Can we talk about how bad Daniel Levy is for Spurs yet?

[Tarrou]

for a club like Spurs who can't throw money around and need to overachieve to compete with the big boys, Mourinho was really the worst possible manager they could've hired

I get the thinking, lets get a manager in to win us a trophy and bring the club up another level

but they just can't afford a manager who only thinks short term

and of course Jose is past it anyway but that's a whole other discussion

I think he's done pretty good up to that point

 

[romufc]

I don't understand why people think Spurs are a big club?

Just because they got to a CL final and built a stadium?

I mean the hype has got fans thinking they need to be competing against the best, a bit deluded imo.

Leicester are a bigger club, look at the way they operate, they have state of the art training ground, have won the title and do well in the league.

 

[Fortitude]

While I am not his biggest fan right now, going by the last few years, to say he has been bad for Spurs is idiotic you look where we were as a club 20 years ago to where we our now, its night and day. We were nearly relegated under Sugar.

You have to take in the whole, surely - look at Wenger, staying long enough for his legacy to take a massive hit despite what he did for Arsenal. We have to look at the whole and make an assessment based on each stage and I don't think it's unfair to say what can be good on the way up can be damaging once there. What Levy initially did is not in dispute by anybody, what he's done since getting Spurs to what now looks like an apex, undoes a lot of what he did whilst climbing to that peak, or do you think how things have turned out with your squad and managerial appointments couldn't have been any better since c.2017? Levy was really highly rated for what he had done, and this line of thought that he is actually damaging to Spurs by now would have been met with only green smilies back then. If he doesn't change his ways, would you not think he's taken Spurs as far as he is able to?

The pandemic has been ruinous, and perhaps expecting there to be a contingency in place is unfair, but even in terms of adaptation and not cutting off the clubs' nose to spite its face, Levy leaves you on the back foot before a ball is kicked so concerned is he with getting the very best price on a sale that he does not cover the purchasing aspect as anything but an afterthought, to the point he's happy to leave you with nothing at the close of a transfer window. The squad you now have is a consequence of his actions, and without promoting from within or being very smart in the transfer window (loans, free transfers, last year of contract buys), you're going to have to spend a lot just to consolidate your position, let alone progress. As things stand, do you think you're more likely to fall back in line with the Everton's, Aston Villa's (big backers) and other top 6-10 teams or be in a position to challenge for top 4? You were lauded for having a very good team a couple of years ago and there was a point where Levy could've really consolidated that, but was too busy being Levy to look at a bigger picture.

The element of risk and daring to take the next leap is not his lane at all, and fair enough, as that can end in tears, but unless he stumbles upon another Pochettino or you have another squad where the stars align, I'd again think the conclusion is he's reached his limit and will be detrimental if the end game is for you to be a permanent fixture in the CL.

What I do think it's going to be harder for you to do, given Levy's antics, is bring in young and upcoming talent who have their pick of clubs in that 6-10 region, unless of course their agents are strong in negotiations and have exit clauses written into contracts.

 

[George the Cat]

I'd disagree here. Under his watch, they went from a completely bog-standard mid-table team to a one that elbowed its way into the top 6 and routinely in the top 4. Not only in terms of finish but also in terms of turnover and facilities, the club is really well set up now. And it did it without a super-rich benefactor, which is extremely hard to do.

Granted he got super lucky with Pochettino. Poch was a bit of a punt that worked out outstandingly well for them. But Jol and Redknapp were also good managers for them, so its not all about 1 guy.

Not saying he's perfect by any means. Mourinho being a disaster was obvious to everyone but him and his tendency to try and play hardball over transfers always seems to harm Spurs more than it helps them. But still, under another chair they could have continued finishing 10th every year like they used to before he arrived.

I agree with you here. They’ve been competing for Champs league spots. Before they were more Everton’s level.

 

[LilyWhiteSpur]

I understand that absolutely but the imminent appointment of Paulo Fonseca suggests the expectations have been downsized to say the least.

Conte wanted to much money (should have took the risk), Ten Hag said no. Fonseca is clearly the choice of Paratici, dont know much about him so jury's out.

