Levy plans to stay long term but must consider takeover bids

[daryl hannah]

Do you not think that our playing squad has improved since ENIC took over?
Do you not think that our exposure to the US and Asian markets has increased since ENIC took over?

I believe that both of the above are true, and that the Spurs of today is seen as a more competitive team than that of 2000. It's a nice idea to think that if we just spend a huge amount of money on new players that we instantly win loads of stuff but I'm of the opinion that the reality is far more complicated than that.

From what I understood of your post, you believe that ENIC have started to make THFC profitable but then take those profits and invest them into property so that they can make further money to keep for themselves. Apologies if I got that wrong. But I would firmly disagree with that idea and would say again that there are far easier ways to make money than running a football club.



I agree with you - both in terms of the rationale for building the training ground and also the fact that the building alone isn't enough to attract the talent. But again, I would say that the reality of life is not as simple as some may want it to be.

There will be certain young players who are attracted most by money - we are unable to compete with the mega rich clubs for those. There will be others who are attracted most by the prestige of the club, and again we cannot compete with the likes of Barca or United on that front.

But then there will be other young players who aren't mega fussed about those two and would prefer a chance to progress their careers. If our training ground is nothing special then we don't stand out above the likes of Everton, West Ham or Newcastle for example. So having that swanky training ground gives us an advantage when you look at the types of young players we might attract.

It's not a magic bullet that means we are going to churn out a new Messi every year, but it does elevate us above a whole bunch of other clubs in my opinion.



I get just as annoyed as people who criticise Levy and then, when debated about it, say that fans who like Levy are blindly defending him. It shuts down any sort of debate about the pros and cons which is a shame.

I totally agree about the comparisons to Alan Sugar not being enough to qualify ENIC as good owners. I also don't think Levy is any kind of business genius... in fact I think that he's been pretty lucky with timings. He seems to have a very conservative approach to investment which has kept our feet on the ground whilst the transfer market has progressed into mayhem. Had they taken over in the mid-80s I think they would have seen very little progress if any, but instead they kept a fairly steady ship whilst others have been on a rollercoaster. It's a glass-half-full type of deal... some people will hate the boredom, some will appreciate the solidity.

The slow burner approach isn't very sexy of course - in fact it's pretty bloody frustrating. But for me personally, I don't just want to be able to tell my kids about when Spurs won the FA cup back in 2021, I want to be able to take them to watch Spurs win the cup multiple times. Winning a trophy does not guarantee that you win more, but building the club as whole should give you a good platform to win many.

The Sissoko point is an interesting one. You complained about the club not buying anyone this year but also complained about the club panic buying Sissoko. I'm not sure what you want, but this is a feeling had by many fans.

I was pissed off about signing Sissoko at the time, one of Levy's more stupid moves in my opinion. I didn't think he was worth that much money and that the transfer was made simply to try and keep fans happy. If Mane and Zaha were out of reach that is fine - I don't believe that the club should over-extend itself for a single player - but don't sign a second rate player just to appease the fans.

My general opinion is that you have to look at all of these things in combination because that's how life works. You don't spend money only on players because that model isn't sustainable. You don't spend huge on a single player because that will impact other player's contracts which will see them unhappy or see the budget inflate out of control. You don't spend for the sake of spending because that limits potential future spending which might be more critical at the time.

It's very simple. All Levy has to do is make a couple of solid investments in the team and fans would be on his side.

 

[Lighty64]

Do you not think that our playing squad has improved since ENIC took over?
Do you not think that our exposure to the US and Asian markets has increased since ENIC took over?

I believe that both of the above are true, and that the Spurs of today is seen as a more competitive team than that of 2000. It's a nice idea to think that if we just spend a huge amount of money on new players that we instantly win loads of stuff but I'm of the opinion that the reality is far more complicated than that.

From what I understood of your post, you believe that ENIC have started to make THFC profitable but then take those profits and invest them into property so that they can make further money to keep for themselves. Apologies if I got that wrong. But I would firmly disagree with that idea and would say again that there are far easier ways to make money than running a football club.



I agree with you - both in terms of the rationale for building the training ground and also the fact that the building alone isn't enough to attract the talent. But again, I would say that the reality of life is not as simple as some may want it to be.

There will be certain young players who are attracted most by money - we are unable to compete with the mega rich clubs for those. There will be others who are attracted most by the prestige of the club, and again we cannot compete with the likes of Barca or United on that front.

