Is Levy and the gang the problem

[roosh]

He supplied money for all of them, which is basically the most important part of being a chairman.

would have to disagree with that. I think that making money available is the most basic of the chairmans functions. It doesn't take any great strategic nous to do this. The most important role that the chairman undertakes is long-term and short term strategic planning, as well as motivating those below him and getting their buy-in for his ideas and strategies.

While he has been very astute in what he has been doing off the field in terms of the financials, setting up the academy and planning for a new stadium etc., he has been pretty disastrous when it comes to on field issues, especially in the past 2 years, where he showed he wasn't able to set realistic short term goals, he employed the wrong people, he didn't have the courage of his convictions to stick to his original plan and it seemed his focus was misguided and misdirected. He buckled under pressure and allowed himself to be influenced too much by the wrong people.

With Harry he now has a manager who he could potentially learn a lot from, and while I would agree that Harry may not be the man that will restore us to the Glory days, of oh so long ago, he is definitely the man for the job for the next 3-5yrs. Not because he is any great tactical wizard, or because he is a big name superstar, but because he is in the job now and can lay a stable foundation for future managers. He can provide the stability that Spurs need, more than any silverware.

I have been one of his biggest detractors, but if he can learn from the sorry mess that has been the last 2 seasons, then hopefully he will emerge more astute (all round) and could well be the man to "take us to the next leve"

 

[sidford]

levy has been a great chairman for our club. people say providing money is the basic function of a chairman? well yes and no because thats too simplistic. getting the club into a healthy enough position where money is available without putting the club under financial pressure is the basic function of the chairman and levy (as spending figures proves) has done a remarkable job doing that.
levy has made mistakes as has everyone in their job but he has been great, and yes i do mean great, for this club and its sad that people will only realise this when he goes.
people dont give him credit for all the good hes done and the main criticism labelled at him is the DOF system and sacking jol. in relation to the DOF system he had a look across europe and saw that this system was being used to great effect across europe and that its european methods which for the most part that advance the english game - look at training methods, diets, players lifestyles etc for proof of this, so i cannot criticise him for looking at what works in practically every other country and trying to implement it here.
and in relation to jol he should take stick however he replaced jol with someone who was widely regarded as a very good coach who had a record better then practically any manager we have had in recent memory however that didnt work out and he has scrapped the DOF system.
its very easy to criticise and look back with 20/20 vision after the events but the fact is that levy has done a terrific job with the club and unfortunately this will not be recognised till someone else comes in

 

[g_harry]

Levy is not the problem, its because of Levy we are in a position to be moaning that we are not challenging for 5th spot. We all make mistakes, but Levy has made decisions which he feels was right for the club. I'm sure he looks back and reflects that commoli was a big mistake but we have to move on.

 

[DC_Boy]

I've known the names of our various of our key chairmen/directors since the 60s/70s era of the Wales and Richardson though am hazy on the details - agreed-

then of course there was Scholar and Sugar

so I've been aware of plenty of chairmen/directors and quite often they've had key roles in the history of our club for good or bad

 

[johnmc]

Levy has made huge mistakes in recent seasons. Appointing Comolli and running out of patience with Jol being the start of a downward spiral. He is now trying to address the fall, and hopefully he will have learned some very harsh lessons. He is not the worst by any means and always seems to do what he thinks is best. Sadly his judgment has not always been sound. Just the way I see things.

