The players have given everything line in is wearing as thin, and talk of context is largely irrelevant given it is Ange himself who is breaking the players, as he did in Scotland.
(Reply to AL) ... Nah ... don't let the little bastard off the hook! He's been running the club this way for at least the past 15 years. I read an interesting stat yesterday, unfortunately I can't remember where, that for the years 2015-2019, before the new stadium opened, Spurs had by far the highest cumulative net (pre-tax) profit of any club in the EPL. It was around 350 million GBP. Liverpool were second with around 175 million GBP.
I mention that because I had been under the impression that the naked profiteering of our diminutive 'gruppenführer' had only really ramped up since the new stadium opened, yet here was the proof of Levy's ongoing milking of the fan-base, in the years directly prior to the new stadium, whilst chronically under-investing in the team. The only difference is the team (and the coach) at that time were much better and thus masked the issue.
I need someone to explain to me how a premier league football club is good business. From what I’ve read, a club like Brighton where they consistently sell their best players for young hopefuls is a model that works financially, until it doesn’t. Spurs last year made a hefty loss after player trading, Man U are in a terrible state. Levy knows he needs on field success to eventually make Spurs a sustainable business, his issue is he can’t make a sound footballing decision to save his life, he is absolutely clueless when it comes to building a successful football team and has proven it time and time again. He tries different strategies, and for the last few seasons he’s following Chelsea and trying to buy younger talent. He chops and changes, with managers coming in that have vastly different tactics, and Ange is the worst of choices and is completely inept. Levy is thinking stay in the Premier and win the Europa and we’re in the CL, that would take a minor miracle but it might buy the Aussie until the end of the Europa campaign.
"I need someone to explain to me how a premier league football club is good business?" ... In two word answer to your question JR ... Daniel Levy! By prioritising profit over playing success and diversifying into other profitable ventures related to the entertainment and leisure industries, Levy has created a highly profitable vehicle, for his own self-enrichment. His metric of success is entirely financial, he really doesn't give a shit about results on the field, unless they are or become so bad that they impact upon his bottom line, which is revenue (from advertising, gate receipts, concessions, etc).
Angel Gomes (supposedly a target) is out of contract in the summer, so no surprise that he’s a target. He wants to go to Utd apparently too, so I doubt Baldy can even get that done either…
What's happening now with Ange is exactly what must happen to finally effect a “change of culture” at THFC. Now this change could go either way, but to finally change the culture at THFC we must get to a "tipping point" where it might occur, and we are finally getting close.
Ange is who he is. We can argue over whether he will (not should) last the season and, if supported with players at a level sufficient to succeed in his system, longer than that. Save the “out of his depth” case for later.
For years Spurs languished in mid-table mediocrity until Levy, by dint of fate or more likely either just a complete accident or dumb luck, hired Mauricio Pochettino. I immediately became intrigued with Poch upon reading a mournful internet posting the day of his announcement from a Southampton Season Ticket Holder who explaining how special MP was, lamented his loss and told Spurs fans how excited we should be because "we had no idea yet" of what we'd gotten in MP.
And BTW...oh yeah...was he right!
In the years before Poch, Spurs expected finish in the table was likely between 5-9 with a rare breakthrough to spots 3/4 above (see 2010 CL qualification). Otherwise, during the Levy era it's been consistent. Each manager lasted roughly 18 months, won no silverware, and a disgruntled and split fanbase screaming for change from the latest unsupported manager. This is affectedly known as the bi-annual "same old Shit different restart". It hasn't worked out for any of us.
So, after the predictable Conte meltdown and crash (as if Levy was ever going to provide THE level of support promised to Conte) Spurs went on another embarrassing "how many managers will turn us down before we actually hire again hunt" which resulted in Ange.
For me, Ange represented the first manager who could affect the "painful rebuild" and potentially "change the culture" specifically because what he was going to do would likely "succeed or fail spectacularly" and might fail before ultimately succeeding specifically due to Levy, and if he wasn’t fired too soon.
One way or another Spurs would no longer be on the annual “gerbil wheel” combining 3-8 finish in the table (and rarely Top 4) with another year of "no silverware". The only suspense being qualification for some competition in Europe", and the rare wins against teams above us ruined by agonizing losses to teams we should beat.
Since Ange employ s a system that can work with players that who cost less than those sought by most managers: (i) he could actually be successful; or (ii) he would lay bare "for the rest of the world", once and for all, the "THFC supporter soul killing business practices of Daniel Levy".
I go back to look at Spurs' lineup when we went on to defeat City 0-4 at the Etihad:
Spurs starting lineup:
Guglielmo Vicario
Ben Davies
Destiny Udogie
Pedro Porro
Radu Dragusin
James Maddison
Pape Matar Sarr
Dejan Kulusevski
Yves Bissouma
Son Heung-min and
Dominic Solanke.
The 4 Substitutions were:
Brennan Johnson for Son (63)
Spence for Udogie (90)
Bergvall for Sarr (90)
Werner for Maddison (90)
Injured and Missing from Spurs lineup were these 3 starters and new acquisition:
Cristian Romero
Micky Van de Ven
Rodrigo Bentancur
Wilson Odobert
The result at the Etihad demonstrates that Ange employs a system that, without its' best players, can literally run almost any team off the pitch when it is firing on all cylinders.