 

[LilyWhiteSpur]

You have to take in the whole, surely - look at Wenger, staying long enough for his legacy to take a massive hit despite what he did for Arsenal. We have to look at the whole and make an assessment based on each stage and I don't think it's unfair to say what can be good on the way up can be damaging once there. What Levy initially did is not in dispute by anybody, what he's done since getting Spurs to what now looks like an apex, undoes a lot of what he did whilst climbing to that peak, or do you think how things have turned out with your squad and managerial appointments couldn't have been any better since c.2017? Levy was really highly rated for what he had done, and this line of thought that he is actually damaging to Spurs by now would have been met with only green smilies back then. If he doesn't change his ways, would you not think he's taken Spurs as far as he is able to?

The pandemic has been ruinous, and perhaps expecting there to be a contingency in place is unfair, but even in terms of adaptation and not cutting off the clubs' nose to spite its face, Levy leaves you on the back foot before a ball is kicked so concerned is he with getting the very best price on a sale that he does not cover the purchasing aspect as anything but an afterthought, to the point he's happy to leave you with nothing at the close of a transfer window. The squad you now have is a consequence of his actions, and without promoting from within or being very smart in the transfer window (loans, free transfers, last year of contract buys), you're going to have to spend a lot just to consolidate your position, let alone progress. As things stand, do you think you're more likely to fall back in line with the Everton's, Aston Villa's (big backers) and other top 6-10 teams or be in a position to challenge for top 4? You were lauded for having a very good team a couple of years ago and there was a point where Levy could've really consolidated that, but was too busy being Levy to look at a bigger picture.

The element of risk and daring to take the next leap is not his lane at all, and fair enough, as that can end in tears, but unless he stumbles upon another Pochettino or you have another squad where the stars align, I'd again think the conclusion is he's reached his limit and will be detrimental if the end game is for you to be a permanent fixture in the CL.

What I do think it's going to be harder for you to do, given Levy's antics, is bring in young and upcoming talent who have their pick of clubs in that 6-10 region, unless of course their agents are strong in negotiations and have exit clauses written into contracts.

I totally agree with this bit, way back during Rednapp's time with us we could have pushed for the title, he got no backing at a crucial time, the problem is Levy part owns Tottenham he wont resign and he wont be fired. Like I said up until the last season or 2 I have backed him, since his support for the ESL and last season not so much. We wont be sold any time soon, so for us fans all we can do is hold on, yes Levy has a chance he could ruin all the good work he has done but he isn't at that point just yet.

The next season or so will be very telling for us, we have 2-3 good looking prospects who could step up.

 

[Rooney in Paris]

I don't understand why people think Spurs are a big club?

Who believes Spurs are a big club? Apart from Spurs fans, that is?

 

[terraloo]

I don't understand why people think Spurs are a big club?

Just because they got to a CL final and built a stadium?

I mean the hype has got fans thinking they need to be competing against the best, a bit deluded imo.

Leicester are a bigger club, look at the way they operate, they have state of the art training ground, have won the title and do well in the league.

Leicester certainly aren’t a bigger club .Ok Leicester may well have a state of the art training ground but so do Spurs

(God I cant believe I am defending Spurs)

As for the way Leicester operate their finances are a basket case. For instance in their last accounts they spent 105% of income on wages.

Theres no doubt that the emergence of Kane and also Pochs appointment heralded a purple patch but since 2016/17 their league position has declinEd year on year. As for trophies well we all know that the cupboard is bare

To a degree the stadium build was a gamble, a folly or more likely ego . It would only make sense if on field success was delivered but as we have seen at Arsenal huge investment in a stadium may deliver better match day revenue but the big income streams are delivered through TV, CL, commercial and sponsorship and to achieve better than average growth you have to have finishEs in the top four or deliver trophies

Spurs squad is wafer thin. If they loose Kane they may well have some transfer funds but with them having to repay £175 million government loan I am far from sure that all the proceeds would be earmarked for transfers.

Levy may well have a reputation for being a tough negotiator but at this point in time the financial pressures are mounting and if the report today is correct that Chelsea will offer initally just £60 million for Kane it seems to me that other clubs will be taking the opportunity to try a and destabilise Spurs.

 

[romufc]

Leicester certainly aren’t a bigger club .Ok Leicester may well have a state of the art training ground but so do Spurs

(God I cant believe I am defending Spurs)

As for the way Leicester operate their finances are a basket case. For instance in their last accounts they spent 105% of income on wages.

