Tottenham Hotspur FC 2013/14

[bwi]

Ok first up, im not trolling or trying to irk any Spurs fans. So where does Spurs fans and their deluded chairman think they should be in the pecking order? Above Chelsky? Above Man City spending billions, Man Utd are usually above them and with a resurgent Liverpool & Arsenal, that would put them around 5th or 6th, but most times they punch above their weight and come 4th or just miss out on CL. Levy has delusions of grandeur.

I think we are and always have been behind Chelsea, Man Utd and Mancity for the past 2-3 years so really we were always fighting with arsenal for 4th (yes i know chelsea missed out on the champ league places the other year).

I would to love to work out how many points Bale won by himself for us last year, but on the flip side Levy has pumped in the Bale money plus some more is year and the team is noticeably weaker overall.

I wouldn't consider Liverpool resurgent after 4 months of one season, hell people keep on about the hiding we got yesterday and the one at Man city, but i always thought the West Ham Defeat and the Win against Hull were shocking matches and should have been an indication of what could happen when we came up against a team playing better than normal

[On The Edge of Insanity]

Re: Laudrup - he has previously said in interviews that he is happier working at smaller clubs where the pressure isn't as high and he is allowed to get on with his work. I think he was burned by his experience at Spartak Moscow and I imagine would think twice about accepting any offer that might be forthcoming from Spurs.

[MisterBubbles]

4 divided by 6 doesnt go, and never will. So every year 2 managers are cast as losers and might have to pay with their jobs? Its absolute madness why can't Spurs accept they are a top 5 club and be happy with that? Im pretty sure keep hiring and firing managers won't help the team or the squad get better or have confidence that they might even will be at the club.

[On The Edge of Insanity]

4 divided by 6 doesnt go, and never will. So every year 2 managers are cast as losers and might have to pay with their jobs? Its absolute madness why can't Spurs accept they are a top 5 club and be happy with that? Im pretty sure keep hiring and firing managers won't help the team or the squad get better or have confidence that they might even will be at the club.

You seem to have just continued with your earlier rant rather than address, or even show any awareness of, the replies, so I'm not entirely sure why I'm bothering with a further response, but here it is anyway.

You are making it sound like we hire and fire managers on a regular basis, which, by Premier League league standards is untrue. Jol was at the club for three years; Redknapp for over three and a half. Ramos was only a year, but was clearly unsuitable, and while AVB has only been a year and a half, as I said before, we do not yet, and may never, know how much of a part relations with senior figures, rather than solely on-pitch performance, played in his departure. Four managers in a nine-year period is far from ideal but at the same time hardly represents constant chopping and changing, as you seem keen to suggest.

[EJG1980]

I dislike the "Why can't team X be happy with their place?" type statements. The whole point of competitive sport is that you should always be trying to improve and do better than before, even if Spurs are at a level where improving will be very difficult due to the financial gap with the teams ahead of us. It should still be the ambition of every team to try and improve, whatever their position.

Anyway, Daniel Levy clearly isn't delusional and expecting us to finish above mega rich clubs constantly. After we qualified for the Champions League in 2009/10 he made a statement where he said that fans shouldn't now expect us to suddenly be qualifying for it every season just because we'd done it once. He said it should be our aim to qualify each season but that it wouldn't be possible to do it every single year.

I don't think he's sacked AVB because he expects us to be top of the league. I think he expects us to put up a very competitive fight for a CL league spot all the way to the end of the season and that it was the level of performance from the team in the first months of the season has made him doubt that AVB will be able to do that.

I personally think Levy has acted too quickly and should have given AVB more time to get the team to gel and play better football, but as annoyed as I am at the lack of time given to AVB, as said above there may be behind the scenes factors which have had a bearing on his sacking that we will never be privy to.

I think Levy has acted hastily at times and haven't always agreed with his decisions, but you can't argue with his record. The Spurs he took over in 2001 had been through a decade of mid-table mediocrity and sporadic relegation battles and (with some bumps along the way) with him in charge we have become a team that's finished in the top five six times in the past eight years. I very much doubt that would have happened if he'd been someone who was going to accept his place and be happy with it.

[25.05.2005]

HAHAAHAHA!

Ps. Check out Flanno's rude 'salute ' in the last pic...(number 38).

[EJG1980]

So, the press speculation (beep beep beep, salt truck backing up) seems to be that we don't have an instant replacement lined up and Tim Sherwood will be given the chance to impress and possibly get the job on a permanent basis. If this turns out to be the case I'll be pretty disappointed and full of trepidation, but the only thing to do is get behind him and hope it works out.

