Article by new e-Spurs Writer Chris Mecoy (UK). Welcome Chris!
It’s that time of year again when Spurs fans worldwide weigh up the season just passed and decide whether we are happy with the way it went.
The general belief is.......”not really”, “It could have been better” or the all powerful “with another striker in January, it could have been so different”.
With the latter point in mind, many Spurs fans seem to lay the blame at not securing a Top 4 finish again squarely at the feet of Daniel Levy.
Yes, he should have spent a few more quid and picked up a striker in the summer or January transfer windows. A Dzeko, Benteke or dare I say Damiao could have amounted to just a couple more points this season, points that would have made all the difference.
However, the fact the we Spurs fans, as an entity, are decidedly underwhelmed by a fifth placed finish, is also something that could be attributed to our esteemed chairman. For those old enough, cast your minds back to the pre-Levy/ENIC days, and you will be subjected to horrible memories such as relegation battles, rubbish signings (Trammezani anyone?) or the vomit-inducing borefest that was George Graham’s tenure in charge. We are a force in the Premier League now, and it would be foolish not to see just how much of an impact Daniel Levy has had at our club.
Now, while some signings under Levy have not gone according to plan, such as Gio and Bentley, you have only to look at our current first team squad to know that they are in the rarity. Also, with the exception of Ledley King, Stephen Carr and Judas, Tottenham’s Youth set-up hardly flattered to deceive, whereas now we have an U-21 squad brimming with talent just waiting to burst on to the Premier League stage.
Daniel Levy has played a major role in turning Spurs from a perennial underachieving team, to a team which is fighting for Champions League football every year.
Is Levy able to give Tottenham that much needed push to make the final step up? Maybe. Maybe he needs a bit of help. Maybe, just maybe, he needs a young ambitious manager, and a first team squad filled with quality players, plus a world class superstar or two thrown in for good measure.
All the ingredients are there, all we need is the right chef to get cooking.
Levy got us this far, and it would take a brave man to doubt that he’ll get us over this last hurdle as well.
All you need is faith.
In Levy we trust? Absolutely.
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THE REASON WHY LEVY DOES NOT SIGN ANYONE UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE,IS BECAUSE HE DOES'NT HAVE TO PAY THE WAGES UNTIL THEN.I WOULD NOT TRUST LEVY AT ALL.HE JUST NOT LIKE SPENDING MONEY,AT LEAST NOT FOR TOTTENHAM.
ReplyDeleteIf you think finishing fifth every year for fans who pay one of the highest prices for tickets in the PL and are increased every year you are seriously being conned.
ReplyDeleteLevy has won nothing in his time and will continue to under achieve and bring failure as long as he is in charge.
Unless super-duper training facilites placate you.
You mugs will just never learn even after another failed season because of his doin! You can't doubt he's taken us to another level than sugar but that ain't hard with the money that a premiership club like spurs have. And they say that wenger has mugged off the scum fans for the last 5 or 6 years get a grip and some sense of realisation!
ReplyDeleteLevy will never spend big with him holding the purse string spurs will never become a top four side all this talk of signing top name strikers forget it because that will never happen
ReplyDeleteIn Levy, I don't trust. On £2 million a year, he needs to be quicker and more decisive in the market. He is the chairman, not the manager. Liverpool have already signed Kolo Toure on a free and have announced they are in talks with Iago Aspas of Celta Vigo, not a bad player. Have we learnt the lesson of making early signings to bed them into the team pre-season, something we didn't do last season which cost us points, along with not signing a forward in January or earlier.We do not seem to have a chief scout. We have sacked our last two, Ian Broomfield, now at QPR,and Graham Carr, now at Newcastle, who signed Cabaye and Tiote for peanuts.You don't have to spend £50 million on a player. We hesitated over Cavani and Suarez. Be smart and be quick and decisive.
ReplyDeleteI understand what you are all saying. So near and yet so far and all that. I'm saying is that Daniel Levy has brought us so far, and it would be naive to think that he couldn't go one further. I think that we need to get behind him and not on top of him. However, if he does the same thing this transfer window with no strikers or last minute panic buys, then I may be inclined to agree with you. But Levy has my support all the way right now. COYS!!