Theres no doubt that the emergence of Kane and also Pochs appointment heralded a purple patch but since 2016/17 their league position has declinEd year on year. As for trophies well we all know that the cupboard is bare

To a degree the stadium build was a gamble, a folly or more likely ego . It would only make sense if on field success was delivered but as we have seen at Arsenal huge investment in a stadium may deliver better match day revenue but the big income streams are delivered through TV, CL, commercial and sponsorship and to achieve better than average growth you have to have finishEs in the top four or deliver trophies

Spurs squad is wafer thin. If they loose Kane they may well have some transfer funds but with them having to repay £175 million government loan I am far from sure that all the proceeds would be earmarked for transfers.

Levy may well have a reputation for being a tough negotiator but at this point in time the financial pressures are mounting and if the report today is correct that Chelsea will offer initally just £60 million for Kane it seems to me that other clubs will be taking the opportunity to try a and destabilise Spurs.

In terms of size it might not be bigger, but the way Leicester operate is like a big club.

Spurs with Poch and Kane have come into a delusion phase where they think they are bigger than they are. One CL final is all it took for them to start thinking they need top signings top managers.

They got very lucky with Poch but even before that, they have been poor at recruitment of both players and managers.

 

[Dancfc]

He's a bit like a chairman version of Moyes.

Done excellent getting Spurs to where they are/were under the radar when no one expected it but now there's expectations to his job he can't handle the heat and is totally out of his depth.

 

[Dave Smith]

As far as I am concerned he is doing a blinding job. Lets hope he has another 20 years at Spuds.

 

[balaks]

Levy has done wonders for the infrastructure of the club - I'll give him that. However on the footballing side he has always been a total disaster - penny pinching, hard to negotiate with, never following through with players we could have had that would have been a huge success (Grealish, Bruno, Mane to name just three in last few years). I really wish he and ENIC would sell the club. The super league thing was the nail in the coffin for me - he doesn't have the interests of the fans at heart at all.

 

[Powderfinger]

I'll give Levy credit for making the decision to reduce his own involvement on the footballing side by hiring a DoF. Paratici may not be the right guy and the decision was very long overdue but its an important step.

It is also the case that Spurs and Levy got absolutely screwed by the pandemic, moreso than other teams because of their reliance on the stadium revenue.

However, I think he really has created a pretty tricky spot for himself and the club, not just due to his decision making but also because he has created expectations among supporters that are just way out of synch with the reality of the club right now and in the near future.

Spurs have a bad team that have been propped up by the brilliance of Kane and, to a lesser degree, Son. They have a negative XG differential in aggregate over the last 95 Premier League games - they create worse chances than their opponents but trust that Kane and Son will bang those chances home at such a high rate that they can still be decent. That is a terribly unsustainable formula, especially as Kane and Son are about to hit the decline phases in their careers so they'll leave or be worse. Their young talent is not very good compared to competitors like Chelsea, Arsenal, and United. And they have limited financial resources compared to the rest of the top six as well, plus the burden of paying off the new stadium. The successes of the Pochettino era really required a perfect storm of hiring the right manager, finding the best striker in the world in your youth system, hitting on 6-7 cheap transfers within the span of a few years, AND having this happen at a time when a number of major competitors like United, Arsenal, and to some degree Chelsea were going through some rough patches. You can try to run your club as well as possible but nobody can expect all that to line up simultaneously again. Despite all this, Levy's message to supporters has essentially been that they can be a consistent Top 4 club and have a seat at the big table now. The desperate move for Conte was like alast gasp attempt to keep this narrative going. Now Levy is like a magician who has run out of tricks and can't fool the audience anymore.

 

[alexthelion]

I would say only in picking Mourinho. That was an awful decision that made no sense at all to most observers. Completely at odds with the club conditions and based on vague notions that at some point Jose was a 'winner' - despite the fact he hasn't really been a winner for a long time and ends up leaving a club divided and unsuccessful.

What has he really done wrong apart from that? Most of the dislike from our fans is based on this perception of his negotiating skills for players we have bought from Spurs. His job is to get good deals for Spurs.

