Spurs Banter Archive July 26 2013

26 Jul 2013 18:30:50
I'm not a Spurs fan, but I wanted to express my sympathy - I can't believe the disgusting way that Real Madrid are conducting their pursuit of Bale. They really are a disgrace. No rules seem to apply to them. They and their minions at Marca need to be dealt with but of course nothing will happen. I hope Bale comes out and makes it clear he has no desire to play for such a club. (Not holding my breath, though. )

That's the thing. Madrid can hide behind Marca and say it wasn't them quoting all the time.

True words my friend but unfortunately things will never change as regards to Madrid. They are such a big club they are above the rules. let's just hope Bale stays with spurs so everyone in the Epl can enjoy his undoubted quality.

26 Jul 2013 14:56:46
RE: "Doesn't Levy realise, if. Suarez goes to the Gooners then the Scousers buy Soldado. that puts us behind our two biggest rivals for a champs league place before the season has even started! Get the deal done, get the team settled and let's get off to a flyer!"

I understand your concern and your frustration, but I think your post actually argues the opposite of what you intended to argue.

We must do the best we can to improve our squad, but only within our own financial means. We cannot bank on future success bailing us out, because whatever we do we cannot control what other clubs do. That is the real message of your post.

Look at Real Madrid.

In 2009, they paid a world record £80m for Ronaldo. Probably, nobody can justify such an absurd fee, but 201 goals in 199 appearances comes close.

Even so, they have only managed one League title and one Spanish Cup in the last 4 seasons. That is not what they paid £80m for.

The problem has not been Ronaldo: it has been Barcelona. As good as Real has played, they have played better.

If Levy caves in and meets all the demands of Valencia and of Soldado's agent, the total cost will probably be about £50m over the next 4 years. That is more than £12m a year, or 8% of our current revenue. That is a massive risk. Is it justified?

Ask yourself this question.

If we sign Soldado and Arsenal sign Suarez, who will have strengthened more and who will have most improved their chances of qualifying for the Champions League next year?

The deals we do today must make financial sense today, irrespective of any success (or any financial rewards) that might or might not follow.

"Speculate to accumulate" is the mantra of every broken man, shuffling dejectedly out of every casino, in every country in the world.

Ask Leeds fans what they think of that piece of wisdom.

KM

I totally agree with these comments but would like to see a Young Goal scorer if we spend £26m on a near 30 year old why not instead invest that in a 23 year old from Brazil he has the talent and with a possible profitable sell on fee.
I know we don't buy to sell at a later date but it is worth considering.

Very good post KM, I regularly cite Leeds as an example of a club that tried to grow too quickly. Its finding the right balance between business and football

Dear KM,

Whilst I understand your reasoning, and you make a sound financial point over Soldado, I take issue with 'speculate to accumulate' being a completely folly policy. Yes, casino gamblers that have skinted themselves may have used this as an excuse for their actions but, how does any self-starting or ambitious business become bigger and more successful? Without a lot of luck (which isn't exactly plentiful for all), you have to take risks and you have to usually spend money to make money. How much and the ratio of this relative to your current/potential turnover and revenues will vary massively. In the business of top-flight football, several league places can cost you several £million per season whereas Champions League can make you £20, 30, 40m per season.
It's up to Levy and Co to calculate the risk vs reward and, by not buying quite what we needed in 2 x January windows and 1-2 x August windows in the past 2years, I believe he has cost the club 2 years worth of Champions League football. Strikers in particular, we've been one decent one short for 2 seasons and it's probably cost us £50m+ in revenues but, how much more in terms of overall club profile not attracting richer investors for the new stadium, players within reach that go elsewhere or want a premium to join us because we don't have Champions League football, bigger sponsorship deals and so on.
Levy has made some very good decisions and is a sound businessman but, staying in the transfer black rather than speculating slightly more has cost us a lot more than it's saved in the past two seasons - fact!
Simmo

And PS - so if Arsenal sign Suarez for £40-50m plus his £25m over 4years, spending £65-75m, are you saying we shouldn't sign Soldado because they're going to be further ahead of us anyway? What do we do then? Staying still = going backwards which costs us ££s
Simmo

Potentially the most intelligent and well thought out post I've seen on this site in an age. Take a bow!

