- Aug 24, 2008
- 95
- 147
Great response by the way !! If your interpretation is right, and the plan is as articulated. Then it feels to me that Levy either needs to communicate the above very clearly .. As I would hazard a guess that most (including me) do not believe he gets out of the way of the DoF and is unable to remove himself from the most important item that will ultimately lead to team success - player recruitment/selling etc etc .The long-term goal as I understand it is to be competing for all the main trophies every season, and winning a good proportion, using extra funds generated organically by the new stadium. This has been added to by a £100 million (£150 million down the line?) by ENIC and possible further outside injections of capital.
The first part of this has been achieved regularly in my view, and the second part is a failure. This failure can be explained in very large part by the unexpectedly early close calls on trophies by Pochettino at a time when funds were scarce because of the new stadium and Hotspur Way developments taking up all available funds, then by the Covid debacle which threatened the club's very existence, which fans tend to conveniently forget.
The strategy as I understand it to achieve this goal is to incrementally improve the playing squad both by improvements and replenishment of the first team squad and a much improved academy set up, and employing high quality coaching and back up teams. The academy took a massive hit in my opinion with the departure of John McDermott, who I don't think has been adequately replaced, and Fabio Paratici has been tasked with a root and branch overhaul of the set up, which hopefully will see discernible improvements over time. This will of course will only be achieved when players can see a pathway to the first team which includes more than being on the bench.
What the hiring and firing of consecutive managers indicates (to me) is that Daniel Levy too often thinks like a fan with his headline appointments and therefore goes for a "name" manager, and in doing so goes against the footballing philosophy of the club. To my mind this applies to both the Mourinho and Conte appointments, but also AVB, Ramos, Santini, and possibly Hoddle, plus (unsuccessfully) Van Gaal.
I regard Nuno Espirito Santo as a panic appointment when all other avenues had been exhausted.
This to me is a massive fault of Levy's. He has a mission statement and a strategy to achieve that, but in purely footballing matters lacks the courage of his convictions and makes appointments to excite the fanbase. However in all other matters relating to the Club he is single minded, purposeful and excellence orientated.
I suspect he understands this fault and therefore has always preferred the Director of Football model, where he can keep away from purely footballing matters, but goes against this when coaches do well, such as Martin Jol and Mauricio Pochettino, by changing their title to manager, but expecting them to continue to act as Head Coach. With Fabio Paratici's appointment in a more senior role than DOF perhaps Levy can distance himself more.
The fact that you continually refer to "managers" rather than "head coaches" does make me wonder though whether we see what is going on in the same way. Conte is not a Manager. He is Head Coach, with a different set of responsibilities.
I think it’s strange how FP is nowhere to be seen or heard. How former DoF or equivalent staff Mitchel etc all left (the question as to why needs to be considered). Guess is the interference by Mr Levy, maybe I am wrong.
The way the predictable negotiations are reported with player Y or Z .. It’s the same old, same old as to not paying the price required regardless of “game changing” infrastructure. This I struggle to believe is FP (although nobody can be sure) although this was happening before FP was at the club.
The removal of Jose before the Cup Final , to me suggests that him thinking as a fan is not likely. Who wanted Mason to be in charge of that game and jeopardise a trophy ?
Regardless of manager or head coach - success requires everyone to understand the plan, get behind it and focus on their areas of responsibility. Do i believe Levy has set a clear strategy for Paratici, Conte and not changed as things have progressed, no I don’t. Think this is why there has been a change AC demeanour and FP is nowhere to be seen.
Levy has a achieved a lot , but he’s getting in the way of further progression in my opinion. The next 2 weeks will be interesting and telling.