Stifler

They spend £72m per year on the stadium debt and that’s just on the repayments, it doesn’t include the training ground, or general maintenance. https://thstofficial.com/interim-analysis-of-tottenham-hotspur-financial-statements-2022-3/

It’s going to paying off their stadium. Thats’s why their wages to turnover is so low, because the remaining amount has to pay off their stadiums and training ground.

Not really. As you say, Ashley actively made us uncompetitive and took what he could out of the club. He took a team who regularly got into Europe (and went deep in UEFA Cup) to being a yo-yo team between the Premier League and Championship. You can rightfully say Spurs aren’t actually challenging for titles and not winning cups (although a cup win in 2008 is still good for a team who’s not elite). However Levy has put everything in place for Spurs to compete. They have possibly the best stadium in sports, a world class training ground, a squad who should be doing better, since Poch they have had managers who have been ambitious appointments, even if they never came off, and they have the revenue and clubs stature to compete financially. Levy and Ashley are not comparable.

We had a good year out of him. The first 6 months he was here he was mostly injured for. Last season 3 games a week caught up with him. This season he’s just been outright poor. We really should have cashed in on him in January with Turkish teams after him.

We’re an investment, but a soft power investment, not a financial one. As you say, they are about to take the spend on NUFC alone to about £2bn, possibly more if the stadium is going to cost more than the £1.2bn the latest rumours suggest it is. I also think the training ground for what they want will end up costing more than the reported £200m budget. Since they took us over they have already invested £300m in Teesside. They are rumoured to have a lot of other projects in the pipeline in the area, be that Sports teams, or buying a controlling majority of the airport. If the stadium goes ahead, then that development will dwarf any sole project the North East has ever seen (at £1.2bn, it would cost 50% more than what the 1984 Metro project cost if we adjusted for inflation), and to be honest I can’t see it being beaten unless they come back and do something else. I still think the stadium will be a venue for them to host European editions of things like WWE, Boxing, Taylor Swift style concerts. Newcastle and the North East as a consequence will be the project that enables Saudi Arabia to keep their seat at the table with world leaders once the oil race is over.

He’ll get the summer and such. However if we have no trophy, miss out on CL and possibly European football altogether, then I don’t think he gets to get to December in the position that we were in going into the Leicester match this season. Hopefully it doesn’t come to that. Hopefully on Monday 17th March we are all still celebrating and making excuses to our bosses as to why we aren’t coming in (I’ve already got that day off), and maybe just maybe we have cup doubles, or made a decent end of season effort to get into the Champions League.

With the threat of the ESL hanging over them, UEFA won’t go after anyone.

I see your points, but to me today was one of those crunch games. If we turned up and played like we can, I think we beat a fragile Man City team that they are right now, and with Chelsea losing last night, that would have given us the advantage point so to speak in the fight for the top 4. The fear from the fans is that we do that in the cup final. We are also in a position where I believe anyone left in FA Cup, we should be able to beat if we turn up. I also don’t think our owners will be as patient and others like to think. Even though we haven’t been able to better our squad, I think they will see it as Eddie having had a lack of European games and a better squad overall than the chasing pack to get in to Europe and get 5th place if it results in a Champions League place. I also think from their point of view, they will be very fearful that we could become a Spurs, where we have a squad capable of competing, and are capable of beating anyone, but never do. In my opinion I think if we play as well as we can do, we can beat Liverpool and win the cup. I think we have the potential to be our own greatest enemy.

I mean my point is that so far, when it really matters against good teams where we need a result to go to the next level, we have faltered. In his first season it was the cup final. Last season it was against Man Utd in the League, and AC Milan in the Champions League, and I think we should include the Chelsea League Cup match as I believe a result there would have too us to the final again, and Man Utd when we were battle for Europe. In all of those cases we lost the game. With Man Utd we beat them twice in mid season games that were not ‘crunch’ games in regards to our season, then went on to lose to them when it mattered again, @Froggy actually pointed this out, albeit in the manner he does say it in. I’m not discounting what Howe has done. When he came in we were down, we were fucking out and gone, and our new owners were realistically looking at having to start to project as a Championship club. He came in and we very nearly got in to the top 10 never mind stayed up. In the space of about 18 months he has taken us from relegated without even a whimper, to a team finishing in the European places. We have elevated up levels. I can’t deny that, and I commend him for it. However, there have been some people questioning if he is the man to take us to the next and final step and that would be to win a cup or at the very least challenge for the title. So far he has yet to do that, we have yet to just finish off games where the real pressure is on us.

Opportunity well and truly missed.

Bournemouth was worse like. There was no fucking excuse for being that bad.

Yes, but in saying this, you also see how in this game we came at it differently to how we like to play, and how teams who have got points of Man City this season have played?

I’m on about in relation to the next level in which we win something. I’m not disputing that he’s done amazing for us to take us from that position to where we are. I’m just struggling to see him being able to take us to the next step.

In relation to the discussion of taking us to the next level which would be winning something, then yeah, pretty much.

And let’s see how we do in the final then.

I’m not disputing that he hasn’t. But so far in every make or break game, we have broke.

Those limitations are what people are discussing if it will prevent us from taking a step up.

No we don’t, you qualify for the Conference League.

Everyone in the Man City thread is saying the exact same things. We choke when it comes to the big games that we need to win.

Let’s continue this on the 17th March, I hope I’m admitting that I’m wrong.

And the point I’m making is that when it really matters, in the key make or break games, we break.

Said it for quite a while to be fair, it’s just our fanbase won’t allow you to criticise on the back of a good result. How could I have came on after knocking Arsenal out of the cup and said that? Let’s face it, Top 4 finish aside, we have chicken every big game we have faced against the top 6 teams. Lost the cup final to an average Man Utd team who fluked their way into the top 4. Beat them in games afterwards, but lost to a poor Man Utd team when a result for us would have got us into Europe and it was between us and them for the last place. Got beat off a poor performing Chelsea side in the league cup quarter final last season.

I think he’s niave far too often. He seems to have an idea of how a game will go and won’t change the plan once it’s set. We end up not being able to up the tempo, and not giving ourselves a chance to turn things around. He had a plan for this game, and 3-0 at half time, it won’t change in the 2nd half. We likely have a plan already in place for the cup final, and that won’t change between now and then, even if Liverpools first 11 suddenly became unavailable. I also think his teams concede far too many goals, and that’s not just us, it was the same at Bournemouth.

This is it. We can do well and build ourselves up to a point, but as soon as we enter that key game, that’s it, we fold. It’s why I’m not massively excited about the cup final.

The more time goes on, the more I think people like Simon Jordon are right. He’s a good manager, but he’ll not take us to the next level.