The season’s over and good riddance. Out of Europe, no manager, no director of football, no manager for the women’s team. Supporters who pay among the highest prices in Europe are angry, disillusioned or overwhelmed into apathy. I’ve been all three at various times. For now, add relief it’s over. Later, add fear, the fear that the board’s continued ineffectiveness will lead to a chaotic summer precisely at the moment where we need calm, clear thinking to lead the necessary and overdue team rebuilding. Supporters can see what’s happening and feel our loyalty is taken for granted, exploited as a commodity the club can trade and if necessary, disposed of.
I read that Spurs are a club in crisis, that we’ve reached rock-bottom. This is patently untrue, a distorted perspective that comes from the arrogant entitlement that sadly characterises an increasing number of fans of the top PL sides. Bury, Rochdale, Scunthorpe, the fans of these clubs truly suffer, and my heart goes out to them.
But I support my team the same way they do. I go to games, my support is integral to my life, my emotions, to family, friendships, to who I am. My disappointment this season is crushing and debilitating. It hurts, and so much of it could have been avoided.
The protective gloss of big-name managers at a big club lost its sheen to lay bare the vanity that led to their appointment and the board’s incompetence when it comes to running a football team. To repeat an analysis that I first wrote about a decade ago, any football club depends on three elements, a manager/coach, recruitment and finance. Seldom in the twenty-two years he’s been in charge has Daniel Levy successfully aligned all three, and when he has, those fleeting moments now seem like outliers.
The underlying fundamental problems have become ingrained in the club’s fabric, which is motheaten and rotting away. There’s no plan, and there’s no plan because the board still do not know what they want this club to be. They want success but do not know how to create and sustain it. They do not understand how to pick the right coach or how to support their chosen man. This season, these faults have been exposed game after game, just like our defence.
To repeat, it’s not a question of throwing money at the problem and to be fair to the board money has been spent. To say that it hasn’t is an outdated narrative. It’s just that we have talent we valued at around £200m out on loan when gaping holes in the squad remain unfilled. This is a consequence of disruption and change, and comes back to the element of recruitment. Six managers in four years, each with different ideas about how to play and who to play, a squad with players from all these eras. It is also reasonable to ask at what point our much-vaunted stadium income will be used for the transfer budget.
Conte lifted the side to the fourth in his first season but could not sustain it. He was no doubt unhappy with the quality of many of his squad but appeared unwilling either to coach promising younger players to improve or to adapt an inflexible playing style that stifled creative instincts and, more significantly, opponents found straightforward ways to counteract. I wonder if the last straw for him was the ultimate for a manager of his record and for his self-image – he was unable to get through to them and to motivate them. And so he left because he had no reason to stay. Why bother, separated from his family, the loss of three dear friends and on a short-term contract. You can’t motivate your players if you can’t motivate yourself.
Contemporary football is tactically sophisticated, but I lost count of the number of times I bemoaned basic errors endlessly repeated. This was the ‘surely season’, fans saying, ‘but surely we won’t do that again?’ Outnumbered in midfield, starting games cautiously surrendering the initiative to opponents, failing to block shots from the edge of the box. My worst image of the season is that blocking move obviously coached where defenders stay static, turn sideways, put their hands behind their back with one knee high.
It was dull to watch but more than that, it was ineffective and outdated. I can’t recall the last team remotely successful in the league who did not play on the front foot. In passing, I read an astute quote from Arne Slot (whatever happened to him?) saying, I paraphrase, that he doesn’t like a consistent low block because it dulls the senses of the players. It’s boring, it doesn’t challenge them and they become worse as a result.
The Milan home leg was the low point in this respect. Champions League, the Lane packed and expectant ready to lift the boys and overcome a 1-0 first leg deficit. So we sat back for an entire first half. That’s not the Tottenham way in Europe.
Even worse was the lowest of low points this season, away to Sheffield United. Ahead of us was a game against a championship side resting several key players, only 4 PL teams left in the cup. The team selection was born of hubris, the performance complacent. It also represented the lack of connection with supporters, 5500 fans travelling hundreds of miles midweek because it’s Spurs in the cup.
