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Its intresting stuff. And your points are well made however a point on Paratici. The acquisitions of Gil, Sarr, Royale really do match the kind of strategy we once did so well.I think there's some sense in this article, some stuff some of us have been saying all along:
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How Tottenham can compete with mega-rich clubs and be successful again
An interesting counterfactual when assessing Daniel Levy’s Tottenham is to consider where the club would be if Abu Dhabi had not transformed the financial fortunes of Manchester City.www.standard.co.uk
An interesting counterfactual when assessing Daniel Levy’s Tottenham is to consider where the club would be if Abu Dhabi had not transformed the financial fortunes of Manchester City.
Since City were catapulted into the financial elite in 2008, they have finished above Spurs in nine of 13 seasons and, in three of those campaigns, effectively denied them Champions League football by being above the fifth-placed north London club.
Without a financially-boosted City, Spurs might well have finished in the top four in nine of the previous 13 seasons and quite possibly won a trophy or several.
Levy’s careful business plan would be far more celebrated today and the perception of Spurs and their embattled chairman would surely be very different.
The question feels relevant because yesterday’s opponents are the next club hoping to quickly leapfrog Spurs following their takeover by a consortium backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
Even before considering the ethical questions of Saudi’s human rights record, you can understand why Levy would feel particularly aggrieved at another Premier League sportswashing project.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s side burst Newcastle’s Saudi bubble with a 3-2 win at St James’ Park which underlined the scale of the task facing the Toon’s new owners, but as much as any club in the Premier League, Spurs stand to lose out from the changing of the guard on Tyneside.
Levy’s brand of fiscal prudence is now up against three projects backed by fabulous wealth, also including Roman Abramovich’s Chelsea, as well as commercial behemoths in Manchester United and Liverpool. Spurs have their own trump card in their stadium, which successfully hosted the NFL yesterday, but competing at the top will be no easier if Newcastle’s hopes are realised.
Spurs comfortably bested Steve Bruce’s struggling side on an occasion when the football felt secondary following the collapse of a supporter, which held up play for 20 minutes.
The visitors responded to Callum Wilson’s second-minute header with three goals before the interval through Tanguy Ndombele, Harry Kane — his first in the League this season — and Heung-min Son to offer optimism about their own futures under Nuno.
Kane looked back to his old self, giving Spurs the lead with an expert arcing run and deft first-time flick, while Ndombele looked the part at No10. A late own-goal by Eric Dier after Newcastle substitute Jonjo Shelvey was sent off was more than the hosts deserved.
The win was another small step forward for Nuno’s side, but Newcastle have taken a giant leap this month and, in the longer term, Levy and managing director Fabio Paratici must consider how best to be competitive in a division boasting another club who can consistently outspend Spurs.
One approach is for Spurs to simply accept that they cannot compete in the same ways as their wealthier rivals and return to a business model for growth. As they have progressed, Spurs have arguably begun to behave like a richer club than they are, evidenced by their refusal to sell important players and by spending big on individuals.
The question of whether they should have been more open to offers for Kane in the summer is complicated, but Spurs could have sold Dele Alli, Dier and Danny Rose when they had the chance, and cashed in on Toby Alderweireld, Christian Eriksen and Mousa Dembele sooner.
Borussia Dortmund and Leicester have remained competitive by selling star players for huge sums at the right times, but Spurs have become reluctant to accept that selling is not necessarily an admission of weakness, but rather a prudent way of raising funds to refresh the squad.
Of course, there is no use in selling players if they are not effectively replaced, and Spurs’s recent recruitment policy has also felt misguided. They have taken huge financial risks by agreeing to spend more than £50million on Ndombele, Giovani Lo Celso and Cristian Romero.
While clubs backed by nation states and oligarchs can afford to quickly replace expensive disappointments, Spurs cannot. Most of their biggest successes in the transfer market have been young, affordable, high-potential players such as Gareth Bale, Dele and Kyle Walker, while almost all of their 10 most expensive transfers have underwhelmed.
As Spurs begin another rebuild, showing a willingness to sell and taking a less risky approach to buying could be part of their strategy to compete.
It bears repeating how much more successful Spurs would probably have been if other clubs had not been revolutionised by investment, and over the next decade you wonder if Newcastle’s windfall could impact their fortunes as much as City’s change in ownership.
The Magpies will surely pose greater threats to Spurs in future than they managed yesterday and it is up to the Londoners to be smart in order to be successful again.
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I'm not sure Leicester deserve to placed in the same echelon as Dortmund, and we can argue about some of the devil in some of the detail, but the general gist of the piece I think makes a salient point.
The problem for me has never been the amount of money, or more relevantly, the percentage of revenue Levy has been prepared/allowed to re-invest - generally speaking, for most of the last 15 years what the club makes has gone back into the club. The fundamental self sustainable model is the same for most clubs. For a while we operated a similar model to the likes Dortmund and Liverpool.
