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Management ENIC

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  • Total voters
    209
It was truly shambolic, we are a less attractive proposition now than then , that is worrying . Likely no European football and Conte has basically told the world succeeding at Spurs is Mission Impossibe.

That’s why I fear it might be Brenton, a man on the slide

You need to calm down lol , there's much more attractive propositions on the market this time around.
 
If they are attractive , why would they choose us ? Be honest if you were an elite manager would you choose to come to us ? When Jose and Conte came we were in much better shape, then factoring Harry might go this summer or next, we are not an appealing proposition

Slot, Amorim, De Zerbi, Alonso, Postecoglu, Frank, Glasner wouldn't turn us down...actually maybe De Zerbi would as I don't think he's a manager who likes to move that much - We don't have to attract an elite manager, forget about that but in the context of this discussion there are much better options on the market compared to two years ago, you still have managers like Potter and Rodgers out of a job who you could turn to, beats having Gattuso and Fonseca.

You look at things a bit one sided, you throw wages at these managers where you can triple their salary, get to manage a top 6 Premier League in London with money to spend, it's incredibly attractive to these sort of managers because you are essentially coming into a club with potential and a huge step up in your career.
 
Slot, Amorim, De Zerbi, Alonso, Postecoglu, Frank, Glasner wouldn't turn us down...actually maybe De Zerbi would as I don't think he's a manager who likes to move that much - We don't have to attract an elite manager, forget about that but in the context of this discussion there are much better options on the market compared to two years ago, you still have managers like Potter and Rodgers out of a job who you could turn to, beats having Gattuso and Fonseca.

You look at things a bit one sided, you throw wages at these managers where you can triple their salary, get to manage a top 6 Premier League in London with money to spend, it's incredibly attractive to these sort of managers because you are essentially coming into a club with potential and a huge step up in your career.
I would include Gallardo on that list , I am still not convinced however we won’t start second half June and possibly even July without our structure in place . I hope I am wrong , but I envisage us pissing over the pot , then saying didn’t want him anyway to many of that list
 
Tweeted by Nathan of The Extra Inch (can’t find the tweet now)

To-Do List for Tottenham's next Director of Football

1 - Disinvolve Daniel Levy from all football operations

This is a complex issue. Chairman Levy has achieved incredible things over the course of his initial 15 years of Tottenham stewardship; taking the club from low/mid-table to wealthy Champions League regulars, with extraordinarily enhanced revenue streams, a state-of-the-art training ground and the best modern football stadium in the world.
His business acumen - as exampled by financing and delivery of the new stadium - remains outstanding but his lack of football knowledge has hit a hard wall, as the game has evolved around him, and is now doing harm to the club.
Levy veered away from previous club strategy in appointing so-called ‘win now’ managers in Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte, both of whom clash with previous club principles, such as promoting home-grown youth players and delivering an attractive style of play - see item (2) for further depth.
This is an imperative task but it’s also likely one that pushing hard for gets you rejected as a candidate before the job even starts. This may well have to be a gradual and consistent effort.

1b - Establish a fixed budget
Flexibility to say “it depends who is available” seems great when you have control over the club at large, but it undermines long-term planning. What’s more, it leaves you, technical director, subject to the whims and, again, grasp on football, of the man with the chequebook.
A fixed budget - which you are able to divide into player transfers, player wages and non-playing staff recruitment - is independence, a framework for scouting and a basis for setting and reviewing goals.


2 - Found club play style
“We are acutely aware of the need to select someone whose values reflect those of our great Club and return to playing football with the style for which we are known – free-flowing, attacking and entertaining” wrote Daniel Levy in an open letter to the fans in the summer 2021 after sacking Jose Mourinho and before hiring Nuno Espirito Santo and then, a few weeks later, Antonio Conte.

The issue with this description and subsequent actions are not, in fact, a conscious dishonesty or indecisiveness but, once more, a lack of understanding of the game of football on a tactical level. The descriptions used are much more platitudes of quality than an actual style of play.

Nuno’s football has been all those things at brief times in his career. Conte’s arguably was during his first season at the club but the ability to achieve ‘free-flowing, attacking and entertaining’ football on a consistent basis requires specific meta-tactical approaches in the modern game as well as, of course, the ability to enact a game plan with quality of players and sustainable approaches to coaching.

