Once upon a time, Tottenham had the beast. A one-man army who by himself pretty much was making Tottenham compete for the Premiership. Then Real Madrid came knocking and offered half the world for him. Being wise, Tottenham accepted this gargantuan offer and the beast was off to Spain. So now Tottenham were left with amazing riches and they were able to build a really balanced team that would still be competitive rather than having a one-man army.
Almost everything is right about this story apart from the last part....I have no idea where all that Bale money went.
Tottenham were in a very good position to finally come out of their rival's shadow and build a formidable team that could compete for the title. Not many teams outside of the big boys have the kind of talent that Bale has. To possess one, you know for sure that if you are not winning titles, a big club is coming with an offer. Even if you are winning titles, a big club will still come and tempt you with a lot of cheddar. Spurs were in this position, but they messed up. With so much money and the opportunity to change the fortunes of the football club for the better, they made bad deals.
This all starts with the man at the top; Daniel Levy. He is the one that calls all the shots and is very much a hands-on chairman who likes to get himself involved. It all began to go downhill for Tottenham when they sacked Redknapp. Yes, the very same Redknapp that had them competing for the title with the mega-rich City and Feguson's United. Levy decided that he wanted the club to be run differently and so he stopped all the great work Redknapp had done and brought in the new maverick; Villas-Boas. It was the classic mistake. Levy thought he would be the second coming of Mourinho due to the similar coaching paths they took. This would be the young and cool manager to make Spurs the sexy team to light up the Premier League. In the end, the story ended on a downer and Villas-Boas was relieved of his duties.
You have to imagine if Levy had just had more faith in Redknapp and had been more consistent. If he'd stuck with him, then when the Bale scenario arose, I can put money down that Redknapp would have bought a lot better than Villas-Boas. After all, Redknapp is the better coach, is more experienced and also has shown he can buy quality with much less funds. To be given such a vast chest of gold, I would have loved to have seen the kinds of players Redknapp would have brought in. Even without Bale, that could have been a team that would have done some interesting things. Definitely a lot more than Villas-Boas's odd acquisitions.
Now Spurs have Pocchettino, a few of the players Villas-Boas bought with the Bale money have moved on and you have Tottenham reverting back to being the "almost team." They won't get relegated, they won't win the league, they will just be respectable. Sometimes they will hint at doing well, but will ultimately come up short when it really matters. The blame will have to be put on Levy for that. He is to blame, but I don't think he really cares. I don't get a sense of urgency, of him wanting to really push the team forward. It's just sad and frustrating seeing a club with potential going nowhere and just being happy to turn up and do what is expected of them...nothing more.
HH
