Seems like he’s settling in well. The whole Vinai and Frank videos all seem very smooth.
There’s a really bullish way of looking at this all, which is that we finally have the right people in place to genuinely push on within the structure of this club. If Vinai can be a good complement to Levy and counter balance some of his caution, that’s a great thing. And then with Frank, have we finally got the manager that genuinely doesn’t eventually reach the point where he decides he simply needs a handful of world class purchases? Will he continue to develop and adapt and make do. And all the while keep pushing us on?
There’s an interesting topic I’ve been seeing discussed online with Spurs around the idea that over performance is easier with Brentford (lowest wage bill and top half finishes) than it will be with Spurs, because there’s so little room to squeeze more against competitors that are just so strong. The bull case is that Frank is the perfect guy for Spurs, the one we ideally would have had years ago, even pre Poch, or before AVB. Those managers had a system, and would develop young players, but Poch in particular (not to mention Conte and Harry) reached the point where they thought that no matter how much they squeezed out of young players and refined their system, it was world class transfers that would help us take the next step.
With Frank, he’s not a system ideologue, but he does say he tried to win every game. So it may not always look the same, but the goal will be to win. Is that actually what we’ve needed all along? Or will he reach the point that he needs real top level, proven players to keep progressing?
That’s the bull case. And also maybe the bear case is that nothing much changes. Maybe his flexibility gets us back to the 4-6 range. And then in a couple of years we’re wondering whether to stick or twist.
A secondary bull case though is the idea that we are now singing young players yes, but ones that are a higher tier to the ones we were signing in the late 00s, or even early-mid 10s. I think we have the stadium to thank for that. But I look at guys like Tel, Bergval, Gray, Udogie, and even players like Romero and Porro, and I think maybe there’s a chance if it all comes together at the right time we CAN win the league. These are a class above the players we were signing before, still maybe a tier down from those the richest clubs are signing, but maybe we’re not as far in terms of quality as we were before.
DL has said he wants to win the Premier and Champions League. So do I! Let’s see if this team of coaches and players can do it.