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The Inbetween Transfer Windows Rumour Thread

jimmyb said:
How ambitious should he be?

Should he allow Spurs to run up growing debt in the hope that spending beyond the club's means on player transfers and wages will earn us Champions League qualification?

And what if we still fall short? Spend even more money that the club doesn't have? Where does it end?

Perhaps, if your wish is granted and Levy does indeed fudge off, you'll be happy if his replacement is Peter Risdale? He was ambitious, right?

Obviously, everyone is in a bit of a tizzy at the moment because of the recent, poor run of form and especially because of Saturday's thumping at the hands of our local rivals. But now's not the time to panic or to start pointing fingers wildly.

Levy has his faults, certainly. But, short of being bought by a philanthropic multi-billionaire, we couldn't possibly be in better hands. In Levy's time at the club, we've taken a few steps back. And maybe this season will be one of those. But the overall pattern during his tenure has been one of consistent improvement.

His achievement is all the more impressive given that it has been against the backdrop of a clutch of clubs that had an apparent monopoly on the hugely rewarding Champions League berths (with the exposure and other financial rewards that go with it); and a couple of other clubs that have been beneficiaries of a mind boggling degree of financial doping. To have established ourselves at the level that we have been for most of the past seven years is therefore little short of miraculous.

Of course Levy is still hugely ambitious for the club. Unlike you, however, he understands that ambition must be tempered by prudence. Unlike you, he is prepared to remain patient in the pursuit of glory.
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Think you have answered the question there mate.

THFC must be the next in line for this, surely, and until this happens, we will continue to live in the shadow of MUFC/Chelski/Emirates Marketing Project. Outgunned financially and 'draw' wise, each time we want a real quality player of the highest calibre. They will opt for one of those 3 (or maybe the Arse), after their agent has opened the 'marketing' by waving their client to us, whilst letting the press know of his availability too, of course. Think Hazard. Think Ashley Young. Numerous others, and this will only continue until we, too, have the financial muscle and kudos to compete for the best.

We stand no chance of winning the Premier League or the Champions League - now - until this balance has been redressed. Cold, hard, fact I'm afraid. I don't like it either; I would far prefer the days of the AA man with his Brit. motorbike, saluting at the side of the road. Long gone though. I have been waiting nearly 50 years to see Spurs achieve top league success, and it gets no closer. I'm still waiting.....

Peter Ridsdale was a plonker; £5k a year on fish food at LUFC! Not a fair comparison at all. He gambled on future receipts, which didn't happen.

I see it differently. How much longer can Spurs be allowed to go on, treading water and getting no closer? That could be much more damaging financially and achievement-wise, long-term. If we aim to have a new stadium of c.60k people, we need to have a successful team comensurate to that. It currently isn't. Levy has his good and his bad points, but what he doesn't have is the financial muscle for Spurs to bridge the gap to the elite. We currently don't pay the wages to attract the best, or the transfer fees. The 'best' win the top prizes.

Where do you draw a line in the sand and think change is necessary?
 
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Sheffield Spur said:
Think you have answered the question there mate.

THFC must be the next in line for this, surely, and until this happens, we will continue to live in the shadow of MUFC/Chelski/Emirates Marketing Project. Outgunned financially and 'draw' wise, each time we want a real quality player of the highest calibre. They will opt for one of those 3 (or maybe the Arse), after their agent has opened the 'marketing' by waving their client to us, whilst letting the press know of his availability too, of course. Think Hazard. Think Ashley Young. Numerous others, and this will only continue until we, too, have the financial muscle and kudos to compete for the best.

We stand no chance of winning the Premier League or the Champions League - now - until this balance has been redressed. Cold, hard, fact I'm afraid. I don't like it either; I would far prefer the days of the AA man with his Brit. motorbike, saluting at the side of the road. Long gone though. I have been waiting nearly 50 years to see Spurs achieve top league success, and it gets no closer. I'm still waiting.....

Peter Ridsdale was a plonker; £5k a year on fish food at LUFC! Not a fair comparison at all. He gambled on future receipts, which didn't happen.

