil and Ryan, for as good as they've been don't have that eye for a pass and that's where we struggle I feel and seeing as neither chip in with goals it creates a problem. If we could get someone creative in the centre then I think our team would be a lot more sweeter on the eye, Real are supposedly willing to allow Illaramendi to leave, that's the sort of player we could massively benefit from. Add in the bit of pace we seem to be chasing, whether it be Berahino (my preferred choice) or this N'jie fella from Lyon then I think you'll see a much better team under Poch. He's a very talented young manager in my opinion, to finish 5th in the most competitive league in the world with the youngest squad proves his ability in my opinion, with the right backing and the right players, we can only expect good things.
Players get offered to clubs all the time, little bit of common sense here Huddlefro as Madrid would hardly call up Redknapp direct and say we have VDV! Madrid wanted to shift VDV and I'm sure it was known we liked a late deal and they had some sort of relationship with Levy (in terms of contact) at the time, so contacting the club to say VDV is available would always be a call to the business men, not to the manager, but if Redknapp never wanted VDV, the deal wouldn't have happened. Anyway as VDV said himself, he played the best football of his career under Redknapp and to quote VDV
No Spurf, that is the manager, just like if Pochettino gets us top four, he will be responsible, just a pity there is no chance of that happening.
Of course he wouldn't but some fans just want to believe that, Just like they pretend they know the ins out and outs of the Soldado deal,
Your confidence about our failure is a shame. I think MP will perform better than you think, I certainly hope he does.
Maybe it is, but then I find it disappointing that Redknapp doesn't get much respect (from some fans) for the work he done and fans find every way possible to try and pass credit elsewhere, although to be fair to you, you at least acknowledge his qualities and his ability to buy players to solve an issue within the team, even if you hate his big mouth!
Boss I like the way Redknapp allows players to express themselves, he is old school and so am I. I would love to see all football played in that manner, but times change and football has changed. Rule changes, equipment changes, training changes, fitness regime changes, all conspire together and mean we need managers who understand theses changes and work with them. I hated AVB and his 'style' he treated footballers like some kind of robots. MP is of the same era but far more flexible IMO and I think he also has a better relationship with the players and can spot a 'player'. Redknapp's greatest strength IMO was his ability to 'pick a player' and I rate that the most important quality for any manager but then comes, as your say, his 'big mouth'. So no arguments with his teams and preferred method but in the end his ego gets in the way as it has with all his managerial appointments as far back as his initial success at his old club West Ham. Once a Hammer!.........
I'm not an idiot Boss, I know that a club trying to sell a player is going to contact the chairman or DoF, not the manager! And I'm not saying at all that VdV and Dier have been bad signings, VdV was absolute magic despite his problems and he clearly loved the club, and Dier is shaping up to be a good signing too as long as he gets played at CB. But I'm saying that, from seeing interviews and reading quotes from our managers over the years, I have gained the impression (an impression that may be right or wrong, granted) that Levy has occasionally signed players over the managers' heads - not that it has always ended badly - but coupled with the fact that we often seem to have missed out on key targets that seemed attainable (although clearly that isn't necessarily going to be Levy's fault, I'm not trying to pin it entirely on him by any means, and we never truly know the ins and outs of every proposed deal on the market) points to the transfer side of the club not being run to the best possible ends. Its all conjecture though isn't it, so maybe we should draw a line under it Just like the structure of the Soldado fee, which I have to say sounds nearly too good to be true. But all hypothetical until proven otherwise.
Good, as I never thought you was. I don't believe for a second that Levy has signed players over the managers head. Possibly you and others are confusing the previous role of a DOF,who would sign a player that wasn't the managers first choice (when Jol was here), but thats an issue between DOF/Manager, one that exists worldwide, when you often have a player purchased by the DOF, rather then the manager, and the manager has to work with the players provided, yet that wasn't the system when Redknapp was here. As for Levy, he employed Redknapp for a specific reason and gave him control so he could fix issues within the squad and take us to the champions league and the VDV deal was just one which fell into our hands, lucky for us but we should be discussing VDV playing the best football of his career under Redknapp and praising Redknapp for his management, instead fans prefer to talk about Levy apparently being the man who signed VDV! Anyway, maybe one day I'll bump into harry on the golf course and I'll ask him about this
For what its worth Boss, we had a big VdV love-in a few weeks back, I'm not sure if you were reading the forum while you were away (welcome back by the way, a little late I know!) but what I'm getting at is that I'm sure that most of us on here like talking about VdV as a player, not as a 'whodunnit?' transfer. Maybe I'm being a little harsh on Levy (and possibly a little disparaging towards the Levy/Redknapp relationship too I admit) when I suggest that Levy signed him behind Harry's back and might have repeated that with other managers - I guess there is a big difference that happening, and a player being offered to us out of the blue unexpectedly despite him not being an identified target. One is sneaky and one is opportunistic and the difference is important.
