Daniel Levy pens letter to fans on final day of EPL season

[Shadydan]

Gonna be a loooooong 3 weeks

 

[Spurslove]

The hell is going on in here??

Nothing at all mate. Let's all move on now.

.

 

[eddiev14]

There isn’t a place now A&C locked the one thread we could use

Someone mentioned something about a thread in general football but I wasn’t able to find it.

 

[Fidget]

*8 alerts, 3 'doh's! I 'winner' and a thumbs up. Better than I expected tbh.



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ohhh go on then....what’s with the two returns and the full stop?

 

[si_yidarmy]

It’s been unbelievable and now it’s time to believe.

THIS

 

[Spurslove]

ohhh go on then....what’s with the two returns and the full stop?

The full stop creates a workable space between my post and my signature. I use it as my artistic licence. There. I've just given away a state secret!

.

 

[Everlasting Seconds]

Yep. Levy is responding to Pochettino in the press. Absolutely that's what's happening. Without doubt.

Levy is hitting back. Because there's a war on at Spurs. Between Levy and Poch. They don't talk to each other, nor does the club have any kind of media strategy in place, you know. The two sides in this bitter war can't bear to be in each other's presence, so they speak to each other via the press. Because that's how high turnover businesses valued in the hundreds of millions of pounds behave - the management don't work together - they each do what they want and speak to each other via the press. Because multi-million pound businesses just wimble along and allow their senior staff to say what they like when they like and spend absolutely zero time, you know, discussing what is going to be said to the press. The guy who accompanies Poch to every single press conference is just a ligging idiot nephew.

And that's what this 'Chairman's message' really is. It's a counterattack by Levy against Poch's unvarnished brutal attacks on him viciously launched by Poch via the media. And so Levy decided that he in turn needed to launch a salvo of his own. Hence the Chairman's message.

And I reckon he knew this was coming, because he actually did a pre-emptive Chairman's message last year: https://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/may-article-import/2018/chairmans-message/

He's a smart cookie, Levy, because he even printed that message in the last matchday programme of the season too.

So smart is he that he's actually done the same thing every year.

He did it 2017: https://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/news-archive-1/chairmans-message/

And 2016: https://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/may-article-import/2016/chairmans-message/

And 2015: https://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/news-archive-1/chairmans-message-1/

He's so clever that he even sent a Chairman's message countering Poch back in 2014 before Poch had even been appointed manager (the link isn't there anymore, but there's an article on the Standard's website, ironically enough, that mentions it).

Now, my sincere apologies for the acid tone, but some of the stuff being posted about the management using the press to push agenda and how these agenda are separate and oppositional is bordering on tinfoil hat territory.

Tinfoil hat ... I on my end find it rather tinfoil that there are fans who don't believe Pochettino is delivering a message through the media. He has a very deliberate media strategy embedded into his career and it has never changed. The fact that your satire had to go so far out of realms of possibilities to find a sphere of mockery and sarcasms inadvertently proves this. It is very clear beyond any doubt what Pochettino is saying and doing, and poeple sticking their fingers in their ears shouting "Blah blah blah Pochettino isn't actually saying anything blah blah blah because I for one can't hear anything" is showcasing the core of naivety.

Central to this naivety is the void between the English gentleman's perception of good and honourable communication, and how communication is perceived in pretty much the rest of the well-functioning world. To the English gentleman, communication is always about being elusive, dubious and ambiguous. They hide their true intent so much, they themselves can't find it. And Levy is the perfect English gentleman.

If you are coming to me as your line manager, presenting your ideas for business improvements, I might say "sorry, these are bad ideas", and what I mean is "these are bad ideas".
If you present the same suggestions to an English gentleman line manager, he'll say "Yeah (pause) I appreciated you looking into it (pause) at first glance it is certainly interesting, and I'll keep this in mind moving forward". What he actually meant to say was "you fekking lunatic are you wasting my time on this AND I have to PAY you for the time you wasted on this shit you fekking loser get the fekk out of my office".

 

[cider spurs]

Fuck me, lol.

FFS...Not this again. NOPE.

 

[rez9000]

Tinfoil hat ... I on my end find it rather tinfoil that there are fans who don't believe Pochettino is delivering a message through the media. He has a very deliberate media strategy embedded into his career and it has never changed. The fact that your satire had to go so far out of realms of possibilities to find a sphere of mockery and sarcasms inadvertently proves this. It is very clear beyond any doubt what Pochettino is saying and doing, and poeple sticking their fingers in their ears shouting "Blah blah blah Pochettino isn't actually saying anything blah blah blah because I for one can't hear anything" is showcasing the core of naivety.

Central to this naivety is the void between the English gentleman's perception of good and honourable communication, and how communication is perceived in pretty much the rest of the well-functioning world. To the English gentleman, communication is always about being elusive, dubious and ambiguous. They hide their true intent so much, they themselves can't find it. And Levy is the perfect English gentleman.

