Well clearly I think they are working on targets as did our other DOFs of which there has been several . As for Levy I believe he will be sticking his nose in. where it is neither needed or welcome . I also believe he will be not just setting the price but will be overseeing the structure of all payments . This is only my opinion and that is all it is , your opinion is no better informed unless you can explain why it is
I think you're probably right, with regard to Levy overseeing the structure of all the payments, but with a multi million pound deal, that's exactly what the CEO should be doing. Overseeing doesn't necessarily mean that he's setting the structure, just that he reviews and signs off on it.
I see it in the same light as a Contract negotiation after your tender has been accepted. One party (the Client in my industry) provides the contract. It may be a standard form, like NEC, but they will either delete certain clauses, or append changes that suit them. The Contractor doesn't have to accept them, and they can delete/change clauses themselves. There's much more beyond that oversimplification, but it goes back and forth until.both parties are happy.
Both parties being the operative words here.
I don't doubt that Levy will be inserting stuff that the other club don't like, but they'll be doing the same.
I'm not too sure he is setting the price though. If he is it is under advisement. What I think is more likely is that he sets the budget, then leaves it to the team to negotiate the best deals they can within the budget limitations. What that budget is I doubt we'll ever know.
It's important to remember that, even though our turnover is up there amongst the best, we're still operating at a loss, at least that's my understanding from the financial reports, so your budget is always going to be affected to make sure your losses don't spiral out of control.
None of this is what fans want to hear, but it's an inescapable truth regardless.
Levy is an extremely good CEO when it comes to business. He's the reason why this club has grown from sub £300M worth to in excess of £2Bn, but he's not Football savvy. I don't think you'll find anyone who'll disagree with that, but he's been bringing in management who are, and we're already seeing how well they can do their jobs within his budget constraints.
Don't get me wrong though, I want him to have a bit more 'gamble' in him when it comes to getting certain players over the line and, as I've posted previously, for each successful purchase we make, his knuckles will be more Pink than White when he's asked to open his purse. Like I said, he's an extremely good businessman. When he's seeing assets appreciate, he's going to trust the judgement of his team far more.