Vital Spurs Debate Section

Spurs U-Turn Is Welcomed But Now It’s Really Over To The Players

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Regular readers of Vital Spurs will already know my thoughts on Tottenham Hotspur’s decision to furlough non-playing staff at the club, particularly doing so prior to coming to an agreement with the playing staff so they could rightly share the burden and show some solidarity – so naturally, I applaud the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters Trust and their ongoing efforts to see the move reversed (which it now has been).

The full statement, as they explain their reasoning and their hopes, make perfect sense to me as football as a whole should be coming together at this moment in time, and not just protecting a club in isolation, but also ensuring the industry as a whole is in a position to come through this intact.

Sadly, given the self protectionist guff we’ve seen from Gordon Taylor at the Professional Footballers’ Association, and Richard Masters’ response from the Premier League, that thought is the furthest from their minds at the moment as they focus solely in on their own renumeration.

With the players themselves setting up their charitable NHS fund, whilst the move should be applauded, it’s left a lot of fans – like me – further disgusted with the wider attitude of footballers.

I should quickly say not all footballers and there are those who have sensible stayed quiet, but the fact it has been used by some to bite back at valid criticism in the direction of footballers and even worse, when you have the likes of Robert Snodgrass suggesting footballers should ‘earn respect’ for simply paying their taxes – the clueless bubble that Premier League football lives in is painted even more starkly.

Football’s response was never about the NHS or taxes, it was about playing their part in firstly, protecting normal club staff who make their lives possible, their club and then – for me – helping out fellow clubs and playing colleagues (who were, in turn, playing their own part and protecting normal staff).

Given the wide-ranging opinions offered up so far, I expect not everyone will agree – but given I’m so steadfast in my thoughts here, I’d certainly welcome the opposite perspective.

I wasn’t actually going to have another mini-rant like this given the topic had been well covered, but our friends over at Vital Villa had their say over the weekend, and not only was I pretty much in 100% agreement, it got my own juices flowing.

So given this isn’t quite ‘furlough’ related and comes at things from a different angle, I thought it was worth raising.

Given the announcement made by Spurs earlier this afternoon, I have had to rewrite some of the above, but I can only applaud the Board for listening to the concerns raised, and although some may question why it took so long to reverse the decision, at least it has been reversed.

I can also only applaud the following announcements.

Now, over to the players, Spurs have played their part.

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  • TQ2Spurs says:

    DW….I will join you in welcoming the change in stance by the board and also applaud what our club is doing to support the NHS in the local area.

  • PompeyYid says:

    DW….I can say only well written, and I ditto what TQ2S has written.

    Simpler though, about bloody time Spurs. COYS 4 ever

  • Niall D says:

    Well Written piece Danny, at last the board has managed to feel the groundswell of public opinion it is a little late however it is welcome. The players needed to get something done its just to show solidarity with every one in the country. Hope all of our fellow posters and their families are keeping well. Anor week in the trenches folks. Stay safe COYS.

  • Frank says:

    Our Daniel bless him, he is just totally out of touch with the ordinary guy who makes up 90% of football fans, he just hasn’t got a bloody clue. If there are two ways to go he will pick the wrong one, he is frankly an embarrassment, It took the players and the Supporters Trust to put him right. Some owners are fans, some are just finance people, it is patently obvious, and always has been, in which camp Levy resides.

  • Pez says:

    So many conflicting hypocrisies are being highlighted at present regarding the huge financial imbalance within societies have and have nots and illustrates the unsound and unethical economic infrastructure that exists in the political map of the world today. But rather than seeking change for a better world everything will simply go on hold till the pandemic passes and the impact of a resulting depression will simply see those at the bottom end of the scale continuing to struggle and suffer the most as ever, when will we ever learn?

  • Pauric says:

    Finally Levy succumbed to fans and possibly player pressure. But Levy and the board have shown themselves up.