Without those 3 starters most of us were predicting a similar 4-goal massacre, but with City prevailing! (and nobody predicted having a fourth starter, our GK, literally take the phrase "break a leg" seriously in the 37th minute albeit he still finished the match)
The "mandate" Ange was given was identical to Conte - which is to change "the Culture" of THFC (as run by Levy/ENIC). The first thing that happened after Ange arrived was Kane. doing Ange no favors, departed. Unruffled, Ange immediately set about to change the locker room culture by installing new captains. He declared that when looking for potential incoming transfers their first and most important trait needed to be a players’ "character". Ange also changed the team captains before a single match was played and then started clearing out the dead wood. This methodology explains why he hasn't lost the locker room.
Clearing out our dreadful surplusage of players from the roster was Levy's main goal this past summer, and to his rare credit, Ange managed to get Levy to eat the last year of the N'Dombele contract because it was too much of a distraction. Unfortunately, while the team did bring In some players Levy gave far less attention to the number of incoming replacements.
Yes, I know Ange is far from perfect and needed to adjust more to save a few points in the standings, but I have some thoughts, and I make them below by way of explanation - as they are not given as excuses.
First, I agree to a point that Ange’s training methods could be eased, or if already eased, should have been eased sooner. but while I put some of the injuries down to training, I long ago looked at each player and when where & how they were injured.
But putting aside the “Hamstring issue”, Ange has done himself no favors by his manner in addressing the press. I never bought into the "I win trophies everywhere in my second season" as a guarantee of anything, and “Are you not entertained” responds to a claim heard around these parts for decades that even when winning more we have not “returned to our DNA”. The phrasing of some of the leading questions asked in the interviews is atrocious and these reporters aren’t even intelligent in trying to bait the man for the answer they desire. And the way Ange does not look into the camera during post-match interviews is maddening, but if a manager wins…none of us care.
My longstanding peeve with Levy has been with his consistent failure to support his managers and provide a deep enough squad aka what I call an indictment "Depth Charges". Spurs have had many injuries (+ untimely suspensions) since late November. Yet, we are almost 4 weeks into the January transfer window and only Kinsky is through the doors.
Jose & Antonio each had a CV which permitted them to call Levy out without mincing words, but Ange does not, and he also has been consistent in rarely calling out his players in the press. Ange doesn't have their CV so he cannot directly state the obvious.
I view "The players have given everything"…merely as Ange's preferred method of a direct attack aimed at Daniel Levy, which is precisely why I have not tired of it. It also has the added benefit of suggesting that "not even a manager willing to work with less expensive players" can succeed under Levy.
"We controlled the game" like "the players are giving everything for this Club" are just other ways of pointing out that exhausted players aren't finishing their chances. In the first half of the Leicester City match, we had almost a dozen passes come up short. That was an ominous sign for even more of the same in the second half which we saw as the lads got even more tired.
PS:
TBH
You probably would have been better served posting this complaint under the title:
No coach gets what they need to make their philosophy work . Not Ramos ..Frazier Campbell on loan to replace Keane and or Berbatov..Not Redknapp Louis Saha Ryan Nielsen Not Pochetino peaked at got one player over 3 windows.
Jose Conte etc.
There is only one philosophy and that is Daniel Levy’s philosophy. Success is factored out failure is factored in . Levy bleeds good players to death and amortises shit ones to keep the books rather than the team looking good.
You are correct in that Ange is getting a proper shafting but even he knew from his own history injuries would come and he did nothing about it and then it was too late.
Top to bottom rotten ..Fans will be begging for eighth next season .,one of the richest clubs in the world..Round and round.
Wonder if we would beat Citeh now if our same squad was available.
Remember,that 4-0 win over City was just the latest in a string of defeats against us over recent seasons.Pep is another manager who refuses to change his tactics no matter who the opposition is,and his high line has been exposed by our team.
For nearly a decade it was simply Kane & Son on the counterattack.
Watching Pep hit the pitch on his knees in the CL semifinal after that goal at the death was wiped off for offsides AND hearing Pep, after being asked what he wanted the season after City did "their treble", and hearing him jokingly (but seriously) say "Score at Tottenham" always bring a smile to my face!
I’m starting to think Levy has some cashflow problems somewhere, maybe the bank wants its money back or one of his properties is on the verge of default or something.
Interesting in the world of high finance who bankrolls these deals and who ultimately bank rolls them . It has to be the oil states including Norway or Russia. I’m just hoping the squeeze is being put on this group of shysters , let’s not forget the convicted felon Joe Lewis in all this. On behalf of a football friendly buyer.
I’m a little surprised there was no apparent move for Furuhashi who just moved from Celtic to Stade Rennais for €12M.Thick must have know he was available for not much money and would know all about his ability,but I suspect that Levy wouldn’t entertain the idea.This might also be because he knows Thick’s days are numbered.