So it’s February, Conte’s contract is up in the summer and his disillusion with the club is becoming ever more apparent, except to Daniel Levy, who sits on his hands. The club finally make a public statement via the infamous Paratici ‘hostage’ video, shot on a mobile with lighting straight out of a low budget horror film. Paratici is banned from football because he’s dodgy, a probability known to everyone who follows football, except Daniel Levy. The club wail, ‘but, but nobody told us…’. Levy shares his thoughts not with supporters but at the Cambridge Union.
It’s tough being a leader, I understand that perfectly well, but hiding is not a good look. Such fireproof self-protection communicates weakness and indecision, as do his choices about managers. This runs right through the club, a lack of direction or plan. He has the vision and no idea how to achieve it, even after all these years. His capacity to not see what is happening around him smacks of remarkable self-delusion and lack of insight.
Then, Conte torches his bridges as well as the boardroom, the players and of course we the fans, who don’t understand him. Levy acts, and appoints Stellini on a temporary basis. When change is required, the board appoint a man so steeped in his mentor’s methods that he might as well be his shadow. Stellini’s legacy is that the defending turns from dire to embarrassing. Spurs go from conceding the initiative and the first goal to conceding the first three.
We then move to our second caretaker of the season, Ryan Mason, always one of our own and passionate and articulate about what the club needs and should be, but his inexperience shows. I prefer a back four and hoped the change would work. It’s understandable that Mason wanted to make an impression in the short time available to him but it would have been better to settle for a three with extra beef in midfield.
And so here we are. The disappointment comes not merely from a poor season but from knowing what might have been, maybe what should have been. Pochettino was by no means perfect but whatever we had then has now been thrown away with no lessons learned, except that we appear to be looking for an up-and-coming man with some experience but for whom Spurs are a step up, and who plays attacking football.
I say ‘appear to be looking’ because with this board, there’s no plan. Rather, they are rootless tumbleweed, buffeted in the breeze and blown whichever way the wind blows. Names come and go, as do the theories why we, apparently, have not appointed them. However outlandish these theories are, the past behaviour of the board gives them credence. Haggling over a release fee, not allowing them freedom to bring their own people in, pretending they haven’t spoken to candidates when it seems they have, not even ringing Poch because someone had a row with him, I have no idea what is true but all this and more is perfectly possible given their past ineptitude.
Moreover, their choices are limited as a consequence of their own behaviour. Word is out that Spurs is a toxic place to work, where promises are not kept. With all due respect to Dutch football, you’d come to the Premier League if you had the chance. You’d come to the world-famous home of the Spurs, except now, you wouldn’t. Who could blame Slot for the choice he made. It might change if Munn has some influence over the football side – it could indicate a change of tack by the board but frankly, history makes me sceptical. I hope I’m wrong, but to paraphrase the words of Logan Roy, someone also concerned about succession planning, “I love the club but you’re not serious people.”
The players need a jolt up the backside too. Some are decent footballers but jaded. They’ve been here too long, and we, and they, will do better for a change. Not to let them off the hook, but modern players expect coaching and familiar patterns. I watch games as a fan not as an analyst, but look at Villa, Newcastle and Brighton, Brentford too, all of whom achieve their potential because of good coaching that suits the players they have available.
But if we don’t have a manager, what do we need? What’s our shape, what are our tactics? Once more, we are way behind our competitors, and next season, it will be even tougher because the top six all have something to build on, whereas we have no foundations. And that’s before we think about the transfer budget.
I read we’re not far off being competitive again. I’m not so sure. We need a new goalkeeper, two centre halves and some extra creativity in midfield. Bentancur, his status enhanced by his absence, is not back at least until November. He plus Bissouma, Sarr and Skipp give us something to work with in midfield. I still see Kulu as an attacking midfielder and hopefully there’s more to come from him, that’s assuming we pay his fee as he’s still on loan. We also easily lose sight of the absence of a midfielder who is comfortable and best suited in defence, as opposed to players who can fill in.
Up front, Richarlison has more to give, Sonny’s still there and Harry, we’ll have to wait and see. Full-backs are a big problem if we go four at the back because we’re overloaded with wing-backs. To inject some optimism into what I concede is an article full of pessimism, we have the nucleus of an up and coming set of younger players, including Porro, Spence and Udogie, that a coach could work with and impose his ethos. There’s real promise there.
