Off Topic Who do you want next?

We had the promising, young manager playing attractive football for 5 years. We came close but won nothing. We now have the veteran arch-pragmatist and serial winner. Things obviously aren't going that smoothly. Not having a pop at anyone, but frankly, what else would you want to try? The only option left is the figure who 'knows the club'. Who would you want? Woodgate? Hughton? Ryan Mason? None of them appeal to me right now, certainly none of them have the experience or even the profile that Lampard or OGS or even Arteta had before they took their jobs. Do you want to bring back Tim Sherwood? FFS.

Nobody has the money for a proper rebuild right now because of the pandemic, so I think we'll hang onto Jose for a full season at least. I think more time with the squad will help him improve us, I know everyone is down after last night but I think we've got better since Poch left and will continue to eke out improvements, with the odd brainfart like last night continuing to be on the cards.

We have the core of a very good squad, but realistically we need 6/7 starting quality players to get back to the level we were at Poch's peak, where most of our players could be matched up to any other squad in the league and be seen favourably in comparison. Jose isn't the manager for this and now is not the time for that level of investment over the next two/three windows. I see the next couple of years being Jose going hell for leather trying to win anything that isn't the PL with a combination of young guns and Poch-era experienced hands, because realistically we've no chance at the league based on our current squad unless the man performs a miracle, after which hopefully he leaves having won a pot or two and we start the cycle again with a Naglesman or Sacramento or whoever the bright new young flavour of the managerial month is at the time, using the warchest that a couple of years uninterrupted in the new stadium will help us build.

I'm not saying thats what I want, but it is what I think will probably happen.

 

To build a winning team the players need to see ambition and have the required belief, they need to see that the club they play for are serious about being successful and have the desire to make it happen. Get everybody on board with the project and give them the vision of a realistic goal to achieve, if the existing players see proper ambition they will be far more unified and have a positive belief it can happen. I`m not sure our players have ever truly had the 100% belief, hence all the lost semi finals and failure to clear the final hurdle with anything. At a time when they needed even just 1 or 2 extra players to help make that final leap, they got nothing and were expected to finish the job themselves. All this stems from ownership that isn`t prepared to push the boat out, ever, instead they prefer to focus on improving infrastructure, to increase the clubs value for when they come to sell, and delivering record profits. It`s a business first and a football club second, most of the clubs that win the trophies are the opposite.

 

This isn't remotely true.
They're either a sports washing exercise, which I really don't want us to become or they're all businesses.
You won't consistently win trophies unless you're run well or have a ton of outside cash thrown at you.

Bayern? Financially dominate the Bundesliga.
Real and Barca? Propped up by the government and are absolutely miles ahead of the rest of the clubs in terms of money.
PSG, City and Chelsea? Owned by crooks who are trying to solve image issues.
Man Utd? Financially dominant for years, then bought up by crooks and have struggled as a result, despite a massive advantage.
Juventus? About €100m in revenue ahead of Inter and at least double everyone else. West Ham have more money than Milan.

Which clubs are you talking about?

 

I didnt say they were not businesses, every club is a business, our problem is business comes before football. If the owners can not spend to the levels of the clubs listed above to compete, or even want to, then they should do us all a favour and sell out to somebody who can or will. You won`t consistently win trophies if you`re run well and spend virtually nothing either, Spurs have proved that.

 

We can't spend like those clubs because we don't have the revenue to do so.
The alternative is to become a sports washing exercise for some murderous dictator or one of his mates. I'll pass, ta.

 

We spend money...we don’t spend shrewdly.

If we had an owner who’s ambition was to win the league instead of to host a football game and an NFL game at the stadium on the same day....then we might have the desired focus from the top which has to filter through the whole system.

Roman A may be all the bad things you have mentioned but his focus is to win and therefore you must be on the same understanding or you won’t last.

The focus doesn’t require money...it requires desire from the top.

we waste plenty money...we just don’t have real football direction from the top. The manager is always the fall guy...Poch and next Jose but behind it all is the energy that comes from the top..it’s flat

 

We've largely spent well over the last decade or so or we'd never have got near the Champions League.

Levy's taken his eye off the ball in the last couple of years and it's taken a serious toll on our squad, though.
His ambition to host lots of events at the club is about increasing our revenue and being able to compete financially.
If things hadn't have been disrupted by unforeseeable events, then we'd currently be seeing the fruits of that labour.
The NFL, boxing, rugby, gigs and the like will pay for the stadium, which will pay for a competitive squad.

