Vega
Neil Sullivan
Moral high ground and all that i suppose.
-
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Daniel Levy - Chairman
- Thread starter Howard Webb
- Start date
Moral high ground and all that i suppose.
parklane1
Tony Galvin
I do not know about that but I see no reason why he has to explain himself every five minutes to those who will never listen anyway.
parklane1
Tony Galvin
He is just tinkled off because we gave his old man the boot, plus he is full of brick anyway.
DublinSpur
Scott Parker
Harry and Jamie Redknapp use every opportunity available to take a swipe at Levy. Even if I wasn't - by and large - a supporter of what Levy's doing at Spurs; even if I was in the anti-Levy camp; even then I think I'd be able to identify the Redknapps' bias for the bitter, personal grudge that it really is. Jamie's an 18-carat bell-end, and his Dad is working very hard to destroy what little respect I have left for him.
Given what we now know about the Berahino fiasco, I don't see how anyone can lay the blame at Levy's door without even mentioning Peace's supreme incompetence.
Given what we now know about the Berahino fiasco, I don't see how anyone can lay the blame at Levy's door without even mentioning Peace's supreme incompetence.
Baleforce
Arthur Rowe
and those who are too fudging stupid to understand the situation
parklane1
Tony Galvin
I I can't dance with any of that except the bit in bold, I have never had respect for " rent a quote" he is a fraud who used his mates in the press to get him the reputation of a great manager. One trophy in over 30 years along with several relegations does not suggest to anyone that he is a great manager and his reputation as a " wheeler dealer" " not my fault guv' type of guy is flimflam.
He has been partly responsible for nearly bankrupting three clubs and lies through his teeth most of the time and his arse hole of a son is not much better.
Rant over.
"
Maltese Falcon
Niko Kranjcar
Daniel Levy’s transfer war and Peace has put Tottenham under pressure
David Hytner http://www.theguardian.com/football...levy-transfer-chase-saido-berahino-west-brom?
Mauricio Pochettino is not the type of manager who tends to rock the boat with his public statements. The Argentinian is extremely pragmatic and he has long been happy to leave things like transfers and other bits of club business to the higher-ups. It is one of the reasons why Daniel Levy, the Tottenham Hotspur chairman, likes him and has turned to him to lead the club in the countdown to the new stadium move.
Pochettino, though, is obviously no shrinking violet and it is not difficult to imagine his true feelings as he exits the summer transfer window with only one recognised striker in his first-team squad. He had made it plain that he needed an alternative to Harry Kane and, last Thursday, he applied a little gentle pressure on Levy when he likened the pursuit of a striker to the quest for true love.
“It’s like when you are in love with a lady – there are a lot of women around the world but you want only one,” Pochettino said.
Pochettino wanted only one striker and it was Saido Berahino of West Bromwich Albion, a young and pacey player, blessed with penalty box ruthlessness, who he felt would fit perfectly into his philosophy. We now know how badly that move broke down.
The previous Thursday, Pochettino had said that “if you have only one target and you fail, you are dead” but it was a comment he made towards the end of last season, on 23 April, that has come to resonate most strongly.
“We need to try and build a strong team for next season to fight for the top four,” Pochettino said. “We need to be clever and to move quick to build the team. If we achieve Europa League or not, we need to move quick.”
Pochettino did not want to see Levy waiting until the last moment to get the striker which was so sorely needed or, indeed, the defensive midfielder to give the team increased bite and balance. But that was exactly what he got and, not for the first time, Levy faces uncomfortable questions over his approach to the market.
It is all very well having the consent of the player but that of the selling club can be an entirely different matter and Levy ran into a brick wall as the clock ticked towards 6pm on Tuesday. Axel Witsel, the Zenit St Petersburg midfielder, said that he wanted to move to Tottenham but his club had said no. “They can’t find a player to replace me,” Witsel said. “They told me I couldn’t leave. Even for €70m.”
Victor Wanyama, the Southampton midfielder, had told his manager, Ronald Koeman, last week that he wanted to join Tottenham and he was left out of the squad for Sunday’s home win over Norwich City. But it made no difference. Southampton were never going to sell one of their key players so late in the window. When Tottenham offered a package worth £20m, including either Andros Townsend or Erik Lamela on loan, it was dismissed in a heart-beat.
