The NDP is not viable but we can afford to splash out £40M on a player?
Sunday, January 30, 2011 at 11:40PM Ooooookay then.
Plenty of chin scratching this late evening.
Guillem Balague, think of him as the La Liga King of the ITK's has tweeted that...well, you know by now because you'll have read it and seen it on SSN and all the newsfeeds etc. We've bid for Sergio Aguero - £38.5M supposedly, and seen it rejected by Atletico Madrid. This following the early rumour(s) that we also bid (rejected) for Negredo, Llorente and Rossi.
Busy day of faxing for Mr Chairman. Not quite cool, calm and collected. Somewhere, there's a scouting system waiting to be rediscovered and effectively used to target player outside of window and then bid for said player 20+ days before actual transfer deadline day.
Crazy talk.
Ballague "Spurs are running around Spain with a large bag of cash" - lol
On so many levels this is completely loopy. A day to go - what type of negotiation are you going to get out of the Spanish clubs at this late late stage? Considering there's complexities relating to tax (read this for a better understanding) and the fact that this particular player was wanted by Real Madrid earlier in the week (although all that says is that his club don't want to sell him to their 'rivals'). But they've already knocked back Chelsea.
I know leaving it to the last minute is sometimes done on purpose and I spoke about the dynamics of the wheeling and dealing the other day, but this all seems like much ado about nothing in terms of viable targets.
One thing that isn't relevant is the get out clause, as stated by Sid Lowe who firmly believes there is no chance of Aguero signing for us because; 'Legally speaking, Aguero's buy-out clause is irrelevant when it comes to a bid from Spurs' - basically what he's saying is, the get out clause is only for Spanish clubs but what Sid probably meant is the player will have no interest in the move.
Also does nobody want to cite City and the fact they pay some of their players twice the cost of their wages to cover the 50% tax the poor little sods have to fork out for plying their trade in England? Would love to know what type of package we would offer him.
"Here ya go Kun, 70k per week and free membership to Faces"
A suggestion perhaps that these more flamboyant 'look at us, look at us' bids will lead to possible second tier signings (in terms of cost) like Fabiano or Forlan (who are hardly second tier players). It's all a bit OTT. In fact, telling everyone you've got almost £40M to spend is hardly going to help if we have to revisit the proposed 'old men' of Fab and Diego. I know the story with both is that it's a no-go, but we all know it's never a no-go in football when a club says 'we ain't selling'.
Also, very few words on the fact that Aguero plays off Forlan and we already have a player to play off a forward (vdV) - we just don't have a forward of deep quality to match the intelligence and movement and guile of the Dutchman.
Something is not right with any of it. Mostly the way Sky Sports are all over this, in what has been a less than frantic/exciting window. Keane to West Ham is not going to be responsible for Jim White's head exploding. One day before the deadline and we're bidding for the best forwards in La Liga offering ridiculous money when there is about a 2% chance of having any of the bids accepted.
I smell a Levyism. Good on him if he's completley serious about it all. Rock'n'roll. But this will probably die quicker than fat Elvis on the toilet.
As for the title of this thread...yeah yeah, speculate to accumulate, said that plenty of times. I'm only trying to point out the absurdity of it all. If we signed a player of world class quality for a staggering amount of money and we finished top4/3 - it's money we'll make back and the gamble will pay off. On the other hand...I don't know, we sell Bale in the summer to compensate.
j/k
And anyways, the crux here is the timing and the almost demented manner of bidding for anyone who can kick a football.
If...if...any of this is true of course. You know, because Harry said we're not signing anyone.
Cough.
In addition, in case you're wondering, here's my three-word Fulham match report: What a clusterf***.
It's been a poor week, what with Huddlestone breaking down and having his return delayed, Kaboul requiring an op (out for up to 6 weeks) and the Keystone Cops turning out in Lilywhite (edit: I meant that poxy cursed light blue). Only bright spot was the support at Craven Cottage.
Onwards, as ever.
Just another day before we can all just go back to the football and concentrate on the players we have. And if we're left with Defoe, Pav and Crouch - so be it. Can't do much else but support them.