But then there will be other young players who aren't mega fussed about those two and would prefer a chance to progress their careers. If our training ground is nothing special then we don't stand out above the likes of Everton, West Ham or Newcastle for example. So having that swanky training ground gives us an advantage when you look at the types of young players we might attract.

It's not a magic bullet that means we are going to churn out a new Messi every year, but it does elevate us above a whole bunch of other clubs in my opinion.



I get just as annoyed as people who criticise Levy and then, when debated about it, say that fans who like Levy are blindly defending him. It shuts down any sort of debate about the pros and cons which is a shame.

I totally agree about the comparisons to Alan Sugar not being enough to qualify ENIC as good owners. I also don't think Levy is any kind of business genius... in fact I think that he's been pretty lucky with timings. He seems to have a very conservative approach to investment which has kept our feet on the ground whilst the transfer market has progressed into mayhem. Had they taken over in the mid-80s I think they would have seen very little progress if any, but instead they kept a fairly steady ship whilst others have been on a rollercoaster. It's a glass-half-full type of deal... some people will hate the boredom, some will appreciate the solidity.

The slow burner approach isn't very sexy of course - in fact it's pretty bloody frustrating. But for me personally, I don't just want to be able to tell my kids about when Spurs won the FA cup back in 2021, I want to be able to take them to watch Spurs win the cup multiple times. Winning a trophy does not guarantee that you win more, but building the club as whole should give you a good platform to win many.

The Sissoko point is an interesting one. You complained about the club not buying anyone this year but also complained about the club panic buying Sissoko. I'm not sure what you want, but this is a feeling had by many fans.

I was pissed off about signing Sissoko at the time, one of Levy's more stupid moves in my opinion. I didn't think he was worth that much money and that the transfer was made simply to try and keep fans happy. If Mane and Zaha were out of reach that is fine - I don't believe that the club should over-extend itself for a single player - but don't sign a second rate player just to appease the fans.

My general opinion is that you have to look at all of these things in combination because that's how life works. You don't spend money only on players because that model isn't sustainable. You don't spend huge on a single player because that will impact other player's contracts which will see them unhappy or see the budget inflate out of control. You don't spend for the sake of spending because that limits potential future spending which might be more critical at the time.

a great post from someone a lot higher in the IQ department than me, even though I put something a little similar on the page before at the bottom. the thing is the 6 or 7 ENIC out posters never reply when you put a decent post in place. they have seen Chelsea buy trophies, they have seen City buy trophies, and don't realise that Arsenal, Man U and Liverpool where in the right place at the right time, and at a time when we had to pick our selves up from the gutter from the mess Scholar had left us in, and Sugar just wasn't the answer even though he brought in players we all loved "Klinsmann and Ginola", they forget that ENIC got us Bale, VdV, Modric, and the players we have today.

there are a lot of teams out there today that have tried to buy success and it has totally backfired in a big way, Leeds, Portsmouth, Newcastle, Blackburn and I'm sure there are others.

we all know that this window stood out as the biggest disaster of them all and yes there has been others, but not every rich club gets it right. Klopp has spent near on 500m in 2½ seasons, and yes he has been to 3 finals and lost them all, but getting to the finals they couldn't of had kinda draws in the ops they faced.

 

[Lighty64]

It's very simple. All Levy has to do is make a couple of solid investments in the team and fans would be on his side.

but he has in his time, not every club gets it right every year. even the Sheik took near on a billion to gain his 1st trophy.

who bought Bale, VdV, Modric, Eriksen, Lamela, Saldado, and others, who would of thought Saldado would turn out to be a flop?

with a 36k stadium you can't progress and pay players 150k-200k a week in wages to sit on the bench. we all know we needed a CM player this summer, but why would anyone pay 50m for a player that someone had only just paid 8m for, without any guarantee he would settle or even adjust to a different league

 

[daryl hannah]

a great post from someone a lot higher in the IQ department than me, even though I put something a little similar on the page before at the bottom. the thing is the 6 or 7 ENIC out posters never reply when you put a decent post in place. they have seen Chelsea buy trophies, they have seen City buy trophies, and don't realise that Arsenal, Man U and Liverpool where in the right place at the right time, and at a time when we had to pick our selves up from the gutter from the mess Scholar had left us in, and Sugar just wasn't the answer even though he brought in players we all loved "Klinsmann and Ginola", they forget that ENIC got us Bale, VdV, Modric, and the players we have today.

there are a lot of teams out there today that have tried to buy success and it has totally backfired in a big way, Leeds, Portsmouth, Newcastle, Blackburn and I'm sure there are others.

we all know that this window stood out as the biggest disaster of them all and yes there has been others, but not every rich club gets it right. Klopp has spent near on 500m in 2½ seasons, and yes he has been to 3 finals and lost them all, but getting to the finals they couldn't of had kinda draws in the ops they faced.