ReplyDeleteSo levy has done better than sugar....so what! Is that any excuse for not pushing onto challenge for honours.the truth is enic have got us where they want us...always coming back and hoping to do better....but not putting in the capital investment needed.levy gets a pat on the head for making them money and the fans are begining to see thru the con! We pay some of the highest season ticket prices in the league and deserve better than finishing 5th. I dont think joe lewis is in it for the footballing glory for one min......1 trophy in 10yrs tells you that.......then compare that to chelsea. You can hate abramovic all you like...but at least he puts his money where it matters for a teams fans ...on the pitch and in the trophy cabinet. In leby and especially enic...I do not trust.!
ReplyDeleteMaybe there could be light at the end of the tunnel, if the new financial fair play rules actually work then it could be bye bye to Chelsea, Man City etc.... and hello to Spurs and the other prudently run teams, except Stoke City who seem to be doomed when Mark "Demolition Man" Hughes takes over.
ReplyDeleteSo lets back the boys down the Lane, Levy included, and see what happens.
COYS
Levy costs us the points at the start of the season. Our team start to get to know each other three or four games into the season. Newcastle away, first game of the season, three easy points going begging. Such a shame it came before the last day of the transfer window. What a waste of time pre season games are at Spurs, The team changes two weeks later. Please sort it earlier and give us a chance Mr( 1 league cup in 12 years)Levy.
ReplyDeleteGood article,
ReplyDeleteSome fair comments, however, I do feel that if we had not sold VDV to grab the quick return before he got over the hill, we would have had 4th at the very least,
the problem that I have with Levy, is that the gamble never seems to pay off, just ask yourself how much he would accept from his managers if they were to continue to just miss out, ie, Jol, Juande (who had the strikers sold from under him by Levy) Harry...
In CL terms, when we miss out the gap between us and the top four continues to grow.
The proof is in the pudding, the South Londoners did what they had to do and again finished above us, this will not change on a regular basis until we show the ambition, we now have given Bales agents the perfect opportunity to seek a move, just as we did Modric and Berbatov etc etc.
Why can he not see this?
He would argue that we missed out by a point and that any other year would have seen us playing CL football, the same as last year really, very unlucky blah blah,
the truth is that you create your own luck, the squad was never deep enough to continue to chase the Europa two bob bit league. why bother?? this is something you chase if you drop out of the CL and are not at risk of qualifying again.
Knowing our luck, we will be the last team to win the damn thing before they allow teams to qualify for the CL as Europa winners!
Levy, grow some, show some ambition, anohter point would be that all our signings are bargains as we leave it so late, you could argue that the point against WBA at home or Norwich at home has cost us CL football, and around 30-35m, was it worth the gamble with VDV to gain 10m???
I accept equally that we have a state of the art training facility and we are planning a new stadium, which Levy has to be given immense credit for managing and masterminding, no doubt.
However, top top players do not want to play for teams with great training facilities, unless they are in the CL.
though I hate to say it.
Hard core Spurs fan.
The only thing Levy needs credit for with the training facilities and the supposed new stadium is making sure Spurs become attractive to another buyer so he can line his pockets even more.
ReplyDeleteUnless he has the balls to tell Bale's agent where to go and stop manufacturing a move and then sign some decent strikers he does not have my backing
The thing with levy is he thinks hes being clever.....and it has cost us.....hes bought some good players then sold expensive..fair enough! But if he had kept those players and qualified for champions league we would have generated more revenue. You only have to look at his transfer games and wince! I mean leaving signings till the last min, unsettling the team and start to the season and his latest failure...modric! He turned down 40 mil from chelsea, and a big bid from man u to keep him out of their hands. We sold him to Real for less and a crappy partnership (one where only real benefits) and 12 months later both are after him for considerably less!!! Not very clever at all, especially when ex players come back and haunt us...ie berbatov at fulham...he scored the winner, we lost 3 points at home and the rest as they say is history now we finished in fifth.....as long as levy is busy kissing joe lewis arse...we will never make it to the summit!
ReplyDeleteWow I thought spurs fans were intelligent?! Some of the arguments here has been quite idiotic. Levy is a brilliant chairman and a shrewd deal maker. And slowly spurs are really worrying the top teams. The squad now vs. 5 to 10 years ago is world class and basically it needs 1 more striker, mid and left back. That's it to be the best! COYS
ReplyDeleteENIC is not interested in the CL, at least not to the extent of investing any of their own money.
