Mauricio Pochettino

[CJJ]

Sugar was a fucking disaster for Tottenham. He completely missed the boat with the Premier League. I saw him give a talk a few years back at uni and he bragged how he made 13million out of selling the club. If he'd invested any money he could have made a lot more than that.

ENIC are in it purely for financial reasons. Levy's loyalty is to his business investment, not the club. The main reason the club is in good financial health is because ENIC primarily want to protect their investment. It's what I'd call a cynical Win-Win.

I wouldn't take that on face value.

Levy was a spurs fan since a nipper and was, by all accounts, a die-hard fan well before ENIC bought out sugar. It was well referenced at the time (Spurs fan has £22m shot at being boss). I don't think I've seen him miss many games, which is unusual for a chairman in an 'investment' role.

I think it's by pure good luck that he managed to convince Joe Lewis to put all of the eggs in the lilywhite basket, and that the money in football (and thus value of the club) has skyrocketed since. He has a responsibility towards the investment, and I reckon he's probably quite anal about money (what with his qualifications and success), but I wouldn't doubt his passion, even if there are naive people who think we should follow the Pompey/Leeds/QPR tactic.

 

[bk_spur]

Interesting to see what the long term plan is: by which I mean post-stadium, etc.
Do ENIC want to retain ownership of Spurs indefinitely, and follow Woolwich's model (which certainly makes money, but lacks ambition), or are they maximising the value of the club ahead of selling to someone with mega money?

Very interesting question. What ENIC believes is something we can't really know unless we are privy to their highest level internal discussions, but, I can't see any reason why they should want to sell while the club is on a massively upward trajectory. Their own hard-made investments (stadium/squad/partnerships/academy) have yet to produce a full return on value, and the popularity and success of the prem is still growing, so, it's doubtful that the club has reached even close to it's full potential value. Throw in the homegrown/English nature of the squad, and Tottenham stands to hold a very unique position in what is probably the flagship sports league in the world (Only global competition is... maybe the NBA?). That seems like a pretty valuable asset to me!

Another 10 years of expert stewardship by Levy (and hopefully Poch) will have other clubs calling us 'old money'. and see us firmly established at the top.

 

[spursmalc]

ENIC have been so much better than Sugar. Yes they put their own interests first but under Sugar we regressed from being a top team to a mid table struggler. Now we are a top 5 regular.

 

[I8AVB]

Yeah you've been fucking spot on mate








(Sunderland)

Now its a defeat to Liverpool, sigh.....if you had half a clue we'd be about 8th by now.

The one you got right was a draw at City

It's just the same selectiveness that we've seen with Levy in the past - you take all the signings, then divide them up into two boxes - the bad ones and the good ones.

The good ones you put in the praise box of the staff you like, the bad ones you obviously attribute to the staff you don't.


i.e. Levy signed Nelson and Saha, but Redknapp signed Crouch, Walker, Keane, Defoe etc. (ignoring the fact that players like Nelson and Saha are literally the epitome of the kind of player Redknapp signed everywhere else, even signing Nelson by choice for a second time at QPR...)

He wouldn't have signed either Nelson or Saha if Levy had of given him some money. Under Redknapp we played the best football I have ever sen at Spurs. You have a selective memory

 

[sammyspurs]

He wouldn't have signed either Nelson or Saha if Levy had of given him some money. Under Redknapp we played the best football I have ever sen at Spurs. You have a selective memory

Why have you quoted me in this?

Selective memory??

I just said that I enjoyed our time under Redknapp far more than under Ramos and Graham despite the trophies they brought. The football was turgid and shite.

I thought we were fucking amazing under Harry and although we never won anything, I enjoyed our football and progression.
You have claimed that you would be happy to be a mid table team with a cup......now you start bigging our time under Redknapp.

Selective indeed

 

[CJJ]

He wouldn't have signed either Nelson or Saha if Levy had of given him some money. Under Redknapp we played the best football I have ever sen at Spurs. You have a selective memory

...and you have selective reading. Banging on about how we played under Redknapp like it had anything to do with what you quoted, or with what anyone has said.


Of course you know Harry wouldn't have signed Nelson or Saha, because you know everything. Or, just throwing this out there, maybe I should take the word of Kevin Bond instead...

