Panic Mr Mainwaring...........

[andyp8080]

the season starts 2 weeks tomorrow and our squad is not even close to complete

what started like it might be a good transfer window is coming down to the same old shit

even if players arrive in the next week we will not be ready for Newcastle

anyone else getting increasingly worried?

 

[Colonel Dax]

Yes

 

[Damian99]

Yes i've just shit.

 

[nedley]

the season starts 2 weeks tomorrow and our squad is not even close to complete

what started like it might be a good transfer window is coming down to the same old shit

even if players arrive in the next week we will not be ready for Newcastle

anyone else getting increasingly worried?

Yes I am getting worried. However if we sign a couple of attacking players by next week (inc striker) I shall be a very happy man and at that stage I would declare it a very satisfactory window thus far.

Would it surprise me if we start against Newcastle with the same squad that we have now?

Not one bit.

 

[WalkerboyUK]

Ask me after the Watford game, when I've see how we shape up......
At the moment I'm not panicking as such, just annoyed that once again we're leaving deals late.

Thing is, with the exception of Arsenal, has anyone in the PL done any deals???
Apart from not having Adebayor, as it stands, we aren't really weaker than we were last season.
We've effectively got 3 new defenders with Vertonghen signing and Caulker & Naughton being back from loan spells and looking to push for a place in the squad.
We've also added Gylfi in midfield and Townsend is playing well at the moment.

 

[TriXed]

Ask me after the Watford game, when I've see how we shape up......
At the moment I'm not panicking as such, just annoyed that once again we're leaving deals late.

Thing is, with the exception of Arsenal, has anyone in the PL done any deals???
Apart from not having Adebayor, as it stands, we aren't really weaker than we were last season.
We've effectively got 3 new defenders with Vertonghen signing and Caulker & Naughton being back from loan spells and looking to push for a place in the squad.
We've also added Gylfi in midfield and Townsend is playing well at the moment.

Cheski have done a fair bit of business!!

As for being worried, I really think there will be some movement soon. AVB and Levy want this to go well and will be doing EVERYTHING to make it happen. So I'm not worried.... just yet

 

[Damian99]

In all seriousness we have to splash the cash on a striker. We may well be looking for a keeper as well, but i would be less worried about having to start the season with Brad than i would about the striking options right now.

 

[JimmyG2]

We're two decent players to the good,
which is two players of whatever quality more than we usual are at this stage
Levy is getting off on being the main man in the Modric saga
so with any luck he'll overplay his hand and Modric will stay.
City have more strikers than a box of Swan Vestas so that is likely to go our way.
Just one from the three hundred strikers we've been linked with
and the job's a good un.
Worried? Of course I'm worried, I'm a Tottenham fan.

 

[Stavrogin]

Adebayor and Parker fitted in immediately, same with young Van der Vaart. As long as we sign someone it'll be fine. Hell, we've surely got the chops to maul Newcastle, reading, West Bromwich-ham and the North Wic as is. Long enough for any last minute newbz to settle in.

Relax guy - they can't not sign anyone, can they?

 

[talkshowhost86]

It's a bit concerning, particularly as there are some fairly key areas where we still look very light (striker and Modric replacement to name but two). But there are still two weeks to go, most other teams haven't done much more than us and we've needed the time for AVB to see the current squad before making any rash decisions.

It'll all be okay...I hope.

 

[sloth]

the season starts 2 weeks tomorrow and our squad is not even close to complete

what started like it might be a good transfer window is coming down to the same old shit

even if players arrive in the next week we will not be ready for Newcastle

anyone else getting increasingly worried?

Thanks for starting this thread because it's a good excuse to get something off my chest...

The point is that "the same old shit", is the only possible way for us to do it!!

In the 11 years since Levy took - over 11 years of the same old shit - our squad, and our prospects are improved dramatically.

And yet every window people get all hari-kari about it.

This site honestly offers a snap-shot of why the world keeps fucking up all the time. People can't see the forest for bumping into and moaning about the fucking trees.

Anyway, a simple home truth... Out of six clubs with ambitions to win the League, we are the poorest...

But how do we get better than those clubs? By finding better players than them. How do we do that when our budget is £30m a season less than our nearest rival, and around half that of the top three clubs?

A follow up question, how do you just get business done early in the window? Answer: you pay the asking price. But what is the asking price for a "Buy-it-Now" player? It is whatever the selling club thinks they can get for him, plus the premium to cover whatever they think they could possibly get for him if they wait for the market to play itself out. So if we think a player is worth £20m, the seller thinks he's worth £25m, then the "But-it-Now" price is £28m.

I swear some people have never haggled in their life, or if they have they've gone in with what they think is a reasonable offer, and hoped the guy they're bargaining with is as clueless as they are!