Namely, Tottenham must hire a coach who will play with structured possession, a high-pressing game and the intent to combine the two for the purpose of dominating the ball in the majority of games. This now becomes the ‘Spurs DNA’ but remains under review as the tactical game evolves - only with this established can a list of coaching candidates be drawn up.


3 - Hire a coach who can deliver Spurs DNA football

This should be your job but Levy and Munn may have beaten you to it. Make sure that any new coach in place does not undermine your ability to achieve the two prior points on this list - otherwise this job is not for you.

Leading candidates who fit the profile in item (2) and may be open to working under your authority include Julian Nagelsmann, Vincent Kompany, Arne Slot, Ange Postecoglou and Roberto De Zerbi - though the personal characteristics of De Zerbi may be a sticking point.

4 - Audit talent ID and recruitment structure

Fabio Paratici, in the job before you, quickly overhauled Spurs’ scouting operations. Several named hires were brought in to various roles - it’s possible some tough and important work has already been done here.
Extensively interview these hires and audit the structures and processes. In order to outperform domestic rivals with far greater budgets, Tottenham must convert to data-lead recruitment, and it may be necessary to begin the restructuring process over again.

Thanks to the success of Liverpool, Brighton and Brentford, analytics and video-based scouting are no longer as cutting edge in the league as they were even five years ago, but Spurs can still gain a significant advantage over the majority of clubs by financing and empowering a large analytics department to be the starting point for all talent ID. As well as running both analytics-aware video scouting and analytics-naive traditional in-person scouting in tandem.

Spurs must return to being a club who identify, recruit and coach younger talents with an openness to selling older talents for very large sums in order to facilitate continuous squad growth and turnover. However, Spurs are also a club who are in a very financially strong position and are therefore able to occasionally recruit peak age players in order to fill high urgency player profile needs.
4b - Form a negotiations team

Agent and club liaison and fee negotiations should not be the role of one person who is also tasked with overseeing talent ID. Hire specialists in negotiation to be a full-time operational team who can be in multiple places and pursuing multiple deals at once - consider hiring from outside the football industry (commercial sales, lawyers, diplomats).
This will aid you in achieving item (1).

5 - Decide the futures of Harry Kane and Son Heung-min

Again, this is an item that you may have to fight hard to keep within your own remit.

Harry Kane is entering the final year of his contract, which means that, if he is not sold this summer, he will be able to leave the club for free in the summer of 2024. This cannot be allowed to happen.

In order to win good will from the club and fanbase, you should attempt to persuade Kane of the positive direction the club will take under your leadership and the quality of football and results that your new coach will provide if he signs a new contract to stay at the club.
If Kane will not sign a new contract, you must take the last opportunity to get a fee for his services and guide him to an overseas club instead of a domestic rival. Otherwise, the club is essentially spending that potential fee + his wages for a single year of performances; an absurd deal.
If Kane does extend his contract, then Son Hueng-min should be made available for transfer in his place in order to generate market income and lower the age of Spurs' forward line - though this will likely be unpopular.

6 - Analyse full squad with new coach
Tottenham have a large number of players already deemed unwanted by previous coaches out on loan as well as an existing playing squad that has been built very specifically for the prior coach.
As a result, there will need to be several outgoings over the next two to three windows and significant losses will have to be accepted in order to create room in the squad.
First, consult with the new coach over which players are immediately unwanted and which profile gaps are left unfulfilled.
The current squad lends itself very heavily towards playing with a back three - specifically Romero, Porro and Udogie - and an incoming coach should be at least open-minded to the possibility with playing a three-back formation in the medium-term.

Likely your coach will be looking to improve the overall technical level of the squad while obtaining first XI profiles in the mould of one or possibly two creative midfielders, one or likely two centre-backs of which one would be left-footed, a rounded, modern goalkeeper and a replacement forward for whichever one of Kane or Son is leaving.
In addition, the squad will require fresh young talent to deputise various roles with older and unwanted players leaving.

7 - Communicate with fans
Many of the above points are at odds with what traditional football fans might be used to. Therefore, it will be really important to open a clear dialogue with fan groups, and the entire fanbase directly to explain the rationale behind decisions.
For example, if the club needs to sell Son Heung-min or Harry Kane, then considerable honesty must be proffered around the reasons behind this as well as the consequences of the decision.
 