The situation with Berahino was not dissimilar. Tottenham had made their opening offer on 18 August but they did not put forward anything close to being acceptable until deadline day and, by then, the position of Jeremy Peace, the West Brom chairman, had become entrenched.
Berahino went further than Wanyama by submitting a written transfer request on Monday of last week but it made no difference, even though Tony Pulis, the West Brom head coach, did not want to keep an unhappy player. There was a time when the formal transfer request was the nuclear option and, once the button had been pressed, the deal would always go through. Clubs would feel that they simply had to take the money. No longer.
The riches that the current TV deal has bestowed upon the Premier League’s clubs– and the assurance of 60% more from the next cycle, which runs between 2016-19 – have empowered the medium-sized and smaller ones to resist the big offers for their stars. Everton, for example, stood firm when Chelsea offered massive money for John Stones – another player who had put in an official transfer request.
Levy stands accused of misjudging the market while his tried and trusted brinkmanship came to look outdated. Was there ever going to be a financial plus from taking in-coming business down to the wire? West Brom might have sold Berahino for £25m but never for less and it is fair to say that Tottenham were made fully aware of that. Their chances of signing Berahino would have been far greater had they offered £25m a few weeks ago.
There is also the issue of Levy’s previous coming back to haunt him. Put simply, you can only put noses out of joint so many times. Southampton felt sore last summer when Levy took Pochettino from them, and followed that up by making unacceptable moves for Morgan Schneiderlin and Jay Rodriguez. They were never going to let Wanyama go this summer and they were absolutely never going to sell him to Tottenham.
There are numerous stories within the game of Levy making offers that serve only to infuriate – most recently, one of his bids for Berahino featured payments of £3.5m each year for five years. It might have added up to an OK bid but it did not create the right climate for further negotiations. At West Brom, they joked that Tottenham would still be paying their proposed add-ons when Berahino was drawing his pension. Levy is a famously hard negotiator but he can and does make things more difficult for himself.
Pochettino has been left to count the cost and it has been easy to make the connection between the team’s disappointing start to the season and the unbalanced nature of the squad, even if the manager himself refuses to do so. Tottenham have three points and three goals from their opening four matches.
The Argentinian is playing the 21-year-old centre-half, Eric Dier, in defensive midfield while the burden on Kane seemed to get to him when he missed a one-on-one with the Everton goalkeeper, Tim Howard, on Saturday.
There has been an attempt to paint Son Heung-min, who joined from Bayer Leverkusen for £22m last Friday, as a possible solution up front but he is more renowned for playing off the flank, as is the other attacking new boy, Clinton Njie– who joined from Lyon for £10m two-and-a-half weeks ago. N’Jie has yet to feature as he is short of fitness, after an injury in pre-season.
Levy has succeeded in shipping out most of the deadwood in the squad, not to mention retaining Kane and the goalkeeper, Hugo Lloris – both of whom were on Manchester United’s list of targets.
In broader terms, Levy has presided over consistently-decent league finishes while balancing the books and playing out of a stadium that generates revenue from only 36,000 seats. In the past six seasons, starting with the most recent, Tottenham have finished fifth, sixth, fifth, fourth, fifth and fourth, which represents their most sustained level of achievement since the glory, glory days of the 1960s.
Then, there is the new stadium which, when the club finally get there, in 2018-19, stands to lift them in so many ways. In the meantime, though, Levy must continue to run a tight ship and it has been difficult not to link his low net spend on transfer fees in recent windows (it was £5.7m in this past one) with the imperative to bankroll the project, which will cost between £400m-£450m.
Stadium naming rights will not cover it and the TV money that the club receives will play a big part. Consequently, Levy wants to preserve as much of it as possible, rather than going on a transfer market blow-out and, besides, a lack of debt will help to secure better deals from the banks. The financial upside of the new stadium would be seriously negated if Tottenham had to pay themselves out of the red for years and years.
There is something of a post-window daze at Tottenham and a section of the fan-base has rebelled against Levy over the gaps in the playing staff.
Nobody came out of the Berahino affair well, least of all Tottenham, and Pochettino must now rouse his young squad – half of whom are aged 23 or under. The pressure on Son and Njie will be substantial and one final thing is clear: the team desperately need a win at Sunderland on Sunday week.
