ajspurs
Well-Known Member
- Jul 7, 2007
- 23,179
- 31,480
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/f...ttenham-admirable-club-rest-want-emulate.html
Chokers lacking ambition? No, Tottenham are an admirable club the rest should want to emulate
Social media was awash with pictures of bottles. Chelsea's new signing, Gonzalo Higuain, it was said, had been in the country for six hours and had reached the same number of English cup finals as Spurs in the last 10 seasons.
Everybody wanted to get involved. Arsenal fans and ex-players were particularly pleased, for obvious reasons. Wojciech Szczesny, an Arsenal legend in his own mind, posted a video on social media of him singing into the camera. 'It's happened again, it's happened again,' he droned with a smirk, before breaking off. 'You know the rest,' he added.
Yes, we know the rest. We know that Spurs lost in a domestic semi-final for the third season in a row. We also know that for the third season in a row, they are playing some of the most attractive football in the Premier League. We also know that, unlike so many of the basket-case clubs that fritter away their impossible riches on fickle fancies and follies, they are growing and improving all the time.
We know that, over the last five years, Spurs' net spend is lower than all but two Premier League clubs. We know that they don't blow the wealth the television companies throw at them quite as brazenly as some of their rivals. We know that they have ploughed much of their revenue into their new stadium. We know their finances are relatively stable. It's old fashioned, I know, but I like that template.
It is amusing how Janus-faced many of us have become about football club profligacy. Most commonly, we are keen to decry clubs for obscene spending on player transfers and agent fees. Clubs who spend to excess are accused of trying to buy success as if their financial dealings somehow delegitimise what they achieve.
The idea is that they have taken a short-cut to success, rather than earned it. The idea is that that success is therefore vulgar and without merit. We are supposed to infer from it a lack of tradition in the spending club and, furthermore, a lack of talent. The club could not create success through its academy so it went out and waved its wad to get the job done instead.
And yet when Spurs go a summer without spending any money at all on transfers, as they did last summer, we lambast them, too. We accuse them of negligence and parsimony and lack of ambition and we chip away at a sub-text that ENIC, the club's owners, and Daniel Levy, the Spurs chairman, are simply too mean to chuck £50million or more at the superstar player who might help them win a trophy.
Maybe it's just that I spent some time this week in the company of Accrington Stanley owner, Andy Holt, one of the foremost critics of the spending madness blighting the Premier League and sending so many of our clubs towards the brink of ruin but I admire the approach Spurs have taken compared to many of their rivals.
They are third in the league and they are in the last 16 of the Champions League. If they negotiate a difficult away tie against Crystal Palace on Sunday, they will be in the FA Cup fifth round. They are about to move into what those who have seen it suggest will be the best club stadium in England and they have an impressive new training ground.
They are established as a top-rank elite English team now, partly because they have invested so much in their infrastructure. It's a treat to watch them play. Christian Eriksen, Dele Alli, Harry Kane and Son Heung-Min are wonderful players and Mauricio Pochettino is a manager whose work has attracted lascivious glances from many directions, not least Manchester United.
Sure, sometimes I've wished Levy would sanction more spending for Pochettino. Sometimes, I've thought his penchant for leaving the conclusion of transfers to the 11th hour has cost the club points. The bigger picture, though, is that Spurs have overtaken Arsenal in north London and are currently the closest challengers to Liverpool and Manchester City.
So, going back to Szczesny's inanities, yes, we know the rest. The rest is that Spurs are a club to be admired. If the rest of the Premier League followed their example, it would be a better place.
Chokers lacking ambition? No, Tottenham are an admirable club the rest should want to emulate
- Spurs are an established elite team and have overtaken Arsenal in north London
- They lost in a domestic semi-final for the third season in a row on Thursday night
- But Mauricio Pochettino's work has attracted lascivious glances from rivals
- Dan Evans had some nerve to casually disrespect the skills of doubles players
- Hugh McIlvanney could sum up a life in a short burst of devastating insight
Social media was awash with pictures of bottles. Chelsea's new signing, Gonzalo Higuain, it was said, had been in the country for six hours and had reached the same number of English cup finals as Spurs in the last 10 seasons.
Everybody wanted to get involved. Arsenal fans and ex-players were particularly pleased, for obvious reasons. Wojciech Szczesny, an Arsenal legend in his own mind, posted a video on social media of him singing into the camera. 'It's happened again, it's happened again,' he droned with a smirk, before breaking off. 'You know the rest,' he added.
Yes, we know the rest. We know that Spurs lost in a domestic semi-final for the third season in a row. We also know that for the third season in a row, they are playing some of the most attractive football in the Premier League. We also know that, unlike so many of the basket-case clubs that fritter away their impossible riches on fickle fancies and follies, they are growing and improving all the time.
We know that, over the last five years, Spurs' net spend is lower than all but two Premier League clubs. We know that they don't blow the wealth the television companies throw at them quite as brazenly as some of their rivals. We know that they have ploughed much of their revenue into their new stadium. We know their finances are relatively stable. It's old fashioned, I know, but I like that template.
It is amusing how Janus-faced many of us have become about football club profligacy. Most commonly, we are keen to decry clubs for obscene spending on player transfers and agent fees. Clubs who spend to excess are accused of trying to buy success as if their financial dealings somehow delegitimise what they achieve.
The idea is that they have taken a short-cut to success, rather than earned it. The idea is that that success is therefore vulgar and without merit. We are supposed to infer from it a lack of tradition in the spending club and, furthermore, a lack of talent. The club could not create success through its academy so it went out and waved its wad to get the job done instead.
And yet when Spurs go a summer without spending any money at all on transfers, as they did last summer, we lambast them, too. We accuse them of negligence and parsimony and lack of ambition and we chip away at a sub-text that ENIC, the club's owners, and Daniel Levy, the Spurs chairman, are simply too mean to chuck £50million or more at the superstar player who might help them win a trophy.
Maybe it's just that I spent some time this week in the company of Accrington Stanley owner, Andy Holt, one of the foremost critics of the spending madness blighting the Premier League and sending so many of our clubs towards the brink of ruin but I admire the approach Spurs have taken compared to many of their rivals.
They are third in the league and they are in the last 16 of the Champions League. If they negotiate a difficult away tie against Crystal Palace on Sunday, they will be in the FA Cup fifth round. They are about to move into what those who have seen it suggest will be the best club stadium in England and they have an impressive new training ground.
They are established as a top-rank elite English team now, partly because they have invested so much in their infrastructure. It's a treat to watch them play. Christian Eriksen, Dele Alli, Harry Kane and Son Heung-Min are wonderful players and Mauricio Pochettino is a manager whose work has attracted lascivious glances from many directions, not least Manchester United.
Sure, sometimes I've wished Levy would sanction more spending for Pochettino. Sometimes, I've thought his penchant for leaving the conclusion of transfers to the 11th hour has cost the club points. The bigger picture, though, is that Spurs have overtaken Arsenal in north London and are currently the closest challengers to Liverpool and Manchester City.
So, going back to Szczesny's inanities, yes, we know the rest. The rest is that Spurs are a club to be admired. If the rest of the Premier League followed their example, it would be a better place.