I really would not be surprised if we are looking for some yes man who says he can get a tune out of N’Dombele and Lo Celso, I have zero confidence we will get our key hires and transfers right , absolutely none , zilch .
Statistics say we will mess this up , all we can do is hope it’s law of averages lucky time .
 
Tweeted by Nathan of The Extra Inch (can’t find the tweet now)

To-Do List for Tottenham's next Director of Football

1 - Disinvolve Daniel Levy from all football operations

This is a complex issue. Chairman Levy has achieved incredible things over the course of his initial 15 years of Tottenham stewardship; taking the club from low/mid-table to wealthy Champions League regulars, with extraordinarily enhanced revenue streams, a state-of-the-art training ground and the best modern football stadium in the world.
His business acumen - as exampled by financing and delivery of the new stadium - remains outstanding but his lack of football knowledge has hit a hard wall, as the game has evolved around him, and is now doing harm to the club.
Levy veered away from previous club strategy in appointing so-called ‘win now’ managers in Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte, both of whom clash with previous club principles, such as promoting home-grown youth players and delivering an attractive style of play - see item (2) for further depth.
This is an imperative task but it’s also likely one that pushing hard for gets you rejected as a candidate before the job even starts. This may well have to be a gradual and consistent effort.

1b - Establish a fixed budget
Flexibility to say “it depends who is available” seems great when you have control over the club at large, but it undermines long-term planning. What’s more, it leaves you, technical director, subject to the whims and, again, grasp on football, of the man with the chequebook.
A fixed budget - which you are able to divide into player transfers, player wages and non-playing staff recruitment - is independence, a framework for scouting and a basis for setting and reviewing goals.


2 - Found club play style
“We are acutely aware of the need to select someone whose values reflect those of our great Club and return to playing football with the style for which we are known – free-flowing, attacking and entertaining” wrote Daniel Levy in an open letter to the fans in the summer 2021 after sacking Jose Mourinho and before hiring Nuno Espirito Santo and then, a few weeks later, Antonio Conte.

The issue with this description and subsequent actions are not, in fact, a conscious dishonesty or indecisiveness but, once more, a lack of understanding of the game of football on a tactical level. The descriptions used are much more platitudes of quality than an actual style of play.

Nuno’s football has been all those things at brief times in his career. Conte’s arguably was during his first season at the club but the ability to achieve ‘free-flowing, attacking and entertaining’ football on a consistent basis requires specific meta-tactical approaches in the modern game as well as, of course, the ability to enact a game plan with quality of players and sustainable approaches to coaching.

Namely, Tottenham must hire a coach who will play with structured possession, a high-pressing game and the intent to combine the two for the purpose of dominating the ball in the majority of games. This now becomes the ‘Spurs DNA’ but remains under review as the tactical game evolves - only with this established can a list of coaching candidates be drawn up.


3 - Hire a coach who can deliver Spurs DNA football

This should be your job but Levy and Munn may have beaten you to it. Make sure that any new coach in place does not undermine your ability to achieve the two prior points on this list - otherwise this job is not for you.

Leading candidates who fit the profile in item (2) and may be open to working under your authority include Julian Nagelsmann, Vincent Kompany, Arne Slot, Ange Postecoglou and Roberto De Zerbi - though the personal characteristics of De Zerbi may be a sticking point.

4 - Audit talent ID and recruitment structure

Fabio Paratici, in the job before you, quickly overhauled Spurs’ scouting operations. Several named hires were brought in to various roles - it’s possible some tough and important work has already been done here.
Extensively interview these hires and audit the structures and processes. In order to outperform domestic rivals with far greater budgets, Tottenham must convert to data-lead recruitment, and it may be necessary to begin the restructuring process over again.

Thanks to the success of Liverpool, Brighton and Brentford, analytics and video-based scouting are no longer as cutting edge in the league as they were even five years ago, but Spurs can still gain a significant advantage over the majority of clubs by financing and empowering a large analytics department to be the starting point for all talent ID. As well as running both analytics-aware video scouting and analytics-naive traditional in-person scouting in tandem.

