The ousting of Daniel (COYS)

[Yantino]

Unsurprisingly, there's been a significant upturn in transfer strategy and quality over the last 12 months. Pretty obvious when you consider the key player recruitment positions that have recently been filled.

Hasn't seemed to stop a lot of people just reverting to blame culture rather than waiting to see what happens and working off of actual facts. Twitter has been a cesspit of hatred and moaning.

I'm not Levy's biggest fan. He's made significant errors on the footballing side, but you have to acknowledge and recognise that there has been a marked change in our approach.

 

[dontcallme]

Unsurprisingly, there's been a significant upturn in transfer strategy and quality over the last 12 months. Pretty obvious when you consider the key player recruitment positions that have recently been filled.

Hasn't seemed to stop a lot of people just reverting to blame culture rather than waiting to see what happens and working off of actual facts. Twitter has been a cesspit of hatred and moaning.

I'm not Levy's biggest fan. He's made significant errors on the footballing side, but you have to acknowledge and recognise that there has been a marked change in our approach.

Agree.

If Levy has learnt a lot of lessons from the last 2 decades and what we’ve recently had, transfer wise, becomes how we operate moving forward then our future will be very good.

 

[Yantino]

I think you also have to appreciate the difference that the new stadium and state-of-the-art training facilities is going to make. I don't think it'll be long before the like of Madrid and Man City come calling for players like Romero and Udogie. Our infrastructure now and the direction we are headed in with Ange, hopefully makes players think twice (or at least a little bit longer) about whether they are actually better off moving or whether they should stay.

 

[dontcallme]

I think you also have to appreciate the difference that the new stadium and state-of-the-art training facilities is going to make. I don't think it'll be long before the like of Madrid and Man City come calling for players like Romero and Udogie. Our infrastructure now and the direction we are headed in with Ange, hopefully makes players think twice (or at least a little bit longer) about whether they are actually better off moving or whether they should stay.

Sarr signing a long contract was certainly a very good step forward. I hope Udogie signs one too.

Edit: turns out Udogie already has. Must have missed or forgotten that one.

 

[PaulM]

Sarr signing a long contract was certainly a very good step forward. I hope Udogie signs one too.

Didn't he sign an extension to 2030 before Sarr?

The lad has all the tools to be the best left back in the world.

 

[dontcallme]

Didn't he sign an extension to 2030 before Sarr?

The lad has all the tools to be the best left back in the world.

Yep, post amended. Thanks for pointing out.

 

[brasil_spur]

Credit due to Levy for bringing in Paratici and continuing to use him in as much capacity as he can. Credit to Levy for getting Ange in. Credit to Levy for getting Munn in and having him take over more of the footballing side.

Paratici clearly is making an enormous difference to our transfer activity. We are not only getting in mostly very good players, but also not getting spanked on fees in doing so.

Ange is clearly making a massive difference - he has fixed roles he wants filled by players with certain attributes but is clearly open to various players to fill those roles. This is how it should be done and allows the rest of the transfer team to identify a number of targets and pull the trigger on the one we see as the best option, failing that the next option is usually on par with them.

What will be interesting to see is what Levy now goes on to achieve on the business side.

 

[vegassd]

He has finally got everything right, we are playing the spurs way, we are signing either established players at reasonable prices or some of the best youngsters around. Finally we have a setup that can really create a dynasty.

I'll add this finally, whenever Ange is asked whether he wants to win a trophy, he always says the same thing, he doesn't just want to win one trophy, he wants to build a team that consistency challenges for trophies.

I think Levy has the same idea, he doesn't want a club that challenges for a season, he wants to have a club that have the right strategy, financial stability and a club setup that will keep challenging. With the amount of times we've been in Europe in the last 15 years, you could argue it's already working (to a degree).

I think what you say here is really key. It's about setting a philosophy within the club, and the hiring the people who can deliver on that philosophy. Once you get the right people in place and they all pull in the same direction, good things start to happen.

So if it's that simple, why didn't Levy just do it earlier? I probably have more sympathy than many for Levy and would take the view that without all the infrastructure, we wouldn't be able to properly compete even with all the other pieces in place. So it's been a long road to get here, and that has left plenty of opportunity for mistakes along the way.