COYS.
Reader Comments (155)
I'm usually optimistic but with Chelsea strengthening we ain't got a chance of 4th place, I'm sure Liverpool will pick up more points so I think we'll be fighting them for 5th.
In past years, we have been told the real top players would not sign for us because we were not in the CL.
So what is the excuse this season ?
Torres is supposed to be getting £175,000 a week at Chelsea.
We cannot get close to that.
Even Arsenal, who boast that they do not spend a fortune on transfers have a huge wage bill compared to us.
What happens in the Summer, when our top players find they can double/ treble their money elsewhere ?
But we're in the champs lg with a guaranteed 40m, with that money comes higher wages. Thats why Arsenal pay higher wages. We've got the money but aren't paying higher wages. Where's the money going?
Levy will put a statement out that we tried to sign so and so but wages were the killer which will fuel his justification for Stratford.
WE HAVE THE MONEY, BUT SEEMS WE WILL NOT PAY THE WAGES.
get real ffs, levy is a low fat sugar clone, champions league prices for mid table football. We had a chance to challenge and didn't bother getting the striking positions or defence sorted out. Take VDV out of the equation and our squad strengthening since getting in the top 4 has been a joke. Enjoy our CL adventure this season as it won't happen again. The russian has put paid to that now with best bit of business he's ever done.
Torres for andy carroll & 12 million or in the alternative the same as we paid for keane, bent & bentley
These bids for aguero/forlan & rossi all bullshit, those clubs are hardly going to sell us their top forwards with 12 hours to find replacements. If we were serious why not place bids on January 1st?
Trying to sign Charlie Adam.
Classy player, excellent passing range but not very mobile.
Very similar to Hudd, but scores more goals.
Is he really what we need ?
Spurs in for Adam, another midfielder! The game's gone mad!
Knocked back by Adam and Neville. Kinell!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Daniel Levy sometime in September 2010 talking about the CL.
"I think we all want to stay there* but we all have to be realistic. There are only four places in England and there are seven or eight clubs competing. There are probably two clubs you could say are guaranteed to be in that top four. You then have two places for six clubs. The odds are stacked against you. But what we won't do is jeopardise the club to challenge to be one of those two. You can't run the club on the basis of being in the Champions League. "Often people say you just need an extra player. It doesn't work. It's about the team. I like to think it's important to run the club in the right way. It's not just about today; it's about the future generation of fans. You have to protect the club."
Once in the CL. Man Utd and Arsenal have huge gate receipts. Chelsea and City have no duty to make money, they just run at huge losses. Liverpool have just spent the money they got for their "Bale". We are going to be moving somewhere - although who knows where - but it will cost something called money.
Wise up people and be realistic. Do we want to become the next Leeds?
4th place is still achievable and one striker, who has been under performing for quite a while- remember the World Cup - does not equal guaranteed CL football for Chelsea. Liverpool can catch us, but we can catch Man City using the same logic.
And Yidal - I think I disagree with most of your overall views on Stratford and of the supporters of that proposed move, but your football views are spot on. That's somehow quite re-assuring in this crazy season. We are all Spurs after all.
"After all the names - why the fuck Carroll?" Because 'Arry only likes players who speak geezer.
I wanted Forlan in the summer and still think he would be huge for us. Yes, he's cup tied, but surely the target now is getting back into the champions league next year by finishing fourth, which we're not going to do when neither of the preferred forwards can score in the league. Given the longish term injuries to players who were key to our earlier victories/draws, is it really reasonable to think we can win the CL? That's the only other route to get back next year.
Did no one watch the world cup? Thomas Mueller would have been a risky acquisition precisely because of his youth. Who knows how he'll develop? But Forlan was deservedly player of the tournament and joint lead goal scorer and he was 31 years old then too. He's the finished product and you've got to think he'd come in with some fire in the belly to prove that he can so be successful in the premier league. Why are we so obsessed with sell on value? Pay the 17 mm, amortize it over the life of a 3-4 year contract. Hell, amortize it over every champion's league match we play next year if he helps us get to fourth again. He'd have paid for himself in a year.