My guess is the Twat in charge will make an expensive purchase to keep those they perceive of as surfs happy.
Reactive instead of proactive the board Levy and Cullen have brains like the Milkeniym dome. lots of loft space but otherwise full of tat.
No one will invest with an incompetent narcissist like Levy at the controls.. you would have to be an absolute fool to do so. Time to start pinging the data showing how much has been spunked by the transfer committee and on payouts to coaches onto various sponsors.
This the reason your money isn’t attached to success. etc. I will go to the next demo once these cunts get the nfl franchise there won’t be anything to write about.
Whatever the demerits of the tubby Greek, the real story is on page 16 of this report. Download it and weep. Every Spurs fan should have a copy of this and paper aeroplane it at Levy every match. His obsession with short term EBITDA is what’s killing this club.
EBITDA should only matter to any business owner / seller at the point you wish to sell.
Dare I suggest Daniel Levy and ENIC are the tyre kickers of football ownership with a sale always on the table (think back as long ago as when Abramovic made a bid) hence their obsession with EBITDA, when in reality they never have a true inclination to flog it, short of a mind blowing overpriced offer.
A question for my fellow inmates at TBH Towers ... Why do we think that Levy has not yet sacked Ange, when he now has by far the worst record or league table ranking, at any time, of any manager, during his 25 year tenure?
In answering that question bear in mind that Levy makes no decision in the interests of the club, his sole motivation is self-interest. Therefore, he must feel that the benefits to himself of retaining Ange outweigh the benefits of sacking him.
How could that be? The 12 million pounds needed to pay off his contract? The PR hit he would take from sacking yet another manager appointed by him? It surely can't be that he is buying the 'injury bug' excuse can it? ... or even more implausible that he believes Ange is the best man for the job?!
I suspect he is vacillating because of the 12 million quid pay-off figure (due to the asinine 4 year contract he gave to Ange), plus the negative PR occasioned by yet another manager firing, focusing the spotlight once again on his abject mismanagement. What do you guys think?
Because nobody else will answer his calls. He’s a pariah amongst top line managers. The Mourinho & Conte debacles sealed that deal. It’s why Thick got the job. 3rd possibly 4th choice.
I don't think a top-line veteran manager would touch him JG, as they would be too well aware of his toxic reputation. Hence our best bet is a potential top-line, up-and-coming, younger manager, with a smaller club, on a lower salary. Iraola fits the bill, Terzic also, who is out of work right now. Thomas Frank too has done an excellent job with limited resources.
We’ve done that with AVB & Pochetino arguably with this hopeless, hapless lump of lard too. In fact, we’ve done every permutation known to man. There is literally nowhere left to turn.
How Levy thinks he can run the football club like this after 25 years and get away with it, I have no idea. Unfortunately for him not all the fanbase are happy to be brainwashed into more mediocrity, as he hasn't replaced enough of the crowd with tourists, yet.
It's either extreme arrogance or some kind of autism spectrum going on. It's so dysfunctional it's untrue...
This is true JG, however out of the various permutations Poch was the most successful, both at working with the hand he was dealt and coaching and moulding the players under him into an effective unit. Being a younger guy and not a big name he was more willing to tolerate Levy's BS. I think at this juncture a replica of Poch is the best we can hope for. Hence Iraola, Terzic, or someone similar.
Thomas Frank doesn’t strike me as a man who would put up with Levy’s nonsense.I think at Brentford he has a good relationship with his chairman and whilst they don’t spend high transfer fee they buy wisely.That’s not an arrangement he could expect with Levy.
With Bournemouth flying high I think if an approach was made they would pay to keep him there,which leaves Terzic.As you say he is available so he could be pick of a very short list I suspect and what would please Levy is the likelihood of him doing well with the existing squad.
I think Frank, being almost 10 years older than the other two, is the least likely of the above trio to tolerate Levy's antics, albeit he would have a fellow countryman, in Lange, as director of football.
Whether we can make Iraola an offer he couldn't refuse, compared to Bournemouth, is open to debate. I am sure they would try and keep him, but obviously we have greater financial clout.
I’d argue neither Mourinho or Conte wouldn’t put up with Levy’s antics, but they did. Amazing what you’ll put up with knowing the pay off is a minimum of £15 million.
Yes, I agree with that BT. However, by his inaction, Levy's doing a Nero here and 'fiddling while Rome burns!'. This could get worse, much worse and unless he (Levy) backs Angina with a couple of good signings this week and the injured players start to return, quickly, this team is too threadbare and too knackered to cope with a two game per week schedule and it is inevitably the weekend game on 2/3 days rest which is being sacrificed performance wise.
I think Levy is tired of hearing how he sacked Jose the week before the cup final so he’s keeping Ange until we’re officially out of all competitions.
I also suspect he’s cooking or hoping to cook some type of business arrangement with Asian and Australian backers so it would be some bad mojo to sack one of their own unless he had absolutely no choice.
I believe that everyone has a boss. Levy reports to the AIAs and the bank so forth.
The main problem is that Levy personally holds a controlling share of THFC. So no wonder he's so focused on getting the best, short term returns straight into his back pocket and refuses to spend sufficiently on the team.
