Paulo Fonseca (Poll Added)

[Igula]

Our rivals? I see, so you would have been happy with Lampard or OGS? This is the hill u want to die on?

Lampard and OGS were obviously hired for their connections to those clubs so not really the same situation as us hiring them or us hiring Fonseca with no connection at all.

I do think that hiring someone in large part because of the connection to the club is a bad idea but there are obvious different circumstances that lead to that.

Also, Chelsea saw that it wasn't working with Lampard and quickly changed to a high quality manager. I'm sure they now wished they waited until the summer so that Fonseca was available but I guess they will have to be stuck with Tuchel instead.

 

[Ed Vanderlay]

Reservations is one thing, the ridiculous vitriol aimed at Levy is something else entirely.

The rights and wrongs of any vitriol and how people express that Is an interesting argument.
I am not sure in reality you can expect Spurs fans to behave differently to any other disaffected fan base. Woolwich fans had very little justification in turning their vitriol on Wenger, he was far better for them than ENIC have been for us.

That last sentence was a tough one to right

 

[Donki]

Lampard and OGS were obviously hired for their connections to those clubs so not really the same situation as us hiring them or us hiring Fonseca with no connection at all.

I do think that hiring someone in large part because of the connection to the club is a bad idea but there are obvious different circumstances that lead to that.

Also, Chelsea saw that it wasn't working with Lampard and quickly changed to a high quality manager. I'm sure they now wished they waited until the summer so that Fonseca was available but I guess they will have to be stuck with Tuchel instead.

 

[Donki]

I dunno if this has been posted before, and I am only 10 mins in but this guy gives me serious Poch vibes, very likable and clearly intelligent... if i were him id go for a longer legged trouser though.

 

[Igula]

Stating facts is moving the goal posts?

You really think the background that Lampard and Ole had no impact on their hiring?

LOL

 

[Donki]

Stating facts is moving the goal posts?

You really think the background that Lampard and Ole had no impact on their hiring?

LOL

"It is an uninspiring hire, one that wouldn’t be made by our rivals and one that indicates we have little to no ambition."

Thats where your moving the goal posts mate.

 

[Igula]

"It is an uninspiring hire, one that wouldn’t be made by our rivals and one that indicates we have little to no ambition."

Thats where your moving the goal posts mate.

No I am not it is not a hire that would be made by our rivals, you brining up two guys who are not similar to him doesn't refute that. There is zero indication that any of our rivals would hire a guy like him.

 

[FightingIllini]

Our rivals? I see, so you would have been happy with Lampard or OGS? This is the hill u want to die on?

Those two shouldn’t be equated. Fat Frank did well at Derby and remains a promising coach who will be seen again in the PL. Ole is a joke.

Fonseca’s a Lampard, not an Ole.

 

[Donki]

No I am not it is not a hire that would be made by our rivals, you brining up two guys who are not similar to him doesn't refute that. There is zero indication that any of our rivals would hire a guy like him.

Man....

You said "It is an uninspiring hire, one that wouldn’t be made by our rivals and one that indicates we have little to no ambition."

You didn't say "It is an uninspiring hire, one that wouldn’t be made by our rivals, unless the coach had connections to the club and one that indicates we have little to no ambition.

Hence you...

 

[Igula]

Man....

You said "It is an uninspiring hire, one that wouldn’t be made by our rivals and one that indicates we have little to no ambition."

You didn't say "It is an uninspiring hire, one that wouldn’t be made by our rivals, unless the coach had connections to the club and one that indicates we have little to no ambition.

Hence you...

You really don’t know what moving the goal posts is.

Ole and Fat Frank are not similar hires to him so the original point stands.

Just because you are struggling to understand that difference doesn’t mean it isn’t clear as day.

 

[bunburyist]

ENIC are one of the best things to have ever happened to this club.

Perfect? Of course not. Mistakes made? Absolutely. ENIC OUT? No, don't be silly.

Am I a Levy fanboy? Absolutely not, there's plenty he has done o can't stand or fully object to, but I do believe he has always done his best for the club - or at least, what he thinks is best for the club. And it cannot be denied we are in an incredible place today compared to when he took over.

The stadium alone should secure his legacy, just as it'll secure our competitive future.

We seem to go round this carousel every time the club goes through some trauma, usually a change of manager.

ENIC and Levy have done an absolutely incredible job turning Spurs from the epitome of a mid-table club, in truth no different historically to Aston Villa or Nottingham Forest, into one of the few global mega clubs. We are 9th in the world in terms of revenue, ahead of Juve, the goons, Dortmund and Atletico ffs. In pure football business terms it's one of the great successes of the modern era.

