Good morning ladies.
Forgive the brash approach so early in the day, but just what is the delay with our transfer activity? Levy & Co assured us that the perception that we do all our business in the last fifteen minutes of the window was an inaccurate one.
Whilst elsewhere, Liverpool are firing at will. Stoke want watching. Yanited aren’t mucking about. Chelsea will soon be going through the gears. Where are we?
The striker targets so far appear to be as nailed on as wet Sellotape. Admittedly we’ve brought in Brad Friedel, but seeing the snap of him in training yesterday he looked like an extra from the Addams Family.
Meanwhile we’re trying to get another 50p for Begbie.
If the market worth of Begbie, PSB and others has been reassessed and they are now more keenly priced, then let’s sell them. I can imagine what the hold up is though. Their agents. The likes of J**** are sitting pretty on a contract with gawd knows how many years left to go on it. Suddenly Blackburn or whoever come in and offer him the opportunity of a lifetime to take a pay cut and go and live in a northern toilet.
Players who aren’t likely to advance the cause need to have it made perfectly clear that barring an act of God they won’t be in the first team anytime soon. We see almost daily what vain and delicate little creatures footballers are. Name and shame them.
‘SSN understands that PSB has two years remaining on his contract and is unprepared to move and take a pay cut. Sources close to THFC told us, “We’d take £1 for him to get his wages off the books but the knacker simply refuses to shift.”‘
Super Roman Crazypavinchenko needs to stay but we cannot afford another season of hoping that Defoe finds his mojo and 3MP goes out of football and into Panto.
Is that we’re waiting to see if Arry gets Porridge? Is it that we need a Director of Football opposed to a hesitant cockney? Given the total absence of better ideas I was actually coming around to the idea of Scott Parker. But given the outbreak of WWIII between the two clubs even that non event looks unlikely.
Stop stalling Spurs, I really feel that this window is beginning to pass you by.
whats with the impatience?
Who has signed anyone?
Arsenal? some 16 yr old RB
City? nadda!
Chelsea? zip!
Everton? diddly!
its not a simple as pressing a button on your championship manager pc edition….players want to see all their options, they want to maximise their wages & chance of going to the best club.
Selling teams want as much as they can so will wait for offers and play hardball.
Buying teams will not want to over pay so will bide their time.
If we are waiting for preferred Option A, who is waiting to see what happens in the market, whose club is waiting to see what better offers they can receive while demanding way too much for the player then of course nothing will happen fast.
LFC and Utd have not played the waiting game BUT LFC spent £16m on Joe Average and Utd have spent £50m on potential, more potential and some proven talent who had his choice of teams.
Our problem is that we have a 30 man squad, 5 must go to make it 25. So 7 must go if we are to buy a couple quality players.
We do not want to go in to next season with the likes of Keane, Hutton, Bentley etcs on our books but not registered to play.
Similarly, if we buy and then are desperate to sell to meet the 25 man rule, then we are in a very weak position where teams will offer little as they know we are absolutely desperate to get rid.
We are going about this the right way, sticking to our principles of not over paying or under selling, unless it is critical.
Spot on, and to be honest a pretty good appreciation of the scenario from everyone so far. Well, maybe Kiwi was feeling a bit depressed when he wrote but generally!
Until Tevez shifts, Villas-Boas buys his dream team and Barca decide if Sanchez & Fibreglass are worth a cool £85-£90m between them, no-one is going anywhere.
Like Rogerspurs said, players have a priority list in their mind and they’ll wait to see if there’s interest. Once Barca, RM, Manure, Milan, Inter, Cheatski, Citeh (Sadly) et al have had their pick THEN we might get someone. And to those that say, well, just pay the money, the answer is why didn’t Sanchez go to Citeh – Because for some players (The greedy little darlings) it’s about getting the best of both worlds… The money AND the club.
The alternative is the Dame Comolli school of comedy, which is to buy the players the big clubs don’t want for vastly inflated prices, which gets you them early (Hey, Zokora was in place reallly early in the window) but guarantees you a wage bill & shifting problem like 3-week constipation several years down the line… A problem like we have now.
By the way, that list above doesn’t even take into account if we’re above Arsena1, Bayern, Juventus, Schalke, Ajax, Napoli, Porto, Roma, Valencia, Sevilla, Villareal, Dortmund, Leverkusen or PSV on the pecking order.
This is a reply to both. Not exactly spot on.
Chelsea can be given grace since they were trageting their manager. Signings will come. Whether Modric or four or five other players Villas-Boas wants, subject of course to Abramovich’s approval.
Citeh have signed two players, will be signing others.