Now he's saying that it will need to be someone else's money if we are to move away from a low wage bill etc. Well, he'd better find that someone else soon. because this sin't playing out well.
Was it you who mentioned the subject of sprints AL? That we were the team last season, under Ange, with by far the highest number of sprints in the EPL? If so I would be interested to see that stat, if you have it. Clearly there must be a correlation between that statistic and all the hammy pulls and muscle injuries. Too much of a coincidence.
The problem for Ange is that he has never played in a league that was this intense physically or this competitive and rather than adapt his strategy to the demands of the league, he has doubled down on his 'kamikaze' footballing template and steadfastly refused to compromise. The end result is now what you see. A threadbare squad, worn down by the playing style, with close to a dozen players out through injury and the remaining 'stalwarts' like Kulu and Porro, patently knackered.
An astute coach would have correctly identified the problem and modified their tactics accordingly, however in Ange's case 'stupid is as stupid does!'. This season is a write-off. The only crumb of comfort is that once we are inevitably out of the two domestic cups and ultimately the Europa and we have our better players back, especially VDV and Romero, our League form will pick-up and relegation will be avoided. A damning indictment of the incompetence of this fucking regime.
Thank-you AL. Interesting to note that Bournemouth, under Iraola, were second in the number of sprints recorded last year and would appear to be second to us this year in the number of players out injured. The big difference of course is that they are 16 points ahead of us!
I agree, I think it's a combination of factors for Daniel/Donna are focused on. You can bet your arse the decision will have little or nothing to do with football.
The club's PR has been focussed on elevating the hiring of the 4th choice guy, who's completely inexperienced at this level as some kind of visionary father figure, able to polish academy turds and deliver 'entertainment'. Because, winning trophies and competing is as usual, completely off the agenda.
For me it's a lack of options and having to admit that this shitty, ill informed gamble has failed miserably. I can see a clearing of the decks of Ange, followed in due course with the removal of Johan Lange, as an exercise in deflection by Daniel.
Only now it's wearing very thin, Ange, Lange and the squad is all on Daniel anyway and now even the mainstream media are tapping into this. The media love a soap-opera, once they've latched onto this it will become fairly relentless. After 25 years, there's really not a lot of options left for Levy and ENIC regarding the football in N17.
The mystery investor, all of that shit, another diversion tactic. It's never going to happen. Where on earth do we go from here...
A very good post ES. Your first two, corruscatingly cynical, paragraphs, are 100% spot on in my opinion! Admitting 'mea culpa' is not a position Levy reflexively embraces, so one can expect scapegoats for this ill-advised gamble, as you suggest. Ange is the obvious one. Lange I am not so sure about, unless Levy officially reinstalls Paratici once his worldwide ban imminently expires.
To be fair to Lange, Bergvall and Gray have been a couple of outstanding acquisitions, I suspect Kinsky will prove to be likewise. I also think Solanke is a decent player and was proving to be a lone bright spark up front. Even the Korean boy could prove to be a 'snip', so I wouldn't level any blame at Lange for this shambles. It doesn't mean to say that Levy won't however.
I would personally doubt that Lange had much to do with the hiring of Ange. More a process of elimination, one by one, leaving Ange as the only candidate!
Couple of family ties within football circles tell me that Levy has been reaching out to various suitors and received a sharp "nope" from every one of them.
He's simply run out of clout and no marquee manager is remotely interested in working in Levy's ENIC model.
I saw a comment yesterday about Thick. He’s known by this particular contributor to the blog I was reading as the Aussie PE teacher. As apt as our own Thick.
Shit Creek With No Paddle FC
Shit Greek with no paddle..
Very good Sir!!
(Reply to AL) ... Nah ... don't let the little bastard off the hook! He's been running the club this way for at least the past 15 years. I read an interesting stat yesterday, unfortunately I can't remember where, that for the years 2015-2019, before the new stadium opened, Spurs had by far the highest cumulative net (pre-tax) profit of any club in the EPL. It was around 350 million GBP. Liverpool were second with around 175 million GBP.
I mention that because I had been under the impression that the naked profiteering of our diminutive 'gruppenführer' had only really ramped up since the new stadium opened, yet here was the proof of Levy's ongoing milking of the fan-base, in the years directly prior to the new stadium, whilst chronically under-investing in the team. The only difference is the team (and the coach) at that time were much better and thus masked the issue.
I need someone to explain to me how a premier league football club is good business. From what I’ve read, a club like Brighton where they consistently sell their best players for young hopefuls is a model that works financially, until it doesn’t. Spurs last year made a hefty loss after player trading, Man U are in a terrible state. Levy knows he needs on field success to eventually make Spurs a sustainable business, his issue is he can’t make a sound footballing decision to save his life, he is absolutely clueless when it comes to building a successful football team and has proven it time and time again. He tries different strategies, and for the last few seasons he’s following Chelsea and trying to buy younger talent. He chops and changes, with managers coming in that have vastly different tactics, and Ange is the worst of choices and is completely inept. Levy is thinking stay in the Premier and win the Europa and we’re in the CL, that would take a minor miracle but it might buy the Aussie until the end of the Europa campaign.
