An Historic Day

[hiatus]

John I think you've convinced everyone that not winning trophies is bad but I doubt you're going to convince anyone else that the blame lies entirely on ownership.

 

[John Thomas]

How many more threads with polls is JT going to start to try and get people to agree with his point of view.

Is it 3 or 4 now, I can't remember, definitely 3 I think ?

God loves a trier.

I take it you voted option D?

 

[stevee]

I take it you voted option D?

Nope.
I didn't vote at all.

Why not add a few more options, such as;

"Levy is a tight bald cunt"

or

"I'm desperate to convince people that I'm right, so I'll keep on starting these threads 'till you all agree with me, and then I'll stop"

Thinking about it the last one might be a winner.

 

[Park Lane Mark Twain]

How many more threads with polls is JT going to start to try and get people to agree with his point of view.

Is it 3 or 4 now, I can't remember, definitely 3 I think ?

God loves a trier.

Shall we have a poll on which JT poll has been the best poll?

 

[Hotspurpaul]

Anyway 'A' historic day John.....

 

[stevee]

Even weirder that the phrase has been posted on here around 100 times by the same person in the last 48 hours!

I knew I should of been in the "NSFW" Thread

:mourfacepalm:

 

[John Thomas]

It’s not Levys fault you were born and dropped on your head. Crying about this over numerous threads isn’t going to change anything John. Sooner you accept this and get behind the club, the happier you will be.

Hey, I'm not the one crying, baby. I'm happy as a pig in shit.
Look at me

Posting polls and threads is fun. You should try it.


Seriously though, I've never known a poster, bitch, cry and gripe and complain about other peoples opinions and comments as much as you.

Other guys I fundamentally disagree with like sammyspurs at least have a sense of humour and show respect.

Try and lighten up a bit mate and just enjoy the forum for what it is.

Or if you can't do that, at least have the decency to put the people or threads ya don't like on ignore.
That option is there for guys just like you

:dierpochhug:

 

[1882]

The club need to make money....

Finishing 4th is more financially rewarding than winning the League Cup, and about the same (give or take) than winning the FA Cup...

Unless we're planning on winning the LEAGUE any time soon...

It's not the fault of the club... it's the way prize money (and 'importance') is placed on certain competitions....

The domestic Cups are for the Fans...

CL Qualification is for the Boardroom and the bank account!!

 

[Spursidol]

Worth reminding people that since Levy came to the club, the whole of football has been distorted by the Russian Oligarch pouring money 'stolen' from the Russian people into Chelsea and the mega oil riches pouring money into ManCity (despite the limited number of fans it has).

Both owners have their reasons for doing so - the first to create a significant public presence outside Russia so as to create a reason not to go back to Russia (slightly hamstrung by his recent lack of UK visa) whilst the 2nd wants similar publicity to overcome the owner's country's appalling human rights record. Neither owner cares for football or its rules or the harm to football created by the flood of money distorting the game and ability of other clubs to compete to buy players and pay them wages.

So with both clubs able to 'buy' their way to 2 of the top 4 places in PL, its tough for other clubs to compete.

The fact we have grown from being lower PL table fodder in the Sugar years before ENIC to being regularly in the top 6 and even top 4 in recent years is pretty much a miracle - and this alongside building a new stadium and training ground costing a billion (with about 50% already paid for and the balance to be paid over the next 20 odd years).

With this new stadium we can now look at Woolwich and Chelsea at the same financial level of revenues and get much closer to Liverpool. And that means over the next couple of years being able to build squads which match our top 4 ambitions, with some years doing better and winning silverware.

Can we award John Thomas the Dianne Abbott award for financial understanding - her repeated 'goofs' of getting financial questions wrong by a factor of 10 or more sums up John Thomas faability to understand what it takes to put together winning squads. And pay the multi hundred million pound wages they require these days !

 

[Park Lane Mark Twain]

I get fans want trophies, but it’s not as if most clubs win trophies. Only a small number of clubs actually win trophies, and with some notable exceptions, it’s only the the big-spending clubs that win anything.

Only 6 teams have won the league cup since 2008:
ManU, Birmingham, Liverpool, Swansea, Chelsea and Man City.

Only 5 teams have won the FA Cup since 2008: Chelsea, Man City, Woolwich, Wigan and ManU.