If you are coming to me as your line manager, presenting your ideas for business improvements, I might say "sorry, these are bad ideas", and what I mean is "these are bad ideas".
If you present the same suggestions to an English gentleman line manager, he'll say "Yeah (pause) I appreciated you looking into it (pause) at first glance it is certainly interesting, and I'll keep this in mind moving forward". What he actually meant to say was "you fekking lunatic are you wasting my time on this AND I have to PAY you for the time you wasted on this shit you fekking loser get the fekk out of my office".

I’m not sure you’ve quite grasped the concept of the tinfoil hat, old chap...

 

[Donki]

Damn we are getting salty on SC these days, just dont mention GoTS for fuck sake.

 

[vegassd]

Tinfoil hat ... I on my end find it rather tinfoil that there are fans who don't believe Pochettino is delivering a message through the media. He has a very deliberate media strategy embedded into his career and it has never changed. The fact that your satire had to go so far out of realms of possibilities to find a sphere of mockery and sarcasms inadvertently proves this. It is very clear beyond any doubt what Pochettino is saying and doing, and poeple sticking their fingers in their ears shouting "Blah blah blah Pochettino isn't actually saying anything blah blah blah because I for one can't hear anything" is showcasing the core of naivety.

I think where people mainly question the idea of "sending a message through the media" is the fact that these two men work together on a daily basis. In fact, I believe their offices are next door to each other. Poch has certainly made mention of speaking with Levy most days whilst at work.

I would agree with your bit about certain "English gentlemen" masking their true meaning in order to be polite. But with that very same thing in mind, you would have to concede that if Poch were sending messages to Levy through the media it's because he either doesn't have the courage to say them to Levy directly, or he is too polite and covers his true meaning when speaking to Levy. I don't think either of those is the case for Poch.

What is clear and beyond any doubt to me is that Poch has to field these sorts of questions hundreds of times throughout the year, and my own perception of his answers this season is that he's getting bored of it! I think that's where things like women checking him out in the street, filling the house with furniture, or going home after performing miracles comes from... he is coming up with new ways to talk to the media. He knows they are going to write what the hell they want anyway, so after a few attempts at clarifying what he had been misquoted saying it's now easier to give them a bunch of soundbites and let them fuck off.

Of course, I can't say with any certainty that this is what Poch is doing, but I can at least see a logical reason for it happening. I see no such logic for sending messages to Levy through the media. So if you want to believe that's what he's doing then that's your prerogative, but there's no need to call people naive just because they can deconstruct your belief.

 

[Primativ]

I think where people mainly question the idea of "sending a message through the media" is the fact that these two men work together on a daily basis. In fact, I believe their offices are next door to each other. Poch has certainly made mention of speaking with Levy most days whilst at work.

I would agree with your bit about certain "English gentlemen" masking their true meaning in order to be polite. But with that very same thing in mind, you would have to concede that if Poch were sending messages to Levy through the media it's because he either doesn't have the courage to say them to Levy directly, or he is too polite and covers his true meaning when speaking to Levy. I don't think either of those is the case for Poch.

What is clear and beyond any doubt to me is that Poch has to field these sorts of questions hundreds of times throughout the year, and my own perception of his answers this season is that he's getting bored of it! I think that's where things like women checking him out in the street, filling the house with furniture, or going home after performing miracles comes from... he is coming up with new ways to talk to the media. He knows they are going to write what the hell they want anyway, so after a few attempts at clarifying what he had been misquoted saying it's now easier to give them a bunch of soundbites and let them fuck off.

Of course, I can't say with any certainty that this is what Poch is doing, but I can at least see a logical reason for it happening. I see no such logic for sending messages to Levy through the media. So if you want to believe that's what he's doing then that's your prerogative, but there's no need to call people naive just because they can deconstruct your belief.

I can't say I agree with you totally here. Whilst I agree I don't think they are 'talking to each other through the media', as you rightly point out their offices are next door to each other, I don't think Poch is coming up with new ways to talk to the media either.

Poch is the one who brought this all up on his own, about his future being up in the air. Putting it bluntly, Poch has upset the applecart by his own free will, and handed the journo's ammunition to write articles about his future. Poch freely made the press conference pretty much solely about him and his future. Poch set the agenda as, "my future, I'm open to leaving". The journo's were (for once) not trying to spin a story about him leaving, or being mischevious, this pretty much came out of the blue after our biggest result in decades.

What Poch's motivations were, who knows. I was say the logical conclusion is he is putting pressure on the powers that be at Spurs, that they don't take him for granted, match his ambition or he is open to leaving etc etc Poch didn't just say these things by mistake, it wasn't a slip of the tongue, it was a lengthy monologue. He knows what he is doing.

 

[Shadydan]

Reading between the lines and alluding to what JJ said in the past about Joe Lewis about him not putting his hand in his pockets, I think the message is aimed at Uncle Joe rather than Daniel.

 

[Spurslove]

Maybe I'm completely missing something which others find blindingly obvious, but what he said or the meaning of it, is clear as a bell to me.

Reaching the Champions League final closes one major chapter in the club's progression which has taken the five years in which Poch has been our boss.

