There's a big divide of opinion among Spurs on Levy and there has been for some time. Taking into account the competition faced by Spurs in the PL the fact that we are only 6 points of the lead after playing well below our potential suggests things are not that bad. I remain optimistic that the current squad could flower into one of the best Spurs teams for 30 years.
I agree with everything there. He's about as popular here now as a young gobby Glaswegian called Fergusen was when he arrived at Old Traffold. Fair enough Fergie had a Scots league title under his belt but Sherwood has done pretty dammed well with the youth sides. He's not a 'King Kenny' or a Glen Hoddle, i.e. a returning messiah, so why not give him a chance?
So much negativity, can't we at least wait until he ****s up before slagging him off lol... Whoever we appointed at this time was going to be a gamble, there just aren't any good candidates available right now. I might have preferred to see Hoddle given another chance but that would have been just as much of a gamble, maybe more. At least Sherwood does know the club and players, and apparently has their respect. Regardless of the 18 month contract this is still an interim appointment. Well done to Sherwood for screwing that contract out of Levy, but we all know that unless he does a lot better than most here expect then he won't be in charge at the start of next season if Van Gaal or De Boer or whoever become available in the summer. In the end I'm just happy that I don't have to watch that boring, ****e, AVB-style football any more this season. Whatever happens now, for good or bad, it'll probably be entertaining anyway
That's quite big. Ramos went from us to Real Madrid, that's quite big. The fact that not many have won much shows how difficult it is to pick the man who will win you something. The whole thing is difficult and that's the perspective I keep when looking at the job Levy does.
I'd call 4 of those 5 big names. Santini was the former France national manager. Ramos had won back to back UEFA Cups and made Sevilla a real force to be reckoned with. Redknapp recently won the FA Cup with Portsmouth, while also turning them into one of the divisions top 10 teams prior to it's financial meltdown. AVB won the treble with Porto. Jol was the only one who to me was a bit of an unknown and for the most part, it was a pretty successful spell under him in terms of bringing back the European nights at WHL. For sure they're not the world known names such as Fergie, Wenger, Mourinho, Guardiola and co but those managers are a rare breed and many would acknowledge that finding and acquiring managers like that are extremely difficult and borderline impossible. What manager did you want that falls into your achieving something tangible over a long period category?
I am in my cynical sixties so I am inclined to be negative about any number of aspects of life. I expected to see a lot of negativity over Tim Sherwood's appointment and I've not been disappointed. I expect that he has until the end of this season to prove that he has what it takes to be Tottenham's Manager and I wish him every success in bringing us back to the dizzy heights of Harry's reign. As for Lewis & Levy, I think the fans have a lot for which to thank them. The Maltese Property Developer bankrupted us and although Alan Sugar saved us from the clutches of Captain Bob, The Deep Sea Diver, I will always remember Sugar and Gerry Francis for Tottenham's Wilderness Years, a time when old players, long past their prime, came to spend the last couple of years earning a few bob before they retired, a time of mediocrity, when finishing above tenth was a huge result. Enic have turned the club round and as long as their recent spending spree doesn't end in a Leeds scenario, they will have my support. Yes, I think they made big mistakes in sacking Harry and appointing AVB but hopefully we will get lucky with Sherwood's appointment. After all. what experience did Brian Clough have when he took over at Derby? Time will tell.
Exactly. A lot gets said in England that we don't give the youth a chance due to the foreign influx of players but the same can be said about managers. How many young, English managers are coming through these days? It's actually a breath of fresh air to see us give a complete unknown Englishman a chance. For sure it could come back and bite us but under AVB, I didn't think we were going anywhere anyway so Sherwood has nothing to prove to me. He's impressed me with his first league game and what he says in interviews and that gives me the confidence that despite his lack of experience, he knows what he's doing. Like you say he's done well with the youngsters and he proved on Sunday that he knows if a player is a ready or not by giving Bentaleb 40 minutes. Tim knows this club inside out so to speak, just because he hasn't got any managerial honours it doesn't mean he can't do a good job. I'm actually really excited at the appointment, purely because of the unknown factor that surrounds Tim. I really hope it works out, not just for him but the club. It'll be nice if, in a few years time we can look back and say what a masterstroke it was in giving him a chance.