So we have signed Piennar and Khumalo and loaned out Walker, Keane, Bentley, Dos Santos & O'Hara.
Does that make us weaker, stronger or about the same ?
What was the plan? Blind us with smokescreens? Every bid was made by Spurs in the full knowledge that it would fail. Even the bid for Neville was never going to work - why would Everton sell their captain for 1.5m?? The last minute bid for Adam just made me laugh out loud. Spurs desperately needed a striker and we failed. Man City got it right by getting their man days in advance of the deadline. Brilliant business when you consider Carrol cost 7M more than Dzeko. Our brinkmanship has screwed up this time for sure and we end the transfer window weaker than when it began. Worst clubs for transfer dealings this time are Newcastle and Spurs. Best business was done by Blackburn for getting rid of that cnt Diouff.
Levy was talking shite, there are only 5/6 clubs who can hope to get in the top 4, we're now one of them with the exception that we are a selling club. If we don't get 4th this year can you see modric or bale here next year?
in football if you stand still you go backwards, chelsea looked iffy but went out & sorted their problems by investing is the best available striker & a top class centre half. If you want to play with the big boys you need long arms & deep pockets
we used to slag off comolli but now we can see it was levy's fault the squad was unbalanced, we still need a top class striker to replace berbatov & he signs another mediocre midfielder or two
This window shows us up as a complete joke, neville for 1.5 million WTF? laughing stock
All of this, including Chelsea's and Liverpool's decisiveness, puts the new stadium hoopla into perspective. Why worry about moving or getting a new ground when the current WHL should suffice for a club chasing 5th or 6th place?
HR JUST CONFIRMED WE AGREED A DEAL TO BUY ADAM WITH BLACKPOOL BUT LEFT IT TOO LATE TO COMPLETE THE PAPERWORK. WE ONLY HAD 31 DAYS TO COMPLETE THE DEAL.
Not sure we will win another away game this season. Wake me up in May.
Fucking jokers... I feel sick with disgust!
The powers that be have let the fans and the team down.
Oh Daniel Levy. You are so clever. You said no to the big crazy money and maybe you blew smokescreens, maybe you didn't. Maybe you were looking for a VdV Mach II sort of deal and it didn't materialize. Clearly you were and still are playing three dimensional chess.
And maybe I'm just to thick to understand your mad strategies. But from where I'm sitting I'm not sure you made the right move. I ain't the first to say it, but if we don't get 4th and then if we lose the likes of Bale and/or Modric, maybe you won't look so clever. Maybe the bottom line that you care about actually will be affected when you are taking your midtable coulda/shoulda/woulda team to Stratford in your too-clever-by half deal.
But after all you're a smart businessman and surely you know the meaning of "opportunity cost."
Thorough, if depressing (keep coming back to that word) article in the guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/feb/01/tottenham-hotspur-transfer-deadline-day
"Tottenham ... policy has long been to identify an array of possible targets, keep a line of communication open with the player's club and return on the final day of the transfer window in the hope of closing the deal."
Words fail me.
Ziege, words fail me too. The only thing that can approach expressing the way I feel--what I would choose as an avatar to express my emotions right now--would be a video loop of Crouch shrugging his shoulders and flashing that toothy goofball grin of his after pissing away another clear shot on goal. Get used to it cause that is the image of Spurs' future right now ...
Mind you, I still think he's gonna score some goals for us at San Siro, the big dork :)
COYMFS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
what an utter embarassment, whilst our rivals are signing Suarez, Torres, David Luiz and Andy Carroll, we are trying to sign Phil Neville and Charlie Adam for 11m. Say that in your head, 11m. For Charlie Adam
we have been in desperate need of a quality striker since Berba left, the best we have gets treayed like a child molester by a clueless manager, who is more concerned about chatting to the media to boost his England job CV than the fact we will lose our CL status after one season. and looking at it, its going to be harder than ever to get back. and how long do we think luka, vdv and bale will want to plae in the europa league?
redknapp couldnt give a toss, he knows the dream job is his, hes just waiting for capello to get th axe so he can slip right in, and have 'crouchie' leading the line for england. the sooner the better if you ask me
I think the Charlie Adams business was embarrising. Clearly a desperation move and I'm glad it failed to go through. Another attacking midfielder is something Spurs clearly don't need...unless Pienaar and Adams are going to replace Modric and Bale when they leave this Summer.
