Spurs close in on Nuno Espirito Santo as boss

[mawspurs]

Tottenham are closing in on the appointment of Nuno Espirito Santo as their new manager.
Nuno left Wolves in May after four impressive seasons, during which time he took the club from the Championship to a Europa League quarter-final.

Source: BBC

 

[pistolP]

there is something seriously wrong with our club.

 

[davidmatzdorf]

Reasonably decent coverage, for a change. This is a sensible outsider's non-panic-mode view of the poorly managed part of the saga:

"a farcical 48 hours earlier this month when Paolo Fonseca thought he was taking over, only to be dumped in favour of Gennaro Gattuso, who was quickly rejected when fans reacted badly to the existence of social media posts which brought the Italian's commitment to inclusivity into question."​

Other than that almighty mess, for which the word "farcical" is not an exaggeration, it's just been a methodical search for a manager in a musical-chairs marketplace. The self-reinforcing mob-mentality fan-panic over Conte, Pochettino and Fonseca has nothing to do with what the club has been doing. With the exception of ditching Fonseca at the last minute and then pursuing and abandoning Gattuso, it hasn't been especially different to what Everton and Crystal Palace have been going through.

 

[Spirit of '61]

Reasonably decent coverage, for a change. This is a sensible outsider's non-panic-mode view of the poorly managed part of the saga:

"a farcical 48 hours earlier this month when Paolo Fonseca thought he was taking over, only to be dumped in favour of Gennaro Gattuso, who was quickly rejected when fans reacted badly to the existence of social media posts which brought the Italian's commitment to inclusivity into question."​

Other than that almighty mess, for which the word "farcical" is not an exaggeration, it's just been a methodical search for a manager in a musical-chairs marketplace. The self-reinforcing mob-mentality fan-panic over Conte, Pochettino and Fonseca has nothing to do with what the club has been doing. With the exception of ditching Fonseca at the last minute and then pursuing and abandoning Gattuso, it hasn't been especially different to what Everton and Crystal Palace have been going through.

Seriously?

 

[John48]

there is something seriously wrong with our club.

Why?

Did you say that when we appointed Poch?

Give the boy a chance, I didn't want Terry Neil, George Graham & Jose even, but I gave them a chance & if anything Nuno comes with a better cv than most being considered, certainly those outside the top candidates such as ETH, Potter (maybe) & the RBL boy, so I for one will be looking to see what he can do & what backing we give him.

 

[Tony-Bish]

there is something seriously wrong with our club.

Some of the fans?

 

[yid-down-under]

It’s got to a point now where I just want a manager in place so we can push on with preseason and the transfer window

I don’t really care who is in charge, just as long as we play well and are successful

 

[Metalhead]

Why?

Did you say that when we appointed Poch?

Give the boy a chance, I didn't want Terry Neil, George Graham & Jose even, but I gave them a chance & if anything Nuno comes with a better cv than most being considered, certainly those outside the top candidates such as ETH, Potter (maybe) & the RBL boy, so I for one will be looking to see what he can do & what backing we give him.

Very reasonable.

 

[blankom]

Not too down hearted. Big name managers havent been a success for us either. He’s done a good job at Wolves.

I prefer Nuno over Gattuso, Fonseca and/or Conte.

 

[14/04/91]

Reasonably decent coverage, for a change. This is a sensible outsider's non-panic-mode view of the poorly managed part of the saga:

"a farcical 48 hours earlier this month when Paolo Fonseca thought he was taking over, only to be dumped in favour of Gennaro Gattuso, who was quickly rejected when fans reacted badly to the existence of social media posts which brought the Italian's commitment to inclusivity into question."​

Other than that almighty mess, for which the word "farcical" is not an exaggeration, it's just been a methodical search for a manager in a musical-chairs marketplace. The self-reinforcing mob-mentality fan-panic over Conte, Pochettino and Fonseca has nothing to do with what the club has been doing. With the exception of ditching Fonseca at the last minute and then pursuing and abandoning Gattuso, it hasn't been especially different to what Everton and Crystal Palace have been going through.

I think you're being generous describing the process as methodical David.
Whilst we don't know exactly what's gone on and how much truth there's been in some of the stories, I've found the whole process concerning.

I'm starting from the assumption that Paratici was decided upon a fair while ago, despite only officially starting work today. That being the case why did we even attempt to hire Poch & Conte, 2 managers (not coaches) that wouldn't accept this structure - Poch would effectively be taking a lesser role than he previously held.
If either had agreed to join, I wonder would Levy have ripped up the DoF (or MD, F to use the correct title) plan??
Then, as you correctly state, the Fonseca/Gattuso situations were farcical. And that's being kind.
Finally, if Nuno was the stand-out candidate, I can't see why we didn't act earlier? I have no issue with him getting the job but the fact it's happened post Poch, Conte, Fonseca & Gattuso (and possibly others) doesn't scream first choice, especially as he's been available.

Obviously I hope he's successful and I've not seen anywhere near enough of Wolves to have an opinion on his abilities nor his potential. They seemed to get decent results against the top 6 and tore us a new one on a couple of occasions so I'd like to be optimistic but should he do well, I won't be giving Levy in particular much of the credit.

