Ask five Tottenham fans how they think the season is going and you’ll get five different responses, whether they’re optimists and see that we’re only seven points off the title, or they’re pessimistic and see that we’re playing quite poorly and have a very fragile defense.
Regardless of their opinion, we all have this small feeling at the back of our heads that the club is so fragile at the moment and they’re not helping themselves. From the StubHub situation, the potential new stadium and the threat of top players leaving the club, Tottenham needs reviving. Here are my five steps to rejuvenating Tottenham Hotspur:
1) Build the new Stadium- the Stadium of a football club is the home of passion and hope, as well as pain and despair for the club. The size of which can dictate the success of the club, as larger capacity results in larger crowds. Larger crowds result in greater profit (you’re welcome Levy) and potentially better atmosphere. (unless your stadiums called the Emirates) White Hart Lane, is simply not large enough to match our expectations and the clubs potential, and yes, planning is already in place to build the new ground, but as far we’ve got a Sainsbury’s there and that’s it. Currently, Sheffield Wednesday and Leicester have larger ground capacity than us, and they play in the Championship!
2) Bring in a manager with identity who wants to play real football- the sacking of AVB shocked us all, but why? We weren’t shocked because we just liked the guy, not because of the previous season’s record high points total. It’s because Levy but a lot of trust into the Portuguese man. Andre had begun building his team, his philosophy and began introducing an identity at the club, and yes, it didn’t work out on many occasions this season, but whatever manager we bring in, they’re going to have tough patch, but we must stick with them. We need to get a manager of who has an obvious philosophy for playing football right. Tottenham are known for playing the game right, and we’ve lost that identity in recent years. We need to introduce a manager into the works who’ll have a lasting impact upon the structure of the club and the philosophies of the youth system.
3) Get rid of StubHub- The sight of seeing StubHub advertised around White Hart Lane sickens me. Allowing people, not even fans, to purchase tickets, then sell them online for extortionate prices is bad enough, but for the club to back this movement is even worse. Fans week in, week out are being ripped off and the club are doing nothing about it. It’s just another example of the club ignoring the fans and this must be sorted out.
4) Get our big players on big contracts- As a club, we’ve rarely been in a situation where one of our top players or performers has their contract running out, yet refuse to sign on. Even large clubs like Arsenal and Borussia Dortmund have been trapped in this trap in recent years, with Robin Van Persie and Robert Lewandowski being allowed to join rival teams, simply because of their respective team’s failure to control their contract situation. Despite this, the intention shown by getting top performers to sign long contacts is phenomenal, as Liverpool have shown on a number of occasions with Luis Suarez. We must replicate this with Jan Vertonghen and Hugo Lloris, arguably the two players who could potentially leave should we fall short of Champions league qualification.
5) Levy out… Eventually- One of my most unpopular opinions is that Daniel Levy is perfect for Tottenham right now. He is renowned for driving a hard bargain during negotiations with other clubs, and securing profits wherever possible. His eye in the transfer market has seen us sign Luka Modric for about £16.5 Million and sell him for nearly £30 Million, as well as the unbelievable profit on Gareth Bale, signing him for around £10 Million and selling him for a world record £86 Million. This intention is still in process, with players like Jan Vertonghen, Christian Eriksen and Paulinho in the current squad who if we sold we would undeniably receive a profit upon what we brought them for. Until we build the new stadium, I want Levy to stay, to continue making money. After the stadium is here, I believe we need a forward thinking chairman who prefers success of the club over profit, a man who truly loves the club and would back managers.
Source: DSG
