Where Does It End?

[TrueYid]

So we are resigned to losing Berbatov and Keane just as we were with Carrick, the question is what happens next.

Say we have a decent season, top six finish and maybe a couple of very good cup runs.

Giovani, Bale, Modric all have top notch seasons, what is to stop the top clubs coming in and trying to prise them away again? How can we ensure that our top assets are protected?

Long term contracts obviously don't mean a thing anymore, so is it just a case of wholesale changes every year?

 

[guy]

hence one of the reasons daniel levy has made some noise about the mancs and scousers!!

We're not going to sell any players to these two clubs for at least a cpl of seasons now, hopefully the FA will enforce this officially too. That gives us the time to get that 4th friggin spot!

We're not going to sell to the two scums anytime soon either so we should have a cpl of good years ahead with no top 4 poaching

 

[littlemandefoe]

Giovani my friend.

 

[Petyr]

Every club in the world is a stepping stone bar few true giants. Look at Arsenal. They are a top 4 team. Yet, the likes of Flammini, Hleb and Adebayor seem to have used them as a stepping stone to go to Barca or Milan.

The way to keep great players for longer is to have a success and pay big wages. There is little doubt that if Modric and GDS play brilliantly but the team fails to achieve a CL spot, they will be off in 2-3 years, too.

Very few players in the world, not even Robbie Mr Tottenham Keane, are ready to sacrifice their dreams to play at the highest level.

 

[Bill_Oddie]

Your first sentence is quite at odds with Levy's statement, don't you think?

 

[stevenqoz]

Everything has a price. Levy is arguing about just that ...the price. He and his chewing gum mouthing mates can't possibly be taking any sort of high moral ground here. It's all about establishing a negotiating position. The clock is ticking so he wants to bring Man Utd and Liverpool to the table quickly. There will be no court cases. Realpolitik.

 

[taidgh]

i don't think it ever stops. finally we have players of the caliber that top, top teams are after them. until we become one of those top, top teams (if we ever do) i think we'll always find players heading for greener (as in money) pastures.

however i do think levy is keeping a level head about the whole thing. he's not throwing stupid money at players a la leeds, toon or chavski knowing its a slow process moving up.

 

[DC_Boy]

When does it ever stop - who knows - maybe not in the next ten years

but things do change -

in the late 50s early 60s - no-one in England could outspend us transfer-wise, we were easily one the 'big 3/4/5' call it what you will

however for various reasons we kept failing to win the lge after 61

Bill Nick himself regretted that we had a few top 3s in his time after that but never made the big one again

the drift away from the top came slowly with ups and downs but drift we did

now look at CFC & LFC - when we were top of the pile in 61, CFC were on the slide towards Div 2, while LFC were in Div 2 -

even as late as a few years ago CFC were on the verge of bankruptcy/administration till they won the lottery

Man U got relegated in the 70s - just like us - AFC were playing to crowds of as low as 4,000 and 8,000 for league games in the 60s (as ever all this stuff is from memory, may be wrong)

Things do change -

When how, I know not,

I've said time and time and time again the only realistic way we can break into the top 4 (and hence have a much better chance of not losing top players) is by getting a billionaire sugar daddy in

yet time and time and time again many/most spurs fans say no we don't want to go down that route - buying success - pah

well fair enough - the moral high ground is a nice place to occupy, but if the winds whistling, and the tent's leaking, then some people start thinking about the bright lights from the mansions on the other side

And yes I know that's a ridiculous analogy , cos it's people like Leeds and Forest who really are the ones in leaky tents - or maybe the Burton Albions and York Citys of this world - it's all relative etc

 

[taidgh]

@ dcboy

i have no problem buying success. i mean that's without a doubt the quickest way to short term success. the challenge, i maintain, is holding that success and not finding that after one season of missing out on the CL that your top players want to go, you find you don't have the same cash influx and that you are stuck with high wages/older players and no plan in sight for the long term.

i guess i'm against mortgaging our long term (meaning 5-10 years) goals for short term success. even if we are to beat 'pool to the 4th spot, you can bet the house that they'll spend big trying to reclaim that spot. over the next 5 seasons or so, it seems as though we'll (hopefully) be fighting 2-3 teams for 2 spots. that means each year 2 are left out. and to be honest we haven't shown a lot of continuity over the last few seasons.

 

[DC_Boy]

@ dcboy

i have no problem buying success. i mean that's without a doubt the quickest way to short term success. the challenge, i maintain, is holding that success and not finding that after one season of missing out on the CL that your top players want to go, you find you don't have the same cash influx and that you are stuck with high wages/older players and no plan in sight for the long term.

i guess i'm against mortgaging our long term (meaning 5-10 years) goals for short term success. even if we are to beat 'pool to the 4th spot, you can bet the house that they'll spend big trying to reclaim that spot. over the next 5 seasons or so, it seems as though we'll (hopefully) be fighting 2-3 teams for 2 spots. that means each year 2 are left out. and to be honest we haven't shown a lot of continuity over the last few seasons.