David Hytner http://www.theguardian.com/football...levy-transfer-chase-saido-berahino-west-brom?
Mauricio Pochettino is not the type of manager who tends to rock the boat with his public statements. The Argentinian is extremely pragmatic and he has long been happy to leave things like transfers and other bits of club business to the higher-ups. It is one of the reasons why Daniel Levy, the Tottenham Hotspur chairman, likes him and has turned to him to lead the club in the countdown to the new stadium move.
Pochettino, though, is obviously no shrinking violet and it is not difficult to imagine his true feelings as he exits the summer transfer window with only one recognised striker in his first-team squad. He had made it plain that he needed an alternative to Harry Kane and, last Thursday, he applied a little gentle pressure on Levy when he likened the pursuit of a striker to the quest for true love.
“It’s like when you are in love with a lady – there are a lot of women around the world but you want only one,” Pochettino said.
Pochettino wanted only one striker and it was Saido Berahino of West Bromwich Albion, a young and pacey player, blessed with penalty box ruthlessness, who he felt would fit perfectly into his philosophy. We now know how badly that move broke down.
The previous Thursday, Pochettino had said that “if you have only one target and you fail, you are dead” but it was a comment he made towards the end of last season, on 23 April, that has come to resonate most strongly.
“We need to try and build a strong team for next season to fight for the top four,” Pochettino said. “We need to be clever and to move quick to build the team. If we achieve Europa League or not, we need to move quick.”
Pochettino did not want to see Levy waiting until the last moment to get the striker which was so sorely needed or, indeed, the defensive midfielder to give the team increased bite and balance. But that was exactly what he got and, not for the first time, Levy faces uncomfortable questions over his approach to the market.
It is all very well having the consent of the player but that of the selling club can be an entirely different matter and Levy ran into a brick wall as the clock ticked towards 6pm on Tuesday. Axel Witsel, the Zenit St Petersburg midfielder, said that he wanted to move to Tottenham but his club had said no. “They can’t find a player to replace me,” Witsel said. “They told me I couldn’t leave. Even for €70m.”
Victor Wanyama, the Southampton midfielder, had told his manager, Ronald Koeman, last week that he wanted to join Tottenham and he was left out of the squad for Sunday’s home win over Norwich City. But it made no difference. Southampton were never going to sell one of their key players so late in the window. When Tottenham offered a package worth £20m, including either Andros Townsend or Erik Lamela on loan, it was dismissed in a heart-beat.
The situation with Berahino was not dissimilar. Tottenham had made their opening offer on 18 August but they did not put forward anything close to being acceptable until deadline day and, by then, the position of Jeremy Peace, the West Brom chairman, had become entrenched.
Berahino went further than Wanyama by submitting a written transfer request on Monday of last week but it made no difference, even though Tony Pulis, the West Brom head coach, did not want to keep an unhappy player. There was a time when the formal transfer request was the nuclear option and, once the button had been pressed, the deal would always go through. Clubs would feel that they simply had to take the money. No longer.
The riches that the current TV deal has bestowed upon the Premier League’s clubs– and the assurance of 60% more from the next cycle, which runs between 2016-19 – have empowered the medium-sized and smaller ones to resist the big offers for their stars. Everton, for example, stood firm when Chelsea offered massive money for John Stones – another player who had put in an official transfer request.
Levy stands accused of misjudging the market while his tried and trusted brinkmanship came to look outdated. Was there ever going to be a financial plus from taking in-coming business down to the wire? West Brom might have sold Berahino for £25m but never for less and it is fair to say that Tottenham were made fully aware of that. Their chances of signing Berahino would have been far greater had they offered £25m a few weeks ago.
There is also the issue of Levy’s previous coming back to haunt him. Put simply, you can only put noses out of joint so many times. Southampton felt sore last summer when Levy took Pochettino from them, and followed that up by making unacceptable moves for Morgan Schneiderlin and Jay Rodriguez. They were never going to let Wanyama go this summer and they were absolutely never going to sell him to Tottenham.
There are numerous stories within the game of Levy making offers that serve only to infuriate – most recently, one of his bids for Berahino featured payments of £3.5m each year for five years. It might have added up to an OK bid but it did not create the right climate for further negotiations. At West Brom, they joked that Tottenham would still be paying their proposed add-ons when Berahino was drawing his pension. Levy is a famously hard negotiator but he can and does make things more difficult for himself.
