Daniel Levy - Chairman

[thfcsteff]

Agreed. And what if we also trust that Levy knows what he's doing and is backing a manager who knows what he's doing and that losing Walker is not the beginning of the end or the waving of a white flag and the preface to our best players leaving us.

Not at all.
Walker's departure has been known for several months.

 

[Legohamster]

Levy has done a wonderful job IMO. He is on the verge of completing a root and branch overhaul of our club that will see us in a position of long-term footballing and financial stability as well as see us wining pots and being in the running with the very largest for some years to come.

I think the coming weeks, and season, is massive for him. No-one in football (including the networks) is enjoying our wage-structure anymore, and clubs are using all sources to apply tap ups and pressure. Poch's project will only go so far at this point - we will need to pay up.

In that respect, rather than signing a bunch of players, I'd rather see a 30-40 million quid investment long -term in some wages to keep the core happy. Not saying we have to match, but getting in and around a higher wage would be good. Oh, and whatever players the manager does want, because he does not actually want too many as we have a few he is ready to trust!

I think this is a good shout - If we sell on sissoko - for 15 million - I would rather see and his £90k a week this given to the wage side of things.

Till we pay up our players will always be at a greater risk of sideway moves

 

[AdamB]

What if we could see we were in danger of losing our players to bigger wages, but instead of losing a few, we decided to lose the one we could replace the easiest, in order to top up the wages of the others we want to keep?

Agree that Walker is most replaceable, wanted to move back opp north and near his peak ability so the most logical departure. However sharing his (£70k?) wages around the rest of the squad doesnt change things too much for those players, particularly once you deduct the amount which we need to pay his replacement.

I do agree with the sentiment of the post which you replied to, namely that our wage structure is starting to feel unsustainable. When you look at the difference between us and close rivals such as Arse and Liverpool (even ignoring Man U, Man C and cheatski) it really doesn't feel like its possible for our wage structure to continue for much longer without us dropping down the league. I could believe that Levy might relax it a little more when the stadium is done given that, at the moment, we're still highly vulnerable to over-runs on it - if the stadium cost increased by even 5%, then thats an extra £40m....and I feel that it will need to be relaxed a bit. The financial discipline of our club is admirable however when some bricky teams like WEst Ham and Leicester are paying some players more than us, then it feels like its on the point of needing to be changed

 

[Whiffler]

I'm convinced there's a pot to share for those staying to play at the New stadium, perhaps declining shares over first 3 seasons. Keeps people loyal, but means no cliff edge and allows new budget to stabilise.

Great help that Poch is there, but he'd be on a big part of the pool.

If it exists .......

 

[90291Spur]

2009 - Spurs sign Walker & Naughton for 9,000,000
2017 - Spurs have sold Walker & Naughton for 59,000,000

You do the maths while Levy does the deals.

 

[Raziel]

I do agree with the sentiment of the post which you replied to, namely that our wage structure is starting to feel unsustainable. When you look at the difference between us and close rivals such as Arse and Liverpool (even ignoring Man U, Man C and cheatski) it really doesn't feel like its possible for our wage structure to continue for much longer without us dropping down the league. I could believe that Levy might relax it a little more when the stadium is done given that, at the moment, we're still highly vulnerable to over-runs on it - if the stadium cost increased by even 5%, then thats an extra £40m....and I feel that it will need to be relaxed a bit. The financial discipline of our club is admirable however when some bricky teams like WEst Ham and Leicester are paying some players more than us, then it feels like its on the point of needing to be changed

So a lot in here

- Every player that came to Spurs in current 11, didn't come for the paycheck (as vs. City/Cheat$ki/United/etc.) and it shows with the commitment. Look at fudging Hazard at Cheat$ki, hey I'll just not play for a year.
- I'm not sure we fully understand how our players are paid, yes, wage structure of $50-$100K for most of the first 11, but what in bonuses? I'm sure they all got bonuses for CL place, did the defense get a bonus for best defense in league? did Harry, Dele, Son get bonuses for 20+ goals? I think our payments seem more performance oriented than hey, here's $125K regardless of what you do.
- The financial discipline of our club is necessary, that's why we can pay for training grounds, new facilities and a new stadium. Remember City/Cheat$ki simply cheat, United's revenue is off the charts, we are the equivalent to a private team running in F1, to be on the podium should just never happen.

I personally don't worry about the money side of Spurs, Levy is quite simple the best chairman in the world from a finance perspective. Yes we will be keeping an eye on Stadium costs, project overruns, but lets be clear

- Levy would already have accounted for those in his business plan
- Levy knows what income we can expect in next 3-5 years from stadium, various sponsorship deals, additional brick we have no line of sight to.

If we needed to raise salaries, give loyalty bonuses, he will know how much we can do.

