Tottenham Hotspur is a big club. A club of history. Success in the top division; success in domestic cups; success in Europe. Tottenham have had some good times, but the reality is that the best of those came a great many years ago. Decades ago. Over half a century ago.
Yes, there have been recent “successes" too. Second and third place finishes in the Premier League; a Champions League final; this season, a League Cup final. Admittedly, Tottenham have not actually won anything, yet there has been an element of consistency over the last six or seven years which has seen an upward trend.
So, Tottenham are a big club. Agreed. But, to an extent.
Success-wise, Tottenham might be considered a good club. Not excellent. Not winners. But good. Consistently “in the mix", but seemingly destined to forever be bridesmaids rather than brides.
There are elements about Tottenham which are undoubtedly indicative of a big club, and indeed, without doubt qualify as one of the biggest clubs in the world: the stadium; the training ground, and even some players in the first team squad (essentially limited, in my view, to Harry Kane, Heung-Min-Son, Hugo Lloris, and Gareth Bale). These assets are the assets of a big club. Yet, still it seems, not a winning club.
Daniel Levy has assisted Tottenham in having the appearance of being a big club. To all intents and purposes, they look like a big club. Incredible stadium, all singing and all dancing training complex, and some superstar names, the four of whom mentioned above, are captains of their respective national football teams.
Yet, they do not win anything.
This is what I am coining the “Levy Paradox": the logical argument being that based on the assets of the club, their classification as a ‘big club’ can be measured. Contrarily though, is the illogical argument, which is that a failure to win anything, or indeed to seemingly continue to progress as a team, cannot be equated with the same.
So there you have it- by the one hand Tottenham are a big club, one of the biggest and most successful in the world, and yet by the other, they cannot be considered as big a club as Leicester, even.
Thus arises the Levy Paradox.
The issue is, that aside from recognising it as a paradox, there seems to be little chance of it ceasing to be one. Because despite these assets, Tottenham appear to be going backwards. They have had no Champions League football this season. They lost the League Cup final with what can only be described as a disastrously poor performance. They are battling for Europa League football alone, next season. They have no manager, and the team is currently being stewarded by a 29-year-old Premiership managerial virgin. Their pursuits of various managers with whom they have been linked appear very unlikely to yield any positive results (Evening Standard).
Harry Kane, their star player, most consistent performer, and at times, one-man team, is equivocal over his future and is rumoured to be asking the Chairman to be allowed to leave in the summer transfer window (Sky Sports). Heung-Min-Son, their second-best and most reliable player, has, as yet, failed to sign a new contract, and it seems his future may be intrinsically linked to the future of Harry Kane (GiveMe Sport). Hugo Lloris’s contract and Gareth Bale’s loan agreement are both due to expire in the near future (Football.London). The club is in enormous debt (Evening Standard), and finally, the club has recently been publicly reviled throughout the footballing world and beyond for their part in the despised European Super League (BBC).
And so the Levy Paradox strikes: amazing stadium, amazing training complex, and yet a football team that hasn’t won anything (and, based on the failure to top Leicester, and resounding defeats to Liverpool and Manchester City in the Champions League and League Cup finals respectively, did not even come close) and appears to be going backwards in every conceivable way.
So how did we get here? Well, the cause of the Levy Paradox has been an approach which was the wrong way around. The assets do not turn the club into winners; the team turns the club into winners which can generate improved assets. If Levy were to have taken the funds for the new stadium and invested them in the team, I would suggest there could have been a foundation created within the side that led to a sustainable winning platform.
The Levy Paradox
posted on 11/5/21
So in short, it's all Levy's fault.
posted on 11/5/21
If we spent net 150m we could challenge title
If we spent net 100m we could challenge top 4
Anything less and we are floating between 5th and 8th.
posted on 11/5/21
It's not exactly guaranteed, not even close that by spending tonnes of money Spurs would've won many major honors. It's not like you'd have ever out spent City, Chelsea or maybe even United and if you did make it to the top City would just blow another billion to regain their title.
The stadium was a better bet imo. Yes things haven't exactly gone brilliantly well since the move but it isn't necessarily because of the stadium, you appointed Mourinho and sacked Poch...
posted on 11/5/21
The Stadium was an absolute must. I really question any true supporter saying it wasn`t. And trying to outspend Man City and Chelsea would be a total nonsense, and the quickest way for the club to to bust.
I think the club have got the balance between new stadium and spending on players just about right. The only problem is most of the players purchased, some for very decent money, have not been very good.
posted on 11/5/21
The one thing you're failing to mention, Hezzman, despite your rather long-winded dissertation, is that whilst the training ground and stadium were being built, Poch was developing a squad that was capable of winning trophies. It's very easy to sit here post-Jose and say we didn't invest in the first team but the truth is that we were close, really close with the squad we had. When we did need investment in the squad a year or two later, the commitment to the stadium, one that absolutely had to happen to future proof the club, had already been made. At the point of the decision, we were flying.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing but so is perspective. Let's judge how much investment is needed in this squad when we've managed to lift the confidence of the players out of the gutter that Jose had them firmly pressed in. It's only really fair to assess the squad once the new manager has lifted them all because, by and large, this very same squad has seen us punching above our financial weight by qualifying for the CL in four of the last six seasons. That's a true reflection of quality.
