Open letter from Levy

[tony0379]

Dam fucking straight.



Right. He's also the 'twat' that got us to 5th twice. But otherwise I agree with completely none of your post.

NO STOOFY Big Martin managed that.
even with some of the shit players comolli was throwing at him

 

[Stoof]

NO STOOFY Big Martin managed that.
even with some of the shit players comolli was throwing at him

And who made him manager?

 

[Max_Junglie]

I wouldn't mind being able to make all these mistakes, shift the blame elsewhere and still manage to collect a cool £950,000 a year salary.

you need a job in the financial sector then mate
:wink:

 

[arnoldlayne]

I wouldn't mind being able to make all these mistakes, shift the blame elsewhere and still manage to collect a cool £950,000 a year salary.

become an nhs chief exec

 

[Banjo]

Dam fucking straight.



Right. He's also the 'twat' that got us to 5th twice. But otherwise I agree with completely none of your post.

Come on Stoof! FFS!

Levy did preside over two fifth places, damn near a fouth place and CL football. But he then sacked the coach who did/helped (?) with that in the most humiliating and ignominious manner. He then appointed a head coach whose record, outside of two years at Seville, was pretty poor and whose performance was so dire at Spurs he (Levy) sacked (along with a few other scapegoats) without even a full season in charge.

Levy has been in charge at Spurs for nearly eight years and was involved in football before that. If he has appointed coaches, DoF who are not up to the mark Levy must take responsability for those appointments and their failures as well as any successes. When we had a coach who was successfull (Jol) the idiot (Levy) promptly sacked him! Where is the credibility in that?

:shrug:

mg:

Hey! 666 Posts! Wicked or what!

 

[jamesc0le]

:hello:

I first saw Levy's 'letter' on COYS.

I really thought it was a spoof (not Stoof)!

If it's not, I'll repeat what I said there.

It's the biggest load of self-justificatory bollocks ever written.

Levy has been in charge for eight years come next February. We now have had SEVEN managers and three DoF in this period.

Levy choose to sack Graham after he (Levy) had been one month in charge, just before a league cup semi-final - despite the fact that under Graham we had won the competition and got UEFA cup football in 99.

Then Levy instigated the Head Coach/DoF system - which he now seems to admit was a mistake. As Head Coaches we have since had Hoddle, Pleat, Santini, Jol, Ramos and (if I'm not hallucinating) Rednapp and Pleat, Arneson and Commolli as DoF. Spurs Since 57 has noted that we've had 40 players bought in the last four years for the first team squad - not to mention some crazy sales like Teemu and Steed.

Levy took over a middle of the league side with League Cup and UEFA ambitions/success. He sacked, in a disgraceful manner our most successful manager, in terms of the league, for decades. Last season what was essentially Jol's team won the league cup again and finished mid-table. Basically where Levy came in. He, Ramos and Commolli then presided over the break up of that team.

And here we are again - but NO! Now firmly at the bottom of the league, and a bigger joke than the Barcodes Levy is sacking the first team management again and talking about 'we' have made mistakes!

But Levy's not a novice at football management, he was involved with Rangers, AEK etc: and has been the Chair/CEO at Spurs for nearly EIGHT years. If he can't identify good advisors by now he's a clutz!

This sack and blame everyone else is wearing very thin.

Don't get me wrong. I hope to God that Harry can save us from the drop etc:. My point is that this whole comedy of the absurd has one underlying factor. Daniel Levy. Until he's gone I believe Spurs will never be a major footballing force again. People claim he's a good businessman - but when he's reduced 'the product' to a laughing stock and has shown the managerial skills of Captain Bligh I can only hope that he will one day stop trying to bullshit us - and fall on his own sword.

:hello:

my thoughts exactly banjo.. the fact that the letter resembles a spoof is testament to the content not being very credible.

he even claims to have sold keane ''reluctantly'' when the sale of keane fits into his business model perfectly!!

if he had been genuine in his acceptance of responsibility of the situation, if he had cited that hindsight had shown sacking jol was a big mistake, that he had been unrealistic in his aspirations for fast-track CL football, admitted that he had been badly advised, he would have gained some credibility.

as it stands, this letter is an unacceptable ''explanation'' of recent events.

 

[flatback4]

Jeez...what do you expect the guy to say ffs ?
'Dear Spurs Fans...
I've fucked it up again, but shit happens.
Yrs in Sport
Dan'

He's put forward his point of view. I actually think some of it makes sense. The club's on a sound financial footing and if any of us had been offered 3 yrs straight Euro football and the LC a couple of yrs back, we'd have rolled over like a bitch in heat and taken it.