Even were we to offer £25m, in the above scenario, the selling club would just lick its lips, now it's got a minimum fall-back price, and then use it to try and drum up business elsewhere. If they eventually agreed to sell at that price, that's the final signal for the big boys to come in and gazump us by a couple of million, plus better wages, plus a promise of a greater chance of glory.

So how the fuck can we ever hope to beat our rivals then????

By being a better horse trader than they are. By getting every ounce of value out of the cash we have. Be that by investing in a training facility, or in a top coach who can develop our younger players, in securing great sponsorship deals, looking for new investment, planning to increase revenues through building a larger stadium, or by being clever in the transfer market.

We aren't the lions on the Serengeti, at best we're the Leopard or the Cheetah. We're not chasing many off of their prey, but we're always in danger of having our own kill stolen from beneath our noses. Levy is the canniest leopard of the lot. He's sneaky, devious and ruthless. He'll wait up in that tree, while the sun goes down, rises, sets and rises again. When the lions have all gone home, or eaten their fill, when all the other leopards have given up, he'll still be waiting there, unblinking. And if the end of the window comes, and the right prey hasn't come buy, he'll slink down from that tree and go off and plot his next hunt. But if it does come by... well it should be a good feed and worth the wait.

At least in general that's the idea.

Back to the woods and the trees thing. The wood is the 12 years since Levy took the helm - where our club is now to where it was then in comparison to our rivals. The trees are this particular window. The proof that what Levy's doing this window and every other one on the whole has been the correct approach can be seen in the quality of our wood. The reason that it's wrong to fuss about individual trees is that the wood looks good.

That's all.

 

[stemark44]

Let's look at the facts then.
ENIC took control of Spurs in February 2001 and they have run a tight and steady ship.
They are a great bunch of Accountants and they have penny pinched their way to mediocre success.
Everyone seems happy with them because throughout their tenure there hasn't been a muttering of discontent.
During this time we have won 1 trophy!
A League Cup in 2008.
The crazy thing is..........we were actually more successful in the 10 years before they came,winning an FA Cup in 1991 and a League Cup in 1999.

 

[sloth]

Let's look at the facts then.
ENIC took control of Spurs in February 2001 and they have run a tight and steady ship.
They are a great bunch of Accountants and they have penny pinched their way to mediocre success.
Everyone seems happy with them because throughout their tenure there hasn't been a muttering of discontent.
During this time we have won 1 trophy!
A League Cup in 2008.
The crazy thing is..........we were actually more successful in the 10 years before they came,winning an FA Cup in 1991 and a League Cup in 1999.

And we were more successful in the decade before that too!

 

[StartingPrice]

Nope.
Not worried.
Why?

1) Insofar as I can remember, Levy all backs his managers in their first Summer - kinda like, I'll get you the players, you mould them into a team, but I won't keep on spending like this, just opportune high-class additions, and the occasional necessity. For the rest I expect you to make the players you have better and efective in a team, and strengthen through the youth system. So I fully expect Levy to buy a few players.

2) I do not for one second believe that AVB, after his experience last season*, would have walked into a high pressure job where he wasn't going to be given the players he felt he needed.
*I, for one, believe that RA absolutely promised AVB Luka Modric last Summer - and then failed to deliver. And LM was exactly what that Chelsea team needed last season. I don't think he wuold allow that to happen again.

3) The market is far more complex and complicated than all of the moaners seem to realise. We are just waiting on Madrid stumping up for LM. When they do, we will be able to act with more freedom in the market - and, again, I firmly believe that this will include a Modric replacement (quite possibly Moutinho).

4) I strongly suspect that the striking situation has got to this state because Levy resolved to rectify the situation, but, like with the inovations that he did a lot of research on, after sacking GHodd, before taking action, I think he just doesn't want to buy a load of duffers that wouldn't be wanted by a new manager, at quite a but of expense. Because of the situation with Hairy RatKnip, I think he ahs delayed revamping the strikeforce, but now is the time to do it, and he will do it. Besides, it is inconceivible that he won't buy any sttrikers <SP PRAYS FERVENTLY, WITH AN EDGE OF PANIC ON VOISE>

5) Reputable ITK would be telling us not to worry so much on this front...if I was able to go onto the Forum, that is

And what Slothio said.

 

[StartingPrice]

Let's look at the facts then.
ENIC took control of Spurs in February 2001 and they have run a tight and steady ship.
They are a great bunch of Accountants and they have penny pinched their way to mediocre success.
Everyone seems happy with them because throughout their tenure there hasn't been a muttering of discontent.
During this time we have won 1 trophy!
A League Cup in 2008.
The crazy thing is..........we were actually more successful in the 10 years before they came,winning an FA Cup in 1991 and a League Cup in 1999.

A thoroughly ludicrous argument.

 

[robbiedee]

Thanks for starting this thread because it's a good excuse to get something off my chest...