We need to move players on. I wish Sanchez, Hugo, Moura and Tanganga well. I would keep Davies – he’s underrated, covers centre back in a three and full-back and is loyal to the club. Hojbjerg has been poor lately and there is apparent interest in him so he could be sold to generate transfer income, as could Sessegnon, who has not progressed significantly and we have alternatives, although to be fair the same could have been said before Christmas for Emerson. Dier has been injured – while he could one of those who has gone stale, I wouldn’t sell until we had a replacement, and keep him if not. Same goes for Perisic, who I doubt would move anyway given his salary.
N’Dombele, Reguilon, Winks, Rodon, Gil and Lo Celso are all talented players with a future elsewhere They don’t feel part of the club and I can’t see how motivated any of them will be, given their experiences with us.
And so like our season, this piece drifts away into oblivion. Sincere thanks to everyone who has read TOMM this season and who has commented, apologies for not replying to you all. I’ll be back at the Lane and in these pages next season. Where else would I rather be?
Lots of love and good vibes to my good friend Pete Haine and to Jilly. Pete, I’m sure you won’t mind if I end with a word about Harry Kane. Harry is a marvel. Watching greatness is hard to judge at the time, without the perspective of history, but he is a true Tottenham great, a wonder, a marvel, a delight, one of our own. This is arguably his best season. 30 PL goals in an average side, time and again lifting us bodily from the floor, rising above the chaos. Arguably our best midfielder too, best at heading corners away. All this after virtually a year of non-stop football including the pressures of being England captain at the World Cup, bearing in mind those dodgy ankles and the number of times he gets kicked.
On no account sell him. I don’t care about cashing in with one season to go, anything he gives us outweighs that a hundredfold. Pay him a fortune – he is the marquee signing we need, a message to football that Tottenham matter and are worth playing for.
TOTTENHAM ON MY MIND 
At last a well reasoned post that sums up where we are (without the usual ENIC Out crap), but perhaps weighed down by the enormity of the task ahead.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Alan, for all your articles over this difficult and ultimately disappointing season.
season.
I don’t like all the anger I see from many Spurs fans these days. Anyone would think we’ve been relegated. I saw the same from Leeds fans on Sunday, they turned on their players and owner towards the end of the match. Unbridled anger seems to have become a common theme and it’s sucking the enjoyment from the game.
I think Levy has made a good decision to distance himself from footballing decisions by appointing a sporting director and hopefully player recruiting will improve.
LikeLike
I read somewhere that even Phillip Schofield has turned the manager’s job at Spurs for fear that it will damage his reputation.
LikeLike
You’re welcome and thanks for your regular support. You’re right to be puzzled by the reaction of Leeds fans, same as at Leicester. Booing when you go down? I thought this was the time to show loyalty. Times have changed
LikeLike
I think we all have been thinking along these lines, I stood thinking during the mentioned Champions League match v AC Milan second leg that our motto is To Do is to Dare, we never even had a go against an average side, so boring to watch.
A start would be to play some decent football and buy a Keeper who saves a few shots, Hugo can never play out that’s why France got him kicking long during the World Cup , it has been painful to watch him this season.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Our season ended when Bentancur was carried off at Leicester, laying bare the mismanagement of the club from top to bottom. We entered the season with Bentancur the only creative midfielder, and even then he was deployed in front of the defence. Levy, Conte and Paratici considered this sufficient for our needs and allowed N’Dombele to depart, leaving us without cover for the one position that enabled the team to flourish. Do you think Levy looks in the mirror and asks himself if he could have done things differently? Like hiring a manager that never gave more than two years to any team? Like hiring a Director of Football he knew was likely to attract a FIFA ban halfway through his contract? Like allowing a squad of 30 professionals to feature just one creative midfielder? Instead, his attention is focused away from the football and onto other ways to maximise the potential of his new stadium, featuring American football, concerts, and boxing, etc. He is no longer in charge of a football club, and he sees himself as the entertainments officer of a pleasure dome, with football just a piece of the pie.
And here we are with half a team, half a manager, and half a mind as to what the heck to do next. I’m numb to the entire process of finding a new manager: we’ve tried the best and also tried the rest, with no one apart from Poch imposing their vision on the team.
I had in my mind a list of other grumbles but Alan, you’ve perfectly articulated them all. This is a fantastic summary of the entire season and I thank you for laying it all out there. Surely this clusterf*ck of a season will bring us a team we deserve. We’ll find out in two months.
Finally – Harry Kane. Thank you for everything.
