Which is Daniel Levy's worst decision as Spurs chairman ?

[milo]

For a chairman I would say looking at player acquisitions and managerial appointments would do that

None of those decisions are taken in isolation though and we do not know what discussions are had behind closed doors.

 

[milo]

By his decision making. I've never met AVB, but that shouldn't stop me offering an opinion on his understanding and knowledge of the game.

What's the alternative? Praise him when he gets something right but when he gets things wrong we say" oh well, it's a tough job to run a football club, it's easy in hindsight."?

is it not possible that he has excellent "football knowledge" but that the club is run as a business and business considerations take precedence over football ones?

 

[Jurgen the German]

is it not possible that he has excellent "football knowledge" but that the club is run as a business and business considerations take precedence over football ones?

Is likely I suppose, but I don't think it's true. I think the decision to sell Berbatov so late and leave us with no other option to go for but Frazier Campbell was not a business decision. I don't want to get the wrong end of the stick, but sounds to me like you're saying we can judge a manager's decisions, but not a chairman's? Doesn't seem fair to me.

 

[Libero]

TBH I can say I get frustrated at the transfer stuff but then not being an insider, I don't how much is just down to him or the other side. It could be a number of variables. The selling of Berbatov, Modric, Carrick etc are all decisions that I could understand if not neccesarily agree with entirely.

Jol and Redknapp I can understand for different reasons although the Jol affair was handled very badly. All the other points I also can understand bar the first one.

As much as no one wanted George Graham at the club, he was the perfect person to inflict a defeat on Arsenal in a Semi Final. The unsettled nature of how that all came about in the days leading upto the league game against Arsenal and then playing them in the semi at OT the week after was just ridiculous. We ended up losing both games and certainly could have lost the Semi by a cricket score if it wasn't for Neil Sullivan.

Now that is not to say that Hoddle immediatly implemented tactics and the like that cost us or that Graham would have won that Semi had he stayed because other things happened like Campbell going off and conceding straight away that helped kill us. But what it did do was unsettle us and I believe allowing Graham to take that game would have given us the best possible chance of winning that fixture. Questions will be asked such as being unable to really sack him had he beaten Arsenal but I think the hammer could have fallen anyway considering the original reason given was for him briefing against David Buchler and ENIC over transfer policy and obviously had he lost to Arsenal then it would have been the icing on the cake in terms of taking the prescribed action.

Stop! Hammer time and that decision hasn't done us bundles of harm but I think everything considered, whilst maybe the outcome and decision were correct, the timing was incredibly poor and on that basis I would have to say it is his worst decision to date during his tenure at the club.

 

[Howard Webb]

I'm surprised he hasn't killed anyone. The way spurs fans go on

 

[Libero]

I'm surprised he hasn't killed anyone. The way spurs fans go on

Probably a little unfair. I don't think that you would find too many Spurs fans that wouldn't say all in all he has been a very good chairman for this club. However, he has at times made some pretty bad decisions either in terms of the decision itself or the timing and I would be more inclined to say its more his timing rather than the decision itself that can be frustrating.

 

[milo]

Is likely I suppose, but I don't think it's true. I think the decision to sell Berbatov so late and leave us with no other option to go for but Frazier Campbell was not a business decision. I don't want to get the wrong end of the stick, but sounds to me like you're saying we can judge a manager's decisions, but not a chairman's? Doesn't seem fair to me.

Isn't that a prime example where business considerations may have taken precedence over football ones?

I think that is entirely fair to judge chairmen, the example of choice of managers in the past or the timing of sacking Jol are examples where I think that it is fair to criticise Levy. What I am questioning is saying that he has poor football knowledge when there is hardly any evidence either way.

 

[parklane1]

How is it possible to judge what his understanding of football is?

Indeed, he probably has as much knowledge and understanding of football as most fans on message boards.

 

[milo]

Indeed, he probably has as much knowledge and understanding of football as most fans on message boards.

And over ten years experience of running a football club should have given him a far better understanding of the business of football than any of us could ever hope to get close to.

 

[Jurgen the German]

And over ten years experience of running a football club should have given him a far better understanding of the business of football than any of us could ever hope to get close to.

But he runs the club like a business. It's my view that his ditherings in the transfer window shows a lack of understanding of the game. I don't know him personally, but I don't know AVB personally either but that should not stop me offering an opinion on some of his decisions. I'm also not necessarily buying that Levy is a huge Spurs fan. We don't believe it when Teddy Sheringham, Robbie Keane or David Bentley says so why should we believe Levy?

