The Daily ITK Discussion Thread - 24th January

[RichSpur58]

January is an epically bad time to buy.
Liverpool in for Sturbridge is about as major as it gets, maybe with Chelsea for Ba.

But you rarely see something properly major as selling clubs just can't get the reinforcements they need and prices are high as a result.

Zaha for 15m for example, I mean WTF?!

Honestly i think AVB will see this season out and wait for the summer.

What about Remy, M'Villa, Sissoko, Sturridge and all the others. Theres been some good business done.

 

[venablesphil]

As an overall package he is undoubtedly a better player. However, Hooper has a better knack of finishing chances and if that what AVB is placing a premium on, Hooper would be the better signing imo.

A team should be better than the sum of it's parts. It is the reason why Barca have been unreal for years and the star studded Madrid teams of the past have never put together prolonged years of dominance.

Possibly another Moneyball signing then? I completely agree about the 'sum of parts' though. Sometimes a group of talented individuals can perform exceptionally well together. Whilst a group of exceptional individuals can perform individual brilliance but as a group they fail.

I'm happy to give any player a chance in a Lilly-white shirt and if AVB thinks Hooper or Negardo fits our system and will perform then who am I to question his judgement.

Edit - unless he signs Emile Heskey then I'll go bat shit mental!

 

[ohwhenthespurs]

Went to type a long post about the PR game the club plays, the stuff the club clearly leaks to the papers, the ambitious talk that comes out from Levy and co and the stuff that each successive manager is cleraly promised and then denied. I got dispirited and gave up, but here's a bit.. We're a club run by some geniuses of smoke and mirrors. We've made so much progress on the pitch in the last decade, but make no mistake we fans are treated like absolute mugs. There's some nasty pieces of work involved in running this club, and you'd be naive to believe otherwise. No, we're not Man City or Chelsea, but don't lose sight of the sky high prices at WHL and the reach and brand loyalty the club has. How many windows in a row has this shit appeared in the papers and through the ITKS about us going for big targets who would transform our team? Where does it come from? And how often does it result in acutal signings? Is it a coincidence? Robben, Torres, Cavani, Fabiano, Rossi, Mata, Llorente, Huntelaar, Hazard, Damiao, Moutinho, Oscar, Willian...and on and on...
Come on boys, we're cleverer than this. Where's your 60 quid a week going?

 

[The Cimmerian]

Went to type a long post about the PR game the club plays, the stuff the club clearly leaks to the papers, the ambitious talk that comes out from Levy and co and the stuff that each successive manager is cleraly promised and then denied. I got dispirited and gave up, but here's a bit.. We're a club run by some geniuses of smoke and mirrors. We've made so much progress on the pitch in the last decade, but make no mistake we fans are treated like absolute mugs. There's some nasty pieces of work involved in running this club, and you'd be naive to believe otherwise. No, we're not Man City or Chelsea, but don't lose sight of the sky high prices at WHL and the reach and brand loyalty the club has. How many windows in a row has this shit appeared in the papers and through the ITKS about us going for big targets who would transform our team? Where does it come from? And how often does it result in acutal signings? Is it a coincidence? Robben, Torres, Cavani, Fabiano, Rossi, Mata, Llorente, Huntelaar, Hazard, Damiao, Moutinho, Oscar, Willian...and on and on...
Come on boys, we're cleverer than this. Where's your 60 quid a week going?

Once again, I submit:

Spoiler

 

[Lilbaz]

Went to type a long post about the PR game the club plays, the stuff the club clearly leaks to the papers, the ambitious talk that comes out from Levy and co and the stuff that each successive manager is cleraly promised and then denied. I got dispirited and gave up, but here's a bit.. We're a club run by some geniuses of smoke and mirrors. We've made so much progress on the pitch in the last decade, but make no mistake we fans are treated like absolute mugs. There's some nasty pieces of work involved in running this club, and you'd be naive to believe otherwise. No, we're not Man City or Chelsea, but don't lose sight of the sky high prices at WHL and the reach and brand loyalty the club has. How many windows in a row has this shit appeared in the papers and through the ITKS about us going for big targets who would transform our team? Where does it come from? And how often does it result in acutal signings? Is it a coincidence? Robben, Torres, Cavani, Fabiano, Rossi, Mata, Llorente, Huntelaar, Hazard, Damiao, Moutinho, Oscar, Willian...and on and on...
Come on boys, we're cleverer than this. Where's your 60 quid a week going?

Could you give me one official statement from the club (not Harry) to say that we were in for any of these players?