1	Barcelona	€715.1m
2	Real Madrid	€714.9m
3	Bayern Munich	€634.1m
4	Manchester United	€580.4m
5	Liverpool	€558.6m
6	Manchester City	€549.2m
7	Paris Saint-Germain	€540.6m
8	Chelsea	€469.7m
9	Tottenham	€445.7m
10	Juventus	€397.9m

Levy has consistently made ruthless and sharp business decisions to invest in long-term infrastructure, and resist the urge to splash cash on unreliable assets (players) when it seemed we were on the edge of becoming winners. If you were purely a shareholder you'd be extremely happy. It's not a coincidence Levy is the highest paid PL chairman.

And that's the point. The success of Spurs the business and Spurs the football club are closely aligned...but they're not the same. All of the above has been achieved without us winning a thing. Because tbh, winning is a nice cherry on the cake but it doesn't really matter, especially not when you see City and PSG dropping literal billions and still not winning their ultimate vanity project CL.

We should be happy that Spurs as a business is a great success story.

And we should be sad that there is no real footballing ambition at the club to compete, and that football as a whole has become a depressingly corrupt, unfair and unbalanced game that has lost it's connection to the communities from which it came.

 

[Donki]

You really don’t know what moving the goal posts is.

Ole and Fat Frank are not similar hires to him so the original point stands.

Just because you are struggling to understand that difference doesn’t mean it isn’t clear as day.

Ok son.

 

[postbox]

We seem to go round this carousel every time the club goes through some trauma, usually a change of manager.

ENIC and Levy have done an absolutely incredible job turning Spurs from the epitome of a mid-table club, in truth no different historically to Aston Villa or Nottingham Forest, into one of the few global mega clubs. We are 9th in the world in terms of revenue, ahead of Juve, the goons, Dortmund and Atletico ffs. In pure football business terms it's one of the great successes of the modern era.

1	Barcelona	€715.1m
2	Real Madrid	€714.9m
3	Bayern Munich	€634.1m
4	Manchester United	€580.4m
5	Liverpool	€558.6m
6	Manchester City	€549.2m
7	Paris Saint-Germain	€540.6m
8	Chelsea	€469.7m
9	Tottenham	€445.7m
10	Juventus	€397.9m

Levy has consistently made ruthless and sharp business decisions to invest in long-term infrastructure, and resist the urge to splash cash on unreliable assets (players) when it seemed we were on the edge of becoming winners. If you were purely a shareholder you'd be extremely happy. It's not a coincidence Levy is the highest paid PL chairman.

And that's the point. The success of Spurs the business and Spurs the football club are closely aligned...but they're not the same. All of the above has been achieved without us winning a thing. Because tbh, winning is a nice cherry on the cake but it doesn't really matter, especially not when you see City and PSG dropping literal billions and still not winning their ultimate vanity project CL.

We should be happy that Spurs as a business is a great success story.

And we should be sad that there is no real footballing ambition at the club to compete, and that football as a whole has become a depressingly corrupt, unfair and unbalanced game that has lost it's connection to the communities from which it came.

Not sure I agree there is no ambition, as I said look at the number of semi and finals we've made, at that point it's in the football gods hands more than Levy's. Managers have more say at that stage.

Yes, conversations to be had about investment at key times, and yes - plenty of MIS steps by Levy along the way - but no ambition? Can't agree there

 

[bunburyist]

Not sure I agree there is no ambition, as I said look at the number of semi and finals we've made, at that point it's in the football gods hands more than Levy's. Managers have more say at that stage.

Yes, conversations to be had about investment at key times, and yes - plenty of MIS steps by Levy along the way - but no ambition? Can't agree there

Levy would be an extremely happy man if we won a title or a cup, but that isn't his job. His job is to make money - the ESL would have been a masterstroke in business terms had it gotten off the ground.

My point is that we have ambition to be a successful football business and a very fortunate offshoot of that tends to be on field success, although not always, which we are a painful reminder of. As I said the football business and football on the pitch are closely aligned but they are not the same thing.

Otherwise, a club that is 9th in revenue globally would be adding a big-time player pretty much every year. Look at the signings of the others in the top 10. Our top signings ever are Ndombele, Sanchez and Sissoko. Yeah......no.

The example of City and PSG in the champions league further highlights that you would be crazy to chase on field success with money in today's game, unless you are the biggest fish in the pond, which they are.

 

[postbox]

Levy would be an extremely happy man if we won a title or a cup, but that isn't his job. His job is to make money - the ESL would have been a masterstroke in business terms had it gotten off the ground.

