Have we blown our chances to be a top side?

[EnfieldYiddo]

This has been discussed in many threads but I just wondered what the general consensus is here.

I can stomach a lot of things with Spurs but what I'm struggling to accept is in my opinion, we've blown our chance to become a truly big club or at least solidify our position as one.

By some miracle, partially players coming through, partially Levy's guidance and partially manager's. We've come an extremely long way over the last 10 years. Even though we'd come far, we still had giants ahead of us, the oil-rich Chelsea and then suddenly City were bought by similar owners.

It seemed impossible but we still got into the top 4. Liverpool, a once title challenging club, had somehow collapsed. City even through investment, missed out and there we were... Top 4, the Holy Grail.


However, through bad luck, our self-implosion... God knows what... 2010/2011 We failed to kick on from an excellent debut CL campaign. We had the squad, Arsenal were a declining force (mind the gap ring any bells?) Liverpool still lay dormant... Yet we still fucked it up.

I could accept that, just. Okay I thought... Arsenal are still able to be caught. So on rolled 2011/2012 and it was probably the worst of the lot. The luck we had for the Chavs to lift the CL and in essence make our 4th place finish redundant. Heart-wrenching, still fine margins... We were 1 point off of 3rd place Arsenal. The games we messed up there, the chances we will now rue. The 'Arry saga - Was this the turning point?

2012/2013 still I naively believed, Arsene's insistence of not purchasing world class players, Liverpool still a recovering giant... Bale's emergence as one of the best players in the league, it could still happen. But when that last of Bale's wonder goals went in against Sunderland, I knew... We all knew it was probably the end of our run. Two more points, and it all could of been so different.



Fast forward to where we are now... What next for our club? I genuinely don't see us even making Europa. The competition many of us have so regularly scorned. The competition which half a dozen seasons ago would have been such a marked achievement to qualify for.

Liverpool look to have finally clicked and have arguably the 3rd or 4th player in the world leading their line and a manager who albeit an idiot - knows how to set up a team. City, Chelsea, Arsenal - All too look nailed on for top 4, this is before we consider last year champions United and the emerging Everton (who I think will drop off).

How long is it before another billionaire bank rolls a team who isn't a regular in the top 6?

IMO, we have really blown it to establish ourselves as a title-challenging side. If we fail to get any European football this season, are Lloris, Vertonghen etc. going to stick around with Deadwood as manager whilst playing school boy football?

The comforting thing for me is that our youth teams are supposedly quality and we've got a plethora of top talents coming through. I feel we will always be knocking around top 6 but I believe we've blown our chance to push on past that.

 

[stormfly]

I think we have missed our chance of being a top 4 club for the near future (next 4 years) but once the stadium is built, right manager, stop selling our best players blah blah blah we could be knocking on the door again.

 

[SargeantMeatCurtains]

I didnt read any of that

 

[TH1239]

We made huge mistakes in all three of the January transfer windows from 2011-2013. We desperately needed a striker in 2011 and 2013, and could've used another attacking option in 2012 to go with Ade, but we simply did not bring in the required quality. We could've had Suarez in 2011, but Redknapp thought he was too much like Van der Vaart (devastating evaluation in retrospect), we could've potentially brought in Negredo last January, as Sevilla had heavy debt to pay, but we stood still, bizarrely, with only two strikers (one of which was gone for a competition we knew would be happening).

It's exceptionally worrisome to consider the fallout from a player exodus if we fail to finish in the top 4. We've seen how much we miss Vertonghen and Sandro already, but imagine if Lloris leaves. Who can we get that plays to his level? With our summer spending this past summer, would Levy even reinvest all of the money from the potential sales next summer? Can we attract a good manager if our roster is in flux.

Huge concerns going forward and much of it was foreseeable.

 

[mpickard2087]

No. Good coaching, a good youth system and good, sensible investment and I think you can punch above your weight.

 

[FinnYid]

No - Harry took side at the bottom of the PL to Top 4 in a season.

 

[ilikeost]

Doom mongering...

Yes, this is the end and everything is shit. Happy now?

 

[tobi]

We haven't blown it because a lot of teams are on a similar level (on paper at least), with good coaching we can go up another level. Whether Sherwood is the man for that is another question.

I'm not feeling this gung ho approach at all.

 

[idontgetit]

I didn't read any of that but yes we have made it really hard for ourselves. Still in our hands though, a ridiculously good run and some poor results from our rivals will leave us right up there. We have to scrape in to the top four though, I don't care how we do it but we have to be there. A big performance in the UEFA cup then on top of that will get the club glittering again and enable us to bring in top talent.

 

[Darth Vega]

I agree, sadly. We had the chance to spend over the past 3 years and this was the first summer that we actually did it. We did so well to get into the top 4 but needed to consolidate that, especially as City spent god knows how much that summer.

After that I don't know. Looking at it financially, we've been punching above our weight. All the top 4 and Liverpool consistently spend more than us on both players and wages.

 

[EnfieldYiddo]

I didnt read any of that

Wanker

 

[EnfieldYiddo]

Doom mongering...

Yes, this is the end and everything is shit. Happy now?

It wasn't directly because of today's game, I just seen loads of posts about it recently and wanted a proper debate on the matter.

 

[Martinhotspur]

Great a we are doomed thread.

 

[EnfieldYiddo]

Great a we are doomed thread.

Glad you read it mate

 

[Bing]

There came a point where we were on the cusp of achieving our goals.

