ENIC

[Bedfordspurs]

We were horrendous last season also so the points being similar makes sense. We actually did better this year!

The fact we did better shows how brick the league is

 

[Bedfordspurs]

I don't remember seeing anything about him wanting to return to Italy until after Lange had been promoted.

100%

 

[Finney Is Back]

The timing of the Levy removal was awful and utterly destabilizing. It paid little attention to the human side of football/need for fluid calmer transition as opposed to majot upheaval.
When I speak about fan connection I mean as a club, not specific depts or areas. I agreed with Gary Neville when he said he thought the 'together always' signs were a bit like those awful motivational posters some offices used to put up. We need some people in there that both love and understand this club deeply. Yes, credit for De Zerbi but their previous errors made that the bare, bare minimum. They need to stand up and do some serious self-reflection on all the things they got wrong. Judging by Charrington's statement, they might do on the football/transfer side, which again is the bare, bare minimum. The rest? Well it will all be Levy's fault, and whilst I agree he is responsible for much of the football side, he was an operator for the family too, and as such they are also somewhat responsible. I have heard some nasty rumours regarding trigger reasons why it happened so fast; those are best left well alone. I willl be interested to see if this whole thing gets uglier. But in short, IMO, they need to be honest with themselves too and not use the convenient excuse. My issue with Venkatesham is that he should've advised the Lewis Family harder not to throw us into turmoil they way they did (again my opinion). One poster here suggested that Lange looks like he'll be shunted back into youth talent spotting in a glorified role. That would be the bare minimum. He cannot remain as our Dof IMO.

I disagree. I don’t think Levy leaving destabilised anything. I bet the players and coaches couldn’t give a fudge.

There was clearly a problem at our club (perhaps there still is but we won’t know that for a while yet). The chief exec and his board of cronies were jettisoned, that is typically the first step in turning around an underperforming business (or sports team in this instance) especially if you believe the exec team is the reason for the under performance.

I’ve done this same thing myself a fair few times, usually after trying to work with them to turn things around only to realise we’re on very different pages or that the board actually are the problem.

 

[Finney Is Back]

I think the idea that Levy’s failings on the football side are “vastly overstated” only works if you completely separate him from the decisions made over the last 6–7 years — which makes no sense when he’s been the constant throughout all of it.

Since Poch left in 2019, we have gone from Champions League finalists and regular top-four finishers into a club that has drifted further away from competing every single season. That decline hasn’t happened by accident.

Look at the managerial appointments alone. Mourinho, Nuno, Conte, then Ange — all completely different profiles with completely different football philosophies. Every time a manager came in, the squad had to be reshaped again, only for the project to be abandoned within 18 months. That points to a lack of structure and leadership above the manager.

Recruitment has been similarly inconsistent. For every good signing, there have been multiple expensive misses or short-term panic buys. We constantly looked like a club reacting to problems instead of following a long-term football plan.

And while people rightly praise the stadium and commercial growth, that’s only part of running a football club. On the pitch, Spurs have regressed badly since 2019. The football has often been poor, the squad planning has been chaotic, and the club has burned through managers while falling further behind rivals.

Nobody is saying Levy is responsible for every single bad result or transfer. But when the same person oversees the entire period of decline, from the end of the Poch era to now, it’s fair to question his football leadership. At some point the accountability has to reach the top.

I guess what I’m trying to say is he shouldn’t get immunity from the last 6-7 years because he was instrumental in lifting the club from a perennial mid table outfit to serious contenders. Even Wenger had to step down at Arsenal eventually after years of decline in spite of winning 3 league titles and managing difficult financial waters when they moved from Highbury.

Levy was like the BlackBerry. Good, even great, for a while, innovative, turning a small business into a monster. It’s just that the competition caught up, did the things we did but better while we rested on our laurels and didn’t look to innovate enough. Eventually trying to throw lots of (borrowed) money at badly thought out and researched solutions to try to reclaim our former glories.

Fingers crossed we got rid of him just in time before all we had left were a few patents on battery technology.

 

[harr1984]

I don’t know for sure, but it all seems quite strange to me to agree to a new role, announce it publicly, all after having stayed connected with the club through the ban, and then pack up and leave a few months later.

In piecing together the stories that came out, it sounds like Paratici wanted Frank gone a lot more quickly. He probably felt that he wasn’t being listened to / didn’t have the influence he had when Levy was in charge, and so decided to bail.

If I remember correctly it came out that Paratici had been doing some transfer deal of his own, acquiring a new lady friend and that was why he wanted to go back to Italy....

