Dont need a striker for the start of the season? Are you nuts? We have 9 games in 20 days. Our other options at striker are Jose’s 1st choice at the wings.
ENIC...
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carmeldevil
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Absolutely. While there are areas Levy could improve (transfer strategies, squad goals) but the reality is there are not many people out there who could be better owners than the current ones. I truly do not want state-backed money to own the Spurs. I prefer either the Bundesliga model (not gonna happen I know) or at least a well-moneyed owner who's passionate about the sport. For now I'm content with ENIC and hope the next group of owners are as good or better.
ENIC have had nearly 20 years of ownership of Spurs compared to FSG's 10 years of owning LFC and they've managed to win the 3 biggest trophies in club football, identity and soul is all well and good but ultimately football is about winning. Let me ask you this do think Harry Kane is going to want to stay at his boyhood club for the rest of his career and not winning anything? I don't and doing so from his perspective would show a serious lack of footballing ambition.
sausage
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The best metaphor/comparison I can make sense of is this:
You have a mate and he's got a long term girlfriend. She's a 7/10 look wise. She's helped him get out of debt, they have a nice house, she's supportive of him and they get on pretty well. She's pretty perfect for him in every way, but she's not the type to send dirty photos and the sex is pretty standard.
All of your other mates think she's a right bitch and he can do so much better. She's not as good looking as some of the other girls they've seen.
You have two other mates who have girlfriends who gave them brown wings and are like porn stars in the bedroom. They don't cook or clean, but they play a good skin flute. After all, that's the most important thing to look for in a relationship.
I'm saying ENIC are more interested in running a profitable business than having successful and winning football club. FSG have proved you can do both. Unlike you I don't want to accept mediocrity.
AberdeenYid
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Yeah, but I’m not.
sausage
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Slightly correct, slightly unfair.
I would say ENIC (or at least Levy) is more interested in competing with City/Utd/Liverpool/Chelsea/Arse off-field before we intend to do it on-field. If we can do both then that's great - I don't think we could say they have failed on-pitch because anything beyond top 4 (which coincides with the off-field/finances) is a bonus, and they haven't been trying to win the league or anything. Part of the problem is that we've over-done ourselves and brought that forward prematurely (as Poch has mentioned).
FSG haven't actually proved you can do both - they've done less than ENIC have but:
- Had a better club to start with (winning mentality is there for fans and the club)
- Had better luck in various aspects
We have been one or two games away from the conversation being flipped there. Very similar clubs in recent seasons:
- they've just got across the line where we failed to in key games.
- They haven't really done anything magical for the club off-field - they've added a loft conversion to Anfield, and still have the same off-field facilities.
- Their net spend is almost identical - they've just pulled magic tricks with selling their players, with almost every transfer out being bizarrely over-valued.
Shadydan
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Though so, I was just slightly confused why you referred to the time when ENIC weren't in charge of the club in your previous post. I don't think I mentioned anything about accepting mediocrity either. What I will say which has been said many times, if they aren't interested in running a successful and winning football club why have they hired a manager who has won more trophies in the club's entire history? And why have they invested in a sports arena which will allow us to compete more consistently with our rivals?
carmeldevil
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Because they have not signed a backup backup striker, thus they are medicore!
Shadydan
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Someone didn't check if those goalposts were firmly in place because every time I shoot the ball ends up in the South stand.
AberdeenYid
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PSG are worth about $600m less than us, so not sure they’re setting the world alight in the profitable business stakes. And they’ve won bugger all except the French league, against hardly tough opposition. And they’ve spent hundreds of millions to achieve this.
And may I ask, if ENIC want a profitable business, would it not be more profitable if we were more successful on the field? I’m always at a loss to find the thinking behind “all they want is profit, they don’t care if the team is shit” argument.
ITK has gone to ground
dontcallme
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How many more times are people going to say Kane will leave before they accept it hasn't happened?
sausage
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I think he means Fenway (FSG - Liverpool) not PSG tbf
Neon_Knight_
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Ndombele - he was in the UEFA CL team of the year for 2018-19, so one of the most desirable young players in Europe.
Before that, it depends what you consider to be recent. In my lifetime, VDV and Klinsmann are the first names that spring to mind. We've signed other great players who've been a marquee signing for another club, but joined us either before they became household names (e.g. Bale) or in the winter of their career (e.g. Davids).
Darren Bent was possibly intended as a bit of a marquee signing. Record signing at the time, but ended up 4th in our pecking order (behind Keane, Berbatov & Defoe). I found that one of our most bewildering signings ever.
If we think of "marquee signing" in the context of our league position and financial clout versus how desirable the player was, rather than in the context of who would be a massive marquee signing for the biggest clubs in Europe, we could come up with a fairly healthy list (which would include a few flops!). We've also managed to sign some great young players and who were apparently highly thought of by all of big clubs, but ended up joining us for relatively modest fees (e.g. Alli, Eriksen, Bale, Modric, Carrick).
A case could be made for any of the following being a marquee signing:
Keane, Robinson (he was England No.1), Berbatov, Modric, Lloris, Vertonghen, Soldado, Lamela, Eriksen, Adebayour, Son, Moura, Alderweireld, Bale, Alli, Bentley, Carrick.
Going back a bit further, Ginola, Ferdinand, Armstrong, Klinsmann, Sheringham.
AberdeenYid
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Personally i'd say just Klinsmann out of that list. Maybe VDV, maybe. You nailed those two but after that it's positively skinny, i've no idea how you came up with so many names. All of the others were decent signings but none of them had that wow factor that you'd expect from a 'marquee' signing. Ndombele? Never heard of him until we were linked. I think you're stretching the use of the word myself, I mean, David Bentley? haha But there you go, them your onions and those are mine.
HodisGawd
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Yawn. Players move clubs, it's normal. But Harry Kane has gone nowhere and is going nowhere. We've heard the same desperate argument for years now and it is so, so lame. So, please, stop bleating on.
And can we possibly have a conversation about the positives and negatives of ENIC without people like you deliberately twisting facts to suit their agenda?
Just debate objectively and don't try and force an opinion. If the truth does not support your argument, reassess your point of view!
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I think you're being a bit guilty of doing exactly that yourself. You're right, Kane has gone nowhere but you have absolutely no idea what the future holds and whether he's going to leave or not. You're guessing, or assuming, the same as the bloke you quoted is. I'm not sure why people have this thing about people saying it. I'd love to be wrong but I also think he could go. I hope he doesn't but it isn't the most outrageous suggestion in the world to say he might at some point.
EDIT: Having said all that I also feel there's no use in using it as a stick to beat ENIC with unless it actually happens
ENIC have indeed hired a very successful coach, but that won't amount to a hill of beans if he's not backed by ENIC. We spent approximately £1.2 billion to build our stadium, FSG are redeveloping Anfield by the time that redevelopment is complete they are going to have a bigger ground then ours for far less then what it's cost to build our stadium.
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