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Transfer thread

And I understand your perspective, mine is

- People in the club are paid lots of money, to be the best at what they do, to have a plan B, to ensure the club/manager/squad has all the tools available to meet the team's needs. Having your only target as Semenyo (who long before the window opened we knew there would be significant competition for) with no other option is incompetence.

And this leads to consequence

- If we had bought Frank 2 first team players in early January, and he still failed, the owners/Vinai/Lange could say, we gave him the tools, and it was on him, fire and move on
- If we don't, the sphere of responsibility gets larger (like Munn with Ange), if we fail from here on in, it's no longer "just" Frank
Without wishing to gatecrash this entertaining exchange, I would just say it's obviously a reach to say Semenyo is/was the only target. The club will have (and indeed regularly say that they have) a list of targets and they work down them according to circumstance etc. I know a senior scout at a PL club: we will be scouting tens of players for each position and their development/contract situation etc will be constantly monitored.

In other words, the people being paid lots of money to do the jobs you mentioned will be doing exactly that. When a player like Semenyo ticks all the boxes (proven in the league, fit, available etc.), every big club will likely be in on him. At which stage the player's agent says "He's going to Emirates Marketing Project", because they generally pay 30% higher wages than everyone else. It's really not complicated.

Then on to numbers 2, 3, etc. Those players also have to tick some of the boxes.

When every person in football says it's hard to sign anyone in January, that's because it is.

All that being said, I agree with much of your perspective, and see the frustration with the situation. They have decided to back Frank; they are also struggling to find the right player(s) other than Gallagher to give him more tools to work with. But if you're truly backing him, you aren't planning to fire him because this window doesn't go to plan...
 
And I understand your perspective, mine is

- People in the club are paid lots of money, to be the best at what they do, to have a plan B, to ensure the club/manager/squad has all the tools available to meet the team's needs. Having your only target as Semenyo (who long before the window opened we knew there would be significant competition for) with no other option is incompetence.

And this leads to consequence

- If we had bought Frank 2 first team players in early January, and he still failed, the owners/Vinai/Lange could say, we gave him the tools, and it was on him, fire and move on
- If we don't, the sphere of responsibility gets larger (like Munn with Ange), if we fail from here on in, it's no longer "just" Frank

The more i think about, the more they are choosing not to 'waste' too much money on Frank and are waiting for him to fail and 'go again' in transfers in the summer...



Of course this view could all change if we get a crazy surprise or two later, but i won't hold my breath...
 
Hmm. He's a couple years older than Simons and has been inconsistent in the French league, really wary of how well he'd adapt to the Premier League.
I think big money would be demanded too.

We're not in City or Pools position where we drive the transfers. We have to take what we can get. I think Akliouche could be a bit like Simons - would need half a year to settle - and could look underwhelming until next season. Like Simons there's no doubt he has technical ability. Does he have the strength and determination?

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We have similar players like Williams-Barnett coming through the youth ranks, but some years off being ready for first team football you'd imagine.
 
Club mouthpieces basically saying it's nothing incoming expected

If that is true then it’s a complete unmitigated failure by those responsible. We have an injury ravaged squad and whilst Gallagher is a useful player, there see many outstanding problems that needed fixing in the summer, that weren’t fixed, and we were led to believe that Levy was the problem. Well guess what, he’s no longer chairman but that aside nothing appears to have changed.
 
If that is true then it’s a complete unmitigated failure by those responsible. We have an injury ravaged squad and whilst Gallagher is a useful player, there see many outstanding problems that needed fixing in the summer, that weren’t fixed, and we were led to believe that Levy was the problem. Well guess what, he’s no longer chairman but that aside nothing appears to have changed.

