There’s a lot of doom and gloom around at the minute (most of it warranted) but when it comes purely to the managerial search and you consider all the factors in play, have we really done such a bad job?
This isn’t a piece in defense of Levy or ENIC - it’s because of them that we’re in this mess, neither is it ignoring that the overall situation at the club right now is dire BUT when you rationally step back and consider the available candidates, the financial state of the club, the way we operate, and the brief Levy set out, are we really failing? I’m not so sure we are.
If you stop thinking that we’re suddenly going to change as a club, stop reading every piece of media click bait, stop listening to ‘leaks’ that we have no way of verifying, and stop (and I can’t believe this is a thing) treating odds at the bookies as if they are tea leaves, then this search is pretty standard.
So let’s look at who was and is actually available?
**Managers who match the brief, but are no longer a target**
Nagelsmann – was the best suited manager. No way does any manager take the Spurs job over Bayern. Take away the fact that we should have got him last Summer and it’s not our fault.
Poch – shouldn’t have been fired in the first place but we clearly tried to get him back to placate the fans. Hard to work out what was the truth but ultimately PSG said no and there’s nothing we can do about that.
Rogers – he’s at an ascendant club right now and he committed to them early. Would have cost too much money for what he brings to the table, never a realistic choice.
Conte – now technically he didn't meet the brief but when he became available for free, we reached out because Levy would have been murdered for ignoring him. I don’t for a second imagine that Levy thought he would come but I don’t get the hate for asking one of the world’s best managers if he wanted to work within the club’s clearly defined confines. Surely it shows ambition to try to get him? We were never going to give him a blank cheque book so it’s only the media narrative that ramped this one up.
**Managers who match the brief and are still available**
Ten Haag – Good manager for Ajax, would have been fairly well-received by our fans. Downside is that he’s hardly marquee and by all accounts there’s possibly a reason he’s still at Ajax. I don’t get the narrative that it’s somehow our fault for Ajax activating his extension, it was clearly a bargaining chip. Could still come in if the club fancy him.
Potter – Liked by those in the industry, hated by Spurs fans who forget that before Tottenham, Poch was a nobody manager at a lower club. Levy knows he’s not a name brand and let’s face it, if we hired him early then there would be whining that we settled for ‘less’.
Martinez – He’s the Belgium manager and knows the Premier league and has won more trophies than us in the past 10 years. I don’t see the harm in checking in with him to see if he’s learned anything from working with world class players for the past few years. He’s not my choice for manager but why do people think we’re above him?
**Lazy names and tropes generated by the media for column inches**
Rangnick – Hasn’t coached outside of Germany for 35 years but would apparently ‘LOVE’ the opportunity to break that streak with Spurs. In fact he’s so desperate he’ll even be our DoF if we want.
Sarri – Universally hated in English football, pines for Tottenham.
Zidane – He’s available and despite clearly hating being a football manager would love one more chance to truly stick his boot into Gareth Bale.
Allegri – Has shown little interest in anything other than boring Italian football, APART from the Spurs job.
Southgate – English Martinez, loves Harry Kane. Planning on tanking the Euros early to be at Spurs for preseason training.
Nuno – He left Wolves to move into the Spurs job after hearing so many good things from his good mate Jose.
Klinsmann – Did you know he used to play for Spurs?! He’d love to be the manager but Levy, knowing he’s a terrible manager, instead gave him the dreaded courtesy call.
Benitez – Darling of the media. After Newcastle he longs to work under another egomaniac and sees Levy as that chance.
Flick - Let's all pretend that it wasn't public knowledge that he'd already accepted the German job...
A rational look at 'The Search'
posted on 7/6/21
5 stars for me
posted on 7/6/21
comment by Hezzman (U21558)
posted 48 seconds ago
5 stars for me
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I feel this is a tongue in cheek article I should have added.
posted on 7/6/21
comment by Gezza-Spurs (U18952)
posted 12 minutes ago
A nice attempt at painting a reasonable picture in Levy's favour. But the reality is that he's made a right pig's ear of the manager search and...while we're at it...he's made a right pig's ear of every manager search (bar Poch and Redknapp).
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Please don't think that I'm some Levy apologist, he is clearly at fault for the mess we're in.
This whole article was an attempt to make myself, and others, feel better about the search but if I'm honest I was halfway through the names before I realised that the big fault in the search is that NOTHING has changed since the initial shortlist was broadly agreed upon.
posted on 7/6/21
comment by Hezzman (U21558)
posted 2 minutes ago
5 stars for me
----------------------------------------------------------------------
posted on 7/6/21
It's a pretty hard sell to argue that Spurs haven't done that badly when they've publicly failed with four approaches now (Nagelsmann, Rodgers, Conte and Pochettino).
Besides, the position now is "Spurs ought to go for Ten Hag or Potter), which was the exact position a month ago. All Spurs have done is waste a month getting comically bad press and ended up back in the exact same situation.
posted on 7/6/21
comment by Huddlestone's Afro - Rock you like a HurriKane! (U15375)
posted 20 minutes ago
comment by fridgeboy (U1053)
posted 3 minutes ago
"when you rationally step back and consider the available candidates, the financial state of the club, the way we operate, and the brief Levy set out"
-------
Maybe you can explain to me why Levy wasted so long trying to woo a manager in Conte so woefully ill-fitted to "the way we operate" then I'll be able to revise any idea that we are failing. He dropped the ball massively with him. It's no wonder decent managers like ETH have committed to their existing clubs as they're so publicly 3rd or 4th choice.