Who would you rather have running THFC ? A bent Thai ? A few clueless Americans ? A Russian who one day will get bored and go home ? Watch how things crumble at certain clubs when the rich backers pull out. Give Levy a break.

 

[Petyr]

Open letter from the Chairman, Daniel Levy


Dear Supporter,

How quickly things change in football. Our pre-season form, our start to the transfer window and early summer signings had everyone optimistic for the season ahead. The last few days of that window and our poor start to the season has seen all that change. This has been a difficult period for the Club and many questions are being asked and much criticism levelled. I should like to update you on some important developments announced a short while ago, to answer some of your questions and also to outline our thinking as we look to improve our current position going forward.

We have faced many key challenges as we have progressed over the last few seasons and we have had to take important decisions at crucial times - without the wonderful benefit of hindsight and always under full public scrutiny. As such, they have been judgement calls. Some of our decisions and judgements may at times be unpopular with our fans but we always take decisions we believe to be in the best interests of our Club, at the time we make them, and for the right reasons. In many cases, it is simply not possible or practical for all of the factors involved to enter the public domain and I do understand that this can alter or impair the perception of why something has or hasn't been done.

Today, as formally announced by the Club, I have made one such important judgement call and in doing so I have taken some very difficult decisions. Relieving Juande Ramos, our Head Coach, and Juande's assistants, Gus Poyet and Marcos Alvarez, of their posts is not something I have undertaken lightly.

Unfortunately, our record of just three League wins since our memorable Carling Cup victory against Chelsea last February, combined with our extremely poor start to the season, led the Board and I to determine that significant change was necessary as a matter of urgency. We are grateful to Juande, Gus and Marcos for all their hard work - they are incredibly professional, committed individuals and I regret that their time in the Premier League has not gone as well as we had all hoped.

The English Premier League is an unforgiving competition - time was no longer on our side and was a luxury we simply could not afford. We have quite clearly not performed to the best of our ability for many months now and our poor run of form is not something we could allow to continue unchecked.

In appointing Harry Redknapp as our new manager, we are delighted to have secured the services of someone we have long since admired and whose track record and knowledge of all levels of football, including importantly the Premier League, is outstanding. I know Harry is relishing the opportunity of managing a Club he knows well, not least from his son Jamie's time here as a player and Captain, and of re-invigorating and restoring confidence to a squad of highly talented international players. With his great knowledge of the game and his excellent motivational skills, Harry has inspired his teams to consistently over-perform, whilst his preferred attacking style of playing the game sits comfortably with our Club's history, heritage and the type of entertaining football our fans want and expect to see.

We have spent around £175m on new players over the last 3 years. The purchasing of players is a critical aspect of our Club and, given our current position, it is essential that we go into the January transfer window with absolute confidence in the advice being offered to the Board. Following a meeting of the Directors and a full review of our football management structure, I can also inform you that Damien Comolli has left the Club with immediate effect. Damien will not be directly replaced.

In my opinion, and with the benefit that comes with running our Club with and without a Sporting Director in the past seven years, the successful management of a football club is not about structures or job titles. As in most businessess, it's about people: their personal qualities, their knowledge, their experience, their relationships, communication skills, interaction with colleagues, leadership and, of course, their ability.

In Harry, we are also accepting with his appointment that now is the right time for us to move back to a more traditional style of football management at our Club. one which we believe will be capable of initiating our climb back up the Premiership table and to maintaining our challenge in the UEFA, Carling and FA Cup competitions.

However, I should stress that we are not in this current position because of any single factor or any one individual. Human nature often dictates the need to find someone or something to blame, but in these circumstances we need all our energies to be directed instead to supporting the team and improving our League position. Nothing else matters at this time.

That said, and without dwelling too much on last summer, I do also want to take this opportunity to address some of the other concerns you have raised. Many of the questions I have been asked and much of the reasoning for our poor start to the season has centred on our striker options. I do not believe this to be the sole reason, but I do feel it is important to set out the facts once again regarding the sale of two popular and talented strikers: Keane and Berbatov.

Robbie Keane's departure was undoubtedly the shock of the summer. I personally had an excellent relationship with Robbie and he was one player that I always thought would end his career at the Club. I know you all felt the same. I was as disappointed as any of you when he informed me that he wanted to join what he described as his favourite boyhood club. Against this background and despite his obvious professionalism, our coaching staff felt that it would be very difficult to expect Robbie to continue to be such a positive influence in our dressing room when he so clearly wanted to leave us. The decision to sell Robbie was therefore not a financial one, although in such circumstances it was vital for our Club to secure the maximum possible value for a player of Robbie's ability.

