The full line was:
"overtaken by the likes of Everton and, of course, Liverpool while utterly failing to close the gap on Arsenal."
There's nothing factually wrong there given that Everton overtook us last season. It's not stretching the imagination to think they wont achieve that again this year, while Liverpool, Arsenal et al widen their gap from us.
I think overall there's far too much focus on expenditure and Levy. I don't know any Spurs fans who are upset because we don't partake in the squillion pound deals that pay obsene wages per week - we already spend enough on wages. If there's any complaints about transfer policy, it's the idea that we don't need more and better options up front. Where are the Dier or Stambouli-esque signings of forwards?
The real disappointment and malaise that has emerged is rooted in the type of footy we play and the lack of aggression and urgency in our team as a whole. We appear to have mismanaged the team's turnover since Harry left and look like a bunch of strangers bereft of team spirit and leadership. We get blown away by better sides because of this. And I suspect the lesser sides are going to suss us out even more unless Poch addresses this aspect pretty quickly.
I think the high water mark of Harry's time will be tough to return to, and shedding AVB's legacy and re-building some winning mentality and real fighters for the cause is high on Poch's to-do list. He seems like a manager with a good reputation for dealing with it, so hopefully he can improve this aspect and get us playing more urgent attacking footy in the coming weeks.
If not, I think 6th is beyond us, let alone 4th.
What was it 'Arry, while still our manager, said, something about 4th place being as good as it gets??
Got a lot of stick over that and now it all seems to make sense
Its also not stretching the imagination to think that we will finish above Everton.
i agree that Liverpool appear to be on an upward trend; however to argue that, because they finished above us last season, Everton will do the same this year is not "factually" correct: it's an assumption.
and of course Harry's high water mark will be tough to achieve again because all teams have significantly improved from then. That includes us. Problem is that we are trying to do it at the same time as funding a new stadium so we can't (or won't) spend the vast sums of money that other teams will/have, without it being funded by outgoing players. And that does upset some fans (not me)
If making a buck is the only criterion for owning a football club, then I'd afraid the businessman is in the wrong business. Though money certainly has permeated football in untold ways, we mustn't forget the words of our icon Danny Blanchflower, who once said that football is above all, about glory, not wanting the opposition to die of boredom. Don't think we have done this for a couple of years at least.Most accurate statement in the whole article:
"Levy is a businessman first and a Spurs man second."
That is undeniably true. I don't blame him for it. He's there to make a buck - as is Joe Lewis.
Its also not stretching the imagination to think that we will finish above Everton.
i agree that Liverpool appear to be on an upward trend; however to argue that, because they finished above us last season, Everton will do the same this year is not "factually" correct: it's an assumption.
and of course Harry's high water mark will be tough to achieve again because all teams have significantly improved from then. That includes us. Problem is that we are trying to do it at the same time as funding a new stadium so we can't (or won't) spend the vast sums of money that other teams will/have, without it being funded by outgoing players. And that does upset some fans (not me)
I think the problem is we've all known this for 4 years.
We got planning permission for ourr stadium FOUR FUCKING YEARS AGO.
4 years ago we got Champions league football
4 years ago we got planning permission for a new ground
4 years ago we had 4 world class outfield players
What do we have now?
A world class goalie, a big hole and a Sainsburies.
Fuck off ENIC.
Nobody said Everton will finish above us this year, but they have overtaken us if we use the reasonable measure of the most recent season's final table.
But aside from all that, I again think the money aspect is being over blown. We didn't spend huge sums when Harry was manager either while other sides did. We picked up a player like Modric for 16 million, and now we're picking up Paulinho and Soldado for larger fees but who are letting us down or not being managed properly to produce the goods. We've reverted to the 'buy young, sell later' approach as an exclusive model, rather than Harry's mixed approach of adding a couple of experienced heads into the mix. So we're spending equivalent sums as we did when we were successful, but we've mismanaged those funds and mismanaged the character and quality of the squad.
It's early yet and Poch may well be the man to turn it around, but I fear we're stuck in limbo now for a good stretch, not beacsue of finances but becasue of managerial turnover, picking the wrong man (AVB), and having an entirely new team turnover that seems to lack experience and fight
maybe I misunderstood what was meant by "Everton have overtaken us". Based on your statement, I assume that we have "overtaken" Man Utd as we finished above them last season.
it's good that you picked Modric as an example and compared him with the likes of Soldado/Paulinho, instead of (as an example) picking Bentley in comparison to Lloris (whom we could easily sell for twice what we paid for him). But, hey, we can all pick one or two examples to suit our statements, cant we.
I think we will do well to finish above either this season. For me, it's not just that Everton finished above us last season, or ithat they spunked on an ever maturing lukaku who would have been great at spurs IMO, it's that they always give the bigger boys a really tough game as opposed to the attitude of our lot when we fall behind.
but then logic would dictate that, historically, theyve been screwing up against the 'lesser' teams as we have finished above them most times. The pressure is on them this season - will be interesting to see how they cope with it.
They also had Lukaku last season. I know he's good, but in business terms they've thrown money at a player they already had, so effectively spent £30m without any improvement to their team. And Everton are just not the kind of club that can do that too often.
Of their three stars last season, they only kept two of them. However, I think Eto'o was a very canny signing
"overtaken by the likes of Everton"..
you're having a laugh, aren't you?
Last time I checked they finished above us last season and deservedly so. I will sadly take a bet that they finish above us this Season. I think they have a better manager; a better ground; and had a better transfer window.
I also think they have maximised value with more limited resources better than we have.
Don't get me wrong - I would not want to be Everton. But I think they have outperformed us on a "relative" basis - which was the thrust of this Article.