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Appeasing the fans?

I haven't found time to write up anything for Vital Spurs in a long while, but I just thought I'd throw this out there - is Mr Levy merely trying to keep the fans on side by these deadline day 'nearly' moves?

Looking over the previous couple of transfer windows we seem to make a last minute dash to sign up a few players - and we have done so with the likes of Van der Vaart, Kranjcar, and more recently the likes of Dempsey - but all under £10M. However on recent deadline days, we've been rumoured to be trying to sign big names, Damiao in this window, Moutinho in Summer 2012, and if I recall correctly we had supposedly tabled large bids for Llorente and Rossi in previous windows... But are these bids genuine efforts to sign these players?

It doesn't take a genius to gather that if we were not going to secure the services of Damiao for the rumoured £13-£17M we offered, so if you were going to test the water, you would of done so prior to the last day of the transfer window - especially when you consider the part-ownership of the player. The same with Moutinho; AVB kept making it clear Porto were hard to bargain with, and the deal was going to take a lot of work - so why would you make a sincere effort to try and capture the main piece of the jigsaw of another club, on the last day when they would then need to find a replacement? I don't know what happens behind the scenes, and I don't claim to have ITK sources... But from the way it is portrayed in the media, I'd say it's just an attempt to appease the fans' ambitions of Tottenham Hotspur.

At the end of the day we're a club with a good, but not great income, trying to build a new stadium to be able to compete with the big boys in the not too distant future. We have a good squad with some exceptional individuals, as well as a great manager. We can't afford the big name striker we all crave, so let's just get behind the players we have at our disposal. The main positive to draw from the January window is that Arsenal, nor Everton strengthened significantly either. I wouldn't want to make a prediction on the outcome of this season, but it makes for great viewing. COYS.

Written by nicktheyido

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Writer: nicktheyido

Date:Saturday February 2 2013

Time: 6:00PM

Your Comments

although you clearly cant legislate for changing circumstances or someone like Anzhi paying £50m and gazzumping you, it is surely possible to do a lot of the groundwork between windows. however, I honestly dont think we have a clue how cut-throat and volatile the transfer dealings are. agreeing a deal today, means little tomorrow if someone changes their minds, thinks they can get a better offer or of course gets a better offer

oxfordspur

You said it nick just a bluff as every jan window!wait til the summer,3 summers how many more will it take ?.

Little spur

He's not trying to appease the fans, He's trying to deceive the fans. His job is actually to please the fans but for some reason many in football don't think so...they'll get bitten in the ass.

shedboy2

Avb is the perfect yes man for dan it seems !

Little spur

Summer window betting we are 1/5000 on to be in the frame for Leandro, think i will have some of that at those odds !!! Any chance MOUTINHO is also linked, make a nice double.

spu 4 life

I still reckon even now we wouldn't know what it would take to buy Damaio. All we can do is bid based on AVB's valuation and they can accept of reject it. My guess is that AVB and Levy decided to leave the Brazilian's alone for the whole of January and then throw in the tempter at the last minute. It didn't work and if I'm honest neither of them expected it to. It was worth a shot. I don't think in any way it was to deceive the fans. It certainly doesn't appease the fans either. The only thing that counts is when we sign or sell players.

muttley

really looking forward to August 31st...see if we can bring in someone too late for pre-season, miss the first few games...we might even save 100k...must be worth it...

shedboy2

If you can't compete with the ten-twelve biggest clubs of the world in order to buy high class and established players, but still you are in a better financial situation than hundreds others of them, then all you have to do, if you are an owner with ambition and you have at least an average football knowledge, is to organise an adequate scouting system staffed with the right people and try to find in time affordable players who have the appropriate skills and character traits to improve your current squad and address its shortcomings. Statistically, there are hundreds such players all over the world to spot and buy. If you have a higher budget and you can pay higher salaries than the overwhelming majority of the rest of the clubs, all you need is an effective scouting organisation and appropriate staff.

