Only a couple of seasons ago Spurs were spending freely bringing in players from all directions.2008 saw the arrival of Modric, Bentley, Corluka, Pavluchenko, Dos Santos & Gomes, spending some 60 million during that June to August. Now? with August looming we have so far spent a couple of million on a young striker. We are hearing the same messages from Harry & Levy that we did in January we need to sell to spend, it's going to be a busy August it seems. So what's the strategy? Are we lining up a number of deals ready for a sudden merry go round of transfers in and out? Are we squirriling away profits for the stadium plans? Or are we once again going to the wire to pick up the last second wonder deal? On the face of it we are in a much stronger position than 2008 and yet we seem much more reluctant to dip our toes into the water. Of course it gets harder to improve an already strong squad and strikers are the most expensive players in football, but on the other hand the benefits of reaching the top four are clear to all. Come on Spurs take the next step let's show some serious ambition stop acting like the reluctant bride ...........................go for it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
At present it hard to see how getting into the Champions League helped us in any way to crash the Sky 4 party on a regular basis. Where is all the dough for competing? Surely we should be spending it on better players?
or, God forbid, doing diddly squat as per January. However I will endeavour to remain optimistic until the last possible minute.
Good question. More salient, may have been, "Is there a strategy"? The last we heard was that Levy was sticking to his sell to buy policy. However, as he seems intent on holding out for, what looks to be, unrealistic prices, we don't seem to very far down that road. If Levy really is sticking by his policy, then the answer to the basic "what's happening" question, would seem to be, not a lot.
The summer of 2008 also saw us sell Berbatov, Keane, Chimbonda, Malbranque, Tainio, Robinson, Kaboul, Gardner, Ghaly and Lee Young-Pyo for about £80m. Modric signed in 2007, too. We need to shift Palacios, Jenas, Dos Santos, Keane and the like off the wage bill. Hopefully they'll start to move, now that the Copa America and the South African tour are over.
i have a horrible feeling come first day of the season, we'll still have the dead wood,and no stellar signing
The summer of 2008 also saw us sell Berbatov, Keane, Chimbonda, Malbranque, Tainio, Robinson, Kaboul, Gardner, Ghaly and Lee Young-Pyo for about £80m. Modric signed in 2007, too. PNP my point was not to list all of the transfer activity during 2008 but to contrast the players coming in as compared to now. BTW the official site states that Modric joined us in July 2008.
Unfortunately most of the 'deadwood' are on contracts so can't be moved on without their agreement - this loyalty/contract thing works both ways......
I think our expensive flops and large, well paid squad is finally catching up with us. We all know that we're not in any immediate financial trouble but Levy appears to be sticking to his guns to prevent us from problems in the future. Alright we got a fair bit of extra dosh from the Champions League but I doubt Levy wants to see another season pass were we spend £10mill on the wages for players like Bentley, Keane, GDS, Jenas and other players that don't even make the bench. We also added Gallas, VDV and Pienaar to our wage bill last season so a little caution could be the right idea. One thing I don't understand, if true, is Levy holding out for the maximum we can get for some players. I feel we'd have been better served taking a bit of a loss on some of our excess players, regardless of how we value them. Time is beginning to tick in the transfer window and time again will tell whether Levy is right with his approach. From the sounds of things we've already sounded out deals for Vucinic and Adebayor, with perhaps Parker and another that we haven't heard about yet also in our sights so I'm optimistic that our transfer activity will eventually kick into gear.
I really don't understand Levy's strategy, as far as the reportedly surplus to requirements players goes. Obviously, you can't impose a move on player; he has a contract, and is entitled to "sit out" that contract - if he so wishes. However, I find it difficult to believe that all of these players are so unambitious, that they are prepared to do just that. All of which leads me to conclude that the reason none of these players are moving, is the club's demands. Naturally, we want to get a reasonable price, but surely the longer we keep holding out for top dollar, these players contracts are getting shorter - they're not getting any younger - neither of which is exactly going to add to their resale value.
But Levy knows all this surely. He is also in possession of a lot of info that we are not, such as contract value, bids received etc. Any transfer transaction is a negotiation and I think Levy is good at that. Selling one player on the cheap could undermine value for all of them. I trust Levy to get the financials right a lot more than I trust Harry to identify the right players to buy....
I could agree, at least in part, if this hadn't been going on for some time now. I hope you're right, but Levy's strategy is a dangerous on e IMO.
You're right about Modric signing in 2008, but you're not taking into account the fact that we had to replace our best players that summer. Add that to the usual ins and outs and we were bound to make a lot of changes and spend a lot of money, if you're talking gross spending, anyway.
So this summer we need to replace our strikers and move on a number of periferal players. I happy with the paralels I see PNP. I'm not too happy with the lack of ambition shown in Redknapps quotes and the lack of activity from Spurs so far. The season starts in 17 days time.
I'd agree with that. Levy seems to be playing some sort of Poker game with the transfer market. I hope he's got a good hand, and that it's not all just bluff.
When I say that we had to replace our best players, I mean that they were poached and we had to bring in replacements unexpectedly. While I feel that it's important to get rid of some dead wood and switch our strike force for some players that suit our system, if we don't do it then we'll still have players to put in those positions, even if it's not ideal. I'm not happy with a lot of what Redknapp says and I wish that he'd just be quiet, to be honest, but we've still got time to sort these transfers out. Some of our sales have been tricky to complete so far, with Dos Santos' move being the most obvious example. Apparently if we sell him before August 1st then we have to pay 10% of any fee to Barca, plus he's been playing for Mexico. Once a couple of these unneeded squad players move on, then I'm sure we'll see some new faces at WHL.
PNP: "While I feel that it's important to get rid of some dead wood and switch our strike force for some players that suit our system, if we don't do it then we'll still have players to put in those positions, even if it's not ideal." Sometimes you are far too reasonable PNP. Spurs are one of the worlds richest clubs, after a long time in mid table we are finally close to making a mark once again in football history. If we do not make the needed adjustments by finding a striker from the whole world of football available to us then the management is failing the club on a grand scale. It took half a season for Redknapp to come to terms with the changes wrought by playing VDV. Leaving transfers until the season has started means another period of adjustment which should be made in pre-season. Levy appears to be acting the role of Director of Football this is not what Redknapp wanted when he joined the club. I'm beginning to think Harry's continual comments to the media are in frustration at being unable to fulfill his role as squad builder and football manager.
Levy seems to be like the guy who goes to the very last day of a big sale hoping he can pick up a fantastic bargain. O.k it worked with VDV, but the market will have sussed out his tactics, now. So, like I said, he's playing a high risk game!
I agree that we need to bring in players and it would be better to do it as soon as possible, but it's still better to sign the right players late than the wrong players early on. We have to make sure that we're not overloading the wage bill, too. We may be rich, but we're competing with clubs that are either richer or have billionaire benefactors. That means that Levy has to try and outsmart those that can outspend us. Redknapp may be annoyed with Levy playing the DOF role, but with the court case hanging over him he can hardly complain, can he? He's not shown any real commitment to being the Spurs manager beyond this season, either.