After the final, win or lose, he's going to go to the Chairman to discuss plans to progress yet further over the next five years.

Let's not forget, yes we are Champions League finalists for the first time in our history, but we finished the season 27 points behind Liverpool, who came second. Clearly, we have much work to do to eradicate that deficit, but that's something Levy has to devise a master plan for, and that's what Poch will sign up to for another five years (actually, he already has).

If Poch doesn't like Levy's plan or think it's at all feasible and realistic, yes, he will walk away and frankly, I wouldn't blame him. Without a coherent and attainable plan of action over the next five years, it would be pointless Poch staying with us, and I believe Levy knows this very well.

What Poch said in his post-match PC Sunday, was that currently, there is only one focus and that's winning the final on June 1st.

Then, the real work starts.

.

 

[Spurslove]

I can't say I agree with you totally here. Whilst I agree I don't think they are 'talking to each other through the media', as you rightly point out their offices are next door to each other, I don't think Poch is coming up with new ways to talk to the media either.

Poch is the one who brought this all up on his own, about his future being up in the air. Putting it bluntly, Poch has upset the applecart by his own free will, and handed the journo's ammunition to write articles about his future. Poch freely made the press conference pretty much solely about him and his future. Poch set the agenda as, "my future, I'm open to leaving". The journo's were (for once) not trying to spin a story about him leaving, or being mischevious, this pretty much came out of the blue after our biggest result in decades.

What Poch's motivations were, who knows. I was say the logical conclusion is he is putting pressure on the powers that be at Spurs, that they don't take him for granted, match his ambition or he is open to leaving etc etc Poch didn't just say these things by mistake, it wasn't a slip of the tongue, it was a lengthy monologue. He knows what he is doing.

I think Poch's ambitions will match Levy's perfectly.

.

 

[vegassd]

What Poch's motivations were, who knows. I was say the logical conclusion is he is putting pressure on the powers that be at Spurs, that they don't take him for granted, match his ambition or he is open to leaving etc etc Poch didn't just say these things by mistake, it wasn't a slip of the tongue, it was a lengthy monologue. He knows what he is doing.

I completely agree that he knows what he's doing, but I find it very hard to believe he is trying to put pressure on the board. How does a press conference apply any realistic pressure to them? If he wants to pressure them he would be far better served by talking to them directly, discussing what he thinks and seeing what can be done about it. That's how real life works.

I think there is a common misconception that the people who run the club are as fickle as the journalists and talking heads are, and that whenever something is said in the media there is an emergency board meeting and they all rant and rave about how to respond to it. But that's not how these people operate.

Behind the scenes there will be a near-constant dialogue between Poch's staff and the club board that will be focused on what the next steps are. The board will inform Poch about the financial situation, Poch will inform the board about what he wants to see happen, and between them they will come up with a plan... albeit one where the board get the final say. The content of press conferences will have no bearing on those talks.

My own take on the press conferences is that Poch is frustrated about the expectations placed on him by the media. He knows that the expectation of the board is to be in the CL when the new stadium is open - not in the final, just in the competition. So when he says "if they expect me to reach the CL final again without the right tools" (or whatever the wording) he is being clever. That's exactly the sort of thing the media want to hear, but he also knows that it isn't what the board expect of him at all.

As always, when these sorts of things are viewed in isolation they can be spun any way you want. But when looking at things in context and when trying to view the situation from multiple angles, we can normally get quite close to reality. I know it's really boring but it's certainly richer than following the soundbite world in my opinion.

 

[Fredo]

Where's the reassurances in the letter that we are going to be ambitious in the market and strive to reaching our maximum potential?

 

[midoNdefoe]

BSoDL suffering from PTWT (Pre Transfer Window Tension) also known as Bald Dwarf Empty Wallet Syndrome

Haha, you've literally not stopped your no signings agenda all season - you must be slightly pissed that we have got to the CL final without any... After all, the game is about players moving about, isn't it?

 

[Lighty64]

Haha, you've literally not stopped your no signings agenda all season - you must be slightly pissed that we have got to the CL final without any... After all, the game is about players moving about, isn't it?

some people want to beat the same drum over and over. if we win it will be thanks to the players and to Poch for doing a great job with what he has had to put up with.

if we lose it won't be because they scored a worldie, it will be because Levy never gave Poch the tools.

even if he spends this summer they will moan it's not enough, and not the players they would of bought, and the same group will follow each other around negging anyone they see as BSoDL, and winners for every post the moaners make. if you looked at every post the poster you replied to I'd expect 1 particular poster to winner it, the same poster will most probably neg this

 

[SPURSLIFE]

Yes it is. This board is all about opinions and we've all got them. Far as I know, there's no law which says we all have to agree with each other, but hopefully, you'll feel a little more charitable towards the Chairman when we're parading the Champions League trophy around the streets of N17. What do you reckon?

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I hope you're right but we would have done it despite the chairman not spending for a year. So I wonder what his contribution has been to our success this season?