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20 years....it's just unacceptable

GutterBoy -
I agree with you, David Dein did plenty right but please don't try to excuse the ineptitude of the Sugar regime.
Tell me please, how is it that we can sign a world class Jurgen Klinsmann and have him play in a team with a defence that included the likes of Stuart Nethercott , a young inexperienced Judas, a sixteen going on seventeen year old right-back ( Stephen Carr), thrust into the team, after the injury to the great Dean Austin. And let's not be forgetting those other great defensive signings in David Kerslake and Kevin Scott, we really pushed the boat out for those two. That lot and the young great, Ian Walker behind them, between the sticks.

Only at Tottenham .
 
And then, if I may add............To sack a Spurs legend rather than back him with quality defenders . We replace him with Gerry 'Pullis' Francis and give him 20mill to spunk it on the likes of Raul Fox , Chris Armstrong , Ramon Vega , Les Ferdinand.
 
When looking back club historians should call these 20 years "The Great Depression".

We really badly need a Roosevelt right now, with Arsenal's current form it could get a lot worse and I'm being serious.

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Meanwhile Gooners are signing Bergkamp, Viera , Petit ...Chelsea are signing Gullit, Hughes, Vialli, Zola Lebeouf..

We fell behind cos we lacked foresight and all that Carlos Kickaball nonsense.
 
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Strange thing to say. With 5 academy players in our side, 3 of whom have been at the club since they were at primary school, we are more 'Tottenham' than I can ever remember us being.

Arsenal have the 4th biggest wage bill. We have the 6th. That's why they usually finish 4th, and we usually finish 6th. It won't change till the stadium is built.

Take away the 5 and then what have we got? under arry we had a team that may not have been from the academy but they were Tottenham.
 
And then, if I may add............To sack a Spurs legend rather than back him with quality defenders . We replace him with Gerry 'Pullis' Francis and give him 20mill to spunk it on the likes of Raul Fox , Chris Armstrong , Ramon Vega , Les Ferdinand.

Ardiles was backed plenty, he just wouldn't know a decent defender if one kicked him in the shins.
 
Meanwhile Gooners are signing Bergkamp, Viera , Petit ...Chelsea are signing Gullit, Hughes, Vialli, Zola Lebeouf..

We fell behind cos we lacked foresight and all that Carlos Kickaball nonsense.

Indeed; before that summer we were the preferred destination of choice for the elite talent from Europe and had more draw then than both Arsenal and Chelski.

Matthew Harding and Dein both had good foresight to be fair to them; then Euro 96 and football chic happened and they rode the waves even higher whilst Sugar still was bitter about Klinsmann whilst we had the equivalent of a stagnant Pulis at the helm...sigh...
 
Take away the 5 and then what have we got? under arry we had a team that may not have been from the academy but they were Tottenham.

How were Gomes/Friedel, Gallas, Corluka, BAE, Parker, Modric, Krancjar, Pav etc. any more Tottenham than the likes of Lloris, Verts, Walker, Dier, Chadli and Eriksen?

Even those on the fringes of our team - Lamela and Soldado for example - clearly give a brick an awful lot more than any of Redknapp's usual benchwarmers.
 
How were Gomes/Friedel, Gallas, Corluka, BAE, Parker, Modric, Krancjar, Pav etc. any more Tottenham than the likes of Lloris, Verts, Walker, Dier, Chadli and Eriksen?

Even those on the fringes of our team - Lamela and Soldado for example - clearly give a crud an awful lot more than any of Redknapp's usual benchwarmers.

What a load of gonads. Think you need to go and watch some NLD back under Redknapp and then watch the ones in recent years and you may see a difference.
 
Ardiles was backed plenty, he just wouldn't know a decent defender if one kicked him in the shins.

Sorry , I disagree he were backed plenty . I refer you to my post #21

Indeed; easy to forget how defensively inept we were in midfield AND defence we were under him

We have to remember, we sold Gazza to pay off debt and due to the Sugar/Venables fallout, the club was in a bad moment. Established players had followed El Tel out the of the club, the likes of Linekar, Stewart, Durie, Nayim, Ruddock, Fenwick, Van Den Hauwe, all departed . Ardiles' first season after a good start, soon turned into a nightmare, when we lost to injuries our remaining best players, Sheringham, Mabbutt and Thorstvedt . Things had got so bad, we had an 18 year old Judas playing center forward!

Indeed; before that summer we were the preferred destination of choice for the elite talent from Europe and had more draw then than both Arsenal and Chelski.
Matthew Harding and Dein both had good foresight to be fair to them; then Euro 96 and football chic happened and they rode the waves even higher whilst Sugar still was bitter about Klinsmann whilst we had the equivalent of a stagnant Pulis at the helm...sigh...