Spurs must return to being a club who identify, recruit and coach younger talents with an openness to selling older talents for very large sums in order to facilitate continuous squad growth and turnover. However, Spurs are also a club who are in a very financially strong position and are therefore able to occasionally recruit peak age players in order to fill high urgency player profile needs.
4b - Form a negotiations team

Agent and club liaison and fee negotiations should not be the role of one person who is also tasked with overseeing talent ID. Hire specialists in negotiation to be a full-time operational team who can be in multiple places and pursuing multiple deals at once - consider hiring from outside the football industry (commercial sales, lawyers, diplomats).
This will aid you in achieving item (1).

5 - Decide the futures of Harry Kane and Son Heung-min

Again, this is an item that you may have to fight hard to keep within your own remit.

Harry Kane is entering the final year of his contract, which means that, if he is not sold this summer, he will be able to leave the club for free in the summer of 2024. This cannot be allowed to happen.

In order to win good will from the club and fanbase, you should attempt to persuade Kane of the positive direction the club will take under your leadership and the quality of football and results that your new coach will provide if he signs a new contract to stay at the club.
If Kane will not sign a new contract, you must take the last opportunity to get a fee for his services and guide him to an overseas club instead of a domestic rival. Otherwise, the club is essentially spending that potential fee + his wages for a single year of performances; an absurd deal.
If Kane does extend his contract, then Son Hueng-min should be made available for transfer in his place in order to generate market income and lower the age of Spurs' forward line - though this will likely be unpopular.

6 - Analyse full squad with new coach
Tottenham have a large number of players already deemed unwanted by previous coaches out on loan as well as an existing playing squad that has been built very specifically for the prior coach.
As a result, there will need to be several outgoings over the next two to three windows and significant losses will have to be accepted in order to create room in the squad.
First, consult with the new coach over which players are immediately unwanted and which profile gaps are left unfulfilled.
The current squad lends itself very heavily towards playing with a back three - specifically Romero, Porro and Udogie - and an incoming coach should be at least open-minded to the possibility with playing a three-back formation in the medium-term.

Likely your coach will be looking to improve the overall technical level of the squad while obtaining first XI profiles in the mould of one or possibly two creative midfielders, one or likely two centre-backs of which one would be left-footed, a rounded, modern goalkeeper and a replacement forward for whichever one of Kane or Son is leaving.
In addition, the squad will require fresh young talent to deputise various roles with older and unwanted players leaving.

7 - Communicate with fans
Many of the above points are at odds with what traditional football fans might be used to. Therefore, it will be really important to open a clear dialogue with fan groups, and the entire fanbase directly to explain the rationale behind decisions.
For example, if the club needs to sell Son Heung-min or Harry Kane, then considerable honesty must be proffered around the reasons behind this as well as the consequences of the decision.
That reads like Santa’s wishlist territory when it comes to ENIC and Levy, end of the day their ambition isn’t to win things, it’s to make money and that will be their continued area of focus and competency, more specifically property and non footballing entertainment . In short we need them gone, no more wishlists, no more 5 year plans, no more promises, as they simply don’t deliver…
 
Last edited:
Discount Dan.

%'s off already overpriced, high profit margin shit and overpriced, high profit margin activities and early access to places where you can spend more on overpriced drink to fill their fucking inept pockets with more cash when there's no football on.

Leechy as fuck.
Shut the stadium down when Spurs arent't playing, lads.

What, you mean there are hundreds employed at/around the stadium?

Tough shit, the really, really, really intelligent, reasonable and measured "supporters" have spoken.
 
Gattuso was never going to work due to a fan revolt, not even sure what happened with Fonseca but I don't think Paratici was convinced.

Nuno was definitely the safe choice and they panicked because time was running out.

That Summer was jokes.
The stuff with the failed meeting between Paratici and Fonseca and the consensus around Nuno emerging out of the notion that his back four setup was more "attacking" is too absurd and stupid to be comfortably believed.
 