I also don't understand why the Spurs didn't try to strengthen their defense if they were unable to get a striker. David Luiz for 21 million is good buy and he could have paired with Dawson for a long time in central defense. He also can play LB where we currently have no back up.
Although hugely disappointed at Spurs ending empty-handed in this transfer opportunity, I am not losing optimism that we could become standard CL team. For this to happen we firstly need new significantly bigger stadium, unless ownership-wise, some sort of ManCity scenario unfolds.
Statements portraying ownership and running of EPL club as a business venture may apply only to teams outside of the few serious and constant contenders for CL. Owners of the contenders invest in them as a personal toy and prestige, and are not focused on making profit directly from them, but rather use this investment to promote and profit from other more serious businesses they own. Chances of the tight puckered owners to compete with them are negligent and reduced to a miracle. We pulled this miracle last year, and I failed for words to express my appreciation and gratitude to our players and our organization for it. It was an unbelievable occurrence.
I am old enough to know that miracles don’t occur often, and therefore, would be happy if someone with money buys his/hers new toy from our tight puckered owner(s). In that case we can stay at WHL, because the attendance revenue would not matter and would not be a grindstone around the club’s neck like it is now.
So basically, I hope for one of two things to happen:
1. Build a new bigger stadium and then getting world class players, or
2. Hopping for some equivalent of “ManCity ownership” lightning strike the Spurs
Till then, let’s ride atop of all second tier clubs and sniff behinds of the big four until we get dizzy, because at this time that’s the best our owners can do for us fans.
Goodbye 4th, hello 6th.
Goodbye VdV, Luka and Bale
Goodbye Milan, hello Everton, we are back in the also-rans
beetle---
are you fucking joking? Attendance figures a grindstone around the neck of the club? If that's true, how the fuck did we come up with 39 million to bid for Aguero???
Don't believe the hype. Not sure who said it above, but they were spot on when they said that Levy will use his failure in January as an excuse to prattle on about being poor without a new stadium in stratford or brighton or the isle of scilly or wherever he wants to build it.
went to bed 11.15 - had just heard about charlie adams deal blowing out - was sure i would wake up to knews of us getting someone under the radar..but no........really cannot see how we can bid 38m for aguero and end up with no-one........reading all the above agree with most....can we keep bale / modric in the summer?....cannot think of the team without the two of them....battle for 5th and europa has just got harder (liverpool...suarez and carroll) and sunderland (with sessigon and muntari) will fancy the job now.......long hard few months ahead now......blackburn tonight,,,,another draw/loss and it really is loooking ropey.........time for defoe to start performing as for me he does little for the team at mo......
o well shit transfer window but as usual we go on......
COYS
STLSpurs...
Are you really believing in this BS that we tabled 38.5 mil for Aguero? This is equivalent to ...what....almost 50 mil Euros? Don't make me fucking laugh. Or should I cry that there are my fellow Spurs fans so deluded? Say you are joking. Please?
Onwards.
I guess finishing in the top 4 will now feel even better considering we've spent hardly nothing and now only have three strikers, none of which are scoring.
COYS.
It could happen, Spooky, it might happen. As you know, we are Spurs, and Spurs are unpredictable. No one thought we could have done it last year either, but we did it. Onwards, indeed!.
beetle---
fine, ill concede that it could have been false. But can you say we seriously couldn't afford a striker or his wages, having loaned out Gio, Keane, Bentley, and O'Hara?
Hello square one, nice to see you again.
Ok - so now we know what a tsunami feels like! No early warnings - just a wall of hurt. I'm walking around - dazed and confused - staring blankly at the debris - silence, silence, please just give me silence.
I stuck the head of a Barbie doll into Redknapps post box last night - he'll get the fcuking message. Tonight he gets Ken's.
