The many that got away
Tuesday, February 1, 2011 at 12:45PM guest blog by Chris King
Picture the scene.
On a Volcanic Island, thirty years from now, a group of shrivelled, hangdog men are sat round a table chatting. It is the third annual conference of the “Failed Evil Genius” club, and the members are starting to recount their near misses in life.
“I almost killed Superman.”
“I almost caught that pigeon.”
“I did bring the Labour Party and British economy to its knees, but it cost me my job.”
And then, from a darkened corner of the room; a slight, rasping voice speaks up
“I almost signed Diego Forlan, and Giuseppe Rossi, and Charlie Adam, and……”
Dear Mr Levy last night reaffirmed his position within the ranks of a multitude of Spurs’ Chairmen and Managers who nearly clasped their hands around the final piece of the jigsaw. Before, as in any end to an Indiana Jones movie, the piece crumbled to sand, drifting off in the air to sign a contract extension with their current club.
Spurs is now a clear byword for a failed transfer coup.
The image most fans will have from yesterday is of Levy watching reruns of Revisita la Liga, with his ENIC cheque book and pen, frantically shouting “Want, Want, Need, Got” at the TV, as a myriad of stars caught his eye. Offers were submitted before renegotiated contracts were confirmed with existing clubs.
Forlan, Rossi, Aguero, Llorente. Four players that could have shined in the Lilywhite kit yet either chose, or were made to choose their current club over a last minute, 11th hour offer from Mr Levy. Now it may be unfair to say the planning was all last minute, but it is clearly how it played out. Would things have been different with Forlan or Rossi if we’d have tried to agree deals pre-Transfer window opening – as in – before Rossi signed a new contract extension?
The whole issue yesterday smacked of the failed attempts to get Luis Fabiano, Fernando Morientes and Rivaldo. The only time we’ve had any lucky dealing with Spanish clubs is when Van der Vaart fell in to our hands, but you have a feeling that it was the selling club that thought they got the best from that deal.
It’s not just foreign stars we struggle to capture. Carroll was on the radar before everyone took leave of their senses and made him the most expensive Englishman ever. Gareth Barry was supposedly a target of Harry’s; as was Craig Bellamy, Joe Cole and Micah Richards in the summer. All average players, which – just like Robbie Keane – may have had a moment in the sun before being, relegated to yet more squad roles on the fringe of missing the cut for the final 25.
Either clubs fear us and our potential, or more likely – they don’t respect us, don’t believe we will go through with the deals, or more importantly – like with Carroll – they can use us as patsies to get more loyalty or money elsewhere.
The other, more worrying aspect to our current transfer “policy” is the panic bids for players that have had attention from elsewhere. If another club wants a player, like Charlie Adam, then when those talks breakdown (also read Gareth Barry to Liverpool), we seem to find a pot of money to make a last ditch bid – knowing that there isn’t the time, nor interest to get the deal through. What did the Adam bid signify? What does it say about us as a club, or Levy as the chief negotiator? He is quoted as driving a hard bargain – but to what end, the death of our ambition?
Finally, for January at least, there was the derisory bid for Phil Neville – can we really afford £30m for an attacker, but have to pay £500,000 in two instalments – or the desperate attempt to get Beckham onboard to a) sell shirts, b) build prestige or c) talk to Seb Coe? The latter is now more likely to be seen in the stands at the Emirates with his boy than for Spurs to send out more glamour shots of him in our training kit.
Who do we trust in all of this? Since Comolli’s departure – and hold any view you want of him, at least he gave us “direction” – there is no clear view as to who orchestrates the transfer moves, nor who has final say in the type of player we need. All we have is Harry playing out every child’s* Football Manager Fantasy via the Sky Sports’ reporters. Telling the world who he wants, before playing dumb when everything has gone pear shaped. Is it possible to apply a gagging order to your own manager?
