From Jonathan Liew's piece in The Guardian today:
"But when a coach’s commitment to the club feels so conditional, why should anybody else sweat and bleed for it? Conte is not wedded to this project as Pep Guardiola is to Manchester City or Jürgen Klopp to Liverpool. He does not empathise with Tottenham as Mikel Arteta does with Arsenal or Gareth Ainsworth with Wycombe. This is a job, and a strictly limited-term job at that, a job to keep him going until something better comes along. His priority, career-wise, is simply not to mess up. Grasp that, and everything you see on the pitch makes a little more sense.
Where we go from here is anyone’s guess. The Conte interregnum should at least end Daniel Levy’s masochistic obsession with managers who believe the club is beneath them. A club of Tottenham’s size should not be trying to hire the last great coach but the next, the visionary who can pick through this shambles piece by piece, keep what works and sweep away what does not. At the very least, it should find someone who really, unconditionally wants to be there. Why, indeed, should any club settle for anything less?"
https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2023/jan/15/spurs-and-contes-lack-of-fervour-thrown-into-stark-relief-by-arsenal
Viewed from afar, it seems that might be a pretty fair assessment of the current malaise. Not just an indictment on Conte, but also of Levy's recent appointments.
However, in Levy's defence, it also needs saying add that it's all well and good to say "appoint the next visionary"; it's knowing who that is where things get trickier.
Last year there were a lot of media reports about your pursuit of Ten Hag, a manager who I always thought had kept Ajax punching well above their weight despite losing their best players every off-season.
Spurs are in a much better position than Ajax to be able to retain their players, but, with all due respect, it's going to take significant success for a tip-top manager to choose you ahead of a club with United's history and glamour.
What the above really means is that if you do want to land that visionary, Spurs have no option but to be ahead of the curve - which, of course, entails a degree of risk-taking that could also set the club back a few years.
As I get older, and especially since Covid, I'm coming to appreciate more and more how tricky it is to make decisions in positions of high power.
Many years ago - I think it was perhaps around the time you sold Bale to Madrid - I wrote an article in defence of Levy with regard to how he was growing the club. I think now is a different moment for Spurs, though. I think now is the time Levy should be looking to take risks in order to land that 'golden ticket' manager.
And if he does want to continue down the "tried and trusted" route, I think there's one who it might be available fairly soon and who it might actually still be worth trying to court - but I'm not going to name him because I don't want to upset the Liverpool fans.
Thoughts?
Conte. What next?
posted on 16/1/23
comment by LukaBrasi COYS (U22178)
posted 11 minutes ago
comment by Chris[topher] (U20930)
posted 18 minutes ago
hopefully he goes to prison and we can hire Michael Edwards
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Edwards would be class. I'm sure I read he used to work for us once upon a time?
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yeah he was head performance analyst for 2 years
iirc he might even be a fan? or maybe he's a Chelsea fan, one or the other I think
posted on 16/1/23
comment by ●Billy The Spur● 20*21*22* ENIC OUT! (U3924)
posted 1 hour, 6 minutes ago
Penited fans lauding Pen Haag, if the officials did their jobs properly Penited would have less points than Spurs. See Saturday`s game v City for all the evidence you need of how Penited are dragged up the league by the refs every season.
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This is true.
Only problem is, I miss our great rivals VARpool, I think they’ve stopped paying the officials. Either that or the PEDs aren’t working anymore
posted on 16/1/23
Presumably Levy hired Paratici because he felt his own and the club's decisions in recruitment weren't up to scratch after Mourinho. Paratici has done reasonably ok so far but if he is someone who favours a pragmatic style when we were supposed to be looking at the opposite, then perhaps that was another wrong decision in appointing him?
Levy really just needs to stay away from making any football decisions full stop. Doesn't seem to have the awareness for it. The fact ETH was deemed not suitable enough during an interview is also starting to look quite damning given how well he is currently doing with United.
posted on 16/1/23
Just get Poch back, don’t wait, do it tomorrow.
posted on 16/1/23
comment by Spurtle (U1608)
posted 3 minutes ago
Presumably Levy hired Paratici because he felt his own and the club's decisions in recruitment weren't up to scratch after Mourinho. Paratici has done reasonably ok so far but if he is someone who favours a pragmatic style when we were supposed to be looking at the opposite, then perhaps that was another wrong decision in appointing him?
Levy really just needs to stay away from making any football decisions full stop. Doesn't seem to have the awareness for it. The fact ETH was deemed not suitable enough during an interview is also starting to look quite damning given how well he is currently doing with United.
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Yep, I've been saying this for a while. The appointment of Paratici was a complete contradiction of the pledge he made about the club philosophy.
I personally think we should be getting rid of both Conte and Paratici and starting again, this time with a proper holistic plan where the first decision made is who we are and how we want to play. Then, and only then a sporting director should be found that suits that philosophy. He can then source a manager and players that suit.
We have owner, sporting director AND manager all pulling in different directions at the moment and that confusion is beginning to affect performances on the pitch.
posted on 16/1/23
Klopp is going nowhere, but even when he does he's taking a break.
posted on 16/1/23
comment by ●Billy The Spur● 20*21*22* ENIC OUT! (U3924)
posted 1 hour, 23 minutes ago
Penited fans lauding Pen Haag, if the officials did their jobs properly Penited would have less points than Spurs. See Saturday`s game v City for all the evidence you need of how Penited are dragged up the league by the refs every season.
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How very dare you young William?
posted on 16/1/23
comment by fridgeboy (U1053)
posted 2 minutes ago
comment by Spurtle (U1608)
posted 3 minutes ago
Presumably Levy hired Paratici because he felt his own and the club's decisions in recruitment weren't up to scratch after Mourinho. Paratici has done reasonably ok so far but if he is someone who favours a pragmatic style when we were supposed to be looking at the opposite, then perhaps that was another wrong decision in appointing him?
Levy really just needs to stay away from making any football decisions full stop. Doesn't seem to have the awareness for it. The fact ETH was deemed not suitable enough during an interview is also starting to look quite damning given how well he is currently doing with United.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Yep, I've been saying this for a while. The appointment of Paratici was a complete contradiction of the pledge he made about the club philosophy.
I personally think we should be getting rid of both Conte and Paratici and starting again, this time with a proper holistic plan where the first decision made is who we are and how we want to play. Then, and only then a sporting director should be found that suits that philosophy. He can then source a manager and players that suit.
We have owner, sporting director AND manager all pulling in different directions at the moment and that confusion is beginning to affect performances on the pitch.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
It's a bit like the Levy/Baldini/AVB situation repeating itself. There was more blame and at odds with one another in that scenario but by this summer it could go the same way. I think by the summer we might end up with a reset forced on us regardless.
posted on 16/1/23
comment by Peter O'Hanraha-hanrahan (U1217)
posted 32 minutes ago
Klopp is going nowhere, but even when he does he's taking a break.
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I've just noticed your username. Finally someone else with a Day today reference in their name. I had to get rid of the epileptic part of mine.
posted on 16/1/23
Conte "interregnum".
Interregnum?
Tottenham have had an "interregnum" running all the way back to the 1960s.