In the euphoria of our qualification for the last 16 of the CL, there are some storm clouds gathering with the usual reports of interest from Real Madrid and Man U in our gaffer. It is no secret that Real president Florentino Perez has coveted the Spurs boss and made a big move in the summer that was strongly rebuffed by Daniel Levy. With Jose Mourinho running Man U into the ground, reports have surfaced that the Mancs are even willing to pay 40 million pounds to acquire Poch's services. Both these clubs would be major rebuilding jobs, but remember the state Spurs were in when Poch arrived in North London and inherited an Andre Villas-Boas and Tim Sherwood created mess. I don't think anyone saw us challenging for the title and qualifying for the CL in his second season at the club. I believe that Poch wants to finish what he started with Spurs and bring silverware to the new ground. However, it will not be at any cost. Unless Daniel Levy and Joe Lewis back him in a big way in the transfer market, I think he will leave in the summer. I believe that when Poch signed his new contract last spring, he was given assurances from the board that he would be backed in the transfer market. However, we ended up making no signings, which I believe has been behind the gaffer's sometimes moody proclamations of not being happy earlier this season. Poch has too much class to openly complain about the transfer policy, but with the way our rivals are spending, it is going to be difficult to keep up on a shoestring budget. So if he leaves, what then? We are actually in great shape with a new ground, a state of the art training facility and a good squad, of which Poch has been a big part. There is no doubt we would get a big financial windfall for his services and possibly a decent player. So who would replace him? My choice woud be Eddie Howe, who has a similar philosophy and is English. But hopefully, it won't come to that. The big mystery is how the new stadium will affect our transfer policy. Levy has said it won't, but we won't know until next summer, won't we? Stay tuned, I am sure this will not be the last we hear of this story...
i think that speaking about rumors only feeds the self-fulfilling prophecy monster... and eddie is a too small fish to fill the big pound either... so better forget about all this bs COYS!
And so it begins...Jose finally put out of his misery by Fast Eddie Woodward, but not good news to us. Hopefully the speculation doesn't become a distraction like in 2011-12, when a good season was derailed by speculation linking Harry Redknapp to the England job.
Not being funny, but why would Poch leave for Man Utd? They're a massive club, with the potential to give him enormous amounts of money both personally and as a transfer budget. But in playing terms, they're a shambles. They don't run, every team this season has put more distance on the pitch. Their entire setup is the complete antithesis to Poch's high pressing, high energy, ultra-fit style. It would require a complete overhaul from 1-11 and beyond, and any who do make the cut would require a near-total attitude transplant to keep up. No-one thinks he's peaked at Spurs. Almost 5 years in and still showing signs of improvement game on game, year on year. He has the platform he established and everyone at the club, top to bottom, buys into his ethos.
The way you lay out the argument, there is no reason for him to go to United (Real Madrid is another story). I even joked with friends yesterday, he'd only leave for a 'massive club.' But the wild card here is that top managers have pretty massive egos and aspirations. They look at it as a great challenge that they 'know' that they can fix. Not saying that its the case here, but when they get the itch for a new challenge, there is little you can do to hold him back.
For all those people saying "Why would he go to United, they are a shambles", it is easy to forget, but when Poch came here, we were in worse shape than United is now. We had just come off a 6th place finish behind Everton under the combined ineptitude of Andre Villas Boas and Tim Sherwood (remember the 5-0 and 4-0 defeats to Liverpool and the 4-0 at Chelsea when Tactics Tim accused the players of having no bottle?). Daniel Levy and our board were making Ed Woodward type decisions in choice of manager and player recruitment (remember, if United hadn't sacked Moyes, Louis Van Gaal would have come to White Hart Lane) . Yes it is true United are a shambles right now, but they offer something we don't have - money to purchase top players and pay top wages - and they have the world class player we lack in Paul Pogba. The other problem we will have if he goes there is it won't be long after before they come looking to pick off our top players. Hopefully Levy has learned his lesson from the 2011-12 season, when Harry Redknapp lost his focus in the second half of the season campaigning for the England job.
