The Daily ITK Discussion Thread: LEVY TELLS ALL - 21st January 2014

[senseispab]

Is he the new Dutch wonderkid at Utrecht?

If Leef Bak can play at Left Back let's snap him up! Can't be worse than Naughton.

 

[SFCS]

Baldini likes players to be scouted over a long period of time(think 15+ games). Soldado, Capoue, Chadli and Eriksen were all targets that we'd scouted before he arrived. I'm not sure about Paulinho but obviously Lamela was a Baldini buy and so was Chiriches. The idea was that Baldini would bring in his wealth of knowledge of World football and find us players who are/will be great. AVB might have moaned about transfers not being his but the DoF was and he wanted our squad to move away from the likes of Parker, Huddlestone and Dawson to more continental players. Baldini's job wasn't to decide who would do well in the Premier League but to identify quality players and get the deals over the line.

Trouble is now we've got Sherwood, he's got his favourites(the players he recommended to Levy) and wants to play them. The move from AVB to Sherwood is a big shift and I expect that it's going to be either Sherwood or Baldini out in the summer but whoever it is they probably won't deserve the boot, it's just a case of one or the other, in my opinion.

 

[Spurs_Bear]

Baldini seemed to be pretty key in a few transfers over the summer, ones that I don't we would have gotten done with just Levy.

Like?

 

[KURRYMAN]

Like?

Lamela?

 

[Spurs_Bear]

Lamela?

Any others? Seeing as he said 'a few'?

 

[spursfan77]

Aren't the stories from Holland and even England regarding LVG stating that it was one of the topics that was covered in Levy's 6-hour meeting with LVG?

Granted none of us have any line of sight into the truth but the stories seem to paint it that LVG was willing to join us with Sherwood in some kind of role (either one of his assistants or a front office position), i think LVG would likely be more comfortable with Baldini as DoF but possibly be ok with Sherwood as a technical director over the youth.

That sounds like some kind of plan. Doesn't sound like us!

 

[rawhide]

My God this TW is dull.

I need something to distract me from work.

 

[harry's chin]

My God this TW is dull.

I need something to distract me from work.

you could have a game of 'soggy biscuit' with A&C???

 

[SFCS]

Any others? Seeing as he said 'a few'?

He got the Soldado deal done as well, remember when he was jetted out there?

This was the main thing he's been responsible for in the short term, they didn't necessarily have to be his choice of signing because his job in those situations was to fly over and talk to the chaiman and work out a deal. The Soldado deal, as we heard in the summer, was a difficult one because of their chairman's public stance but Baldini got it done. Getting shit done was Baldini's job for the summer so I think he did well.

The rest of his role will be better judged in the long term.

 

[Curtis Peterson]

Like?

Well, Lamela is obviously the big one (as there was no way that was happening without him), but all of the signings last summer happened after he joined the club. There were certainly some Levy type deals with Chadli, Eriksen and Chiriches, but it doesn't like much of a coincidence that we were able to break our record fee three times in the window. Obviously the Bale money could have helped, but signing Paulinho, Soldado and Lamela all in one window after Baldini came to the club doesn't seem like a coincidence and I don't think he's as useless as some people are making him out to be.

 

[Darragh]

imvho levy got baldini in to use his contacts only.. he makes final decision , using his contacts to get deals he wants and if it goes tits up with players then sacks baldini himself, saving face .

 

[jurgen]

Any others? Seeing as he said 'a few'?

Well, managing to pull off a series of diverse but relatively large profile targets in one window. If we were to be harsh, perhaps he doesn't strike you as a mastermind in terms of finding players, but to be honest he was probably appointed as we knew Bale was going to be sold and we needed someone who could fix deals to actually spend that money in the limited time we had to do so. A broker of sorts rather than a visionary.. but that's if you want to look at it that way, not sure I do yet until he's had a bit more time in the role..

 

[dagraham]

The way we implement the DOF system, it doesn't do what it says on the tin. All it does is muddy the waters and causes more disharmony to the point that no one can pin down who is ultimately responsible.