If somebody like Abramovich takes over, then I'm done. I won't care what happens to the club, as I won't be supporting it.
I want us to do well, but not at any cost.

 

Mostly agree. I would still go if we were relegated but not if we were owned by a gangster or worse.

 

The last I heard we were around the 8th richest club in the world on revenue, yet we have a history of virtually break even transfer windows (excluding the last year), and a history of spending like a lower half championship club, we are one of (if not) the most financially secure club in the PL, the money is there if they wanted to spend it, but they don`t. Football sold its soul long ago, I`m past caring how these clubs are buying success, it`s time we joined them, we are not winning anything under the current plan of action, ENIC are taking us nowhere. 1 League Cup in 20 years, seriously, what is the point.

 

I realise that you are saying for this for effect, but this season we have spent £130m, the entire championship spent £107m and the net spend for championship was -£154M.

 

The only reason we are in 8th place on revenue is because of ENIC. When they took over we were about half of Chelsea and Arsenal, now we have just got ahead of them, But you want a change of owner exactly at the point when all this comes to fruition. 99% of football clubs win no trophies at all. The point is that it is a fun sport to enjoy.

 

Here's a short list of clubs who have won less than one trophy in twenty years
Nice (most recent trophy: 1997)
Aston Villa (most recent trophy: 1996)
Everton (most recent trophy: 1995)
Borussia Monchengladbach (most recent trophy: 1995)
Sampdoria (most recent trophy: 1994)
Bayer Leverkusen (most recent trophy: 1993)
Real Sociedad (most recent trophy: 1987)
Athletic Bilbao (most recent trophy: 1984)
West Scam (most recent trophy: 1980)

...yes, that Leverkusen stat surprised the hell out of me too, especially considering that Leverkusen are a team some people say we should be looking to emulate (although that's mainly as the Reddit crowd think everything we do should be based on one Bundesliga team or another)

 

That list is a joke right?

Why would we want to compare Spurs to teams like that?

 

There’s no doubt the club is in much better shape now then when ENIC took over but I think where our fan base is divided is that some think ENIC can’t take the club further and some think they will eventually lead us to glory

 

Well, only time will tell whether they start to invest in the team at a level commensurate with our new improved financial standing, but the excuses and reasons not to spend have already started, so don`t be surprised if we see another zero net spend window and / or another top player sold to finance any new players.

 

Two reasons

First of all, calling Bayer Leverkusen a "joke" goes a long way to demonstrating the complete lack of nuance in so much of the criticism of Enic, especially considering how it was less than four years ago when they made us look out of our depth in the Champions League group stages

Secondly, in the case of Everton and Villa, in the past twenty years both of them have been clubs we have wanted to emulate (Everton during Moyes' tenure, Villa under O'Neill) so the fact that we've raised our status well beyond either of those clubs in the last decade or so to the point you don't think it's worth comparing us to them sort of proves my point

 

Leverkusen, Everton and Villa?

As a Spurs fan I want the club to be aiming much higher than that.

 

Again, less than four years ago Leverkusen made us look woefully out of our depth in the CL, so the fact you think we should be aiming higher says how much our level has risen in the interim

It also has to be said Leverkusen have a damn good reputation for scouting and developing players, with Kai Havertz, Julian Brandt and Jonathan Tah being three obvious examples, so the comparison is certainly valid

 

Which clubs would you like to see us emulate though, given our relative financial position in the league?
City, Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal can currently outspend us and pay higher wages than we can.
I'd suggest that attempting to copy any English club will doom us to failure.

Ajax and Dortmund are the two non-English teams that spring to mind to for me, but they're in privileged positions in their own leagues.
Bayern are miles ahead of Dortmund, but Dortmund are also miles ahead of everyone else in Germany.
Schalke are the only club that even approaches them and the next club in the list is Eintracht Frankfurt, rather bizarrely.
Ajax are the only Dutch club that make the Deloitte money list at all. They've got over 50% more revenue than PSV.

We should look at how some clubs consistently scout out bargains and produce top quality youngsters, but I'm sure everyone tries to do that.
City and Chelsea have also hoovered up much of the youth talent in this country, often by breaking the rules.
Who is consistently producing results beyond their finances and how can we learn from them?