Antonio Conte - officially NOT the coach of THFC

[braineclipse]

You want long term strategy? Then maybe sign a proper contract beyond the next 5 months (+12).

Agreed that this would be a good signal, particularly to us as fans.

But what really matters is if he ends up staying or not, not how long he has left on his contract. Regardless of his contract I want him to do his best to build towards a future where the team and squad can be more cohesive, playing a style of football that can make the team more than the sum of the parts.

He's a system manager. Shouldn't ask him to be anything else.

 

[Raziel]

Agreed that this would be a good signal, particularly to us as fans.

But what really matters is if he ends up staying or not, not how long he has left on his contract. Regardless of his contract I want him to do his best to build towards a future where the team and squad can be more cohesive, playing a style of football that can make the team more than the sum of the parts.

He's a system manager. Shouldn't ask him to be anything else.

But that's the issue

- the team is worse than the sum of the parts right now
- And the promise seems to be -> at it's best, we will win, football will probably still be meh ..

Conte no longer excites as a prospect, it might work out, we might sneak a trophy (after spending another £200M), but my matchday experience? (each to their own)

 

[parklane1]

I don't care what the press runs with. In interviews i ignore the headlines and read what question was asked and read the answer. The press are brick stirrers, it's why levy doesn't talk to them anymore.

The vast majority of the press are full of brick and will try and cause as much aggro they can to make false news. Sad thing is not that they do but the fact that so many fans get sucked into theRE gonad*s and fall for it.

 

[parklane1]

And now he's set the Trust off on one again.
"Two weeks ago we asked the Board of THFC to outline its strategy and vision. Today Antonio Conte asked for the same thing. "
No, he didn't.

The thing that concerns me more then what those idiots say ( the Trust) is that we seem to be breeding a section of fans who believe everything they read in the press etc.

 

[Mikey10]

The thing that concerns me more then what those idiots say ( the Trust) is that we seem to be breeding a section of fans who believe everything they read in the press etc.

I'm genuinely interested to know what you think the board's overarching vision for the club is.

 

[Raziel]

The thing that concerns me more then what those idiots say ( the Trust) is that we seem to be breeding a section of fans who believe everything they read in the press etc.

We already are there

- Levy is still negotiating (everyone forgets Paratici)
- We don't spend, ever, or the one window we didn't spend becomes 3
- Levy/ENIC are sucking the club dry, taking out all the profits (I've literally heard they pocket it)
- Conte hasn't been backed, didn't get his players
- We haven't bought a decent player since 2017

And it's not only online, I hear this brick from seats around me all the time now ...

 

[Mikey10]

We already are there

- Levy is still negotiating (everyone forgets Paratici)
WE NEVER HEAR FROM EITHER OF THEM SO IT'S DIFFICULT TO KNOW WHO'S DOING WHAT - OR IF THEY ARE DOING ANYTHING. IN THE ABSENCE OF INFORMATION HUMAN BEINGS WILL FILL THE VOID WITH SUPPOSITION. A GOOD COMMUNICATION STRATEGY ERASES THE NEED FOR THIS. (HAS ANYONE SEEN PARATICI RECENTLY, BTW? DOES HE REALLY EXIST? WAS HE A FIGMENT OF OUR IMAGINATIONS? MAYBE THAT WAS WHAT HUGO WAS PONDERING WHEN HE LOOKED SO TERRIFIED IN THE TUNNEL PRIOR TO SUNDAY'S GAME...)

- We don't spend, ever, or the one window we didn't spend becomes 3
WE SIGNED NO ONE BETWEEN MOURA AND JACK CLARKE - A PERIOD OF 18 MONTHS (https://www.the42.ie/tottenham-transfer-jack-clarke-leeds-united-loan-4706116-Jul2019/). THAT'S LONGER THAN ONE WINDOW.

- Levy/ENIC are sucking the club dry, taking out all the profits (I've literally heard they pocket it)
THE FIGURES DUE OUT NEXT MONTH WILL TELL US EXACLTY THE LAY OF THE LAND HERE. HOWEVER, THERE IS LITTLE SIGN OF THE INJECTION OF CASH PROMISED FROM THE NEW STADIUM. I'M NOT SURE THEY ARE 'SUCKING THE CLUB DRY' BUT THEY ARE CERTAINLY ATTEMTPING TO RUN IT PRIMARILY AS AN INVESTMENT WHICH WILL SEE THEIR PROFITS MAXIMISED WHEN THEY SELL. EVERYTHING ELSE IS SECONDARY TO THAT.