So best to not try at all? Right?

Nkoudou, Njie, Sissoko, Llorente, when you've just finished 3rd in the league? Are you serious, Daniel?

Now the highest ticket prices in Europe, and until that particular landmark we were almost as expensive as Arsenal prices.

Come off it.

 

[Lighty64]

So best to not try at all? Right?

Nkoudou, Njie, Sissoko, Llorente, when you've just finished 3rd in the league? Are you serious, Daniel?

Now the highest ticket prices in Europe, and until that particular landmark we were almost as expensive as Arsenal prices.

Come off it.

tell me a club that hasn't f'd up on transfers that cost a lot more than those

we have the highest prices because just like when Arsenal built their new stadium they had the highest prices. the highest % increases in the stadium was the East Stand, which had been near on half the price of the West stand because of 2 f'ing pillars that never even effected a massive % of fans.

what did you expect them to give them half again with just a small increase

edit: tell me 1 striker that would want to sit on the bench behind Kane

 

[LarryCatt]

So best to not try at all? Right?

Nkoudou, Njie, Sissoko, Llorente, when you've just finished 3rd in the league? Are you serious, Daniel?

Now the highest ticket prices in Europe, and until that particular landmark we were almost as expensive as Arsenal prices.

Come off it.

But if we don't have the money to compete for those top echelon players, what's your suggestion?

 

[Lighty64]

But if we don't have the money to compete for those top echelon players, what's your suggestion?

play FIFA or FM because you can do what you like on those

 

[daryl hannah]

edit: tell me 1 striker that would want to sit on the bench behind Kane

I can help you with this.

Liverpool have: Firmino, Sturridge
Chelsea have: Morata, Giroud
Utd have: Lukaku, Rashford, Martial, Sanchez
Arsenal have: Lacazette, Aubameyang
City have: Aguero, Jesus

 

[Lighty64]

I can help you with this.

Firmino, Sturridge
Morata, Giroud
Lukaku, Rashford, Martial, Sanchez
Lacazette, Aubameyang
Aguero, Jesus

not 1 of those would want to sit on the bench, some don't want to sit on the bench at the clubs they play for now

Firmino why would he sit on the bench when playing week in week out
Sturridge why would you sign someone that gets injured when he sneezes
Morata wants out because he want to play
Giroud went to Chelsea because he didn't want to sit on the bench
Lukaku why would he sit on the bench when playing week in week out
Rashford I would sign tomorrow, but he wouldn't want to swap 1 bench for another
Martial what has he achieved to even get on our bench
Sanchez yes he would love to sit on our bench for 600+k a week
neither of the goons would sit on our bench
Aguero if Dan had used that wheel borrow and took him hostage and it worked for us, Kane would of been playing somewhere else
Jesus he might be the best of them as he is used to it most weeks

all good strikers are at their best when playing regular, but not 1 on your list would join Spurs on the wages we used to pay

 

[daryl hannah]

not 1 of those would want to sit on the bench, some don't want to sit on the bench at the clubs they play for now

Firmino why would he sit on the bench when playing week in week out
Sturridge why would you sign someone that gets injured when he sneezes
Morata wants out because he want to play
Giroud went to Chelsea because he didn't want to sit on the bench
Lukaku why would he sit on the bench when playing week in week out
Rashford I would sign tomorrow, but he wouldn't want to swap 1 bench for another
Martial what has he achieved to even get on our bench
Sanchez yes he would love to sit on our bench for 600+k a week
neither of the goons would sit on our bench
Aguero if Dan had used that wheel borrow and took him hostage and it worked for us, Kane would of been playing somewhere else
Jesus he might be the best of them as he is used to it most weeks

all good strikers are at their best when playing regular, but not 1 on your list would join Spurs on the wages we used to pay

Where's the "Completely missed the point" rating?