It is the current players you have to have a momentary sense of compassion for. Pav appears to have been used as a make weight in most of our deals. He polarises the fan base like no other in the squad, yet it’s hard to see where his motivation will come from now? Is he our fourth choice striker behind Van der Vaart, Defoe and Crouch? Will he be rotated as the big man du jour? Will he end up being Spurs’ very own “Humphrey” Bogarde, running down his contract before moving on for nothing? It is clear that Harry sees a future without him, but then only if Levy gets the right price in return.
Even the flawed Hutton must have woken up this morning realising he is Harry’s second choice right back; the first currently still employed by Everton.
Though I doubt any of this is really new or news to you. When a previous chairman claims our biggest rivals were mugs for buying Carlos Kickaball** – who turned out to be one of the best players to play in the Premier League – then it shows, Champions League qualification aside, we’re still on a different level, in terms of transfers, to the clubs we’ve been chasing for years.
Roll on the next window – I hear Maradona is available and still has an eye for goal.
*some adults also play Football Manager and other well know computer games
** Bergkamp explodes the myth he was a Spurs fan, rather a Hoddle fan in the current Four Four Two.
Chris King almost signed for York Railway Institute Amateurs Bowls Club, but stayed with his current side Holgate out of loyalty last season.
Reader Comments (54)
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!
1st but not in the mood to celebrate...
Get a grip and cheer up, sunshine, we're gonna win the Champions League!
What really pissed me off was watching Harry praise the likes of Liverpool and Chelsea for diong such a great job in the transfer window.
Since when has Comolli become and amazing Director of Football? He hasnt. Does anyone remember the debarcle surrounding Berbatov's departure? Calling Steve coppell at 9pm trying to sign Kevin Doyle when Coppell had said all along he would seel but not on deadline day.
Gutted we didnt fight Liverpool for Suarez, glad we didnt get Rossi (too short, cant score goals in England), gutted we didnt get Llorente (tall striker), gutted Andy Carroll was too expensive.
Carroll is exactly what we need but not at £35m. Too much of a risk. Hopefully he fails miserably at Liverpool, but unfortunately I think he will do well.
It just seems like agents (spit) are using Spurs as a negotiation tool to get their clients a new, improved contract.
did any one you really want us to spent 35m on carroll?? or 30m on rossi? or however much on Adam ?? No. All very average, all way over priced and if it was your money you wouldnt spend it. Its really easy to have a go though isnt it, like they didnt try and do anything. Come on you lot, who's using the club brain cell at the moment ??
Shambolic. Utter tosh. And I'm talking about the Harry and Levy show. Everybody and their uncle could see we needed a striker (since last season) and they go and try to sign a bloody midfielder. And that's not the worst bit. Mr Shrewd Businessman and Mr Wheeler Dealer leave their Adam target bid so late that we miss the deadline "by minutes" cause "Blackpool couldn't get the signatures necessary...". Regardless of whether Adams is good or not, they wanted him. Is this a way to conduct business? They only had a sodding month! Business acumen? More like a miserable failure. Plonkers!
Just reminds me of an episode of Family Guy where Quagmire is in a club, hitting on women standing next to one another. First one says no, on to the next... and the next, and the next. Of course, he goes home alone. No-one in this world wants to be second choice...
Let alone fifth or sixth or seventh.
Which is ironic because that looks like where we will end up this season.
Spot on article.
Sazza - Harry Kane and Townsend - really? I think you need to start supporting Leyton Orient if you seriously feel those two are an option for the first team.
£35m is massive gamble what if either the player doesn't perform, gets injured or runs his contract down and leaves for a free, we all no what that's like!
Andy Carrol signing for Liverpool was a big disappointment for me. I honestly believed we would have a shot at getting him, but the bid from the Scousers was just too high. Oh well, let's just hope we beat the Blackburn Chickens tomorrow night!
So Levy has gone from genius negotiator oozing cunning and steel to unfocused inept wally in one day because he didn't splurge £50mill of Tottenhams money on a risk. Spurs have the most stength in depth in the EPL, along with City. It must be very tiring for the people of actually at the club if they are at all aware of this type of nonsense. The team just isn't playing particularly well at the moment, why rush out and waste cash? What about the Dear Mr Levy article a couple of days ago stating that a deal had been done, that the author was ITK, but under no cicumstances would you reveal the player concerned out of repsect to your source. Get a grip son.