I would argue there is a difference. ManU have players with egos and attitude, and to some degree, any manager will need to build around those egos and attitudes. Spurs had very little of that (and still do, relative). Additionally, Spurs are about to move into a shiny new stadium, and that alone will be exciting. But let us also not discount the family aspect. Poch listens to his wife (who told him to show more emotion) and considers his family stability. I really don't think Poch will move, even to Real. I really think the only team Poch will move to is Espanyol.
Good post, but there is at least one part I take issue with. "They have the world class player we lack in Paul Pogba." You're building a team and you want an attacking midfielder, the most advanced of a 3. A creator, someone gifted to run the game for you. Paul Pogba or Christian Eriksen? I know who I'd pick. As for Poch - if he went to Utd, he could do well and be remembered as a good manager, still always in Ferguson and Busby's massive shadows. Win a title at Spurs and he can be a legend, up there with Billy Nick.
I am not saying Pogba is better than Eriksen, they are totally different players. But for us to go to the next level, we need to add a talent of Pogba's level to our team, which would make us genuine title and CL contenders. Forget about Pogba at Man U, clearly he had fallen out with Mourinho and his dinosaur methods. Look at the Pogba who played for Juve and the French national team - he is a totally different player. Just look at Manchester City: Pep can choose between an attacking midfield among De Bruyne, Sane, David Silva, Bernardo Silva, Mahrez and Gundogan. At Liverpool, after his big 3 forward line, Klopp can choose among Henderson, Milner, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Keita, Fabinho, Shaquiri and Wijnaldum to form his midfield 3. So, can you add that kind of depth to a Spurs side within the current wage structure? It will be difficult, but we do have a manager who has consistently turned Daniel Levy's water into wine. With every week that passes, I am continually amazed at how Poch keeps getting results with a squad that has had to deal with injuires to key players and the fallout from last summer's World Cup.
To me, when talking about Poch, there are two different aspect to this argument. The first is if the club, be it Man City or Stoke can afford players like named. The second is if the manager wants that type/size of player pool. While Man U and Real do have huge budgets and large player pools, I'm not totally sure that Poch would really want that. To me, Poch seems to want a core of about 13 or 14, and then a group of solid support. Clubs like Man U or Real or Liverpool don't have a core of 13 or 14 and support, they have a core of 18 or 19 and support. I don't think Poch wants that, and I don't think the clubs would be too keen if Poch unloaded some players of high quality to get what he wants.
I think as recently as the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons, you could still win with a core of 14-odd players - think Chelsea in 2014-15 and Leicester in 2015-16 - Mourinho and Ranieri had 8 or 9 you could pencil in to the starting Xi every week. Amazingly, the Aston Villa side that won the league in 1980-81 only used 14 players, TOTAL, in a 42 game season! But in today's PL, Liverpool and Manchester City have raised the bar with their deep squads and if you want to keep up and be competitive in Europe, you have to find a way to match them. That's why, as much as I dislike Mourinho and his negative football, he does have a point when he bemoans the financial advantage City have over everyone. And if a financial behemoth like Man U is complaining, what chance do we have?
Also worth pointing out, while Spurs were in shambles when Pochettino joined he had nowhere near the reputation he’s earned subsequently. I don’t think Madrid would appeal, they’ve not had a manager last more than 3 seasons since the 60s. United might, but at the same time it’s a huge unknown; they’re hiring a TD or DoF and he’d have to work with them as they redefine ManU, on the one hand that might be appealing, on the other it might be a 3-5 year project and United’s fans and board might not have the patience Spurs’ do. Also Spurs seem on the verge of something. It might not happen, but if it does and Mauricio is off at Man U someone else is going to get credit. One bit of silver lining, maybe Poch can leverage this in to getting Levy to cough up a few bob to bring in a January transfer and give Liverpool a run.
i dunno, Poch had done quite the job at Southampton, getting them not only on the better end of midtable, but pleasing to watch as well I remember thinking he would be a good manager for Spurs, but I also thought the same of Moyes, so take that for what its worth
Would never want Pogba in the side... He’s a prima donna that just upsets club harmony. Poch would be a fool to jump to what is a sinking ship now with what he’s building which is a solid, harmonious team of young and hungry pull for each other players. I would think and hope that is more important to him but business is business and money talks.