Guus Hiddink: 6 Eredivisie Titles 4 KNVB Cup Cups 1 Dutch Supercup 1 UEFA European Cup 1 Intercontinental Cup 1 FA Cup Managed teams in no fewer than 7 countries. I think that shows pretty decent pedigree. Even as a short term solution, if he gave us a high placed finish, darn it... even a Cup win; we'd be able to attract the same callable manager at the end of the season before he goes off to manage Holland. Weren't we all saying this about 18 months ago?
Media outlets reported he wasn't interested as he's due to take over as the Holland boss after the World Cup like you mentioned. Who else is in the same calibre and available?
I hit post too early, I edited my response, though I did mention that the media outlets reported he wasn't interested due to the fact he was taking charge of Holland.
And what would be the point in hiring him for half a season? To me that's not a wise decision. That'd mean 3 managers in the space of 12 months. Too much change.
Was he even approached or made any kind of offer to alter that position? Maybe he told our club's representatives he's not interested in joining Spurs due to our tendency to sack managers on a whim. Didn't do Chelsea any harm did it? Hey… it wasn't me who hired and fired these guys. I'm just suggesting a better replacement for the last guy.
Bill Nicholson said that anyone who plays for Spurs must want to. On the assumption that that goes for managers as well, Tim Sherwood wants to manage us, so ffs cut him a bit of slack, give him a ****ing chance. Good, I've said my bit, I can go to bed now.
I think reporters either spoke to him or his reps and they said he wasn't interested in managing until he takes charge of Holland, so if we were going to consider an approach that pretty much prevented us from doing so. I don't think you can really compare us and Chelsea though. He took over a world class team that was under performing. We're under performing but we're not a world class team, at least not yet. I personally wanted Hiddink to take over us but when I found about the supposed agreement with the Dutch FA to take over after van Gaal, I realised it was pretty much out of the question. In my opinion Spurs need stability and while Hiddink is a superb manager, I think hiring him knowing he'd only be here half a season just wouldn't have been ideal.
My mind goes down two tracks. One, and more important: COYS! We just had a win that hit the spot, in which Sherwood, at least for one game, showed that he could be successful in the Spurs' way. Why not back the team and hope for entertaining and successful football? Continuity has to start somewhere. Two: I'd talked about Spurs' (Levy's) improv style, in which one hare-brained scheme is hatched to try to mitigate the failure of the last, and this is a perfect example of it. He hired AVB to manage a team built around Moutinho and Bale (the paperwork was too foxed for the one, the money too good for the other), and fired him because he wasn't the right man for a team of strangers. The plan B turns out to be an assistant no one on the face of the earth wanted to manage their PL club, but who has the cardinal virtue of being one of two men who could at this point, conceivably preclude the necessity of fielding a head coach-less team. Wait for it. With the other being Steffen Freund. Do you think Sherwood has already leapt into action to finish getting his coaching badges? Or is he thinking, hell, the odds of it becoming an issue are 50/50 at best...can't hurt to put it off till after the Arsenal cup game...might save myself a lot of trouble... However, wild choices forced by exigency don't always fail, just as the best laid plans of mice and men aft gang agley. So refer to track 1.
This will go one of three ways:- (1) Sherwood turns out to be an "okay" manager, good enough to keep us out of trouble, but not quite good enough for top 4 (2) Sherwood turns out to be a complete no-hoper, and we are royally ****ed (3) Sherwood turns out to be something that very few managers are, namely top notch right out of the blocks in his first ever job My money is on (1), that he turns out to be okay, which clearly is not good enough for the club, and he will eventually be replaced. Accordingly, I have now written off this season. Thank you, Mr Levy, for ****ing this season - and probably next, too - right up the spout!
From an outsiders point of view i have to say its a brave decision to appoint TS but i applaud it We dont give our own managers enough credit and time to build a decent team in england. He may be a flop for the first 2 seasons but he seems to know the game and was a good player himself. think the players will react to that and progress. AVB was never gonna work least of al because he was at the scummers and had people gainst him from day 1 we aint giving you 'Arry back ( or BAE & Carrol) so what were your other options? he needs to cut his teeth somewhere and why not at a club he played so well for? The only issue i can see is that he's aself confessed Gooner and youd question where his loyalty lies in the derby. I say good luck to him and hope he does well, unfortunately its a results based position & I fear he wont be given the time....! just out of leftfield...What would you say to Steve MacClaren getting the job.? Done it all over Europe and derby are unbeaten since he went there? just intrested. Good luck for the rest of the season
