Recent events at the Lane have provided a reality check for Daniel Levy, Tim Sherwood and Spurs. The short term appointment of Tim Sherwood looks more short term each day. Whilst Sherwood’s passion and effort cannot be doubted, it’s clear he lacks the required experience we need.
Sherwood himself points to the Liverpool experience of appointing and sticking with Brendan Rogers after a mediocre first season. After finishing 7th last term the benefits are there for all to see. Liverpool now has a manager that is getting a great sum from the team than the parts combined. This is what Spurs needs to do urgently. This is what Spurs have failed to do for most years other than managers Jol and Redknapp
It’s urgent for a several reasons:
1 – The appointment of a top class manager could persuade key players to stay. After the high volume of players coming and going last season, most pundits recommend a more settled approach next year, bringing a smaller number of new players into the club. If we can’t keep our best players we could find ourselves overhauling the squad yet again
2 – We could lose top management targets. Remember Ancelotti? For months he was almost nailed on to take over from Harry, even referring to the Spurs role as one he’d welcome. What happens? The Harry saga dragged on. Ancelotti goes to PSG and we get AVB. This time round it could happen again with Manchester United – Moyes has to be in danger and if he leaves surely Old Trafford would be a greater draw for Top Managers like Van Gaal. This time let’s not mess about, let’s get Van Gaal now.
3 – The core foundations at Spurs are still solid. Despite all the turmoil we are on the same points total at this stage of the season under Harry 2 years ago and only 1 less than AVB last year. With a fairly easy last 8 games we can still finish with 70+ points. OK that’s not top four, but we are still close to the mix
4- Finances – Despite all the current discussion around the £100+ spent we finished the transfer windows with a healthy profit, the Defoe sale extended a transfer surplus to around £15-20m. Combine this with player sales that wouldn’t affect the core team – Holtby, Livermore, Capoue, Chadli and we could start the season with a surplus of £45-50m. If we sell 1 or 2 others and Levy adds to the Pot is very likely a new manager could have £60m to spend on 3 key players to strengthen us.
While not breaking into the top 4 – Under ENIC, Spurs have had their best run of league finishes in 25 years:
For those haters out there, have a good look at this graph before you slaughter the Club too much, all this rubbish spouted by self-promoting morons like Harry Hotspur doesn’t stand up when you look at the facts.
Levy’s policies are well known. We lack the financial muscle to compete with City, Chelsea, PSG, Real etc. so we have to buy younger players and develop them. A policy which has driven the club forward overall but a process which has bled over into manager selection with disastrous results. 8 managers (not including temporaries) during ENIC’s reign. Constant change, not good.
Sherwood, I hope will steer us to the end of the season and do himself credit. Using the experience to put himself in the shop window, the better we do the better next job he can get. His decision not to offer himself as a number two does surprise me, after all why hasn’t he taken a senior role at a smaller club before? We know he had offers. Surely it would be best for everyone for Levy to be open in his search, taking the pressure of Tim.
This is where we need to change approach. Time to go out and get the best possible coach we can and stick with them. In a top coach I don’t mean someone like Frank De Boer either. We have learned the hard way young promising managers successful in smaller leagues still provide risk, as do more experienced managers in better leagues – ie Juande Ramos. We need a manager that has won a major league in England, Spain, Germany or Italy.
It’s an unfortunate but true that our two most successful managers appointed in recent history were both crisis decisions – Jol and Redknapp. Each time we have sat down and planned it carefully – Hoddle, Santini, Ramos, and AVB its gone wrong. Time to change our approach.
From the outside Levy can appear to be the overriding personality at the club. Is that what you want from your Chairman? No I don’t think so. Levy needs to be brave and bring in a character just as big as he is and let him run the club while Levy can carry on doing what he does best – making money. Let’s not miss the boat again. Van Gaal is clearly interested, Levy is a great negotiator, sorry Tim we can’t wait to see what might be we need to act now.
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