"I need someone to explain to me how a premier league football club is good business?" ... In two word answer to your question JR ... Daniel Levy! By prioritising profit over playing success and diversifying into other profitable ventures related to the entertainment and leisure industries, Levy has created a highly profitable vehicle, for his own self-enrichment. His metric of success is entirely financial, he really doesn't give a shit about results on the field, unless they are or become so bad that they impact upon his bottom line, which is revenue (from advertising, gate receipts, concessions, etc).
Angel Gomes (supposedly a target) is out of contract in the summer, so no surprise that he’s a target. He wants to go to Utd apparently too, so I doubt Baldy can even get that done either…
Another bang average player with no ceiling, Levy time special
He came through their academy didn’t he?Makes sense.
What's happening now with Ange is exactly what must happen to finally effect a “change of culture” at THFC. Now this change could go either way, but to finally change the culture at THFC we must get to a "tipping point" where it might occur, and we are finally getting close.
Ange is who he is. We can argue over whether he will (not should) last the season and, if supported with players at a level sufficient to succeed in his system, longer than that. Save the “out of his depth” case for later.
For years Spurs languished in mid-table mediocrity until Levy, by dint of fate or more likely either just a complete accident or dumb luck, hired Mauricio Pochettino. I immediately became intrigued with Poch upon reading a mournful internet posting the day of his announcement from a Southampton Season Ticket Holder who explaining how special MP was, lamented his loss and told Spurs fans how excited we should be because "we had no idea yet" of what we'd gotten in MP.
And BTW...oh yeah...was he right!
In the years before Poch, Spurs expected finish in the table was likely between 5-9 with a rare breakthrough to spots 3/4 above (see 2010 CL qualification). Otherwise, during the Levy era it's been consistent. Each manager lasted roughly 18 months, won no silverware, and a disgruntled and split fanbase screaming for change from the latest unsupported manager. This is affectedly known as the bi-annual "same old Shit different restart". It hasn't worked out for any of us.
So, after the predictable Conte meltdown and crash (as if Levy was ever going to provide THE level of support promised to Conte) Spurs went on another embarrassing "how many managers will turn us down before we actually hire again hunt" which resulted in Ange.
For me, Ange represented the first manager who could affect the "painful rebuild" and potentially "change the culture" specifically because what he was going to do would likely "succeed or fail spectacularly" and might fail before ultimately succeeding specifically due to Levy, and if he wasn’t fired too soon.
One way or another Spurs would no longer be on the annual “gerbil wheel” combining 3-8 finish in the table (and rarely Top 4) with another year of "no silverware". The only suspense being qualification for some competition in Europe", and the rare wins against teams above us ruined by agonizing losses to teams we should beat.
Since Ange employ s a system that can work with players that who cost less than those sought by most managers: (i) he could actually be successful; or (ii) he would lay bare "for the rest of the world", once and for all, the "THFC supporter soul killing business practices of Daniel Levy".
I go back to look at Spurs' lineup when we went on to defeat City 0-4 at the Etihad:
Spurs starting lineup:
Guglielmo Vicario
Ben Davies
Destiny Udogie
Pedro Porro
Radu Dragusin
James Maddison
Pape Matar Sarr
Dejan Kulusevski
Yves Bissouma
Son Heung-min and
Dominic Solanke.
The 4 Substitutions were:
Brennan Johnson for Son (63)
Spence for Udogie (90)
Bergvall for Sarr (90)
Werner for Maddison (90)
Injured and Missing from Spurs lineup were these 3 starters and new acquisition:
Cristian Romero
Micky Van de Ven
Rodrigo Bentancur
Wilson Odobert
The result at the Etihad demonstrates that Ange employs a system that, without its' best players, can literally run almost any team off the pitch when it is firing on all cylinders.
Without those 3 starters most of us were predicting a similar 4-goal massacre, but with City prevailing! (and nobody predicted having a fourth starter, our GK, literally take the phrase "break a leg" seriously in the 37th minute albeit he still finished the match)
The "mandate" Ange was given was identical to Conte - which is to change "the Culture" of THFC (as run by Levy/ENIC). The first thing that happened after Ange arrived was Kane. doing Ange no favors, departed. Unruffled, Ange immediately set about to change the locker room culture by installing new captains. He declared that when looking for potential incoming transfers their first and most important trait needed to be a players’ "character". Ange also changed the team captains before a single match was played and then started clearing out the dead wood. This methodology explains why he hasn't lost the locker room.
Clearing out our dreadful surplusage of players from the roster was Levy's main goal this past summer, and to his rare credit, Ange managed to get Levy to eat the last year of the N'Dombele contract because it was too much of a distraction. Unfortunately, while the team did bring In some players Levy gave far less attention to the number of incoming replacements.
Yes, I know Ange is far from perfect and needed to adjust more to save a few points in the standings, but I have some thoughts, and I make them below by way of explanation - as they are not given as excuses.
