haha could be! after damien you would think Levy would have learnt not to trust big money signings recommended by a dof, the last two a midfielder (bentley) & striker (bent), so if we have a repeat of their success then I fear for our future, we would revert back to signing the next saha, maybe thats why cartlon cole is training with us, as backup!
Maybe Spurs are splashing the cash now because they realised that we have yet to feature in the CL regularly and our previous transfer policy obviously needed changing especially as there is a new stadium to finance. Maybe Levy/ENIC finally woke up and smelt the coffee and simply realised that they have to take more risks with transfers and spend more.
Well if you look at our policy with a DOF and then without, then it points to the fact Levy does trust a DOF to make big signings. I just wish we could have made big signings when we had Modric, Bale, King, VDV as if we added to that team then it would have been pretty special.
Steady on ! (I still have great memories of that team and what Arry done but won't turn this into a Arry bashing debate)! but yes, he wasn't keen on a DOF and to be honest neither was most of the fans.
No Harry bashing from this end (despite the nickname). Simply asking if wide-boy Harry stopped Spurs getting another DOF in. I have mixed views on DOF but generally if the manager wants one in place, then fair enough. It enables the manager to devote his time to coaching the team, and let someone else concentrate on exploring the market on transfer matters - obviously with the coach's input, amongst others.
Harry = manager AVB = Head coach Its clear that Levy is BACKING his manager/coach/team this time. The money has been made available, he's pulled in one of the best DoFs (by all accounts) going to help him. AVB wanted a DoF. The team under Harry was fantastic, but i always got the impression Levy did not trust him fully. The england job fiasco sort of prooved him right. It seemed that he never really took the leash off the transfer spending when Harry was calling the shots, hence the signings like Saha even though we got in the CL! Again, this is just my feeling, but i think Levy got Harry in to get us out a huge hole. Harry had experience in that area. I wonder whether Levy underestimated how well Harry would do and once he had he could not just get rid of him. With the first hint of a reason Harry was gone. This was ruthless even for "Sack a manager yearly Hotspur". Despite the Bale bullshit there is a feeling (for me at least) of a change at the club. Last summer we did not have a DoF, and AVB doesn't do much with regards to transfers. There is also a possibility AVB was on some sort of probation. Now however you get the feeling that Levy got his man with AVB and he also got his man with Baldini, and hence he is backing them with the money that has undoubtebly been backing up over the last few years. Thats how i see it anyway, anyone that disagrees can just dig a hole and die in it
This isn't a "Harry bashing debate" so no need to be defensive of the man... I don't want to die in a hole so no arguments from me!
Was i defensive of him? I'm not so sure. I said the team was good under him but i also said Levy was prooved right not to fully trust him.
It seems the trinity is working as it should on paper. AVB identifies positions he feels he needs strengthening. Baldini takes this input, as well as independently looking for players he believes will add to the Spurs cause. And then, for the current budgets, the yes/no is given for players. Baldini sorts out the player terms. And then their clubs get Levyed. Anyone who disagrees with this : I will use your insides to line the hole I dug for you to die in.
Fair observation but could it be that you are spending money now because you know that sometime in the next 12 months you'll probably end up with a bid wad of cash from Madrid?? Not saying that's a bad thing but maybe you wouldn't be spending so much if you didn't have such an asset at the club; you've never spent like this before.
That may or may not be the case, 100. Either way, it shows that we have the ambition to challenge for the title and to be playing CL footy on a regular basis. Why? because it's clear that we're prepared to spend serious money to strengthen an already strong squad of players. Now that I've seen the club ready to spend serious cash on marquee players, I genuinely believe that us selling Bale could do the club a massive favour, in the long term. We were becoming far too reliant on Bale, and that wasn't healthy for the club. Football is a team sport, and the emphasis has, always, to be on the team. Bale's presence in the team would have had a detrimental effect on the development of the team imo, whereas at Real he'll just be one star player among 20 star players.
We failed to get Damnyou (for about 50 years), then Villa, then Bentecke. As it happens, in my deservedly humble opinion, Soldado is the best of the bunch. 26 million for a player with no resale value is a big risk, no doubt. But he's the best bet to bang in goals immediately, except for Villa, and he's much likelier to last a season or four. I thought Damnyou would be another Brazilian PL striker flop, that Villa would light up the league for a few months, then have a career ending injury, that Bentecke wouldn't quite pan out--12 or 13 goals--but not quite good enough. Having seen the video of him, I also think Soldado is a surprisingly good fit for us, considering he's a La Liga striker. He put most of his goals in from passes that were decent but not great, and we're a side that doesn't do key passes particularly well, but does keep the ball in and around the box.
Chadli had already had his initiation and trained with the players for about 4 days before we announced it. Pretty standard for us, for some reason. Some kid took this on Kensington High St earlier today: please log in to view this image He asked him if he'd signed and he said yes, apparently.