 

[roosh]

levy has been a great chairman for our club. people say providing money is the basic function of a chairman? well yes and no because thats too simplistic. getting the club into a healthy enough position where money is available without putting the club under financial pressure is the basic function of the chairman and levy (as spending figures proves) has done a remarkable job doing that.
levy has made mistakes as has everyone in their job but he has been great, and yes i do mean great, for this club and its sad that people will only realise this when he goes.
people dont give him credit for all the good hes done and the main criticism labelled at him is the DOF system and sacking jol. in relation to the DOF system he had a look across europe and saw that this system was being used to great effect across europe and that its european methods which for the most part that advance the english game - look at training methods, diets, players lifestyles etc for proof of this, so i cannot criticise him for looking at what works in practically every other country and trying to implement it here.
and in relation to jol he should take stick however he replaced jol with someone who was widely regarded as a very good coach who had a record better then practically any manager we have had in recent memory however that didnt work out and he has scrapped the DOF system.
its very easy to criticise and look back with 20/20 vision after the events but the fact is that levy has done a terrific job with the club and unfortunately this will not be recognised till someone else comes in

I don't think there are too many that won't give Levy the credit he is due, when it comes to what he has achieved financially for the club. He has done an excellent job in that department. However it must be remembered that this has come at a time of unprecedented money in english football. As a business man, he has seen the potential revenues that a club with a fan base like Tottenham can achieve and has done his utmost to exploit this potential. At times however, it has appeared that this focus on securing our financial status, has trumped the footballing side of things.

The decision to sack Jol, and replace him with an arguably better manager, was not done out of some deep seeted desire to see Tottenham as a great club, it was done purely to accelerate Tottenhams progression into the Champions League and to get the money that went with it. This is obvious, simply for the fact that Spurs had been on the right track up until then, and if the decision had been taken with on-field progress in mind, it would have been clear that the steady progresss should have been built upon and the infinitely more realistic goal, of challenging the top 4 within 5yrs, was the best way to go.

This isn't a pro-Jol/Anti-Ramos/Anti-Commolli point of view, it is plain common sense and realism.

To dismiss monumental mistakes such as this, which ultimately has us fighting for premiership survival this year, merely as "oh sure everyone makes mistakes", is not the standards we should be holding our chairman to. If it is then why don't we apply it to our managers and our players.

The chairman has to be held accountable for the mistakes he makes and not simply have them dismissed as a simple facet of the human condition. That is not how Tottenham will progress as a club. And as for judging his decisions with the advantage of 20/20 hindsight, it is the only possible way in which we can analyse his decisions, unless you can suggest another. Granted, some may say he has made his decisions "in the best interests of the footabll club", while I would question this at times, it still does not excuse his mistakes. If someone makes a decision, in business moreso than any other facet of life, and it proves to be wrong and a monumental error, it does not matter in what interest it was taken, if it seriously jeopardises the future and stability of the organisation, then accountability will and should be sought.

Levy has done a lot of good for the Club, he has also done a lot of harm to the club with some of his decisions. If he goes on from here and learns from them, then I dare say he could become one the best chairmen in our history**, not before.

**I am not really ina position to make that judgement

 

[SA_Spurs]

Hmm, interesting view points by everyone.
For me, we are very efficiently run in the boardroom, year on year growth, solid top club. I think we suffer from Chairman interference - we all know Levy is not a football man, but rather more concentrated on business results. In that aspect, he has done great.

However, I think our problems are deeper than just Levy's interference. There is a great impatience that runs across the entire club, like we were ordained to be in the upper echelons of english football. Now don't get me wrong, I've supported this club for over 26 years now and even I have lived the older glory years as related by my dad, granddad etc (yes, we're a family of spurs supporters!!) through retold tales, grainy VHS tapes and a lot of reading on forums such as these.

But thats exactly my point, we all live in the past. We were once great, we built an ethos of entertaining football that thrilled even non supporters. We dared to dream and achieved it - in many ways, we are a victim of our illusions.

I ramble... In my eyes, I don't believe Levy is the problem, but I would say he is a contributing factor to the larger issues. What I would now like to see is Spurs building a solid foundation, blooding youth team players, showing some continuity (both player & manager wise) and knuckling down to prove all the doubters wrong. For this to happen, the tone must be set from the top i.e. patience, trust, investment and daring to dream again. Only one man can control this - Levy.

Sorry this was longer than intended ...anxious about this week...but in typical spurs fashion - full of hope - COYS!!

