There are a number of posters expressing their anxiety/boredom with the continual stream of newspaper reports on players leaving Spurs. In the last few weeks Modric has been the centre of attention, before that Bale. Trying to pick your way through all of this speculation is futile, it will not stop until the window closes. So let's try and consider what lies behind it all. The two main perpetrators of all this stuff are the media and the players agents. Both of these characters earn money through throwing fuel on the fire of the smallest ember and fanning it for all they are worth. You can analyze these reports all you like, it will get you nowhere. Harry only has to make a two sentence comment and this can used in an amazing variety of ways for weeks on end. I have seen quotes from weeks apart used in the same newspaper article as if it were a continuous set of remarks. When you consider that Harry likes to chat extensively to the media you can see that he has set the media up with enough fuel to rewrite premiership history. Add to this mix, players agents lobbing bogus information in all directions to raise the profile of their players and with that the fee they will earn from the transfers that take place and you have enough material to keep the hacks going well into the start of the new football season. The more fuel the manager of a club provides the media the more his club will be subject to speculation. It's hardly surprising, is it, that Spurs will receive more than their fair share of reports with Harry (Media Man) Redknapp happily spouting off to all and sundry. The fact that Levy has not told Harry to shut up leads me to believe that he may be quite happy to work behind a smokescreen of spurious information preparing the rabbits that will be pulled from his hat. Stay calm, don't be pushed and pulled about by media 'reports', treat it for what it is, pure speculation and wait for the real news when it happens.
great post spurf. just to touch on the modric scenario. - it's clear he wants to leave. Regardless of the agents, there's a certain amount a player can do/say to indicate either way that they want to leave/stay. to me, he's done nothing to prove he wants to stay. in fact, it's clearly in the other favour. - this is no good for the other players in the squad, as we all know. lets make these "2 or 3 marquee" signings asap to show the intent, regardless of modric. we always sign players last minute - it's just not good enough. This way, if we get the players in it won't cause upset in the squad, even if modric leaves slightly after. we will have shown the intent by signing the players we've needed for so long. no manager/chairman can do anything about a player who doesn't want to be there. (then we use the x million to purchase a replacement + others players if needs be.) even after all levy has said, in my opinion there's just no point in keeping a player in this situation. - i wouldn't hold anything against levy if he sold him. how would you guys feel if we made 2 or 3 massive signings, then sold modric? I couldn't care less any more. he's a great player, but what's the point in chasing a lost cause?
It's ok, but we're going to sell our whole team and replace them with a Most Hated XI. We're picking up Adebayor, Berbatov, Nani, Barton, Bellamy and a whole host of others that nobody at WHL likes!
The transfer windows exist for speculation I know, and the forums just as bad at it as the media so we can't really complain. The only thing that confuses me, and I'm sorry if this has been gone over on other threads but really can't be arsed to dredge through them to find out, is this whole sell to buy thing? If we are to understand it, as January window came to an end, we tried to snatch Adam (whether it would have been a good or bad thing this was is bye the bye) and offered serious money for 1, 2 or perhaps 3 strikers. We were willing to splash without selling then, so why not now? Why, all of a sudden, does everything depend on us getting rid first?
Ensil, I think I get what you're trying to say but those clubs we (allegedly) bid for the players from know our financial position already, so are they holding out for a bigger payday later in the window from us?
So clubs we offered money to in January, and those who were aware of our bids, now assume because we aren't offering now we no longer have the cash to flash. Therefore, saying that this is the case, we aren't a particularly well run financially club? because funds we had six months ago are no longer available? so is it that we don't want to get shafted, or that we speculated to accumulate in January, failed and are now out of the running for those targets we were after?
It's pretty certain that we still have the same funds available, but Levy doesn't want to end up with a squad of about a hundred, so he's going to get rid of players before we bring anyone in. It's still early days in this window too, so we might just be posturing.
Well I don't think that we're a badly run financially club thats for sure, but I am inclined to believe that we offered good money for good players in January when we were in the position to offer CL football, and the possibility of more in seasons to come. Then, we didn't have any takers, and we failed to meet our own ambitions come the end of the season, so we have re-assessed our financial position and our standing for those players. And we won't be pushing for them, instead stabilising again, going for a degree above in player terms instead of stellar purchases in return for our fringe players. And thats why we are loking to sell to buy, because without the offer of CL, or the opportunity of pushing for the title, we have a choice to risk and bust or to maintain. At present it appears to be the latter. Even with the protestations to The Supporters Trust by Levy & Co. that we are constantly working behind the scenes, and don't just do business at the setting of the transfer sun, if we are following the sell to buy policy we won't have any other option?
Yes Luke, it IS a bad thing because it shows a lack of ambition and fortitude, indicates that the charirman is either a liar or a fool, and kowtows to clubs we should be aspiring to beat.
I agree, about seeing the bigger picture, but then see it as this The chairman of the club says he's not for sale, not the manager, or the physio, or the general secretary, the CHAIRMAN. The player says he wants to go, fine he can say that, the manager wants to sell an unhappy or non performing player, fine, the chairman says no there's no more discussion. The Ronaldo issue was, Fergie & Cristiano both said time to go the chairman agreed, the Tevez issue was, Fergie and Carlos say time to part ways, the chairman agreed. Levy doesn't agree, Levy says he's staying, and if he sells him now it will be seen as Levy can be bullied by another club, or by a player, or by the media and that would make his position untenable.
AND, even if he says BUT look at the deal we got, Levy would be forever tainted as either a liar who tells the fans one thing whilst secretly negotiating the best deal, or a fool who doesn't know how to run with the big dogs in football club terms.
Good post OnlyOneDB, quite thought provoking. It reveals the under layers to the public utterances, suggesting the many different levels by which bargains (agreements) are reached. It's all a bit like dance. Posturing, provoking, offering, declining, come ons and rebuffs. The subtle Levy and the,( come on darling) from Harry.
These speculative articles usually contain a word like 'may', as in a Rossi article on a thread here I think, "this 'may' lead Harry to renew his interest". Well I'm not interested in what 'may' happen in a reporter or anyone else's opinion. People should not get carried away with the headline, and read the small print carefully, rubbish articles aren't difficult to spot.