I think everyone needs to calm down (including Levy and Redknapp), we still have a great squad, Crouch will find form soon, midfielders scoring all the goals isnt the end of the world (Barca), all of the players we have been linked with were massively overpriced.
We are all just jealous that other teams are signing players are we're not but who did United bring in? Everyone is just getting carried away with the constant Sky Sports hype. I remember someone on here saying 'just sign him Levy' when we were linked with Darren Bent, no doubt only to slag him off when he was shit, then probably saying we should buy him back when he got good again.
Keep the faith. Redknapp got Top 4 before - he can do it again...
Total damp squib,yes VDV was a great signing on last day of window but was this in spite of Spurs transfer dealing system rather than because of it.When was the last time you actually were excited about a transfer window aquisition other than VDV.Surely Redknapp and Levy had an agreed list of potential targets and if an unusual talent became available then go for it.It seems to most a shambles with no clear policy on what the team needs and a serious attempt to get it.Half way through the season and our strikers all firing blanks and we leave it until the available strikers are on their way to new clubs or are signing new contracts where they are and then we start offering large fees.However by this time we have put bids in for so many strikers that it may be off putting to the potential signing.After all we are expecting them to leave a club they know and are settled at and come to a side that is making a laughing stock of itself every transfer window with the exception of the one last summer and was that a fluke.I do not know what will happen for the remainder of the season but i know if we fail we will look back and wonder what if....?
Lightning won't strike twice, City will take our place in the top 4 this season. We haven't been playing consistently well enough to deserve top 4.
For the first part of the season we were performing well but lacking a cutting edge, recently we haven't even been creating that much - would a striker have been enough? We won't know but we had to at least do something.
It's ironic that the player who Levy bought to appease the fans' unrest at not landing a top class striker in the summer has scuppered Redknapp's favoured 4-4-2 style of play. Redknapp's trying to squeeze in too much attacking midfield talent at either the detriment of a striker or a defensive midfielder. I believe Redknapp still has no idea what his best side is.
The old arm around the shoulder school of management is finally wearing a bit thin and hearing him phone up TalkSport last night, joking about his and Levy's failure to push the club on, made me feel ill. I'd like Redknapp and Levy & Co to quietly disappear at the end of this season and people with ambition, rather than just talk, to take over.
Charlie Adam and Phil Neville? WTF?
I said it a few weeks back we should have gone for adebayor, I know popularity wise he's not ever going to be like bill nic, and we might have to change one of songs, but he was available, and had the perfect atributes for us. quite frankly looking at it now I wonder how many would have been happy to take adeayor?
Jim, perfect way to summarise it all. I'm thoroughly depressed.
DBs Knees - Well if the team dosent perform than i dont see why our brightest prospects dont get a chance to prove themselves. Look at it this way, play Azza on the left like a headless chicken (vs Fulham) or play Townsend a real left winger with pace and potential (next Bale?). Or play Defoe or Crouch ( 1 goal total WTF! ) or play Harry Kane who could score tons of goals? Or play Super Pav whom i believe is the best but arry is an ass!
All serious teams are programming and implementing in time their transfer schedule during a transfer window. With the exception of Spurs. That's why Spurs is the ONLY team among the 20 biggest spending teams in the world last 20 years which haven't won any domestic or international championship. Does this happen by chance? I think also that one serious problem we have is the limited knowledge of Harry concerning players who don't play in domestic competitions. If we add to this that Spurs don't have a serious person or staff with excellent knowledge of players playing in foreign leagues who will be RESPONSIBLE for the proper players to buy in order to satisfy successfully the needs of the team according to Harry's proposals, it is difficult for Spurs to detect and buy in time the right for them players.
"Phil Neville? WTF?"
Sorry TWNN , this isnt Football Manager. It is not about who has the highest skill points. It is about personalities and leaders, how many leaders did you see against Fulham? Where was the fight?