The point is that "the same old shit", is the only possible way for us to do it!!

In the 11 years since Levy took - over 11 years of the same old shit - our squad, and our prospects are improved dramatically.

And yet every window people get all hari-kari about it.

This site honestly offers a snap-shot of why the world keeps fucking up all the time. People can't see the forest for bumping into and moaning about the fucking trees.

Anyway, a simple home truth... Out of six clubs with ambitions to win the League, we are the poorest...

But how do we get better than those clubs? By finding better players than them. How do we do that when our budget is £30m a season less than our nearest rival, and around half that of the top three clubs?

A follow up question, how do you just get business done early in the window? Answer: you pay the asking price. But what is the asking price for a "Buy-it-Now" player? It is whatever the selling club thinks they can get for him, plus the premium to cover whatever they think they could possibly get for him if they wait for the market to play itself out. So if we think a player is worth £20m, the seller thinks he's worth £25m, then the "But-it-Now" price is £28m.

I swear some people have never haggled in their life, or if they have they've gone in with what they think is a reasonable offer, and hoped the guy they're bargaining with is as clueless as they are!

Even were we to offer £25m, in the above scenario, the selling club would just lick its lips, now it's got a minimum fall-back price, and then use it to try and drum up business elsewhere. If they eventually agreed to sell at that price, that's the final signal for the big boys to come in and gazump us by a couple of million, plus better wages, plus a promise of a greater chance of glory.

So how the fuck can we ever hope to beat our rivals then????

By being a better horse trader than they are. By getting every ounce of value out of the cash we have. Be that by investing in a training facility, or in a top coach who can develop our younger players, in securing great sponsorship deals, looking for new investment, planning to increase revenues through building a larger stadium, or by being clever in the transfer market.

We aren't the lions on the Serengeti, at best we're the Leopard or the Cheetah. We're not chasing many off of their prey, but we're always in danger of having our own kill stolen from beneath our noses. Levy is the canniest leopard of the lot. He's sneaky, devious and ruthless. He'll wait up in that tree, while the sun goes down, rises, sets and rises again. When the lions have all gone home, or eaten their fill, when all the other leopards have given up, he'll still be waiting there, unblinking. And if the end of the window comes, and the right prey hasn't come buy, he'll slink down from that tree and go off and plot his next hunt. But if it does come by... well it should be a good feed and worth the wait.

At least in general that's the idea.

Back to the woods and the trees thing. The wood is the 12 years since Levy took the helm - where our club is now to where it was then in comparison to our rivals. The trees are this particular window. The proof that what Levy's doing this window and every other one on the whole has been the correct approach can be seen in the quality of our wood. The reason that it's wrong to fuss about individual trees is that the wood looks good.

That's all.

yeah...but are you worried?

 

[sloth]

But we're really comparing apples with pears aren't we. We should look at football in this country ans BSCL and ASCL (Before Sky and Champion's League / After Sky and Champion's League ). BSCL our revenue was equivalent to any of the tops clubs. ASCL it hasn't been. In the Levy era we've had far less to spend on players than our rivals. We currently spend about £50m a year less on players than Liverpool do. £30m a year less than Arsenal. You do the maths. but in that time, despite the handicap, we've gradually closed the gap.

 

[sloth]

Let's look at the facts then.
ENIC took control of Spurs in February 2001 and they have run a tight and steady ship.
They are a great bunch of Accountants and they have penny pinched their way to mediocre success.
Everyone seems happy with them because throughout their tenure there hasn't been a muttering of discontent.
During this time we have won 1 trophy!
A League Cup in 2008.
The crazy thing is..........we were actually more successful in the 10 years before they came,winning an FA Cup in 1991 and a League Cup in 1999.

I wanted to rate dumb, but it's more ignorant... worst of all, deliberately so.

 

[sloth]

yeah...but are you worried?

Nope. Optmistic. Excited maybe...

 

[sbrustad]

Let's look at the facts then.
ENIC took control of Spurs in February 2001 and they have run a tight and steady ship.
They are a great bunch of Accountants and they have penny pinched their way to mediocre success.
Everyone seems happy with them because throughout their tenure there hasn't been a muttering of discontent.
During this time we have won 1 trophy!
A League Cup in 2008.
The crazy thing is..........we were actually more successful in the 10 years before they came,winning an FA Cup in 1991 and a League Cup in 1999.

Part of the reason for this may be the huge influence of money on professional football the last decade (or even back to the formation of the Premier League).


Now there is a fine line between running economically sound and ending up like Portsmouth or Leeds. I know what I prefer. Of course we would all love to see our club win a big trophy, but I would rather win a cup than take home the League 1 trophy because we were careless with money. I live in hope that the playing field will somehow be levelled, but I really can't fault Levy for running a tight ship. I'd say we are doing great with the resources available to us.