Arsenal signed a 19 year old defender. Gervinho is nearly confirmed.
Everton? Are they close to our alleged level to warrant mentioning? Or are we in reality closer to their level? I guess our signings to date would suggest we are closer to them than some would admit. But they are a documented poor club who haven’t anywhere near the financials to compete with the bigger boys.
Liverpool, a real rival at this stage – are spending big, because they can. The Boston Red Sox of the Premier League can compete financially now thanks to their new ownership, and will make another splash in the market.
We’ve signed Brad Friedel. Can’t wait for Reo-Coker and Carew…
Of course, the Modders thing and our position on it needs clarifying before we go rushing to sell/buy/loan out, and it may have repercussions (Bale etc.).
But the “Dame Comolli” quote is rubbish Astro. Who did he buy that we have loitering on our books out of all his purchases, players we are looking to get rid of? Hutton, Bentley, Corluka? Is that it? Oh, we cut our losses with Woodgate. Unfortunate. Who bought Robbie Keane, Sebastian Bassong, Wilson Palacios, who bought and now appears to want to sell Niko Krancjar?
How’s about our strikeforce? The worst of which being Defoe and Crouch, players not getting younger on decent money no doubt. Who bought them? Either or both could hit the exit door if someone was silly enough to offer the silly money Levy probably wants for them.
http://www.sportinglife.com/football/transfer_centre/
There’s your guide as to who’s in and out. Notice not a lot of either from us yet.
We really shouldn’t be looking at buying/selling players after the season has started. First game of the season is August 13th. Five and a half weeks to go. Let’s work on the squad harmony by doing fuck all til then, shall we?
We need to start selling the fringe players (and be realistic re: their price) before we have to loan out or release them. Or at least begin by signing the neccessary targets that will be largely unaffected by the Modric saga. Such as a central defender. Assuming we’re still intent on loaning out Caulker and Khumalo. Not looking forward to a season with Gallas, Dawson, Kaboul and King only. Let’s be honest, when you talk about squad numbers, including King with his injury record is somewhat short sighted.
I actually hope we’re already lining up Modric’s replacement, and that’s part of the reason for the delay. Before we sell him to Juve, where he can become the next Pavel Nedved, with less goals scored of course. :daumen:
Finally,
“Selling teams want as much as they can so will wait for offers and play hardball.
Buying teams will not want to over pay so will bide their time.”
So, if we’re a selling club, the buying team won’t want to overpay and will bide their time?
Or, if we’re a buying club, we won’t want to overpay so we’ll be looking to buy from a selling club who will want as much as they can, will wait for offers and play hardball?
Genius. Makes you wonder what all these other clubs are doing, buying and selling so early. Perhaps they just want to be ready for the start of the season. :shocked2:
Some perspective of our situation required me thinks
We have around 8 players on the to go list – keane, krankie, wilson, hutton, bassong, bentley, J**** & defoe – acquisition cost in excess of £80 million and potentially £480 k a week in wages (25 million a year!) if we take a £60k a week deal as being the average.
Realistically what could we sell that lot for? about 44 million in the current market which if the players didn’t request a move equates to 40 million net. That’s a huge loss and probably why we’re quoting silly numbers for the likes of krankie.
Realistically who has been made available who is a serious upgrade on what we already have? To improve our squad we would need 2/3 world class players, I don’t see those players coming to spurs with the wages & fees we’re currently willing or able to pay.
A total change of strategy at the top would have to happen 1st.
Come on, this is same old, same old. Anything to justify sacking Redknapp and ‘sack the board’ chunter. Stuff built on hindsight. Put your hand on your heart and tell me you would have bet £1,000 last August that Defoe would have scored 9 goals by the end of the season?
As for Gervinho… Is that it? Is that your proof that the board are letting the club down and not doing their job? He’s not even signed yet… Just Nearly signed. WTF? At the same time they’ve lost Clichy, as good as lost Fibreglass and probably Nasri. Great example. That’s me saying to you that selling Modders, Bale & BAE while buying Damiao is great business.
The ‘triumvate’ of Begbie, Bentley & Charlie are probably costing us over £150k per week, nearly £200k… And yes, apart from Charlie I would like to see the back of them.
As for the Dame, he’s up to the same thing again now at Liverpool. Using his Bugsy Malone splurge gun and a filofax to randomly buy up anyone that might fit the bill. While we all rue Suarez, which of Henderson, Downing or Charlie Adam are you desperate to see in the lillywhite? That’s probably another £200k per week right there in that little lot.