He appointed Pochettino which was a great decision, but Poch had run his race and was bungling things. That is the truth of the matter at the end. He seemed to run out of steam after going close previously, which isn't that unexpected. I think once you have reached those heights, the come down would be quite natural when you look around the dressing room and realise how much you are extracting from the players. This was a weakness of the manager rather than Levy.

Apart from that they don't have the resources of many clubs that are above them. What can really be expected from Spurs except to be in contention for some kind of European football? That is the brutal reality for Spurs.

If Levy had sold a 'large' asset or two he would have been able to refresh the squad. Much as I think he's overrated, Poch needed his squad to be refreshed, which Levy singularly failed to do, hence the situation they're in now.

That is all on Levy, nothing the manager can do in thoise circumstances.

 

[RUCK4444]

How Kane signed that new contract with him I will never know. Perhaps the biggest single wtf moment I can remember in the PL in the last decade or more.

The world at your feet, choice of clubs throughout world football and he signs up for another five years with Levy at Spurs making it impossible for him to leave without totally throwing his toys out of the pram and spoiling his relationship with the fans. He played on Harry's IQ there for sure.

 

[Ace of Spades]

He is a businessman first and foremost, and in that aspect he has fone well. The football side of things have been hit and miss certainly.

 

[Abraxas]

If Levy had sold a 'large' asset or two he would have been able to refresh the squad. Much as I think he's overrated, Poch needed his squad to be refreshed, which Levy singularly failed to do, hence the situation they're in now.

That is all on Levy, nothing the manager can do in thoise circumstances.

How do you know Pochettino wanted to sell one of said players? Isn't it more likely that his gripe would have been he wanted additions to strengthen what they had? If that is the argument then maybe it works because Jose got a bit of money, perhaps Levy was being tight fisted knowing the implications of the stadium and was expecting Pochettino to keep on working miracles.

However, I am not sure that fully explains the shambles Poch then oversaw, I think it gets glossed over because he is still a popular manager, and undoubtedly a good one. But it certainly wasn't all on Levy. Pochettino made a mess of things, maybe he simply ran his course. It's hard to know without the specifics of what he wanted but we know he looked lethargic and the performances backed that up. It was still his job to get the best out of Spurs at the end of the day.

I don't see what good selling Kane or Son would have done them in all honesty and I don't see what other 'assets' had tremendous value. It's not a trivial exercise. What do Spurs do with 100 million plus? They're in the market for certain types of players that come with no real certainty. Whereas those players are proven class.

 

[RedDevilzFox]

Pretty much all success spurs have experienced in last 10 years (if you can call it success) and building a new stadium can be attributed to in no small part to his operational excellence
.
Given the constraints of that club, he's done as well as anyone could have so not sure how he is bad for the club.

 

[Cheimoon]

This is pretty true. Us fans love to reverse engineer top management quality based on what happens on the pitch which is heavily influenced by quality of manager and players. That's not to say all chairmen are the same but almost all of the work happens behind the scenes leaving any casual fan who's honest to admit he/she doesn't really have a clue.

Levy has had his ego trips which has cost spurs but overall, I doubt there are many spurs supporters who are disappointed with his stint so far. That said, it brings us back to the first point. How much of that was down to Levy and how much down to Poch who did a good job there? It's been pretty downhill since then (appointing Mou was tragic and lovely ) so let's see what he's made of.

I think fans also tend to have little idea of how much owners are involved in the management of a club. In a normal organization, the owner would be quite far removed from the day-to-day business of such a large organization, and limit their involvement to hiring top-level management and providing general direction. My impression that this is what FSG do at Liverpool: hire the top brass, tell them to focus heavily on analytics, and then let those people run with that. (Until things go wrong and the owners feel they need to interfere in direction or staffing.) The Glazers at United also pretty distant to me; blaming them on individual signings or the football direction (tactics/system) makes no sense to me; but you can blame them for never telling Woodward to hire a DOF to fix what has obviously been an ongoing problem since Ferguson's departure. The Brentford owner, however, seems more closely involved with the club, at least in the sense of providing direction on using analytics. (It's also a much smaller organization, probably.)

I have no idea where Levy fits in these variants; but so I think the reverse engineering by fans start by them attributing whatever decisions they want to the owner (with generally next to no evidence), and then taking it from there (in the way you described).

