Whatever happens, this has shown us up big time.
Im not fussed if Conte comes or not, however this circus is indicative of why the last thing Spurs should be thinking of is a Super League. It's fucking embarrassing.
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Management Poll: Who do you want most as our next manager?
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Whatever happens, this has shown us up big time.
Im not fussed if Conte comes or not, however this circus is indicative of why the last thing Spurs should be thinking of is a Super League. It's fucking embarrassing.
Potter and Ten Hag are probably managers more reflective of where the club is at the moment in terms of league place, ambition, stability and long-term vision.
Conte for more elite levels of expenditure and instant success, very much a coach on the level of where we want to be at in terms of challenging top 4 and for silverware.
I don't mind trying either method as long as it's done properly without trying to hybridise the ideals between the two (ie hire Conte with plans of offering Potter level backing).
It's an interesting divide, it perfectly reflects our club right now, we're somewhere between the elite and mid-table.
Conte for more elite levels of expenditure and instant success, very much a coach on the level of where we want to be at in terms of challenging top 4 and for silverware.
I don't mind trying either method as long as it's done properly without trying to hybridise the ideals between the two (ie hire Conte with plans of offering Potter level backing).
It's an interesting divide, it perfectly reflects our club right now, we're somewhere between the elite and mid-table.
Yea that’s been my view through all of this. Conte sounds ver exotic but it won’t give us the rebuild we need. We’re not a club to go balls out for the next three transfer windows to fix all these issues, well cut corners and at the end of the day we’ll be exactly where we are now.
The other 3 will bring the club back to its roots akin to the early Poch days. It’ll be painful but what is needed.
The reality is there are no guarantees. I can't think of a single manager or DOF where ever appointment has worked out for them, except maybe Pep.
There are so many variables that it's unlikely to be plain sailing. We need so many moving parts to marry up it's going to be tricky regardless.
We can slate Levy for many things, not being intelligent isn't one of them. He will be looking at the big picture, the fact we are reportedly looking at a DOF means he's looking to change tactic. It does also mean appointing both a DOF and manager is more complicated as it's likely one will depend on the other. Each will have their own terms – I dread to think how complicated the negotiations are.
For all the faults over the years lets not forget some appointments that at the time, looked to be bold moves. Sure not all of them worked out but we were pretty excited at the time.
There are so many variables that it's unlikely to be plain sailing. We need so many moving parts to marry up it's going to be tricky regardless.
We can slate Levy for many things, not being intelligent isn't one of them. He will be looking at the big picture, the fact we are reportedly looking at a DOF means he's looking to change tactic. It does also mean appointing both a DOF and manager is more complicated as it's likely one will depend on the other. Each will have their own terms – I dread to think how complicated the negotiations are.
For all the faults over the years lets not forget some appointments that at the time, looked to be bold moves. Sure not all of them worked out but we were pretty excited at the time.
- Harry
- Toby
- Lamella
- Le Celso
- Aurier
- Ndombele
- Berbatov
- Soldado
- Son
- Rebrov
- Poch
- Jose
- Arnesen
- Mitchell
- The big five
not at all mate, I totally get where you're coming from, on paper it seems to make sense but in reality coming to the premiership is hard – few succeed.
You forgot Modric.
Fuck that - just get the ball boy trained up in the other areas.
we've been here before so many times people.
How often have we called it embarrassing and then backtracked when things eventually happened?
For those who say we're a joke, if we unveil a new DOF, Conte and Kane stays for another year are we still a joke, or would Levy have played a blinder?
How often have we called it embarrassing and then backtracked when things eventually happened?
For those who say we're a joke, if we unveil a new DOF, Conte and Kane stays for another year are we still a joke, or would Levy have played a blinder?
As well as the big money buys , Paratici seems to love a free transfer, and I'm sure Levy would be orgasmic at avoiding paying transfer fees.
Meet the man behind the 'signing of the century' who could join Conte at Tottenham — The i Paper
Paratici pulled off some audacious signings in Serie A, but he leaves Juventus with a mixed legacyapple.news
Meet the man behind the 'signing of the century' who could join Conte at Tottenham
Paratici pulled off some audacious signings in Serie A, but he leaves Juventus with a mixed legacy
Next stop on Daniel Levy’s managerial train: a current serial winner. Unable to prise Mauricio Pochettino from Paris Saint-Germain, Tottenham Hotspur have held advanced talks with Antonio Conte to become their third boss in under two years.
The Italian is available after leaving Inter Milan in May, despite leading them to the Scudetto, his fifth title in nine years.
While not the “project” manager for whom Levy appeared to be on the lookout, it is a glittering CV which has attracted Spurs to another short-term solution. Conte has never managed any club for more than three years and the closest he came to building a dynasty was at Juventus.
One of his right-hand men in Turin, Fabio Paratici, is expected to follow him to north London if a deal is agreed. Spurs’ previous directors of football have had mixed results; Franco Baldini to Damien Comolli hardly a roaring success, Frank Arnesen impressive before his treachery in joining Chelsea.
By appointing Paratici, Levy would be sanctioning a wider upheaval at the highest echelons of the club, relinquishing a share of his own power.