For what it's worth, I wanted Poch but that may have been a want of the heart and not the head. ETH is surely the obvious choice. He's in the Poch mould. He's a project man. He works within a budget. He is the fresher of the project types. I hate to say it but maybe there are too many players that played under Poch that would regard him as part of the furniture the moment he comes back rather than a new voice that can push players on.
Sorry, but the club hugely failed as they got distracted by Poch and Conte. Not so much Poch, but Conte is so far away from the brief a child could have worked that one out. Meanwhile, little ETH is probably sitting in Amsterdam thinking "feck 3rd choice. Do one Levy". Leaving us with Roberto fecking Martinez. For what it's worth - he got Wigan relegated and nearly did the same with Everton. He leaks goals for fun. Don't let any Belgium team with De Bruyne, Hazard, Lukaku, Toby and Jan distract you from that. I will be furious if we end up with him and ignore Potter.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Good points but in the grand scheme of things, was it really such a long time? The media like to spin 'ongoing talks as a narrative but the reality was probably that Levy but the feelers out, talked to Conte's agent, found out he was interested and then talked to him about it.
I agree that he was off brief but judging by the reaction online, a fair few people wanted it to happen.
Also I personally don't think that managers are that precious. Let's face it, there are always bigger candidates out there and £10million+ a season at a big club is going to sooth out any sore feelings - Poch was 2nd place after all behind LVG.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I think my love for the whole Poch return clouded my judgement a bit but I was staggered at the amount of Spurs fans that were thrilled with Conte, as it was seemingly close to being over the line back then. My immediate reaction was fear as I felt like Levy was making the same mistake he made when he appointed Jose. They're both good managers in their own right but we're a unique project and neither Jose nor Conte have any pedigree in building projects or thinking in a different way other than splurged finances. If anything they both have previous for grumbling when finances aren't given. They are the blueprint for disasters working under this ownership at this club. I don't think a lot of the fans saw it this way. They look at the stats and the trophies and believe this these guys have magic potion to do the same with us. They can't. No one can, although Poch came close.
We need someone who shares our values and doesn't apply them begrudgingly. The rumour doing the rounds now is the Conte is back on so I'm fully back in fear mode already.
Regarding the fact that the money takes the sting out of not initially being first choice, you're right. But all top managers are paid well now. It's the same reason that in years gone by we would have just poached Rodgers from Leicester and avoided this whole circus but there's money everywhere now. The sell is beyond the finances. A couple of million more isn't going to cut it when you find you have to work under a chairman like Levy. A lot of managers would rather avoid it. The damage to the wallet is far easier to take than the damage to their reputation if it inevitably goes wrong. Poch is the exception, not the rule.
posted on 7/6/21
I think my love for the whole Poch return clouded my judgement a bit but I was staggered at the amount of Spurs fans that were thrilled with Conte, as it was seemingly close to being over the line back then. My immediate reaction was fear as I felt like Levy was making the same mistake he made when he appointed Jose. They're both good managers in their own right but we're a unique project and neither Jose nor Conte have any pedigree in building projects or thinking in a different way other than splurged finances. If anything they both have previous for grumbling when finances aren't given. They are the blueprint for disasters working under this ownership at this club. I don't think a lot of the fans saw it this way. They look at the stats and the trophies and believe this these guys have magic potion to do the same with us. They can't. No one can, although Poch came close.
We need someone who shares our values and doesn't apply them begrudgingly. The rumour doing the rounds now is the Conte is back on so I'm fully back in fear mode already.
Regarding the fact that the money takes the sting out of not initially being first choice, you're right. But all top managers are paid well now. It's the same reason that in years gone by we would have just poached Rodgers from Leicester and avoided this whole circus but there's money everywhere now. The sell is beyond the finances. A couple of million more isn't going to cut it when you find you have to work under a chairman like Levy. A lot of managers would rather avoid it. The damage to the wallet is far easier to take than the damage to their reputation if it inevitably goes wrong. Poch is the exception, not the rule.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I convinced myself that he would be a good hire too - it's hard not say, well he's like a better, modern Jose so surely it will be fine. I've had this discussion with mates about Spurs under Poch, there was just something about the team and the project that I hadn't seen before. I was gutted that we didn't win trophies but it wasn't the end of the world, it still felt like we were achieving something.
posted on 7/6/21
Nice article but Levy has'nt scooby doo on how to appoint a manager this much is clear.
posted on 8/6/21
I don't think there is any rational way to look at what Levy has done to this club.
The "management search" is just part of it.
He screws around with the managers he gets, their funding etc., and finally fires them to hide the fact that most of the squad performance is based upon his antics and not the manager's abilities to get what he can out of the squad he is given.
And so finally the signature players are threatening to leave.
And by golly, their agents are certainly advising them to do so.
So... any manager acquainted with this turmoil will likely ask for the heavens before considering coming to Totteringham. Conte most certainly did.
Ten Haag would be an idiot to leave Ajax for here until Levy suddenly got good old Joe to ante up a few bucks from his currency trading portfolio.
As for Roberto......oh well, if he isn't happy managing the world's top national squad.....what would make him think he would find happiness at WHL?
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Spurs community.....here is the truth, the real truth, and the only truth.......
it is barrel-scraping time for Levy.
And anyone that he gets to come now will not, repeat NOT, make you lot happy!
Nor me neither...
posted on 8/6/21
This whole situation is a major embarrassment, Levy has failed spectacularly yet again. The bloke is bumbling around trying to find a manager capable of operating on a shoe string budget, these are hard to find, and he already had one of those in Poch, who he sacked in favour of a manager who relies on expensive players. Levy has facked up royally, the stupid clown.