Will Pochettino stay or go?

Ah yes, tall, signed from Bristol Rovers.

There is some more football nostalgia just started on BBC4....The Damned United, all about Cloughie's short reign as Leed's Manager.

 

Some people seem to have made up their mind that he's going, but, it kind of goes with out saying that if that was true, he would have resigned by now.
Similarly, if he had decided to stay, he would have made that clear by now.

It's obvious no final decisions have been made. Let's not get too hasty. I'm sure it just balances on the board's promises this week.

 

Out with David Moyes. He's steady but hardly that entertaining

 

Entertainment is secondary to results.

 

I think many Saints fans don't quite understand how big some other clubs are. Not just in terms of finance because obviously we can compete with the majority these days but there are loads of clubs that are below us in places and divisions that are much much bigger than Saints.

Whilst Tottenham may be a bit of a laughing stock to fans of other clubs as well as some of their own fans there is no doubt that they are the size of club that are already in a position that they should be in i.e. Top 6. All of those Top6 should be able to vie for the title each year and with the right manager Spurs could well reach higher than 4th.

Obviously the 'attractive' part of that statement refers to the risks of the chop for what we would see as relative success but people at the top end of elite sport do not get there by not taking risks. They relish them. Anyone knows that the requirement from Levy is Top4. They know this risk before they take the job and those that reach the top take these risks.

Winners have to take risks.

All I am saying is that while Saints is a safe option for Pochettino because he knows what he has, he knows it is working, he knows it is nearly there that Spurs is still quite some step up. Spurs has much more pulling power than Saints for players both in terms of wages, reputation and potential for success. They have way more buying power than us in the transfer market. They have way more global recognition than us which in turn can mean players image rights can be worth more.

So if Poch does go then it's no embarrassment for us. They are already where we want to be if we step up to the next level. I doubt even Cortese could promise people realistically that we could be in Spurs position (not just league position) in the very near future.

Long Term? It took Chelsea more 2 decades to go from a nothing club in the second flight with less than 20k attendance, to a fashionable club (Hoddle, Gullit) on to a succesful club and huge global brand with over 40k attendances (Roman.)

It ain't going to happen overnight, so yes Spurs are much more attractive than us. We are where Chelsea were at year 3 or 4 of that 20 year rise. Spurs are where Chelsea were in the second decade of that rise.

As for replacement. I'm stupid and want Nigel back. lol

 

Sorry they might be more recognised as they have a slightly more illustrious history, but their stadium isn't a lot larger than ours, so why can't we think they are a peer rather than larger.
I take your point about elite sportsman blindingly thinking they can excel where others can't but spurs will be a tough ask
Also MP inherited NA team and he has changed to a more pressing team and added some players but it shows that NA was doing a pretty good job too!

 

Because they are a much bigger club globally. Can (or would we) we pay £35m for a single player? Can (or would) we pay £100k+ for our first team players? Would we be able to attract the kind of players that Spurs can even when on a free?

And are we planning a new stadium the size of Spurs? Could we fill it? They will!!!

 

They aren't there yet

 

hence why I said planning. But if they had it now they would fill it every week. If we had it now we wouldn't. That is the difference between us and Spurs!!!

 

I agree. As much as I loathe Spuds, they are a bigger club than us.

 

Nicley put. We are spurs and we get who we want (OK not all the time ).

The only difference between us finishing 6th, 5th or making the next step is as you say, having the right manager. That's why we're an attractive proposition as everything is there. Large fanbase. Great training facilities. Talented squad which just needs direction and key signings. Pulling power to sign players with great ability (don't mention Dempsey) but we need the right manager.

Is it Pochettino? Not sure. He has no experience of managing a club with high expectations. He could be out of his depth but if he's ambitious he will want to take the job.

 

Well that got me checking the tables. Putting aside the hopeless debate of definition of a big club, I can only see 3 that are below us and could be argued as bigger in broad terms:
Newcastle
Villa
Leeds

I probably missed someone but didn't notice much else (and if nothing else this aside takes minds off the current leaving/staying predicament)

 

I don't think that going to Spurs would indicate anything about his ambition. If he is ambitious to manage a really top club he is far better staying here and continuing to work with and improve an already talented group of players. Saints could easily have finished higher than they did this year. Look how we outplayed Spurs away but for one defensive slip before half-time its a game we should have won. So, IF this team stayed together I think it would be realistic to suggest that we can finish above Spurs next year.

Pochettino would rightly get a lot of credit for that.

Spurs will, once again, have to buy and sell wholesale and will take some time to play as coherently as we do. It would take him years to build something as exciting as we have here. Frankly, his long term ambitions (lets say Barca) would be better served by him remaining at Saints.

 

I think if the right manager got hold of the players Spurs currently have they could match Arsenal or Liverpool. They have some great players there that at the moment are seen as flops or just not performing well together.

As for the 'years to build'. Spurs probably already have the quality of squad we are aiming for after 2 - 3 years. Pochettino came in and in the first game Saints fans said he had made us better. The Everton game. First in charge. How long did that take? Are we even better than that now? After a season and third? Yes. That isn't years.

If a new manager gets Adeybayor, Soldado, Lamela, Paulinho, Erikson, Siggurdson, Sandro etc playing well they will do very very well. TBH that is probably why Levy has been ruthless. Just as Cortese would think his manager was not achieving with what he viewed the squad was capable Levy see that squad and asks why they are not getting top 4.

 

Pochettino wants £3m a year to manage Spurs on a three-year deal, and will swoop for three Saints players - according to The Sun:

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Forest.

 

I'll have a look through for others to claim Saints are bigger later. Forest ARE bigger globally still. History makes people and things and events famous and romantic

EDIT: There are more that are 'actually bigger in terms of global appeal but just going for the obvious ones:


Villa, Leeds, Forest, Wolves, Newcastle. There are others that we may be at a level of appeal with but are much bigger like Sunderland.

 

There's no way they can afford to buy three of our players.

 

So i know i rarely post, but i regularly read and in particular enjoy the fact there are some people on our forum who genuinely do know a few things about Saints. Looking at our current situation i think, as I'd assume many fans do, we are in a fantastic position. £27 mil of transfer debt is nothing and £30 mil for what the telegraph said earlier in the season made St. George's Park look like a sunday rec ground as a training facility is spectacular.

Poch leaves, Adam leaves, Luke leaves, sad maybe but it leaves us with the best training ground potentially in the PL, a good squad, money, who wouldn't want to manage us?

In my line of work there is no option other than winning and under Poch sometimes this year there have been some horrendous performances, ones that make me so angry i wish my vocabulary was better to express myself without swearing, ones that clearly lacked something. Now we all pay good money to watch it, we all know how good we are, so how can we lose at home to Cardiff for example! My point being long winded but quite simple, just because we've done VERY WELL this year doesn't mean someone else out there couldn't do better. I'd be very happy for poch to stay, i think one of Luke or Adam would too if he did, but i also think we're a very attractive proposition to manage and the squad is a team. Winning is a team business, if you're not all on side then get out of my team so we can win!

If anyone leaves it's not the end folks!!

 

Good post.