You are probably a Keane hater too? He was without doubt one of the reasons we didnt go down in the infamous 2 points 8 games season. Ramos got rid of all of the characters from the squad and bringing him in galvanised the team, even though his performance on the pitch werent that good.
Oh well.
When's the next window opening then?
*whistles
I actually think looking back Keane's return was vastly vastly over-rated in terms of him guiding us out of the bottom three. He did well but hardly sparked a fire. I think the rest of the team woke up and reacted to Harry Redknapp and found pride restored.
Shelf,
I don't hear people shout that we need personalities every time Crouch and Defoe make a mess of it up front.
You do have a point though; we do need winners, but Adam and Neville? Was that really the height of our ambition?
Re the ITK comment - Spooky is usually taking the piss whenever he comments on ITKs in a positive light.
This transfer window has blown apart the myth that envelopes such websites - Surely ITK is when a fee has been agreed, when the player is agreeing personal terms but, all of this is being done out of the watchful eye of Sky Sports cameras.
At no point did Spurs have a firm agreement in place in the window just closed - with the possible exception of Charlie Adam - but it is clear deal was not going through as the signatories went missing.
Would it not be reasonable to suggest that Levy put all his eggs in the Benzema basket. We know Harry really wanted him. Is it no suprise that we went big for known R. Madrid targets (Llorente, Aguero, Forlan); maybe to force their hand, so we could pick up Benzema on loan. Or in fact knowing nothing was ever likely too happen, stick in massive bids for all kinds of forwards (lil n large ones) to kick the current crop (Pav/Crouch/Defoe – who now more than ever need to produce the goods) up the backside…
dissapointed. obviously. After our display on sunday i thought they would be deserate for a bit of fresh blood! I Feel the fans that were at the game on sunday deserved a gesture of intent from mr levy. unfortunately i wasnt able to go on the weekend, i do love a trip to the cottage, but i must say that i was incredibly proud to be a spurs fan for the way they kept singing throughout the game. that support deserved a hell of a lot more than it received.
Seriously .....Fulham?????!?!?!!?!?!??!?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!? O....M...G!!!!
I also think that it will be inperitive to mix up the strikers a bit in the summer, i know the bonus of crouch working the knocks down for VDV but he never did that for defoe so they have worked on it in the training ground to cut the reliance on pace a bit....do the same with pav, he can win headers at the back post just as well, in fact he may just decide to have an audatious volley attempt instead of set up yet another goal and you know with pav if it looks rediculous then its more than likely finding the onion bag.
basically, as we have no other striker (barring it all being a ploy and weve actually set up an emergency loan for david villa!!!?!?! ......Nope, didnt think so either) think we should give defoe and pav more time together to gel, as much as i love VDV i dont think he actually has the prem fitness yet! which can only mean he will improve look at huddo after his diet! --- gomez, charlie, daws, gallas, assou, lennon, modric, VDV, bale, pav and defoe. ...thats a winner.
“Want, Want, Need, Got” .....lmao !
however, yes im disappointed that we didn't sign the right striker but i am glad that we didn't just sign the wrong striker
btw spooky, thank f*@k for that new spam filter, it was all getting a tad out of hand!
@matt84
clearly on a day like today a coherent and well thought out statement like yours has no place here sir!
If we had managed to sell Crouch to Newcastle, if only Levy had done that, then I would have taken this as a successful tranfer window.
Without being sarcastic, I think Crouch deducts atleast 20points per season from the team. He is probably the most uninspiring, unattractive, untalented forward to ever play for us. And for some of us who were attracted to the Spurs way of play and the players that made it so - the Klinsmanns, Linekars, Gazza etc, its really disappointing. Its fair enough that we can't match any of our nearest rivals strikeforces at the moment, but us -Tottenham Hotspur - looking at Bolton Wonderers(Kevin Davies & Elmander) and Wigan (Rodallega) and wishing we had their strikers instead is just wrong.