Tweeted by Nathan of The Extra Inch (can’t find the tweet now)

To-Do List for Tottenham's next Director of Football

1 - Disinvolve Daniel Levy from all football operations

This is a complex issue. Chairman Levy has achieved incredible things over the course of his initial 15 years of Tottenham stewardship; taking the club from low/mid-table to wealthy Champions League regulars, with extraordinarily enhanced revenue streams, a state-of-the-art training ground and the best modern football stadium in the world.
His business acumen - as exampled by financing and delivery of the new stadium - remains outstanding but his lack of football knowledge has hit a hard wall, as the game has evolved around him, and is now doing harm to the club.
Levy veered away from previous club strategy in appointing so-called ‘win now’ managers in Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte, both of whom clash with previous club principles, such as promoting home-grown youth players and delivering an attractive style of play - see item (2) for further depth.
This is an imperative task but it’s also likely one that pushing hard for gets you rejected as a candidate before the job even starts. This may well have to be a gradual and consistent effort.

1b - Establish a fixed budget
Flexibility to say “it depends who is available” seems great when you have control over the club at large, but it undermines long-term planning. What’s more, it leaves you, technical director, subject to the whims and, again, grasp on football, of the man with the chequebook.
A fixed budget - which you are able to divide into player transfers, player wages and non-playing staff recruitment - is independence, a framework for scouting and a basis for setting and reviewing goals.


2 - Found club play style
“We are acutely aware of the need to select someone whose values reflect those of our great Club and return to playing football with the style for which we are known – free-flowing, attacking and entertaining” wrote Daniel Levy in an open letter to the fans in the summer 2021 after sacking Jose Mourinho and before hiring Nuno Espirito Santo and then, a few weeks later, Antonio Conte.

The issue with this description and subsequent actions are not, in fact, a conscious dishonesty or indecisiveness but, once more, a lack of understanding of the game of football on a tactical level. The descriptions used are much more platitudes of quality than an actual style of play.

Nuno’s football has been all those things at brief times in his career. Conte’s arguably was during his first season at the club but the ability to achieve ‘free-flowing, attacking and entertaining’ football on a consistent basis requires specific meta-tactical approaches in the modern game as well as, of course, the ability to enact a game plan with quality of players and sustainable approaches to coaching.

Namely, Tottenham must hire a coach who will play with structured possession, a high-pressing game and the intent to combine the two for the purpose of dominating the ball in the majority of games. This now becomes the ‘Spurs DNA’ but remains under review as the tactical game evolves - only with this established can a list of coaching candidates be drawn up.


3 - Hire a coach who can deliver Spurs DNA football

This should be your job but Levy and Munn may have beaten you to it. Make sure that any new coach in place does not undermine your ability to achieve the two prior points on this list - otherwise this job is not for you.

Leading candidates who fit the profile in item (2) and may be open to working under your authority include Julian Nagelsmann, Vincent Kompany, Arne Slot, Ange Postecoglou and Roberto De Zerbi - though the personal characteristics of De Zerbi may be a sticking point.

4 - Audit talent ID and recruitment structure

Fabio Paratici, in the job before you, quickly overhauled Spurs’ scouting operations. Several named hires were brought in to various roles - it’s possible some tough and important work has already been done here.
Extensively interview these hires and audit the structures and processes. In order to outperform domestic rivals with far greater budgets, Tottenham must convert to data-lead recruitment, and it may be necessary to begin the restructuring process over again.

Thanks to the success of Liverpool, Brighton and Brentford, analytics and video-based scouting are no longer as cutting edge in the league as they were even five years ago, but Spurs can still gain a significant advantage over the majority of clubs by financing and empowering a large analytics department to be the starting point for all talent ID. As well as running both analytics-aware video scouting and analytics-naive traditional in-person scouting in tandem.

Spurs must return to being a club who identify, recruit and coach younger talents with an openness to selling older talents for very large sums in order to facilitate continuous squad growth and turnover. However, Spurs are also a club who are in a very financially strong position and are therefore able to occasionally recruit peak age players in order to fill high urgency player profile needs.
4b - Form a negotiations team

Agent and club liaison and fee negotiations should not be the role of one person who is also tasked with overseeing talent ID. Hire specialists in negotiation to be a full-time operational team who can be in multiple places and pursuing multiple deals at once - consider hiring from outside the football industry (commercial sales, lawyers, diplomats).
This will aid you in achieving item (1).

5 - Decide the futures of Harry Kane and Son Heung-min

Again, this is an item that you may have to fight hard to keep within your own remit.