100%, it's a fudging disaster

I'd argue it looks more and more like Levy was somewhat mitigating these owners, while I hold him accountable for the many times we didn't push on, he didn't hesitate when we were in trouble, there is no world where Levy is here and both "Frank stays" and "no real help" happens risking European position, revenue lost and non zero chance of relegation
 
100%, it's a fudging disaster

I'd argue it looks more and more like Levy was somewhat mitigating these owners, while I hold him accountable for the many times we didn't push on, he didn't hesitate when we were in trouble, there is no world where Levy is here and both "Frank stays" and "no real help" happens risking European position, revenue lost and non zero chance of relegation

Levy was also keenly instrumental in the stadium build. He was involved with passion. I feel as if he was a lesser problem than the existing owners and just paraded as a figurehead for supporters to blame.
 
Levy was also keenly instrumental in the stadium build. He was involved with passion. I feel as if he was a lesser problem than the existing owners and just paraded as a figurehead for supporters to blame.

Well, he operated under a financial environment provided by these owners, and in the end became a cartoon villain and an easy target for frustration/blame that the owners absolutely used to their advantage.

Failure to invest now is playing the fans twice
- They only made their announcements after the summer window closed (convenient)
- And now, after having 3 months to plan, a team and manager in dire need of help, we will end up with window with minimum net spend.

It's a repeat, but basically you can only have one of three conclusions

- They have given up on Frank and this season, and are saving powder for summer (and that would be a fudging generous interpretation)
- They have tried but failed (incompetence)
- They are actively selling, so have no interest in spending
 
We're not in City or Pools position where we drive the transfers. We have to take what we can get. I think Akliouche could be a bit like Simons - would need half a year to settle - and could look underwhelming until next season. Like Simons there's no doubt he has technical ability. Does he have the strength and determination?

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We have similar players like Williams-Barnett coming through the youth ranks, but some years off being ready for first team football you'd imagine.
But if he takes a few months to settle, we'll then have Maddison, Kulusevski, Kudus back as well as Simons. Possibly Mikey Moore to throw into the first team picture next season too.
 
But if he takes a few months to settle, we'll then have Maddison, Kulusevski, Kudus back as well as Simons. Possibly Mikey Moore to throw into the first team picture next season too.

I guess the question is: is he natural winger? Or more in the same mould as Kulu, Maddison and Simons? And its probably the latter. Technically strong trikey player, but not that fast.

So yes I agree.

But as Harry used to say...you can't have too many good players....
 
Never had too high expectations in January and always think it’s a window that’s for emergency rather than long term signings. But we really did need a statement of intent from this board.

We go into next season, and even with no Europe we have a squad that needs GK, LB, DM, LW, CF of 1st XI quality and best case we would make 2x marquee signings in a window.

So your going to get 2 of those and the rest will be opportunity signings and prospects.
 
I guess the question is: is he natural winger? Or more in the same mould as Kulu, Maddison and Simons? And its probably the latter. Technically strong trikey player, but not that fast.

So yes I agree.

But as Harry used to say...you can't have too many good players....

He is more on the mold of a Kulusevski who I personally think is on a Willem Kirsten/Ledley King trajectory unfortunatley.
 
100%, we have totally brick the bed, to me there were only two choices

- Fire Frank, get someone else in, early in January, get them 2 reinforcements as well (this would have been my choice)
- Back him, get him help early in January (those 5 games were our best chance to get a run together, take some pressure off)

We have done neither
This is what we are mate.
 
Indeed. I think Frank has done a pretty poor job at Spurs so far but the board haven’t helped him at all.

This a true dialectic.
It is, at once, easy to feel critical of his style of football and have great sympathy for the tools/support he appears not to have been given.
I think if the window shuts today with no incomings uptop, it’d be great to know who sanctioned the sale of Johnson. If it was Frank that wanted him out of the building for whatever reason, then so be it and it’s his to wear. If he was asked whether Johnson was a key member of his plans and he said not especially however if he’s here all good (if those above him sold to sell fast) then I’d say it’s negligence.
 
They tried that with Semenyo, a player that is better than what we had and was available in January and apparently went above and beyond our usual wage offerings. If there was a similar level player available then I'm sure we would have tried, or maybe we already have - not everything is played out in the press. I'd be more concerned if we just bought in bodies for the sake of a couple of months that aren't real difference makers....

The deal to be done for him was in the summer, when we simply didn’t push hard enough.
 
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