Champions League was supposed to mean something Mr. Levy. We were supposed to move forward. Seeing Crouch bore opposition European team's fans into submission was not what we had in mind. I'd rather we bow out of the CL by trying to compete (Pav upfront) than be ridiculed and embarrased on our way out as we attempt the "long-ball-to-tallest-player-ever+ sideways knockdown to VdV" tactic again and again. Its shameful.
Spooky,
Please get rid of that "strike err" notice. A shave would also be nice.
PS: Wtf was Beckham supposed to help us with? Thought someone would sign for us e.g. the over-rated Carroll just to train with him
Sazza, I agree re: Townsend and Kane and have said so before.
People look at what they are doing at Orient or Ipswich and say well if you can't get a game there or you don't score a hatfull every week then you aren't ready for the PL. However, these are young kids with bags of skill, but they cannot carry a team full of players who are struggling at their own level.
I have seen Harry Kane play and the kid knows where the goal is, unlike our current crop of "strikers". Playing with better players who create opportrunities he will score goals and should be given a chance. If it doesn't work out what have we lost? Based upon the PL scoring stats of the others to date I think the answer is 1 goal which in the scheme of things is neither here or there.
Also pleased to see that there is some recognition on this site, unlike others, that the window debacle is not all Harry's fault. Come on Harry, start duckin' and divin' and bring 4th spot home again. COYS!
I actually am gutted about missing Rossi , have seen him play and he's good , not yet world class but just good. Forlan would have been great , Cavani also (Cheaper and better then Caroll) but hey we got ... nobody , wait that cant be right ?
We put in offers for everybody and end up with nobody , confusing times. I can tell you now we wont make 4th spot this year. I guarantee it with pain in the hearth.
we should have bought andy and surez. Tottenham only spend upto £16.5.... pussy money lol
I really think if Pav had a manager that played him he would be one of the best strikers in the prem. You dont score goals like at Bolton, Chelsea, Young boys unless your class.
Imagine Super Pav feeling like the number 1 striker and that big grin of his. I think its such a waste of talent.
Id even be prepared to have Bale left back, VDV or Modders coming in of the left to be able to have 442 with Pav & Defoe upfront.
I love BAE most of the time but we need 442.
Good piece!
I think it's almost impossible to lure a top-player from Spain or Italy to England like those we have ben linked with at the moment. Those transfers have been rare in general and especially in recent years. It seems to coincide with the implementation of higher tax-rates on massive salaries in England. With the relative lower salaries Spurs pays compared to "the Sky-four", I think a lot of these players would earn half (net) of what they're doing at the current clubs, so why would they want to move here? Our chance would be to get someone who's not a top-player, thus not top-earner, from those leagues or a top-player from the Dutch or the French league where the salaries are lower. But like this piece indicates our scouting system doesn't seem to be able to pick out those players. Also 'Arry only seems to be interested in players who are already the finished product.
I don't believe for a minute that we actually put in any bids for Spanish based players.
If we did it would only have been enough to trigger release clauses, at which point we would then have to donate £x million to the player to pay off the contract and tax.
Then factor in that you'd have to double their wages because of the UK tax laws, and there was no way any deal was EVER going to happen.
Phil Neville is exactly the sort of player we need right now, on two counts:
a) he's better than Corluka & Hutton
b) he's a leader - we simply don't have one at the moment.
We need someone who will work their socks off in the middle of the park, but who doesn't really get noticed for contributing creatively because they're busy tackling and winning the ball, then playing simple passes. In theory this is what Palacios should be, but he's faded out.
The reality at the end of the transfer window is that we're not really any worse off than we were beforehand. However, we're also no stronger.
We HAVE to switch back to the 4-4-2 formation which brought us success last year. It's all well and good making a signing to please the fans (VdV) but if we have to completely change the way we play to incorporate them, then in the long term it's a backwards step, as we're now seeing.
Liverpool & Chelsea have spent big, but both will need to change the way they play to incorporate their new players. Liverpool need to switch from 1 up front to having 2, meaning Gerrard needs to be moved.
Who's to say Suarez won't be the new Kezman rather than the next Van Nistelrooy?
Chelsea now have to keep 3 moody sods happy up front!!