 

[Ghost Hardware]

Why spend 8 or so mil on Hooper, I just can't get my head around this mentality of buying multiple players who are no better then the current roster when you could save the money and buy one truly great player or at least one who has bags of potential. If we do buy Hooper, first off that means we will not be in the market for a new striker in the summer and two if he doesn't work out we will have yet another so so player who we will be desperately trying to shift for the next few seasons and failing that will just vanish into the reserves turning up once a month to collect his wages and reminded the management why we can't afford to invest in another forward regardless of his quality. Maybe I am being overly sinical but its been a long old January without much excitement, i might have been able to deal with it if this was the first one but it isn't.

 

[Qualsonic]

Once again, I submit:

Spoiler

What's Tim Roth got to do with anything?

 

[Parmigiano]

Could you give me one official statement from the club (not Harry) to say that we were in for any of these players?

Name me any club that does, and does so regularly.

 

[Lilbaz]

Why spend 8 or so mil on Hooper, I just can't get my head around this mentality of buying multiple players who are no better then the current roster when you could save the money and buy one truly great player or at least one who has bags of potential. If we do buy Hooper, first off that means we will not be in the market for a new striker in the summer and two if he doesn't work out we will have yet another so so player who we will be desperately trying to shift for the next few seasons and failing that will just vanish into the reserves turning up once a month to collect his wages and reminded the management why we can't effort to invest in another forward regardless of his quality. Maybe I am being overly sinical but its been a long old Janurary without much excitement, i might have been able to deal with it if this was the first one but it isn't.

Our current roster of strikers available consists of..... no-one senior. Hooper might be an improvement.

 

[mw828]

Could you give me one official statement from the club (not Harry) to say that we were in for any of these players?

How often does the club make an official statement about a target that isn't signed?

Approximately never?

 

[Parmigiano]

How often does the club make an official statement about a target that isn't signed?

Approximately never?

Or that it is interested in signing

 

[Lilbaz]

Name me any club that does, and does so regularly.

He made a statement that it was the clubs PR department linking us with these players, not the media, not ITK's, not agents but the clubs pr department. If it was them where are the statements? Or does JJ and Potl work for spurs PR department?

 

[Hoddle&Waddle]

Why spend 8 or so mil on Hooper, I just can't get my head around this mentality of buying multiple players who are no better then the current roster when you could save the money and buy one truly great player or at least one who has bags of potential. If we do buy Hooper, first off that means we will not be in the market for a new striker in the summer and two if he doesn't work out we will have yet another so so player who we will be desperately trying to shift for the next few seasons and failing that will just vanish into the reserves turning up once a month to collect his wages and reminded the management why we can't effort to invest in another forward regardless of his quality. Maybe I am being overly sinical but its been a long old Janurary without much excitement, i might have been able to deal with it if this was the first one but it isn't.

You could argue that Hooper does have potential, also you have to take into account that the club needs to have a big enough squad to cover injurys, whilst making sure we keep the wage budget under some control. Hooper would come in on a modest wage. Unfortunately untill we can shift the likes of Gomes, Bentley, Jenas and maybe Hudd, I cant see us bringing in too many "truly great" players.

 

[Ghost Hardware]

Our current roster of strikers available consists of..... no-one senior. Hooper might be an improvement.

He might be, but will you be happy with Hooper, Ady and Defoe as our first choice strikers for the next two three seasons is more the question even if he ultimately turns out to be no better or even worse then what we already have? If we get him I obviously hope he does well in the white and blue but our history with strikers, especially British ones is quite awful!

 

[Spursidol]

Could you give me one official statement from the club (not Harry) to say that we were in for any of these players?

Absolutely agreed. Buggest problem is a lot of fans twisting any available information to 'confirm' their own desires to be signing the biggest names around when any mature assessment says its not likely - of course sometimes the 'ITK' is couched in a fashion that allows that but that's when common sense should not allow the fan to assume they've not won the lottery every time. However they do. One of the few times I was surprised was when VDV appeared, biut then that's the random win on a lottery.

 

[Mr Pink]

Went to type a long post about the PR game the club plays, the stuff the club clearly leaks to the papers, the ambitious talk that comes out from Levy and co and the stuff that each successive manager is cleraly promised and then denied. I got dispirited and gave up, but here's a bit.. We're a club run by some geniuses of smoke and mirrors. We've made so much progress on the pitch in the last decade, but make no mistake we fans are treated like absolute mugs. There's some nasty pieces of work involved in running this club, and you'd be naive to believe otherwise. No, we're not Man City or Chelsea, but don't lose sight of the sky high prices at WHL and the reach and brand loyalty the club has. How many windows in a row has this shit appeared in the papers and through the ITKS about us going for big targets who would transform our team? Where does it come from? And how often does it result in acutal signings? Is it a coincidence? Robben, Torres, Cavani, Fabiano, Rossi, Mata, Llorente, Huntelaar, Hazard, Damiao, Moutinho, Oscar, Willian...and on and on...
Come on boys, we're cleverer than this. Where's your 60 quid a week going?

