Professional football has always been about money, the richest clubs win, and that hasn't changed. The creation of the Premier League was about increasing the revenue to the elite clubs, and it's massively succeeded in that, it was also about enriching the football pyramid and in that it has not, arguably, worked so well. I found myself at a young age supporting Tottenham Hotspur and that, by chance, happened to be at the time of the club's greatest period of success. Why Spurs? My parents had met in Tottenham during WW2 so I sort of owe my existence to the borough and the other was Danny Blanchflower. Danny was a man of high intelligence and his explanation of what he thought football was about described my own views exactly. I won't repeat them all here, there are many of his quotes on line and most of you will know them well. At the moment we have a manager who buys into the same philosophy as Danny, and I very much hope he succeeds. Initially he said he thought it would take 3 seasons to build the squad and here we are halfway through the second season. Right now, Spurs are struggling and have in effect gone backwards from where we were with Conte but wasn't that inevitable? We had gone through 3 managers, all following the very successful, Portuguese style of defensive, catch them on the break football and most Spurs fans hated it. Of course if we had won a cup then we might still be following that course but thankfully, from my point of view, we are not. I think right now we need to stick with our manager. I don't buy all this naive doen't know the PL business, who does? The PL changes rapidly from season to season anyway so I doubt anyone can 'know' it. The manager needs to make his team work but first you need the right type of players for whatever 'system' you're playing. I am excited to see us with players like Archie Gray, Bergval, Micky Moore, Van de Ven, and Udogie. They are all very young but the quality is visible and because of our long list of injuries, some of them are gaining experience fast. There is no doubt that Levy runs Spurs as a business and looks for business parameters like league position and general revenue rather than football glory and seriously trying to win the league. I do believe if we encourage him to sack Ange we will be back on a never ending merry go round aiming for top 4 and not having the resources to pursue cups as well. I agree with others who felt we should have stuck with Pochettino but we didn't and look what happened. Ange is not a fool and given the time I believe he could make this work but he needs players. His success hangs on the decisions made on players. Sack him, and we start again probably with the wrong players for the next man. We need to match the playing staff to the manager and the only way to do that is to bite the bullet and stick with somebody long enough for that to happen.
Generally agree. I am not that optimistic because it's so hard to catch up but what I won't do is scapegoat Levy or Ange for not achieving the impossible
Seriously though, as I said on the 'Sack/Don't Sack thread earlier, I'm still for keeping the faith - just! In 60 years of following this bloody shower, we've had more lows than highs - but the highs have been worth waiting for and sometimes have come out of the blue. And in all those years I cannot remember a time when there was so many exceptionally talented youngsters in one generation. So despite serious reservations in the competence of coach and owners, I'm still onside - which is something Defoe seldom managed!
Nice thread @Spurf from one of the boards great optimists! As a local Walthamstow lad I've been indoctrinated with all things Tottenham, my grandfather was at 1921 cup final and he, along with my Dad waxed lyrical over the double winners etc. My early recall is of the UEFA cup winning season in the early '70's when I went to all the home games and culminating with a trip to Molineux to see Big Chiv score a couple of goals in the final. A season ticket holder for many years before emigrating to the East Midlands 25 years ago, I had to relinquish it for a few years when the kids came along before getting one back 3 or 4 seasons ago with my son. Although like his sister he is born and bred here in Nottingham he has the Spurs crest tattooed on his ankle... Good lad. If I've had to suffer over the years why don't you... Anyway my hope is that I see them win something before I'm too old to go down any more, and as the wife will confirm I am always one grumpy b****** for a day when we lose! It's obviously not been a happy household here of late..... Current view? Ange is a stubborn man and that may well prove to be his downfall, but I do think it would be folly to sack him now. These are very dark days though and I am somewhat amazed that Bloefeld had not sacked him yet but perhaps he is going to give him time. My optimism has been shaken a bit recently but I will always back them, even if it means finishing rock bottom of the prediction league for this season......
