Levy - The ball's in his court

[SpursManChris]

I think, when we are analysing the club, we really need to always keep in mind that Levy is in total control, he dictates the vision for the team through his actions. I know many of you do have this in mind and it could be argued that he is unfairly scrutinised by many alot of the time. Financially, he has done wonders for the club, we can all agree on that. I'm in the boat that he has played a significant part in where we have gotten. But for me, how we turn it around January onwards is largely up to him.

Levy wants Champions League football. He has stressed that the club is very ambitious. In regards to the upcoming transfer window, if he continues to stick to the 'youth policy' , allowing Commoli to buy unproven youth, then it would surely seem like he's not being serious about getting the club to that next level. The 'youth policy' is a great system when it works but for the moment they really need to stay away from it. Some of you might say that the transfers side of things is none of his concern, that he is a businessman and that's it, he's only interested in the money. Now, I know chairmen are renowned for not having the slightest clue about football, but I think Levy would know more than most. For starters, he's English. I would like think he's not ALL business ALL of the time, but takes a great deal of interest in the game itself. I mean, he was a Spurs fan all his life wasn't he? And he's not an idiot, it's simple. Either you go for seemingly promising but largely unproven youth, or you go for proven older talent, who have the experience.

The fact is, Levy IS a businessman, but businessmen look a numbers and the numbers Levy looks at in terms of the team are the numbers on the full time score line each game. And he can't be liking those numbers at the moment.
When Levy tells Comolli to jump, guess what Comolli says. If he tells Comolli to start to look for experience he will do it. The ball's in his court. But I really hope it wouldn't have to come to that, having Levy coming into it like that. Surely Comolli will realise that this has not worked and that some experience NEEDS to be injected into the team and fast to get the balance right. I'd also like to hope that Ramos will be given the the majority of the say with the first team signings, not like when Jol was in charge and got ignored. With Ramos's identity in the world game and his Spanish connections, you'd hope Comolli will work with him effectively. I don't think Ramos will willingly sit in a corner somewhere anyway. It going to be VERY interesting to see what happens in January and I for one will reserve my judgement on Levy after that.

 

[41john]

An Interesting view, and i agree to some extent that Levys decisions are important, as he and comolli are part of the buy young scheme that we currently operate.

However, lets looks at the team, do we need to improve the way we go forward? probably not, we score enough as it is. do we need to defend better? yes, but with 3 key Centre backs coming back from injury that should solve that.

I admit our midfield needs to improve, and that we need someone who is experienced about 26/27, but who will we get in january, not a lot, i think we have to wait til the end of season personally.

You say Levy is a spurs fan, but so is Spursking (supposedly, i think he is a secret gooner) and if he managed the team, we would be fucked.

I Hope they wont look at all signings and think of future value, obviously this makes sense to do this often, but not with every signing, occasionally we are just gonna have to take a hit and buy someone in there peak, and willing to run him into the ground and sell them for a pittance. just not so sure they will do that?

 

[Damian99]

If he wants to make money, then a highest finish possible in the league and good cup runs generate money, alot more probably than the sale of one player, we paid shit for some season earlier.

If he buys the right players, the ones that Ramos wants, irrespective of age and Ramos puts us into the CL then who cares what age they are, or what we can sell them on for?. Thats where the mula is.

 

[nickspurs]

If he wants to make money, then a highest finish possible in the league and good cup runs generate money, alot more probably than the sale of one player, we paid shit for some season earlier.

If he buys the right players, the ones that Ramos wants, irrespective of age and Ramos puts us into the CL then who cares what age they are, or what we can sell them on for?. Thats where the mula is.

Agreed. That really is the bottom line....... The gamble nearly paid off when we came fifth on the last game of the season. I just don't think we can do that again on youth so you have to take a few risks. There is a middle strategy between inspired youth signings a la Wenger and Leeds United implosion. If you can't successfully replicate Wenger's recruitment & nurture policy then you have to take some potential write-downs.

 

[SpursManChris]

If you can't successfully replicate Wenger's recruitment & nurture policy...

Yeah, I think Comolli thinks we're Arsenal.

 

[SpursManChris]

If you can't successfully replicate Wenger's recruitment & nurture policy...

Yeah, I think Comolli thinks we're Arsenal.

 

[jimbo]

Well, assuming that we did make an approach for Riquelme it would seem we are prepared to bring in players with experience.

 

[SpursManChris]

Well, assuming that we did make an approach for Riquelme it would seem we are prepared to bring in players with experience.

It'd take a bit more than that to convince me, personally. I'd really like to hope experience is the game plan now.