 

[Lighty64]

Where's the "Completely missed the point" rating?

no I never missed the point, i'm pointing out fact, you won't pick up a class striker to sit on the bench, because they want to play. if they turn out better than Kane, then Kane won't want to sit on the bench, he will want to go elsewhere.

when you play for a team you dream of Wembley, CL and playing for your international team at a WC, and being the top player in your position, some put money ahead of everything. you don't get 1 of those dreams for certain if your sitting on the bench.

you tell me 1 single professional player out there that doesn't have a dream of 1 day representing your country, and playing in a WC. or wouldn't want to be in the starting XI in an FA Cup final, or playing in the CL (I said playing)

 

[Lighty64]

@daryl hannah like others when asked a simple question they always seem to ignore. I'm still awaiting your answer

tell me a club that hasn't f'd up on transfers that cost a lot more than those

 

[vegassd]

So best to not try at all? Right?

Nkoudou, Njie, Sissoko, Llorente, when you've just finished 3rd in the league? Are you serious, Daniel?

Now the highest ticket prices in Europe, and until that particular landmark we were almost as expensive as Arsenal prices.

Come off it.

I'm not sure why league position in any given season should affect the wage budget for the following season. The prize money jumps in the league are fairly small from what I've read, and they are made as a one-off payment to clubs (or however it's done) whereas wages for super star players are signed on a 4+ year basis usually.

Leicester won the league so why didn't they buy Ronaldo? Obviously because it isn't that simple, so don't make it out to be a simple task.

Also, you seem to have the idea that Levy is doing the player transfers completely off his own back without any conference with the manager or with the scouts. That isn't going to be the case and I imagine that you know it isn't the case as well. So asking "are you serious" is very much missing the complexity of the situation.

From what I understand of his role in transfers, Levy is the person who tries to structure any player deal in a way that isn't going to hamstring the club financially and have a negative impact in the mid to long term. I think he's been too conservative at times, Hazard in particular comes to mind. But he isn't playing FIFA for 8 hours a day to try and find the next N'koudou.

The highest ticket price statement you make is false... or at very best is a selective spin. I assume you are talking about the top-tier season ticket prices in the new stadium? Does it not make sense that season ticket prices for arguably the best stadium in the country should be amongst the most expensive in the country? It sucks to have to pay that much but it's the price of having top level facilities.

That loops back quite nicely to your first point about league position. By the implied logic that league position equates to money spent, it would seem that if we finish 3rd in the league in one season then our ticket prices should become the third most expensive the following season.

On the one hand you complain that the club don't spend enough on players (I think that's what your point was) but on the other hand you complain that the club take too much money from fans. How is the club meant to spend money without first taking the money? And think about the wages of new players and the knock-on effect that has on existing players when you consider an answer for that question.

So yeah, it's frustrating that we don't sign £50m players and yes it's an arse to have to pay so much to watch Spurs live, but that's the reality of having to grow a club to compete with the mega-money clubs. The full financial situation of the club is too complicated for you or I to fully understand I imagine, but we can surely do our best to avoid strange statements like "Are you serious, Daniel?"

 

[daryl hannah]

@daryl hannah like others when asked a simple question they always seem to ignore. I'm still awaiting your answer

tell me a club that hasn't f'd up on transfers that cost a lot more than those

For me, there's a difference between messing up on transfers, and actively shooting yourself in the foot.

Sissoko as you have agreed was a train wreck of a transfer - signed when we couldn't secure Zaha the weekend before. Sissoko and Zaha are very different players. Llorente - another deadline day special after we couldn't sign Keita Balde - again, very different players. Nkoudou - offered to us and scouted when Mitchell scouted Batshuayi. Janssen I don't begrudge other than he can't have been scouted that thoroughly other than looking at his stats as top scorer on a spreadsheet? Who knows? Njie is just a mystery. It is documented in a book called "The Deal" written by a superagent, that DL walks into the office on deadline day and says, "So, what are we doing today, then?" rubbing his hands together.

This isn't a strategy befitting of a CL club.

 

[daryl hannah]

I'm not sure why league position in any given season should affect the wage budget for the following season. The prize money jumps in the league are fairly small from what I've read, and they are made as a one-off payment to clubs (or however it's done) whereas wages for super star players are signed on a 4+ year basis usually.

Leicester won the league so why didn't they buy Ronaldo? Obviously because it isn't that simple, so don't make it out to be a simple task.

Also, you seem to have the idea that Levy is doing the player transfers completely off his own back without any conference with the manager or with the scouts. That isn't going to be the case and I imagine that you know it isn't the case as well. So asking "are you serious" is very much missing the complexity of the situation.

From what I understand of his role in transfers, Levy is the person who tries to structure any player deal in a way that isn't going to hamstring the club financially and have a negative impact in the mid to long term. I think he's been too conservative at times, Hazard in particular comes to mind. But he isn't playing FIFA for 8 hours a day to try and find the next N'koudou.