I see it differently. How much longer can Spurs be allowed to go on, treading water and getting no closer? That could be much more damaging financially and achievement-wise, long-term. If we aim to have a new stadium of c.60k people, we need to have a successful team comensurate to that. It currently isn't. Levy has his good and his bad points, but what he doesn't have is the financial muscle for Spurs to bridge the gap to the elite. We currently don't pay the wages to attract the best, or the transfer fees. The 'best' win the top prizes.

Where do you draw a line in the sand and think change is necessary?
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There is no "next in line" for this kind of thing.

I don't think we're anywhere near drawing the line you talk of, to be close you have to make two assumptions:

1. That's what the fans want. I don't think that's the case, certainly not for all, I doubt if it is the case even for a small majority. To me it seems that most fans don't want the club to become the plaything of some rich man.

2. That the outcome of such a takeover was very likely to be positive. You mention City and Chelsea, but you ignore those clubs that have been taken over by new owners promising much only to fail. That can often leave a club with an over inflated wage budget the club isn't capable of sustaining, then being forced to sell the best players for cheap. This can easily start a downwards spiral that can take years to stop, never mind return from. For me it's very much a "be careful what you wish for" kind of situation.

We have improved steadily under Levy, I want that to continue. We have one of the best chairmen around in my opinion, I want to keep him at the club for as long as possible.
 
braineclipse said:
There is no "next in line" for this kind of thing.

Disagree completely: London club. Premiership. Huge fan base. Potential success with new money. Potential success in terms of money making. New large stadium in the wings. History. Global branding potential. To name a few. No other 'untouched' club comes close.

I don't think we're anywhere near drawing the line you talk of, to be close you have to make two assumptions:

1. That's what the fans want. I don't think that's the case, certainly not for all, I doubt if it is the case even for a small majority. To me it seems that most fans don't want the club to become the plaything of some rich man.

What the fans want?? Do you think this will always be a consideration? If Levy was offered £800m or whatever for Spurs, do you think he would have a referendum with fans? Or a steering group with fans. Don't think so! He is a businessman. You have evidence for fan statistics on these sweeping statements on fans opinions?? If Spurs had the chance to become one of the financial elite, do you think most fans would say no? I doubt it.

2. That the outcome of such a takeover was very likely to be positive. You mention City and Chelsea, but you ignore those clubs that have been taken over by new owners promising much only to fail. That can often leave a club with an over inflated wage budget the club isn't capable of sustaining, then being forced to sell the best players for cheap. This can easily start a downwards spiral that can take years to stop, never mind return from. For me it's very much a "be careful what you wish for" kind of situation.


I understand the caution. There would have to be safeguards and due diligence. But I'm not suggesting selling out to any old tat. Chelski and Emirates Marketing Project sustain their bills. And who won the CL and the PL last season? Your points still seem to be based on the Leeds Utd 'model' of lunacy, which I would not want to emulate for a nanosecond. Ridsdale spent on tick, assuming he would receive CL money repetitively. He didn't. So we bought Robbie Keane on the cheap. Abramovich brought in huge money, not debt.

We have improved steadily under Levy, I want that to continue. We have one of the best chairmen around in my opinion, I want to keep him at the club for as long as possible.
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I would say Spurs are more like a meandering river, than improving steadily. Improving one minute, then not.
 
If Pritchard is so good why isn't he tied down to a long term contract, we are usually pretty good with our contracts.
 
Sheffield Spur said:
I would say Spurs are more like a meandering river, than improving steadily. Improving one minute, then not.
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The potential success also makes us a lot more expensive as long as we have owners willing to wait around to realize that profit themselves. Compared to say Everton or Villa, or similarly City or Chelsea in the past where we might also have been seen as "better, but not available". The fact that there are already two billionaire funded teams in addition to Manu and Arsenal in the PL also makes us less attractive than some foreign clubs, as have been seen with investments in recent years not being as focused on the Premiership.