Sooooo, Real Madrid then? I think it's fair to say there's a job up for grabs there. I think we should all start spamming newspapers with "Klopp to Real ITK" stuff. Gain some traction, make it happen.
Na. As said in the Dortmond thread, I don't think Poch will leave unless at least 2 of Kane, Eriksen, and Dele are sold. But as also said, to see any of those players being sold along with Poch would take the GDP of a small country.
Oh no doubt he is in their sights, and when the most storied club in the world want something, they have a lot of power. The feeling today at least, though, is the end of an era for them. Who wants to step into that? Be the equivalent of David Moyes at Man U? Long term, the more success we have, the more likely we are to lose him eventually... if we could win a title and go very deep in the CL I guess I would be able to accept him moving on to one of the glamour clubs. One day...
Poch could have gone to Real last summer before he signed his new contract with Spurs. Florentino Perez made a big push to get him then, even after he had signed. Why did he not go then? Poch's new contract has given him absolute power at the club; he is no longer First Team Coach - his title is Manager and he has convinced Levy and the board that there is no need for a director of football at the club. Poch now controls virtually everything at Tottenham, from the training facility to even having input on the new stadium design. Most importantly, he is the first manager under Levy to have final say-so on who comes in and who goes out. He will not have the same power at Real or even Man U (they are going to hire a director of football this summer). I think Man U is done anyway, OGS is there to stay (Fergiuson has his fingers all over that one), so Real is the only possibility. It would be a big risk, they are an aging team with big egos and a meddling chairman in Perez, who will go over Poch's head to bring in Galactico players who may not correspond to how Poch wants to play. And Poch will know the Madrid press is ruthless, it will be much harder to have them eating out of his hand like the English. Maybe I am being romantic, but I think he is like Billy Beane, who turned down a generous offer to run the Red Sox and stayed in Oakland because he felt winning a championship with their resources would be a greater statement. I think Poch feels the same about Spurs. I guess we'll find out in the summer.
Now there is talk Mourinho is going back to Real! Madness, but if it's true, it's great news for us (although Hazard would stay at Chelski).
Looks like Zidane is heading back to Madrid. With Solskjaer all but confirmed as United’s new manager I think Pochettino stays for at least the next season. If Levy doesn’t back in the summer transfer window though and either of those two fail (likely Zidane) next season might be the last. http://www.espn.com/soccer/real-mad...adrid-return-to-replace-sacked-solari-sources
yeah, at least this will put an end to all the nonsense... but let's try to put some order in the shop as things don't look good now...
I wonder if all these rumours have gotten to him, he has been off his game of late and been out-coached over this latest stretch. This season is eerily similar to the 2011-12 season when Harry Redknapp was constantly rumoured for the England job after Fabio Capello was fired. Spurs went into the tank in the second half of the season after being in the title race with Man U and Man City for 2/3 of the season. We were 10 points ahead of Arsenal with 13 games to go (sound familiar) but ended up dropping to 4th place, which eventually cost us a CL berth when Chelsea won the competition.
I've always ascribed Spurs swoons late in the season to lack of depth. It's almost as if Levy has a mechanistic view that sees the value only of a high quality 11 and he can't imagine why a coach might need high quality subs. The players are not machines. Besides injuries, they simply wear down both physically and psychologically as the season drags on. It's difficult to rise to the occasion week after week after week after week. This coming summer is supremely important for the future of Spurs. If the organization genuinely aspires to be a consistent contender in the UEFA Champions League, it simply must get excellence to serve as effective rotation.
I still can't get over our lack of signings in the summer, especially after 9 of our regular XI played into the final weekend of the WC. Not to mention Son, who has played in 2 tournaments for Korea since the WC. That meant our best players got no rest at the beginning of the season and we have seen the results with injuries to our key players from overwork. Now it looks like the players have hit a wall, as was plain to see in the games against Burnley and Southampton where we were overrun in the second half. On a brighter note, Real has announced the re-hire of Zidane with immediate effect. Now United, what are you waiing for?