Even Paratici has made his share of mistakes - notably the early manager search - but he and the club seem to have found a good alignment now and what he does well, he does very well. I wouldn't be surprised if there is a bit of learning curve with Munn and Lange as well.

In amongst all the back slapping and flag waving, I think it's worth remembering that we still don't completely know Levy's involvement in these decisions. I think Levy gets stick for stuff he's probably never involved in, but at the same time I imagine he gets credit for other people's work as well. Swings and roundabouts.

I do think Levy has has the correct vision all along, but probably due to being a control freak/perfectionist, plus his seeming lack of trust of others, he has been trying to do too much across areas he doesn't have the expertise in. Again, we could ask the question "why not sooner?", but in some ways I think we needed those Mourinho/Conte years to prove that we simply aren't that type of club.

Here's to the future!

 

[easley91]

Feels to me as if Levy has realised his past mistakes/errors and finally found someone he can trust in Paratici. He has built what seems like a good recruitment team along with a manager that exudes what this club aims to be.

Hopefully he/we continue in this direction, because on the business side of things he has always been one of the best. It was just the footballing side where he fell down. I was always happy for him to stay IF the football side was given to someone else, which it seems to be now. Long may it continue.

 

[Styopa]

Feels to me as if Levy has realised his past mistakes/errors and finally found someone he can trust in Paratici. He has built what seems like a good recruitment team along with a manager that exudes what this club aims to be.

Hopefully he/we continue in this direction, because on the business side of things he has always been one of the best. It was just the footballing side where he fell down. I was always happy for him to stay IF the football side was given to someone else, which it seems to be now. Long may it continue.

I agree, Levy has got this right, so credit where credit is due.

But he tends be pretty good at this stage of proceedings, when we are building a new and exciting team after a period of relative mediocrity. We have seen it before a few times. Especially the period after Hoddle when Arnesen came in and then again when we rebuilt with Pochettino. (Redknapp in some ways was a bit of an anomaly I think.)

Where things tend to fall down is when we need to make that final push. Levy has tended in the past to let things get stale to the point that we have to return to the drawing board without having fulfilled the potential that the project once promised.

Hopefully with the stadium this time we will be able to make that final push.

 

[The Scarecrow]

I agree, Levy has got this right, so credit where credit is due.

But he tends be pretty good at this stage of proceedings, when we are building a new and exciting team after a period of relative mediocrity. We have seen it before a few times. Especially the period after Hoddle when Arnesen came in and then again when we rebuilt with Pochettino. (Redknapp in some ways was a bit of an anomaly I think.)

Where things tend to fall down is when we need to make that final push. Levy has tended in the past to let things get stale to the point that we have to return to the drawing board without having fulfilled the potential that the project once promised.

Hopefully with the stadium this time we will be able to make that final push.

I keep reading 'seems like the stadium wasn't a game changer after all', latest during the Dragusin saga. I wish people would do some research before making such statements, but I guess that's expecting too much.

Fact is we've operated at a loss ever since the stadium opened. This is also due to covid and not being in the CL, but the trend is clear: with the stadium in place, there's a willingness to spend that previously wasn't there.

 

[easley91]

I keep reading 'seems like the stadium wasn't a game changer after all', latest during the Dragusin saga. I wish people would do some research before making such statements, but I guess that's expecting too much.

Fact is we've operated at a loss ever since the stadium opened. This is also due to covid and not being in the CL, but the trend is clear: with the stadium in place, there's a willingness to spend that previously wasn't there.

People really do keep forgetting we opened as covid hit.

 

[Dakes]

Lad's done good. I've all but lost my ousting appetite.

 

[alfie103]

People really do keep forgetting we opened as covid hit.

To be fair, we weren't the only club who were affected by COVID.

 

[Styopa]

I keep reading 'seems like the stadium wasn't a game changer after all', latest during the Dragusin saga. I wish people would do some research before making such statements, but I guess that's expecting too much.

Fact is we've operated at a loss ever since the stadium opened. This is also due to covid and not being in the CL, but the trend is clear: with the stadium in place, there's a willingness to spend that previously wasn't there.

Yeah I know what you mean but at the same time I think it’s more to do with expectations rather than just the financial hit of covid or not being in the Champions League.

Levy has never really been reluctant to invest money in transfers, it’s just he tends to have a price point and player profile which he is comfortable with. Young players at reasonable prices with huge potential like Vic, VdV and Dragusin fit that profile perfectly.