1. You were talking about this from the owner's perspective? You're arguing from the point of view of what will make Lewis and Levy the most money? Really? Might be an interesting debate, but not one I take much interest in. I argued from a fan point of view as I thought you argued from a fan point of view. No, I don't have evidence, that's why I made a "to me it seems" kind of argument, not the sweeping statement you accuse me of making.

2. No, I'm not just talking of Leeds. Both Liverpool and Manu have seen unfortunate takeovers in recent years. Blackburn and Portsmouth have also been promised the world, but only been handed the Championship (not the good kind). Have you seen the QPR documentary (4 year plan or something like that). What a dumpster fire of an ownership that was before they accidentally backed their way into something that worked for a while. Looking abroad the examples are not hard to find. Malaga are doing well now, but despite having to sell among others Cazorla for a cut price having been thrown into severe financial turmoil. What will happen next? No one knows? Racing and Getafe are also in questionable situations with their owners. My points are not based only on Leeds at all!

You say that Levy is a business man, but yet you assume that somehow he will find the perfect new owners for Spurs who will be our knights in shining armour, almost certainly risking a smaller profit for himself and Lewis in the process? Pipe-dream I would call that. Again, both Manu and Liverpool had long time owners who seemed to care about the club, but when the time came to sell it was all about the profit, and the club ended up with owners they didn't want. I don't understand why this wouldn't be the case with us.

Were you a fan during the '90s? If you can't see the improvements under Levy then we have different vantage points.
 
El Guepardo said:
I don't like the fact that Real Madrid and Barcelona are after our youth players. I like that they're good enough to warrant attention but I want us to be producing players for our first team - Coulthirst and Pritchard.
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It's Daily Star waffle.

Pritchard has been playing well in the Nextgen series for the past two years. Coulthirst scored a hat trick against Barca. We have a partnership deal with Real Madrid.

In Tabloid land, those three, unconnected facts must mean that Real Madrid and Barca are after our youth players.

It's utter gonad*s.
 
Sheffield Spur said:
Think you have answered the question there mate.

THFC must be the next in line for this, surely, and until this happens, we will continue to live in the shadow of MUFC/Chelski/Emirates Marketing Project. Outgunned financially and 'draw' wise, each time we want a real quality player of the highest calibre. They will opt for one of those 3 (or maybe the Arse), after their agent has opened the 'marketing' by waving their client to us, whilst letting the press know of his availability too, of course. Think Hazard. Think Ashley Young. Numerous others, and this will only continue until we, too, have the financial muscle and kudos to compete for the best.

We stand no chance of winning the Premier League or the Champions League - now - until this balance has been redressed. Cold, hard, fact I'm afraid. I don't like it either; I would far prefer the days of the AA man with his Brit. motorbike, saluting at the side of the road. Long gone though. I have been waiting nearly 50 years to see Spurs achieve top league success, and it gets no closer. I'm still waiting.....

Peter Ridsdale was a plonker; £5k a year on fish food at LUFC! Not a fair comparison at all. He gambled on future receipts, which didn't happen.

I see it differently. How much longer can Spurs be allowed to go on, treading water and getting no closer? That could be much more damaging financially and achievement-wise, long-term. If we aim to have a new stadium of c.60k people, we need to have a successful team comensurate to that. It currently isn't. Levy has his good and his bad points, but what he doesn't have is the financial muscle for Spurs to bridge the gap to the elite. We currently don't pay the wages to attract the best, or the transfer fees. The 'best' win the top prizes.

Where do you draw a line in the sand and think change is necessary?
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It's all very well to insist that Levy goes in order to make way for a philanthropic multi-billionaire but there's just one problem:

Philanthropic multi-billionaires don't grow on trees. And for all that Spurs might appear to be ripe for the picking, no philanthropic multi-billionaires have yet stepped forward.....at least, not with an acceptable offer, clearly. You have to remember that Abramovich got Chelsea dirt cheap because they were days away from administration. Mansour got City dirt cheap because they were also a mess. No one will get Spurs cheap. It is a very, very well run club.

In fact, because of how well run Spurs are, I'd say that we are a far, far more likely target for opportunistic owners like the Glazers and Hicks & Gillette. So be careful what you wish for.