That's my point really . Even if Ardiles was not the man to lead us in to the premeirship era, I feel we shot ourselves in the foot big time by veering away from the pass and move philosophy, just when there were an influx of quality foreign talent wanting to ply their trade in the premier league.


We had Gheorghe Popescu. That guy was a world class CB and we still stunk. He went on to replace Koeman at Barca and was even made captain.

That's one player ! Until the arrival of Gerry Pullis Francis, there were no patience and understanding shown towards the football side of things by Alan Sugar and the Spurs Board. Under Francis, we just fell further and further behind. I don't believe we would've been worse off sticking with Ardiles or as I've already said, if we had at least stayed with a pass and move philosophy rather than go all Stoke City.
 
What a load of cobblers. Think you need to go and watch some NLD back under Redknapp and then watch the ones in recent years and you may see a difference.

Redknapp's teams were always blood and thunder, but that didn't often do us any favours in the big matches. Now we are a bit more controlled (a bit more like Arsenal) and we tend to win them more often, rather than being gallant losers.

I also think you are mistaking vdV for the rest of the side. vdV always used to fist-pump his way through the NLD, but no one else particularly stands out.

I don't think I've ever seen players as genuinely passionate about the club as Kane, Mason and Townsend are. I'm sure King was, but he was too calm to ever show it. Dawson probably too
 
Redknapp's teams were always blood and thunder, but that didn't often do us any favours in the big matches. Now we are a bit more controlled (a bit more like Arsenal) and we tend to win them more often, rather than being gallant losers.

I also think you are mistaking vdV for the rest of the side. vdV always used to fist-pump his way through the NLD, but no one else particularly stands out.

I don't think I've ever seen players as genuinely passionate about the club as Kane, Mason and Townsend are. I'm sure King was, but he was too calm to ever show it. Dawson probably too

Our results are more or less the same as they were in the big games under Redknapp.
 
the beginning of the PL was opportunity lost for us, unfortunately we weren't able to position ourselves for the money train.

You can argue the reasons the first 5 years or so, but after that .. its just money, Last 5 years .. scum spend with buys & wages = 900M, Spurs 450 ..

Its not a manager/system issue, in fact, how close we have come (1-5 points on occasion) for half the money is worth praise not ridicule.

People can continue to get angry and say its unacceptable, and dream that x manager or y player will change things, it won't. Either we get a sugar daddy ourselves, or a fight for 5th-7th is likely (Pool spends similar to Scum), with the odd overachieve year at 4th ...
 
The man who probably came closest to overturning it?....

IMO two men are to blame (in order of blame)

1. Irving Scholar for bankrupting us.
2. Alan Sugar for making so many bad decisions and ensuring we were not competing at the top table during a critical period for football

How can you not blame Levy ? Afterall, the majority of these 20 years, which is 14 long years, we had been under Levy ! In fact, I blame Levy more than anyone. The moment he sacked GG before that FA Cup semi final in 2001, we were destined to struggle for the next decade and so.
 
Sorry , I disagree he were backed plenty . I refer you to my post #21



We have to remember, we sold Gazza to pay off debt and due to the Sugar/Venables fallout, the club was in a bad moment. Established players had followed El Tel out the of the club, the likes of Linekar, Stewart, Durie, Nayim, Ruddock, Fenwick, Van Den Hauwe, all departed . Ardiles' first season after a good start, soon turned into a nightmare, when we lost to injuries our remaining best players, Sheringham, Mabbutt and Thorstvedt . Things had got so bad, we had an 18 year old Judas playing center forward!



That's my point really . Even if Ardiles was not the man to lead us in to the premeirship era, I feel we shot ourselves in the foot big time by veering away from the pass and move philosophy, just when there were an influx of quality foreign talent wanting to ply their trade in the premier league.




That's one player ! Until the arrival of Gerry Pullis Francis, there were no patience and understanding shown towards the football side of things by Alan Sugar and the Spurs Board. Under Francis, we just fell further and further behind. I don't believe we would've been worse off sticking with Ardiles or as I've already said, if we had at least stayed with a pass and move philosophy rather than go all Stoke City.

All it means is that Ardiles was a GHod awful manager and put together the most unbalanced squad we've ever had and Sugar equally as stupid for paying inflated prices for the dross his managers asked for.

Francis could have done well with someone else targeting players to sign. He just went for mid-table consolidation quality.
 
How can you not blame Levy ? Afterall, the majority of these 20 years, which is 14 long years, we had been under Levy ! In fact, I blame Levy more than anyone. The moment he sacked GG before that FA Cup semi final in 2001, we were destined to struggle for the next decade and so.

Because it's the first 5-7 years of the PL that mattered the most .. much more even footing, and that initial CL money is what created the "sky 4"

Regardless of if you like/agree/disagree with Levy, by the time he took over the club we were already at a severe disadvantage, it all likelihood too late
 
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