Then there's the recruitment we've already made which someone else mentioned earlier. As far as I'm concerned, we have invested a fair bit in recent years but we're not making the right decisions in the market. We bought Lo Celso when for similar money we could have got Fernandes. Over 60M on Ndombele. 30M Reggy. Bale - huge outlay in terms of wages. None of them, to a degree, have lived up to expectation. Prior to Ruben Dias joining City, our transfer record was more than theirs and even that one was close to the amount we paid for Ndombele. They've just got the recruitment bang on. As have Liverpool.
If you really drill down into the facts then you'll find that the money has been spent on players, just not the right players. We'll always get this wrong if we have a high turnover of managers.
posted on 11/5/21
Another recruitment issue is not selling at the right time. Most Liverpool fans were furious at the sale of Coutinho but look what they did with that money. Allison and VVD were the final piece in the jigsaw. We've had Kane, Son, Alli, Toby, Dier, Verts, Lloris and Eriksen stick around for a long, long time. Only Walker fits the mould of someone we sold for huge profit. We could have sold Dier to United for big bucks, same for Toby. Alli was worth a fortune a couple of years back and now they've all regressed. What's the phrase? Speculate to accumulate. We need to keep some but sell others to recruit again. The very best sides don't leave a squad for years to gather bacteria like we have. We should have been active sellers at the right time too.
Recruitment has been woeful and I think Levy is very much to blame for that as he has too much control in that regard.
posted on 11/5/21
comment by Ioavirgo (U10470)
posted 16 minutes ago
If we spent net 150m we could challenge title
If we spent net 100m we could challenge top 4
Anything less and we are floating between 5th and 8th.
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As long as we do not pay more than £35-£40m on one player. Even then I would be worried. Pretty much every signing we have made north of £30m has either been average or flopped. Currently, Sanchez, Ndombele, GLC, Lamela, Sissoko are either not up to the task or have underwhelmed when given starts. Only GLC for me has the potential to become a really good signing but I am not very confident on that on his past performances but under a new manager who knows?
Our best signings in recent years have been Son, Toby, Dele(1st three years) Eriksen, PEH and Reg. Could maybe add Lucas to that list too. Rodon could be a bargin at £12m too. All under £30m. Players who were brought for low fees and showed they were hungry on the pitch to make an impact.
There is a whole list of players who have contracts expiring next summer across Europe who I would hope Levy/Hitchen are exploring. Deals like PEH and maybe even Sabitzer or Soumare of Lille. Much better players than Winks or Sissoko.
posted on 11/5/21
All very good points raised in this article and I agree with them all, but there is another, much more positive, way of looking at things.
With the right Manager, the next 5 years for us could look very bright. If Leicester can win the league/consistently finish in European places with their budget/base, we certainly can.
posted on 11/5/21
comment by SpursBoy101 (U21819)
posted 4 minutes ago
All very good points raised in this article and I agree with them all, but there is another, much more positive, way of looking at things.
With the right Manager, the next 5 years for us could look very bright. If Leicester can win the league/consistently finish in European places with their budget/base, we certainly can.
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That's the thing. The outlook feels bleak at this present moment but it doesn't take long for the sun to start shining again. A new manager coming in can change everything. Leicester were heading for the drop under Claude Puel and then suddenly Brendan comes in and it's all rosy.
We have to get recruitment right though. Leicester have got it right from root to branch. Owners, recruitment, manager, players. I think we need a return to the DOF model as I'm not sure what Steve Hitchen is actually doing to be honest. Has he got anything right yet?
posted on 11/5/21
comment by fridgeboy (U1053)
posted 29 minutes ago
comment by SpursBoy101 (U21819)
posted 4 minutes ago
All very good points raised in this article and I agree with them all, but there is another, much more positive, way of looking at things.
With the right Manager, the next 5 years for us could look very bright. If Leicester can win the league/consistently finish in European places with their budget/base, we certainly can.
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That's the thing. The outlook feels bleak at this present moment but it doesn't take long for the sun to start shining again. A new manager coming in can change everything. Leicester were heading for the drop under Claude Puel and then suddenly Brendan comes in and it's all rosy.
We have to get recruitment right though. Leicester have got it right from root to branch. Owners, recruitment, manager, players. I think we need a return to the DOF model as I'm not sure what Steve Hitchen is actually doing to be honest. Has he got anything right yet?
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Hitchen or whoever else will always be crippled by Levy demand of selling high and buying low.