What has to happen

yiddo_til_i_die

What has to happen
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I was, and still am, a big advocate of stability. I hate the way in which spurs have changed managers year after year. Unfortunately there is a drastic need for some major upheaval at the moment. There is a drastic need for change. Where exactly that change is needed is the subject for much debate. As it stands, we are going to go down. Any further continuation of what we have seen so far, for too much longer, and the damage will be irreparable. The way we have played so far, an educated estimation is that we will not get more than 2 points from our coming 4 games. The argument that it will change because......well, because it has to, is no longer holding any water - and trust me I was one of those that believed it.

The first change that has to be made, is that we need a manager in that will be able to use the players that are there to start getting some points on the board. The players that we have should be good enough to beat the likes of stoke - lack of strikers or not. We have a lot of players at the club, and there are people who can score goals there. We need someone who can come in and have an immediate impact - basically someone who will keep us in the premiership. Unfortunately this manager will have to be for the short term, unless the man is someone capable of bringing us on.

I don't necessarily blame Ramos, I feel that he is the victim of a greater incompetence, or misdirection. Ramos could possibly have been a great manager for spurs but everything surrounding him, from the way he was installed through to the transfer dealings, have had too big a negative impact. What we need now is someone to come in under more favourable, than underhanded, circumstances, who can hopefully turn things around. Its not so much a case of Ramos has to go, as we need someone else in. Unfortunately Ramos would be collateral damage in the much bigger and essential change.


Another Man who has to go Is Damian Commolli. Firstly, I know, at least from reading on other sites, that no one is convinced by his performance in his role - I don't think I've read a single post saying what a great job he has done <cue post saying what a great job he has done>.

The role of Director of Football, for me, is not the problem. I think that it could be an extremely effective position, if implemented correctly. The relationship between the manager and DoF is essential, and I don't mean just the personal relationship. It is the organisational relationship that is key - the DoF has to work for the manager. Personally I don't like commolli, for his hand in the sacking of Jol, but if things had gone successfully, then it would've been all gravy - but they haven't.


The DoF role at Tottenham has become tainted, and that is mainly due to the way it has been organised and largely due to the current incumbents own actions. In order to cleanse it, Commolli has to go, and the Dof role left vacant until a manager chooses one.


Again, Commolli would just be collateral damage of a much bigger change - although he is intrinsically linked, to the core problem.

The change that needs to happen at spurs is from the very top down, the question is merely how high up it has to go.



The ultimate change that has to be made is a little harder to determine. It is one of two things. Either Enic sell up, or Daniel Levy is removed as chairman.


If Enic are not to sell up, then Daniel Levy has to be removed as chairman. The current plight of our beloved football is down to a much more fundamental reason, than a well respected, somewhat proven manager does not cut it in the premiership, or that new players need time to settle in, or even that the DoF is not doing his job properly. The reason is much more serious than that, and effects every single cell of OUR football club.


It has become clear that the core focus of this club is on Tottenham Hotspur PLC rather than Tottenham Hotspur FC. The goal of turning over profit has become so entrenched in the focus of the club that it affects every critical decision made within the club. From the purchase of players to the sale of the clubs current assets. From my recollection (akin to that of a goldfish), this all started with the sale of the Frank Aresen - who has ever heard of a club selling their DoF before - no doubt it has happened, but it sounds incredulous. Where the best, long term interests of the club would have been served by enforcing an employees contract, instead the short term gain of turning a profit won the day.
The next major thing I can remember was the sale of Michael Carrick, a player absolutely integral to the managers plans, and crucial to the long term future of the club. Again, the chance of a quick profit could not be passed up. Despite the fact that he wanted to go, not enough was done to keep him.
Then there were the sales of Keane & Berbatov. I was among those that said you cannot hold a player if they want to move - Aston Villa showed us that you can. While I was glad to see the back of Berbatov bcos he was a negative influence, Keane I felt would have been a bit more professional, like Gareth Barry. Accepting that these players left, it is an absolute disgrace that adequate replacements were not found. It is absolutely unacceptable for this to be allowed to happen.