Dom

Simmo

You have asked some challenging questions. I need to think about them before I answer.

You may hear from me later

KM

KM, I run a business and yes, your points are valid but if I didn't speculate and invest, then my business would keep plodding along, on the edge but never quite there! And, when my competitors do invest themselves and I haven't, then I have to invest twice as much to just keep my nose in front. This is what's happening now. Like Simmo says, the lack of investment has cost us two CL places, worth approx £50 mill minimum. The investment would have been covered easy, when you add the extra merchandise, sponsorship etc, plus the other top players that wanted to come. Yes, Levy has brought the club along, built it up, and kept it on a sound footing, but in doing that so tightly, what has it cost us?

Like you say Davo you keep an eye on your competition and spend more if they spend more.

So think about it like this, have our competitors been doing the same? I. e if we spend and Arsenal see we have improved beyond them won't they, as you suggest spend more money to stay ahead of us? So how much should we spend to get to where we wanna be? Will bankruptcy be the ideal solution? I'm not saying we shouldn't have invested in a decent striker but Ade was supposed to be that player, was he not?

Dear KM,

No probs, I'm not disagreeing with your logic completely because hindsight is a wonderful thing and maybe Levy didn't realise just how close we'd be. Perhaps he was expecting consolidation further down the table and playing it safe-safe. You can't argue with 4th, 5th, 4th, 5th for consistency, particularly when we've stayed in the black for 3 years and compared to the previous mediocrity.
Simmo

No, Ade was one of Levy's fob off buys, cheap and shut up the supporters! You can't keep investing until there is no more money, and no spurs supporter wants that! But we wouldn't need that striker if Berbs had been replaced, and we would have had a lot more sponsorship and prize money from CL, meaning like Utd, we only had to tinker each year with our squad!

What this says to me is that despite hating the Gooners I actually respect the way they have managed their club over the last 7-10 years. getting a new stadium and staying in the CL. Now we see signs of the benefits of that as they start to talk about upgrading their team with some high quality players (let's not consider his on field antics).

26 Jul 2013 10:24:35
I really think that we have a great opportunity this year, the strength of our squad could be equal to any in the league I believe. The advantage that we have over many of our nearest opponents is that AAVB has instilled a real team ethos and working ethic. The other teams have individuals on huge salaries who's only real concern is themselves. I don't see that at Spurs there seems to be a alltogetherness (is that a word) with the players and that is like having an extra man.

We have excellent cover all over the pitch a great defence and I really believe that Rose will be one of our players of the year. Are Midfield is the best in the country and the only area that AVB must be knocking down Levy's door about is the forwards. If we were able to get Soldado and Dzeko not only would we get Champions League but we could be right up there at the end of the season. 40million gets both and would be worth far more than that in the future.

I do think Bale will stay (that will be him on the plane by the end of the day!) but Levy needs to show him as well that we are determined to move forward and the strikers are not only key to this but also will have every fan behind the team in a way that we have not seen in years.

The Arsenal are getting desperate, the are going to spend 50 million on a player who is a biting cheat (fits well with their moral ethic they keep going on about) who will be banned for half the season and who really wants to be in Madrid and will probably be there in a year when they fail to get champions league.

Not sure about United this year and I really hope that Chelsea fail with Moriniho a because I am not keen on him but with Terry and Cole etc they are just horrid ( and a good reason to want them to fail) I think the strongest team will be City they have done there business early very much like Fergy used to do and I think they will hit he ground running when the season starts.

Please take note Mr Levy, buy the strikers that we need and watch us move forward. SIMPLES.

Dorset Yid

26 Jul 2013 08:32:25
If we are flashing 22+ million at saldardo, I'm sure we can find someone else for that money
Hernandez from utd would be perfect
Mr g