 

[Bobishism]

Rocha.
Zokora.
Malbranque.

Do these players count?

 

[yiddotilidie]

They need to let the one with the most football knowledge i.e. Ramos make the majority of the football decisions which relate to the first team - thast our best chance of ever getting back to 5th let alone top four.

Let the snake Commoli (who i dont rate by the way) take full responsibility of the youth structure etc, but dont let him make the decisions on the first team FFS - who is he?

 

[General Levy]

Rocha.
Zokora.
Malbranque.

Do these players count?

IMO, Malbranque has been excellent since Ramos has taken over.

 

[BoringOldFan]

Levy has destroyed this season and probably set us back three years. If he believed Jol should go he should have done it in the summer. The Seville fiasco dragged on for three months and look at the results.

 

[LSUY]

IMO, Malbranque has been excellent since Ramos has taken over.

Malbranque was playing well under Jol at the start of the season.

Some of you might say that the transfers side of things is none of his concern, that he is a businessman and that's it, he's only interested in the money. Now, I know chairmen are renowned for not having the slightest clue about football, but I think Levy would know more than most. For starters, he's English. I would like think he's not ALL business ALL of the time, but takes a great deal of interest in the game itself. I mean, he was a Spurs fan all his life wasn't he?

The problem is Levy doesn't own the club, Joe Lewis does. If Lewis tells Levy to do something he has to do it or he's gone. That is why I don't trust ENIC and the Tavistock Group. Most of these organisations care only about value and profit. They want a new stadium, a big fan base, an ever improving young squad and champions league football which means they can add another £100m to the club price tag.

It doesn't matter if Levy is a lifelong Spurs fan, Joe Lewis is the man with the real power. He can sell the club whenever he wants and he has made it perfectly clear in the past that we are nothing more than a business investment as his real passion is golf.

 

[dannythomas]

Malbranque was playing well under Jol at the start of the season.



The problem is Levy doesn't own the club, Joe Lewis does. If Lewis tells Levy to do something he has to do it or he's gone. That is why I don't trust ENIC and the Tavistock Group. Most of these organisations care only about value and profit. They want a new stadium, a big fan base, an ever improving young squad and champions league football which means they can add another £100m to the club price tag.

It doesn't matter if Levy is a lifelong Spurs fan, Joe Lewis is the man with the real power. He can sell the club whenever he wants and he has made it perfectly clear in the past that we are nothing more than a business investment as his real passion is golf.

Interesting that most of the Prem League buy- outs have taken the Clubs forward- Manure, Chelski, Liverpool, Mancity, Villa., Portsmouth, Reading. Even L'Arse was sort of taken over. In all of those cases bar Villa ( and they were desparate for anyone after Deadly Doug ) there were initial fears from fans . Those fears have proved unfounded. If ENIC did sell out there is no reason whatsoever that we too would not benefit from a huge injection of cash. Unfortunately ENIC / Levy's dogmatic transfer policy is commendable in theory but in fact is sadly flawed. These things have a kind of natural momentum- Sugar came in when we were bankrupt and turned it around financially but not on the pitch. ENIC has made money available and that showed on the pitch. But maybe they too lack the nous needed to move us on another level.

 

[Bus-Conductor]

It's not a case of lacking nous, it is that the top 4 have been the top 4 for a very long time. They have far greater resources at their disposal and are a far more attractive proposition to prospective targets than any other team.

The only other way to do it is to litterally buy your way there, but that costs hundreds of millions, and the spectre of Leeds looms over anybody trying to do it that way without the spend being underwritten by an oligarch or ex-dictator.

Levy is trying to do it a third way, loosely based arouns Arsenal's or Ajax's model. Precure the best young talent possible and hope that as many as possible turn into the world beaters of the future. They also buy in older players at the right price/wage structure (Berbatov, Zokora, himbonda, Davids, Naybet, Malbranque, lee etc).

It is easy to understand the approach Levy/the board have taken so far. It is, without doubt, the best sustainable method of growth/success.

And this approach has yielded us exponential success and growth as a club and business but there are those that think that unless Levy alters that formula (at least a little) we will never make that ultimate leap.

I think that it is possible to achieve it without stepping outside the strategy but it is very, very difficult and would require Comoli & Ramos to be absoloutely fantastic at their jobs and even then a big chunk of luck.

Ultimately, it is clear that any team needs good defenders (all over the pitch and not just in defence) and we are definately short all over the pitch. This can be rectified a little by the coach instructing attackers and midfielders on how to defend as a team but, regardless of this we still have poor defenders at the heart of our defence.