"Harry is very shrewd when it comes to bringing players into the club and knowing what we need – and what he feels the squad needs. That is what he [Louis] has done, both as a player and as a personality. He and Ryan will have a positive influence on the club, not just on the field.

"He [Redknapp] has done that before, there were a number of them when he was at Portsmouth – with Teddy Sheringham, people thought he was miles past his best but he did really really well for us [and] Paul Merson did unbelievably for Harry. He has made a number before, hopefully he has done with a couple more."

Buying older players for cheap/free, then giving them big money contracts is the epitome of a Harry Redknapp signing - not a Daniel Levy signing.

 

[sammyspurs]

...and you have selective reading. Banging on about how we played under Redknapp like it had anything to do with what you quoted, or with what anyone has said.


Of course you know Harry wouldn't have signed Nelson or Saha, because you know everything. Or, just throwing this out there, maybe I should take the word of Kevin Bond instead...

"Harry is very shrewd when it comes to bringing players into the club and knowing what we need – and what he feels the squad needs. That is what he [Louis] has done, both as a player and as a personality. He and Ryan will have a positive influence on the club, not just on the field.

"He [Redknapp] has done that before, there were a number of them when he was at Portsmouth – with Teddy Sheringham, people thought he was miles past his best but he did really really well for us [and] Paul Merson did unbelievably for Harry. He has made a number before, hopefully he has done with a couple more."

Buying older players for cheap/free, then giving them big money contracts is the epitome of a Harry Redknapp signing - not a Daniel Levy signing.

Like or dislike Harry but what I8AVB is missing is that his era and the current era have echoes of similarities.

We are better all through the squad now player for player, but even then on our day we could beat anyone, in style.
Both teams could tear the oppo apart and play some fantastic suff, yet there is no silverwear.
Both leave you wondering what could be (could have been).

Both had the potential to go much further, and both improved our standing and have taken us to the cusp of genuinely challenging the other top clubs, without the massive spending.

Yet here is I8AVB, slating one manager, and praising the other, despite in his words, no trophies means fuck all, and progression can only be measured by silverwear.

 

[VirginiaSpur]

Laugh my tits off every time someone tries to blame Nelsen and Saha on Levy.

 

[CJJ]

Laugh my tits off every time someone tries to blame Nelsen and Saha on Levy.

Especially when I'm pretty sure Louis Saha has scored more PL goals from open play for Spurs than Soldado and Janssen (£46m+?) combined...



Both were good short term signings. We didn't miss out on CL football because of Saha, Nelson or any other player - it was due to 'Arry starting a new job he'd not been offered, plus Chelsea fluking the CL with a one-off rule in place.

 

[Juicy Sushi]

He wouldn't have signed either Nelson or Saha if Levy had of given him some money. Under Redknapp we played the best football I have ever sen at Spurs. You have a selective memory

We played fun, but dumb football. And got found out regularly.

Levy threw £100m at Redknapp that first year, and the resulting signings were a pretty good argument to never let that happen again.

Looking at his managerial career, Spurs aside, there is a long history of relegations and financial crises. The only thing different about Spurs? A ruthlessly hands-on Chairman who tried to squeeze value out of every penny.

I think much of 'arry's time at Spurs was a desperate struggle by Daniel to make sure Redknapp didn't fuck it all up like he usually did.

 

[sammyspurs]

We played fun, but dumb football. And got found out regularly.

We beat Woolwich away, Liverpool away, AC Milan away, City away.
We beat Liverpool, Woolwich and Chelsea at home and smashed teams to bits week in week out.

I dont remember being regularly found out, I remember going from top 6 to top 4 and CL football.

It went to shit in the end, and Harry lost focus etc etc etc etc

We are better now, in every department of the club bar Bale and Modric. But leave the belittling of our great journey to the other clubs fans maybe.

 

[Colonel_K]

We beat Woolwich away, Liverpool away, AC Milan away, City away.
We beat Liverpool, Woolwich and Chelsea at home and smashed teams to bits week in week out.

I dont remember being regularly found out, I remember going from top 6 to top 4 and CL football.

It went to shit in the end, and Harry lost focus etc etc etc etc

We are better now, in every department of the club bar Bale and Modric. But leave the belittling of our great journey to the other clubs fans maybe.

