- Dec 20, 2006
- 1,316
- 1,475
It isn't harping. It's called analysing what we have and realising what we have offer us no value and reap us no benefit to the tune of 50m. Poch is reluctant to use them, that is damning.
If I knew who we would buy then I'd be the Head of Recruitment at spurs. It isn't my job to know who to buy but one thing is for sure, it doesn't take a scientist to know that we spunked the cash up against a wall when we can't afford to.
I look at Southampton and envy how they recruit. Yes there may be one or two duds but not 50m worth of duds. They recognise their limits and they really delve into what competencies and skill set they require then go out and get that. Yet we go out and scramble on deadline day for a 30m player who even now isn't and never will be in the first team
Southampton's recruiting and scouting policy was a necessity based on the fact the club went into administration and was relegated to the third division. They have strict player scouting and signing parameters in place based on the long term financial survival of the club.
They sign players with potential in the hopes they develop and can be sold on for profit. There is no demand from the board to be a top four club, to be a title winning club, to win trophies or to be in Europe every year. They are not operating under the same pressures as a club like Tottenham.
They took the likes of Wanyama, Forster and Van Dijk from Celtic when others hesitated. They could afford to take the risk on players from Scotland because their model allowed it. I was laughed at on here about four years ago when I mentioned Wanyama as a possible Spurs target because we needed to be signing better players or for more money.
Some clubs would rather spend 30m on a player than sign him as an unknown. Makes no sense, but the business model and PR department requires it. I know of another club in the top four that wanted to sign Dele Alli, but didn't because the fans would have been up in arms had their new signing been a 5m quid player from the Championship.
Lamela was once considered a dud, still is by some members of the media, but now his value is increasing as he is missing from the line up. Our three new signings could all be Lamellas in the making.