So regardless of whether we need to change strategy, what we desperately need is quality, experienced defeders (at least one CB) to marshall our defence and probably a "Davids" type to protect the defence.

Should be easy eh.

 

[justfookinhitit]

Interesting that most of the Prem League buy- outs have taken the Clubs forward- Manure, Chelski, Liverpool, Mancity, Villa., Portsmouth, Reading. Even L'Arse was sort of taken over. In all of those cases bar Villa ( and they were desparate for anyone after Deadly Doug ) there were initial fears from fans . Those fears have proved unfounded. If ENIC did sell out there is no reason whatsoever that we too would not benefit from a huge injection of cash. Unfortunately ENIC / Levy's dogmatic transfer policy is commendable in theory but in fact is sadly flawed. These things have a kind of natural momentum- Sugar came in when we were bankrupt and turned it around financially but not on the pitch. ENIC has made money available and that showed on the pitch. But maybe they too lack the nous needed to move us on another level.

They have taken the clubs forward in the short term, but there are concerns at Manure about the debt they have taken on, Arsenal are only able to pay the interest on their debt and we are yet to see what will happen with Man Shitty et al. These buyouts have been fine early on because they have injected cash into the club that wouldn't otherwise be available, but when the owners start to look for their return on that investment in 2-3 years that is when the problems might well arise.

I would love for the fans to do with spurs what Barcelona and Real Madrid have done. The rumours are that Levy et al are looking for £400m for spurs when they come to sell - if we could find 200,000 fans with £2k each we could buy the club. I'd be in like a shot.

 

[SpursManChris]

It's not a case of lacking nous, it is that the top 4 have been the top 4 for a very long time. They have far greater resources at their disposal and are a far more attractive proposition to prospective targets than any other team.

The only other way to do it is to litterally buy your way there, but that costs hundreds of millions, and the spectre of Leeds looms over anybody trying to do it that way without the spend being underwritten by an oligarch or ex-dictator.

Levy is trying to do it a third way, loosely based arouns Arsenal's or Ajax's model. Precure the best young talent possible and hope that as many as possible turn into the world beaters of the future. They also buy in older players at the right price/wage structure (Berbatov, Zokora, himbonda, Davids, Naybet, Malbranque, lee etc).

It is easy to understand the approach Levy/the board have taken so far. It is, without doubt, the best sustainable method of growth/success.

And this approach has yielded us exponential success and growth as a club and business but there are those that think that unless Levy alters that formula (at least a little) we will never make that ultimate leap.

I think that it is possible to achieve it without stepping outside the strategy but it is very, very difficult and would require Comoli & Ramos to be absoloutely fantastic at their jobs and even then a big chunk of luck.

Ultimately, it is clear that any team needs good defenders (all over the pitch and not just in defence) and we are definately short all over the pitch. This can be rectified a little by the coach instructing attackers and midfielders on how to defend as a team but, regardless of this we still have poor defenders at the heart of our defence.

So regardless of whether we need to change strategy, what we desperately need is quality, experienced defeders (at least one CB) to marshall our defence and probably a "Davids" type to protect the defence.

Should be easy eh.

Good points. My post wasn't really about completely altering the strategy Levy & Comolli have put in place, I guess it could be viewed that way because it doesn't really say. I was really referring to this Janurary and the window following it when experience really has to be injected into the team. Altering it completely would make no sence because ovbiously buying youth is a great idea when it works. They just have to get that balance right because at the moment they don't. And there's no point in waiting around because the team needs to start to build around 'balanced' squad now in preperation for hopeful Champions League football down the track.

 

[TopSpurMan]

Levy has destroyed this season and probably set us back three years. If he believed Jol should go he should have done it in the summer. The Seville fiasco dragged on for three months and look at the results.

well said

 

[WhiteHart4Ever]

I would love for the fans to do with spurs what Barcelona and Real Madrid have done. The rumours are that Levy et al are looking for £400m for spurs when they come to sell - if we could find 200,000 fans with £2k each we could buy the club. I'd be in like a shot.

I am in. I belive we could attract great players just by being that sort of club. However, can we find 200,000 spurs fans willing to put that sort of money on the table?

And, one of the success criteria for Barca in particular is that they are such a great (in size) club. Kids are members from they are born, they have lots of different sports, and focuses on supplying sport activities to children aswell. This creates a feeling and connection to the club that is very different from what we have at Spurs today...

Furthermore, they rely on directors willing to go in with the cash without getting a profit. Could we find such directors? Would Levy/Lewis have done what they are doing if they didnt get a profit from it?