Sympathy for the Devil

Daniel Levy is often derided as all that is wrong with Tottenham Hotspur. If we sell or buy someone it is his fault, we lose its his fault, our stadium isn't built its his fault and he never seems to get praise for any of the positive things he and ENIC have brought to the club. Well this is my attempt to readdress the balance ever so slightly. As you all aware of Levy's reputation you will know this isn't something he has paid me to do.

There are many things Levy gets wrong, corporate things; when his penchant for squeezing the last penny sells us short witnessed in the cases of Berbatov and Moutinho, the pricing of games, the toxic Stubhub deal and his conveyor belt of managers: except I would argue that our managerial problems have not been entirely his fault.

There have been 12 or 9 appointments (depending on whether caretaker managers are included) during ENIC's 13 year reign which is a large turnover, but instead of looking at that stat lets break it down to each individual case.

George Graham was in place when ENIC took over from Alan Sugar (I refuse to give him his prefix), when we were a dull, mid-table team. He was sacked allegedly for leaking sensitive financial information about the clubs ability to purchase new players. From a footballing and personal perspective the decision to terminate his contract was correct.

David Pleat took charge after Graham and again after Hoddle but that was only going to be in a caretaker position so I will not dwell on that temporary appointment.

Glenn Hoddle was sacked after a two year spell which led to Spurs having the worst points tally in the Premiership for 2003, only 22 points from 23 matches. There were also not so hushed rumours that Hoddle had long since lost the dressing room, aided by our old friend Tim Sherwood constantly swiping in the press following his sale. Levy's comments on Hoddle's dismissal was that it was due to an '...unacceptable lack of progress and any visual sign of improvement.' which is reason enough.

Jaques Santini was a bold move, moving from the French national side it could be argued that this was the sort of manager Spurs should be attracting and he was certainly sought after by many clubs. He quit after only five months supposedly for personal reasons but now widely believed to be because of his relationship with the Sporting Director, Frank Arnesen. Levy cannot take responsibility for Santini's resignation other than refusing to remove his highly respected Danish colleague. Martin Jol, his assistant, a man brought to the club by Arnesen took charge.

Many Spurs fans remember Jol's time fondly. He elevated Spurs from the mid-table mediocrity that had suffocated them for the last decade and pushed them into the European qualifications we take for granted now days. When we think of his dismissal all that we can remember is the callous and unprofessional way it was handled. Rumours of his sacking came just before our UEFA Cup game against Getafe and Jol himself learned only of his dismissal through a text from a friend at half time. The official axe was only wielded after the game. It was an awful botching of an execution, but in truth that only masks the fact he had only one win in ten matches that season, the worst start to a campaign for Spurs in the nineteen previous years. He was also starting to lose the dressing room amidst rumours of arguments with Dimitar Berbatov among others. Whilst those factors were undoubtedly responsible it must be acknowledged that Juande Ramos had long been courted as a replacement. Levy must take blame here for the handling of the situation although a leak in communications is always difficult to stop. However he had been disappointed with the form and the dressing room difficulties and had acted quickly.

Clive Allen took caretaker charge for a game so will become yet another stat in the managerial dagger used to harm Levy.

Juande Ramos arrived on the back of European and domestic cup success at Sevilla and much was expected. An ambitious Levy hoped that Ramos would break them into the top four and the lucrative Champions League, perhaps even an elusive trophy. The trophy did come, the Carling Cup win of 2009 which was followed by a poor finish to the season. Pre-season brought great expectation, especially the form of Darren Bent. Large money was spent on Modric, Gomes and less well on Bentley and Pavlyuchenko (although both appeared good purchases at the time) but competitive football proved less fruitful. Largely hindered by the last minute sale of Berbatov with Fraizer Campbell as replacement it was never going to be easy but four points adrift at the bottom of the league with just two points from eight games was always going to require action. So Ramos was removed as was the Sporting Director position of Damien Comolli, Arnesen's successor.

Harry Redknapp, for all of his faults, was the perfect manager to rectify the situation Spurs found themselves in. Levy cited this himself  'Harry's experience of the UK and international transfer market will be of critical importance.' We had great times under Harry, exciting, free-flowing football which brought with it top four finishes and the Champions League but his model was never sustainable in the long-term. Redknapp himself doesn't build for the long-term but he is a fantastic manager to deal with short-term problems. He thrives on a reputation for unearthing Lampard, Ferdinand, Defoe, Carrick and Joe Cole but they were products of a great academy and he has not had any significant record since. Under another fantastic academy at Southampton he gave Theo Walcott his debut, but with the performances he was giving in the academy that was inevitable. His time at Spurs, Portsmouth and QPR is littered with experienced pros 'doing a job.' Such reckless short-termism is never wise for a football club, as Portsmouth and Southampton found to their peril. He was backed by a large element of the Spurs fan-base, no mean feat, but his lack of tactical knowledge, the openness with his many friends in the media, his coverting of the England job and the damaging court case led to the only decision Levy could make. Even the staunchest of Redknapp fans, his son excluded, should be able to see why the decision was imperative for the future of the club.