 

[Freddie]

Reasonably decent coverage, for a change. This is a sensible outsider's non-panic-mode view of the poorly managed part of the saga:

"a farcical 48 hours earlier this month when Paolo Fonseca thought he was taking over, only to be dumped in favour of Gennaro Gattuso, who was quickly rejected when fans reacted badly to the existence of social media posts which brought the Italian's commitment to inclusivity into question."​

Other than that almighty mess, for which the word "farcical" is not an exaggeration, it's just been a methodical search for a manager in a musical-chairs marketplace. The self-reinforcing mob-mentality fan-panic over Conte, Pochettino and Fonseca has nothing to do with what the club has been doing. With the exception of ditching Fonseca at the last minute and then pursuing and abandoning Gattuso, it hasn't been especially different to what Everton and Crystal Palace have been going through.

Really? We've been pretty embarrassing in how we've conducted this search. We interviewed or were strongly linked with a number of candidates before we then decided on getting a director of football, the guys we spoke to had completely contrasting footballing philosophies suggesting we had no idea what we were looking for, our chairman talked about the Tottenham DNA then appointed the man whose team has played mind-numbingly dull football over the last couple of years, we seemed to be exclusively talking to Jorge Mendes' clients recently (who is one of the most poisonous influences on the game), it's taken 2 and a half months to get someone in and the guy we got has been available for most of that, and add to that the fact that almost none of the fans wanted him. The quality of the candidates that we know were interviewed has deteriorated so fast that we were eventually willing to accept bang average managers and we STILL ended up with someone who has angered the majority of fans. These were all the actions of the club, not Spurs Community forum chats.

 

[davidmatzdorf]

Really? We've been pretty embarrassing in how we've conducted this search. We interviewed or were strongly linked with a number of candidates before we then decided on getting a director of football, the guys we spoke to had completely contrasting footballing philosophies suggesting we had no idea what we were looking for, our chairman talked about the Tottenham DNA then appointed the man whose team has played mind-numbingly dull football over the last couple of years, we seemed to be exclusively talking to Jorge Mendes' clients recently (who is one of the most poisonous influences on the game), it's taken 2 and a half months to get someone in and the guy we got has been available for most of that, and add to that the fact that almost none of the fans wanted him. The quality of the candidates that we know were interviewed has deteriorated so fast that we were eventually willing to accept bang average managers and we STILL ended up with someone who has angered the majority of fans. These were all the actions of the club, not Spurs Community forum chats.

You're not looking at where the public information about the ever-changing search came from. THFC has kept its collective lip absolutely zipped throughout. They were carrying out a recruitment operation in a confidential manner. Had it stayed that way, no one would have got into the collective tizzy that we saw all over the ludicrous new-manager thread. People would have been pissed off at the time it was taking, that's all.

But throughout, leaks were coming from the managerial candidates and their agents, without exception. Especially while we were negotiating with Conte, only slightly less so while we were on the verge of appointing Fonseca.

I'd propose that one factor - not the only one - that led to Spurs going cold on Conte, Fonseca, Gattuso, even perhaps Pochettino, is that they and their advisers couldn't keep their mouths shut. It became impossible for THFC to negotiate effectively, because everything was immediately blurted into the public sphere, with the result being escalating fan panic.

The first candidate where there were no significant leaks, rumours and public spin was Nuno. He got appointed. The others got dropped.

Occam's Razor?

 

[Freddie]

You're not looking at where the public information about the ever-changing search came from. THFC has kept its collective lip absolutely zipped throughout. They were carrying out a recruitment operation in a confidential manner. Had it stayed that way, no one would have got into the collective tizzy that we saw all over the ludicrous new-manager thread. People would have been pissed off at the time it was taking, that's all.

But throughout, leaks were coming from the managerial candidates and their agents, without exception. Especially while we were negotiating with Conte, only slightly less so while we were on the verge of appointing Fonseca.

I'd propose that one factor - not the only one - that led to Spurs going cold on Conte, Fonseca, Gattuso, even perhaps Pochettino, is that they and their advisers couldn't keep their mouths shut. It became impossible for THFC to negotiate effectively, because everything was immediately blurted into the public sphere, with the result being escalating fan panic.

The first candidate where there were no significant leaks, rumours and public spin was Nuno. He got appointed. The others got dropped.

Occam's Razor?

I'm not sure that information getting out into the public sphere really hinders discussions as significantly as that, unless you're suggesting that the main reason we got Nuno is because he could keep his mouth shut. If that is true then it's probably quite worrying that we're prioritising that as a quality we're looking for. But the fact remains that these constant leaks did show us who we're talking to, and in that is my main gripe. It showed a distinct lack of a common theme. It shone a light into what we as fans suspected, and gave everyone else an opportunity to laugh at our ineptness. Personally the latter doesn't bother me but the lack of obvious planning does.

 

[davidmatzdorf]

I'm not sure that information getting out into the public sphere really hinders discussions as significantly as that, unless you're suggesting that the main reason we got Nuno is because he could keep his mouth shut. If that is true then it's probably quite worrying that we're prioritising that as a quality we're looking for. But the fact remains that these constant leaks did show us who we're talking to, and in that is my main gripe. It showed a distinct lack of a common theme. It shone a light into what we as fans suspected, and gave everyone else an opportunity to laugh at our ineptness. Personally the latter doesn't bother me but the lack of obvious planning does.

The converse of this: I'm suggesting that one factor that put Paratici & Levy off Conte, Fonseca, Gattuso and perhaps Pochettino was that every aspect of the negotiations was leaking out immediately.

They didn't want to lose confidence in successive candidates, but perhaps they did. Levy is known to have been infuriated by the leaky Redknapp reign. Harry's repeated playing out of business matters in public, especially his obvious touting for the England job, was a substantial factor in his departure.

I disagree that it is a minor consideration. You need to be able to trust your senior employees to keep confidential matters to themselves.