ReplyDeleteWith CL football comes expectation. Expectation that requires expensive signings and wages. Why invest in players when the ground is sold out regardless of where we finish, especially when you consider there are many muggy fans like the author of this article who are easily misled and impressed by success that always appears to be in the future, never in the present.
If the Financial Fair Play isn't enforced, which seems likely, having owners who are not prepared to put their hands in their own pockets will see us win nothing.
ENIC must shit or get off the pot.
"Levy is a brilliant chairman and a shrewd deal maker"
ReplyDeleteHis 'brilliance' has equated to one league cup in 12 years.
Just as I thought - the worm is beginning to turn. Levy is in trouble! Essentially he's been found out.
ReplyDeleteI see the usual suspects are arraigned here as on other Spurs blogs.
ReplyDeleteComplain all you like but our current owners will invest only in value.
Do not expect big money buys.
Why should they invest their own money in a business where wages are 50>70% of the income?
The Russians are simply laundering their ill gotten gains.
The Arabs don't know what to spend it on next.
The really worrying aspect is that clubs, for example, in the UK Championship, are risking all to feed at the trough.
Respect BVB, 80k stadium capacity, homegrown team, CL finalists.
EPL...who are we going to buy in this transfer window...this is the best league in Europe...bollocks
The only records the EPL can boast of are the most Manager & Player turnover.
Some of his recent buys have been a joke and AVB is at fault here as well -
ReplyDeleteAdebayor - nothing needs to be explained on this one
Dempsey - Average player
Sigurdsson - Average player
Dembele - Overrated and ineffective in attack
Holtby - Average but may have potential to get better
Two great buys
Vertonghen and Lloris
When ENIC first took over at Spurs, I recall comments made in the press by fans/football pundits of the overseas club they had previously invested in. These comments stated Spurs would never win anything or get anywhere due to ENIC lack of financial support and true interest!!! I put those comments down to jealousy at the time !! Now all these years later I begin to wonder. I am not anti Lewis/Levy by any means but one has got to start thinking. Why has,nt Levy sorted Bales newest contract yet?? By doing that it would encourage other top players to want to come to WHL and play alongside him. But what is happening, NOTHING except rumours. Come on Levy prove me wrong, and show loyalty to those fans that are being loyal to you!!!!
ReplyDeleteWe are competing with ManU. three times our turnover and the other three above us have two to two and a half time our turnover, we can buy big if the mood takes us but we cannot pay big wages because our turnover does not allow it. Like it or not the new ground is of major importance and hopefully it will be built soon.
ReplyDeleteThen perhaps we can take the step up in player we all want.
Liverpool have already signed two players Kolo Toure and Iago Aspes but we are apparently after the Oldest Striker ever to arrive in the Premier League - David Villa. This is a move two years late. Old declining stars seems to be Tottenham's main shopping targets.
ReplyDeleteI think Levy is doing a good job on the whole, AVB is the right man, and the squad is brimming with talent, however i agree at times we need to move quiker in the market and perhaps pay what is needed for the right player. we lost points last season due to the sale of VDV, and not brining in a prolific striker, any team with regular success has a determined talented spine, and some work horses, they also have world class strikers to place the ball in the back of the net, you need defoe, you need adebayor, but you need a Suarez, a Hulk, a player of that quality and proven. Bring on the new stadium too, enough talk now, its time to act and back up the promises and ambition.
ReplyDeleteSteve COYS
The facts are clear and simple:
ReplyDelete1 Levy sold MOdric and VDV last year and did not replace them with players of a similar or better stature. He weakened the team.
2 To have gone into a new season with 2 strikers and 4 goalkeepers was simply stupid - was this the sign of a great Chairman - I hardly think so.
3 Not to have done something about the strikers in January was absolutely ridiculous. We have been crying out for a class striker ever since Berbatov and Keane were sold - another disastrous set of transfer dealings masterminded by Levy. If you are going to sell your best players at least bring in players of comparable quality.
4 I do not want to denigrate the abilities of Dembele, Dempsey, Siguurdson - they are good players but not of the same ilk as the ones we have sold.
5 Does Levy really think supporters are taken in by his August 31 and January 31 transfer dealings. The only time this has worked has been with VDV. His transfer policy smacks of someone who really does not have a clue, is he trying to fool the supporters?
Personally, I would love to see some real ambition from Levy in this transfer window but do not feel that this will ever be forthcoming.