The highest ticket price statement you make is false... or at very best is a selective spin. I assume you are talking about the top-tier season ticket prices in the new stadium? Does it not make sense that season ticket prices for arguably the best stadium in the country should be amongst the most expensive in the country? It sucks to have to pay that much but it's the price of having top level facilities.

That loops back quite nicely to your first point about league position. By the implied logic that league position equates to money spent, it would seem that if we finish 3rd in the league in one season then our ticket prices should become the third most expensive the following season.

On the one hand you complain that the club don't spend enough on players (I think that's what your point was) but on the other hand you complain that the club take too much money from fans. How is the club meant to spend money without first taking the money? And think about the wages of new players and the knock-on effect that has on existing players when you consider an answer for that question.

So yeah, it's frustrating that we don't sign £50m players and yes it's an arse to have to pay so much to watch Spurs live, but that's the reality of having to grow a club to compete with the mega-money clubs. The full financial situation of the club is too complicated for you or I to fully understand I imagine, but we can surely do our best to avoid strange statements like "Are you serious, Daniel?"

Mate, the vast majority of our income is from the TV deal (£140m). The amount we pay to watch the team is relative to us being a premium product for entertainment consumption. Matchday revenue is what? £30m?

What's happened to the 2 to 3 seasons of CL cash? (£120m?)

I think my beef is that this team have appeared to be on the cusp of something special the last few years, and it may only have taken a couple of upgrades in key areas to get us over the line (in which areas is subjective). It's like the film, "The Cube." The cubes only arrange themselves in the right order every once in blue moon, and the time to strengthen is when you're strong. We have been strong. We haven't massively strengthened the team recently. Some fans are happy with that, others aren't. You have to pay the market rate.

 

[Lighty64]

For me, there's a difference between messing up on transfers, and actively shooting yourself in the foot.

Sissoko as you have agreed was a train wreck of a transfer - signed when we couldn't secure Zaha the weekend before. Sissoko and Zaha are very different players. Llorente - another deadline day special after we couldn't sign Keita Balde - again, very different players. Nkoudou - offered to us and scouted when Mitchell scouted Batshuayi. Janssen I don't begrudge other than he can't have been scouted that thoroughly other than looking at his stats as top scorer on a spreadsheet? Who knows? Njie is just a mystery. It is documented in a book called "The Deal" written by a superagent, that DL walks into the office on deadline day and says, "So, what are we doing today, then?" rubbing his hands together.

This isn't a strategy befitting of a CL club.

on Zaha he wanted to be paid the same as Kane, so kind of made it obvious he wouldn't be signed because he is nowhere near as valuable as Kane is, and I'm glad he never signed.

we needed a striker on the bench and Llorente was an option that worked for Swansea even when on the bench. when used surely Poch should be telling the team, that when he is on because we are chasing, put balls into the box for him, but we don't.

I remember chasing Balde, but to this day the reasons I believe was he didn't want to leave Italy

on youtube both N'Jie and N'Koudou looked pretty good, but both failed to work hard in training. N'Koudou looked good in the summer on tour

Batshuayi was annoying and decided to go to Chelsea for a bigger wage, but I'm sure they originally asked for 29m, then moved it to 34m. even though he is constantly on Loan, he wasn't happy being on the bench, and for the amount he did appear contributed very little for 34m

the book is by an agent, it doesn't make it true, and if he does it might just be his light hearted mojo of that day, and try to be funny on a stressful day. (don't believe everything you read).

I agree that our transfer strategy is crap in general, which makes it even more amazing we are in the position we have, and grown as a club. I wished Poch would back down on his DoF or someone to take control of transfers, and surely they could do it together and leave that stuff as far away from Levy apart from signing the cheques.

 

[coys200]

Tbh you can’t really berate our back striker signings. On paper janssen and llorente looked perfectly good buys. Janssen I think was 22 at time top striker in Dutch league and Holland’s no 9. And llorente was highly experienced and scored I believe 16 PL goals for Swansea. On paper there was nothing wrong with either of those signings. Also you can’t rely berate a signing like nkoudou. He was basically a cheap punt, much like dier and dele were. No club has 100% strike rate if you get 50% you are doing well. But i would say if we have serious ambitions we have gone beyond nkoudou type signings. Although I still think possibly 1 gamble signing a window in youth like foyth is worth it.

 

[spursfan77]

His statements are down right insulting. He's basically lecturing the supporters, saying that you can't make signings for the sake of it

Trouble is, a lot of supporters do want signings for the sake of it. You only have to see the transfer forum section every window to see that. Although funnily enough, I would actually say that this summer was probably the first time in ages that the majority of people knew we only needed a couple of players.

