Options
Thursday, June 14, 2012 at 9:28AM The BBC are saying it's barely credible that Harry has lost his job and yet still cite the fact that the relationship between him and Levy was broken beyond repair. They don't appear to be the only ones in the media struggling to come to terms with this announcement. There's a consensus, a controlled outrage that this decision is one they are refusing to accept. What with that other relationship, the one between Harry and the tabloid/broadsheets/Sky, being of far greater importance to their every day existence. It's akin to them losing one of their own. How dare Daniel Levy do this.
Yes, in terms of financial clout and stature you can argue that Spurs were in some ways punching above their weight. I don't believe that myself but some will point towards Man City and one or two others and suggest we have no right to finish above them because of the money they can and have spent. As I mentioned last night on the blog, nobody is going to argue (well some of you might) against the fact that Harry has achieved some measurable success at Spurs. But it seems the crux of it is being completely ignored. It should have been solely about the football. If it was just about the football Harry might have kept his job (although the media seem to be punching very lightly on our end of season form when referencing it) but there's no way a chairman can continue to work with his appointed manager if their relationship appears to have less spark than David Bentley's Spurs career.
The irony of 'Harry to England' and the impact it had on Spurs season completely and utterly lost on our bestest friends in the tabloids and beyond. The moment Harry got Paul Stretford involved you knew it was end of days and it was only a matter of days.
It will be interesting to see whether Harry remains as gracious as he has with words shared in the official club announcement.
"I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at Spurs and am proud of my achievements. I have had a fantastic four years with the Club, at times the football has been breathtaking. I am sad to be leaving but wish to thank the players, staff and fans for their terrific support during my time there."
It's been good fun, let's not deny that.
So, what are the options? Names that I can think of that might have some ilk of feasibility to be linked with us (some perhaps in reality more tenuous than others):
Moyes
Capello
Benitez
Deschamps
AVB
Martinez
Blanc
Sherwood
Any more for any more? Would like to mention Klopp and Low. Bilic has already accepted a contract in Russia apparently. I added in Sherwood for laughs. I won't even mention Pep. Oops.
Reader Comments (54)
..... Uncle Tom Cobbley?
Guardiola?.....or is that just wishful thinking?
I would be interested in Michael Laudrup for the type of football he was known for as a player and more recently as a manager. Attractive attacking football that has won leagues and trophies....
Klinnsmann would also be interesting, though he didn't have the best of times at Bayern - his only attempt at club management.
i dont know. im scared.
The name going round at the mo is Conte....
Juve manager, apparently he's been learning english, and would attract top signings.
this guys exiting, lets get him in to take us to the next level
coys
Hoddle !!!
How come nobody is thinking big? Moyes? Really? Here's one for you and he could be available considering what club he's at. Wait for it... Marcelo Bielsa
Roy Hodgson
I would like Klinsman, he was a legendary player and I believe a good manager too
Its looking like Moyes or Martinez but neither really fill me with real joy. Moyes style of football is very pragmatic and workmanlike, but like him really while Martinez is more attractive yet he is largely unproven at doing anything other than surviving a relegation scrap, some people are suggesting Capello but i think he would be too expensive, fuck it, Glen Hoddles out of a job lets just bring him back
Preferably someone who isn't going to pronounce that he loves it at Spurs but if an offer comes in to manage a national squad (or bigger) he would not turn it down. (Ps. to those crying their little eyes out: try saying that at work and see where you end up :-)
With Bilic, Hughton and Rodgers all out of the picture and Swansea, seemingly, about to offer a job to Michael Laudrup, I'll throw Gus Poyet's name into the hat. By the way, I don't think Tim Sherwood is necessarily a joke candidate. If Lewis and Levy revert to the DOF model, then Sherwood could be a name that receives more prominence in the coming days. He has extensive knowledge of our up-and-coming players, some of whom will be surely ready for the breakthrough to the first team squad, this year.
Klinsmann? For laughs and the romance of it all...
I'm buzzing today though. I'm grateful to 'arry for the good memories but happy to see him go having hoped he would leave last summer.
Please not Moyes - give me Martinez above him any day of the week.
Lets go for a decent foreign manager, rather than someone that we know can do a job in the Prem.
Someone like Santini, Gross or Ramos maybe...................!!!
Beware of what you wish for. There is no guarantee that the next manager will be an upgrade.
apart from mourinho, I'd really love to see guardiola. more realistically I think we're probably looking at martinez or moyes. on the plus side they are both young and don't crave the spotlight like harry. Would Moyes be able to change his tactics to play the "spurs way" and would martinez be any good? We could end up with an AVB situation on our hands new manager comes in doesn't make top 4 and then what happens new manager gets sacked?
huge summer ahead no manager and only have one recognised striker at the club - defoe and he's hardly set the world alight during his career - a few good goalscoring runs here and there but nothing consistent, and certainly can't lead the line.
