What is the worst ever decision taken by Daniel Levy as the Spurs chairman ?

[BrainOfLevy]

But just because Sherwood or whoever else doesn't lead us there doesn't mean AVB would have.

We won't ever know, but I think he would have been more likely to. Plus, we've written off this season.

Even if it's the right decision to part company by mutual consent because the objectives of chairman and manager were too different, it's still Levy's fault IMO that he decided to go for AVB, promising the faith to build a long term project, only to pretty quickly decide he would be happy to let him go were the compensation to roll in. He should never have let Harry go if he was going to chop his replacement away so easily.

 

[Hootnow]

I put this link in the Fair Play Daniel Levy thread, but it aint getting any views, so let's try here : http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...ics-at-Tottenham-Hotspur-must-be-praised.html

I really despise this kind of pompous, self loving journalism.

Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley, Brian Clough, Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsène Wenger were denied any such help with their team selections and transfer preferences.

Great stuff, when we manage to find ourselves a Shankley, Ferguson or Wenger who is willing to stay with the club for a long time and who has proven pedigree, then we can remove the whole DoF system.

Admittedly, their form had collapsed under the weight of speculation linking Harry with the England job.

An understatament there, as Redknapp openly talked about the England job and started giving interviews as if he was already the manager, saying he wanted Chelsea to win the CL, despite the very very real possibility that this would massively affect us.

and seemed set only to improve.

Did we? One thing I always agreed on with those who hated Redknapp from the beginning was that I didn't trust him with particularly large transfer funds or to rebuild a squad with players from outside the PL. Suarez is obviously a huge dingdong but that is not the reason that Redknapp turned him down.

But as his stoic refusal to follow Arsenal’s example of building a stadium adequate to requirements and within intercontinental ballistic missile range of a Tube station confirms

Didn't realise that Levy now controls TFL and Boris Johnson? Or that THFC owns the whole of the high road and we can build wherever the **** we want?

Having spent £110 million on new players – about £25 million more than Bale’s sale to Real Madrid raised

Ignoring the fact that we sold other players for a total of £30 million, actually making a profit this window.

Lazy lazy gutter journalism.

 

[Rorschach]

Not making a decision!
Should have bought a striker during that jan transfer window with redknapp in charge. That would have seen us qualify for champs league

This is pretty decent shout. Maybe not his worst decision but certainly a massive missed opportunity (twice!).

 

[Destroy All Gooners]

Summer 2008 is right up there in my book. Selling Keane and then Berbatov at the very last minute. No adequate replacements. Borderline negligence and nearly ****ed us for the season.

Still we got some charitable donations from both Liverpool and Utd.

 

[BrainOfLevy]

Summer 2008 is right up there in my book. Selling Keane and then Berbatov at the very last minute. No adequate replacements. Borderline negligence and nearly ****ed us for the season.

Still we got some charitable donations from both Liverpool and Utd.

Yep, also a pretty massive **** up. Looking back I would defend Levy there...he had no choice, those funds helped us build Harry's team etc...but it was a **** up, nobody plans to step backwards another season.

We'd never know what Ramos could have done with us had he had decent strikers, and not a Pav needing to settle in plus Bent. It's very easy to say the players just weren't responding to his methods but they responded enough to win a trophy beating City, Arsenal and Chelsea on the way. The next season results go against him which then gives players more of an opportunity to question what he is doing, and it's easier for opinion to turn against him.

Again another example of not making it easy for the manager to succeed. Harry was great for Levy because he would push back at him, was a whily operator and knew how to play him. They complimented each other quite well in a sense.

 

[Parklaner81]

Sacking Jol was the worst IMO, followed by the Graham departure but that was so early on I usually overlook it these days.

All of the others IMO are far from being black and white issues and, while I might have marginally disagreed with some of them, I think the 'everything's Levy's fault' attitude that seems to be forming is unfair.

The other big issue, as someone else mentioned, was failing to invest big at the correct time (2010-11?).

 

[indospurs]

Yeah but for all that, there's a point which some are trying to make in this thread. Is Levy his, and the club's, own worst enemy ? Trying to second guess and seemingly not lose control of the club's direction. Or his own stamp on things.

