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Spanish Spur

Spanish Spur

I just read the interview with one of our directors, Sir Keith Mills, in the London Evening Standard (sorry can't post link but you can find it easy enough) and it got me thinking just how well we are run as a club.

I think what got me reflecting on that is the sad news coming out about Coventry City. Their club became so badly run that they sold off their old stadium and didn't buy the new one. Their best youth players were allowed to leave for nothing and they now face insolvency and the ignominy of playing their home games in Northampton. They never won a lot as a club but they've been in the top flight for most of their existence and had pretty decent teams over the years. They have a large and loyal fan-base too.

We could have been there too. We were in a lot of trouble before Alan Sugar took over and got us working like a business off the pitch and the doldrums on it. ENIC have done a marvelous job of restructuring the club and getting us pushing on to that next level without doing a Leeds. Thank goodness. We're bringing in quality players for high fees, we've got a great training ground, a new stadium on the way, a bigger presence globally and the plastic fans that comes with, (I'm only joking, the more the merrier) and a firm foundation to be a top level, successful football club for decades and decades to come.

I'm proud, obviously, but more than that, I'm relieved. I wouldn't want to be a Coventry fan right now.
 
We've been very close to the abyss. As a club we are clearly a temptation to the dark side in London. Maxwell tried to buy us. El Tel tried to take over as well - lovely man, brilliant soccer strategist, but definitely on the dark side with regard to business.
Scholar was the first to attempt to turn a football club into a business. Unfortunately he loved the club too much and was crap at business so screwed it up. Road to hell is paved with good intentions, well he had a lot of those.
Sugar saved us from that disaster, but great businessman he might have been, he had no idea of the passion and love that goes into football. Look at his brands - stark and ugly, no beauty. That dreadful decision to employ the Goonersaurus, well, it may have been a good footballing/management decision, but it showed no awareness of brand. Ranks with the appointment of Neill as the worst possible appointment ever - and all of them for excellent reasons if you ignore sentiment and passion. Of course Neill's was the worst, because it overlooked Blanchflower who wanted the job.
ENIC stumbled at first, but since Levy came on board there has been a slow, steady increase in ability and professionalism, with the passion and love slowly being woven into the brand. Now we have a solid base, superbly professional outfit that improves every year.

Having spent the first two decades of supporting Spurs being an exercise in watching glory disintegrate, I cannot tell you how happy and satisfying it is.
 
Spanish Spur said:
I'm proud, obviously, but more than that, I'm relieved. I wouldn't want to be a Coventry fan right now.
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Yeah, thank goodness we arent run by people who view us as a franchise and would move us to another part of the country, effectively killing the club at the drop of the hat all for the sake of making themselves a few quid.:levyeyes:
 
I do feel sorry for Coventry, but they didn't feel sorry for me back in '87 when, as a 28 year old man, I sat crying in my seat at Wembley.
 
ArcspacE said:
And even so - for me the positives far outweigh the negatives
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Moving Spurs out of Tottenham, ridiculous ticket prices, kamikaze transfer dealings make it a bit of a closer run thing for me. More positive than negative but not by much.
 
Thelonious said:
Stratford has hugely harmed Levy's legacy imo, along with the poor handling of the sacking of Jol.
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Agreed. Especially about Jol. I'll forgive him Stratford though. But to Levy's credit, right now we have to be one the best run clubs in the country. Where's Aston Villa's brand spanking new training complex? Where's Liverpool's new stadium plans? Where's Man City's annual profits? Where's the Gooners' boardroom harmony?
 
BushHillSpurs said:
@ Eskimo Eskimo @ Thelonious Thelonious

Do you genuinely believe that we was going to move to Stratford? I said from the start that it was just a ploy to get the council / authorities backing to stay in Tottenham.
They are smarter than you think.
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Yes I do. The job given to Keith Mills for a start, tapping phones, legal appeals. And i dont think for one minute Levy is clever enough to get one over on AEG.
 
Thelonious said:
Moving Spurs out of Tottenham, ridiculous ticket prices, kamikaze transfer dealings make it a bit of a closer run thing for me. More positive than negative but not by much.
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Which transfer dealings were kamikaze in the last 5-6 years?

