This Week’s Manager Watch: Ryan Mason

[fishhhandaricecake]

Opinions and all that, but I just don't understand this. "Rolling the dice" here if it didn't work out with Mason could mean sliding into the bottom half of table and turning into Leicester. We can't afford to roll the dice in the situation we're in.

If we can't attract our first choices who have huge experience in managing clubs, we shouldn't turn around and just give it to a complete novice, however nice he is or however Spurs he is.

He has zero experience in many crucial aspects of the role. If we gave him the job and lost our first five games it would be an absolute bloodbath. Not fair on him either.

Our club is, from everything we know, a total mess on the football side. The last thing you'd do in this situation is put a rookie in charge.

But he’s not a complete rookie at all he’s had 6 years coaching experience.

And what I’m saying is if we can’t get our top 4/5 targets then Mason should come into consideration at that point because he’d be a far better move than ending up with another Nuno.

Nothing from the way mason has spoken or managed us so far has suggested to me we would go on a run of 5 losses, quite the opposite and he’s said himself he’s ready for it now so it wouldn’t be unfair on him, it would be down to him as well to accept the role it offered it. We need to build back up slowly and he knows the club and the ingredients needed to do that.

As I said not first choice but if we fall far down our ‘list’ again then he’d be a far better choice than ending up with another last minute Nuno type, although I don’t think that’ll happen again so it’s probably a moot point anyways.

 

[punkisback]

I personally wouldn’t want him in. His last tenure with us showed that he played to sentiment. although I know the carabao cup against city is a hard ask, he dropped arguably our best attacking midfielder in Ndombele to play Winks in CM. Say what you want about Ndombele then but he had put in some good performances and had won mourinho over.
I just think that he appeases the Senior players too much.

 

[TOMSPURS]

I personally wouldn’t want him in. His last tenure with us showed that he played to sentiment. although I know the carabao cup against city is a hard ask, he dropped arguably our best attacking midfielder in Ndombele to play Winks in CM. Say what you want about Ndombele then but he had put in some good performances and had won mourinho over.
I just think that he appeases the Senior players too much.

Think it's a bit harsh to criticise him based on what he did 2 years ago, when he was dropped in at the deep end a week before a cup final.

I have no idea if Mason has the tools & skillset to do the job full time, but since his 1st time in charge he has obtained his full coaching badges & worked in a senior coaching role with the 1st team. He was never going to radically change the team in 1 week, but what we have seen is a team showing fighting togetherness & spirit, expressing themselves a little more.

Thought it was interesting to see Porro run & lift Mason after Richy's goal. Players can smell a bullshiter very quickly, they won't care if he hasn't been sacked previously by Bayern Munich/Liverpool etc.. they just want to be led by a coach who they trust. Someone they believe can improve them & the team.

Whoever is in charge of recruiting the next manager or coach, be that Levy or Munn, I hope they pick the right person. Based on their values, coaching style & beliefs, someone who will be proud to lead Spurs.

Lack of managerial experience didn't hurt Scaloni with Argentina, Pep at Barca, Del Bosque at Madrid, Capello at Milan........let's not rule Mason out just because he hasn't managed for a year in the Championship.

 

[Johnny J]

But he’s not a complete rookie at all he’s had 6 years coaching experience.

And what I’m saying is if we can’t get our top 4/5 targets then Mason should come into consideration at that point because he’d be a far better move than ending up with another Nuno.

Nothing from the way mason has spoken or managed us so far has suggested to me we would go on a run of 5 losses, quite the opposite and he’s said himself he’s ready for it now so it wouldn’t be unfair on him, it would be down to him as well to accept the role it offered it. We need to build back up slowly and he knows the club and the ingredients needed to do that.

As I said not first choice but if we fall far down our ‘list’ again then he’d be a far better choice than ending up with another last minute Nuno type, although I don’t think that’ll happen again so it’s probably a moot point anyways.

Fair points and I respect your opinion, as always.

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

Think it's a bit harsh to criticise him based on what he did 2 years ago, when he was dropped in at the deep end a week before a cup final.

I have no idea if Mason has the tools & skillset to do the job full time, but since his 1st time in charge he has obtained his full coaching badges & worked in a senior coaching role with the 1st team. He was never going to radically change the team in 1 week, but what we have seen is a team showing fighting togetherness & spirit, expressing themselves a little more.

Thought it was interesting to see Porro run & lift Mason after Richy's goal. Players can smell a bullshiter very quickly, they won't care if he hasn't been sacked previously by Bayern Munich/Liverpool etc.. they just want to be led by a coach who they trust. Someone they believe can improve them & the team.

Whoever is in charge of recruiting the next manager or coach, be that Levy or Munn, I hope they pick the right person. Based on their values, coaching style & beliefs, someone who will be proud to lead Spurs.

Lack of managerial experience didn't hurt Scaloni with Argentina, Pep at Barca, Del Bosque at Madrid, Capello at Milan........let's not rule Mason out just because he hasn't managed for a year in the Championship.

Lovely post

 

[DiVaio]

My issue with Mason is that he's mates with Dier.

He's even better mate with Kane so what?

 

[Timberwolf]

Think it's a bit harsh to criticise him based on what he did 2 years ago, when he was dropped in at the deep end a week before a cup final.

I have no idea if Mason has the tools & skillset to do the job full time, but since his 1st time in charge he has obtained his full coaching badges & worked in a senior coaching role with the 1st team. He was never going to radically change the team in 1 week, but what we have seen is a team showing fighting togetherness & spirit, expressing themselves a little more.

Thought it was interesting to see Porro run & lift Mason after Richy's goal. Players can smell a bullshiter very quickly, they won't care if he hasn't been sacked previously by Bayern Munich/Liverpool etc.. they just want to be led by a coach who they trust. Someone they believe can improve them & the team.