Agree that Sherwood isn't as much of a joke as you'd think. Very impressed when I've seen the kids play. Proper Tottenham stylie!
Sky are quoting Bond at 20/1!
It doesn`t matter what the media say - the only balanced and sensible reporting has been in the Guardian of all places.
And it doesn`t matter if THFC have been punching above their weight, the future has to start somewhere.
The future doesn`t lie with a 65 year old heart -attack - waiting - to - happen.
Whatever our fighting weight is we need stability now, a mid to long term project taking in improvement on the pitch and the new stadium developement. No more bad smells hanging about the place.
One of those news head twats was on SSN this morning. Whilst predictably sucking Redkrapp off, he said `Before harry Spurs weren`t worth supporting as they weren`t fighting at the top and they weren`t fighting at the bottom`. That quote in itself shows that Levy`s actions are spot on - the Harry media backers have no idea about what it actually means to support a football team or the reasons why the majority support teams that are not fighting at the bottom or the top.
So f**k them, why should we be in the least bit bothered about what they have to say.
I can`t help thinking Levy has a plan already in action. Leow? Yes please!
mixed feelings today, Looked at the stats and Harry's ratio seems to be second only to Bill Nic in the last half century, BUT he had the most talented squad in years, failed to provide leadership at a crucial time and made some very peculiar decisions on & off the pitch. I really hope Levy has someone decent lined up. When Big Martin was shafted, Juande was already across the road in the Bricklayers waiting for the nod, let's hope it's as quick but better quality and English speaking, this time around, but life has taught me that this will not be the Spurs way....apparently Pep has been spotted in the Sun Kebab house with a folder of CV's having a cup of Rosie this morning....more likely to be Timmy Sherwood....is this progress??
Guardiola should be our first port of call... If it's a NO or we can't afford it then we move on...
Moyes - Great for Everton, not convinced he'll play the football we want.
Martinez - Could be great. But is he ready? Remember who was the manager for both teams when we beat Wigan 9-1. There is no excuse for a loss like that. Even 11 non-league players behind the ball would do better than that. Although I think the result actually had a little more to do with a dodgy former spurs playing for them at LB. Plays great football and likes full control of all aspects of the squad. It could be his calling. Remember it was he who set Swansea up to play great football like they do and had them promoted to the championship before moving to Wigan.
I would be interested in AVB. Ok - he was s**t at Chelsea, but I believe that wasn't all down to him. He was told to implement the new younger signings, try to faze out the old guard (Lampard / Drogba etc) and play attacking football. All of which he tried to do, but the players just weren't interested. Maybe he's learnt a few things about PL football the hard way over the past year?
Possibly Sherwood... Levy's around them more than us, if he thinks Sherwood's up to the task he must see something in him.
Not thinking big because we ain't big..... We're big looking, we even sound big, but big we ain't, we are in London terms proper kippers & curtains! So why bother screwing with the head of a big name manager, let's just cut our cloth accordingly....and think nice and small! That way noone gets running away with big ideas.....innit
Clive Allen
There are some dilemmas and preconditions associated with the appointment of a new manager for Spurs. Like, among others, if he should have PL experience or not, if he should be someone well recognised internationally or if he should be able to work with young players and to spot talented players at an early stage of their career. Also being ambitious and having a winner's character are aspects that should be taken into consideration. But above all he oughts to be intelligent and quick thinker.
I am suprised people think we have a chance at jose or pep....absolutely no chance. Jose is managing the biggest job in football and aiming for a champions league win with madrid. Pep left the best team after winning 4 trophies this season to take a break. No, i do not think they will jump at the chance at managing a sinking ship
In Levy i trust. He always has a plan in motion. By far one of the top 3 chairmen in the premiership. I expect to hear replacement within the next few weeks depending on which countries drop out of the Euros. Its actually a very good time to go manager searching of international pedergree.
Im gonna stick my head out and say Billic! Always impressed how the croatia team plays and will privide a obvious incentive. With a very small hope of Guadiola or Mourinho.
Ledley king? Player manager? Cheap, and could do a job...... Defoe could be his assistant.......
Lucien Favre if we were smart. He's been brilliant at Hertha Berlin and Monchengladbach who were a revelation in the Bundesliga this year. Monchengladbach are in CL this year though.
This from his wikipedia page on his coaching philosophy: "Lucien Favre’s teams play a dynamic, quick and attacking minded football where ball possession and change of tempo alternate. This attractive style of play has brought results in every club he has managed. Furthermore, Favre is very skillful tactically, leaving his opponents struggling to penetrate his well-organized sides."