First, I agree to a point that Ange’s training methods could be eased, or if already eased, should have been eased sooner. but while I put some of the injuries down to training, I long ago looked at each player and when where & how they were injured.
But putting aside the “Hamstring issue”, Ange has done himself no favors by his manner in addressing the press. I never bought into the "I win trophies everywhere in my second season" as a guarantee of anything, and “Are you not entertained” responds to a claim heard around these parts for decades that even when winning more we have not “returned to our DNA”. The phrasing of some of the leading questions asked in the interviews is atrocious and these reporters aren’t even intelligent in trying to bait the man for the answer they desire. And the way Ange does not look into the camera during post-match interviews is maddening, but if a manager wins…none of us care.
My longstanding peeve with Levy has been with his consistent failure to support his managers and provide a deep enough squad aka what I call an indictment "Depth Charges". Spurs have had many injuries (+ untimely suspensions) since late November. Yet, we are almost 4 weeks into the January transfer window and only Kinsky is through the doors.
Jose & Antonio each had a CV which permitted them to call Levy out without mincing words, but Ange does not, and he also has been consistent in rarely calling out his players in the press. Ange doesn't have their CV so he cannot directly state the obvious.
I view "The players have given everything"…merely as Ange's preferred method of a direct attack aimed at Daniel Levy, which is precisely why I have not tired of it. It also has the added benefit of suggesting that "not even a manager willing to work with less expensive players" can succeed under Levy.
"We controlled the game" like "the players are giving everything for this Club" are just other ways of pointing out that exhausted players aren't finishing their chances. In the first half of the Leicester City match, we had almost a dozen passes come up short. That was an ominous sign for even more of the same in the second half which we saw as the lads got even more tired.
PS:
TBH
You probably would have been better served posting this complaint under the title:
"A line from Thick that's wearing Thin".
No coach gets what they need to make their philosophy work . Not Ramos ..Frazier Campbell on loan to replace Keane and or Berbatov..Not Redknapp Louis Saha Ryan Nielsen Not Pochetino peaked at got one player over 3 windows.
Jose Conte etc.
There is only one philosophy and that is Daniel Levy’s philosophy. Success is factored out failure is factored in . Levy bleeds good players to death and amortises shit ones to keep the books rather than the team looking good.
You are correct in that Ange is getting a proper shafting but even he knew from his own history injuries would come and he did nothing about it and then it was too late.
Top to bottom rotten ..Fans will be begging for eighth next season .,one of the richest clubs in the world..Round and round.
Wonder if we would beat Citeh now if our same squad was available.
Remember,that 4-0 win over City was just the latest in a string of defeats against us over recent seasons.Pep is another manager who refuses to change his tactics no matter who the opposition is,and his high line has been exposed by our team.
For nearly a decade it was simply Kane & Son on the counterattack.
Watching Pep hit the pitch on his knees in the CL semifinal after that goal at the death was wiped off for offsides AND hearing Pep, after being asked what he wanted the season after City did "their treble", and hearing him jokingly (but seriously) say "Score at Tottenham" always bring a smile to my face!
TG for YouTube
Agreed with or no - that's a great post, sir.
There will be disagreement I'm sure, but there is a lot of real meat on this bone, Todd. Like.
We are buying the world come Summer..When are the ST s up for renewal..
600 minutes since Burnley has conceded a single goal.
Opposite ends of the bar.
I’m starting to think Levy has some cashflow problems somewhere, maybe the bank wants its money back or one of his properties is on the verge of default or something.
Interesting in the world of high finance who bankrolls these deals and who ultimately bank rolls them . It has to be the oil states including Norway or Russia. I’m just hoping the squeeze is being put on this group of shysters , let’s not forget the convicted felon Joe Lewis in all this. On behalf of a football friendly buyer.
These days its the hedge fund and tech bros funding most big time sports outfits along with some natural resource merchants.
Nah, he's just a tight cunt...
I’m a little surprised there was no apparent move for Furuhashi who just moved from Celtic to Stade Rennais for €12M.Thick must have know he was available for not much money and would know all about his ability,but I suspect that Levy wouldn’t entertain the idea.This might also be because he knows Thick’s days are numbered.
When has Levy done a coach a favour ..It’s all about Daniel
Frazier Campbell, to dare is to do
I think there was worse than that . What was the gruel Redknapp got served one winter window ,, can’t think of the names?
Ryan Nelson was one of them
Yeah spot on , what a fucking joker. 🤡
Louis Saha was the other
Oh yeah, both pretty washed up by that point. it was typical Levy...
Meanwhile Levy has no issues paying Timo's wages
Backhanders it has to be..
Or he thought fuck that I don’t want play for that thick twat again
My guess is the Twat in charge will make an expensive purchase to keep those they perceive of as surfs happy.
Reactive instead of proactive the board Levy and Cullen have brains like the Milkeniym dome. lots of loft space but otherwise full of tat.
No one will invest with an incompetent narcissist like Levy at the controls.. you would have to be an absolute fool to do so. Time to start pinging the data showing how much has been spunked by the transfer committee and on payouts to coaches onto various sponsors.