Harry Kane is entering the final year of his contract, which means that, if he is not sold this summer, he will be able to leave the club for free in the summer of 2024. This cannot be allowed to happen.

In order to win good will from the club and fanbase, you should attempt to persuade Kane of the positive direction the club will take under your leadership and the quality of football and results that your new coach will provide if he signs a new contract to stay at the club.
If Kane will not sign a new contract, you must take the last opportunity to get a fee for his services and guide him to an overseas club instead of a domestic rival. Otherwise, the club is essentially spending that potential fee + his wages for a single year of performances; an absurd deal.
If Kane does extend his contract, then Son Hueng-min should be made available for transfer in his place in order to generate market income and lower the age of Spurs' forward line - though this will likely be unpopular.

6 - Analyse full squad with new coach
Tottenham have a large number of players already deemed unwanted by previous coaches out on loan as well as an existing playing squad that has been built very specifically for the prior coach.
As a result, there will need to be several outgoings over the next two to three windows and significant losses will have to be accepted in order to create room in the squad.
First, consult with the new coach over which players are immediately unwanted and which profile gaps are left unfulfilled.
The current squad lends itself very heavily towards playing with a back three - specifically Romero, Porro and Udogie - and an incoming coach should be at least open-minded to the possibility with playing a three-back formation in the medium-term.

Likely your coach will be looking to improve the overall technical level of the squad while obtaining first XI profiles in the mould of one or possibly two creative midfielders, one or likely two centre-backs of which one would be left-footed, a rounded, modern goalkeeper and a replacement forward for whichever one of Kane or Son is leaving.
In addition, the squad will require fresh young talent to deputise various roles with older and unwanted players leaving.

7 - Communicate with fans
Many of the above points are at odds with what traditional football fans might be used to. Therefore, it will be really important to open a clear dialogue with fan groups, and the entire fanbase directly to explain the rationale behind decisions.
For example, if the club needs to sell Son Heung-min or Harry Kane, then considerable honesty must be proffered around the reasons behind this as well as the consequences of the decision.

All of that is bang on. They should have a consultant telling them things like that.
 
Slot, Amorim, De Zerbi, Alonso, Postecoglu, Frank, Glasner wouldn't turn us down...actually maybe De Zerbi would as I don't think he's a manager who likes to move that much - We don't have to attract an elite manager, forget about that but in the context of this discussion there are much better options on the market compared to two years ago, you still have managers like Potter and Rodgers out of a job who you could turn to, beats having Gattuso and Fonseca.

You look at things a bit one sided, you throw wages at these managers where you can triple their salary, get to manage a top 6 Premier League in London with money to spend, it's incredibly attractive to these sort of managers because you are essentially coming into a club with potential and a huge step up in your career.

Top 6 - have you a crystal ball?

Huge step up in your career? Are you having a laugh? There is no career in being Levy's puppet and failing to win.

Do you know we've lost 9 away games this season, the last time that happened was when enic took over in 2001. So they've managed to take us in a complete circle. Only Levy can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

What's the weather like on the planet you dwell on?
 

OLIVER HOLT: Spurs' days among the elite of English football are OVER. They are also-rans now. Levy's history of bad decisions has caught up with him and his shadow lingers over the club​

  • Tottenham have established themselves in the 'Big Six' over the past 15 years
  • But this season has been dismal, with the team having three different managers
  • Levy's bad decisions as chairman have led to Spurs no longer being an elite club
By OLIVER HOLT FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 18:00 BST, 15 May 2023 | UPDATED: 15:57 BST, 16 May 2023

Last week, Spurs let it be known that they had ‘ended their interest’ in appointing Julian Nagelsmann as their new manager.
On the very same day, by pure co-incidence, I ended my interest in opening the batting for England in the First Test against Australia at Edgbaston next month.
I also ended my interest in replacing Erling Haaland in the Manchester City starting eleven against Real Madrid on Wednesday. And even though I knew he would take it badly, I told Gareth Southgate I had ended my interest in playing for England at Euro 2024.

There is not much that is funny about Tottenham’s current parlous plight but the mix of face-saving fantasy and haughtiness contained in their dismissal of Nagelsmann’s job prospects at a club lying seventh in the Premier League and heading south fast was bitterly amusing.