 

[Finney Is Back]

I think the idea that Levy’s failings on the football side are “vastly overstated” only works if you completely separate him from the decisions made over the last 6–7 years — which makes no sense when he’s been the constant throughout all of it.

Since Poch left in 2019, we have gone from Champions League finalists and regular top-four finishers into a club that has drifted further away from competing every single season. That decline hasn’t happened by accident.

Look at the managerial appointments alone. Mourinho, Nuno, Conte, then Ange — all completely different profiles with completely different football philosophies. Every time a manager came in, the squad had to be reshaped again, only for the project to be abandoned within 18 months. That points to a lack of structure and leadership above the manager.

Recruitment has been similarly inconsistent. For every good signing, there have been multiple expensive misses or short-term panic buys. We constantly looked like a club reacting to problems instead of following a long-term football plan.

And while people rightly praise the stadium and commercial growth, that’s only part of running a football club. On the pitch, Spurs have regressed badly since 2019. The football has often been poor, the squad planning has been chaotic, and the club has burned through managers while falling further behind rivals.

Nobody is saying Levy is responsible for every single bad result or transfer. But when the same person oversees the entire period of decline, from the end of the Poch era to now, it’s fair to question his football leadership. At some point the accountability has to reach the top.

I guess what I’m trying to say is he shouldn’t get immunity from the last 6-7 years because he was instrumental in lifting the club from a perennial mid table outfit to serious contenders. Even Wenger had to step down at Arsenal eventually after years of decline in spite of winning 3 league titles and managing difficult financial waters when they moved from Highbury.

Levy was like the BlackBerry. Good, even great, for a while, innovative, turning a small business into a monster. It’s just that the competition caught up, did the things we did but better while we rested on our laurels and didn’t look to innovate enough. Eventually trying to throw lots of (borrowed) money at badly thought out and researched solutions to try to reclaim our former glories.

Fingers crossed we got rid of him just in time before all we had left were a few patents on battery technology.

 

[Finney Is Back]

It's funny reading the staunch 'Levy Out' lot apologising for these muppets, and saying they need more time. Imagine if Levy had been in charge for the season we've just had.

He was in charge for a whole bunch of it….

 

[Finney Is Back]

Chelsea, Liverpool (24 less points than last season), Spurs, of the traditional top 6 all brick the bed

United and City had half a good season, Arsenal's 85 points is 3rd lowest required to win league in 15+ years.

That can actually mean a better (more competitive) league.

 

[Finney Is Back]

Levy is who supported him in his time in the wilderness (at cost of brick PR for Spurs), he had multiple opportunities to go back to Italy before deciding to re-sign with us, then Levy leaves, then he bails, it's a bit of 1 + 1 =

a poor decision do you think? Why not just get in a really good DoF instead? Would a great chief exec let a club drift like that with a patsy such as Scott Munn running things?

 

[Raziel]

That can actually mean a better (more competitive) league.

Did you watch the league this year? United getting 3rd is an indictment of how brick the league is. Liverpool/Chelsea/Spurs/Saudi Sportswashing Machine all played truly awful, tactically poor dross this year at times (most of the time for us)

a poor decision do you think? Why not just get in a really good DoF instead? Would a great chief exec let a club drift like that with a patsy such as Scott Munn running things?

Not sure what the question is here? I wasn't defending Pratici or Levy or saying anything was a good decision, my observation is Paratici leaving was in someway linked to not having Levy around

 

[Bishop]

The new reality was our bigger stadium allowing us to spend more on wages and still be whatever the club decided sustainable meant for them.

It’s the reality that allows us to be in for the Simons, Eze, Semenyo, Gallagher type players. We won’t always get them, but we can now realistically compete for them.

I don’t think Levy knew how to compete for those players, because you’re effectively fighting with other clubs at the very top of the food chain who are willing to be more decisive and get their business done early even if it means paying a little more. His whole negotiating playbook was I think very ill suited to this new reality. And to be honest I wouldn’t be surprised (although I might be completely wrong) that the MGW and Eze episodes were so embarrassing that it contributed to the hastening of his departure.

Levy was always willing to be more decisive on younger players. Or, weirdly, players like Sissoko who I’m assuming data some way was telling him was a great investment. But his playbook was never going to allow us to push on unfortunately.

Sissoko wasn't a data led acquisition he was a last day desperation move but because we had failed at getting Georginio Wijnaldum.

If you recall, initially Poch didn't even play him because he knew how poor he was. An injury crisis is what eventually led to Sissoko getting games and stinking up the place. That directly led to Poch refusing more poor signings the following windows and us doing the 18 months without a signing madness.

 

[SissokoWasGood (BoL)]

I disagree. I don’t think Levy leaving destabilised anything. I bet the players and coaches couldn’t give a fudge.