While the aim of everyone at the club was to see Champions League football at White Hart Lane, the reasons for wanting it were very different. The fans wanted the glory, while the Chairman saw the dollar signs. There is no problem in that, as I'm sure many will point out, he has a responsibility to the shareholders. However, where he failed the shareholders, and even moreso the fans, was his inability to look after the long term future of the club, and therefore the PLC. Daniel Levy wanted the revenue that the champions league would bring, and he wanted now. So instead of sticking with a manager who had brought steady progress to the club, 2 fifth place finishes and to the brink of the champions league, and - to put it in words that Daniel Levy might understand - whose personal goals were almost perfectly aligned to that of the organization – and who could probably have lead us to Champions League football further down the line, he decided to bring in a manager who he thought would automatically convert 2 top 5 finishes into champions league football. This act, and the manner in which it was executed, completely undermined any progress that had been made up to then and completely de-satbilised the club.

This desire to progress immediately to the top 4, has shown Daniel Levy to be short sighted and unable to set realistic, achievable goals, in a manageable time-frame. This is a fundamental failing for any chairman. Make no mistake, Daniel Levy took a huge risk by getting rid of Martin Jol and installing Ramos – what he risked was the progress we had made to date and the stability of the club. The payoff could have been huge but it hasn’t and he has to be held accountable for it.

Many credit Levy with putting the club in a very stable financial position, and granted we are one of the wealthiest clubs in the world. All that has proven is that he could see the potential in exploiting Tottenham as a marketing commodity, and that is something he has done very well – he is a business man afterall. However, this stable financial position, that he has put us in is, has come at a time of massive increases in revenue in the premiership. I have also heard people say that he has been responsible for some of the best players we have seen at Tottenham over the past 20 years – but again this has come at a time when the standard of players in the premiership, has improved dramatically for every single team. Some people also seem to be of the opinion that if it wasn’t for Levy we would be the next Leeds Utd. I would like to propose – equally as ludicrously – that if it wasn’t for him we could have been the next Manchester United.

The problem then is, who would ENIC replace him with? If this policy of short term profit is being enforced from further up, then the danger is that the next person in will act in much the same way as Levy - However it could just be Levy's personal style. Someone, on here, started a thread asking why Joe Lewis should escape blame, and I thought to myself, here we go, someone just looking for a new take on things, or a new scape goat, and although - admittedly - I did not read the thread, he may not be too far from the truth. If this is ENICS policy, then for the good of the club they have to sell up and move on.


My fear that this short term gain is now going to manifest as longterm pain - with absolutely dire consequences.

"There is something rotten in the state of Denmark" (Hamlet - Act 1; Scene 4)


And much like the final scene of Hamlet, all those infected by this malaise have to go before the state - Tottenham Hotspur FC - can be returend to the people.


A little less romantically, this has to start with Ramos.

SuprSi

Excellent read, thanks for posting that, I really enjoyed and agreed with more or less everything on there. I am also an advocate of stability and had hoped that this would be achieved, finally, with Ramos at the helm. I loved Martin Jol, and what he did for the team/club, but I felt that he had to go at the time because the results and performances were so poor. I guess I'm kicking myself for wishing that now, as I'm sure many people are. Ramos' record has been much worse than Jol's, yet many of us are still happy for him to stay?

I also agree that the DoF role has to be abolished, or at least modified in such a way that the manager decides who purchases the players. After all, the reason the DoF role was introduced in an attempt to ensure that players purchased for one manager worked with the next as they were picked by someone other than the manager - anyone see the problem there?

I also agree with you on Levy taking a gamble with Ramos that hasn't worked out. Along with all the fans, he wanted a manager that had proven pedigree, and fair enough while it was outside the Premiership, it was still proven. Seville play great football : free-flowing, attacking, enjoyable football, perfect for the Spurs faithful. Unfortunately, it hasn't worked, and it's made the club look very bad. There will be very little sympathy for Spurs if we get relegated, and that's the fault of everyone at the club.

I think the best point you made centres around Spurs having a great business model, but a crap football model!! However, this business model will go down the toilet if the club is relegated, which is odds on to happen at the moment. Things have to change, but as you said they won't just change because they have to!!