My point is that we have ambition to be a successful football business and a very fortunate offshoot of that tends to be on field success, although not always, which we are a painful reminder of. As I said the football business and football on the pitch are closely aligned but they are not the same thing.

Otherwise, a club that is 9th in revenue globally would be adding a big-time player pretty much every year. Look at the signings of the others in the top 10. Our top signings ever are Ndombele, Sanchez and Sissoko. Yeah......no.

The example of City and PSG in the champions league further highlights that you would be crazy to chase on field success with money in today's game, unless you are the biggest fish in the pond, which they are.

And how many major infrastructure projects were these doped clubs self financing?

If Levy has sacrificed some success in recent years (if) it's to secure the infrastructure to allow us to really compete from here on.

Post pandemic, from probably 2022 onwards, is phase 2 - it's where we should actually be able to do what you want. Not before

 

[bunburyist]

And how many major infrastructure projects were these doped clubs self financing?

If Levy has sacrificed some success in recent years (if) it's to secure the infrastructure to allow us to really compete from here on.

Post pandemic, from probably 2022 onwards, is phase 2 - it's where we should actually be able to do what you want. Not before

Yes, I entirely agree that the continuation of Spurs rise up the financial rankings and ticking of boxes like stadium, training facilities etc is great - it's exactly what I would do - will surely (please god) make success more likely. My point is that I don't think all this is being done so we can win trophies. It's being done to make money and I would assume, prepare the club for sale at some point and make a few people a lot of money.

The payout for winning the CL is what, £100m. The cost to win it.....multiples of that and huge doses of luck....ergo we don't try earnestly to compete. It is a reckless business proposition to attempt it. Hence it's now for state or oligarch owned clubs which operate beyond the restrictions of balancing books.

PL money, CL money, shirt and stadium sponsorships, stadium revenue, tv money.....that's all that matters from a business perspective. Maximise the income, minimise the risks.

 

[postbox]

Maximising the finances gives us the best possible chance to compete on the field.

And despite the oligarch clubs seeming monopoly on success, we have been in position to win ourselves - several times.

Hard to say we don't want or try to win, imo

 

[Airfixx]

"It is an uninspiring hire, one that wouldn’t be made by our rivals and one that indicates we have little to no ambition."

Thats where your moving the goal posts mate.

Should have hired Arteta, fam!

 

[hiatus]

I dunno if this has been posted before, and I am only 10 mins in but this guy gives me serious Poch vibes, very likable and clearly intelligent... if i were him id go for a longer legged trouser though.

As with everything, he could be the next Poch or the next AVB, but if Paratici doesn't cleanup the football side of operations it won't really matter either way.

 

[hiatus]

We seem to go round this carousel every time the club goes through some trauma, usually a change of manager.

ENIC and Levy have done an absolutely incredible job turning Spurs from the epitome of a mid-table club, in truth no different historically to Aston Villa or Nottingham Forest, into one of the few global mega clubs. We are 9th in the world in terms of revenue, ahead of Juve, the goons, Dortmund and Atletico ffs. In pure football business terms it's one of the great successes of the modern era.

1	Barcelona	€715.1m
2	Real Madrid	€714.9m
3	Bayern Munich	€634.1m
4	Manchester United	€580.4m
5	Liverpool	€558.6m
6	Manchester City	€549.2m
7	Paris Saint-Germain	€540.6m
8	Chelsea	€469.7m
9	Tottenham	€445.7m
10	Juventus	€397.9m

Levy has consistently made ruthless and sharp business decisions to invest in long-term infrastructure, and resist the urge to splash cash on unreliable assets (players) when it seemed we were on the edge of becoming winners. If you were purely a shareholder you'd be extremely happy. It's not a coincidence Levy is the highest paid PL chairman.

And that's the point. The success of Spurs the business and Spurs the football club are closely aligned...but they're not the same. All of the above has been achieved without us winning a thing. Because tbh, winning is a nice cherry on the cake but it doesn't really matter, especially not when you see City and PSG dropping literal billions and still not winning their ultimate vanity project CL.

We should be happy that Spurs as a business is a great success story.

And we should be sad that there is no real footballing ambition at the club to compete, and that football as a whole has become a depressingly corrupt, unfair and unbalanced game that has lost it's connection to the communities from which it came.

While all you say here is true and I agree, Levy has not shown himself particarily adept at managing a club that is now top 10 in global revenue. What made sense 5, 10, 15 years ago doesn't work or make sense now.

Hopefully he now realizes that based on the Paratici hire and responsibilities.