There was clearly a problem at our club (perhaps there still is but we won’t know that for a while yet). The chief exec and his board of cronies were jettisoned, that is typically the first step in turning around an underperforming business (or sports team in this instance) especially if you believe the exec team is the reason for the under performance.

I’ve done this same thing myself a fair few times, usually after trying to work with them to turn things around only to realise we’re on very different pages or that the board actually are the problem.

I think the destabilisation comes in the transition. It’s not that we were bad because Levy left, but we were bad because for example Levy’s final big decision, to appoint Frank, then collided with Vinai’s desire to show patience and for the club’s desire to try and minimise more transition where they felt they didn’t need to. It meant that whole thing went on far longer than it should have.

It was still right to get rid of Levy, it’s just that the way the transition was handled very nearly ended in disaster, and thankfully it didn’t.

 

[SissokoWasGood (BoL)]

Sissoko wasn't a data led acquisition he was a last day desperation move but because we had failed at getting Georginio Wijnaldum.

If you recall, initially Poch didn't even play him because he knew how poor he was. An injury crisis is what eventually led to Sissoko getting games and stinking up the place. That directly led to Poch refusing more poor signings the following windows and us doing the 18 months without a signing madness.

Yeah I remember Sissoko being played on the right initially and being bad, before actually becoming a really solid central midfield option. That is the weird thing though - 30m was a lot at the time and Levy was willing to do that. It doesn’t really make much sense.

Again I am realising a lot of my assumptions about people in power having more information to make good decisions in theory doesn’t always hold true. I assumed that Levy thought Sissoko was perhaps a good long term investment, with maybe versatility and a fitness record that meant we could get a lot out of him. But knowing what we now know, in terms of how Levy made decisions because he was worried about public backlash and wanting to be seen to be doing something, there is every chance he panicked, thought Poch needed someone, anyone, and pushed the deal through. Which is insane to me. But could very well be what happened.

I heard the Libero podcast recommend Ferran Soriano’s book ‘the ball doesn’t go in by chance’ and spent some time reading it last night. It is a great book on the challenges and strategies for running a successful football club. And you can see what Soriano took from Barca to Emirates Marketing Project. The point isn’t that every club should do exactly what they did, but there are some core principles that successful clubs follow. And I have to say it was striking how when reading that book and comparing it to Levy’s Spurs…how few of those things we actually did. It is no wonder we stagnated. After 2019 we basically did none of the good things, and all of the mistakes the book calls out.

 

[Rafa87]

Now, this would be a good move.

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Hope this happens, we need more Spurs people to help in key positions.

More people who actually care about this club, leading it, talking about it and being out there defending it and bigging it up, instead of always being the meek whipping boys for the media and other fans.

 

[Bishop]

Yeah I remember Sissoko being played on the right initially and being bad, before actually becoming a really solid central midfield option. That is the weird thing though - 30m was a lot at the time and Levy was willing to do that. It doesn’t really make much sense.

Again I am realising a lot of my assumptions about people in power having more information to make good decisions in theory doesn’t always hold true. I assumed that Levy thought Sissoko was perhaps a good long term investment, with maybe versatility and a fitness record that meant we could get a lot out of him. But knowing what we now know, in terms of how Levy made decisions because he was worried about public backlash and wanting to be seen to be doing something, there is every chance he panicked, thought Poch needed someone, anyone, and pushed the deal through. Which is insane to me. But could very well be what happened.

I heard the Libero podcast recommend Ferran Soriano’s book ‘the ball doesn’t go in by chance’ and spent some time reading it last night. It is a great book on the challenges and strategies for running a successful football club. And you can see what Soriano took from Barca to Emirates Marketing Project. The point isn’t that every club should do exactly what they did, but there are some core principles that successful clubs follow. And I have to say it was striking how when reading that book and comparing it to Levy’s Spurs…how few of those things we actually did. It is no wonder we stagnated. After 2019 we basically did none of the good things, and all of the mistakes the book calls out.

I liked your post but you know I'll never ever agree that Sissoko was anything other than terrible.

But yeah that's largely my view in Levy, it just felt whenever a particular forward thinking decision could be made he did the opposite.

 

[glorygloryeze]

Levy was like the BlackBerry. Good, even great, for a while, innovative, turning a small business into a monster. It’s just that the competition caught up, did the things we did but better while we rested on our laurels and didn’t look to innovate enough. Eventually trying to throw lots of (borrowed) money at badly thought out and researched solutions to try to reclaim our former glories.

Fingers crossed we got rid of him just in time before all we had left were a few patents on battery technology.

So good, you wrote this twice!