Reo-Coker and Carew. Very funny, full of tabloid wit that one. Stick it in the ITK box with Charlie Adam and that bloke from Birmingham being nailed on as reasons to sack everyone – Along with all the other press guff that get’s quoted every time the lynch mob fancies a neck-tie party. I’m not even going to talk about who Sunderland & Blackpool or Bolton or Everton have signed.
About the only thing I agree with you on is needing good CB cover but I’ll wait and see what happens before throwing stones.
What I do know is that getting Kyle Walker and Danny Rose on new contracts is good business. Having experienced cover for Gomes & glass wrists Chuckles is good business. Getting rid of our deadwood is good business and if we can make it through the media onslaught of people wanting to sell Modders, then that will be good business.
If we only make one signing in addition to keeping the players we have, and it’s a bona-fide, grade A goal-scorer, then it’s job well done. If in the process we get shot of the people to pay for Modders, job well done pt.2. If in the process we can start genuinely planning a new ground, pt.3. etc. etc.
Liverpool nearly went to the wall to get their new commercial partners. Sheikh Mansour went to City. Boo Hoo. Let’s all get over it.
Is the Dame Comolli comment from you not based on some hindsight/angst Astro?
My comment regarding signings was in response to Devonshire, who suggested those clubs had not signed anyone.
“Who has signed anyone?
Arsenal? some 16 yr old RB (Incorrect).
City? nadda! (Incorrect).
Chelsea? zip! (Circumstantial more than anything).
Everton? diddly! (So what?) ”
Considering Reo-Coker and Carew were linked to us under Harry’s tenure, yes, I was being full of tabloid wit.
As for your “Put your hand on your heart and tell me you would have bet £1,000 last August that Defoe would have scored 9 goals by the end of the season?” quote, that is also somewhat dramatic on your own part. Being as you should well know by now that I don’t and never have rated highly Mr. Offside (if not Mr. Handball, Mr. Always-Shoots).
I do agree that signing Walker and Rose to contract extensions is a good move.
And jfdit, I take on board the point am am acutely aware of the likely transfer values, however 30/31 year old players such as Keane, and soon to be’s like Crouch, Defoe are not going to be worth a small fortune in the open market. I would prefer it if we kept Krancjar but he doesn’t seem to be part of our plans. Unfortunately when you make public who is in or out of favour this depresses the asking price.
However, as with Berbatov etc., some transfers can be very profitable. Some you win etc. It’s knowing when to hold em and fold em that matters, right? And in Luka’s case, were he to go, we should get paid well. But holding out for some silly figure for some of the cast offs is not only unrealistic, it’s potentially dangerous in terms of the bigger picture – you mentioned the wages as well as fees yourself. Robbie Keane is hardly a massive bargaining chip these days, is he? So we can count even a £5 million sale for him as being unlikely. That’s what happens when the Manager buys a 28 year old striker. (see Peter Crouch as another example). A buying policy Levy would not typically have endorsed for these very consequences down the line.
Finally, Astro, can you explain, embellish on this? “Liverpool nearly went to the wall to get their new commercial partners. Sheikh Mansour went to City. Boo Hoo. Let’s all get over it.”
Who is that directed at and what’s your point? I am not suggesting we need to spend £20/£30 million plus on each player brought in.
We aren’t the richest club, neither are we going to be frivolous with the cash. But we could make a statement by signing someone other than a 40 year old free keeper, couldn’t we? Or is Harry holding us back by being our manager, with long term commitment, court, etc. being the obvious concerns?
Losing the deadwood now for £500k less than Levy’s desired amount could see us save most of that £500k in July and August’s wages. Free the space, make players want to play for us because we show intent to make them a part of our plan. Because we don’t have a squad full of deadwood. Whilst everyone’s playing cute, it seems nobody is coming, and nobody is going.
And talking of being cute, I read that Damiao is signing a new contract with Internacional, so trying to get him for £10 mill, then £12 mill, will turn into £18 mill in January. So there’s one reason why you don’t fuck about right there.
Liverpool, a real rival at this stage – are spending big, because they can. The Boston Red Sox of the Premier League can compete financially now thanks to their new ownership, and will make another splash in the market.
Citeh have signed two players, will be signing others.
The hold-up to Keane isn’t just Levy, it’s Keane’s wages & his lack of willingness to drop said. Hopefully both will be sorted soon. Having said that, his 5 goals & 3 assists in the 14 games he played as we clawed our way from the foot of the table was most welcome. Thanks for all the memories PSB, but please go.