This the reason your money isn’t attached to success. etc. I will go to the next demo once these cunts get the nfl franchise there won’t be anything to write about.
Levy cannot handle variables ..Shake the Cage .
Whatever the demerits of the tubby Greek, the real story is on page 16 of this report. Download it and weep. Every Spurs fan should have a copy of this and paper aeroplane it at Levy every match. His obsession with short term EBITDA is what’s killing this club.
https://www.deloitte.com/uk/en/services/financial-advisory/research/annual-review-of-football-finance-europe.html
You beauty.
Page 18 as well.
EBITDA should only matter to any business owner / seller at the point you wish to sell.
Dare I suggest Daniel Levy and ENIC are the tyre kickers of football ownership with a sale always on the table (think back as long ago as when Abramovic made a bid) hence their obsession with EBITDA, when in reality they never have a true inclination to flog it, short of a mind blowing overpriced offer.
God, imagine that’s right, pass me the rope.
The Human Shields are many
A question for my fellow inmates at TBH Towers ... Why do we think that Levy has not yet sacked Ange, when he now has by far the worst record or league table ranking, at any time, of any manager, during his 25 year tenure?
In answering that question bear in mind that Levy makes no decision in the interests of the club, his sole motivation is self-interest. Therefore, he must feel that the benefits to himself of retaining Ange outweigh the benefits of sacking him.
How could that be? The 12 million pounds needed to pay off his contract? The PR hit he would take from sacking yet another manager appointed by him? It surely can't be that he is buying the 'injury bug' excuse can it? ... or even more implausible that he believes Ange is the best man for the job?!
I suspect he is vacillating because of the 12 million quid pay-off figure (due to the asinine 4 year contract he gave to Ange), plus the negative PR occasioned by yet another manager firing, focusing the spotlight once again on his abject mismanagement. What do you guys think?
Because nobody else will answer his calls. He’s a pariah amongst top line managers. The Mourinho & Conte debacles sealed that deal. It’s why Thick got the job. 3rd possibly 4th choice.
I don't think a top-line veteran manager would touch him JG, as they would be too well aware of his toxic reputation. Hence our best bet is a potential top-line, up-and-coming, younger manager, with a smaller club, on a lower salary. Iraola fits the bill, Terzic also, who is out of work right now. Thomas Frank too has done an excellent job with limited resources.
We’ve done that with AVB & Pochetino arguably with this hopeless, hapless lump of lard too. In fact, we’ve done every permutation known to man. There is literally nowhere left to turn.
100%
How Levy thinks he can run the football club like this after 25 years and get away with it, I have no idea. Unfortunately for him not all the fanbase are happy to be brainwashed into more mediocrity, as he hasn't replaced enough of the crowd with tourists, yet.
It's either extreme arrogance or some kind of autism spectrum going on. It's so dysfunctional it's untrue...
This is true JG, however out of the various permutations Poch was the most successful, both at working with the hand he was dealt and coaching and moulding the players under him into an effective unit. Being a younger guy and not a big name he was more willing to tolerate Levy's BS. I think at this juncture a replica of Poch is the best we can hope for. Hence Iraola, Terzic, or someone similar.
Thomas Frank doesn’t strike me as a man who would put up with Levy’s nonsense.I think at Brentford he has a good relationship with his chairman and whilst they don’t spend high transfer fee they buy wisely.That’s not an arrangement he could expect with Levy.
With Bournemouth flying high I think if an approach was made they would pay to keep him there,which leaves Terzic.As you say he is available so he could be pick of a very short list I suspect and what would please Levy is the likelihood of him doing well with the existing squad.
I think Frank, being almost 10 years older than the other two, is the least likely of the above trio to tolerate Levy's antics, albeit he would have a fellow countryman, in Lange, as director of football.
Whether we can make Iraola an offer he couldn't refuse, compared to Bournemouth, is open to debate. I am sure they would try and keep him, but obviously we have greater financial clout.
I’d argue neither Mourinho or Conte wouldn’t put up with Levy’s antics, but they did. Amazing what you’ll put up with knowing the pay off is a minimum of £15 million.
Exactamundo!
I wouldn't swap Brentford for Spurs if I were him.
Probably all of the above (except believing Ange is the best man for the job). I think Daniel is in a state of paralysis and has no idea what to do.
He often suffers paralysis around transfer window time ..
Indeed...only except when it's time sell our best players for maximum profits
Yes, I agree with that BT. However, by his inaction, Levy's doing a Nero here and 'fiddling while Rome burns!'. This could get worse, much worse and unless he (Levy) backs Angina with a couple of good signings this week and the injured players start to return, quickly, this team is too threadbare and too knackered to cope with a two game per week schedule and it is inevitably the weekend game on 2/3 days rest which is being sacrificed performance wise.
Nero is a great mental shot there. Levy looks like a shit emperor up in his colosseum gazing down upon his peasants and sycophants.
Let's not forget he's got a bunch of yes men all around his office. This is not looking good.
I think Levy is tired of hearing how he sacked Jose the week before the cup final so he’s keeping Ange until we’re officially out of all competitions.