Whoever is in charge of recruiting the next manager or coach, be that Levy or Munn, I hope they pick the right person. Based on their values, coaching style & beliefs, someone who will be proud to lead Spurs.

Lack of managerial experience didn't hurt Scaloni with Argentina, Pep at Barca, Del Bosque at Madrid, Capello at Milan........let's not rule Mason out just because he hasn't managed for a year in the Championship.

I mean all those guys except Pep, the most influential manager of his entire generation, were in their 40s when they started their first full time management gigs and, except for Scaloni who is an international manager which has different demands, they all had hugely successful playing careers, often as captains, of the biggest clubs in the world, winning an array of trophies along the way.

Call me old fashioned but, for all his promise, I don't see how we justify giving such a massive job to a 31 year old. It just seems to me like people are projecting everything positive imaginable onto Mason, but there just isn't enough evidence to back it up. Not yet at least. The guys who work as managers at Mason's age are the equivalent of footballers who break into the first team when they're 16 or 17 - they're miles ahead of the game, like Naglesmann was at Hoffenheim. It's really, really rare. And while he's doing well gaining coaching experience, he's still only actually been working with the first team for 18 months under a control freak like Conte who I highly doubt used Mason a close confidant.

Even Kompany, one of the less experienced alternatives, hasn't just managed for 1 year in the Championship, he also managed for 3 years in very difficult financial circumstances in Belgium and had to rebuild a team in high pressure circumstances, transforming Anderlecht's style of play and overcoming hardships. He's served his apprenticeship.

The closest comparison to Mason in terms of a manager with limited experience taking over a big club would be Arteta, but even he was 6 years older than Mason is now, had 3 years experience working as Pep's assistant, the best tactical mind out there, and had previously captained Arsenal. And even he took about 2 years to really figure the job out, made a lot of costly errors in the transfer market and went on terrible runs that would've gotten 90% of managers sacked. Fair play to Arsenal for being patient but Mason won't have that luxury with Levy at the wheel.

 

[Stamford]

If we get a new manager he has to go. There are some who want him to be the manager and likely some players. It wouldn't give the new guy a clean slate imo

 

[ButchCassidy]

It can’t be Mason. Not because he isn’t good enough, he very well could be - but because if we’re honest, he absolutely won’t be given the time that the job is going to require.

We’re going into what could be a pretty fundamental rebuild of the squad, a major task under the best of circumstances. It’s going to take longer than people like, there are going to be struggles, runs of poor form, ugly mistakes, tactics that just don’t work for whatever reason, players who need dozens of games to reach the level of experience and comfort to really kick on. With Mason, every little thing will be scrutinized to a much higher level, since he doesn’t have the same credit based on a history of success to fall back on. Every time we struggle for a few games, the narrative will be he wasn’t ready, he’s too young, the players don’t respect him, he’s been outcoached, he plays his friends, etc etc. It will mostly come from oppo supporters and tabloid media at first but we have enough nervy fans that it won’t take long to catch on. He’ll be under enormous pressure very quickly where a Nagelsmann or even a Slot/Kompany would get more time just by virtue of being older and having been successful before.

 

[eddiebailey]

If we get a new manager he has to go. There are some who want him to be the manager and likely some players. It wouldn't give the new guy a clean slate imo

At the very least we should keep him on a retainer. Being caretaker manager at Spurs is steady work.

 

[Bluto Blutarsky]

All this Mason talk reminds me of the people who wanted Sherwood to be given the permanent job…

 

[Chris Flynn]

If you want Mason to be a future Spurs manager - he needs to get out and manage a club, and everything that entails.

Send him out on loan

 

[spurs9]

Should go out on his own at the end of the season and get more experience/permanent position somewhere.

I like him but he's definitely not ready for a big job yet, still has so much time on his hands.

Since Nagelsmann also retired young due to injury, managed youth teams, became assistant manager and eventually manager, he might be a good mentor to help Mason make that step up into management.

 

[jay2040]

I personally wouldn’t want him in. His last tenure with us showed that he played to sentiment. although I know the carabao cup against city is a hard ask, he dropped arguably our best attacking midfielder in Ndombele to play Winks in CM. Say what you want about Ndombele then but he had put in some good performances and had won mourinho over.
I just think that he appeases the Senior players too much.

It's not like he is giving out blowjobs at halftime fella!
Referring to Ndombele is silly itself and when he is so insignificant.
What are you on...

 

[FinnYid]

All this Mason talk reminds me of the people who wanted Sherwood to be given the permanent job…

Sherwood still has better points per game on PL (22 games) at Spurs than these "serial winners" Conte and Mourinho. So perhaps it's the unsuitable ones in the mould of those two that we should be even more cautious of?

 

[Gassin's finest]

All this Mason talk reminds me of the people who wanted Sherwood to be given the permanent job…

The big difference there is that Mason is a great lad, whereas Sherwood was a ****.

 

[chas vs dave]

The big difference there is that Mason is a great lad, whereas Sherwood was a ****.

Also Mason showed some tactical nous vs Liverpool. He moved kulu centrally, and pushed son centrally, which made a big difference.

 

[Gassin's finest]

Also Mason showed some tactical nous vs Liverpool. He moved kulu centrally, and pushed son centrally, which made a big difference.

While Tim went and sat in the West Upper to try and work out what was going on.

 

[Mr Pink]

He's even better mate with Kane so what?

Kane should be starting lol

 

[Shanks]

I think you can see Mason has developed since his last little stint, and that is what the great managers do, continuously learn, from their own mistakes and things that happen on the pitch.

it makes not a blind bit of difference who his mates are, he will want to succeed and he’ll use whatever tools are available to him, the bigger challenge is the club hierarchy and transfers!