My point about hindsight & general press guff is summed up by the Reo Coker thing. Did we sign him, No. Did we even approach him? Some guy at the Sun said. Did we in reality ever give a flying about him? Who knows. But we’re willing to use it as a stick to beat Redknapp with as it suits our argument – Even when we know that 99.9% of stuff written about us in the press is utter balderdash.
Same with the reading of the clubs transfer activity. The other day it was the court case that was apparently stopping it. Have the people who say these things never worked in a company or do they work somewhere where the boss is incapable of drinking tea and breathing simultaneously? I think Levy has one or two staff to help him and I don’t think anything at good ship Hotspur is holding on for Harry.
If Levy has shown us nothing before now, it’s that he’s prepared to immediately bin someone if it doesn’t fit the plan… even behind their back. I very much doubt if Levy would let HR’s tax affairs interfere with his long term plans.
As for Dolmio… Why pay more than he’s worth? He’s utterly untested and, as far as I can tell, not even scoring regularly. I’ll happily take Sandro’s word for it but £12m? Someone bolted a minute together on youtube and the best they could make him look was average. Why leap around and throw money at him just because we want to prove we can sign someone? What’s the point?
In 2008/9 we had 15 players in and 19 players out, that’s ridiculous. How can you have a settled side with that?
The cold, cold reality that we have to be big boys and face is that we are not the first choice for every player in Europe. There, said it. Heinous gasps from the gallery. We have to get what results we can get and in the face of having to break even, can’t pay a fortune to players. How we get the ones we do frankly amazes me sometimes & speaks volumes for the appeal this club has.
We have to wait. Simple as that. It’s not that Levy’s busy on the phone with Boris, or Harry’s
tarting updoing his accounts, or that he was on a talk show last night. There are only so many times you can ring that nice Mr Rossi in a day and have him tell you “I’m waiting to see if Barca are on the other line”.Astro, Harry already signed Reo-Coker once previously when he was at Pompey, but the transfer fell through despite the player signing due to complications with Wimbledon being in administration.
Please get over the reference I made there, though, even if Harry liked him in the past, and he’s a freebie. ;-)
As for my Damiao comments, they merely are in regard to transfers being conducted. I was simply saying if he really is the player we wish to bring on board, then trying to squeeze the last drop of value out of the deal can work against us. I am not the scout here, but Spurs have a “relationship” with Internacional, and the player has been linked to other interested clubs. So I would be taking on trust to an extent that the player is worth the significant interest. I was simply saying if he was (as has been suggested) our desired target, then paying £14 million now would obviously be better than paying £18 million in January – whilst not having him for the start of the season – so acting cute with the negotiations is not neccessarily going to be to our benefit.
And as much as I’d like to see Giuseppe Rossi at the club, the following thoughts spring to mind.
a) He’s too expensive (for us).
b) He wants to be elsewhere.
c) He’s unlikely to be swayed by public comments coveting him by Redknapp.
After you came out with this gem:
“Liverpool nearly went to the wall to get their new commercial partners. Sheikh Mansour went to City. Boo Hoo. Let’s all get over it.”
I’ll just remind you I said the following, since some of your comments regarding our stature as a club make me think you believe I am advocating a policy whereby we open up the big chequebook and sign superstars on massive wages:
“Who is that directed at and what’s your point? I am not suggesting we need to spend £20/£30 million plus on each player brought in.”
So you say:
“The cold, cold reality that we have to be big boys and face is that we are not the first choice for every player in Europe. There, said it. Heinous gasps from the gallery. We have to get what results we can get and in the face of having to break even, can’t pay a fortune to players.”
Right, so you agree with me it seems. We can’t spend that big. Sometimes I think you just like an internet fight, when in fact we agree more than you care to acknowledge :whistle: :freu
All I’m saying is, if we want to be ready to play, we should be getting ready now, not shaping our squads four games into the season, or waiting until January – paying that little bit more for the privilege might go some way towards that.
Get in Llorente and Rossi/Falcao/Hulk, whip in with a big statement of intent for Sneider to join his best pal Rafael at the Lane. Usually I’m not one for living in a dream world and demanding players without thought to their own preferences, but I’m feeling rather frivolous today. Just sign some quality and flog off the dregs in our squad for whatever we can get for ’em. Surely a bit of pitter patter from Harry to his fellow managers could sell a few? Roll up roll up.
God love you Spurfect and your sense of ironic befuddlement, I always love the use of the word ‘Just’ on blogs about transfers.
Sadly, I think Falcao is on the phone to his old manager and last I heard, Wesley was trying on the blanket in the back of Fergies car for size… but the temptation to go to N17 should sway the deal our way. Maybe Rossi saw the guys with the bed-sheet and thought ‘Damn, that place has some committed fans’.