Sounds pretty Spurs-tastic to me. I wish Levy would consider him.
We need someone who can keep all the fans on the internet happy, including the haters and trolls. And if we can also have the best attacking football we've seen for the last 30 years it would be a bonus.
Needs to be 'one of us' - someone who understands WHL and all it stands for, and isn't going to get beer goggles when the tabloids start rumour-mongering (sorry, Harry, but you started to believe your own press in February, and see Lancaster Gate on your business card). So, please discuss:
Jurgen Klinsmann
Glenn Hoddle (I know, I know...)
Clive Allen
Martinez at a push - has at least shown he can motivate the squad to acheive the unbelievable - although doing so to keep your job is different to doing so to acheive glory.
Louis van Gaal. Plays attacking football, has managed bayern barca and holland, and hates the media. Nuff said.
I will admit I feel uncertain about our future. Could all work out nicely but could just as easily unravel as we see a mass exodus of players leaving. Levy's got to get things settled quickly and demonstrate that his next move is about moving forward. I respect what Moyes has done with Everton and would love to see what he'd do with more money but not at my club thank you very much. Bringing him on would send exactly the wrong signal about our future.
If I had to predict, I think this will be a painful and costly transition: we'll see most of our quality players leave. Vertongen deal won't get done (never expected it to go through anyway) and you can forget Remy as replacement. I had mixed feelings about Harry. Grateful for what he did but never thought he was a long-term solution and knew that we had to part ways soon enough but I do wonder if this timing is the best it could have been. Probably not.
One upside here is that all the speculation that's gone on among supporters about what would/wouldn't happen if/when we got rid of HR will no longer be speculation. Uncharted territory = the true meaning of audere est facere!
arsene wenger
Serious Relegation Fears
Whats happened to GloryGlory.
I need to post my wizard of Oz video 'The wicked witch is dead' whos that at the end of the video... David Moyes God forbid
Levy does a great job as the goodie witch must say.
http://youtu.be/PHQLQ1Rc_Js
we need someone to unite the fans
if some players leave then so be it - they showed their true worth int he second half of the season
i would love martinez. he is young, hungry, plus, watching him on itv, he comes across as a very intelligent and extremely likeable person
why does he not deserve a chance? who do some of us think we are?
i was ripping it out of my scouse supporting mates when they were banging on about mourinho, guardiola, capello and the like.
forget these people, we need someone who wants to prove himself and spurs now is an excellent opportunity to do so.
I'm probably wrong but if I were a true "Top Manager" I wouldn't come to Spurs given the way Levy treats his managers (2 out of the last 3 sacked in controversial circumstances),and the lack of funding available to attract the better players.
Therefore I guess it will be someone younger and hungry for the opportunity to move up a level and willing to accept limited finances.
That says Martinez to me. And I think he could be good as he seems tactically strong and can elicit good performances from less than top-class players.
George Graham-you won something with him
Ardilles with a fluid attacking 325 formation!
It's begun- Srna and Corluka are worried that little ol' Spurs are holding Modric back.
Gareth Bale's agent has noted that the lack of Champions League football at White Hart Lane next season "is a problem".
Schalke's boss would like to work with van der Vaart again..
I don't really understand the people who argue that Redknapp's achievements were solely the result of inheriting a talented squad. This same talented squad had infamously collected all of two points from eight games- it's way too convenient to put finishing 4th-5th-4th merely down to talent. I also don't understand the point in bringing up Redknapp's record with previous clubs- is this supposed to 'prove' that his success at Spurs was a fluke? Juande Ramos had a pretty good record at Sevilla..
One name I've never seen mentioned for the manager's position- Ian Holloway. Not necessarily advocating, just curious. He certainly brings an attacking philosophy and astute man-management skills. He's different. Discuss
Fuck the trolls, we're coming for Wenger!
We need someone long-term, not another short-term fix. Someone who is going to build a legacy, it's no surprise that the most successful teams make few managerial changes (Ar5ena1, ManUre???).
In an ideal world Guardiola would be the man to take us to the next level and beyond but realistically thats not going to happen. Bilic is a good call but I fear we'll end up with Moyes or Martinez.
Only time will tell whether Levy has make the right decision and I suspect the new appointment won't be long coming, Levy normally has plans already in place before making the big decision.
Agree that Holloway is a good manager and his sides play good football, but I've had enough of funny soundbites for a while!
We need to bring in someone who will be media savvy rather than a media darling. Levy got rid of Harry because his relationship with the media went a step too far when Cappello quit.
I do feel that the appointment will be made in the next 7 days, ensuring that all transfer dealings can be dealt with early on.
