Pochettino: I turned down dream Real Madrid offer

[mawspurs]

Mauricio Pochettino has admitted it was difficult to ignore interest from Real Madrid last summer, claiming managing the Spanish giants is “a dream” for any coach.

Source: Evening Standard

 

[Hugh DeMann]

Pretty honest comments from Poch there. Message to Levy?

 

[double0]

Wow some world cup players wanted to leave...wonder if Trippier was one of them?

 

[mawspurs]

Wow some world cup players wanted to leave...wonder if Trippier was one of them?

more on that here...
https://www.football.london/tottenh...ham-boss-mauricio-pochettino-reveals-16242819

 

[Smokinhotspur]

I love Poch coming out with all of this. The reality is he is the one who has to stand in front of the media and answer questions on aspects of the club that he does not control. At Levy's last update in March, his answer to why we did not sign a single player in not one but two windows was 'the market was not as liquid as it had been previously'. It is funny how every other club in a top European league managed to find enough liquidity in the market except for us. If I was the manager, I would be frustrated with this bullshit especially if I am having to manage a squad of ambitious players who are keen to either progress with the club or consider their futures elsewhere. I wonder to what extent the loss of form we are witnessing in some of our players is down at least in part, to the complete lack of activity in the last two windows.

Congrats to Levy and the board for delivering the stadium but NOW is absolute crunch time to invest in the first team. Not just invest but also do it with the mentality of a big club i.e. identify targets before the window opens, look to secure as many of those targets as early as possible in the window so they can be fully integrated into pre-season plans. I can't help but imagine what Sissoko's first two seasons could have been like if we got him early in the window rather than on deadline day, a couple of weeks into the new season with no pre-season prep behind him.

Levy recently stated that he is a perfectionist and that this is an issue for those who have to work with him. Whilst that approach served us well with a long term visionary project like the stadium, I suspect his tendency to try to optimise every single deal has cost us in the transfer market over the years because in these situations, a more pragmatic approach is often what is needed to get deals over the line. I really hoped Paul Mitchell's appointment a few years ago would mean that Levy was stepping back to allow more suited people to handle the recruitment side but alas he resigned within a couple of years due to reported 'frustrations with constraints of the role'.

I am not knocking DL as I believe that overall, he has been and continues to be a great chairman for our club. However, I think there comes a time in any business when leaders need to either significantly change their approach OR better still, delegate and relinquish control of certain aspects of management that could be better done by others. Poch is making a lot of noise here and Levy needs to decide if he is going to back his man or risk losing him.

BIG summer ahead and before that the mother of all games tonight. COYS!!!

 

[CoopsieDeadpool]

Didn't see Klopp having to respond to countless questions about his past/future prior to his teams CL semi final.

I think I've literally only seen one or two articles about our match/team tonight.

 

[JimmyG2]

The dream
quickly turns into a nightmare
for many managers
as Poch. will know.

 

[Indisguise]

Poch has come out with a few concerning comments in the last 24 hours. Can't help but wonder what's brewing.

 

[JimmyG2]

Poch has come out with a few concerning comments in the last 24 hours. Can't help but wonder what's brewing.

Or what he's been brewing.

 

[Sir Henry]

It's a different way of looking at it saying he only wants players who want to leave to be at the club as that shows they want to win things.

Generally yes they want to win things but in this day and age, I would have put a huge % of it down to pure greed and dodgy as fuck agents

 

[Bilko]

Money for serious transfers or good by.
Salary ceiling will have to be significantly 'upped'
United are on the sniff main German tabloid has two full pages on (Klopp-superstar incredible human being) and small clip on Tottenham win.
Pisses me off,can't stand Klopp

 

[wrd]

Didn't see Klopp having to respond to countless questions about his past/future prior to his teams CL semi final.

I think I've literally only seen one or two articles about our match/team tonight.

Even guy at work pointing this out and he's an Everton fan and he can see the difference in the reaction.

 

[Khilari]

more on that here...
https://www.football.london/tottenh...ham-boss-mauricio-pochettino-reveals-16242819

Thanks for this.

Can't help but think a lot of this fits in with the Toby story. Clearly there were others.

 

[Japhet]

I love Poch coming out with all of this. The reality is he is the one who has to stand in front of the media and answer questions on aspects of the club that he does not control. At Levy's last update in March, his answer to why we did not sign a single player in not one but two windows was 'the market was not as liquid as it had been previously'. It is funny how every other club in a top European league managed to find enough liquidity in the market except for us. If I was the manager, I would be frustrated with this bullshit especially if I am having to manage a squad of ambitious players who are keen to either progress with the club or consider their futures elsewhere. I wonder to what extent the loss of form we are witnessing in some of our players is down at least in part, to the complete lack of activity in the last two windows.

Congrats to Levy and the board for delivering the stadium but NOW is absolute crunch time to invest in the first team. Not just invest but also do it with the mentality of a big club i.e. identify targets before the window opens, look to secure as many of those targets as early as possible in the window so they can be fully integrated into pre-season plans. I can't help but imagine what Sissoko's first two seasons could have been like if we got him early in the window rather than on deadline day, a couple of weeks into the new season with no pre-season prep behind him.

Levy recently stated that he is a perfectionist and that this is an issue for those who have to work with him. Whilst that approach served us well with a long term visionary project like the stadium, I suspect his tendency to try to optimise every single deal has cost us in the transfer market over the years because in these situations, a more pragmatic approach is often what is needed to get deals over the line. I really hoped Paul Mitchell's appointment a few years ago would mean that Levy was stepping back to allow more suited people to handle the recruitment side but alas he resigned within a couple of years due to reported 'frustrations with constraints of the role'.

I am not knocking DL as I believe that overall, he has been and continues to be a great chairman for our club. However, I think there comes a time in any business when leaders need to either significantly change their approach OR better still, delegate and relinquish control of certain aspects of management that could be better done by others. Poch is making a lot of noise here and Levy needs to decide if he is going to back his man or risk losing him.

BIG summer ahead and before that the mother of all games tonight. COYS!!!

It's been widely reported that Poch turned down players he was offered in the last window, Tielemans being the prime example. That was reportedly a loan with no option to buy, so I understand that. I'd also speculate that our interest in deJong was still pretty much alive at that point so Poch wanted to hold out for him. Unfortunately, as so often happens, a bigger club (Barca) scupper our ambitions and we come up empty handed so we have to learn something from that. The same thing happened for different reasons with Grealish, but the common consensus on that was that Levy tried to haggle down from 25m knowing that Villa were in trouble, but their bail out saved them. That was a failure in our recruitment and business strategy IMO.

This window I'd like to see us set time limits on players we want and be ready to pull the plug and move onto other options. If we're offering attractive deals and terms for the players we should be able to make some top signings, but if we piss about and try to low ball everything we'll suffer the same as in the past. Early deals will be of huge benefit going into pre season and we'll never be in a better position to recruit quality early.

 

[Indisguise]

I might be being pessimistic but Poch's comments along with the likely upcoming United vacancy do not bode well. Levy has to open the purse strings wide this summer or I think it's bye bye Poch and Co.