Ioan X

yeah that's the way it works Muttley....teams just blind bid everywhere and sometimes the 'selling' club accepts....we were just unlucky with Damiao, Moutinho and Rossi et al...amazing we got Holtby for only 1.5m it must have taken us 15 bids to get to that level...

shedboy2

sorry chaps we were not unlucky with damiao, moutinho and all the rest, levy is just trying to con us all into believing that he bids for these players, personally i don't believe any of these bids

164spur

Damiao as avb i believe qouted would not be coming to spurs blah blah blahlike we are beneath his expections blah blah .the player himself is holding out for a bigger club so more money in fee and wages! Dead in the water as been said move on.

Little spur

Mr levy can not use this players name again in the next and furture windows! It looks like he will have to crab another carrot or ............?....??....... Not saying it again! Coys

Little spur

if Damiao was that great how comes no other clubs queuing up for him

164spur

Just a couple of points. Firstly many of us have been alleging, as you do, that Levy embarks on these "impossible deals", with little or no hope of success, late in the window, to appease fans, to make it look as though he is trying. Secondly I don't think we were necessarily craving a striker costing a massive fee, a "world class" striker. Most of us just want somebody to provide us with missing fire power, and a selection option up front, as others have managed to find i.e. Michu, Cisse, Dember Ba, all of these were bought for less than £10M. We have had since AVB arrived to scour Europe an Sth America looking for a player that fits his playing style, and within budget, they are there they just need finding, for example every club in Spain except Real Marid and Barca are skint, some desperately so, there must be steals out there to be snaffled. That of course is what DOFs do, people with the necessary experience, contacts, sources, eye for a player, relationships with agents etc. built up over years in the football market place. This is the job for a career football person, not a bean counter. It also helps if you don't put everybody's back up on contact, and totally pi$$ them off, take note Mr. Levy.

Frank

I think Holtby is good business. and a striker would have been nice but i belive in Daniel and remember who we were buying a few years ago.

season54

And Willian moving to Russia for £30 million! I bet we offered £15 million! Waste of time, we cannot compete.. accept it!

gazzalegend

It's all complete and utter nonsense. We got the same excuse this time as we got with Moutinho...it was very close and maybe if there was a bit more time. What? So 1) why wait until the last day of the window, and 2) how come if it was so close and just a bit more time was probably needed why also say that we've now dropped interest? It makes no sense when it was all so close and they could still sort out a deal and have the transfer ready to go for the summer pending a medical once the window opens again. If they don't feel anyone is needed, fine, I can accept that even if I don't agree, but treating us fans as if we're gullible fools is just not on.

flipper

can anyone please tell me where the goals are going to come from between now and the end of the season

164spur

looks to me like mr levy has found a yes sir man in AVB

164spur

let's play the blame game, blame Levy,ENIC,Lewis(not Holtby) and Tavistock. So we didn't buy a superstar for 25-30 millions? We never did and we never will. AVB is not deluded, he knew that before he took the job. He also was the one who wanted Gylfi, that is clear after this window, which means he approved all of or signings last summer. If the Moutinho deal was for real or not, who knows? This Leandro talk was just media talk. AVB have accepted the conditions he's working under, don't think otherwise. This is partly AVB:s players, in the summer we will know who he want's to be in the team in the future.

dannylane

AVB says we came close to signing Damiao. I think he wants us to be proud of that!

Shannon

there is little point in typing further words... we have Jermain Defoe & Harry Kane... Levy & AVB (though maybe just Levy) should be horse whipped. A pathetic joke of management.

Cape Town Spurs

He couldn't care less about appeasing the fans. 1 trophy in 12 years and a new stadium that's likely to appear under Halley's Comet's next appearance keeps most of Pavlov's dogs happy.

