I am not saying Levy doesn't want to win, I am just saying he doesn't know how to win, and I am basing that on 19 years of pretty solid evidence. The case of my hometown NBA team the Raptors comes to mind. For years the Raptors were basically the Tottenham of the NBA, good team but not good enough to win it all. For years they bemoaned the fact that none of the superstars wanted to sign with them. So instead of feeling sorry for himself, Masai Ujiri went out, fired the coach of the year, appointed a rookie head coach in his stead, made the Kawhi Leonard trade for fan-favourite Demar Derozan and won a championship. That is what I mean by ruthlessness, that is the quality that separates the champions from the also-rans, and Levy I'm afraid is in the second camp.
Just because you should sell someone doesn't mean that another club is automatically going to buy that player.
of course. the only reason that I brought it up, though, is this: throughout the long-term, ongoing (by which I mean, not just the one we're having on this board) 'debate' on the merits/demerits of Levy, my position is largely deferential, in other words, I don't know the details, and so don't judge him on the small things. I just tend to look at our overall development under Levy/ENIC, and see it as generally positive. then, out of the blue I take a moment to identify one of the 'small things' or specific incidents that I clearly see as frustrating, and where I'm willing to say, hey, this is a problem in how he operates. and then he crams it up my arse.
fortunately that image of mido pops in just often enough to remind me that i'm sane and that this world isn't such a bad place after all.
Believe me, if Levy had made it known that the guy was for sale, he would not have had any problem finding a buyer.
Oh the life of a Spurs fan. Spending deadline refreshing the live feeds to see if we've signed Olivier Giroud*. *Mixed feelings on this one. A CV that includes Arsenal and Chelsea in big letters, but a good player none-the-less and one who would fit our "play up to the CF and get runners around and beyond him" approach. Son, Lucas and Dele would have a field day.
i think it's a general trend we're observing that it's no easy for anybody (except if you're willing to throw some crazy money). see even for manure it's how difficult to find a striker, or for cheatski for that matter...
We should bring Crouchie out of retirement. He still looks in good nick, all he would have to is win a few headers, Jose would love it.
Classic Levy (from The Guardian): Victor Wanyama won't join Amiens tonight; the Ligue 1 club had agreed terms with the player & Tottenham, but then Spurs went back on the deal & asked for more - Amiens had no intention of engaging further following the bad faith negotiating from Spurs. He just can't help himself...
yup. I've said it countless times - however good he may be with pounds and pence, he's really bad with people. I wouldn't do business with him.
So the window is shut. We ended up adding Gedson and Bergwijn, selling Eriksen and loaning Rose and Walker-Peters. No striker brought in, but there was really only bottom of the barrel stuff out there.
I wouldn't have minded if the Giroud thing had worked out. I've never been a huge fan, but it seemed like a decent potential solution to me.
Unfortunately, they couldn't land Mertens from Napoli, which would have allowed Giroud to leave. That would have been the best option out of a bunch bad options.
I saw a prediction that Piatek would be the next Janssen, so probably good we didn't get him. Not moving Wanyama is nuts.
The Isreali striker we tried to get last minute would've been the best option. Zahavi unlike all of the options we tried to get is actually in form, albeit, he plays in China and he's in his offseason. A 32 year old who finally gets a chance to play at this level would've played a bigger chip on his shoulder than Giroud, Jose, Piatek, Slimani...etc.
that is the full list: Christian Eriksen (Inter Milan, £17m) Kyle Walker-Peters (Southampton, loan) Danny Rose (Newcastle United, loan) Brandon Austin (Viborg, loan) Paris Maghoma (Brentford, undisclosed) Jack Clarke (Queens Park Rangers, loan) Jack Roles (Cambridge, loan extension) George Marsh (Leyton Orient, loan extension) Cameron Carter-Vickers (Luton Town, loan) Timothy Eyoma (Lincoln City, loan) Anthony Georgiou (Blackburn, loan) Kazaiah Sterling (Leyton Orient, loan) Shilow Tracey (Macclesfield Town, loan) Tashan Oakley-Boothe (Stoke City, undisclosed)