Levy did a great job at getting us there...what we needed at that point was a competent manager (did'nt have to be Ferguson, just capable) and continuity.

Its that part that we made an absolute balls of. The concept of stability seems completely foreign to Levy.

I firmly believe Jol, Redknapp or AVB could've got us to consistent champions league football. A manager does not have to be a tactical genius, the players just have to believe in him and there has to be cohesion in the squad (and the club as a whole).

I think that has been our biggest failing and Levy needs to take massive responsibility there. After that our other major shortcoming has been the failure to keep our best players. I know it is difficult but Carrick, Berbatov, VDV, Modric, Bale..its just player after player. It is a very difficult thing to hold onto your best players but we need to do better. Again I think Levy needs to take a chunk of responsibility here.

Bottom line, I dont necessarily want Levy gone, but he needs to cop on and take his head out of his arse. If Verts, Lloris and Tim go in the summer Levy needs to follow them imo.

 

[Wheeler Dealer]

Im more concerned that he is ignoring Capoue in preference to Holtby and Siggy when there is absolutely no rational reason to do so.

 

[idontgetit]

It wasn't directly because of today's game, I just seen loads of posts about it recently and wanted a proper debate on the matter.

I was more concerned with AVB in charge because it had become clear exactly what his philosophies on footy were and they were 100% going to drag us in to the depths of eternal mediocrity. With Sherwood I'm not sure, I like that he's getting attacking players on the pitch but I don't like 4-4-2 although I understand why he's tried it. This thread kind of explains why there was so much polarized discussion earlier in the season between people who had had enough of AVB and those thought he needed time. This despair that alot of people are feeling now is what a lot of us felt under AVB.

Still it's really really fucking frustrating when you look how open the season is and how we've never got out of 3rd gear all season. I'll stick my hands right up and say most people know a lot more about football than me in general but this season I just feel 100% certain that if I'd been picking the team every week we'd now have a really successful, balanced, watchable side and would be at least 6 or 7 points better off. That sounds so arrogant I know but it's just so fucking hard watching us throw away such potential

 

[SpursManChris]

This has been discussed in many threads but I just wondered what the general consensus is here.

I can stomach a lot of things with Spurs but what I'm struggling to accept is in my opinion, we've blown our chance to become a truly big club or at least solidify our position as one.

By some miracle, partially players coming through, partially Levy's guidance and partially manager's. We've came an extremely long way over the last 10 years. Even though we'd come far, we still had giants ahead of us, the oil-rich Chelsea and then suddenly City we bought by similar owners.

It seemed impossible but we still got into the top 4. Liverpool, a once title challenging club, had somehow collapsed. City even through investment, missed out and there we were... Top 4, the Holy Grail.


However, through bad luck, our self-implosion... God knows what... 2010/2011 We failed to kick on from an excellent debut CL campaign. We had the squad, Arsenal were a declining force (mind the gap ring any bells?) Liverpool still lay dormant... Yet we still fucked it up.

I could accept that, okay Arsenal are still able to be caught I believed. 2011/2012 was probably the worst. The luck we had for the Chavs to lift the CL and in essence make our 4th place finish redundant. Heart-wrenching, still fine margins... We were 1 point off of 3rd place Arsenal. The games we messed up there, the chances we will now rue. The 'Arry saga - Was this the turning point?

2012/2013 still I naively believed, Arsene's insistence of not purchasing world class players, Liverpool still a recovering giant... Bale's emergence as one of the best players in the league, it could still happen. But when that last of Bale's wonder goals went in against Sunderland, I knew... We all knew it was probably the end of our run. Two more points, and it all could of been so different.



Fast forward to where we are now... What next for our club? I genuinely don't see us even making Europa. The competition many of us have so regularly scorned. The competition we so quickly forward would have been such a marked achievement to qualify for.

Liverpool look to have finally clicked and have arguably the 3rd or 4th player in the world leading their line and a manager who albeit is an idiot - knows how to set up a team. City, Chelsea, Arsenal - All too look nailed on for top 4, this is before we consider last year champions United and the emerging Everton (who I think will drop off).

How long is it before another billionaire bank rolls a team who isn't a regular in the top 6?

IMO, we have really blown it to establish ourselves as a title-challenging side. If we fail to get any European football this season, are Lloris, Vertonghen etc. going to stick around with Deadwood as manager whilst playing school boy football?

The comforting thing for me is that our youth teams are supposedly quality and we've got a plethora of top talents coming through. I feel we will always be knocking around top 6 but I believe we've blown our chance to push on past that.

I read your post. And now I'm depressed. You've successfully depressed me.

 

[THFCSPURS19]

I know a lot of things could have happened after, but I truly believe with all my heart, that if Defoe has scored that goal at the Etihad in 2012 to make it 2-3, we would have won the league. I had never seen a Tottenham side that good- Modric, Van der Vaart, Bale, an in-form Parker and just so much pace. That's when we blew it- I still can't believe we didn't wrap up 3rd. Thinking about it makes me sick.

@EnfieldYiddo I agree with you that we have blown our chance and we could be lingering around 6-8th for a couple of seasons but Liverpool's resurgence has given me hope that if it does go tits up, we can come back as we have a group of fantastic players when they are on their game.

 

[SpursManChris]

Liverpool look to have finally clicked and have arguably the 3rd or 4th player in the world leading their line and a manager who albeit is an idiot - knows how to set up a team.

How can you say this?