We have mails on Tottenham’s next manager – who will be decided by Daniel Levy – and more. Get your mails into theeditor@football365.com…
Spurs’ next manager
2012-14: Spurs replace a charismatic, long-serving and generally successful manager who couldn’t quite deliver Champions League qualification with a Portuguese former Chelsea manager. After about eighteen months it becomes clear that, despite being close to the top four performances aren’t what’s required and the Portuguese manager is replaced on a short-term basis with an English former midfielder at the club, promoted from within after working with the club’s youth team, who broadly delivers good vibes but can‘t get the job done against the bigger clubs. The long-term replacement is a well-travelled manager brought in from a south coast club where they enjoyed qualified success relative to that club’s long-standing position.
2019-21: Spurs replace a charismatic, long-serving and generally successful manager who couldn’t quite deliver Champions League glory with a Portuguese former Chelsea manager. After about eighteen months it becomes clear that, despite being close to the top four performances aren’t what’s required and the Portuguese manager is replaced on a short-term basis with an English former midfielder at the club, promoted from within after working with the club’s youth team, who broadly delivers good vibes but can‘t get the job done against the bigger clubs. The long-term replacement is…
Okay, some of the similarities are more superficial than others, and I may be pre-empting Ryan Mason a little, but Levy does tend to appoint contrasting managers: Avuncular Jol to strict Ramos to chirpy Redknapp to modernist Villas-Boas to saluting Sherwood to high-pressing Pochettino to low-blocking Mourinho to…
Now it seems like reported top target Nagelsmann is, entirely unsurprisingly, heading to Bayern Munich. So, with the League Cup yanked from our grasp and a 13th trophyless season in a row, which one of Graham Potter and Ralph Hassenhüttl will get the call from Levy? Or is he going to go totally off-script and bring in Erik Ten Haag – or head back to Portsmouth for Danny Cowley?
Michael C (What *does* supporting a successful team feel like?)
Ten toughest ever routes to the Champions League final
Punishing the dirty dozen
Punishment has already been dished out to the big 12. It’s called the new Champions League format, likely the last straw that made them accelerate breaking away in the first place. Unfortunately Uefa are bad winners and want punishment on top of winning that fight and the ensuing PR game. Uefa do not listen to clubs, coaches or players and this was them proving they don’t need.
Now Uefa are being all high and mighty deciding what punishment to enforce for clubs not breaking away. Actually, all they’re doing is holding the punishment threat aloft so the big 12 cannot voice their reasoning without fear of bigger punishment or targeting of individual clubs.
Uefa also need to consider that any punishment big enough to even cause a stir at Utd or City would likely bankrupt the little north London clubs who have not exactly been flush for cash over the last few years (sorry spuds and gooners but I don’t think I’m wrong).
It makes me wonder how this breakaway was actually stopped. While we credit fans for stopping this, do you really think that is true? Fans have protested much more strongly against owners in the past and for a lot longer. Now we’re lead to believe that a few hundred fans outside grounds, the odd politician and a couple of angry pundits had clubs backing down? Not a chance.
It seems a lot more likely the FA, forced by Uefa and FIFA, might have quietly and instantly mentioned to the clubs that they could be thrown out of the premier league as hapenned to Rangers north of the border just a few years ago. And if that is the case then the preventative measures have hapenned already.
Meanwhile the new champions league format is just as bad but there is nothing anyone can do. Once again, no-one can stand up against the greed of Uefa and FIFA. And somehow Uefa come out smelling of roses all high and mighty, biding their time thinking about punishment just to make sure the clubs have to stay quiet against them or risk inflating the punishment. It’s like any Dictator movie where all subjects have to be quiet or risk death.
So here’s what will actually happen. Uefa will enforce very little punishment, more likely adding preventative rules to each league to make this impossible in the future without leaving your national league too – and with Uefa holding the key to that too. The PR machine will again make Uefa look like the heroes and being so generous while all they’ve done is strengthened their grip. The greedy 12 will not be able to do or say anything. Other clubs won’t care as they don’t have to figure out how to play 60+ competitive games a season – they get to choose if they take cups seriously or not. Uefa and FIFA still look great despite being 2 of the greediest and most corrupt organisations on the planet.
But you carry on thinking fans can now force owners to sell their clubs to them.
Jon, Cape Town (I wish the big 12 would play their reserve teams in the champions league, should they qualify for it – won’t happen though, they’d be fined)
…I haven’t had a rant on all this yet so please allow me to. Not sure if it’s relevant but will declare my colours, I’m a 32 year old Liverpool fan.
Wow no wonder these super league clubs wanted to close shop, it’s because they can’t compete genuinely and earn the right each year. Italy 2 out of their 3 have a chance of not qualifying in Juve and Ac. In England 3 out of their 6 won’t In Arsenal Spurs and Liverpool. In England 2 will always miss out won’t they. That was the main inconvenience. That’s what Perez was banking on. Yes Real are the pinnacle of world football. If you asked every kid worldwide who they would love to play for, real wins that total voteby a landslide. Obviously in certain parts of the world it would be Liverpool United arsenal Chelsea, but an overall result would read Real Madrid surely. But they needed us. They on ther own are nothing. So the question is how can we eradicate these parasites out of the game? The Perez the laportes the Henry’s the glazers. That league crumbled the second the English clubs left.