We would still all be here supporting the Club regardless of what big names we are being linked with. Not sure what you mean either regarding the big dreamy links with players who are way and beyond our financial capability - most of the ones you've listed. If you're choosing to believe a lot of the hog shit that's written, or that its all a conspiracy to mug supporters, perhaps its you who's being a little naive - with respect. If the financials with certain star players look unrealistic that's because they are unrealistic for us as a Club - at this moment in time anyway.

Judge on actions not here say - when have we ever spent more on 20 million on a player? And generally speaking those players are commanding much bigger wages. That's the true measure, and until we are in a position to do so I for one will never get carried away with unrealistic looking links.

If Levy's plan includes leaking information for all these star players and never actually following through on any them - well that's not the smartest plan in the world is it? I'm sure we do inquire for loads of players who are probably above our level financially with the hope that we might just get them for a knock down price - if you're not in you cant win etc ala VDV. If we can't meet the demands that's it, move on. We are ambitious not wreck less, big difference.

Its not a conspiracy, Levy wants growth for this Club at the end of the day - not to wind up supporters.

 

[Spursidol]

Why spend 8 or so mil on Hooper, I just can't get my head around this mentality of buying multiple players who are no better then the current roster when you could save the money and buy one truly great player or at least one who has bags of potential. If we do buy Hooper, first off that means we will not be in the market for a new striker in the summer and two if he doesn't work out we will have yet another so so player who we will be desperately trying to shift for the next few seasons and failing that will just vanish into the reserves turning up once a month to collect his wages and reminded the management why we can't afford to invest in another forward regardless of his quality. Maybe I am being overly sinical but its been a long old January without much excitement, i might have been able to deal with it if this was the first one but it isn't.

Who said we are looking for someone better than Adebayor or Defoe (if one turns up on the right terms we will take him for sure). Given the January market, what we are probably looking for is someone to be available on the bench or as roitation for them - likely to be young who might developo into something decent, but could be a short term older striker (although no ITK to support the last).

Few good reputeable ITK's said it would be a busy January - JJ said specifically it was likely to be quiet.

 

[Achap]

Absolutely agreed. Buggest problem is a lot of fans twisting any available information to 'confirm' their own desires to be signing the biggest names around when any mature assessment says its not likely - of course sometimes the 'ITK' is couched in a fashion that allows that but that's when common sense should not allow the fan to assume they've not won the lottery every time. However they do. One of the few times I was surprised was when VDV appeared, biut then that's the random win on a lottery.

Ah now, there's the rub!

 

[Parmigiano]

He made a statement that it was the clubs PR department linking us with these players, not the media, not ITK's, not agents but the clubs pr department. If it was them where are the statements? Or does JJ and Potl work for spurs PR department?

No, he said the Club were playing a PR game where it leaks info via various means...when you leak something, its never official...do you find it hard to believe that a club, any club, would use such methods?

 

[ajcruz14]

Went to type a long post about the PR game the club plays, the stuff the club clearly leaks to the papers, the ambitious talk that comes out from Levy and co and the stuff that each successive manager is cleraly promised and then denied. I got dispirited and gave up, but here's a bit.. We're a club run by some geniuses of smoke and mirrors. We've made so much progress on the pitch in the last decade, but make no mistake we fans are treated like absolute mugs. There's some nasty pieces of work involved in running this club, and you'd be naive to believe otherwise. No, we're not Man City or Chelsea, but don't lose sight of the sky high prices at WHL and the reach and brand loyalty the club has. How many windows in a row has this shit appeared in the papers and through the ITKS about us going for big targets who would transform our team? Where does it come from? And how often does it result in acutal signings? Is it a coincidence? Robben, Torres, Cavani, Fabiano, Rossi, Mata, Llorente, Huntelaar, Hazard, Damiao, Moutinho, Oscar, Willian...and on and on...
Come on boys, we're cleverer than this. Where's your 60 quid a week going?

So I guess Lloris, Vertonghen, Van der Vaart didn't happen? I know it's disappointing when nothing comes off from some of these rumours, but I honestly feel the club does try to get some of these players, and frankly I would expect the club do try at least. We as fans tend to go abit overboard sometimes in getting too hyped up with regards to these rumours, but at the end of the day shit happens, and not all deals materialise. At the end of the day, we aren't Chelsea or Man City, funds are limited, we have to be smart with how we spend money, but that shouldn't stop the club from trying to get some bigger names in, albeit with more modest offers. Sometimes it works out , sometimes it doesn't, doesn't mean that there's one massive conspiracy wherein the club is actively spending all this time and effort in utilising propaganda to fool the fans. At the end of the day I always enter these windows cautiously optimistic, but when disappointment comes at the end of the window, I don't really let it get to me so much because at least I know I have watching Spurs to look forward to ( which is the most important thing). Best bit of advice don't overanalyse this whole ITK business too much.