My fear however is that we will lose some big players. We won't lose all 3 of VdV, Bale & Modric because Levy simply won't let that happen. Modric WILL go, I have little doubt about that. I suspect that VdV will follow, but I don't think Bale will.
Of course the problem then is who comes in as replacements. Little doubt in my mind that Vertonghen deal won't happen. I shudder at the thought of JJ & Bentley still being around and getting games, which could easily happen of Moyes comes in.
I think AVB would be worth the risk. The only mistake he really made was accepting a job under Abramovich and in doing so took on a team where player power rules.
Games only went wrong for them because he wouldn't run the "jobs for the boys" method that previous managers and Di Matteo have done.
ha ha ha ha , little little spuds , i think their little run of overachievement is over , soon players will also take the earliest bus away from whl , what a shame spurs unable to build on their golden period ...
Quality input there. Take a week or two to recovery and we'll give you another month to come back with more insightful wisdom.
Lots of good posts today, aside from the "we're doomed" offerings
It is a tough call, do we look for safety (manager who already knows the prem, no learning curve issues) or glamour (big name, likely foreign. already known to players we want to attract). Where we are vs where we want to be. Don't backslide vs go for it big time. Will love the club vs pure professional.
Given the situation with the new stadium, we are in a transitional period, so I suspect it's going to be safety first. I completely understand the appeal of the glamour names--we want to be daring, we want to do it gloriously. But I don't think we can just yet attract those names and/or they come with risks e.g. Pep (new to English game), Jose (ick, boring boring football, plus he would always be bigger than the club), Klinsmann (ultimate fantasy, but he's not leaving the US for the foreseeable), Capello (too old, building a dynasty not a game for senior citizens). AVB (epic fail at Chelscum, how much of that was his fault, debatable), Blanc, Deschamps (all the risks of Pep, without the trophy haul). Juergen Klopp (building his own dynasty at Dortmund--don't think he's looking for new challenges just yet). Lucien Favre is a really interesting shout, and he has worked a miracle at Gladbach, but it has been just one season. He may be the new Klopp (his earlier work at Mainz) or it could be a one off--see Owen Coyle.
So then there's the safer candidates but with the recent manager merry go round, a number of putative names are off the table. I'd include Bilic in this group because, like Big Martin, he's played in England so transition not so daunting. He would stradle the glamour vs safety gap, but has agreed to go to Moscow. No doubt we are a more attractive option but would we have to compensate Locamotiv?
Some have bemoaned that we've already missed out on Rodgers and Lambert, but however impressive their work in the lower divisions and one season in the prem, their Premiere League resumes are still a little thin--see Owen Coyle again. My choice would have been Chris Hughton if we were going to take a chance on a "younger" manager--bleeds blue and white, knows the club, knows the prem, can work with Levy (no illusions there), has done some fantastic work with train wrecked Newcastle and Birmingham. A real up and comer, congratulations to Norwich on a brilliant signing.
So process of elimination, we're down to Moyes and Benitez. Hard to judge how Benitez would work at Spurs based on Liverpool (speaking of train wrecks). Moyes has all the relevant prem experience you could ask for, great at unearthing bargains, what style would Moyes play if he had a squad of our caliber? Doubt it would be the long ball. Would he become Spurs the way he currently is Everton? Maybe. Or maybe a couple of years with us, then takes over at ManU--Ferguson has to retire eventually. Not an exciting choice, but probably the safest. We'll see.
One question I would like to ask is this-does/did Harry have to ask Levy's permission to do the Sky stuff and
the Sun column etc.etc. which surely must be somewhat distracting to the large job in hand. I think H was reliant to a large extent on the coaches and Lord knows there were a lot of them-and so in the usual tradition, is H going to take the backroom staff with him to Poole Town? And I will say it again-I think we missed the boat when Norwich bagged Chris Hughton.....a Spurs
man. Come to think of it, what is Graham Roberts up to these days?
If Levy did offer Harry a 4 year contract at the start of the year...LOL at the irony?
Not sure I quite believe it though. Based on the obvious difficulties the two have when it comes to transfers.
@bluepride- it's apt you mentioned "little run of overachievement" and "bus" ..
As it happens, these are the words that spring to mind when describing Chelsea's oh-so-swashbuckling road to victory in Munich
@ Lammy Cutlets
So that's a 'No' to Brian Clough as well? ;)
WOW.
This is sad. Ultimate delusion: Mourinho? Pep? Moyes? One person here would actually take Lucien Favre based on a Wikipedia quote!
I think the best guy for us is van Gaal but why would he come? After the initial 50 million or so to get out of the relegation heap, the club invested 8 million one summer and 5 million the next (plus 2 players on loan).
Let's just keep watching.