We have to flex our muscles now, but for the good of the game. If Kroenke Henry and glazer actually used their brain they could be a catalyst for change for the better of the game. Yes be the ones in power but take the game away from the corruption of FIFA and UEFA. Ur financial rewards will come over time but don’t jump on the quick fix to get the quickest profit. Have respect for our game, our emotions and our feelings. As a Liverpool fan this is the 4th apology I’ve had off FSG in what 5 years. 1. 77 quid tickets. 2. Project big picture, 3. Furloughing staff and 4 now the esl. At what point are these people going to realise that whenever they make the wrong decision, not just on behalf of the club, but the people, we will take action and get it sorted. These are only in charge of us now because we got those other idiots out
How on Earth did Spurs get in there? Just built a shiny new stadium in time? Bs that. As much as I hate them, Everton are a far more prestigious club. Never been relegated from the top flight, actually bothered to win the league in the last 35/40 years. Oh maybe it’s because the other teams wanted a guaranteed 6 points every year. Villa, Leeds, Forest have contributed more to our game over the years than the bottle jobs. Can’t wait to read Fred’s response.
Arsenal. I actually like you. As a 32 year old now I was an early teen when you were in your pomp. I used to love watching that team. The way everyone w*nks over Guardiolas 09-11 Barca, aresenal 00-04 were the best non Liverpool 18-20 side I have ever seen. Maybe because i was young, maybe because I got to watch them every week, maybe because we couldn’t quite overcome United over a season and u lot could but whatever.
Dunno where this is going now so will stop writing
Ryan, Liverpool
Big Midweek: PSG v Man City, Hazard, Man Utd, Arteta v Emery
Diving Dani
I feel that lost in all of the hubbub between the ESL aftermath, this weekend’s results, and the awful red card given to Balbuena, was the absolute monstrosity of a dive by Dani Ceballos. I thought Richy barely touched him as it is but the second replay from a side angle showed that if he did, it was clearly not enough to make him go down like a sack of potatoes holding his ankle, writing in pain. The irony in the whole affair is that I thought VAR did Arsenal a disservice by saying there was offside in the build-up when it didn’t look like offside to me.
This is exactly what I was talking about a few months back in a previous email. Since Dani Ceballos isn’t named Oumar Niasse or Manuel Lanzini, and doesn’t play for Everton or West Ham, he’ll skate cleanly on this one. More “big six” privilege rearing its ugly head again.
So while we’re all rightly outraged at the fallout from the ESL, let us not forget that there are still some parts of the game that need fixing right here and right now. At that goes for all clubs including mine. I will admit Richy, while getting hammered a lot on the pitch, will sometimes go down a bit too easy. I’d fully expect that if he did that in the box, that he should receive the same punishment I’m calling for right now. The FA diving panel should hit Ceballos with a three match ban as they did to the other two and next time, he’ll stay on his feet rather than try to cheat via simulation. I’m not a VAR fan but they certainly should have reviewed that dive and given him yellow on the spot while reversing the call.
TX Bill (you bet I’m mad, mad at the diving, but more mad at the selective enforcement of the rules) EFC
Je suis Kev
I will join Kev on his hill as it is a point I have argued many times. The painstaking frame by frame analysis to prove a ref was “obviously” wrong is what has got us to this point.
Everything looks terrible when reduced to slo mo and calling out refs was the beginning of the end.
If nothing else VAR has taught us that even in slow mo decisions are still debatable.
Football’s beauty is its free flowing simplicity – that the game is playable almost any where with almost anything but the moneymen won’t let us have that.
Long time readers know I am a Liverpool fan but I with my interest waning I’m off to pick a local team outside of the “elite”, sorry EPL it is not you it is me or maybe it is you but I really have had enough – I’ll still read F365.
Paul “off to stand with Kev” Rhodes
…I never watched the Carling/Coca Cola Cup at the weekend…not because it’s a Mickey Mouse comp (which it is), but I was busy, shampooing my bald head.
Anyhow, I see a lot of VAR stories about the red card, and Kevs mail hits the nail on the head. We should never have let it be implemented. I say this as a Utd fan, so my view is invalid to many. Apparently VAR would stop Utd getting pens, and it never did, because, it turns out, they were mostly fine anyway, as they were before.
I enjoyed football much more with real time decisions, I never cared if the ref made a mistake…side note to that is I did always go mad when it went against Utd, but I always said when it came to VAR that “the grass is always greener on the other side” – and so it has been proven true. We should have stayed non VAR. Dont cry now. It’s too late. VAR is here to stay, like Covid.
Gary B (But the refs give Utd the league, wah wah wah)
Only now?
The dull draw between United and Leeds was the match that history will record as the one that was the end of the 20/21 title race. The draw means City would have to lose four games and United win all of theirs.
And what a race it was. At one point it looked like Liverpool had a chance at retaining the title before putting in one of the worst defences in history. Hell, at one point Spurs were top of the table with serious talk about their title credentials.
But ultimately, it came down to the two Manchester powerhouses, battling it out at the top of the table, with just a number of points separating them since January.
A closely fought affair between two great managers. Pep takes the trophy this time, but can he break his hoodoo next season against the man who chased him all the way? Ole Ole Ole.
RDS
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