• The Fighting Cock is a forum for fans of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club. Here you can discuss Spurs latest matches, our squad, tactics and any transfer news surrounding the club. Registration gives you access to all our forums (including 'Off Topic' discussion) and removes most of the adverts (you can remove them all via an account upgrade). You're here now, you might as well...

    Get involved!

Management Next Manager Poll (poll reset 11/04/23)

Latest Spurs videos from Sky Sports

Next Manager

  • Rodgers

    Votes: 15 3.6%
  • Potter

    Votes: 25 5.9%
  • Nagelsmann

    Votes: 177 41.9%
  • Kompany

    Votes: 43 10.2%
  • Slot

    Votes: 91 21.6%
  • Postecoglou

    Votes: 74 17.5%
  • De Zerbi

    Votes: 31 7.3%
  • Xabi Alonso

    Votes: 11 2.6%
  • Stellini

    Votes: 4 0.9%
  • Frank

    Votes: 10 2.4%
  • Luis Enrique

    Votes: 21 5.0%
  • Zidane

    Votes: 5 1.2%
  • Glasner

    Votes: 3 0.7%
  • Amorim

    Votes: 10 2.4%
  • Carrick

    Votes: 9 2.1%
  • Gallardo

    Votes: 23 5.5%
  • Schmidt

    Votes: 2 0.5%

  • Total voters
    422
Status
Not open for further replies.
You say that as if ENIC has the monopoly on shit footballing decisions. United has been making shit footballing decisions for the past decade and only now under ten Hag seem to be righting the ship. Liverpool made a ton of shit footballing decisions before they appointed Klopp. Chelsea is a basket case that I can't even begin to analyze, but they generally make shit footballing decisions until they hire the right manager.

See a theme here? It's the manager. Has ENIC made shit managerial appointments? You bet your ass it has. But they've also made excellent managerial appointments. Have other teams always been spot on in their managerial appointments? Of course not. It's impossible to get it right all the time. So to blast ENIC because of that is a bit disingenuous.

And it's also disingenuous to assume that they will never learn from the their mistakes, but will continue making shit footballing decisions (which is the reason I assume you want them out). Especially when there is evidence that a clear line is beginning to be drawn between the business and football sides by the appointment of a DoF and CFO, which is geared towards leaving football decisions to football people, who will hopefully make fewer shit football decisions (and they will still make a few, believe me).

But these things do not happen overnight. They take time. Blast the ownership for not starting this process sooner and I will wholeheartedly agree. But to want them out now that they have actually started the process is baffling and pure knee-jerk. Because even if we get new ownership there is no guarantee that they will get it right from the start. For all we know they might set us back. You're definitely entitled to want new owners, but for now I would rather stick with the ones who have made the mistakes and have learned from them. If in 3-4 years time I see the same ones being repeated again, then I'll join you.
They constantly repeat mistakes. Sacked a dour, unpopular manager before a big cup tie George Graham 2001/ Mourinho 2021.

A massively long manager search only for that manager not to last 20 games Santini 2004/Nuno 2021.
Not backing a manager when on the cusp of something amazing Redknapp 2011/Poch 2018.
Appointing boring ex Chelsea managers AVB 2012/Mourinho 2019/Conte 2021
 
I don't know enough about him, his team or the current Ajax state of play. I know that Ajax sacked ETH's successor as they were pretty bad.
We should/should we be wary that Feyenoord are top because Ajax are a shambles?
I don't know how much of a shambles Ajax are, but I do know that Slot did it with AZ pre-Covid and is doing it again with Feyenoord. Two clubs that are waaay below Ajax and PSV. And got to a European final. So either the stars aligned for him, or he's not a bad manager. My guess is the latter.
 
Time is fine but it’s been 20 years. We have gone from the likes of Ramos to Redknapp to AVB to Sherwood to Poch to Jose to Nuno to Conte.

None of these managers barring maybe Jose and pound shop Jose in Nuno have any tactical similarities. Our purchasing of players, hiring of managers has seemingly no strategic element, it’s all tactical short term moves.

This is a club whose history is defined by being attacking, even our motto reflects this history and we have had an entire selection of boring managers. This does not indicate an ownership that understands the club or it’s history. No owner that understood Spurs DNA would hire Nuno, not in a million years.

We are not going to be winning things until there is serious modernisation of the football side building a core football philosophy at the club. 20 plus years of this.