Rossi really would be ideal for us, but I think Harrys dribbling over him on SSN might’ve pushed up the price a little. A bit like when he came out with the January window approaching and stated that he was happy with what he had but Levy had a hole burning in his pocket and he wanted to go out and blow LOADSA MONEY on some players. You could hear the ‘chiching’ of clubs racking up their prices.
Rossi still dreams of Barcelona – Even though his agent said it had all gone tits-up, he now thinks he’s a superstar… But then so does Adel. Go figure.
One of the problems is that if you ask 10 Spurs fans who would be there star signing up front you’d get 10 different answers. There’s no clear-cut winner in the making. The downside is that leaves a lot of very average players thinking that they’re very good… When you add into the equation that the average footballer is thick as pigsh*t, and the average agent would have the News of the World turning them down for being too unethical you have one grade A clusterfuck.
I mean, in any other world would someone like Defoe be able to start banging on about not being first choice in the side after the season he’d had? If you and I had performed like him at work, the only team sheet we’d have in our hands would have the word p45 written on it.
I hereby congratulate you Astro for this rational comment re: Defoe. :-D
I dont know what you guys think/feel but I have this strange feeling in my gut that this upcoming season could be a tremendous one for Spurs instead of the doom and gloom I’m reading on various other web sites. I honestly dont think that Daniel Levy will make the same mistakes again in the Transfer market, whether it’s selling or buying.
The constant Modric ballyhoo from the Cheatski lead media has only made him dig his heels in further and he will be more than eager to stick two fingers up to the Russian and his cronies. Remember, Levy does not have to sell as Modric still has 4 years remaining on his contract and if needs be, I feel that Levy would rather let him rot on the bench until he (Modric) comes to his senses rather than cave in this time round to a so called bigger club. By the way, how many of you remembered Cheatski when they were shit and about to go under.
According to the media, Spurs have been linked with every Tom, Dick and Harry to lead the line and I’m sure 99% of this is pure fantasy dreamt up by the media (trying to tell us who we should buy) or could it possibly be that Spurs themselves have helped spread these rumours in order to throw everyone off the scent of excatly who they intend going after, I wont be surprised at all if this is the case, could we indeed be in for some big surprises this Summer. My only fear is that who ever we bring in will be done with a week or so to go before the season actually starts, leaving them with a lot of catching up to do in order for the new players to be up to speed. The shite thats going around at the moment could make us a much tighter stronger unit, just think about it or am I just day dreaming!!!
“I honestly dont think that Daniel Levy will make the same mistakes again in the Transfer market, whether it’s selling or buying.”
what like buying Pienaar? Keane?
If you think we’re serious about spending big money on a striker then yes you are day dreaming – past form indicates that ain’t gonna happen
Expect modders gone on deadline day and levy fucking around like a drunk in vegas trying to spend the dough.
maybe we’ll get frazier campbell back on loan?
Just can’t help feeling that we are getting left behind as other clubs quietly go about their business. Newcastle, Sunderland, Man City, Liverpool, Wigan and even Swansea have all been busy in the transfer market while we appear to be just watching from the side lines. Come on THFC give us something to get just mildly excited about.
But setting aside Citeh (Who pretty much have their pick at the moment) who are these ‘early buyers’ getting? £20m for Henderson? £15-£20m for Downing? Craig Gardner, Ji-Dong Won… None of them would exactly set the pulse racing over here. Would Clichy be an improvement on BAE? Not really
The only remotely interesting buy out of all of them so far was Connor Wickham – Even then, it’s hardly the ‘marquee signing’ that everyone’s looking for. We would probably cite ‘lack of ambition’ if the club bought him & start moaning all over again.
Hopefully (And I say this with fingers crossed), our days of buying 15 players every window and discarding 12 of them by the following season are over. That we don’t end up with a wage bill full of Bentley’s, PSB’s & Boateng’s, Steeds & Zokora’s (as enthusiastic as they are) & go straight for the one or two signings that matter. Hopefully. Please.
Of all the players that have moved so far, Wickham is the only one I’m disappointed that we’ve missed out on. But, given that we have a limited budget at our disposal, and a quality, proven centre forward (or two) is a priority, I can see why Harry & Danny have decided not to take a punt on the tractor boy at this time.
Plus, Levy has made it absolutely clear that neither Modric nor Bale will be leaving (I, for one, believe him), we have brought in a safe pair of hands as a cover/replacement for Gomes and extended the contracts of Naughton and Rose, two of our more promising younsters.
So, all in all, it’s a bit premature to start pressing the panic button methinks.