 

[steve]

I don't think there are too many that won't give Levy the credit he is due, when it comes to what he has achieved financially for the club. He has done an excellent job in that department. However it must be remembered that this has come at a time of unprecedented money in english football. As a business man, he has seen the potential revenues that a club with a fan base like Tottenham can achieve and has done his utmost to exploit this potential. At times however, it has appeared that this focus on securing our financial status, has trumped the footballing side of things.

The decision to sack Jol, and replace him with an arguably better manager, was not done out of some deep seeted desire to see Tottenham as a great club, it was done purely to accelerate Tottenhams progression into the Champions League and to get the money that went with it. This is obvious, simply for the fact that Spurs had been on the right track up until then, and if the decision had been taken with on-field progress in mind, it would have been clear that the steady progresss should have been built upon and the infinitely more realistic goal, of challenging the top 4 within 5yrs, was the best way to go.

This isn't a pro-Jol/Anti-Ramos/Anti-Commolli point of view, it is plain common sense and realism.

To dismiss monumental mistakes such as this, which ultimately has us fighting for premiership survival this year, merely as "oh sure everyone makes mistakes", is not the standards we should be holding our chairman to. If it is then why don't we apply it to our managers and our players.

The chairman has to be held accountable for the mistakes he makes and not simply have them dismissed as a simple facet of the human condition. That is not how Tottenham will progress as a club. And as for judging his decisions with the advantage of 20/20 hindsight, it is the only possible way in which we can analyse his decisions, unless you can suggest another. Granted, some may say he has made his decisions "in the best interests of the footabll club", while I would question this at times, it still does not excuse his mistakes. If someone makes a decision, in business moreso than any other facet of life, and it proves to be wrong and a monumental error, it does not matter in what interest it was taken, if it seriously jeopardises the future and stability of the organisation, then accountability will and should be sought.

Levy has done a lot of good for the Club, he has also done a lot of harm to the club with some of his decisions. If he goes on from here and learns from them, then I dare say he could become one the best chairmen in our history**, not before.

**I am not really ina position to make that judgement

One of the best posts I've seen on here for a long time, repped.

 

[hellava_tough]

randy lerner done quite well.

Exactly

Told Villa's star player, Gareth Barry he wasn't going anywhere, and now they're competing for Champions League football

Perhaps Levy should have done the same with Keane and Berbatov :-|

 

[VancouverSpurs]

Exactly

Told Villa's star player, Gareth Barry he wasn't going anywhere, and now they're competing for Champions League football

Perhaps Levy should have done the same with Keane and Berbatov :-|

I've thought about this and ultimately my conclusion is that Berbatov and Keane were different cases to Barry. At least with Barry there seemed to be an element of professionalism. MON and Lerner told him what the price was and made it very clear they wanted him to stay. Barry shut his mouth then. When he wasn't sold, there were ramifications, but he wasn't shut out of the squad. Ultimately MON is just a better communicator than Ramos/Poyet were.

With Berbatov he was off signing ManU shirts, sulking around and having his agent launch public outbursts. Then the ultimate slap in the face, he goes up to have a medical when he wasn't even sold officially.

Would Keane have done the same? I suspect that he would have acted up if he had been refused his shot at playing for 'his' team.

So the difference between Spurs and Villa was not just due to the Lerner/MON, although they handled that situation much more professionally than Levy/Ramos.

 

[g_harry]

liverpool did'nt put up the money so villa didn't let him go - if liverpool had put in the bid villa was asking for he was gone.

plus martin o'neill is one of the best managers in prem league. - turned us down beacuse we wouldn't give him full control and he wouldn't work with director of football.

 

[gibbs131]

it's the bloody players faults! After that, then a combo of Levy/managements fault.

It is not the players fault that attacking CENTRAL midfielders are being asked to play in DM, LW and right RW or even in a sweeper role.

The players are not being used to their strength because WE LACK THE BASIC POSITIONS even in the huge squad we have.