The problem is Levy's decision, believing in Pochettino he'd found his "Wenger/Ferguson" to abandon that strategy (not exclusively but generally biased toward buy with potential and inherent value and develop) and opt for a different one (a more managerial controlled "now" strategy).
This wasn't the first time Levy had made this mistake, he did the same under Redknapp. So it's a serial error. For which Levy deserves huge criticism. Along with the appointments made within those strategies.
He had the chance in the summer to put things right, and again, IMO, made a dogs dinner of it. Paratici and Nuno were ill matched and ill suited to the kind of model we should be following - and once did very successfully.
Daniel Levy says eat up...
Paratici made a name for himself as a scout of talented prospects at Sampdoria back in the day. Give him the M.O to focus on talented prospects and building Spurs into a talent factory and I think that he would do well enough at doing that.
Yep no quit sure why folk have panicked about him so much after the three defeats just emotional I guess. I honestly think
Sarr
Royal
Romero
Gil
Compare very favorably so far with. Locelso, N'kudu N'Jai and whoever else was being scouted at the end of the Pochettino era.
And even before Paratici was recruited journalists like Gold said that we would be focusing on the defense this past summer. Romero, Sarr (long term) and Gollini fit those parameters. Had we off loaded more we may have done more business as well.
It wasn't a perfect window but it wasn't bad either.
Or better still, just keep plundering Ajax
Yeah, you can also add Romero (23yo) and that's a fair comment but even before Paratici got here and (ignoring personal opinions on their merits) we had already signed others that fit the age/potential criteria Ndombele, Lo Celso, Sessegnon, Reguilon (although whether these fit value/inherent value model is debatable). So I'm not sure that is being driven by Paratici or by Levy?
I just think Paratici was a strange fit for us based on his later work at Juve. Although to be fair his early days at Juve, more as a head of recruitment, weren't all about big wage free transfers of older, bigger names I guess.
I just think there were better fits out there for overseeing the model that suits us and also the "identity" Levy stated he wanted to aim for.
I guess I'm still struggling to accept we passed up people like Rangnick and coaches like Ten Hag for Paratici and Nuno.
But of course, no one will remember PEHs pass because it was Kane that scored the tap in. His pass won't get a second mention by most fans.
Our dilemma has always been the ability to upgrade on the players we already have. Top players don't want to come and sit on our bench and young prospects need playing time to develop.
Royal, Romero, Dier, Reguillon
PEH, SKipp
Ndombele
Lucas, Kane, Son
We already have Tanganga, Bergjwin, Lo Celso, Gil, Dele on the bench.
So, where are our gaps?
PEH / Skipp - Until Sarr comes next summer, Winks is our only realistic DM backup.
Kane / Son - We could cope with an injury to 1, but certainly not both. We need a top quality goal scorer.
For me, we need to sign a top level right sided striker to play up with Kane and Son. Somebody that is dangerous in the box - but also doesn't mind getting back and winning balls in midfield. If we can find the right player, I am convinced that Kane will sign a new contract and play out his career with us.
Royal, Romero, Dier, Reguillon
PEH, SKipp
Ndombele
Lucas, Kane, Son
We already have Tanganga, Bergjwin, Lo Celso, Gil, Dele on the bench.
So, where are our gaps?
PEH / Skipp - Until Sarr comes next summer, Winks is our only realistic DM backup.
Kane / Son - We could cope with an injury to 1, but certainly not both. We need a top quality goal scorer.
For me, we need to sign a top level right sided striker to play up with Kane and Son. Somebody that is dangerous in the box - but also doesn't mind getting back and winning balls in midfield. If we can find the right player, I am convinced that Kane will sign a new contract and play out his career with us.
Rather have Davies.
Come on fella. Suggesting Kane’s goal was an Andy Cole-like tap in is pretty disingenuous. I’m as critical of the number of chances Kane misses for every goal but that was a well taken goal.
I 100% agree with you but I'm just trying to avoid my own conformation bias. So far he has done a ok, very small sample size.
Rubbish Paratici is working on Coman....Oh hang on written that wrong. Paratici is working for a con man.
It depends what our ambitions are. If it is to win anything then we are lacking in proven talent at rb (TBC), cb (Dier!?), cdm (you dont see chelsea or city looking at hojberg and skipp is a youngling), and rw (lucas would be a mostly unused sub or utility player at a title winning side, but i do love the guy and think he desrerves credit for what he provides).
However, if our ambition is to finish in the Europa spots with an off-chance of getting lucky and slipping into the champions league once every 3 years, id say no changes needed and lets keep it as it is.
We might need a right left back if Real Madrid activate the 'buy back clause' on Reguilon.
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They don't have a buy back as such. I'd not panic too much on that. Regullion is good but he is replaceable
I read it in The Mirror
Real Madrid plan 'to activate' Sergio Reguilon's buy-back clause from Tottenham
Carlo Ancelotti will reportedly raid Tottenham for Sergio Reguilon with Real Madrid president Florentino Perez believing the sale of the defender by Zinedine Zidane was 'a mistake'
www.mirror.co.uk