That is not necessarily a wise move, however, explains Italian football consultant Chloe Beresford of Curva e Calcio. “Paratici worked well under [Juventus chief executive officer] Beppe Marotta – who he’d worked with previously at Sampdoria – and when Marotta left, he was put in sole charge of transfers,” Beresford told i.
“He did some good deals and some bad deals but really struggled with selling players and has been incapable of building a coherent squad. I’d say he’s a great talent spotter – for example Weston McKennie – but as a sporting director with full control I’m not sure he has what it takes.”
Paratici’s biggest deals
Cristiano Ronaldo (Signed from Real Madrid, £99m)
Gonzalo Higuain (Signed from Napoli, £81m)
Matthijs de Ligt (Signed from Ajax, £67.5m)
Arthur (Signed from Barcelona, £65m)
Joao Cancelo (Signed from Valencia, £36m)
Douglas Costa (Signed from Bayern Munich, £36m)
Paulo Dybala (Signed from Palermo, £36m)
Federico Bernadeschi (Signed from Fiorentina, £36m)
Danilo (Signed from Manchester City, £33m)
The 48-year-old spent 11 years with the Old Lady in various capacities. During that time, Juventus gained a reputation as shrewd movers in the market, primarily thanks to a number of high-profile free signings.
Andrea Pirlo was the very best of them, but there was Paul Pogba, too (an £89m mark-up was made when he was later sold to Manchester United, the same club who had relinquished him as a teenager). There was Dani Alves, Emre Can, and Sami Khedira too.
Paratici’s magnum opus came in 2018 when he achieved what countless of Juventus’ European rivals had failed to do and signed Cristiano Ronaldo. Pouncing on the Portuguese’s unhappiness at the Bernabeu, a price tag of €112m (£99m) for a 33-year-old was baulked at. It has since been vindicated somewhat by more than a century of goals and was hailed by Paratici, in his own words, as the “signing of the century”.
Matthijs de Ligt was another coup, snared from under the noses of Manchester United. Likewise, his £67.5m fee raised alarm when he initially struggled to settle, though he is still only 21.
With Massimiliano Allegri now in charge for a second time, Paratici left Juventus at the end of May as part of a restructuring following a fourth-placed finish. Tottenham are now embarking on a shake-up of their own with mounting pressure on Levy to get it right this time.
But those transfers are not free if the player is crocked and on such high wages that it's impossible to sell them without also having to subsidise those crazy wages at a new club. Eg Ramsey. Or does not live up to the salary he's being paid - eg Rabiot or Khedira.
Also, free transfers involve huge agent & player payments in lieu of the transfer fee. I would love to see some of the financial data about fees for those free transfers, in addition to the salaries.
BC - more generally, I know you are a strong advocate of the DoF structure. The argument for the structure is that the DoF appoints the Head Coach, and is responsible for signing players both to fit the Head Coach's preferred tactical system but also for the medium & long term ensuring some continuity when that coach leaves.
However, in this case, it seems Levy is appointing both Conte and Paratici. Indeed ,rather than Paratici recommending Conte for the role, it seems more likely that Conte recommended Paratici (even though there are claims we looked at Paratici for the DoF role a few years ago).
I think there is a good case for getting a transfer expert who Conte trusts into the club, but my suspicion is that Paratici will be performing a role similar to the "Head Scout / Thrash Out Deals With Agents & Clubs" one that Baldini performed in our "Magnificent Seven" summer.
I don't see this as the appointment of a true DoF, with all the powers believers in the system would grant them.
And fwiw - I'm entirely agnostic about DoFs. My experience has taught me that management structures & restructures are utter bollocks.
It's the calibre & judgement of the person performing the job that matters, not the structure. So if your Chief Scout has crap judgement, then you will sign crap players.
Ditto for your DoF.
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but that's the point, theses players weren't necessarily signed as prospects, they were, at the time massive signings that we were chuffed to bits with. Even the other season we were a joke, then finally Le Celso and Ndombele signed. The shift in sentiment was insane.
''Antonio Conte is keen to bring Inter Milan defender Stefan de Vrij to Spurs if he becomes their new manager, according to reports.''
You make some great points. I think my biggest gripe with Levy in organising the management structure at the club is it often contradicts itself.
We should always have an excellent DOF in my opinion regardless of who the manager is, the fact we don't doesn't fit into Levy's general trait as being a penny pincher as a DOF will save money by identifying good players at the generally low market prices we operate at.
The failure to do this must either be via incompetence or an unwillingness to share responsibilities (more likely).
Hopefully Conte can make better of those two, so far they've been disappointing imo, as per their cost £....
Probably because we had Poch in place.
The media weren't looking for stories.
The deal for Conte sounds like it is about to collapse. I do not know whether we were being used to try get a club with more title aspirations to come in for him or Levy just shat the bed. The problem I have is there seems to be no plan after 6 weeks since firing the last manager. We pinball from one manager target to another.
Season ticket deadline wasn't looming large though...
totally but that's not my main point. At the time the melts were saying we were a joke, a shambles. Not one brick. But eventually we got there.
We're trying to eat at the big boys table and like it or not, externally we're not always perceived as a big boy. Hopefully our time will come.