The truth is that Spurs should be begging Nagelsmann to be their next manager, not using his name as a public relations device. They should be moving heaven and earth to get the former Bayern Munich boss to north London and drag them from the stinking mire in which they are steeped.

The mess is piling up so high at Tottenham, you need wings to stay above it. An inventory of their woes is not a short list but somewhere high on it is the fact that their best manager of recent years, Mauricio Pochettino, is on the verge of joining their hated rivals, Chelsea.

Pochettino’s talent, combined with the brilliance of players like Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son, took Spurs close to the title in 2016 and the Champions League final in 2019 but his legacy has been squandered by chairman Daniel Levy. Kane remains but he may leave this summer. If he remains, he will be a shipwreck on a deserted beach.

Levy’s managerial choices post-Pochettino have been a mixture of vanity appointments and staggering misjudgments. Player recruitment has been abysmal. Spurs are sinking. They will not be involved in the Champions League next season. They are one of the big six in name only now.

Levy’s legacy is that the club plays in the best stadium in the Premier League and has one of the best training grounds. That should not be dismissed. But it ends there. He has failed repeatedly and conspicuously to build a team worthy of playing in that stadium. He is further away from that goal now than he has ever been.

His failure to formulate anything resembling a cogent succession plan in the wake of the predictable departure of Antonio Conte earlier this season has cost Spurs a place in the top four. For a man who prides himself on his fiscal husbandry, that lack of foresight and planning will cost the club tens of millions of pounds in lost revenue.

So why would a manager like Nagelsmann, one of the most highly-rated coaches in European football, want to join Spurs? Why would any of the best talents in the game want to go to a club that is a black hole for leading managers?

Yes, Spurs should be trying everything they can to get Nagelsmann. They should be trying everything they can to get Roberto de Zerbi from Brighton. They should be doing everything they can to get Vincent Kompany out of Burnley.

But why would any of those managers go to Spurs? Why would Nagelsmann, De Zerbi or Kompany risk their careers to go to a club that has become notorious for stymying the progress of managers? Each of them would surely have a raft of better options.

Spurs is a manager’s graveyard. It is a club where the shadow of Levy lingers over all and inhibits all. It is a club that relies on an excuse culture. It is a club that refuses to commit. It is a club that backs away from any vision that does not pay due reverence to the god of the deal. There is always a caveat. There is always a catch. It is a place where managers go to be unhappy.

Spurs have a team now that is barely the right side of ordinary. They are not in the same class as Manchester City or Woolwich. They have been overtaken by Newcastle United. They have fallen behind Manchester United, as they continue their recovery under Erik ten Hag.

Spurs are not as well run as Liverpool, who have stuck by their manager, Jurgen Klopp, during a difficult season and who have returned to an upward trajectory. They have been overtaken by Brighton, too, whose planning puts them to shame. They are level on points with Aston Villa but Villa are a club moving forwards. Spurs are not.

Most people – many Spurs fans included – would also wager that a Chelsea team managed by Pochettino will start to see some return on its lavish player investment next season and climb up the table beyond Tottenham.

That is a long way of saying that, until something radical changes, Spurs’ days among the elite of English football are over. They are also-rans now. Levy’s history of bad decisions has caught up with him.

Spurs have a wonderful stadium that stages significant sporting events. Fewer and fewer of them involve football. Until that changes, Tottenham may discover that, before they can say they have ended their interest in a leading manager, leading managers are lining up to say they have ended their interest in them
 
He was forced by Berbatov turning up at Old Trafford without permission tbf , he had already sold Keane I believe . We then ended up with Fraser Campbell , one could argue it was Levy’s responsibility to know what Berbatov might do and should have at least sorted it sooner . But I think if he had rolled over on selling Berbatov fans would have been outraged , I know I would have been . With hindsight it was a massive screw up , at the time I don’t think he could have won whatever he did ,

Cannot believe I’m defending him , whichever way you slice it Campbell was a disaster though
My recollection on Judas was that he refused to sign a new contract no matter what, and also refused to be sold.

I could be well off on that though.
I do remember him (Judas) saying repeatedly that he would decide when the season was finished, knowing full well that he'd already done a deal with Woolwich
 
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