This always leads us to having glaring imbalances in the squad.

Here's a novel idea.......Why not run the business to maximise resources, then make damn sure you pick a good manager whom you can trust(which should really be the most important decision a chairman should make - Levy, take note). Then, set them a budget and let them get the fuck on with it......

Too radical? Oh well, carry on then.

 

[Only 1 Spurs]

The problem for me having a D.O.F is that yes he buys the players deals with negotiations ect but the rate Levy goes through managers sends the whole buying and selling thing into a pointless mess as new managers want different players. Which sends us back to square one every single time this happens. Sherwood has seen fit to use Benteleb over Capoue? Lamela has disappeared and Soldado has taken Defoes seat on the Bench. thats £60m +. Granted no one deserves to play because of their transfer fee but im sure alot can see the point unless theirs stability in the Manager/Coach department we will never get a settled team and it becomes a revolving door of ins and outs.

 

[Spurs_Bear]

Well, managing to pull off a series of diverse but relatively large profile targets in one window. If we were to be harsh, perhaps he doesn't strike you as a mastermind in terms of finding players, but to be honest he was probably appointed as we knew Bale was going to be sold and we needed someone who could fix deals to actually spend that money in the limited time we had to do so. A broker of sorts rather than a visionary.. but that's if you want to look at it that way, not sure I do yet until he's had a bit more time in the role..

Weren't we in for all the players before he even arrived? Lamela aside.

 

[Spurs_Bear]

Well, Lamela is obviously the big one (as there was no way that was happening without him), but all of the signings last summer happened after he joined the club. There were certainly some Levy type deals with Chadli, Eriksen and Chiriches, but it doesn't like much of a coincidence that we were able to break our record fee three times in the window. Obviously the Bale money could have helped, but signing Paulinho, Soldado and Lamela all in one window after Baldini came to the club doesn't seem like a coincidence and I don't think he's as useless as some people are making him out to be.

See my other response, pretty sure we were linked/in for all of these players (Lamela apart) before he came in. If people are trying to tell me that Levy couldn't negotatiate for them without 'Franco' then I'm calling horse.

 

[Spurs_Bear]

He got the Soldado deal done as well, remember when he was jetted out there?

This was the main thing he's been responsible for in the short term, they didn't necessarily have to be his choice of signing because his job in those situations was to fly over and talk to the chaiman and work out a deal. The Soldado deal, as we heard in the summer, was a difficult one because of their chairman's public stance but Baldini got it done. Getting shit done was Baldini's job for the summer so I think he did well.

The rest of his role will be better judged in the long term.

Serious? You think he got the deal done? Is he a better negotiator than Levy?

 

[jurgen]

Come on - how many big deals have fallen through in the past for us, more than enough evidence that Levy did need a broker to get things over the line, so even if not all of the players were Baldini targets, our (relative) efficiency at getting them in the door for once must have at least something to do with Baldini.

 

[dagraham]

The problem for me having a D.O.F is that yes he buys the players deals with negotiations ect but the rate Levy goes through managers sends the whole buying and selling thing into a pointless mess as new managers want different players. Which sends us back to square one every single time this happens. Sherwood has seen fit to use Benteleb over Capoue? Lamela has disappeared and Soldado has taken Defoes seat on the Bench. thats £60m +. Granted no one deserves to play because of their transfer fee but im sure alot can see the point unless theirs stability in the Manager/Coach department we will never get a settled team and it becomes a revolving door of ins and outs.

Exactly. So you might as well go with a more traditional set up, as at least there is greater clarity.

 

[SFCS]

Serious? You think he got the deal done? Is he a better negotiator than Levy?

Why else would Levy have sent him over if not to get the deal done?

Levy's a great businessman he can't do everything. He's always working on the non-footballing side of the club with sponsors, new stadium etc, if he had to fly around the World all summer chasing players he'd never have got anything else done.