Our current squad is the best in decades, imv

Ticket prices is what is part of what is making it possible for us to sign the likes of Soldado and Lloris with a 36k stadium
 
Spanish Spur said:
Agreed. Especially about Jol. I'll forgive him Stratford though. But to Levy's credit, right now we have to be one the best run clubs in the country. Where's Aston Villa's brand spanking new training complex? Where's Liverpool's new stadium plans? Where's Man City's annual profits? Where's the Gooners' boardroom harmony?
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Where's our new stadium plans? Seems to be shrouded in mystery, I see the Sainsbury's has been built but any credible updates on the stadium have gone quiet.
 
Thelonious said:
Stratford has hugely harmed Levy's legacy imo, along with the poor handling of the sacking of Jol.
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As a fan with all the emotional baggage that comes with the territory , i agree. As a business man his moves made sense. I m old enough to remember the early 90's and have seen loads of clubs going bankrupt , bringing us close to glory again is enough of a legacy for me. Its good to see teams are scared again to come to the lane and the players of a almost star stature want to come. I used to be mocked about my spurs love over here , but last few years that has changed. love the fact that we can be smug over our financial status and doing things 'the right way' (even if that is still debatable)

and hell , the man loves signing Belgians.
 
ArcspacE said:
Which transfer dealings were kamikaze in the last 5-6 years?

Ticket prices is what is part of what is making it possible for us to sign the likes of Soldado and Lloris with a 36k stadium
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Berbatov and Modric to name but 2. Phantom bids for Aguero and Rossi.
 
Thelonious said:
Berbatov and Modric to name but 2. Phantom bids for Aguero and Rossi.
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I thought you were referring to 'buys'

As for 'sells' - unfortunately we cannot always retain our top players without CL and/or massive salaries - even so - he ensured sweet profit at least.
 
ArcspacE said:
I thought you were referring to 'buys'

As for 'sells' - unfortunately we cannot retain our top player without CL and or massive salaries - even so - he ensured sweet profit
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IMO, Levy's defenders always seem to sweep a lot of things under the carpet. The last 3 seasons, we've been late with transfers, it's almost like our season doesn't start until September. A lot of this has to be down to Levy, Redknapp took some of the blame for Saha and Nelsen but Levy gets away scot-free? I understand he didn't want to bankroll Redknapp but to buy those 2 players and come away spotless is some Teflon Don shit.

FWIW, I don't hate Levy, just highlighting things that for me has harmed his legacy. There are valid arguments against them (Stratford was a ploy, we need to rip fans off because of our limited capacity, etc) but I stand by my points.
 
Eskimo said:
Yes I do. The job given to Keith Mills for a start, tapping phones, legal appeals. And i dont think for one minute Levy is clever enough to get one over on AEG.
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TBH, I think he let the Olympic people get one over on him (and by extension they got one over AEG). Reading the Keith Mills article, we were encouraged to bid for Stratford, said we didn't want the track and they said "no bother, we aint fussed about that", and then, of course, wet spam win the bid.
Looking at how wet spam have been able screw the government over as the only real bidders, one might suggest we were encouraged simply to keep wet spam quiet
 
Thelonious said:
IMO, Levy's defenders always seem to sweep a lot of things under the carpet. The last 3 seasons, we've been late with transfers, it's almost like our season doesn't start until September. A lot of this has to be down to Levy, Redknapp took some of the blame for Saha and Nelsen but Levy gets away scot-free? I understand he didn't want to bankroll Redknapp but to buy those 2 players and come away spotless is some Teflon Don shit.

FWIW, I don't hate Levy, just highlighting things that for me has harmed his legacy. There are valid arguments against them (Stratford was a ploy, we need to rip fans off because of our limited capacity, etc) but I stand by my points.
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Sorry, but for me this is straining credulity a bit far. We sweep the transfer dealings under the carpet, as you put it, because we don't think this is FIFA but real life, and we appreciate that Levy is trying like hell to sign better quality than we have and we know that this is not easy. We don't have enough money to pay for them and other clubs who have more money also want them, so we are fucked. I am gobsmacked at what he has managed to do, for a club of our relatively small stature it is incredible that he manages to bring players like Berbatov, VDV, Modric to the club. What he has managed to pull off the window is unbelievable.
Of course he leaves it to the last minute, it's called brinkmanship and it means we can buy better players than we could otherwise afford. It's also gambling, as we can end up with nothing and be forced to buy a basement bargain. But he pulls off a coup more often than I expect.
To imagine we can live with the like of the Sky 4 by getting players early in a window is just fantasy.
 
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