Andre Villa-Boas may have come off the back of a failure at Chelsea but to be honest if he hadn't we would not have been able to attract him. After his amazing first season at Porto, there was still enough glitter remaining to excite and placate us. The sale of Modric was a hard pill to swallow, especially as Moutinho, Villa-Boas' replacement was never brought in. Levy's incessant haggling like a tourist in a Marakesh Market was largely at fault and for this he should be blamed. Villas-Boas' first season was very successful in terms of our record Premier League points total. Much of this was masked by the explosion of Gareth Bale, a player almost sold for a minimal amount by Redknapp years before. So many games domestically and abroad were rescued by Bale's excellence. His excellence was a strange one. As with his recent success in the Champions League Final I found he would often do absolutely nothing for large portions of the game and then suddenly destroy the opposition in a moment reminiscent of a child playing in a team three ages younger. With Bale's sale much has been made of the players brought in and I would stand by my original opinion that individually each of these signings are good signings and at a good price. Perhaps Baldini, or whoever is responsible, is guilty of buying too many similar players (the purchase of essentially four number 10s in Eriksen, Paulinho, Chadli and Lamela when essential positions like left back were unfilled is sinful) but each individually were good buys. These players, with the exception of Eriksen have not played to the best of the capabilities, mostly down to rotation and not playing to their strengths, resulted in poor confidence. I wanted to love Villas-Boas, I wanted a youthful, long-term manager with tactical acumen so badly but there were a number of problems that didn't look like they were going to be rectified. He struggled to learn from mistakes, his high-line with slow defenders, the tracking back of all attacking players except the lone, rather immobile forward, the indecisive possession for possession's sake passing, none of these problems were addressed and it felt like they never would be. For all our love for AVB let us remember the games were dull, almost every single one and surely someone who doesn't learn from their tactical mistakes time and time again cannot be described as tactically adept. The persona of AVB had us fooled.

Tim Sherwood, despite any protestations was never supposed to be permanent. A contract was worked out that suited both parties, Sherwood was able to raise his profile playing the hard done-by manager and Levy was able for the first time in his reign to work out a plan for what they wanted. We have often criticised Levy and the board for not having a coherent strategy for the club, we point to the constant lurching from one style of management to another but each of the decisions have been made as a reaction, to resolve a problem quickly. For the first time I believe Levy has stood back, written off the season and taken the time to look at what and indeed who Tottenham Hotspur are. Daniel's comments in the meeting with the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters' Trust  this month were telling, he explained how '...we needed a manager who believed in our football philosophy, where we would be entertained...ideally, we want someone who can bring the best out of experienced players and bring through youth too.' This was so encouraging to hearm that there was long-term plan to the Board's thinking.

Yes of course in 18 months time it is possible that we wil be re-hashing our comments and blogs as Alan Curbishley is poised to save us from relegation but let us have a little optimism...just for a while.

Pocchettino is exactly the tpe of manager Levy identified and exactly the time of manager we need. van Gaal wouldn't have given us the identity we need, he is perhaps too large a poersonality for that. Benitez is another example of a great short-term manager, De Boer is ambitious but his tiki-taka requires more pateince and a different set of players than we have. Pochettino will bring us a high tempo, high pressure attacking game whilst strenghtening our defence, bringing the best out of our exisiting players and utilising our fantastic academy. It may not get us to where we want to go but at least we are pointing in the right direction.

So lets cut Levy a little slack, just a little. Remember where we were when he found us and where we are now. The delay with the ground cannot be laid at his feet unless he owns Archway Sheet Metal and is holding out for a better deal. His squeezing of the pennies brought us Eriksen for only £11m, Van der Vaart for £8m, makes a profit on the poorest of players and has us in a strong financial position. The Board have also suggested the StubHub deal will be reviewed. Most importantly we have, at last, a plan.

So for once lets all get behind Levy, behind Pochettino, behind Vertonghen and Paulinho, hell even behind Danny Rose, because they are Spurs and they need us.