Levy's Plan

[MartyFunkhouser]

I agree with a lot of sentiment but there is nothing to say we would have had any more trophies. Spurs always suffered mentally in getting over the line to win, and it wasn't specifically against City who we have a good record against in recent years compared to other big teams.

If Emirates Marketing Project for example didn't get to the final of the League cup against us in 2021, they beat Arsenal and Manchester United in the quarter and semi finals and we would have faced one of those in the final. I don't see it as anymore likely we would have beaten either of them - maybe we would have who knows, but saying we would have had this trophy or that trophy were it not for Emirates Marketing Project is just not true....

Someone would have had to win them, if not us then someone else

But given for a period of 5/6 years we were one of the most consistent clubs in the country its also not out of this world to suggest our chances of success would have drastically increased.

Off memory 4 or 5 chances blocked by them in a SF or Final, given the ability to get that far I suspect we might have crossed the line at least once.

It could also be argued that part of our mentality issues came down to others simply having a far greater advantage by......you guessed it....cheating

Every club being run properly outside Chelsea and City had their prospects hurt by their actions, includign us

 

[MartyFunkhouser]

Conversely, I always felt the "win the deal" or the discourse about late deals was always twinged with some arrogance from our side. The idea we tickle a belly and the other club just rolls over and their owners/chairman just roll over because its Spurs and they don't want to protect their own club.

Almost like transfers are complicated

 

[Finney Is Back]

I am willing to give the summer the benefit till we see the bigger picture, but I do have to laugh about the lack of balance from people who claim the club was poorly run but wanted to over pay for the likes of Berahino, who then wouldn't come down given off that ledge to claim Levy ruined his career. Sometimes just admit you were wrong and move on. There is clearly a moving of the goalposts this summer though, praise be only to the "new" owners who are foo perfect, didn't do anything wrong with Richy and were never really in for Ndiaye, therefore missing out on a player late in the window can't be a thing either, if it wasn't so obvious

You only know whether or not you overpay well after the event. The weird thing with Levy is that he would often end up offering the amount the club originally wanted (e.g. Berahino) or sometimes even more than the club originally wanted (e.g. Grealish) right at the end of the window when it was too late.

 

[Finney Is Back]

Conversely, I always felt the "win the deal" or the discourse about late deals was always twinged with some arrogance from our side. The idea we tickle a belly and the other club just rolls over and their owners/chairman just roll over because its Spurs and they don't want to protect their own club.

Almost like transfers are complicated

The problem is that we would also make the uncomplicated deals complicated and protracted.

 

[MartyFunkhouser]

The problem is that we would also make the uncomplicated deals complicated and protracted.

Like every club who have exactly the same issue, till they don't.........kind like us for all the deals we did without issue, of which there are many more

 

[MartyFunkhouser]

You only know whether or not you overpay well after the event. The weird thing with Levy is that he would often end up offering the amount the club originally wanted (e.g. Berahino) or sometimes even more than the club originally wanted (e.g. Grealish) right at the end of the window when it was too late.

Of course, the same standard as when people look back and berate all the players we missed out on too.

 

[harr1984]

Someone would have had to win them, if not us then someone else

But given for a period of 5/6 years we were one of the most consistent clubs in the country its also not out of this world to suggest our chances of success would have drastically increased.

Off memory 4 or 5 chances blocked by them in a SF or Final, given the ability to get that far I suspect we might have crossed the line at least once.

It could also be argued that part of our mentality issues came down to others simply having a far greater advantage by......you guessed it....cheating

Every club being run properly outside Chelsea and City had their prospects hurt by their actions, includign us

Well yeah agree all just a load of ifs bits and maybes, like other bigger clubs claiming they would have won more - hence why I said there is no evidence we would have won more trophies which is what some posters were saying.

If it wasn't City then it would have been another big club we was up against and we don't have a good record against any of them except ironically City ....

 

[MartyFunkhouser]

Well yeah agree all just a load of ifs bits and maybes, like other bigger clubs claiming they would have won more - hence why I said there is no evidence we would have won more trophies which is what some posters were saying.

If it wasn't City then it would have been another big club we was up against and we don't have a good record against any of them except ironically City ....

I think there are some fair assumptions to be made given the whole tapestry that got impacted by it all. Not least lost CL revenues etc.

 

[Lemonade Money]

My biggest criticisms of Levy: not getting deals down early to give the new player a preseason, and the manager his best shot at preparation, even if it meant paying over the odds; and not selling a player who was not in the managers plans, even if it meant taking a hit. Both hurt us more than any financial gain.