 

[el3mel]

The Liverpool's success was 100% Klopp when you think about it. We have seen how FSG fecked up the money they got from Suarez deal. After they challenged for the league under Rodgers, they had a disastrous market and went straight to 6th with embarrassing losses and performances. The players they replaced Suarez with were terrible.

It was Klopp. He knew the budget available for him and built his team wisely. Brought on Salah and Mane for not that much money, 40m or so for each on of them. Built a strong attacking unit so that they don't need Coutinho anymore, sell him for 140 to Barca and use the money to reinforce the positions who have always been a problem for his side : the defense and GK. He only managed to spend so much on Alisson and VVD due to Coutinho's money. After that they're now back to under investing in the team.

FSG aren't good owners. Klopp just knew what he had and had a solid plan for how to build the team.

 

[Daydreamer]

Even as an Arsenal fan, I was grudgingly impressed by Levy’s work up until a couple years ago. But now... not so much.

Granted, they have a few things going for them:
Awesome stadium (with cheese room)
Great training ground
Erm... Kane and Son

But if you handed most football executives a Premier League club and a £1.117b debt facility - I’m pretty sure most would be able to rustle up some decent infrastructure and a couple top class players.

His work up until the CL final is difficult to fault. And the pandemic was a perfect storm for a club with a hugely over-budget new stadium. But any plan that is so contingent upon everybody within your organisation over-performing year after year is doomed to fail at some point.

 

[arthurka]

That cheese room is lit..

 

[Haaland The Terminator]

I wouldn't like to be a Spurs fan at this moment in time..

You could lose Harry Kane for a huge fee, Son may want to leave if Kane goes, you let your best manager (Poch) in a generation go after your first ever Champions League final and replace him with a manager in decline in José Mourinho and now appointing the manager who José replaced at Roma!

Only thing I suppose you can cheer for is the new stadium but I wonder how many Spurs fans would say they would have kept White Hart Lane up

 

[sglowrider]

Same coin, just different sides.

In good times you will be lauded for your determination. When things are going bad, people will accuse you of being incredibly stubborn.

 

[Paxi]

Spurs have improved under him, no?

 

[DixieDean]

Seems to always keep Spurs in the spotlight, if nothing else. Look how much discussion they drive on this forum.

 

[Scroto Baggins]

He is a businessman first and foremost, and in that aspect he has fone well. The football side of things have been hit and miss certainly.

Id go with this, from a business accounts perspective and development angle he has done well. From the footballing side of things, well they are a football club, seems under Levy they spend more money investing in training grounds, stadiums, accommodation facilities, cheese rooms, shopping malls, pubs, etc. Whats next, some port facility down on Lockwood Reservoir? Tottenham shipping enterprise?

Now Spurs have this whizz bang state of the art stadium and no European football. That's what happens I guess when you invest more in development projects than the actual team on the pitch. And because of this lack of investment on the pitch it means their best player might walk. Hardly going to be nailing Kane down and have him eager to stay under Fonseca with some token spare change thrown at a squad rebuild. Kane might have sat up and taken notice if they got Conte in and threw 150mil at him to bring in players.

 

[Bale Bale Bale]

If Spurs has any sense they should have taken the Dortmund model and applied it to the Prem. Levy has too much pride to do that but if Spurs would have cashed in on some of their assets earlier they could have reinvested some massive money into the squad. If that money was spent wisely like at a Leicester or Dortmund they would have made a significantly stronger squad.

Just look at the some of the ‘assets’ they could have cashed in on but didn’t and who are now worth pennies:
- Dele Ali = £60-70 million (now £10-20 mill)
- Alderwiereld = c.£50 mill (now £10 mill if that)
- Moussa Dembele = £60 - £70 mill (ended up walking for basically nothing after he was finished).
There are far more than that too!

Spurs have these delusions that they are a top club but they need to accept they are in the tier below. That arrogant thinking by Levy and some of the fans (cough Glaston) has lead to their downfall now and I can’t see them climbing back into the top 4 easily at all especially when Kane leaves. There’s no shame in selling the odd player at high value and reinvesting.