I also suspect he’s cooking or hoping to cook some type of business arrangement with Asian and Australian backers so it would be some bad mojo to sack one of their own unless he had absolutely no choice.
I believe that everyone has a boss. Levy reports to the AIAs and the bank so forth.
The main problem is that Levy personally holds a controlling share of THFC. So no wonder he's so focused on getting the best, short term returns straight into his back pocket and refuses to spend sufficiently on the team.
Now he's saying that it will need to be someone else's money if we are to move away from a low wage bill etc. Well, he'd better find that someone else soon. because this sin't playing out well.
Why no update on this supposed investor?
It doesn't make sense for someone else to furnish your house. Something's fishy here, nothing makes much sense to me.
I agree with your first paragraph AL. I think that does factor into his thinking.
I’ll try to gather some intel on Levy when I’m at the Villa away and United games from some other CRNs.
Was it you who mentioned the subject of sprints AL? That we were the team last season, under Ange, with by far the highest number of sprints in the EPL? If so I would be interested to see that stat, if you have it. Clearly there must be a correlation between that statistic and all the hammy pulls and muscle injuries. Too much of a coincidence.
Ange has even admitted that his methods bring out a fair amount muscular injuries. Fucking brilliant...
The problem for Ange is that he has never played in a league that was this intense physically or this competitive and rather than adapt his strategy to the demands of the league, he has doubled down on his 'kamikaze' footballing template and steadfastly refused to compromise. The end result is now what you see. A threadbare squad, worn down by the playing style, with close to a dozen players out through injury and the remaining 'stalwarts' like Kulu and Porro, patently knackered.
An astute coach would have correctly identified the problem and modified their tactics accordingly, however in Ange's case 'stupid is as stupid does!'. This season is a write-off. The only crumb of comfort is that once we are inevitably out of the two domestic cups and ultimately the Europa and we have our better players back, especially VDV and Romero, our League form will pick-up and relegation will be avoided. A damning indictment of the incompetence of this fucking regime.
It was me yes. I found an article on last year's sprints but was asking for help to get the data for this year.
https://sports.yahoo.com/premier-league-distance-covered-stats-112900404.html
Thank-you AL. Interesting to note that Bournemouth, under Iraola, were second in the number of sprints recorded last year and would appear to be second to us this year in the number of players out injured. The big difference of course is that they are 16 points ahead of us!
I agree, I think it's a combination of factors for Daniel/Donna are focused on. You can bet your arse the decision will have little or nothing to do with football.
The club's PR has been focussed on elevating the hiring of the 4th choice guy, who's completely inexperienced at this level as some kind of visionary father figure, able to polish academy turds and deliver 'entertainment'. Because, winning trophies and competing is as usual, completely off the agenda.
For me it's a lack of options and having to admit that this shitty, ill informed gamble has failed miserably. I can see a clearing of the decks of Ange, followed in due course with the removal of Johan Lange, as an exercise in deflection by Daniel.
Only now it's wearing very thin, Ange, Lange and the squad is all on Daniel anyway and now even the mainstream media are tapping into this. The media love a soap-opera, once they've latched onto this it will become fairly relentless. After 25 years, there's really not a lot of options left for Levy and ENIC regarding the football in N17.
The mystery investor, all of that shit, another diversion tactic. It's never going to happen. Where on earth do we go from here...
A very good post ES. Your first two, corruscatingly cynical, paragraphs, are 100% spot on in my opinion! Admitting 'mea culpa' is not a position Levy reflexively embraces, so one can expect scapegoats for this ill-advised gamble, as you suggest. Ange is the obvious one. Lange I am not so sure about, unless Levy officially reinstalls Paratici once his worldwide ban imminently expires.
To be fair to Lange, Bergvall and Gray have been a couple of outstanding acquisitions, I suspect Kinsky will prove to be likewise. I also think Solanke is a decent player and was proving to be a lone bright spark up front. Even the Korean boy could prove to be a 'snip', so I wouldn't level any blame at Lange for this shambles. It doesn't mean to say that Levy won't however.
I would, if he advised the hiring of Ange from the SPL, as he did with Gerrard from Rangers when he was working at Villa...
I would personally doubt that Lange had much to do with the hiring of Ange. More a process of elimination, one by one, leaving Ange as the only candidate!
No doubt a major factor Coys...
Couple of family ties within football circles tell me that Levy has been reaching out to various suitors and received a sharp "nope" from every one of them.
He's simply run out of clout and no marquee manager is remotely interested in working in Levy's ENIC model.
I saw a comment yesterday about Thick. He’s known by this particular contributor to the blog I was reading as the Aussie PE teacher. As apt as our own Thick.
Bit harsh on a full time teacher who would interact with his pupils and develop them. Coaching anyone?
More like a supply teacher?
We are a complete mess…
More like an incomplete mess ES! ... lol
Martin Keown, without being his usual one eyed self, speaking absolute truth about the manager, setup, expectations and his tactics now on talksport
The only real joy I can take is knowing Levy has sat Ange down last night and told him that at school, the headteacher told his parents story…