I guess Spurs fans always secretely wondered what it was was like to have a crap team....well.....now we know! Surprised at Hugo but not Davies.Why he is still playing at Spurs amazes me.....but then...these days at Spurs.....nothing surprises me. Could we rent Boreham Wood or Kidderminster Harriers? But I'd doubt they'd come here!
I seem to remember United buying everyones best British player before City and Chelsea came into money.
We actually have had a crap team for most of my life...between 1970 and 2005 we were generally outside the top 5. But for most of that period the gap between the top teams and the rest was much smaller so mid table sides often won a cup. The current squad is well above average.
That's scary,Power,losing two homes against 2 mid table teams with some tuffuns to come away.Don't put your hankies away!!!!
Italy has issued a global arrest warrant for Robinho following the confirmation of his rape sentence. Brazil has a blanket ban on extraditing it's own citizens, so he's safe there. He basically can't travel outside of the country now without risking getting pinched, though.
Grimly, it's quite funny that the ineptitude with which the club has been run has given weight to Daniel Levy's famous statement, that there's no correlation between spending and success. Certainly, if a club's run like Spurs are right now, there is no such correlation. In Arteta, Arsenal have had the same coach since Dec 2019. Discounting Ryan Mason, we're on our third coach. In that time we've signed players that the coaches haven't wanted and have hardly used - Bergwijn, Bale, Rodon and Gil come instantly to mind. That's £70m+ that was just wasted. You can then chuck in players who have come in and Robinho Biggs... ...next step...he cuts a single with Cook and Jones of The Pistols?
There is obviously a correlation between spending and success but probably only at a macro level. It's hard to see how you can get an edge on recruitment but buying players who everyone agrees is better by offering the highest price is likely to work. However there are at least 10 clubs who have much more money than us and who are more attractive to players. So we tend to be fishing in a pool of best of the rest where it's going to be much more hit and miss. Basically we are going to be 3rd to 5th if our signings come off and 5th to 8th if they don't, much the same as Arsenal. Since either of those is well above our historical performance when the financial issues were more even, I don't see this as any sort of failure of management or ambition provided we keep trying to get the revenue up to close the gap that way.
See BigSmithy, this is where its good to be really old (I'm 80 tomorrow ) but it means we saw the cream of our club. The very best side ever in our history. They brought us so much never to be forgotten joy & pleasure & as the years roll on you appreciate it even more, if thats possible. I so wish that todays fans could experience even a fraction of the success we had. Hats off to them for their support with so little reward, not to mention the cost! It was sixpence for us as kids & then a shilling as adults (5p). 1 penny or tuppence for the programme, can't quite remember. I loved Saturday afternoons down the Lane, used to stroke all the police horses outside the ground before going in to enjoy the band & lady soloist. So glad my Dad took me in 1947 for my first match, age 5, I've never forgotten it! COME ON YOU SPURS, WIN SOMETHING SOON - PLEASE -FOR TODAYS FANS
I'm not that bothered by us being outgunned by clubs with more money. That's the law of the jungle and agree with you that more income and profit are the only way to address that issue...short of a one off equity injection to 'right the ship' after the last 5 years. My problem is buying players that the coach doesn't want and players who don't play in our areas of our greatest need. Also, we don't get rid of players efficiently anymore - Mourinho told Levy to get rid of Ndombele and Dele in the summer of 2020. He didn't, he got rid of Mourinho and then hired and fired Nuno because he couldn't get a tune out of them either. Getting in some more UK players or players who have played in the PL before wouldn't go amiss, but they do come at a significant cost. I know that we agree on the good sense of hiring a DoF, but getting him in so late last summer meant that he bought players who Juve might have wanted and have proven to be of insufficient use to us. He did much better in the last window. Not everyone is demanding that we spend like City or Chelsea. I just want to be able to look at the decisions that we're making and see the sense and purpose in them and that they represent at least one of the best options open to us. For the last few years, that simply hasn't been the case.
Many Happy returns! I've just turned 66 and went to my first match when I was 12 so have seen 9 Cup wins and have no regrets about being a Spurs fan. The team from 3 years back was the best I've seen and it's a tragedy they didn't win a trophy.
Whether Mourinho asked for Ndombele to be sold or not he started almost every match last year so I'm not sure what we would have done without him.
Picked someone else...if we had anyone fit enough, which has to be a doubt, given the sparsity of midfielders at the club. I don't think that Conte rates Doherty or Emmerson Royal all that much. If he could replace them in the summer, he probably would but they're all that there is, so they're getting minutes. Neither Conte, nor Mourinho are magicians...and that's what Levy's got to get his head around. Not even world class coaches can turn this squad and more poor purchases into winners. You can pick them and get by...but that's as far as you go...as increasing numbers of smaller clubs are catching us up.