Whilst there is some merit in what you're saying I also think that it is demonstrably wrong to imply that clubs should just know their place in the pecking order and never strive to be anything more.

 

[Daydreamer]

Also, he must be a straight up hypnotist to have managed to get Harry Kane to sign his life away AFTER watching him handcuff Bale, Berbatov, Modric, Erikson etc...

 

[BarstoolProphet]

Levy has done wonders for the infrastructure of the club - I'll give him that. However on the footballing side he has always been a total disaster - penny pinching, hard to negotiate with, never following through with players we could have had that would have been a huge success (Grealish, Bruno, Mane to name just three in last few years). I really wish he and ENIC would sell the club. The super league thing was the nail in the coffin for me - he doesn't have the interests of the fans at heart at all.

Didnt you tried to lowball Villa when Grealish was available for about £20m back in the day? Remember it turned into a bit of a saga. Granted I didn't see the greatness of Grealish then, but in hindsight it's a huge case of 'what if'. LvG really wanted Mané before he went to Liverpool, but he was laughed at then.

From the outside I view it that he has done a very good job overall for Spurs but his reputation has taken a huge hit with refusing to build on CL final appearance, hiring Mourinho of all people (couldn't think of a more anti-Spurs manager at all) and the SL antics. They made a mess of the Bale money (although the likes of Eriksen came good) so I can see why they are reluctant to sell Kane to rebuild.

 

[AneRu]

How do you know Pochettino wanted to sell one of said players? Isn't it more likely that his gripe would have been he wanted additions to strengthen what they had? If that is the argument then maybe it works because Jose got a bit of money, perhaps Levy was being tight fisted knowing the implications of the stadium and was expecting Pochettino to keep on working miracles.

However, I am not sure that fully explains the shambles Poch then oversaw, I think it gets glossed over because he is still a popular manager, and undoubtedly a good one. But it certainly wasn't all on Levy. Pochettino made a mess of things, maybe he simply ran his course. It's hard to know without the specifics of what he wanted but we know he looked lethargic and the performances backed that up. It was still his job to get the best out of Spurs at the end of the day.

I don't see what good selling Kane or Son would have done them in all honesty and I don't see what other 'assets' had tremendous value. It's not a trivial exercise. What do Spurs do with 100 million plus? They're in the market for certain types of players that come with no real certainty. Whereas those players are proven class.

The problem with this is what good does keeping them do, it's not like they are quplifting for the CL or close to winning trophies if they keep them. But at the same time other areas of the team have deteriorated and the team has fallen off a cliff even with the two superstars in place so why not cash in and do a proper rebuild?

In 2017/18 Levy had the chance to make big money on players like Eriksen, Alderweireld, Dier and even Rose as Jose would have paid huge fees for each and everyone of them whilst at United. That window closed because Levy was more concerned with the optics of strengthening 'a rival' than he was with progressing his club and the players he still has from that lot are now basically worthless whilst Eriksen left for peanuts and they all need to be replaced.

 

[redrobed]

I think this thread is actually testament to how good he is. Throughout their history Spurs have existed to make up the numbers. They’re doing that now and the fact people think they could or should be doing more means he should get some credit. He also looks set to have secured a manager that could have probably got a bigger job.

There are championship sides that are bigger clubs than Spurs - the likes of Nottingham Forest for example - ask questions of the people that ran to them they point they are.

 

[Uniquim]

The OP says they made a pigs ear of it and Levy in his letter to fans talked about bringing in a a manger that suits their proud culture of player development.

They've been good at Player Development above youth levels though.
Pushing promising or already fairly solid players up to the next level, like with Luka Modric, Gareth Bale, Michael Carrick.

 

[tenpoless]

He’s always been the same, it’s just fans being knee-jerky with their takes, as usual.

It’s the same with FSG and Liverpool. Upper management at most clubs are usually average to crap, and what makes the difference is great managers and players, which Spurs happened to hit the jackpot with both but still ultimately bungled it in Spursy fashion.

Indeed. For me personally I've always looked at Klopp for Pool successes and Poch for Spurs "successes". The players are the engine but the manager is the driver. Which is why it's stupid that Levy sacked Poch and brought in Jose. Should have kept Poch if the only option was Jose.

