- Dec 7, 2014
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i am not much of a reader but raced through this book, given on Christmas day. The format of a chapter for each month of the season was perfect ,as I tend to read things in chapters and then come back later. Also, the matches were so recent that I could easily bring them to mind - my memory is not like it used to be when I could easily recall matches from many years ago. Poch is very clearly the absolute beating heart of the club and , having read the book, you can clearly see that it would be an absolute disaster if he were to leave. The majority of players identify with him more than the club- I think we have to hope that his 'era' is a long one, because nothing which follows will be quite the same. One thing that surprised me was that he does seem to have a few 'Hoddle tendancies' , some rather unusual thoughts and beliefs about how he can forsee certain traits and read ' aura's'. He is a very intense and sensitive person - i would think that some of the stories about how he has personally interacted with players(eg Luke Shaw, Adam Lallana, Danny Rose, Harry Winks) make him unique as a 'father figure' type of manager. He has somehow got the balance of totally respected 'boss' and very close friend with most of the team.I thoroughly enjoyed it. Worth a read.
IMO it gives a good insight into him, his character and what he expects from his players and his staff, These have been with him for a long time.
Seems to get on very well with DL as well.
I think we are very lucky to have him and his close knit team I don't see him going elsewhere as things stand- my guess is he will be aiming to see this contract out and then probably head back to Spain, He definitely won't go to Barcelona but Real Madrid could prove troublesome. He could get disillusioned if we lost any of our top players, he was really upset when Luke Shaw left Southampton but I don't think it will be the club's doing with DL in charge, it would only be if the player demanded to go( Dele Alli possibly could go this way-only my thought?)
I also think DL deserves credit for how he has built up the relationship with Poch. It is quite clear that DL is not guilty of not releasing funds for transfers etc, it is more likely to be Poch who says No and Poch fully understands our financial restrictions compared to the big 3 if we are unable to compete for a player he does want.
Recommended book for any Spurs fan.