The sale of Dimitar was an entirely different matter. Dimitar first intimated to Martin Jol that he wanted to join Manchester United after just on season at our Club - and just 10 days before the end of the summer 2007 transfer window. At that time, the coaching staff's preference was to let Dimitar go and for us to replace him. This was not something I would allow - at any price - as I felt that Dimitar's request was completely unreasonable. From that moment on, we obviously knew we had an issue and we spent many hours over the course of the season that followed trying to persuade Dimitar to stay. I rebuffed a number of approaches from clubs , including Manchester United, this May and again in early July. Despite press stories to the contrary, there was no extended period of negotiation with Manchester United and their July offer of £20m was not increased until they contacted us again in the last few days of the transfer window.

[CONTINUED IN NEXT POST ...]

To put it otherwise: Dear fans, your beloved Martin Jol wanted to sell Berbatov as early as August 2007 but I was against it. I'm a good man, right?

 

[kingofspurs]

Levy is saying that people are more important than management structures - which is very true and something I've been banging on about for ages. Levy wrote:

Fine. I totally agree with Levy's comments.

However, whatever structure we had in place, we'd sold three top strikers in two transfer windows and needed to sign at least two top strikers to balance the squad. And we didn't. We signed one (tired) Russian striker, and a loan player who's totally unproven in the Premiership.

If we weren't "decisive" enough (in Levy's own words) in signing the new strikers we needed, then the Gang of Four are responsible.

Yanno - absolutely agree. Although Levy has done much good for the club, he has accountability for getting us into this mess due to his determining role in our transfer dealings. Not getting two top strikers when we had most of the summer to do so is the longest in a line of failures stretching back years in our transfer dealings.

I like Levy and think the letter was a positive step - but much more mismanagement of our on-field activities, and his position may no longer be tenable.

 

[Wsussexspur]

I have been bit of a critic of Levy over past month or so and I still do hold him to blame for some of the mess we are in. However that letter was open and frank and I think has cleared some of the issues up. Its time now to put all our issues aside with Levy and get behind Harry and the boys cause we are in a fight and they are going to need all our support in the next 6 months or so!

 

[flatback4]

I have been bit of a critic of Levy over past month or so and I still do hold him to blame for some of the mess we are in. However that letter was open and frank and I think has cleared some of the issues up. Its time now to put all our issues aside with Levy and get behind Harry and the boys cause we are in a fight and they are going to need all our support in the next 6 months or so!

:clap:

 

[kingofspurs]

Its time now to put all our issues aside with Levy and get behind Harry and the boys cause we are in a fight and they are going to need all our support in the next 6 months or so!

Definitely - let's get behind the team!

 

[nidge]

I still like Levy.

FTL are seething.

Sorry meant to ask earlier but what exactly are the people on FTL upset about?

 

[robin09]

BBC 5 Live's John Motson has just been chatting to Daniel Levy and reports that there may be another statement from the Spurs chairman, who is apparently in "humble" mood. Motty continues: "I believe Spurs could be sold in the near future, so the whole thing is very fluid."

 

[Bill_Oddie]

I'm gobsmacked that anyone could find fault with that statement.

Put yourself in his position. What would you have said? What should he have said?

NOw, rethink baring in mind the need to appease fans, stakeholders and not make us look like utter ****s to the rest of the world. Also, to protect clauses in contracts for members of staff (players and managers) who have left us. His hands are tied yet he still comes up with something pretty humble and informative.

The only shame is that it takes seismic events for Levy to make such positive, impressive statements.

 

[rich75]

good letter I thought, open, sounds honest to me and to be fair he's absolutely right concerning what the club has achieved in the last few years and the fact that it's not likely to go bust any time soon. Also to change what was his pet project of having a DOF overnight and go whole heartedll into having a traditional setup suggests that he's able to admit he got it wrong.

 

[tony0379]

I'm gobsmacked that anyone could find fault with that statement.

Put yourself in his position. What would you have said? What should he have said?

NOw, rethink baring in mind the need to appease fans, stakeholders and not make us look like utter ****s to the rest of the world. Also, to protect clauses in contracts for members of staff (players and managers) who have left us. His hands are tied yet he still comes up with something pretty humble and informative.

The only shame is that it takes seismic events for Levy to make such positive, impressive statements.

yeah but Bill he should of never put us in taht situation in the first place mate.

 

[Jody]

BBC 5 Live's John Motson has just been chatting to Daniel Levy and reports that there may be another statement from the Spurs chairman, who is apparently in "humble" mood. Motty continues: "I believe Spurs could be sold in the near future, so the whole thing is very fluid."

I think this is more likely to be the stadium announcement hinted at earlier. He wouldn't have been so open if he were about to sell.

 

[Mullers]

Levy on five live now

 

[$hoguN]

im with Bill Oddie here everyone who is picking holes in that statement are idiots pure and simple...