Roll on August
I read an article today that said the fiscal administration of Tottenham is remarkable and makes complete business sense. It went on to ask are Tottenham a selling club or are they in the business of winning trophies?
The article claimed an identity crisis seeping through the club and backs this up claiming an unclear transfer strategy.
However football is not that simplistic.
Players will always move and keeping players where they don't want to be doesn't always work. You can get performances like half the players gave last season when they simply went through the motions.
Arsenal do not need to sell players yet their stars leave regularly to go to clubs with more money. The days of keeping a player tied to a contract are gone, all a contract is now is a means to ensure a transfer fee.
To challenge for trophies takes building. The club have first to slowly build the business, build the income and build a squad. Finding the right manager who will also play the brand of football that the club brand requires, flair, style and adventure, is not simply appointing someone and leave him to it.
You'll only know if a manager is the right fit for a club when he is there, despite having done all the homework you can. We hope Mauricio Pochettino is that man, if he is he'll be around for a while. The right manager can do what Brendon Rodgers did at Liverpool, or Tony Pulis did at Crystal Palace. Spurs have been searching for a man who can have that kind of impact.
Managers are the same as players, some are better than others, some don't fit at a club. The right man hasn't been found, will Pochettino be the right man, we wait and see.
Recent Articles:
Lloris, Adebayor, Kane quotes
Spurs VIDEO, Luís, Debuchy, Richards, Sánchez, Veltman, Schneiderlin
Centre-back concerns
Löw, Vidal, Suárez, Ferdinand, Michu, Neymar & Morata
Costa, Rodríguez, Mangala, Cuadrado, Khedira & Di María
The transfer strategy is perfectly clear, buy young, improve and increase in value. We can't afford to go out and buy a bunch of ready-made stars, we don't have the income. We have the potential to get into the top four and thus bring Champions League football so we have to buy players with the ambition to play it. If we fail to achieve it then naturally some are going to leave where they can instantly get it elsewhere.
The club spent £100 million on the squad last summer and will be spending again this summer so there is plenty of investment in the current team. They were generally young players, players you hope to build a team around over the next few years.
The Academy is starting to produce Premier League standard players so the long-term strategy to build from within is progressing. I wrote an article recently about building a bond with the club, the type of bond Michael Dawson has. Spurs hope with a young side to develop a bond so they stay together, that will help breed success.
Developing that bond is more important than most fans realise, without it you just have a series of temporary mercenaries only interested in themselves and using the club as a stepping stone to the bigger boys. A bond gives you a greater chance of keeping them.
Premier League finishes have been consistent but building the off-field income is the key to winning trophies and that doesn't happen over night as the project to build the new stadium shows. We still await the government making a decision.
We have grown thus far from a middle table club with no money to one challenging the top four consistently but the next jump is even bigger. We are playing with the big boys who have deeper pockets so we play at a disadvantage.
The next step is Champions League football, we have to get a toe hold and try to establish ourselves, much like a newly promoted club to the Premier League has to do. That are at a disadvantage, some make it, some don't.
Fingers crossed we can overcome it this year but on the field it's a question of how long it takes the players to get used to a new style. With the World Cup in the way, then those players needing a rest, there is less pre-season for some and fatigue may play an early factor.
This season we learn about our new manager, we learn about our players, did we buy duds or did we simply not get the best out of them? There can be no excuses this time.
Roll on August and let's get started.
The business of building the business goes on, then when that is done the business of winning trophies can become a more realistic target, until then the odd cup is all that can be hoped for.
To use a line from Field of Dreams, If you build it, they will come.
The article claimed an identity crisis seeping through the club and backs this up claiming an unclear transfer strategy.
However football is not that simplistic.
Players will always move and keeping players where they don't want to be doesn't always work. You can get performances like half the players gave last season when they simply went through the motions.
Arsenal do not need to sell players yet their stars leave regularly to go to clubs with more money. The days of keeping a player tied to a contract are gone, all a contract is now is a means to ensure a transfer fee.
To challenge for trophies takes building. The club have first to slowly build the business, build the income and build a squad. Finding the right manager who will also play the brand of football that the club brand requires, flair, style and adventure, is not simply appointing someone and leave him to it.
You'll only know if a manager is the right fit for a club when he is there, despite having done all the homework you can. We hope Mauricio Pochettino is that man, if he is he'll be around for a while. The right manager can do what Brendon Rodgers did at Liverpool, or Tony Pulis did at Crystal Palace. Spurs have been searching for a man who can have that kind of impact.
Managers are the same as players, some are better than others, some don't fit at a club. The right man hasn't been found, will Pochettino be the right man, we wait and see.
Recent Articles:
Lloris, Adebayor, Kane quotes
Spurs VIDEO, Luís, Debuchy, Richards, Sánchez, Veltman, Schneiderlin
Centre-back concerns
Löw, Vidal, Suárez, Ferdinand, Michu, Neymar & Morata
Costa, Rodríguez, Mangala, Cuadrado, Khedira & Di María
The transfer strategy is perfectly clear, buy young, improve and increase in value. We can't afford to go out and buy a bunch of ready-made stars, we don't have the income. We have the potential to get into the top four and thus bring Champions League football so we have to buy players with the ambition to play it. If we fail to achieve it then naturally some are going to leave where they can instantly get it elsewhere.
The club spent £100 million on the squad last summer and will be spending again this summer so there is plenty of investment in the current team. They were generally young players, players you hope to build a team around over the next few years.
The Academy is starting to produce Premier League standard players so the long-term strategy to build from within is progressing. I wrote an article recently about building a bond with the club, the type of bond Michael Dawson has. Spurs hope with a young side to develop a bond so they stay together, that will help breed success.
Developing that bond is more important than most fans realise, without it you just have a series of temporary mercenaries only interested in themselves and using the club as a stepping stone to the bigger boys. A bond gives you a greater chance of keeping them.
Premier League finishes have been consistent but building the off-field income is the key to winning trophies and that doesn't happen over night as the project to build the new stadium shows. We still await the government making a decision.
We have grown thus far from a middle table club with no money to one challenging the top four consistently but the next jump is even bigger. We are playing with the big boys who have deeper pockets so we play at a disadvantage.
The next step is Champions League football, we have to get a toe hold and try to establish ourselves, much like a newly promoted club to the Premier League has to do. That are at a disadvantage, some make it, some don't.
Fingers crossed we can overcome it this year but on the field it's a question of how long it takes the players to get used to a new style. With the World Cup in the way, then those players needing a rest, there is less pre-season for some and fatigue may play an early factor.
This season we learn about our new manager, we learn about our players, did we buy duds or did we simply not get the best out of them? There can be no excuses this time.
Roll on August and let's get started.
The business of building the business goes on, then when that is done the business of winning trophies can become a more realistic target, until then the odd cup is all that can be hoped for.
To use a line from Field of Dreams, If you build it, they will come.
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