If the only player we lose is Kyle Walker this summer, the club has done an amazing job (look at Monaco), and re incoming, there just isn't a lot available out there that would both be an immediate upgrade to team and within reality (look at Lukaku, would he have made us better? for close to a $100M?)

 

[AdamB]

So a lot in here

- Every player that came to Spurs in current 11, didn't come for the paycheck (as vs. City/Cheat$ki/United/etc.) and it shows with the commitment. Look at fudging Hazard at Cheat$ki, hey I'll just not play for a year.
- I'm not sure we fully understand how our players are paid, yes, wage structure of $50-$100K for most of the first 11, but what in bonuses? I'm sure they all got bonuses for CL place, did the defense get a bonus for best defense in league? did Harry, Dele, Son get bonuses for 20+ goals? I think our payments seem more performance oriented than hey, here's $125K regardless of what you do.
- The financial discipline of our club is necessary, that's why we can pay for training grounds, new facilities and a new stadium. Remember City/Cheat$ki simply cheat, United's revenue is off the charts, we are the equivalent to a private team running in F1, to be on the podium should just never happen.

I personally don't worry about the money side of Spurs, Levy is quite simple the best chairman in the world from a finance perspective. Yes we will be keeping an eye on Stadium costs, project overruns, but lets be clear

- Levy would already have accounted for those in his business plan
- Levy knows what income we can expect in next 3-5 years from stadium, various sponsorship deals, additional brick we have no line of sight to.

If we needed to raise salaries, give loyalty bonuses, he will know how much we can do.

If the only player we lose is Kyle Walker this summer, the club has done an amazing job (look at Monaco), and re incoming, there just isn't a lot available out there that would both be an immediate upgrade to team and within reality (look at Lukaku, would he have made us better? for close to a $100M?)

I like Levy - my post wasnt meant to suggest the opposite and agree that the financial discipline of the club is what has paid for the stadium etc.

I don't buy your argument about bonuses though given that any financial report/accounts would include them in players/employees salaries - I can't think of any company accounts which I've looked at which would record them separately.

More generally, the disparity in wages requires the club to always have players who show loyalty for reasons other than money and for us to sign players who command lower wages but still perform at the required level. There's clearly always a risk that at some point this will fail though and at some point, that risk will materialise and we'll drop down the league a bit.

I dont want us to become a financially vulnerable club by paying stupid wages but all else being equal, there is clearly a correlation between better players and higher wages.

 

[Raziel]

I like Levy - my post wasnt meant to suggest the opposite and agree that the financial discipline of the club is what has paid for the stadium etc.

I don't buy your argument about bonuses though given that any financial report/accounts would include them in players/employees salaries - I can't think of any company accounts which I've looked at which would record them separately.

More generally, the disparity in wages requires the club to always have players who show loyalty for reasons other than money and for us to sign players who command lower wages but still perform at the required level. There's clearly always a risk that at some point this will fail though and at some point, that risk will materialise and we'll drop down the league a bit.

I dont want us to become a financially vulnerable club by paying stupid wages but all else being equal, there is clearly a correlation between better players and higher wages.

Our total wages in our financial reports would show bonuses, my comment was when media/etc. say that player x is on 50K/week, I'm pretty sure that doesn't include bonuses.

Yes, better players do command better wages, but there are a lot of brick players on high wages as well.

I get what you are saying, but the balance is very hard, we have to reward players for quality, yet at the end of the day, we simply cannot "match" others in league (I believe United's wage bill is higher than our total income), so even trying to may not be a smart move. We are a good club, on the up, with a great coach, great team spirit and fairly drama free, either young upcoming players will buy into that, London, new stadium vision, CL football, etc. or they will follow the paycheck and we will have to adapt.

 

[AdamB]

I get what you are saying, but the balance is very hard, we have to reward players for quality, yet at the end of the day, we simply cannot "match" others in league (I believe United's wage bill is higher than our total income), so even trying to may not be a smart move. We are a good club, on the up, with a great coach, great team spirit and fairly drama free, either young upcoming players will buy into that, London, new stadium vision, CL football, etc. or they will follow the paycheck and we will have to adapt.

I agree with you about benchmarking against Utd - similar with Man C and cheatski...we should ignore those three for obvious reasons. However over time and once the risk of the stadium cost increasing has gone away, I'd expect our wage bill to gradually trend towards that of Liverpool and Arsenal.

We will have a bigger stadium than Liverpoo and charge far more per seat/season ticket than they do; that said, they have a bigger global following so would earn more commercial revenue. Arse have a similar size stadium, also based in London etc, though would likely earn more revenue from non-gate receipts or TV than us due to their recent history vs ours. However our stadium will also give us revenue streams which they dont have, such as NFL. I'd expect over the next say 5 years or so though for our wage bill to move towards Liverpool and Arsenal's though as they're the closest proxy for us. At the moment we're something like half the level if I remember correctly

 

[milo]

Agree that Walker is most replaceable, wanted to move back opp north and near his peak ability so the most logical departure. However sharing his (£70k?) wages around the rest of the squad doesnt change things too much for those players, particularly once you deduct the amount which we need to pay his replacement.