Pochettino has been left to count the cost and it has been easy to make the connection between the team’s disappointing start to the season and the unbalanced nature of the squad, even if the manager himself refuses to do so. Tottenham have three points and three goals from their opening four matches.
The Argentinian is playing the 21-year-old centre-half, Eric Dier, in defensive midfield while the burden on Kane seemed to get to him when he missed a one-on-one with the Everton goalkeeper, Tim Howard, on Saturday.
There has been an attempt to paint Son Heung-min, who joined from Bayer Leverkusen for £22m last Friday, as a possible solution up front but he is more renowned for playing off the flank, as is the other attacking new boy, Clinton Njie– who joined from Lyon for £10m two-and-a-half weeks ago. N’Jie has yet to feature as he is short of fitness, after an injury in pre-season.
Levy has succeeded in shipping out most of the deadwood in the squad, not to mention retaining Kane and the goalkeeper, Hugo Lloris – both of whom were on Manchester United’s list of targets.
In broader terms, Levy has presided over consistently-decent league finishes while balancing the books and playing out of a stadium that generates revenue from only 36,000 seats. In the past six seasons, starting with the most recent, Tottenham have finished fifth, sixth, fifth, fourth, fifth and fourth, which represents their most sustained level of achievement since the glory, glory days of the 1960s.
Then, there is the new stadium which, when the club finally get there, in 2018-19, stands to lift them in so many ways. In the meantime, though, Levy must continue to run a tight ship and it has been difficult not to link his low net spend on transfer fees in recent windows (it was £5.7m in this past one) with the imperative to bankroll the project, which will cost between £400m-£450m.
Stadium naming rights will not cover it and the TV money that the club receives will play a big part. Consequently, Levy wants to preserve as much of it as possible, rather than going on a transfer market blow-out and, besides, a lack of debt will help to secure better deals from the banks. The financial upside of the new stadium would be seriously negated if Tottenham had to pay themselves out of the red for years and years.
There is something of a post-window daze at Tottenham and a section of the fan-base has rebelled against Levy over the gaps in the playing staff.
Nobody came out of the Berahino affair well, least of all Tottenham, and Pochettino must now rouse his young squad – half of whom are aged 23 or under. The pressure on Son and Njie will be substantial and one final thing is clear: the team desperately need a win at Sunderland on Sunday week.
Robspur12
Nick Barmby
Levy has been good for the club finances and infrastructure. He has overseen us move from mid table mediocrity to regular top 6 and European competition. However for many reasons we have stalled. There has been some dreadful luck but also In recent seasons he has struggled to get key signings over the line, Moutinho, willian, schneiderlin, and now Berahino. During this last transfer window we needed a defensive midfielder and a striker. So now we go into games with a centre back shoehorned into centre midfield and wide men playing as striking cover. It was imo a poor transfer window. Failures like this hold the team back and cost the manager his job. On this Levy must improve.
King of Norway
Gudni Bergsson
It was a rubbish window, wasn't it? We were in the best position we have ever been in in my time as a Spurs-fan. With a couple of good signings that strengthened us, we could possibly have challenged for the title. Instead we we brought in a couple of had-beens, got rid of decent squad players and our season went down the pan. I don't see how anyone can call that a good window.
jts1882
Dean Richards
The assumptions in the above article are that West Brom had placed a fair valuation on Berahino and would have sold and that Levy lost out because he refused to pay above his valuation. I suspect Levy wanted Berahino but not for £25m so will be content with the outcome. He is being criticised for not overpaying. Similar things happen every summer, so either Levy is too stupid to learn or this is his favoured mode of operating.
Over the last few summers we have made some early purchases and some late ones and some got away. It seems reasonable to say the early ones are those that we wanted at the price available. Later ones might have required some haggling or had to wait on the selling club getting a replacement or might have been second or third choices. For the most part the ones at the window could be considered option extras or ones where there were no suitable second choices (price, appeal to manager, etc). In the latter case the choice is to overpay or go without. The question to ask with Berahino is would the £25m have guaranteed extra goals or is there confidence among the management that other players collectively can score enough. We might suffer from lack of goals but there are no guarantees and the money is still there for January.
