The Current State of Spurs (and some sympathy for Thomas Frank)

[thfcsteff]

Something I’ve been thinking about is that Frank is actually the perfect coach for the ENIC ethos, in that you make the ‘right’ plays over and over at the ‘right times’ and over the long term it pays off for you. My opinion is that the way Frank thinks about football is the way Levy thought about the transfer market. Eg you have a price for this player, you don’t really compromise. You don’t take the big swing. So you make a number of smaller moves. And over the longer term maybe those players all improve around the same time.

Compared to Liverpool. Who made big swings. Fist with eg selling Torres and getting Carroll and Suarez. And then again to get Allison and Van Dijk. Maybe other clubs wouldn’t have valued them as highly, but Liverpool made sure they got them. Because rather than judging the exact ‘right’ value for a player, they calculated that the extent to which getting world class missing pieces would elevate the club and win them trophies was an intangible that you couldn’t as easily fit into a model. Equally Ange took a big swing to win the Europa. I’m not bringing this up to debate the merits of that decision, merely to say it was a big swing, a gamble that ended up paying off. But completely out of sync with the ENIC ethos that values stable long term decision making.

So all of that to say, I can see why they hired Frank. I think maybe he fits with the club extremely well because of the culture, regardless of individuals that have a spot in the org. Because I think whoever we’ve lost will get replaced by people that also likely suit the culture of the org.

Absolutely.
At the time he was hired I said he was the perfect manager for the way we behaved as a club (everything you've outlined)...which is where I could find sympathy for him. It's a bit like Sissoko really IMO. Sissoko was always Sissoko. He was never going to be Eriksen. However, what Sissoko was good at was being him - strong, direct, disruptive. I always thought one of Poch's greatest tricks was getting a tune out of him, especially as he was an end of window signing to 'appease' for not getting Mane (in itself somewhat ludicrous really)...

Maybe the diff is I do believe Frank presents as having a higher ceiling in his profession, and I (have to) remain hopeful that this gets proven.

Really glad this discussion has had legs. I started it because I felt I needed to take a wider overview as to why such an obviously talented and decent guy as Frank is having such a hard time; no-one needs to look too far I suppose.

Some great views BTW and a conversation I think will continue to be important as we approach a window which is laced with intrigue. You'd think targets have been identified and spoken with; what does the Paratici noise mean in such context?

Happy Christmas and COYS!

 

[thfcsteff]

We've also gone from someone who knew what he was doing (30 years in the game, including Prague and Rangers as steps up to us), to someone who used her trust fund to support her husband's crap design football boots, and someone who used his trust fund to tinkle it all against the wall in Argentine golf clubs.

Tell me more mate, interested in that history and am ignorant of it.

 

[Raziel]

I'm convinced as soon as we have mopo wrapped up for the summer franks gone and a caretaker is coming in (Mason?!)

Till that point I believe the board don't see the point in sacking him with no new manager announcement.

If that's the case, I'd like to see us be bold

- Tie up any contracts
- Have an input into January transfers
- Look for someone with a decent rep to do caretaker role (not Mason)

 

[Gutter Boy]

Tell me more mate, interested in that history and am ignorant of it.

Just they are nepo babies who have never really done anything in their own right. She's known for being Craig Johnson's WAG and using daddy's money to fund his Predator boot folly. And he's just be largely absent for decades being a playboy in Argentina. Its not like they've had substantive roles in other Tavistock companies, cutting their teeth running the restaurant chains etc. I dont see they have any credentials for running a football club. They are just some old crook's kids, just like the random Trump kids playing at international relations.

 

[Baleforce]

Just they are nepo babies who have never really done anything in their own right. She's known for being Craig Johnson's WAG and using daddy's money to fund his Predator boot folly. And he's just be largely absent for decades being a playboy in Argentina. It’s not like they've had substantive roles in other Tavistock companies, cutting their teeth running the restaurant chains etc. I dont see they have any credentials for running a football club. They are just some old crook's kids, just like the random Trump kids playing at international relations.

Folly?

Predators are one of the most successful boot ranges of all time.

 

[Gutter Boy]

Folly?

Predators are one of the most successful boot ranges of all time.

They are brick though. They've never worked - the ribbing gets clogged up in about 2 seconds and the boots fall apart in about 10. They had great marketing, but they've never been a players' boot