Big Chiv

With Damiaou=CL (maybe) CL 2011 total revenue 163m£ 2012 (no CL) total revenue 144m£ Think about that

ratmo

We can afford a striker can 20m. It is just that to us, Damiao is not worth 20m. Wrong target. We tried to get him withou risking another Bentley. Whilst is is hard to remember now, but from afar Bentley looked good right until the moment he started playing for us. You can't tell sometimes. You especially cannot tell with a Brazilaian player who has never played in Europe. Look at Hulk...and he WAS playing in Europe. Complete flop. They won't get much of that money back....Damiao was the wrong target. AVB needs to line up realistic targets and not put all his eggs in one basket like Moutinho and Leandro. Levy doing great job, but he just needs to tell AVB how little chance we have of gettting some of these guys, and to have back up plan.

TonyRich

164spur - not many teams have outscored us thus far...why should that change? Ade, Dempsey, Siggy all proved last season that they know where the net is...more to come? Bale is aleady scoring... Defoe is scoring...

TonyRich

Big chiv - crikey. Did you see how loooong it took Arsenal to get their stadium? Can't you see the obstacles in place? It will come. Our trophy rate has not come down under Levy either...plus we made two other finals. Much better than the bottom half of table rubbish we had to endure before Levy gave us crdibilty again.

TonyRich

Tony, couldn't care less about the scum and their stadium, it's turned their fortunes on the pitch off rather than on. Their fans are being mugged off by the money boys an all. All jam tomorrow.

Big Chiv

TR- how do you know wer can afford 20m? And if Leandro is the the wrong target why go after him? Doesn't make any sense?

shedboy2

Look, Arsenal had to sell players to fund their initial costs for the stadium. If Levy is true to his word, the playing budget will not be altered by the stadium. It has not been affected by the training facility. We will have to run within our means. So salaries plus other costs will have to all come out of revenues. There will be no going in to pockets to fund above and beyond. That, IMO, is not only reasonable and within the meaning and intent of FFPR, but is also consistent with the history of ENIC. Whether you like them or not, they are using the revenues to fund the team. ENIC, with the sponsorships, kit deals etc, have consistently increased revenues. Modric and VDV were sold. All of the funds from sales (plus about 6M) were spent on new players. Our salaries have been climbing quicker than revenues over the past 5 years to the point that now we are approaching, or have exceeded the "70%" salary ratio. Next year, assuming Gallas, Bentley and Gomes go, there will be more salary room. Not having a bloated squad will help us spend more on each individual player. I believe we are going in the right direction. It is a marathon.

As for appeasing the fans, most of the stories are media driven and they only appease themselves. Rumours yesterday that Porto had bought out the third party interests so that they could sell us Moutinho. AVB was pretty direct on that. There was never an inquiry. We were in for Leandro. The conditions weren't right. He also stated earlier that both wage demands and seller valuation were at issue. In Willian, it was the seller valuation. I suspect that Leandro wanted much more than we were willing to give which is why AVB seemed pretty convinced we would not be back in for him. Just my interpretation, but it fits. COYS

peterballb

Leandro and Doumbia, IMO, are the two strikers out there that tick all the boxes. I suspect as we were willing to live with Internacionale's valuation but not so much the player's own valuation. He had been and remained a target. We will not pay over the odds though. Transfer fees are rarely the issue (was in the Willian case), salaries almost always are. Does anyone need to be reminded of how Keane, Bentley, Jenas, Crouch and others all hindered us in moving them on. Players will sit rather than take lower wages to play. Sad, but that is fact. It's why the salary must be moveable. COYS

peterballb

I don't for a second believe that there is or has ever been a deliberate attempt by Levy to fabricate deals. Raising supporters expectations only to willingly dash them is, as can be seen from the histrionics on this site, utterly counter-productive. I do believe, however, that it's possible that Levy goes into transfer talks with an overblown idea of the kind of price that he can get. He is, after all, looking for value, whereas the seller and the swarm of agents are looking to make a fortune. There are always bound to be failures, but then again, there've also been some noteworthy successes. It all boils down to the same thing; that we won't pay over the odds. I have no problems with that, whatsoever. My beef is that, if you can't afford a Damiao, then you've got to look elsewhere for cheaper alternatives. There seems to me to be precious little evidence of that, which is a concern. But, if Levy was into fabricating evidence, as has been suggested, you'd expect there to be some.