  • block 108 spurs says:

    What some of us have missed… Levy had a season ticket in upper east stand (i think near my old seat in Block D) which he had before taking over from A Sugar. He then put this back into the ticketing system for years after. So he was a fan and still is. however he has built the club infrastructure (in enfield )up from the old training ground on A Sugar’s house land in Chigwell using the first CL year money £20m H Redknapp & players brought in. (i remember before that the basic spurs training ground On A10 road in Cheshunt Herts. that spurs had used for years)

    I do understand Frank’s views, and as a spurs fan and season ticket holder for many years I agree… but look at where we were in 2001 at the start of Enic’s tenure to now. Spurs have gone way beyond expatiations and are now in top 10 clubs in Europe. All this had to be a balancing act of finances and players transfers / managers in & out….building the stadium. not easy. COYS

  • PompeyYid says:

    Block 108 spurs….a very good post there, yes we have come a long way in the last 18/19 years, some though will still not understand, mistakes are long remembered but good things inflict short memories. COYS 4 ever

  • TQ2Spurs says:

    Rumours surfacing that we are close to a naming rights deal with Amazon for £250m over 10 years.

  • PompeyYid says:

    The new “White Hart lane” has been turned into a hospital, to ease the pressure off of Middlesex Univerity Hospital, the first Football Club to do it, so a big well done and thanks for all those involved.

    Imagine being a baby born at “The New White Hart Lane” hospital, truly a Spurs fan for the future, and what a brag later in life for him or her. COYS 4 ever

  • Pauric says:

    Well said PompeyYid that’s a well done to Daniel Levy a good news story for our club. PompeyYid maybe someone will name there child Amazon if the reports are true big if on both haha.

  • PompeyYid says:

    Here’s wishing all my fellow YIDS all the best and keep on keeping safe.

    Another 3 weeks of this imprisonment, ah well! better to be safe than sorry.

    Very quiet today, not much to say then. COYS 4 ever.

  • Niall D says:

    Back to football. Just read a piece from John Barnes re – Harry Kane comments on leaving Tottenham.
    He did slightly mis quote Bill Shankley in his piece. However a lot of what he said rings true. He stated that HK is almost blaming others around him for Tottenham’s failure in ganing silverware. Look at his return to the field of play in the CL final arguably before he was fit enough. Did this cost us the win we’ll never know. He has been a great servant to Spurs but I hate it when people want to leave at the first sign of difficulty. I would suggest his injuries have cost us dearly in two seasons. Again I would argue that Spurs made him the player he is as with Ericsson. What ever happened to big players who spent their career at a club. Looks like it finished with Steven Gerard and Ryan Giggs. John Barnes went on to say that we need to look at capping players wages. In the present climate I feel this is a, step toward the right direction. I’m glad that Tottenham plc have turned the boat around and have started to repair the damage,well done. Players still seem to be anonymous. Condolences to Norman Hunter sad loss to this awful disease one of the old style hard footballers. Stay safe folks.

  • BelgianSpur says:

    A quick reaction from Belgium, for what it’s worth:

    1. Is anyone really surprised that Levy would put financial interests above all else? He’s been shamed into doing the right thing, rightly so, but is/was anyone really surprised?

    2. I think players got a raw deal after Matt Hancock’s statement, and while the likes of Robert Snodgrass probably got it wrong, Wayne Rooney’s column was spot on (https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/of-course-id-give-up-my-pay-but-matt-hancock-and-the-premier-league-are-so-out-of-order-n7wz5mqlb). I think a lot of players actually wanted to do something good, but were just reluctant to hand their money over to either the clubs, or the PL, because they didn’t trust either of those groups enough, which is fair enough for me.

    I will also add that I am completely in disagreement with block 108’s take on Levy’s achievements. How long is he willing to give Levy or ENIC credit for something they did in 2001? A lot of time has passed since then, and I think it’s only fair to make Levy accountable for all of the shortcomings he’s been responsible for since. It’s no good reminiscing about how bad we were in 2001. By 2008, those worries were long behind us, and how many decisions has Levy screwed up since 2008?

    We’ve got a new stadium, but it was delivered years late, and it’ll be no good if the team we put out is under performing.

    As far as I can see, ENIC played their part in making us the club we are today, but are completely unable to take us to the next level. The best thing for all would be for them to sell up, make the profit they crave, and hand the club over to owners who actually care about winning.

  • BelgianSpur says:

    Niall D- I don’ think anyone can accuse Kane of leaving when the going gets tough. If that was the case he’d have left 3 years ago. Say what you want about his injuries, but even if you factor those in, name a single player who has been more influential to the team in the last 4 or 5 seasons.

