“DL has done a great job backing my judgement and improving the squad and the club…”

[walworthyid]

I know this isn't quite the point of the thread but imo harry has "managed" this squad better than any spurs manager in recent times and as well as any manager in the league.

We aren't Man U, Pool (as they were), Chelski or the scum and yet harry has managed to keep almost the entire squad happy and more importantly, hungry!

Kaboul, Hutton, even Keano bless him, Bale, Pav, Jenas, Bentley, Bassong, Gallas, BAE have all been dropped by Harry and all have come back in when needed and done a great job. To back this up, we set the record for the number of different scorers in a prem season last year!

 

[walworthyid]

It was more the other way around. Naughton is older and was a more established talent at the time. The way the deal was put together, we wanted both of them, but could only persuade Sheffield Utd to play ball if we agreed to loan one of them back for a season. The one chosen to be loaned back was Walker, because he was less developed.





My impression was that it was (a) a genuine attempt to include Levy in the credit and also (b) a slightly tart message to fans and people close to the club who reckon tht Harry isn't fully in charge of what players we buy. I think his motivations were (c) to show that he and Levy have a good working relationship and (d) to make it quite clear that he's the man in control of the footballing direction of the squad.



As others have said, it's a very good, well reasoned post. I especially agree with the bits I have quoted.

It's so easy to be distracted by the major hiccups on our route from 2003 to here and to think of the past seven years as having veered wildly from success to failure, but it's not really so. It has been a continuous process with a consistent strategy, ever since Levy waited for 6 months before appointing Arnesen to revolutionise the club by renovating the squad and introducing youth on a large scale.

The absence of virtually any of Arnesen's players from the current squad is actually a credit to this approach, because it means that, as we improved, we were able to attract progressively more exciting players. I'm pretty sure that this was the intention from the start: to buy good young players who would improve, so the club could then become a credible destination for even better players.

Great points David!

I have always seen this as a gradual, actually not so gradual, and progressive curve. We were a shambles of a club not that long ago and although there have still been a number of high profile and very public moments such as the Santini and Ramos debacles, behind the scenes Levy has been driving forward with a very specific vision. While sometimes his vision has been lost in the unpredictable results on the field, he has found ways of marrying the 2 into economically viable success.

We are now a top club again, as much as it has taken the "media" time to realise it, fans and observers now rightly regard us such. This is down to Levy more than anybody else.

He doesn't get anywhere near as much credit as he deserves.