darkenvai

peterballb, Please tell us your on an Enic wage! You have to be paid an employer of Enic corporation. Its either that are your not a well person. I mean who would come on this site and repeatedly write scores of posts a day, (on behalf of 2 men who are worth a combined 4.5 billion fortune) telling your fellow COYS fans that the current owners who have the worst trophy per season percentage of any owners of the club in over half a century, who have only reached the Champions Once in 13 seasons, (courtesy of the coach you detest the most), who have won only 1 trophy (the b team cup) in 12 years, and have failed to reach a single FA Cup final in 13 seasons despite being the richest owners in the clubs history, who have failed to even start building the stadium they promised their customers 13 long years ago, are doing such a marvelous job. How much are you being paid to write this crap? You kind of expose yourself when you write... " We will not pay over the odds though." We Peter??? Paid Enic apologist or what? Please tell us you a paid employer of the of the Enic corporation pete, or get yourself off quickly to a corporation shrink...

pelebro

A lot of the problems in transfers are caused by agents. As Harry and others have said.. we have had Levy also saying this a few times over last 4 years... We just have to accept that the new training ground cost over £20m received from the CL year, which could have been spent on players... new stadium £400m +. So there has to be some delay in team success, due to financial income & expenditure of THFC... After all do we want to be a big club which can attract, sign and pay for top players.. or a club that has under achieved over last 20 years or so, by buying expensive players and paying high wages we cant afford due to our small stadium and revenues.... IMO, we have to go through this transition phrase, as frustrating as it is...

Block D Spurs

Your ENIC obsession is getting tiresome now pelebro, you're coming across as bad as those you're popping off at. Do yourself a favour & take a little break from it for a bit mate. All you're doing is detracting from what you have to say & most people will be skimming past your posts the second they read you repeating the same old mantra. Or worse, see your name & move on without reading anything. Try posting something without it for a change, show us you've actually got something positive to say about our Club other than the same old, oft repeated, anti-ENIC stuff .

If the overly pro-ENIC guys are getting to you, try to ignore it, don't show them they're pushing your buttons because the more you show them they're pushing 'em, the more they'll do it. Show that you're bigger than that.

And give us ALL a break! ;-)

Spuds-U-Like

Spuds-U-Like ,,, Why don`t you give him a break ?

big cockeral

Levy is a liar of the worst kind. THFC is not a football club for him but a real estate development project. Based upon footballing achievements he would have been sacked years ago. As someone else said on another thread perhaps the balance sheet should be displayed on the big screen at WHL so that we can all pay homage to a really great property developer....sod the football.

Harry-Kari

Harry-Kari-If it is a real estate development project, he would have been fired years ago. They haven't laid a brick. Remember though, they have added 70 seats, so we mustn't complain, or we'll annoy other posters with Flat Cap Syndrome.

lordjohnny

Spuds-U-Like, Spoken like a true Enic Hotspur man! We real Tottenhan Hotspur fans at WBA (thousands of us) let our tight as a ducks arse owner and chairman know what we think... “We should have bought a striker”...

pelebro

Only one way to respond to that pelebro:

Spuds-U-Like

lordjohnny, Is there a cure for this Flat Cap Syndrome thing? Do you think a long, tax 'free' holiday in the Bahamas could cure it???

pelebro

What a dick

SpursOne2

No I don't buy that conspiracy theory nonsense surely it would be easier to actually sign a young player then go through this embrassement!

Slurms McKenzie

No Pelebro, sadly there's no known cure, only a determination to wring that flat cap and defer to their betters and masters, agreeing with all their bullcrap despite evidence staring them in the face, the poor souls.

lordjohnny

What a pair of

Spuds-U-Like

Oh no save me, i have flat cap syndrome and I’ve turned into a ENIC Hotspur fan....god forbid I would catch such a terrible disease. Does this mean I’m not a real Spurs fan anymore…what the ***** shall I do?? Time to cleanse and pass on the season ticket to you real fans……

SpursOne2

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