    You can say what you want about players staying loyal, but the truth is that Gerrard probably would have won the PL title if he’d gone to Chelsea when they were after him. Sure, we can all respect the loyalty, but looking at Gerrard’s career individually, the decision cost him.

    If Kane eventually does go, we’ll owe him nothing but respect, and if anyone is to blame, it’ll be Levy, for failing to build around arguably the best striker in the world.

    In 2011, we had a really promising core of players. It was eventually dismantled. In 2017, the same could have been said. Yet again, the core was dismantled.

    It is no good blaming individual players for wanting to further their careers. We should instead blame the club for failing to provide the career opportunities for said individual players.

  • Niall D says:

    BS looks like you didn’t read the report. I was stating that Harry Kane needs to stand up and accept responsibility for his part in Spurs lack of success rather than looking round as if he is too good for the players round him. Why would he have left 3 years ago we we regularly in and around top 3 with almost all of our players within the top 4 teams in the world Cup finals. What other Premier league team had this. We we playing in the CL regularly and made the finals last year (arguably without him). We have had a bad 12 months and one way or another HK is part of it. But it looks like he doesn’t want to stay the course. That’s up to him if he leaves I wish him well. He has been a good /great player for us I want him to stay and help fix our issues maybe its not in him. I’m on a bit of a whinge about footballers at the minute they all seem to be just about making more money. As for Gerard he may have won more with Chelsea but he is a god at Liverpool and a legend regardless of how much he won. Respect to the man.

  • block 108 spurs says:

    Belgian S. You obviously missed what I was saying… It was not what levy / enic did in 2001.. It is over the 19 years since. As to the stadium late build… again you omit the 5 years or so of Archway steel ligation in trying to allegedly get 1/3 of the stadium development costs as compensation for their little sheet metal factory on Paxton Rd. The original stadium plans were drawn in 2007. Also the delays by Harringay Council, Planning and various S106 payments, etc. Boris as mayor of London, Greater Anglia Railway (now overground rail) etc. Then various acts of alleged sabotage in construction by workers who supported other teams…. I could list a few more, but you should have got the gist of this by now. Just compare our financial outlay and delays to Arsenal Emirates Stadium, and their financial outlay about half of what Enic paid out, and arsenal’s lack of success/ trophies for years afterwards.

    So while Levy has hired and fired managers, and cut back on transfers, it was not always him..various managers as well… Santini AVB HArry… poch refused a few players as not what he wanted, and top world class players way beyond our financial ability.

    The old saying in UK.. live within your means.. is very apt. look what happened to Leeds Utd. years ago, and even spurs, we were saved by Alan Sugar from bankruptcy, older fans will remember those days of Irving Scholar and Keith Burkenshaw.. Keith did brilliantly in wining trophies during these times. COYS

  • block 108 spurs says:

    The way the prof. football scenario has rapidly financially escalated in last 12 years has meant spurs would have been left mid table team winning the odd FA Cup, playing in the old stadium of 35k crowd capacity, and players quality below the top 5 teams. So I would rather we did what ENIC has done than be humiliated by gooners and other fans every season, like we were before. Again, we older fans can remember, (relegation year as well) but now after levy, poch has shown what we can do, we are in position to move to silverware winning again. Could history repeat the Bill Nic era starting again, ???

  • PompeyYid says:

    I have just read 4/5 very good posts regards Levy/Enic, but as an older/long time fan I am on the side of both ND and block 108, a very good debate fella’s.

    There are obviously time when I get pissed off at Spurs, but in general I believe the softly, softly/safely, safely is the correct way of going, ok some of you nipper fans will not agree and keep on about 19 years of no silver wear, sorry 1, but that is the way it is at the mo, but success is just around the corner, that my belief anyway.

    BS…hope you and your family are keeping well/safe. COYS 4 ever

  • block 108 spurs says:

    PY.. It is being in lockdown at home gives us time to post on these topics.. 🙂

    Niall D… At the time of Gerrard move to Chelsea. It was rumoured he was threatened by big time Liverpool crime gangs his family would suffer serious injuries etc. if he went to chelsea. I don’t know if any truth in this just that a Liverpool journo, mentioned this when he wrote a short article on it.

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