But he’s got his head in the sand if he thinks this summer was acceptable and the manager was happy with no signings or sales. That’s rubbish.

 

[phil]

yes you are a customer but sub standard? what a joke even 10 years ago you wouldn't put us as finishing in the top 3 for 3 consecutive seasons. our prices was high compared to those up north, but you have to take into account that the clubs up north had much bigger stadiums and have to take into account the difference people earn.

when he handed the keys over to mace he had no control, he only found out about the faults when it was near the end (a time when all we needed was a safety certificate), he was at fault for whatever reason for not keeping us at Wembley for a 2nd season. shame Mace never told him it was possible either, then he would of had no choice

Do you really believe that Levy only found out about the stadium problems at the end? If that was the case (which I doubt), it points to major incompetence on Levy's part. You state that only the safety certificate was needed and yet there was still a huge amount of work going on. It took a further two months after the delay was announced before the pitch was put in place. There was never any likelihood that the test events would take place on time. Don't believe everything that the club says.

I have worked on major infrastructure projects (£350m+) and the customers were all over us. We had some 30 client engineers embedded with our project teams and all project plans and milestones were examined in minute detail every week. Sure there were some delays in the project but the client knew about them as soon as they occurred. If Levy just handed over all responsibility to Mace without ensuring that they had same kind of project controls in place, then he was very naïve (not normally something said of Levy).

It helped Levy, that the announcement of the delay came after the season ticket sales were completed and he had access to that money. An earlier announcement would have affected ticket sales and cash flow.

Nobody is denying that Spurs are an extremely well-run club under Levy and ENIC's stewardship but let's not pretend this is out of a sense of altruism. Lewis and Levy are businessmen who are looking to make money out of Spurs (nothing wrong with that). Lewis has little interest in football and will sell as soon as somebody meets his asking price.

It will be interesting to see what happens with regards to the playing side. In the next 18 months, we are likely to lose Eriksen, Alderweireld, Dembele and Rose. To purchase players of similar quality could cost upwards of £200m. With the cost of the new stadium, that's not going to happen.

I believe that Levy has missed a number of opportunities, in recent windows, to update the squad at a 'reasonable' cost:

• At the time we sold Walker we were interested in signing Sancho. ITK suggested that Sancho was keen to join and that terms had been agreed. Would it not have been possible for Levy to refuse the Walker sale unless Sancho came the other way?
• We had a well-publicised interest in signing Ross Barkley and all the ITK said that he was keen to play under Poch. In Summer 2017, he even turned down a possible move to Chelsea after (allegedly) Poch's intervention. In January 2018 he joined Chelsea for £15m. It was said that we dropped out of the race due to doubts about his long-term fitness but it subsequently came out that Levy baulked at paying the agent's fee (£7m). £22m looks a pretty good deal in hindsight.
• The Grealish transfer was a complete fiasco. If we were going to recruit from the Championship (and with the knowledge that Eriksen had not signed a new contract) the obvious target was Maddison. He went to Leicester for c£22m. I suspect that the only reason that we went after Grealish was because Levy thought he could get him on the cheap due to Villa's financial plight.

Over the last ten seasons we have built a top quality squad at little net cost (we have the lowest net spend of any Premiership side). This has been achieved through a combination of some shrewd deals (yes, by Levy) and a bit of luck. Due to the influx of television money, it is no longer east to pick up bargains. The squad now needs serious investment and I just can't see Levy doing that.

 

[hakano]

an U and Liverpool where

no I never missed the point, i'm pointing out fact, you won't pick up a class striker to sit on the bench, because they want to play. if they turn out better than Kane, then Kane won't want to sit on the bench, he will want to go elsewhere.

when you play for a team you dream of Wembley, CL and playing for your international team at a WC, and being the top player in your position, some put money ahead of everything. you don't get 1 of those dreams for certain if your sitting on the bench.

you tell me 1 single professional player out there that doesn't have a dream of 1 day representing your country, and playing in a WC. or wouldn't want to be in the starting XI in an FA Cup final, or playing in the CL (I said playing)

Based on your post there would be no subs anywhere in the world. You do realise that at every game all across the world there a number of substitutes on the bench that consists of players who dream big. You buy players to challenge those in the first team and if they oust them then hooray - you have players playing for their place in the team and this raises levels just like the Trippier / Walker, Davies / Rose scenario.