- Conte hasn't been backed, didn't get his players
PROBABLY SOME TRUTH IN THIS. WE GOT BENTANCUR AND KULU (I'M NOT SURE THEY WERE CONTE'S FIRST CHOICE, BUT THEY HAVE CERTAINLY WORKED OUT). WE ARE STILL AWAITING A TOP-QUALITY WB AND A CD, WHICH IT SEEMS HE WAS PRIORTISING. HARD TO KNOW THE EXACT INS AND OUTS, BUT REPORTS DO SUGGEST THAT THE TARGETS THAT HE REALLY WANTED HAVE YET TO MATERIALISE.

- We haven't bought a decent player since 2017
UNTRUE.


And it's not only online, I hear this brick from seats around me all the time now ...

Responses above.

 

[Raziel]

I'm genuinely interested to know what you think the board's overarching vision for the club is.

Here's the PR answer that took me 30 seconds

- The club remains committed to a long term strategy of competing on the pitch at the top level of the game both domestically and in the European game. The club believes that the past decade of investment in infrastructure (Stadium, Training Ground, Event Capability) and brand building (tours, NFL) puts the club in a strong position in the medium term to compete on a more level financial footing with other elite clubs for top talents as well as continuing the club's history of investing in promising players (Gil, Sarr) and bringing through talent from our academy (e.g. Kane, Skipp, Tanganga in current squad). In the short term the club has hired a world respected Director of Football in Fabio Paratici, as well as one the elite managers in the European game in Antonio Conte, the club has also committed to improving the squad available to the manager with more than 9 players (supported both by the increased stadium revenue as well as a direct cash injection from ownership) in the last two windows including some notable successes (Kulu, Bentancur, Perisic) and will continue to re-invest any profits into improving the first team squad.

That's what you get when you ask for a PR answer, all truthful, nothing new, nothing that really answered your question.

My question to you, what do you really expect when you ask for a company vision/strategy?

 

[parklane1]

I'm genuinely interested to know what you think the board's overarching vision for the club is.

Depends which board you are asking about, (1) The trust is just to make as much noise as possiable and try to give the impression they know what they are talking about and fill their own self importance.

(2) The club. Well none of us are open to what they plan to do but ( allthough they are a lot of fans who think they know). But to me they seem to want to achieve a future where we are going upwards and as self sufficent as we can be), i fully understand that in todays game fans have little of no patience but IF there are any fans who think we are/have not progressed as a big club well all i can say is they are entitled to feel that way but i would 100% disagree with them.

As they say opinions are a lot like arseholes everyone has got one.

 

[metalgear]

My thoughts to your points inline above.

a lot of this could have been managed better.
its not just statements but engagement with stakeholders and better proactively managed, afterall its about brand reputation.

look at the trust's so called achievements from their website;

Organised and part-funded a mural of Club legend Ledley King at the Tottenham Community Sports Centre opposite the stadium in February 2022, working with local artists, community groups and the Club, as the start of an initiative to increase the visibility of Club history around the ground.

Secured a freeze in Season Ticket pricing for the 2022/23 campaign at Spurs.

Lobbied for and secured the return of the popular half-time host at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Paul Coyte, in March 2022 after the Club had short-sightedly replaced him with alternative hosts at the start of the 2021/22 campaign.

Promoted Marine FC’s virtual ticket sale in early 2021, helping to raise over £300,000 and accepted an award from Marine representatives in recognition of our help at the Morecambe FA Cup match in January 2022, and from Marine fan group Crosender Way in March 2022.

The first Trust to stand alongside Spirit of Shankly in calling for a Hillsborough Law in January 2022. Lobbied for Tottenham Hotspur Football Club to join Liverpool, Everton, Brighton and Brentford football Clubs in supporting the call.​

They are happy doing that and there's ample opportunites to give them more engagement points around other non-performance aspects of the club to give the face but also to keep them busy.

I think we underinvest in PR/Branding too. Sad to see even our chosen social media favourites turn against the club. From what i see there's so much in the Spurs community building outside the stadium that fails to get the proper attention too.

 

[Raziel]

Responses above.

CAPS are not your friend

- Lack of comms can be a legitimate complaint, doesn't mean someone doesn't exist or somehow Levy is doing his job (Paratici is not a junior executive, he would not join Spurs to let Levy "do his job" the fact that people think that shows how little they understand about how executive roles work)
- I didn't argue that we didn't spend in a window (again, ignore the caveats) but it has now become 3 in conversations, with some people arguing ENIC has never spent money (that we have always sold first to buy)
- 21 years of data show the owners don't take money out of the club, you think the statements after they have put a cash injection in will be different? (this is exactly my point)
- Richi, Bissouma, Perisic are 100% Conte buys, and I'd find it very difficult to believe with his knowledge of Italian football he wasn't 100% on board with Bentancur and Kulu. As a matter of fact his outright "club buy" flimflam re Spence and his comments about Gil are damn near proof every other player in was his (maybe not first choice but that isn't how football works). Unless you are expecting 14 players in a window, not sure how anyone can say he hasn't been backed (especially compared to predde