ENIC have done marvellous on the infrastructure, they have created stability after the Sugar years they have set up the club well to be run by someone else who understands modern football better. They have a legacy but they are burning fans goodwill at the moment becuase they have shown little to no strategic understanding of football, not the finances of football but football itself.
I understand the frustration and I share it too. It's not like I enjoy not seeing us win anything. As far as bad decisions are concerned, I would leave aside the pre-stadium years, because obviously the focus was on stabilizing the club and improving the financial standing. Once we had that, the mistake was that hiring a "winning" manager was all that was left to do. It's obvious that it is not and a football structure is being set up. But what baffles me is that now that it is evident that the club is moving in the right is when the fans are grumbling the most. As if we have done everything perfect in our lives and will settle for nothing less. It's a bit hypocritical, if you ask me.
 
It's not linear. There will be ups and there will be downs. What matters is the trajectory. We have gone from dreaming about Europe in the early 2000s to consistently in Europe, and from consistently in Europe to considering a season that we don't make CL a failure. Not to mention that, the closer you get to the top, the more difficult it is to get to the next level.
We were out of the CL for two seasons and I’m not convinced we’ll be in it this year given how crap we’ve been and the fact that we have Conte-lite running the team. So, really, it doesn’t feel much different to the mid to late naughties to me and Joel and Redknapp played more entertaining football.

This whole thing of an upward trajectory is a myth. That we are massively more wealthy is a fact but it hasn’t had much bearing on things outside of the stadium/grounds thus far.

Yes it’s difficult challenging but if the gooners can do it, we should be able to as well. Just like Leicester a few years back, those bastards are blowing apart the ‘4th place is over-achieving’ argument.

This I have come to realise: Poch made Levy look good. Levy makes managers look bad.
 
Good players.

As I say, Kane is a generational talent that has fired us up the table. Before that we had a pretty good Welshman on the books.

And that’s what is frustrating; we’ve never capitalised on our luck. We’ve surrounded those diamonds with too much dross.

To be clear; I have absolutely zero problem crediting ENIC for the good things they have done. Pushing ahead with the stadium build pre-Brexit and financial stagnation was vital. I don’t blame them for Covid. I think we were fucking unlucky to not win anything under Poch.

But I have absolutely zero faith in ENIC’s ability to formulate a footballing strategy and stick to it. I’m not even sure they would be capable of winning anything even if they had fossil fuel money.

I think they’ve taken us as far as they are can. Not that complaints will make the blind bit of difference. They will sell or stick around as they see fit.
So we’ve had an extraordinary world class forward for over a decade (between Bale and Kane), capable of single-handedly dragging us up the table and you don’t give the club credit? You put it down to luck?

We probably feel a similar tension. I too am frustrated at the lack of consistent football strategy and I think it’s bad. But when the results have (indisputably) been good, it’s hard to be too critical.

I personally feel the move to « winners » like Mourinho and conte has been a real mistake. If anything I feel that Levy has tried to act like we’re a super club when we’re not. I want a team that plays attractive, front foot football and to give young promising players a chance to play. I want to feel like tomorrow might be better than today.

But I don’t need trophies. That would be an amazing bonus.
 
This I have come to realise: Poch made Levy look good. Levy makes managers look bad.
Oh WOW!......What a gem of a quote that is.

3loawm.gif



Duly bookmarked for future reference
 
Last edited:
Philosophy is not your strong point is it?

Stick to being enthusiastic about the regime.

Is the guy still pretending to be French? Maybe he is, after all.
He seems to have absolutely no connection or awareness of our rich, trophy laden history. He probably doesn't even know we were the joint record FA Cup WINNERS when ENIC got their disgusting paws on our club
Notice how quick you are to make it personal when I’m discussing the issues in a reasonable way.

Are you unable to discuss the issues without trying to divide the fan base or insulting people who disagree with you?
 
I've put a tick next to Cranston and Get In's larger posts because I think they are both really good, reasoned arguments to both sides of the 'Enic out' question. I must admit I have no fucking idea whether a new owner would be any better. I certainly don't like the idea of some rich corrupt country or general arsehole bankrolling us and much prefer the more organic way of generating funds by the new stadia etc. I know it has been 20 years and that is bloody annoying. But we have come close a couple of times so it's not impossible. However without comparable wonga to the money cunts its going to be even harder to compete.
 
Agreed this is why I cannot get behind Slot as our next manager:

1. I know nothing about him
2. Apart from Marseille and Lazio he has not beat anyone big in Europe yet.
3. Eredivisie is a weak league where if Ajax are bad the title is a close run thing.
4. Club infrastructure could have more to do with his success Frank Arnesen set up their scouting network and was technical director until he retired last summer and selected his successor.

1. That isn't a reason

2. Feyenoord beating Marseille and Lazio is akin to us beating Real Madrid and Bayern. Wouldn't you take that?

3. Name a (remotely top) league where there isn't 3-4 teams ahead of the pack, and it doesn't become a tight affair, if the very top dog has a bad season?

4. You still need to make the pieces provided fit into a pretty complex jigsaw on match day.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top