 

[Jurgen the German]

Isn't that a prime example where business considerations may have taken precedence over football ones?

I think that is entirely fair to judge chairmen, the example of choice of managers in the past or the timing of sacking Jol are examples where I think that it is fair to criticise Levy. What I am questioning is saying that he has poor football knowledge when there is hardly any evidence either way.

You mean leaving no time for us to sign another striker and being lumbered with Frazier Campbell? Doesn't exactly show good decision making when it comes to football does it?

Just to be clear, I think it's fair game to question any chairman's football knowledge, not just Levy. Same goes for our previous chairmen- Sugar, Scholar etc.

 

[braineclipse]

Isn't that a prime example where business considerations may have taken precedence over football ones?

I think that is entirely fair to judge chairmen, the example of choice of managers in the past or the timing of sacking Jol are examples where I think that it is fair to criticise Levy. What I am questioning is saying that he has poor football knowledge when there is hardly any evidence either way.

Just to be clear I never agreed that he has a poor footballing knowledge.

 

[braineclipse]

You mean leaving no time for us to sign another striker and being lumbered with Frazier Campbell? Doesn't exactly show good decision making when it comes to football does it?

To be fair we also had Bent and Pav.

More of a failing from the people who identified those two as targets we should sign for me.

 

[milo]

You mean leaving no time for us to sign another striker and being lumbered with Frazier Campbell? Doesn't exactly show good decision making when it comes to football does it?

Just to be clear, I think it's fair game to question any chairman's football knowledge, not just Levy. Same goes for our previous chairmen- Sugar, Scholar etc.

My guess is that at earlier in the window he didn't expect Berbatov to down tools or negotiate with a club that did not have permission to talk to him.

 

[Jurgen the German]

My guess is that at earlier in the window he didn't expect Berbatov to down tools or negotiate with a club that did not have permission to talk to him.

But everyone knew he would go eventually. Modric left eventually despite Levy saying he wasn't for sale. Every player has a price.

 

[milo]

But he runs the club like a business. It's my view that his ditherings in the transfer window shows a lack of understanding of the game. I don't know him personally, but I don't know AVB personally either but that should not stop me offering an opinion on some of his decisions. I'm also not necessarily buying that Levy is a huge Spurs fan. We don't believe it when Teddy Sheringham, Robbie Keane or David Bentley says so why should we believe Levy?

When has he dithered? I think that it is pretty clear that we leave negotiations late on purpose because we think that we get better value in the market then. That is having a transfer strategy and sticking to it. If you said that you think that this strategy has harmed our start to the last two seasons, I would agree with you. What I do not think that this demonstrates is a lack of football understanding from Levy, he may well be fully aware of the damage that this strategy has caused but think that it is an acceptable risk and one that leaves us in a better overall position.

 

[milo]

But everyone knew he would go eventually. Modric left eventually despite Levy saying he wasn't for sale. Every player has a price.

The Modric situation is different to the Berbatov one, I think that he handled Modric situation very well in the last two summers. It was important that we didn't roll over for Chelsea in 2011 and it was important to get as much money as possible while not strengthening a direct rival in 2012.

 

[Jurgen the German]

The Modric situation is different to the Berbatov one, I think that he handled Modric situation very well in the last two summers. It was important that we didn't roll over for Chelsea in 2011 and it was important to get as much money as possible while not strengthening a direct rival in 2012.

I agree he handled the Modric situation very well, never said he didn't.

 

[parklane1]

And over ten years experience of running a football club should have given him a far better understanding of the business of football than any of us could ever hope to get close to.

Yep, far too many FIFA managers who think football is the same in real life as it is in the games.

 

[Jurgen the German]

When has he dithered? I think that it is pretty clear that we leave negotiations late on purpose because we think that we get better value in the market then. That is having a transfer strategy and sticking to it. If you said that you think that this strategy has harmed our start to the last two seasons, I would agree with you. What I do not think that this demonstrates is a lack of football understanding from Levy, he may well be fully aware of the damage that this strategy has caused but think that it is an acceptable risk and one that leaves us in a better overall position.

That's pretty much it. Yes he manages to get get good deals on deadline day, but we could have done with Adebayor for the first game. Instead, we had Defoe and Harry Kane. It may save money but that in my view has to be balanced out against not having a settled squad and not having the services of players for the start of the season. A single point was the difference between 3rd and 4th last season, it may come down to that again. So perhaps my point is he is TOO business minded in certain situations when he should look at certain situations from more of a football related stance.