Over the last few summers we have made some early purchases and some late ones and some got away. It seems reasonable to say the early ones are those that we wanted at the price available. Later ones might have required some haggling or had to wait on the selling club getting a replacement or might have been second or third choices. For the most part the ones at the window could be considered option extras or ones where there were no suitable second choices (price, appeal to manager, etc). In the latter case the choice is to overpay or go without. The question to ask with Berahino is would the £25m have guaranteed extra goals or is there confidence among the management that other players collectively can score enough. We might suffer from lack of goals but there are no guarantees and the money is still there for January.
Robspur12
Nick Barmby
I don't think that is enough any more. We need to start looking like a side that will win things not just slapping ourselves on the back about the improvement we have made. The only way to do that is to be clever in the transfer market. Recently we have not been very clever unfortunately.
King of Norway
Gudni Bergsson
I am incredibly tired of how everything is black or white for so many posters on this forum. People rate one player and can see nothing wrong with him, and does not rate another player, so everything he does is brick.
It's the same with Levy. It must be possible to be happy about some things he has done, and not happy with other things. We are obviously in a much better place now than we were before ENIC and Levy took over. No one can question doubt. We have finished top six reguarly in the last ten seasons (8 out of 10, compared to 0 out of 10 in the ten years previous to that), we have developed the club by building a new training ground and are on the verge of building a new stadium. All good things.
Despite these positive things (and I am sure there are more) it must be possible to mention some things that could possibly be done better without being labeled a complete fool and an unbeliever. Personally I am a bit fed up by how he always leaves it until the last minute to sort out transfer dealings. Several times we have dropped valuable points early on in the season because we simply haven't been ready. And when Levy becomes too clever for his own good and his tactics don't work (like this time), we have to go through more than half the season, at least, with a couple of big gaps in the squad. It seems like this situation could easily have been avoided and it has put is in a very difficult situation this season. It's not the first time something like that has happened either (remember Fraizer Campbell).
It's the same with Levy. It must be possible to be happy about some things he has done, and not happy with other things. We are obviously in a much better place now than we were before ENIC and Levy took over. No one can question doubt. We have finished top six reguarly in the last ten seasons (8 out of 10, compared to 0 out of 10 in the ten years previous to that), we have developed the club by building a new training ground and are on the verge of building a new stadium. All good things.
Despite these positive things (and I am sure there are more) it must be possible to mention some things that could possibly be done better without being labeled a complete fool and an unbeliever. Personally I am a bit fed up by how he always leaves it until the last minute to sort out transfer dealings. Several times we have dropped valuable points early on in the season because we simply haven't been ready. And when Levy becomes too clever for his own good and his tactics don't work (like this time), we have to go through more than half the season, at least, with a couple of big gaps in the squad. It seems like this situation could easily have been avoided and it has put is in a very difficult situation this season. It's not the first time something like that has happened either (remember Fraizer Campbell).
LutonSpurs
Eric Dear
Levy and Poch talk about the Summer. ^
LutonSpurs
Eric Dear
“At the end of last season Mauricio was clear what we needed to do and what we certainly shouldn’t do”, said Daniel. “He wanted to streamline the squad, strengthen it and retain the ability to develop the talent we already had. Importantly, we also needed to keep our key players.
“That meant reducing the squad number, improving the team defensively and adding exciting attacking forwards. It also meant that if we couldn’t secure the few key targets we wanted, we wouldn’t just add others. And we needed to keep the space for our current players to flourish.”
This summer we moved early to secure our targets and were able to conclude the acquisitions of Dele Alli from Milton Keynes (to join us this July), Toby Alderweireld from Atletico Madrid (on loan last season at Southampton), Kieran Trippier from Burnley and Kevin Wimmer from Cologne.
We went on to add Clinton Njie from Olympique Lyonnais and Heung-Min Son from Bayer Leverkusen.
Aaron Lennon, Roberto Soldado, Paulinho, Etienne Capoue, Lewis Holtby, Benjamin Stambouli, Vlad Chiriches and Younes Kaboul departed the Club over the summer months and we wish them well for the future.
Mauricio said, “I look at our squad and I know we have worked well to shape it. Strengthening our defence was a priority given the number of goals we conceded last season. Toby, Kevin and Kieran add depth and quality.
“In Dele, Sonny and Clinton we have three young, fast and exciting players who can play in several different attacking positions, giving us good options.
