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Stoof

THERE IS A PIGEON IN MY BANK ACCOUNT
Staff
Jun 5, 2004
32,220
64,274
What's frustrating is that you get the feeling that we only needed two or three signings to make a push and properly challenge for the league. Nobody expected us to spunk £100m on one player and put them on £250k p/w. Backup for Eriksen (Grealish), a defender to replace Toby (if he left) and maybe one marquee signing that's still within reason was all most of us wanted.

How we have not identified and made those signings is beyond belief. Yes, we still have a great squad, but the teams we are chasing from last season have strengthened and the teams that are chasing us have done the same.

I want to win the league, and not signing anyone won't help that cause, neither will moving back home (it's still a new stadium for the players), neither will an extra season of gelling; people keep mentioning this as if it's some sort of weapon, but this isn't an advantage that is exclusive to us.

You fear that that as the years go by, Madrid will inevitably come calling for some of our stars - Poch included - and the team will break up and we'll have to rebuild all over again. We've proved that we're not a club that is willing to spend big bucks on proven players, so if and when we lose the Kane's and Eriksen's of the world, how will we replace them? We needed to invest now to ensure we win something and prevent that from happening.

I'm not saying we won't win anything - no one's to know for sure - but we've certainly not made it easy for ourselves.

Big difference between player identification, and extracting said player from his club - if (a) he doesn't want to come to us or (b) his club don't want to sell. Or both.

And even if you have the intention - do the financials work?

I can't ever lay blame at "player identification" because I simply refuse to believe they're just sitting in an office trying to think of footballers names like a bunch of Apprentice contestants trying to think of a business idea.

So then is it selling problem? Because we've just bought ANYONE for the sake of it (because the fans demand it)? So we have no space in the squad without moving someone on.

It's such a convoluted process, and that's not me trying to make it sound more complicated than it is but the sheer volume of people involved in such a transaction is usually a sign of how complicated it is (or how much money is involved) - or a combo of the two.
 

StanSpur

Ronny Rosenthal
Jul 15, 2004
2,436
2,042
Lloris
Trippier
Vertonghen
Sanchez
Davies
Dier
Dembele
Alli
Eriksen
Son
Kane

Lamela
Moura
Wanyama
Llorente
Winks
Rose
Alderweireld
Vorm

Gazzinga
Kyle walker peters
Foyth
Carter vickers
All the kids
 

am_yisrael_chai

Well-Known Member
Feb 18, 2006
6,409
10,931
This isn't Football Manager. The top players who would walk into our side despite us being among the world's top 10 teams would be offered more money by anyone in the top 20, would be very difficult and expensive to prise away from their clubs, and in most cases already play for one of those top 20 teams and wouldn't see much reason to move to us. We've done the first part - stop spending money on rubbish/average squad options, we're past that stage as a club. Now it's on to the second, but that involves watching and waiting for the odd occasion when the right player becomes available and we can swoop in for him without any of the more moneyed clubs taking an interest.

There's also the fact that in recent years our transfer budget has been zero. What we bring in is funded by what we sell. There's no reason to think that's different, and we'd already spent on Lucas without funding it. Add a big name on top and you're talking £100m total. If we don't want to sell our big names and can't sell the squad, that's the situation.

As for naming rights, it's not just us struggling on that. There's very little appetite for such deals in Britain right now, we're not the only ones struggling on it. For obvious reasons there's a lot of long-term economic uncertainty and a risk to the country's "soft power" or cultural value too. There is nothing Tottenham can do about that. The choice was likely to take a sub-par deal this year, or hope for a better one next year - particularly if we're confident the NFL etc will be a success and assure the sponsor of a large audience outside anything to do with Britain. If we've chosen the latter I'd trust our judgement on it.
So we are a top 10 club, a determination made by revenue but we can’t compete with other top 20 clubs on wages or fees. You do realise the internal inconsistency in that argument. If we follow your line of reasoning none of the top 20 clubs should make transfers. It is all just garbage to cover over the lack of investment in the squad.

As to your argument about waiting for stadium sponsorship it also doesn’t wash. Read any experts on the topic and you find that the value declines with time as the stadium becomes identified by the initial name. It is for this reason the club has chosen the bland Tottenham Hotspur Stadium name to try and stop it sticking and putting off sponsors. Levy screwed up, why do people find it so hard to accept this.
 

midoNdefoe

the member formerly and technically still known as
Mar 9, 2005
3,107
3,166
I would like a statement from the club, I think, explaining things, considering how much money I've spent on one of the most expensive season tickets in world football...

Get a hold of yourself man!
A statement for what?

You bought the ticket because you support spurs, not because you like transfer windows?!
 

13VanDerBale13

Well-Known Member
Jul 12, 2011
14,269
33,647
Newcastle fans depressed on SSN, try being a spurs fan, atleast you signed players! Saturday will be interesting :cry:
 

nailsy

SC Supporter
Jul 24, 2005
30,536
46,628
So........Given that you've had a lot of license given in this thread today, do we still need a thread to batter Marvin the Martian in?

Yes please. I'm sure some people have been saving their comments for that thread.

17/18 Transfers
In Aurier Out Walker
Squad improved: No
In Sanchez Out Wimmer (Toby injured/benched)
Squad improved: Meh (Toby is the better CB)
In Llorente Out Janssen
Squad improved: No (Llorente didn't contribute)
In Foyth Gazza Out Bentaleb Fazio
Squad improved:No (Foyth didn't contribute)
In Moura Out Nkoudu Ngie
Squad improved: Yes (but didn't contribute)
Overall did additions improve the playing squad or contribute to last season.... Honestly no.