So to put it another way

- People are unhappy with the communications so they make up brick, what comms would you like/expect? should they do the Arteta play of the last three years (because apparently we should follow them now) and say "trust the process"?
- Yes, the club in a period of building a £1B investment was unable to invest in the squad, based on the spending since and before, how is this a relevant conversation now?
- People are unable to comprehend the difference between "Spurs is a self funded model" and the "owners are pocketing profits"
- Likely the most backed manager in the last 21 years (can't think of anyone who got a club record buy as squad depth) didn't get what he wants in one window

To be clear, I personally believe if Spurs is to compete at the top level, we need new owners (someone with state money) but so much of this is just either incoherence, or just plain ignorance.

 

[braineclipse]

But that's the issue

- the team is worse than the sum of the parts right now
- And the promise seems to be -> at it's best, we will win, football will probably still be meh ..

Conte no longer excites as a prospect, it might work out, we might sneak a trophy (after spending another £200M), but my matchday experience? (each to their own)

System managers working with teams that lack 2-3 (even 1 sometimes) key ingredients for the system rarely, if ever, get the team to function as more than the sum of the parts. That's kind of the thing with systems, they work when all the parts work. You can compensate somewhat, but only so much.

We've seen it early in the careers of many successful managers. We've seen it during their tenures too. And later on.

I don't think the football has been meh when we've been good under Conte. At our best we've been really good. Tail end of last season, unfortunately mostly for halves or periods of games this season. But we've seen what this system and these players can do. But we need to get that with way more consistency. That requires time to build the squad.

I don't think the goal is dull football that gets us winning.

 

[P.D.]

Seems like people are saying that we are in the middle of a rebuild with a manager trying to play his system and that we need to be patient and appreciate that there will be ups and downs.

I remember when Rodgers was first at liverpool and they got battered by West Brom in their fist game - match of the day highlighted the fact that liverpool suffered because they were trying to play out the back and failed. They stuck with it and got better - could say the same with Aresnal.

I would buy into this and be optimistic about it if our manager however had a longer term contract....

Yeah I think everyone would buy into this if they could see the longer term plan, signs of progress even if the form is up and down etc but I don't see much of it. I'm not wanting him gone but I would like to see a bit more progress and an ability to mix things up when needed e.g. everyone saying he's been let down by Son's form well how about dropping him then. It would be hard for anyone else to perform much worse.

 

[Diamond Lights]

listening to View from the Lane podcast. Proper scathing on Antonio, and to be honest not much incorrect.

We come back to the issue, if he's not signing a new contract it's best we part now .

 

[Glenda's Legs]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1615844142495535113

https://twitter.com/x/status/1615844146148970500

https://twitter.com/x/status/1615844149923643393

Seems like he's struggling a bit, and you can't blame him really in that regard. Losing people close to you takes its toll and often takes a good while to come to terms with.

 

[Raziel]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1615844142495535113

https://twitter.com/x/status/1615844146148970500

https://twitter.com/x/status/1615844149923643393

Seems like he's struggling a bit, and you can't blame him really in that regard. Losing people close to you takes its toll and often takes a good while to come to terms with.

Yep, we sometimes forget it's human beings in the system, not machines.

His demeanor has certainly changed, 3 close people (unexpectedly) is rough.

 

[braineclipse]

Yeah I think everyone would buy into this if they could see the longer term plan, signs of progress even if the form is up and down etc but I don't see much of it. I'm not wanting him gone but I would like to see a bit more progress and an ability to mix things up when needed e.g. everyone saying he's been let down by Son's form well how about dropping him then. It would be hard for anyone else to perform much worse.

I agree that there should be signs of real progress at some point this season at least.

Son has been poor, but Richarlison has been injured. Lloris has been poor, but I'm not convinced Forster would be better. Injuries to Kulusevski, Romero, now Bentancur.

I think he needs help (new signings) in the January window to get those clear signs of progress.

 

[Yiddo]

Probably the reason we are not active in the transfer market. Don’t want to buy players for a coach who could potentially walk away.

 

[Raziel]

Probably the reason we are not active in the transfer market. Don’t want to buy players for a coach who could potentially walk away.

That's my worry, we are stuck in the will/won't

 

[richie_spur]

Probably the reason we are not active in the transfer market. Don’t want to buy players for a coach who could potentially walk away.

I think we should be smarter than that with our choices to minimise the risk. Any manager will need a new GK, and we should be looking to buy younger players who are not system specific.