Redknapp era football at times was some of the most swashbuckling I'd seen. However much like Liverpool of today, when it came to many lesser sides we'd fail quite miserably when a team parked the bus and we couldn't find a way through. How many times we'd be knocking on the door of top 4 and we'd come up against a Norwich or a Burnley we'd lose. We just didn't have the consistency to maintain being top 4 or punching above.

 

[sammyspurs]

Redknapp era football at times was some of the most swashbuckling I'd seen. However much like Liverpool of today, when it came to many lesser sides we'd fail quite miserably when a team parked the bus and we couldn't find a way through. How many times we'd be knocking on the door of top 4 and we'd come up against a Norwich or a Burnley we'd lose. We just didn't have the consistency to maintain being top 4 or punching above.

He finsihed 4th twice in 3 seasons....we smashed little sides too.

We struggle even now breaking down those sides with men behind the ball

As I said, I think we are better now. That era was was it was....a little naive, and a fuck load of fun

 

[Juicy Sushi]

He finsihed 4th twice in 3 seasons....we smashed little sides too.

We struggle even now breaking down those sides with men behind the ball

As I said, I think we are better now. That era was was it was....a little naive, and a fuck load of fun

So, as I said, fun, and dumb. Smarter managers with weaker teams on several occasions found ways to thwart us, and that was the difference between then and now. We're much more consistent, even though not quite as spectacular. And the difference is we now are playing like a genuine top-4 side, not a "maybe, with a bit of luck" long shot.

 

[koppel]

He wouldn't have signed either Nelson or Saha if Levy had of given him some money. Under Redknapp we played the best football I have ever sen at Spurs. You have a selective memory

I agree with you that Redknapp would've signed better players than Nelson and Saha in that January window had funds been available but he also turned down someone like Suarez so it's swings and roundabouts. I'm not sure Sissoko was Poch's first choice either, considering he himself said that Mané was the one he wanted.

As for playing the best football under Redknapp. We played some brilliant stuff, particular during that first half of his last season and during the Champions League season, but we've scored more goals in the last two seasons under Pochettino than we ever did under Redknapp. Conceded less too. Won more games too.

 

[koppel]

He finsihed 4th twice in 3 seasons....we smashed little sides too.

We struggle even now breaking down those sides with men behind the ball

As I said, I think we are better now. That era was was it was....a little naive, and a fuck load of fun

Poch will better that record in this season in my opinion. I think we've never been better at breaking teams down at home than we are right now under Pochettino. It was at it's worst under AVB and Sherwood, better under Redknapp, horrible under Poch in his first season but in the last season and a half we've been quite good at it.

 

[sammyspurs]

So, as I said, fun, and dumb. Smarter managers with weaker teams on several occasions found ways to thwart us, and that was the difference between then and now. We're much more consistent, even though not quite as spectacular. And the difference is we now are playing like a genuine top-4 side, not a "maybe, with a bit of luck" long shot.

Ive acknowledged we are better in every department of the club bar Bale and Modric.
Poch is a better manager, the squad is balanced with high quality across the board, and while we have our faults, on our day I think we could beat anyone in Europe.

As I said, maybe leave the put downs to other fans?

I think we were playing like a genuine top 4 club when we beat Woolwich, Chelsea and then City away in the run in to get to the CL, but maybe you think we got lucky.
Anyway, Ive said my bit on that.

I love the way we are going now, but Im grateful for that era. Without it, we wouldnt be where we are now.

Im out

 

[Blanchflower]

Would anyone take Redknapp back now?

I'm not even sure he'd take himself after his comments about Poch on Saturday.

 

[Colonel_K]

He finsihed 4th twice in 3 seasons....we smashed little sides too.

We struggle even now breaking down those sides with men behind the ball

As I said, I think we are better now. That era was was it was....a little naive, and a fuck load of fun

We should have finished higher than 4th in 2012, not blaming Saha and Nelson for that, Redknapp has a lot to answer for post court case and England eyelash fluttering.

2010 finishing 4th though was a massive achievement, especially when we did it against a newly cash rich City.

It's all water under the bridge now and I'm probably loving this time under Pochettino more than that era of Tottenham, just for the way we have developed as a club.

 

[alexwooty]

Would anyone take Redknapp back now?

I'm not even sure he'd take himself after his comments about Poch on Saturday.

What did he say?