I don't think that has much to do with the current situation, we've got an injury ravaged squad, and signing that many new players will take time to mould.

The Nepos have tried to address this, but made the mistake of selling the long term plan for the sake of the short term. If it fudges up, we are in even bigger trouble.

 

[Baleforce]

My biggest criticisms of Levy: not getting deals down early to give the new player a preseason, and the manager his best shot at preparation, even if it meant paying over the odds; and not selling a player who was not in the managers plans, even if it meant taking a hit. Both hurt us more than any financial gain.

I don't think that has much to do with the current situation, we've got an injury ravaged squad, and signing that many new players will take time to mould.

The Nepos have tried to address this, but made the mistake of selling the long term plan for the sake of the short term. If it fudges up, we are in even bigger trouble.

Sacrificing the long term for short term is the one guaranteed thing to fudge any business.

 

[SissokoWasGood (BoL)]

I would have thought that was pretty obvious, Not to overpay for players because “getting them in early” means a a better start to the season apparently.

How many times did we hear just pay a few more million and get they in early!!!

But let’s put aside the fact that we often bid the same amount at the end of August that we were asked to bid in July, is the argument that it would be better to have these players in late?

As in, let’s say we did all of our business this summer in the last week of the window, do you think we’d have a better settling in period? I’d say the start of the season would be bad for longer. It’s about how much worse it could be, because I don’t think the issue this time around was getting players in early, it’s the sheer amount of change alongside De Zerbi implementing his actual system which has always taken time at whatever club he’s at.

 

[MartyFunkhouser]

My biggest criticisms of Levy: not getting deals down early to give the new player a preseason, and the manager his best shot at preparation, even if it meant paying over the odds; and not selling a player who was not in the managers plans, even if it meant taking a hit. Both hurt us more than any financial gain.

I don't think that has much to do with the current situation, we've got an injury ravaged squad, and signing that many new players will take time to mould.

The Nepos have tried to address this, but made the mistake of selling the long term plan for the sake of the short term. If it fudges up, we are in even bigger trouble.

And as always, it comes down to the right players. All well and good saying pay the money, get them in, they backed the manager, but that alone isnt the sole recipe for success that some make out.

 

[Lemonade Money]

And as always, it comes down to the right players. All well and good saying pay the money, get them in, they backed the manager, but that alone isnt the sole recipe for success that some make out.

Agreed, but they dont go hand-in-hand.
It's still the right way to go about your business, but if you're backing the wrong horse, you're backing the wrong horse in the right way!

 

[Lemonade Money]

Sacrificing the long term for short term is the one guaranteed thing to fudge any business.

The reason we're so strong financially is because Levy sacrificed the short term for the long term.

 

[Baleforce]

The reason we're so strong financially is because Levy sacrificed the short term for the long term.

Yes, the only sensible way to run a business.

 

[Bishop]

Without City and Chelsea being sportwashing enterprises the landscape changes - we qualify for the CL sooner/more often which in turn gives us a better shot at establishing ourselves and competing for not only the trophies directly won by those two but everything else that was up for grabs in those years.

You can't guarantee anything but i know that being in competition with only 3 clubs richer than you puts you in a better position than if there are 5.

Conversely City's rise massively affected Arsenal, as they were the club City initially picked all their players from. That's weakened Arsenal and allowed us to overtake them. No City and we probably don't finish ahead of Arsenal for 6 seasons.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

Conversely City's rise massively affected Arsenal, as they were the club City initially picked all their players from. That's weakened Arsenal and allowed us to overtake them. No City and we probably don't finish ahead of Arsenal for 6 seasons.

Those players may have been sold to someone else
They had to sell to buy for that period

 

[Bishop]

Those players may have been sold to someone else
They had to sell to buy for that period

They didn't always need to sell though, they had to buy because City were picking off their players.

 

[Gazza]

Yes, the only sensible way to run a business.

But in the football arena you need more acumen than just that statement.

 

[Glenda's Legs]

Yes, the only sensible way to run a business.

But (and I’m sure you know this) it’s not a binary short term v long term decision.
Any well run company has a long term (strategic) plan with enough wriggle room to deal with short term (tactical) matters which are vital to the ongoing success (or even survival) of the business. I think Levy did the strategic stuff brilliantly but with shortcomings in the tactical decisions. I’d still rather his overall approach to gung-ho spending, but there were probably times when he needed to loosen his self imposed shackles.