If AvB's leaving was by mutual consent, then it just showed what some suspected - Levy wasn't going to suffer anyone railing against him, and AvB can be a stubborn git too. Not a match made in heaven.

But looking at Blackburn and Cardiff, Levy is a saint by comparison. I cannot understand owners like that - even Roman despite the success there in recent years. EPL clubs are just billionaires play things, as fans we can only watch on and ... nod or shake our heads (for me it's more and more of the latter). For all Liverpool have been through the past decade, by letting Rodgers now just get on with it, they are turning.

Even Sir Bobby at Saudi Sportswashing Machine, the way he was treated at the end. Owners and Chairmen eh ?

 

[chancer]

Sacking AVB/ not valuing him and giving him the backing and environment to succeed. By a country mile.

What backing and environment didn't AVB get?

He got players, he'd probably have had money in January, he had great facilities, he had his entire coaching team, he was allowed to miss out on Top 4 last season and carry on, he had overwhelming fan support...I'm just not sure how he wasn't backed or had a bad working environment.

To be clear, I wanted to give AVB some more time, so I'm not overjoyed with the situation.

But people seem to be completely ruling out the possibility that Baldini and Levy know behind-the-scenes stuff that we don't. For example, if AVB had these great plans and everything was on track, how couldn't he explain that to Baldini? In his meetings with Levy on Sunday and Monday, why wasn't he able to do one of his famous Powerpoints about where he/we were going? The fact he didn't get sacked on the Sunday suggests to me Levy and Baldini hadn't pre-determined sacking him. AVB still had a chance to convince them but either failed to do so or didn't have the fight left in him to do it.

I'm pretty sure there's a missing piece here that we can't quite see.

 

[Pirate55]

Not making a decision!
Should have bought a striker during that jan transfer window with redknapp in charge. That would have seen us qualify for champs league

This this and this.

In fact, IMO if we had brought in a top striker in any of the last THREE jan windows, we would have deffo secured CL and would be talking a whole new ball game.

 

[Jordinho]

There is every possibility that Levy asked questions AVB did not have sufficient answers to.

 

[BrainOfLevy]

What backing and environment didn't AVB get?

He got players, he'd probably have had money in January, he had great facilities, he had his entire coaching team, he was allowed to miss out on Top 4 last season and carry on, he had overwhelming fan support...I'm just not sure how he wasn't backed or had a bad working environment.

To be clear, I wanted to give AVB some more time, so I'm not overjoyed with the situation.

But people seem to be completely ruling out the possibility that Baldini and Levy know behind-the-scenes stuff that we don't. For example, if AVB had these great plans and everything was on track, how couldn't he explain that to Baldini? In his meetings with Levy on Sunday and Monday, why wasn't he able to do one of his famous Powerpoints about where he/we were going? The fact he didn't get sacked on the Sunday suggests to me Levy and Baldini hadn't pre-determined sacking him. AVB still had a chance to convince them but either failed to do so or didn't have the fight left in him to do it.

I'm pretty sure there's a missing piece here that we can't quite see.

I think the missing piece is that AVB couldn't be arsed working with Levy any more. He probably didn't like being questioned and didn't like all the whispers that he was close to losing his job, and didn't appreciate the lack of support when it was supposedly a long term project, when the problems in terms of results have likely stemmed from signing 7 new foreigners, when AVB himself would rather have signed less high quality proven players rather than more young foreigners with potential.

The impression I get is that once the hand was dealt, and we have all these new players, he would expect the time and support to help them gel and settle rather than the 'this could be our year for a title challenge because Emirates Marketing Project have changed manager!' nonsense that we seemed to be exuding.

 

[BrainOfLevy]

And just on the 'nonsense' above...I'm aware that I said we could challenge if we kept Bale and that the new guys would settle in 2 weeks, and I was wrong. But the difference is I'm not on the board of a Premier League football club charged with making these decisions, and I'm not hiring someone on the basis they will have time to establish a long term system. The expectations should have changed once Bale was leaving and our strategy was to blitz the foreign market with our flush of cash.