Charlie Adam???
Very dissapointing this , cant imagine that there were no strikers available for us , did we really make all these offers or was it all just a failed PR stunt ?
Pav, Crouch and Defoe need to step up now ...
The attempt to sign Charlie Adam seemed very much like an effort to secure a mollifying consolation prize - and the sort of prize you would neither wish for nor use, such as a holiday to Derby or tickets to watch 'Stomp'.
'Ooh, both Liverpool and Man United tried to sign him, but it was Spurs who got him! Aren't you impressed?'
Hmmmm.... No.
Yes, a bit disappointed indeed. Although, at least we cant be called a selling club...
Im thinking that the last gasp bid for Adam was a bit like clutching at straws. Adam has improved, yes, and would have kept us in the headlines too, on the basis that the Pool were after him, but we got him, type thing..
Also, did Harry think that Hudd will be out for a lengthy spell following his recent injury set back, and Adam was the man to step in?
But; wot - no strikers?
Defoe is going to have to play his part now. Up front with Pav I say, in the league, with 3mp as an impact sub. And Pav and Crouch up front in the CL games, with Defoe coming on as an impact sub.
We will be found wanting if any of those 3 get injured. While one can say that most of our goals have come from Bale and VdV, they cannot be relied on for the full season to keep chipping in, as we are beginning to see now in recent games..
But what it has done, this bleak window, is to shine the sunlight on our strike trio.
Let them bloom...
And lets beat bloody Blackburn for a start.
COYS
since 1981....
Even though we have come a long long way as a team, when we play against top teams my main concern is that we acquit ourselves with some dignity. I am mindful that we might lose but most of all I hope and pray that we don't go to OT sh*t ourselves, for example.
Clearly the transfer window is out of control and this particular one was insane. Not only did we come out of it empty handed but between HR and DL we managed to sh*t ourselves completely.
Between the Craven Cottage shitefest and this it's been a rough week. As a fan I feel like a victim of a vicious one-two combination.
I wonder how our strikers must feel after we made it public that we desperately needed a new striker and am seriously wondering how HR's man-management skills will somehow convinced the strikers we have that they are good enough when we basically made it clear to the world that they weren't. How can something like this be good for morale??
Maybe it'll all pass and we'll come out stronger. In my tendency to see glasses half-empty I see it could be a turning point.
Yes, DL the money is/was mad. But as someone upstream said, you can't sit still in football and that's the business you are in. You didn't make the team any stronger (let's see what Pienaar and Ku bring though I ain't holding my breath). You might have just made the team weaker, you silly twat.
I saw Daniel Levy today pulling out of his road, i had half a mind to crash into him just to ask what the f**k he is doing.
I dont think it's knee-jerk to suggest that without a decent striker, we are going to get a Europa League place at best.
wonder how our strikers must feel after we made it public that we desperately needed a new striker
Relieved?
lost to everton, should have lost to newcastle and got humiliated by fulham
no striker
plus our rivals have strengthened with top quality acquisitions
phill neville??? charlie adam???
i have lost all optimism.
Does anyone out there remember this team, this exact team we currently have today absolutely murdering the champions of Europe towards the end of last year?????????
Get some perspective people, yes it would have been great to have added a Drogba or a Rooney to our team but that was never going to happen. If our strikers can start contributing to the goals from our midfield then things will start looking rosier. We are 5th, in the last 16 of CL in our debut season - have some faith.
COYS for tomorrow, a huge huge game especially if Sunderland do Chelski.
i posted this on another but am so pissed off i intend to post it on every spurs blog i can find
the morning after the day that never was...in harry we trust, all hail the messiah!!!
harry is only interested in one thing and that is harry, he doesnt care about the club nor the fans.
as long as his cv looks good he's happy.
there is no need to bid millions for any player, there is no need to even pay massive wages, football is a worldwide game. played in virtually every corner of the globe are we to conclude therefore that in the one position we all know we're lacking harry and his merry band of brothers could not find ONE striker willing to play for an english club in the knockout stage of the champions league and in the contention in the premier league?