4 teams have won the Premier League since 2008: Chelsea, ManU, City and Leicester. (5 if you count Liverpool this year)

Would Wigan, Swansea and Birmingham fans give up the trophy they won in recent years to play in a CL final, or even qualify for the CL? I’m guessing they would. Spurs have come a long way since 2008 and will eventually start winning trophies but to focus on the current trophy drought as a marker of success is shortsighted, IMO.

It's not just the experience of playing in the CL and the CL final, it's the ability to be constistently better and sustainable with it all at the same time.

Imagine how Swansea & Birmingham would look as a football club mow with the extra revenue the CL brings. Compare that to the £100k prize money the Carabao Cup brings with it present day.

Silverware is the big thing we all remember but a football club isn't just a football club, it's a business that pays people's wages, invests in assets, gets scrutinised by accountants and faces the prospects of administration or liquidation like any other business that doesn't operate with financial quality does.

To put it into context Birminghams prize asset, Jude Bellingham is being touted for a PL move at around he £20m mark according to some reports. That's less than two rounds of knockout football in the CL gets you. Your biggest talent in decades is worth two rounds of CL football basically. It's a huge feather in a teams cap to be playing at this level. If it wasn't, teams with a slim to no chance of winning it would surely just finish 3rd in their groups and focus on the UEFA Cup instead wouldn't they?

 

[Cranston]

I agree, but the club also spent about £135m last summer and another £30m in January. If we spend another £100m, which I think is needed for a DM (£30-40m) RB (£25-30m) and a striker (£20-30m), I think that is very encouraging. There will be some outgoings as well but I don't think it will be much more than £30-40m unless we sell someone like Kane (doubtful) or Dele (possible).

Very much so.

Not criticising ENIC in that regard. I think it’s a simple reality. If you want to be an elite club, you have to spend like one. I know there are the occasional exceptions, but especially as a PL club, you need to stump up.

Spurs are showing signs of heading in that direction. This Summer will shed more light on the overall plan.

 

[John Thomas]

I’ll just leave these posts here and let JT work out how he can agree with me that the domestic failings were down to Poch, but it’s ENICs fault

Ah, here we go.

Option C off and running

 

[John Thomas]

That weirdly makes him sound desirable.

Even weirder that the phrase has been posted on here around 100 times by the same person in the last 48 hours!

 

[John Thomas]

Anyway 'A' historic day John.....

Yes, I remember it well Paul.

 

[DTM]

Early lead for option A, with option D hot on the heels

D’s a Kop-out vote. I voted B because it’s the absolute truth!

 

[AlabamaSpur]

E. Ham Sammich

 

[Rocket]

F. Louis XIV

 

[JohnnyS]

It can be argued that ENIC could have been braver at times over these years. There was investment however. Some of our transfers haven't been a success for various reasons, but then again every club faces these problems. I am of the opinion we have a problem in the transfer market due to a bad scouting network and the lack of a director of football. We need to make sure the money we have is spent on the right players.

As for us not winning trophies, beyond ENIC's ambition (or lack of it), there have been other factors, too. There were times when we didn't prioritise cups and lost to awful teams or simply bottled it when we came close to winning trophies. Since we won our last trophy, Wigan and Portsmouth won an FA Cup and Swansea and Birmingham City won the League Cup. There's no way those teams were better than us. So the point is, others could do it and so could have we.

I also believe we could have done a better job during the years we played in the Europa. Among the teams we lost against are Gent, Fiorentina and Basel. I could also add Benfica, but some might be tempted to say they are somehow world beaters, so I'll leave them out.

 

[sammyspurs]

I was in the Falklands for this so didn’t even get to watch the bloody game as it wasn’t in BFBS!

Ardiles scored and Glenn Hoddle made his debut

 

[mouse]

GROAN by Mouse

fan: WANT NEW PLAYER
club: Good players cost lots and lots of money
fan: OKAY GET MONEY
club: Sure, we currently prioritise the most lucrative of all the competitions we are in, in order to maximise our revenue and our available transfer budget.
fan: WIN TROPHY
club: Well, a league cup win will pay 1 weeks wages for a low / mid tier player?
fan: DONT CARE WIN TROPHY
club: But......
fan: AND BUY PLAYER

And repeat to fade.