Speaking of which, why no cheeky bid for Anelka when the Torres deal was being worked on?
Let's be grateful the Charlie Adam deal didn't come to fruition, or we'd be playing 4-6-0 at the drop of a hat.
tusekn - as good as your line-up looks, who exactly is going to win the ball in midfield when we don't have it???
We need to drop VdV until he's fully fit and then rotate him with the rest of the midfield. Sandro or Palacios have to find the balls to get working and winning the ball. Hell, even Jenas seems to put in a better shift than them at the moment.
If we really do need Phil Neville, why on earth did we insult club and player with our bid? Did we really think a player of his standing at Everton would slap a transfer request in?
Daniel Levy has the authority to run our club. Buy and sell our players. Plan and construct our £450m stadium. All this and he cannot sign a striker. Please let us get taken over before he ruins this great football club.
So much for Harry's boast. The Chairman wants to buy me a striker. He says to name my man and he will get him in. Harry named 20 of them and we got Pieneer.
It's clearly a disappointment not to sign a top class striker this window but £35M for Carroll is absolutelt ludicrous in my opinion. I would have been gutted if we'd spent anything over £20M for a 31 year old Forlan too. Who else was there? Rossi is tiny and I'm not sure would have been right, Aguero, I admit, I don't know too much about. All of them though it appears have one thing in common - massive wages. I had hoped that qualification for the CL might see a fresh look at the wage structure at WHL as this seems to be hamstringing any attempts at landing the top players. When Barca come knocking on our door with a fistful of Euros for Bale, what are we going to be offering the welshman to stay?
Having said this, the amount of despair on this and other sites is overwhelming, we are still 5th after a pretty weak spell, every team has a 'dip', this is ours. Experience has taught us that when Defoe comes back from a lengthy spell on the sidelines he does like to take his sodding time before he gets his shooting boots on. I also agree with DevonYid, Pavlyuchenko needs a solid chance in the team. I am aware that this leaves us with the VDV dilemma - answers on a postcard.
Now we know that money supposedly offered for Neville was inflated about 3 times in the media (1.5 mil vs. actual 0.5 mil). What makes you believe that other reported 30+ mil offers Spurs “made” were real?
Time for a change in ownership. I don't trust Levy anymore.
I know, one that's been doing the rounds today...
"We thought we were going to sign a German full back, but all we got was Hutton dressed as Lahm"
You don't know how much of my January and my hopes that I've wasted on this shit. I actually believed we were prepared to take the next step and we didn't or couldn't. It's not even the reality, it's the perceived reality - the intention. If we gamble and fail, well at least we've tried. To not try at all is criminal. I'm actually feeling quite depressed about it and have tried to keep away from blogs and community sites.
What I will say is that unless we have a reasonably good run and Stratford gets turned down then there will be some unrest or protest. IMO only of course.
Not a lot of 'Audere' or 'Facere' in evidence this window.
Businessmen know the price of everything and the value of nothing.
Another year in Champions' League is worth a minimum of £30 million possibly a lot more.
Next year Liverpool may be back on the scene,
Both ENIC and Redknapp have reached their ceiling. Levy and Co's tenure is 'no longer viable', they can't be trusted either, Redknapp has run out of the few ideas he had. New management and owners next season please.
Striker problems:
1. Running round Spain with a big bag of cash. We're not at that level to attract those players yet. We got lucky with VdV.
2. Crouch. Has proved he can play with VdV, but needs some love from the 'supporters'. I know we'd all like better but no need to weaken what we've got - lets big him up.
3. Defoe. Will seriously start to piss VdV off soon with his selfish play. Should be Plan B, but only with Crouch playing his selfless role, and VdV subbed or rested.
4. Pav. Best equiped of our strikers to play on the same wavelength as Modric and VdV, and actually scores goals too. Needs an arm round the shoulder and an extended run in the team, but unfortunately is not a Harry purchase, therefore bottom of the pile.
Even if we matched a rival bid our top earners are on 70k a week compared to 175k at chelsea, u do the maths?