LikeLike
Cheers David, and thanks for your contributions this season. I have no sense that the board will turn things around and numb is the word to describe it. And no, I don’t think Levy looks in the mirror and sees anything but his reflection. His capacity for not getting it is astonishing.. The least I hope for is a manager and DoF who believes they are here to serve the club and the supporters, and not themselves. Regards, Alan
LikeLike
My wife is a Leicester City supporter. Last season they finished eighth. Just saying.
LikeLiked by 1 person
As I’m the ‘new kid (hardly) on the block’ I thought I would provide some basic details about myself:
Retired derivatives trader living in SW France.
From time to time I will use stats to support my opinions or, I hope, to add value to the blog.
I’m definitely not an ‘ENIC Out’ supporter but recognise the ‘footballing errors’ that DL & the Board of THFC have made previously & which has lead us to where we are now.
From a business perspective I will always support Daniel Levy.
I hope that gives the blog a starting point when considering my posts.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Comments always welcome and people are polite here. I read them all and try to reply, so you are very welcome. Regards, Alan
LikeLike
As I’m the ‘new kid (hardly) on the block’ I thought I would provide some basic details about myself:
Retired derivatives trader (29 years with an American blue chip) living in SW France.
From time to time I will use stats to support my opinions or, I hope, to add value to the blog.
I’m definitely not an ‘ENIC Out’ supporter but recognise the ‘footballing errors’ that DL & the Board of THFC have made previously & which has lead us to where we are now.
From a business perspective I will always support Daniel Levy.
I hope that gives the blog a starting point when considering my posts.
LikeLike
Perfect summary of a crushingly bad season.
All hail Pete Hain, one of our own
LikeLiked by 1 person
A good analysis except about Dier. Plus Levy and co need to go too. Mourinho and Conte were terrible options for spurs. Hopefully Enic they’ll sell up soon.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you so very much Alan, for your well considered and articulated thoughts, sentiments and bird’s eye perspective, on what binds us all together during this lifetime of each and everyone of us here. You are, for many of us, our eyes and ears, and I might say, generally our voice too. All through the season.
This season is painful, not because we were (not actually) relegated, but because we expected something so much better than eighth. A step further up from last season. A growth. A consolidation. A confirmation that we can again mix it up with the big boys at the top table and start winning something again.
Alas, we were not good enough. And mistakes were made. So, we keep hoping, and dreaming, and waiting patiently, for our turn to come again, in this lifetime.
Who can begrudge Harry Kane the taste of glory and honours? He has given us his all, and more. He owes THFC nothing. I’ve prepared myself for the worst. Could not hold it against him if he left. Ideally, to somewhere else in Europe, not another EPL team.
Good riddance to 22-23 indeed.
John Vekris from Harare, Zimbabwe
LikeLike
Thank you kindly John, all the very best to you. And yes, if harry goes, he goes with my everlasting respect because you can’t blame him.
LikeLike
Once again Alan you have articulated my own thoughts about this wretched season. One very small glimmer of hope was just how much the players (and away fans) seemed to enjoy the match yesterday, or maybe that was sheer relief that the season is over! However I don’t really have much hope that many of these key decisions facing the board will be good ones, or even that they’ll be sorted out before pre season starts. At this stage I’m just grateful for a break from it all
LikeLike
Can’t fault your observations. We need to be ruthless in our weeding but in some circumstances but before we sell, Royal is a good point. But you’ve said all this and I can add nothing but support. Season ticket renewed and fingers, legs et al crossed. Looking forward to what glimmer of hope the pre-season tour and friendliest have to offer. Can’t help thinking though that we will end up with a fifth choice manager and Levy will be his old penny-pinching self on the player front. We’re doomed I tell you, doomed!
LikeLike
I tend to agree, hope I’m totally wrong!
LikeLike
There is a great saying in sport that you have to get the front office right before the coach and players.
This is certainly what’s wrong with our mighty Spurs. We seem to move from one bad decision to another.
The selection of our last couple of managers has been a disgrace. This boring defensive football we play is not the Tottenham way.
We are an attacking club!!
Great read Alan and fingers crossed this mess can be fixed.