 

[balaks]

I think this thread is actually testament to how good he is. Throughout their history Spurs have existed to make up the numbers. They’re doing that now and the fact people think they could or should be doing more means he should get some credit. He also looks set to have secured a manager that could have probably got a bigger job.

There are championship sides that are bigger clubs than Spurs - the likes of Nottingham Forest for example - ask questions of the people that ran to them they point they are.

By this logic Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa are bigger clubs than Manchester City also. We are living in 2021 you realise?

 

[Abraxas]

The problem with this is what good does keeping them do, it's not like they are quplifting for the CL or close to winning trophies if they keep them. But at the same time other areas of the team have deteriorated and the team has fallen off a cliff even with the two superstars in place so why not cash in and do a proper rebuild?

In 2017/18 Levy had the chance to make big money on players like Eriksen, Alderweireld, Dier and even Rose as Jose would have paid huge fees for each and everyone of them whilst at United. That window closed because Levy was more concerned with the optics of strengthening 'a rival' than he was with progressing his club and the players he still has from that lot are now basically worthless whilst Eriksen left for peanuts and they all need to be replaced.

My point was simply that cashing in and rebuilding is not so easy. You are possibly right in thinking that if it worked perfectly there could have been a benefit to doing so.

However, if you buy 3 or 4 Reguilon or Bergewijn type players with the money, are they a better team? That is generally the market Spurs operate in. Competent players, good players, sometimes they pick out a genuine gem, but for most of the time they don't buy top players because they're not in the discussion for them. They have to pick out players and hope they become gems in time, which is a method which does not provide much in the way of certainty, especially if they need time.

It's easy to say they should have sold some of these players in hindsight, but when their stock was high, they were also a good team, when they were on the way down they didn't have much value - that is the reactionary nature of the football market. When they're playing well you want to keep them if you have aspirations of being a top side. If Spurs were ever going to get to the next level you do that by adding to a good team, not siphoning off players with value in the name of a refresh. It's a chicken and egg situation for a team like Spurs.

Now, if we look at some of their real top talent, which is probably only Kane or Son, there is never a good time to sell them. If they'd have been without them they would have been disastrous last season, or during any season. They are not replaceable on the market. They can buy some good players but talents of that level are real difference makers and Levy knows that, that level of talent is not freely available to Spurs.

 

[tomaldinho1]

Seems to always keep Spurs in the spotlight, if nothing else. Look how much discussion they drive on this forum.

He just learnt from the Master in Mourinho.

 

[Bilbo]

Not sure what people expect of Levy. They've long been a mid to top 6, 'the odd cup run' type of team. They still are, but with a fantastic new stadium and excellent training facilities which will keep them relevant and will pay dividends in the future.

There's probably some scope to criticise him on his choices of manager down the years, and Fonseca looks a strange choice, but I don't see any reason to question what he's done for the club over the long term.

 

[Daydreamer]

Not sure what people expect of Levy. They've long been a mid to top 6, 'the odd cup run' type of team. They still are, but with a fantastic new stadium and excellent training facilities which will keep them relevant and will pay dividends in the future.

There's probably some scope to criticise him on his choices of manager down the years, and Fonseca looks a strange choice, but I don't see any reason to question what he's done for the club over the long term.

The greatest trick the devil ever pulled... was convincing world that Spurs are one of the “top six”.

First of all, it seems to be term that they invented to include themselves.

Man United and Liverpool are historically the two giants.

Arsenal are the third most successful club in English football.

Man City and Chelsea have racked up a major trophy haul in recent years.

Tottenham have only won two league titles in their entire history. And have a single league cup to show for the last three decades.

It is a master stroke of marketing that they are even thought of as a cup team.

 

[DixieDean]

The greatest trick the devil ever pulled... was convincing world that Spurs are one of the “top six”.

First of all, it seems to be term that they invented to include themselves.

Man United and Liverpool are historically the two giants.

Arsenal are the third most successful club in English football.

Man City and Chelsea have racked up a major trophy haul in recent years.

Tottenham have only won two league titles in their entire history. And have a single league cup to show for the last three decades.

It is a master stroke of marketing that they are even thought of as a cup team.

Tbf, even pre PL Spurs were considered one of the 'big 5', which was Man United, Liverpool, Everton, Arsenal, Spurs.