“All of them had impressive seasons in their respective leagues last season and we are excited about their potential alongside that of our current players.
“I have been very clear that we would only add players that we felt would improve us and if any one player was not possible then I prefer we do not add for the sake of it. Much has been said about us only having one recognised striker in Harry - I don’t accept this at all - the positional play of today’s forwards means it’s too simplistic to look for goals from any one position - playing a fluid style means players switch. Also we secured Sonny and Clinton in the knowledge that we may not be adding any other forward.”
Daniel added, “We have never, as a Club, spoken about another team’s players and I am not about to do so now. However, I do want to make a few general points regarding transfers.
“Firstly, there is hardly a transfer concluded across Europe which doesn’t include staged payments. This is particularly so when significant amounts such as £20m-£30m are involved - players don’t come cheaply these days.
“Secondly, we do not make anything personal. None of the proposals, discussions or negotiations we undertake involve any personal elements or ego - everything we do is in the interest of what is best for our Club.
“Thirdly, we never make anything public, particularly in the best interests of the players involved. Making aspects such as transfer requests public is wholly disrespectful to a player.
“Our pragmatic player trading has been important in the way we have run the business of the Club and in getting us to the position where we have now been able to start work on a new stadium - the one thing that has the ability to take this Club to the next level of competitiveness. I make no apologies for being ambitious for our Club and looking to deliver future success for our fans.
“This season," underlined Mauricio, “we start with a combination of our own players who have come through the ranks and players that bring skills and experience from other leagues. Most importantly, it’s a squad of players with heart - it’s a squad I’m proud to field.”
“That meant reducing the squad number, improving the team defensively and adding exciting attacking forwards. It also meant that if we couldn’t secure the few key targets we wanted, we wouldn’t just add others. And we needed to keep the space for our current players to flourish.”
This summer we moved early to secure our targets and were able to conclude the acquisitions of Dele Alli from Milton Keynes (to join us this July), Toby Alderweireld from Atletico Madrid (on loan last season at Southampton), Kieran Trippier from Burnley and Kevin Wimmer from Cologne.
We went on to add Clinton Njie from Olympique Lyonnais and Heung-Min Son from Bayer Leverkusen.
Aaron Lennon, Roberto Soldado, Paulinho, Etienne Capoue, Lewis Holtby, Benjamin Stambouli, Vlad Chiriches and Younes Kaboul departed the Club over the summer months and we wish them well for the future.
Mauricio said, “I look at our squad and I know we have worked well to shape it. Strengthening our defence was a priority given the number of goals we conceded last season. Toby, Kevin and Kieran add depth and quality.
“In Dele, Sonny and Clinton we have three young, fast and exciting players who can play in several different attacking positions, giving us good options.
“All of them had impressive seasons in their respective leagues last season and we are excited about their potential alongside that of our current players.
“I have been very clear that we would only add players that we felt would improve us and if any one player was not possible then I prefer we do not add for the sake of it. Much has been said about us only having one recognised striker in Harry - I don’t accept this at all - the positional play of today’s forwards means it’s too simplistic to look for goals from any one position - playing a fluid style means players switch. Also we secured Sonny and Clinton in the knowledge that we may not be adding any other forward.”
Daniel added, “We have never, as a Club, spoken about another team’s players and I am not about to do so now. However, I do want to make a few general points regarding transfers.
“Firstly, there is hardly a transfer concluded across Europe which doesn’t include staged payments. This is particularly so when significant amounts such as £20m-£30m are involved - players don’t come cheaply these days.
“Secondly, we do not make anything personal. None of the proposals, discussions or negotiations we undertake involve any personal elements or ego - everything we do is in the interest of what is best for our Club.
“Thirdly, we never make anything public, particularly in the best interests of the players involved. Making aspects such as transfer requests public is wholly disrespectful to a player.
“Our pragmatic player trading has been important in the way we have run the business of the Club and in getting us to the position where we have now been able to start work on a new stadium - the one thing that has the ability to take this Club to the next level of competitiveness. I make no apologies for being ambitious for our Club and looking to deliver future success for our fans.
“This season," underlined Mauricio, “we start with a combination of our own players who have come through the ranks and players that bring skills and experience from other leagues. Most importantly, it’s a squad of players with heart - it’s a squad I’m proud to field.”