 

[braineclipse]

If Sherwood / whoever leads us into the top 4 I will gladly admit I over-reacted and AVB wasn't the be all and end all. I think there is only a tiny chance of that happening though.

Just to be clear you're including getting into the top 4 next season, not necessarily this season?

I think next season I would have expected a top 3 challenge, season after that to be in contention for the title. This season if we could make a top 4 challenge I would be happy considering the transition of players under AVB.

Now though, I don't think we'll get top 3 next year, and I don't think we'll make a serious title challenge the season after. To be honest, we may do. I don't really know. And if AVB was frustrated with Levy and didn't like it I think it's best for all parties not to work together anymore. I'm just annoyed that this season is a virtual write off. I don't consider the sacking as the worst decision, I consider the club's failure to appreciate what they had, and the progress that was being made, that is the worst decision. The failure to create the right environment for a talented guy to flourish is a bad decision.

Not really an answer to my question.

You know I spent a lot of time defending AVB on here, you know I rated the guy as a manager and hoped for him to succeed with us. Up until a couple of weeks ago I thought any talk of him leaving seemed way premature.

But you cannot deny that there have been some serious flaws with what AVB has done both for us and for Chelsea. Whereas his success stories are few, although impressive. Surely you must admit that there's a chance he wouldn't have succeeded? I'm asking for your estimate of how large that chance is and what the chance is of a new manager making it.

 

[BrainOfLevy]

Just to be clear you're including getting into the top 4 next season, not necessarily this season?



Not really an answer to my question.

You know I spent a lot of time defending AVB on here, you know I rated the guy as a manager and hoped for him to succeed with us. Up until a couple of weeks ago I thought any talk of him leaving seemed way premature.

But you cannot deny that there have been some serious flaws with what AVB has done both for us and for Chelsea. Whereas his success stories are few, although impressive. Surely you must admit that there's a chance he wouldn't have succeeded? I'm asking for your estimate of how large that chance is and what the chance is of a new manager making it.

Next season, not necessarily this season, yeah.

There's a chance he wouldn't have succeeded. But to be honest I think the idea of 'top 4 or bust' as some arbitrary target is stupid anyway. There are 5 clubs with bigger budgets than us which means if they are all performing as they should be, we will never break in despite having the right man in charge.

But despite that, I feel we can be up there with him. I would expect a top 3 challenge next year and a title challenge the year after. Absolutely there is a chance that AVB wouldn't have done it, and that Sherwood or whoever else can. But I back AVB 100% and think he would have. He has been hired twice in England on the understanding that his job is to build something for the long term, at both clubs. And both clubs have cut him short well before he was anywhere close to finished.

 

[Parklaner81]

At the end of the day we were always the biggest spenders of the 'best of the rest' teams. We would have gotten to where we are regardless of Levy had we spent the same amount of money, and arguably would have gotten more success sooner if we'd had the courage of our convictions and shown a bit of patience.

If this were true, how come we didn't get there under Sugar? From memory we threw a fair bit of cash around during those days too......

 

[Pirate55]

Just to be clear you're including getting into the top 4 next season, not necessarily this season?



Not really an answer to my question.

You know I spent a lot of time defending AVB on here, you know I rated the guy as a manager and hoped for him to succeed with us. Up until a couple of weeks ago I thought any talk of him leaving seemed way premature.

But you cannot deny that there have been some serious flaws with what AVB has done both for us and for Chelsea. Whereas his success stories are few, although impressive. Surely you must admit that there's a chance he wouldn't have succeeded? I'm asking for your estimate of how large that chance is and what the chance is of a new manager making it.

Unfortunately there are some who were so beguiled by AVB, despite all the growing evidence to the contrary, that they refuse to accept that he was not necessarily the person to deliver success for us. I come back to the fact that this season was the very first time he had spent more than one season with any of his previous clubs. This fact alone did not auger well for me as him being the right guy to deliver long term success for us.

 

[braineclipse]

Next season, not necessarily this season, yeah.