 

[TOLBINY]

Lad's done good. I've all but lost my ousting appetite.

He's got to go - failing to get Kane back as part of the Dier deal is unforgivable!

 

[easley91]

To be fair, we weren't the only club who were affected by COVID.

I didn't say we were. My point is when people put the boot in on Levy and talk about the stadium's finances, they tend to forget it took a few years before we had one full season with it at full capacity.

 

[HildoSpur]

If Levy has now finally understood that he needs to leave the football side of things to the people who actually understand this then he is probably now the best chairman in the league because everything outside of football he is undoubtably the best around.

 

[N17-77]

I know this is kind of obvious, but it really depends who the "footballing experts" are, I think 2 things have changed at Spurs.

The first is the effect that our stadium is now having on our finances. It could be argued before that although Levy may have agreed with Poch and his rebuild, we weren't in a position financially to achieve it, so he tried to go with big managers to keep us going until the stadium dragged us back to the spending table. Also covid prevented us from investing heavily sooner.

The second is actually trusting people within the club to spend the money correctly. Since we have got Fabio in our spending has greatly increased and continues to increase. Add the Ange effect to give extra motivation.

The stars have aligned, Levy got Fabio, someone he was wanting for years according to reports and he has got a manager that encapsulates the spurs ethos.

He has finally got everything right, we are playing the spurs way, we are signing either established players at reasonable prices or some of the best youngsters around. Finally we have a setup that can really create a dynasty.

I'll add this finally, whenever Ange is asked whether he wants to win a trophy, he always says the same thing, he doesn't just want to win one trophy, he wants to build a team that consistency challenges for trophies.

I think Levy has the same idea, he doesn't want a club that challenges for a season, he wants to have a club that have the right strategy, financial stability and a club setup that will keep challenging. With the amount of times we've been in Europe in the last 15 years, you could argue it's already working (to a degree).

What I will say is that if Ange does bring us success in the next couple of seasons, then Levy should be given massive credit. You can't call him out for everything bad and say it's just luck for everything good.

I was reading the FT and they had an article on stadiums and how it's a game changer for clubs nowadays with events and it focused on the 'Spurs model' which all clubs across Europe are trying to copy. That's Levy.

The Brighton model that everyone goes on about is done by an ex spurs guy, who bases his model from Levy.

Everything is coming together and I wouldn't be surprised if we splashed more cash this window.

You can see that we are so close, a top class forward player (maybe a winger and a striker) in summer and another 8 (possibly this month) and we're pretty close to having a squad capable of challenging on all fronts.

Which is remarkable, when you think we've had to battle with state owned clubs, clubs who have spent half a billion (or more) and clubs who like Liverpool and United who have massive fan bases.

We are in a very strong position and that comes from Fabio paratici, Ange and Levy. Strange how only two of them get the credit round here though.

Superb post. Agree with all of this.

 

[StanSpur]

Feels to me as if Levy has realised his past mistakes/errors and finally found someone he can trust in Paratici. He has built what seems like a good recruitment team along with a manager that exudes what this club aims to be.

Hopefully he/we continue in this direction, because on the business side of things he has always been one of the best. It was just the footballing side where he fell down. I was always happy for him to stay IF the football side was given to someone else, which it seems to be now. Long may it continue.

I think this point around trust in the off field team is key. Too often I think DoF chief scouts and head coaches have seen spurs as a stop gap club on their way to other opportunities and as such levy hasn’t felt able to go all in, or when the people were there the commitment to infrastructure and club stabilisation wasn’t in place. Even recently with Jose and conte, we all knew they wouldn’t be around for more than 2-3 years so you can see why you’d be reluctant to invest. Right now the club is making money on several fronts, there is no need to invest in the facilities in training or stadium, we have a scouting network that seems embedded and a coach that looks like he would be happy to stay for the long haul. Now is the time to invest and push and Levy is doing that. The next 5 years are where we need to step into the success of the Chelsea’s and arsenals of this world to justify our position in the top six clubs in the prem. I have always appreciated levy as I remember the club almost going out of business. The shite that was the stadium in the 80s and even with the improvements through the sugar days we were still a mid table club in team and stature. We have shifted to a competitive unit on and off the field under levy. Now is the opportunity to see how far we can go!