or is the saintly one, mr do-no-wrong playing it safe? this man lacks conviction, this man lacks vision, lacks imagination, lacks courage. this man is out of his depth and he is turning my club into joke.
charlie adam, phill neville, david beckam, peter crouch etc nothing here makes me sit up and pay attention.
the best squad in the league and every week he plays virtually the same team, there is no longer any guile or subtlety to our play: long punt to crouch, hope for a knockdown to VdV job done lovely jubly.
after the fulham game he says the players are tired but he loans out all the young talent at the club. couple more seasons and we'll be right back where we were under ramos, this team has not moved forward at best its ground to a halt and in the premier league you might as well be in reverse.
It's fairly embarrassing when the likes of DJ Campbell, Peter Odemwingie, Kevin Davies and Clint Dempsey all have more goals in the league than our strikers put together.....
very disappointing indeed, it seems like redknapp dosent know who to buy and jumps at every possible striker, which is pure madness! And i have no idea why redknapp dont trust our youngsters! Townsend did great but did not play ever since and since our forwards except SUPER PAV isnt scoring, why not throw in Harry Kane, it can do no harm. You have got to trust the youngsters and give them a chance instead of just buying, look at ARSEANAL! Since Keano left, Harry Kane could be our 'signing' ! PLAY HIM ARRY!
Thanks for that CEJ.
One of our strikers surely has to discover some semblance of form soon, no?
At this point one can only hope ... I could, for example, see Defoe getting back to scoring goals for fun but at this point there is no evidence it's going to happen anytime soon. Then again hitting a streak like that can really come over night.
COYS!
spooks our season is over unless we win champions league...pienaar and a bid for adams? crikey.......are they the signings we was expecting earlier in the season?good grief......and liverpool that basket case of a club dwelling down near the bottom of the ladder are now just 2 games behind us and have bought two potentially dynamite explosive forwards.....what would u rather have?its a effing disaster.....
@suicidalspur
Get a grip mate, in the same sentence you say:-
harry and his merry band of brothers could not find ONE striker willing to play for an english club in the knockout stage of the champions league and in the contention in the premier league?
and you finish by saying:-
this team has not moved forward at best its ground to a halt and in the premier league you might as well be in reverse.
----------------------
Good one, CL football and in contention you say for the league but we are in reverse.
Behave you cry baby.
Had time to calm down and reflect. We thought we were getting close to Chelsea and then bang, 75 mill spent on two top players and they are out of sight. Last season has raised all expectations but we need to get things back in perspective, we don't have a russian or an arab so the massive signing was never going to happen. Makes last season's achievement even better cos we have down it our way without a russian/arab buying us CL football.
So we might not make the top 4 this season and now we have tasted CL everyone is devastated. But we did finish 10th for about 10 years so let's not get too depressed. We didn't lose any players either, remember how it felt to lose Berba, Carrick you can keep on going back, think I cried when Waddle was sold.
The strikers we have are the same as last season + VDV. So these boys need to step back up to the plate. Harry needs to utilise the squad more and get some fire back in the bellies. We are 3 points off 4th place, come on we can give it a good crack and if it doen't happen, then the summer will be the time for a new striker and not an over inflated panick buy.
People are worried about us losing Bale, Mod and VDV but all the noises I hear from these player is that they want to play for Spurs.
Let's get behind Harry and the boys for the final assualt.
Before this window, thought we could pip Chelsea to fourth place.
Not anymore.
Likely to come under pressure from Liverpool and Sunderland for Europa spots now.
We still have away games at Liverpool, Sunderland, Chelsea and Man City.
We have played those 4 teams at home already.
Based on our recent away performances, we are heading for mid-table.
Our previous excellent performances in Europe were when Bale and Hudd were playing.
Neither currently available.
If we lose to Milan, it's going to be a sorry end to our season.
Not depressed or defeatist, just being realistic.
that's being negative.
last season it was oh but weve got Man U Arse Chelsea and Man City to play - net result 9 points and 4th place.
we have every chance of picking up points from those fixtures. they won't fancy playing us either, don't forget that.