I do agree with the sentiment of the post which you replied to, namely that our wage structure is starting to feel unsustainable. When you look at the difference between us and close rivals such as Arse and Liverpool (even ignoring Man U, Man C and cheatski) it really doesn't feel like its possible for our wage structure to continue for much longer without us dropping down the league. I could believe that Levy might relax it a little more when the stadium is done given that, at the moment, we're still highly vulnerable to over-runs on it - if the stadium cost increased by even 5%, then thats an extra £40m....and I feel that it will need to be relaxed a bit. The financial discipline of our club is admirable however when some bricky teams like WEst Ham and Leicester are paying some players more than us, then it feels like its on the point of needing to be changed

If we increased our top salary by 50%, we could still be blown out of the water by Chelsea, City and Man U. We are never going to win a salary war with the really rich clubs. What we can do, is what Levy is doing, getting players on long contract and being a difficult bastard.

That does mean that we will lose the odd player who has had their head turned but if we get good money, and reinvest in the squad wisely, we can continue to improve.

We've got the best manager in the league. Which ambitious young player wouldn't want to join us?

 

[90291Spur]

If we increased our top salary by 50%, we could still be blown out of the water by Chelsea, City and Man U. We are never going to win a salary war with the really rich clubs. What we can do, is what Levy is doing, getting players on long contract and being a difficult bastard.

That does mean that we will lose the odd player who has had their head turned but if we get good money, and reinvest in the squad wisely, we can continue to improve.

We've got the best manager in the league. Which ambitious young player wouldn't want to join us?

Jack Wheelchair.

 

[milo]

Jack Wheelchair.

There's no need for that. I was just sharing an opinion.

 

[AjaxDeSuperYids]

2009 - Spurs sign Walker & Naughton for 9,000,000
2017 - Spurs have sold Walker & Naughton for 59,000,000

You do the maths while Levy does the deals.

Cheers mate, I'll remember that one in case next season is the 33rd season to go by with 1 fa cup to our name.

I'll quote it to the fans of the other Clubs who don't constantly sell their best players. Should really silence them when their bragging about the trophies they have won.

 

[Jordinho]

Cheers mate, I'll remember that one in case next season is the 33rd season to go by with 1 fa cup to our name.

I'll quote it to the fans of the other Clubs who don't constantly sell their best players. Should really silence them when their bragging about the trophies they have won.

Who are those then? I can't think of any.

 

[90291Spur]

Cheers mate, I'll remember that one in case next season is the 33rd season to go by with 1 fa cup to our name.

I'll quote it to the fans of the other Clubs who don't constantly sell their best players. Should really silence them when their bragging about the trophies they have won.

My point was about Levy's success in the transfer market, not what trophies we've won. I'm aware of what trophies we've won and am ole enough/lucky enough to have seen us win three in the flesh. And how many other clubs don't sell their best players? Barca (who sold Sanchez)/Madrid/Manure and a few others? How many of them can afford to pay half what their rivals pay? And by the way, we've only sold Walker, not Kane/Dele/Lloris/Toby/Vertonghen - which suggests to me that we don't CONSTANTLY SELL OUR BEST PLAYERS, mate.

 

[90291Spur]

Who are those then? I can't think of any.

Based on Ajax's post we are the only club to do that. A whole new squad every season.

con·stant·ly
ˈkänst(ə)ntlē/
adverb

1. continuously over a period of time; always.
   "the world is constantly changing"
   synonyms: always, all the time, continually, continuously, persistently; More

 

[Jordinho]

Based on Ajax's post we are the only club to do that. A whole new squad every season.

con·stant·ly
ˈkänst(ə)ntlē/
adverb

1. continuously over a period of time; always.
   "the world is constantly changing"
   synonyms: always, all the time, continually, continuously, persistently; More

I think he must have us confused with Ajax, who unfortunately are constantly robbed of their best players (ie. every season).

 

[DubaiSpur]

Who are those then? I can't think of any.

Madrid? Barca? Bayern? The superclubs, more or less - and the rich clubs (United, Chelsea, City) to a large extent, although not *entirely*.

 

[milo]

I'll quote it to the fans of the other Clubs who don't constantly sell their best players. Should really silence them when their bragging about the trophies they have won.

 

[Jordinho]

Madrid? Barca? Bayern? The superclubs, more or less - and the rich clubs (United, Chelsea, City) to a large extent, although not *entirely*.

The bigger you are, the less often it happens. Even those clubs prey on each other occasionally.