If some philanthropic billionaire does materialse with a serious offer, then great. Until then, I'll take my chances with Levy.
 
jimmyb said:
It's all very well to insist that Levy goes in order to make way for a philanthropic multi-billionaire but there's just one problem:

Philanthropic multi-billionaires don't grow on trees. And for all that Spurs might appear to be ripe for the picking, no philanthropic multi-billionaires have yet stepped forward.....at least, not with an acceptable offer, clearly. You have to remember that Abramovich got Chelsea dirt cheap because they were days away from administration. Mansour got City dirt cheap because they were also a mess. No one will get Spurs cheap. It is a very, very well run club.

In fact, because of how well run Spurs are, I'd say that we are a far, far more likely target for opportunistic owners like the Glazers and Hicks & Gillette. So be careful what you wish for.

If some philanthropic billionaire does materialse with a serious offer, then great. Until then, I'll take my chances with Levy.
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I think Levy is part of the reason no one has even come close to buying us. He's gonna demand what the club is acctually worth, and no one is gonna make an offer like that. It's one thing (can't believe I'm saying this) using half a billion on players, but when you add on another half a billion to buy the club that could scare off the crasiest of them!
 
NorwegianSpursFan said:
I think Levy is part of the reason no one has even come close to buying us. He's gonna demand what the club is acctually worth, and no one is gonna make an offer like that. It's one thing (can't believe I'm saying this) using half a billion on players, but when you add on another half a billion to buy the club that could scare off the crasiest of them!
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Agreed.

We're certainly a less attractive proposition to the Abramovich types than certain basket case clubs.
 
how much profit on their investment are Lewis and Levy taking away with them if they did sell up for 500 mill??.....
 
indianspur said:
jeez :eek:...
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Thing is, they wouldn't be able to sell for anything like as much as £500 million now, I wouldn't have thought. Not until the new stadium is built....at which point, the asking price could well climb to £600 million or more.
 
Daily Star reckons AVB is being given £20m in Jan window to get a defender,midfielder and a striker!

Not sure what quality we would get with that these days. Then again it is the DS
 
paxtonwolf said:
Daily Star reckons AVB is being given £20m in Jan window to get a defender,midfielder and a striker!

Not sure what quality we would get with that these days. Then again it is the DS
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Maybe a RB, but not really our biggest concern at the moment. Maybe if we sold Dawson and Gallas.

CM - absolute must I feel, ship Huddlestone somewhere on loan.

Striker/wide forward would be very useful as well.
 
paxtonwolf said:
Daily Star reckons AVB is being given £20m in Jan window to get a defender,midfielder and a striker!

Not sure what quality we would get with that these days. Then again it is the DS
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We can make good deals for that kind of money I would guess. Not players that would come straight into our side and improve it, but there are deals out there that can be made for that kind of money that at the very least gives us options that mean we won't depend on individuals to be fit, in form and available quite as much.

There are also deals that can be made for players that at least have the potential to make us even better in the future I think.

Watching Juve last night I was again reminded that I'm still surprised how they were able to pick up Arturo Vidal for slightly over €10m (I believe because he only had a year left on his contract). Would have fit the Premier League like a glove. The same summer Inler went from Udinese to Napoli for a similar amount, another player that I think could have made a difference for almost all the top teams in the PL in the last couple of seasons.

Borja Valero signed for Fiorentina this summer for an undisclosed fee, he is 30, but he is also a very good player and I don't think his fee would have been massive. A player that knows English football well and actually has a cap for Spain, something Arteta for example doesn't have and we've all seen how influential he's been for Arsenal. He's another player who was available for the kind of money we're talking about here actually.

Any one of those 4 players would have given us a clearly stronger squad this season and would have lessened the impact of Dembele's injury considerably. Those deals are there to be made, we just need AVB to find them.
 
I'm going to get massively slated for this, but I would look to bring in Downing on loan.

Yes, he's not brilliant, but he's a good player, probably attainable and, crucially, provide decent cover for either wing - even left back, too.

Janaury's not a time for marquee signings, but for a bit of a bargain, and a temporary lift.
 
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