Sherwood is meant to be a highly regarded coach within the game and we have turned down various approaches from lower league clubs who wanted him as their manager, but "well regarded young coach with no management experience" to "managing a team that hopes to challenge for a CL spot" is one hell of a leap. Amazing opportunity for him though so hopefully he has something about him and he makes the most of it.

Until it all goes tits up I'm going to be blindly optimistic that this is going to go brilliantly

[VR46]

Hell of a punt on Sherwood yes. Oppostie side of the coin, would Spurs fans welcome back Hoddle? other pro's seem to be coming out of the woodwork to recommend him. Bit on the fence personally if he would be a good choice for you or not especially with the previous history.

[On The Edge of Insanity]

So, the press speculation (beep beep beep, salt truck backing up) seems to be that we don't have an instant replacement lined up and Tim Sherwood will be given the chance to impress and possibly get the job on a permanent basis. If this turns out to be the case I'll be pretty disappointed and full of trepidation, but the only thing to do is get behind him and hope it works out.

Sherwood is meant to be a highly regarded coach within the game and we have turned down various approaches from lower league clubs who wanted him as their manager, but "well regarded young coach with no management experience" to "managing a team that hopes to challenge for a CL spot" is one hell of a leap. Amazing opportunity for him though so hopefully he has something about him and he makes the most of it.

Until it all goes tits up I'm going to be blindly optimistic that this is going to go brilliantly

Yeah, like you say I wouldn't be overly impressed if Sherwood was given the job full time. The idea that we would be able to assess in three or four matches whether or not he's suitable is a little ridiculous. That said, he was quite intelligent as a footballer, and passing midfield players often make good coaches [Guardiola, Ancelotti, Martino, Martinez] so who knows, it could work out.

[On The Edge of Insanity]

Hell of a punt on Sherwood yes. Oppostie side of the coin, would Spurs fans welcome back Hoddle? other pro's seem to be coming out of the woodwork to recommend him. Bit on the fence personally if he would be a good choice for you or not especially with the previous history.

Personally, no. He's been out of the game for so long and didn't impress in his last spell in charge, or indeed at Wolves afterwards. His England team was perhaps the best organised and most interesting of the post-Euro 96' incarnations, but we're talking 15 years ago now. I don't doubt that he is a brilliant football mind, but it is debatable whether he can put that into practice. The answer previously was no, and I feel it would be a big risk to entrust him with the position at this point in time.

[EJG1980]

Agree with the above re Hoddle, his time has come and gone, I'd rather see Sherwood given a go. I seriously doubt the Tottenham board has given him a second thought.

I wouldn't mind seeing him come back to be some kind of director of youth football. Make sure from day one that our young players concentrate on technique and skill. I think he could be excellent in that kind of role, passing on his knowledge to the kids, coordinating it up through all the age groups, etc.. I don't want to see him anywhere near the first team though.

On Sherwood, I can see positives on giving someone like him the job. Nothing wrong in principal with promoting from within and having someone work their way up through the club to become first team manager. I agree though, I don't like the idea of him not being a firm choice, but if he does well for a few matches maybe he will be. I'd rather Levy just give him the job full time straight off the bat and show full confidence in him from the start.

Of course we don't really know what's going on, no idea what is media speculation and what's fact. Maybe he's not in the running for the full time job at all no matter what he does in the next few matches. Hopefully things will become clearer soon. I'm sure he'll get the full backing of the crowd tomorrow night, although "Tim Sherwood's blue 'n' white army" doesn't quite flow

[Kit]

Quite disappointed for you guys that AVB has been sacked. Rate him highly.

Don't understand getting in Tim Sherwood. Seems like a massive back step to me.

[EJG1980]

Quite disappointed for you guys that AVB has been sacked. Rate him highly.

Don't understand getting in Tim Sherwood. Seems like a massive back step to me.

At the moment Sherwood is just the caretaker manager. Talk that he might be a long term option is just speculation, thus far.

[Neil]

Sherwood could do very well as it's been said previously he was a very intelligent footballer so in theory it could work, still think it's utter madness sacking AVB so soon. The board have just let him spend in excess of ?100m and not giving him at least a season to bed in all the players is a bit harsh surely? I hope Sherwood does well anyway.

[25.05.2005]

In recent years Tottenham seem to have been playing 'Football Manager' with their players and managers.

I don't think Sherwood will be a success, these type of appointments rarely are...but at least they've broken the cycle they were in.

I know it's obvious, but they should never have gotten rid of Redknapp.