There's a chance he wouldn't have succeeded. But to be honest I think the idea of 'top 4 or bust' as some arbitrary target is stupid anyway. There are 5 clubs with bigger budgets than us which means if they are all performing as they should be, we will never break in despite having the right man in charge.

But despite that, I feel we can be up there with him. I would expect a top 3 challenge next year and a title challenge the year after. Absolutely there is a chance that AVB wouldn't have done it, and that Sherwood or whoever else can. But I back AVB 100% and think he would have. He has been hired twice in England on the understanding that his job is to build something for the long term, at both clubs. And both clubs have cut him short well before he was anywhere close to finished.

AVB wasn't sacked because of a 'top 4 or bust' arbitrary target.

I agree with you on just how challenging the situation is to become a CL regular for a club with our budget in this league. I just don't understand why you're so confident that AVB wouldn't just have done that, but also pushed on. I believed in the guy, but I also thought there was a real chance he wouldn't succeed. What are you basing your opinion of him on?

Seems to me that there were some serious problems with how he operated, leading to problems both on and off the pitch. Seriously, trying to bed in Lamela by giving him his first and only PL start in close to half a season away to Emirates Marketing Project? Bringing back Ade for that same City game as a sub only to then completely drop him from the squad again after he did alright?

In hindsight, considering the reported conflicts off the pitch with other members of staff, the way the sacking happened and Ade's return after AVB left it seems almost like AVB was trying to make a point out of playing the two of them in the toughest game available to show that they weren't good enough. I know I can't prove that, I know it's speculation, but to me at least that seems at least somewhat likely. And if that was the case, it's pretty ****ing horrendous. If that wasn't the case I think it's overwhelmingly likely that there were problems and conflicts behind the scenes and whilst Levy and Sherwood seems to be the target de jour from the fans for that I think AVB certainly had his part to play.

 

[BrainOfLevy]

If this were true, how come we didn't get there under Sugar? From memory we threw a fair bit of cash around during those days too......

Because Sugar didn't have a clue about football?

 

[BrainOfLevy]

AVB wasn't sacked because of a 'top 4 or bust' arbitrary target.

I agree with you on just how challenging the situation is to become a CL regular for a club with our budget in this league. I just don't understand why you're so confident that AVB wouldn't just have done that, but also pushed on. I believed in the guy, but I also thought there was a real chance he wouldn't succeed. What are you basing your opinion of him on?

Seems to me that there were some serious problems with how he operated, leading to problems both on and off the pitch. Seriously, trying to bed in Lamela by giving him his first and only PL start in close to half a season away to Emirates Marketing Project? Bringing back Ade for that same City game as a sub only to then completely drop him from the squad again after he did alright?

In hindsight, considering the reported conflicts off the pitch with other members of staff, the way the sacking happened and Ade's return after AVB left it seems almost like AVB was trying to make a point out of playing the two of them in the toughest game available to show that they weren't good enough. I know I can't prove that, I know it's speculation, but to me at least that seems at least somewhat likely. And if that was the case, it's pretty ****ing horrendous. If that wasn't the case I think it's overwhelmingly likely that there were problems and conflicts behind the scenes and whilst Levy and Sherwood seems to be the target de jour from the fans for that I think AVB certainly had his part to play.

I don't think Ade and Lamela were particular problems. Lamela was being eased in slowly and he didn't want Ade here. He wanted a squad with a certain personality type and Ade didn't fit it. We tried to sell him and Ade decided he didn't want to go. I wouldn't be surprised if there was something going on behind the scenes with regards to that Emirates Marketing Project game with Ade, but I think we should back the manager. Liverpool backed Rodgers over Andy Carroll despite him being a record signing and that selling him would see a considerable loss.

I just believe we were on the right track with AVB, and the traits we were exhibiting as a club and a team were what we needed to exhibit to get to where we want to be. I thought we were on the right track. I can never prove we would have gotten to where we want to go with AVB, but I was sure we were going to get there personally.

 

[Parklaner81]

Because Sugar didn't have a clue about football?

You originally said words to the effect of 'we'd have got here without Levy, just by spending the cash', didn't you?

IMO this is untrue, and Sugar proves it.