You could say the same with 16/17 with the exception of Wanyama

I would say holding onto Toby and Dembele alone makes this arguably a good window.
I 100% agree we had a chance to kick on with quality signings, but pointless bringing in the same dross for the sake of it. Grealish, meh I'd prefer have winks.

I don't think you can put Toby's injury in the negative column. Whether he was injured or not he was still part of the squad. Sanchez was an improvement on Wimmer. Can't argue with the rest though.
 

LexingtonSpurs

Well-Known Member
Aug 27, 2013
13,456
39,042
I think its a good thing we are at Newcastle on Saturday.

I hope people can vent and get this out of their system before Fulham at Wembley, and hopefully we have a decent start before Liverpool at home.
 

Stoof

THERE IS A PIGEON IN MY BANK ACCOUNT
Staff
Jun 5, 2004
32,220
64,274
So we are a top 10 club, a determination made by revenue but we can’t compete with other top 20 clubs on wages or fees. You do realise the internal inconsistency in that argument. If we follow your line of reasoning none of the top 20 clubs should make transfers. It is all just garbage to cover over the lack of investment in the squad.

As to your argument about waiting for stadium sponsorship it also doesn’t wash. Read any experts on the topic and you find that the value declines with time as the stadium becomes identified by the initial name. It is for this reason the club has chosen the bland Tottenham Hotspur Stadium name to try and stop it sticking and putting off sponsors. Levy screwed up, why do people find it so hard to accept this.

How does revenue work with debts, outgoings, liabilities ... those sorts of things?
 

Darth Vega

Well-Known Member
Jul 28, 2013
1,704
10,470
Big difference between player identification, and extracting said player from his club - if (a) he doesn't want to come to us or (b) his club don't want to sell. Or both.

And even if you have the intention - do the financials work?

I can't ever lay blame at "player identification" because I simply refuse to believe they're just sitting in an office trying to think of footballers names like a bunch of Apprentice contestants trying to think of a business idea.

So then is it selling problem? Because we've just bought ANYONE for the sake of it (because the fans demand it)? So we have no space in the squad without moving someone on.

It's such a convoluted process, and that's not me trying to make it sound more complicated than it is but the sheer volume of people involved in such a transaction is usually a sign of how complicated it is (or how much money is involved) - or a combo of the two.

I don't disagree, and I don't claim to understand the ins and outs of a transfer, but I just can't believe we couldn't find anyone, not one player, who wanted to come to us, who we actually wanted to sign, and was within our price range... unless our transfer wishlist was just a small handful of players.

If that's the case and we really only wanted Zaha/Martial, Grealish and a CM then ok - there's not much to be said.

For what it's worth, I'm not even blaming Levy per se, because I don't know where the problem lies. It could be a poor scouting network, stubbornness from Poch, Levy playing games - I don't know (or care, really).

My fear is that we've not improved the squad from last season while our rivals seemingly have.
 

Martin91

Well-Known Member
Jun 26, 2014
660
1,652
I think its a good think we are at Newcastle on Saturday.

I hope people can vent and get this out of their system before Fulham at Wembley, and hopefully we have a decent start before Liverpool at home.

Have you seen how empty the fulham game is going to be..... might as well close the top tier and move all seats to make it look like a decent crowd
 

allatsea

Well-Known Member
Aug 31, 2012
8,866
16,055
Nearly everyone has strengthened whilst we have not and a couple of injuries puts us right in the shit again.

Are you correct though when you say everyone has strengthened ? All other clubs have brought players in but it is yet to see whether they have all strengthened.
 

Stoof

THERE IS A PIGEON IN MY BANK ACCOUNT
Staff
Jun 5, 2004
32,220
64,274
I don't disagree, and I don't claim to understand the ins and outs of a transfer, but I just can't believe we couldn't find anyone, not one player, who wanted to come to us, who we actually wanted to sign, and was within our price range... unless our transfer wishlist was just a small handful of players.

If that's the case and we really only wanted Zaha/Martial, Grealish and a CM then ok - there's not much to be said.

For what it's worth, I'm not even blaming Levy per se, because I don't know where the problem lies. It could be a poor scouting network, stubbornness from Poch, Levy playing games - I don't know (or care, really).

My fear is that we've not improved the squad from last season while our rivals seemingly have.

I reckon you can probably apportion percentages to each of those things and you've probably nailed it.
 

Stoof

THERE IS A PIGEON IN MY BANK ACCOUNT
Staff
Jun 5, 2004
32,220
64,274
Are you correct though when you say everyone has strengthened ? All other clubs have brought players in but it is yet to see whether they have all strengthened.

Signing players = automatic improvement.

Duh. Haven't you read the ITK Discussion thread on Spurs Community?

Wasteman. ;)
 

worcestersauce

"I'm no optimist I'm just a prisoner of hope
Jan 23, 2006
26,895
45,044
Made a decision not to follow the last day, not been on here today not watched tele and not been on line at all, just to wait until 5pm then come on and see if anything happened, it obviously didn't.
Thanks to all our itk friends, all the staff and Rob for another brilliant SC transfer window roller coaster ride, this reallty is the best place to be through the summer:)(y).
I'll away now to gather my rosebuds and sort out my donation.
Thanks again guys.
 
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