Hi Taidgh but that's my point too - I agree

When I say break into the 'big 4' I don't mean a one off 4th spot like the toffees - they didn't break the big 4 by doing that - they ruffled a few feathers and then hit the ground with a flop the next season

That's why i'm talking of a billionaire saugar daddy figure - you spend spend spend till you not only crash into the magic circle, you stay there - and you don't mortgage your future cos it's his money that's being spent

Now such a scenario is almost certainly not going to happen - but what I find is that many/most Spurs fans say they don't want it even if they could have it - (whether if it happened they'd still say that - who knows)

So apart from that - probably the Levy model is as good as any - who knows - maybe there are other other models

but the only team who've stepped up to join what had become a big three by the turn of the century have been CFC - and we know how they did it - first they gambled - using a lot of Matthew Harding's money in the process - then they nearly fell, then they won the lottery

 

[taidgh]

fair enough. to sugar daddies :cheers:

 

[DC_Boy]

T

unfortunately - I can't see it happening

and as I say most/many Spurs fans would say fortunately

who knows what the future holds - probably in ten or twenty years time the big 4 won't be quite the same - but I wouldn't know how it will change

 

[TrueYid]

T

unfortunately - I can't see it happening

and as I say most/many Spurs fans would say fortunately

who knows what the future holds - probably in ten or twenty years time the big 4 won't be quite the same - but I wouldn't know how it will change

In ten years there will be Euro super leauge, Europes top teams will compete in their own leauge and all traditions and magic will be gone forever.

 

[Yid-ol]

If a player says they want to move, then there isnt much we can do, there heart is no longer at the club and they are already thinking what if i was playing for them and all that. The club is doing the best thing posiable, putting a big price on the players but also saying they dotn want to sell them, so if no club matches what we think they are worth, they can still feel wanted by us and will still hopefully put in some good performaces if/when they play for us.

It isnt like Berabtov or Keane havnt asked (through agents or chairmen) to move, if they hadnt asked to move then i would totaly agree with you, i may slag Levy ff now and then, but he really does know how to run the club well and what is the best thing to do in these situations.

With the way some people are thinking , which is the same was as yours, its like what is the point anymore, and we should give up.... remeber football is a funny old game, one season could put you back up with the top teams and then the placers who wanted top 4 will be happy, and with the players we still have we still have a good enough squad to challange for cups and push for a high finish in the league!! its not all doom and gloom.... things used to be a hell of alot worse for us afew years back!!!!!!!!!

 

[llamafarmer]

We have to get used to it. I've dreaded this situation and hoped it was all just paper talk about Berba and Keano, but it isn't and it will happen with someone else next year. We have to learn to build success without the stars and have a really good team of 11 players instead of mostly shit and a couple of stars. As somebody has already said, even the Arse, with CL footy, have been trodden all over during this window.

I still have my suspicions that Rafa has never really been that interested in Keane and he's simply trying to upset our preseason because he sees us as a threat. I think O'Neill handled the Barry situation superbly and we should do the same with any player that becomes a negative influence. I hate the thought of Modric turning up in Spain with our two star strikers moping around whining about going to "bigger clubs".

 

[rez9000]

It will end when fans decide that it's more important to change football than to get their weekly fix.

It will end when fans vote with their feet and start boycotting matches.

It will end when we send a message to the powers-that-be that we want change and until we get it, we will withhold our business.

It will end when the Leagues are restructured to stop favouring the bigger clubs, making it easier for them to cement their stranglehold.

It will end when we have a League that consists of 20 teams, not a League of 4 teams and 16 others.

Moaning about it is all well and good. But moaning will accomplish nothing, not while the League and FA are riddled with corruption.

It'll probably happen of it's own accord anyway, but it will take decades. Eventually, the fans will get sick of going to matches that mean nothing, that will gain them very little, and they'll just stop going.

 

[DC_Boy]

In ten years there will be Euro super leauge, Europes top teams will compete in their own leauge and all traditions and magic will be gone forever.

Possibly TY - but go back 10 years and lots of people were predicting that then - and guess what it didn't happen

Indeed G14 spent a long time threatening this - it would have been good for football had it happened - but it was all bluster - they couldn't afford to do it

 

[llamafarmer]

Possibly TY - but go back 10 years and lots of people were predicting that then - and guess what it didn't happen

Indeed G14 spent a long time threatening this - it would have been good for football had it happened - but it was all bluster - they couldn't afford to do it

Good for football?! :duh:

It would be like the Champions' League times a million!

 

[DC_Boy]

Good for football?! :duh:

It would be like the Champions' League times a million!

HI LF I don't get what I said was stupid -

when G14 used to bluster away - I always used to say go on then I'd love it (not that they cared about me - I do understand that

it would have been great for football and sooner or later they would have come crawling back - but by then things would have moved on - and the re-entry price would have been high I hope (perhaps let them back in the conference)

but anyway it's all about opinions - another for the ignore list

 

[Yorkshireyiddo]

Where does it end. Well if we are a success and acheive things then we will keep are top players. If we finish mid-table then they will want to go. :shrug: