Nuno and to a lesser extent Ange had their backs against a wall from day one simply because they were fifth or sixth choice after long list of preferred options had rejected us in two comical pantomimes which saw us without a manager for the last six weeks of the season and first three to six of the summer. We were a laughingstock and it was obvious that powerful people within the club didn't really want them in the dugout, or they'd have been much higher up in the queue. I think Paratici was dead against Nuno and my gut is that Levy himself has never been fully on board with Ange, rumours are that Scott Munn was the one pushing hard for his fellow Aussie. This would explain why Levy directed summer and January transfer windows that would inevitably be catastrophic for someone like Ange. The latter cried out for experience. We gave him Gray, Kinsky, Tel, Yang, Odobert and Bergvall. Only one of those six really made a difference to the team, and a minimal one at that. At the very least, there seems to be a broad consensus behind Frank, which hopefully (touches all wood in the building) means Levy might actually get behind him and support him properly. We've overstretched and undermined all of our most recent managers going back to Redknapp if I'm being brutally honest, and it simply has to stop.
Paratici was the one pushing for Nuno...though you have to wonder if he was looking at him as a means to make inroads with Jorge Mendes
Frank feels to me as it was for Pochettino at Soton : - Team on-pitch punching above its clubs' financial power. - Attractive but also pragmatic football being played
I don't really understand what Levy is thinking. Frank will for sure do better in the league than Ange last Season. However Ang himeself would no doubt have made significant improvements with a fully fit squad + a few additions. Also I think we undervalue entertainment and Ange brings that in spades. Is Frank going to have you challenging for the EPL and UCL within 1-2 years? .. I highly doubt it. Seems to me that Levy is a terrible judge on when to hire and fire a manager.
Honestly, Ange's system was getting found out in his first season, considering some of the result such as Wolves consistently having our number or the outright pasting we got off the Saker Falcons There comes a point where it doesn't matter how much you improve the squad, if opponents have sussed your tactics then you are going to hit a wall far earlier than you thought you would and you're reliant on cup competitions to save your season at that point
This just demonstrates that you haven't watched us at all for the past few years (understandable) and are therefore basing your opinion off the back of one game against piss poor opposition that ended with a trophy, something loads of Spurs fans are also doing for some reason (less understandable).
Yeah the problem with the "entertainment" Ange was bringing, is that it was for the benefit of us, Chelsea and Arsenal fans, and other rival fanbases. I think we were the only ones who were entertained by Spurs' league form last season. Ange managed to paper over the gaping chasm by winning the Europa, and he even did that by going against his own style of high line, gung ho football, if he had done that against United in the final, after they went a goal up, that match wouldnt have ended 1-0 I can tell you. As much as we all wanted Ange to stay, as rival fans, you cannot argue against sacking a manager who led you to 17th, with less than 40 points, just because he had a decent cup run against second rate opposition.
Bit harsh IMHO. A supporter of a club that only scored 5 more goals than Spurs that season, and finished 15 pts worse off than the season before, is probably well suited to comment on Spurs.
Sounds like Frank wants to bring quite a few with him according Sam Tabuteau. HBIC’s already mentioned Cochrane and Georgson (the latter quite a few on Twitter are excited about - possible Gianni Vio replacement!) but also Keith Andrews, Claus Norgaard and Manu Sotelo are likely to join. He also wants Tom Perryman (great surname ) who’s been Brentford’s fitness coach since 2014. Other reports yesterday suggested Wells and Birch are the only coaches from the Ange regime that are likely/ expected to stay.
Spurs were much more likely to have been relegated next season than challenge the top 6 if they had kept Ange. Entertaining football? For the most part it was entertaining for opponents and neutrals. In so many games I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, it was amateur beyond belief.
Hopefully. If the set piece coach especially is as good as some have been hyping that could be a real bonus. I don’t know if it was Ange’s, Levy’s, Lange’s or Munn’s decision to not keep Vio on (unless he himself chose to leave) but felt like a really bad decision, we were notably a real threat from set pieces whilst he was here. Maddison and Porro are two really good dead ball strikers/ takers too so if we can help get more out of them then it could be worth a number of points alone.
I just prefer it when a manager comes with their own people who they’ve worked with for a number of years and are familiar with. Ange travelling alone was another quirky thing which I wasn’t particularly keen on