LikeLike
Thank you, Conte’s biggest sin for me was the attitude of just sitting back and waiting. Not the Spurs way, and not the way to win much
LikeLike
All spot on – Kane needs to remain and a lot of the current squad are championship quality at best and need shipping out asap
The loan players certainly are on loan to clubs who do not want them so, they are all coming back to form a bloated squad consisting of players we do not want but, cannot find a place in the next season ‘s team
New manager – well, it will end up with someone we never wanted as first or second choice ,have rejected us ? remember Nuno , he turned up out of the blue with all other options gone
Next season mid- table for us
No Europe – that’s good for us currently
Spence never given a chance
LikeLike
Need a real sort out even before we buy anyone,
LikeLike
Alan – thanks once again for showing articulated thought about the state of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club at the conclusion of the 2022-2023 season.
Alas my own contributions have been somewhat ranty on Paxton Rd TV podcast but I’m glad you go into some detail on Antonio Conte’s part in the season of regression and underachievement.
A point of difference I may have would be that it was us fans that Antonio called out first and that was, for me, a bridge too far. Notwithstanding his personal losses, and there is an argument that the sudden death of Ventrone caused the wheels to come off this campaign. His refusal to work with, seek to improve Spence, Bissouma and to drop Harry Kane that night in Seffield is an act of such negligence I will never forgive him. Those who know me well, know to me he is the Turin Troll, always blaming someone else but never taking a look at his own failings.
LikeLike
You’re very welcome, and too modest, Agree with every word about Conte. Didn’t go that way with this peice which was getting too long, He was never going to be around, so never had any incentive to develop or coach young players. The Conte way – everything good is down to him, everything bad has nothing to do with him.
LikeLiked by 1 person
An excellent article with conclusions I fully concur with.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great article, what i cant understand is who wanted the players that levy has bought that have been a waste of money , surely levy would not have the insight to identify these , can you advise me , regards , dennis hyatt
LikeLike
Hi Dennis,
Most of our current on loan players arrived in two seasons (2019>20 & 2020>21)
Steve Hitchen was the chief scout & the technical director during that time and it is my belief that he was responsible for their arrival & possibly Rebecca Caplehorn.
Hitchen was moved aside with Paratici’s arrival and left soon after.
Caplehorn remains as director of football administration and governance.
LikeLike
Let’s hope the next manager insists on having a major input on the signings we bring in who can adapt to his style of play as we need to be really strong all over the pitch ready for when we loose Harry Kane in the summer of 2024 , if our recruitment fails we will really struggle when Harry leaves , regards, Dennis hyatt
LikeLike
Ta, and I wish I knew the answer to your question. Shows how dysfunctional the organisation is – recruitment presumeably scouted the players and to be fair to levy, he responded. It’s Conte who did not want to play Spence and Bissouma, treated them badly, he talked dismissively about Spence as a club signing, which he had nothing to do with
LikeLike
Amen. Enjoy the summer break Alan and let’s hope for some dynamism and direction and a return to Glory and Style asap. Harry Kane is a leviathan in a murky sea.
LikeLike
Well said my friend
LikeLike
Alan….you have made a bloody good attempt at diagnosing the ailment-tottenham.
I’d say our prospective new managers must write a thesis on why the following clubs are playing more effective football than 4 of the “traditional” top 6…ie. Brentford, Brighton, Villa, Magpies even a resurgent Bournemouth!
By the way AC Milan went deep into the Champion’s League after all.
And I think Dier needs a fresh challenge elsewhere, also. There…. I’ve said it!
LikeLike
Hi Alan, yes a promising season that turned sour, and at times supremely entertaining if you enjoy slapstick comedy.
Made worse by the Arse reawakening and now Poch at the Bridge.
I once intended to not renew my membership in protest. But I did renew when Martin Jol came along with real promise. And here I am some 20 years later thinking the same thing. But of course, I let it auto renew. Sadly, I feel that by doing so I have given the Board a vote of confidence, and Mr Levy will be overjoyed.
I don’t imagine that my OAP membership fee of £20 will help buy new players – it will barely cover the cost of the new scarf, keyring, or whatever trinket they send me. And a retention of one more in the membership figures for the next Board meeting will hardly give them cause for drinks all round. But inexplicably, renew I did.
I remember you telling me once that our opponents brought on two top internatiol subs because they wanted to change the game. We brought on Ronnie Rosenthal because we had to. It feels like we are back there again.
Perhaps a leader will emerge from the ashes to kick the club into a better situation.
Meanwhile, I am off to read my renewed membership emails so I can browse some amazing THFC offers from our selected partners. So exciting, and that must be why I renewed. COYS
Best
LikeLike