http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...tini-destroying-football-finally-seen-it.html
Sorry levy but FFP is changing
Sorry levy but FFP is changing
I could swear I read recently that you said you were missing him.
An upgrade as in loads of dosh isn't even important to me any more, I would take someone who has a philosophy and believes in it. Levy doesn't have a philosophy he believes in, he changes strategy all the time.
I absolutely support his business model for the Club now and moving forward, but at the same time consider his governance of the fruitless spend of two seasons ago unacceptable. An exceptional opportunity blown on an absolute wing and a prayer.
I've never denied that we are a well run club away from the pitch, that isn't the beef I have with Levy.I don't think Levy gets everything right and makes the right decision all the time, but I think there are certain core philosophies that have been consistent through Levy's tenure. One is that we are a well run business in an industry which is rife with badly run businesses.
Two is the trading model he adopted about 10/11 years ago after much consultation, where by we bias the majority of our recruitment toward players of a certain genre who represent potential whilst retaining inherent value.
He has grown the business and the on pitch performance has become far more consistent, than the previous 20 years. We now have (amongst) the best training facilities in Europe and are developing one of the best new stadiums in Europe.
He's made mistakes but some are inevitable in such a volatile industry where the landscape and ramifications can change almost weekly. There's plenty of core strategy in there that is to be applauded Mullers.
I've never denied that we are a well run club away from the pitch, that isn't the beef I have with Levy.
We have won one trophy in 15 years, a terrible return no matter what excuses people want to make about it. Coming 5/6 every year isn't much good if you're not looking to capitalise on it we have done next to nothing in the Europa cup. We haven't won at Stamford bridge for 25 years, we've only beaten Arsenal away once in 23 years, I mean that's a joke.
I've only heard our supporters bragging about our training ground, I couldn't give a toss that we have the best training ground in Europe, I have seen much improvement from many of the players despite having it.
Levy is just afforded the luxury of forgiveness that no other fucker gets, I would have love some of that forgiveness or leyway given to Jol by Levy or Ramos or AVB by supporters but they don't.
It's my sense that the type of players on whom we spent that money had little or nothing to do with Levy's own inclination. It certainly wasn't consistent with his previous strategy.
The underlying hubris in that summer's business was the notion that any club could sign 7 key first-team players from varying leagues, not one of whom had any experience in English football and 6 of whom were under 25, and expect them to mesh immediately into a team capable of finishing in the top 4 of the Premiership.
There's nothing of Levy's personality in that approach. There is a great deal of Andre Villas-Boas in it. I suspect that there is also an element of Franco Baldini in it - he obviously revelled in his ability to lure sought-after players to Tottenham, in preference to richer clubs, and I wonder if he let that cloud his experience. But I reckon it was mainly AVB, blithely over-confident in the ability of his "system" to overcome all, who assured Levy that forming an entertaining and effective team out of those newcomers was within his capability.
Us not winning at Chelsea is not all Levy's fault though is it. If his strategy has helped put a team in place that is better than it's correlating wage structure - such as three years ago when we had the likes of Modric, VDV, Bale, King, Adebayor - and we finished above Chelsea in the league but still fail to win at Stamford Bridge that's not all Levy's fault.
But if we have vastly inferior resources to 4/5 clubs, why should we be entitled to beat them ?
One hundred million pounds should (if managed correctly) buy you something more efficient than Capoue, Chiriches, Soldado, Paulinho blah, blah, blah.
To be so exceptionally unlucky enough to sign such a collection of misfits, and failures really would suggest to all but the most stupid of stupid people that somewhere along the purchasing process that a lunatic was running the asylum and is indeed still on the loose somewhere in White Hart Lane.
Raking over old stuff i guess, but still relevant to any argument where a club size and money spent comes into the conversation.
It's my sense that the type of players on whom we spent that money had little or nothing to do with Levy's own inclination. It certainly wasn't consistent with his previous strategy.
The underlying hubris in that summer's business was the notion that any club could sign 7 key first-team players from varying leagues, not one of whom had any experience in English football and 6 of whom were under 25, and expect them to mesh immediately into a team capable of finishing in the top 4 of the Premiership.
There's nothing of Levy's personality in that approach. There is a great deal of Andre Villas-Boas in it. I suspect that there is also an element of Franco Baldini in it - he obviously revelled in his ability to lure sought-after players to Tottenham, in preference to richer clubs, and I wonder if he let that cloud his experience. But I reckon it was mainly AVB, blithely over-confident in the ability of his "system" to overcome all, who assured Levy that forming an entertaining and effective team out of those newcomers was within his capability.
Those lunatics are not alone then because others were picking Paulinho to play for s team that won the league and SA CL. And other lunatics were picking him for Brazil and yet more lunatics were voting him as one of the players of the confed tournament which including teams like Spain.
Based on what ? Most of the criticism of AVB was that he wanted big proven names like Moutinho, Hulk and Willian, not unproven potential from Europe's nether regions. AVB himself has said he was presented with signings that weren't of his request. He picked Townsend over Lamela which backs this up.
I doubt very much if he actively sought many of them, I would say most were Baldini driven.
We've also won more than Everton, Villa, Sunderland, Newcastle, Leeds, Nottingham Forest, Sheffield Wednesday, Norwich etc.We've won as much as Swansea, Blackburn and a number of other clubs.
I've answered this many times before, twice on this thread alone, he is partly responsible over what happens on the pitch. If he is held partly responsible for failure then he can't be responsible for success either.Us not winning at Chelsea is not all Levy's fault though is it. If his strategy has helped put a team in place that is better than it's correlating wage structure - such as three years ago when we had the likes of Modric, VDV, Bale, King, Adebayor - and we finished above Chelsea in the league but still fail to win at Stamford Bridge that's not all Levy's fault.
But if we have vastly inferior resources to 4/5 clubs, why should we be entitled to beat them ?
That's not saying a lot.We've also won more than Everton, Villa, Sunderland, Newcastle, Leeds, Nottingham Forest, Sheffield Wednesday, Norwich etc.
That's not saying a lot.
I wouldn't trade places either but it is only one trophy which Villa will hopefully match come FA Final day.It's saying we've won more trophies than many clubs in recent years who were decent sized clubs. We've outperformed them all in both the league and cups.
The clubs you've mentioned are those I simply wouldn't trade places with.