I blame any boss who agrees to work under this sort of set-up
thesun
I blame any boss who agrees to work under this sort of set-up
TOO many chiefs, too many players and not enough points thats Tottenham this season.
I was surprised the club acted so swiftly in sacking Andre Villas-Boas yesterday.
But to anyone looking in from the outside, it did appear the place was getting tangled up in a right mess.
When I was at Spurs, I was the manager. Andre Villas-Boas was the coach and theres a big difference.
Working with a sporting director, in this case Franco Baldini, is always risky. If you get on fine and if you are in charge of which players are bought and sold, fine. Its down to you and no one else.
If you are not, then youre in big trouble. As we see once again, results go wrong, the teams not clicking, the coach loses his job and the sporting director, who has signed all those unsuitable players, stays put. Thank you very much.
I blame any boss who agrees to working like this. It can be a success, I wouldnt do it. The manager should have authority over who comes in.
Employing a sporting or technical director is popular on the Continent and is a system favoured by Tottenhams chairman Daniel Levy.
Before I went there, he had Damien Comolli in that role as a technical director and he reverted to it again with AVB.
When they came to me and asked me to take over five years ago, they were desperate, bottom of the league and in real strife, so he abandoned it, temporarily. So you have to ask who has been buying the players at Spurs This is educated guesswork, but I reckon Baldini has had a big say in such matters.
It takes a strong character to stand up and insist on being in charge of everything and AVB is very young.
Look at the transfer policy since the summer.
Gareth Bale left, and lets be honest, Spurs had no option but to sell him. In came seven players at vast expense, yet the team is no further forward than it was.
Theyve spent £111million alone on transfers, not to mention agents fees and wages. They also sold Rafael van der Vaart and Luka Modric two outstanding players and still the team is overloaded.
Did Villas-Boas really know what his best team was With so many players and Spurs could easily field two complete Premier League sides it takes some working out.
There are two players for every position, sometimes more. Aaron Lennon, Andros Townsend, Erik Lamela, Nacer Chadli and Gylfi Sigurdsson, who can play wide.
Thats five wingers alone! And whos the best of them all and has been left out in the cold recently
Its Townsend the Spurs fan who had come through the youth team and cost them nothing.
It struck me some time back when AVB remarked that Townsend should not be playing for England when he made his sensational debut, given he had started just a couple of games for Tottenham. And its interesting that they lost to Newcastle in November and thats the last time Townsend started a Premier League game.
However, hes been fit enough to start for his country and in the Europa League.
The reason for his sidelining is because Tottenham have been out shopping and signed loads of other players for millions, so he was always going to be the fall guy. Why
Because if they hadnt then someone would have rightly asked the sporting director: Why have you spent £30m on this player when we already have a brilliant one at the club who earns £5,000 a week
Im sure its a question that will emerge sometime in the future, too.
Townsend is better than all these big-time charlies but it seems he was being used as a political football in every sense.
I would bet that, when Tim Sherwood picks the team to face West Ham in the Capital One Cup tomorrow night, the first name on his teamsheet will be Townsend and this kid will start to resurface in a lilywhite Spurs shirt once more.
Whoever takes over from Villas- Boas now will face an interesting situation. If its a character like Fabio Capello, a vastly experienced and old coach, he may work well with Baldini. After all, those two do come as a pair.
But Glenn Hoddle might not be so happy to have someone else sharing his task of buying players without any of the responsibility of building winning sides.
The seasons not over for Tottenham and they can still finish top four as they have so much quality.
But one thing that hasnt helped AVB is the cursed Europa League.This bloody tournament should come with a health warning for managers. Its a load of rubbish.
Im sorry, but it is. Most Thursdays I watch a load of third-rate teams from obscure European countries who were not even good enough to win their leagues in who knows where
Some of them would struggle in League Two and the Thursday-Sunday routine for matches does no one any favours just ask Villas-Boas.
The only European tournament worth being in is the Champions League. Of course, it was AVBs job to get Spurs into that and he didnt last season. AVB has had two huge chances managing in England now.
But Im sure that hell bounce back and get a job somewhere else soon.
TOO many chiefs, too many players and not enough points thats Tottenham this season.
I was surprised the club acted so swiftly in sacking Andre Villas-Boas yesterday.
But to anyone looking in from the outside, it did appear the place was getting tangled up in a right mess.
When I was at Spurs, I was the manager. Andre Villas-Boas was the coach and theres a big difference.
Working with a sporting director, in this case Franco Baldini, is always risky. If you get on fine and if you are in charge of which players are bought and sold, fine. Its down to you and no one else.
If you are not, then youre in big trouble. As we see once again, results go wrong, the teams not clicking, the coach loses his job and the sporting director, who has signed all those unsuitable players, stays put. Thank you very much.
I blame any boss who agrees to working like this. It can be a success, I wouldnt do it. The manager should have authority over who comes in.
Employing a sporting or technical director is popular on the Continent and is a system favoured by Tottenhams chairman Daniel Levy.
Before I went there, he had Damien Comolli in that role as a technical director and he reverted to it again with AVB.
When they came to me and asked me to take over five years ago, they were desperate, bottom of the league and in real strife, so he abandoned it, temporarily. So you have to ask who has been buying the players at Spurs This is educated guesswork, but I reckon Baldini has had a big say in such matters.
It takes a strong character to stand up and insist on being in charge of everything and AVB is very young.
Look at the transfer policy since the summer.
Gareth Bale left, and lets be honest, Spurs had no option but to sell him. In came seven players at vast expense, yet the team is no further forward than it was.
Theyve spent £111million alone on transfers, not to mention agents fees and wages. They also sold Rafael van der Vaart and Luka Modric two outstanding players and still the team is overloaded.
Did Villas-Boas really know what his best team was With so many players and Spurs could easily field two complete Premier League sides it takes some working out.
There are two players for every position, sometimes more. Aaron Lennon, Andros Townsend, Erik Lamela, Nacer Chadli and Gylfi Sigurdsson, who can play wide.
Thats five wingers alone! And whos the best of them all and has been left out in the cold recently
Its Townsend the Spurs fan who had come through the youth team and cost them nothing.
It struck me some time back when AVB remarked that Townsend should not be playing for England when he made his sensational debut, given he had started just a couple of games for Tottenham. And its interesting that they lost to Newcastle in November and thats the last time Townsend started a Premier League game.
However, hes been fit enough to start for his country and in the Europa League.
The reason for his sidelining is because Tottenham have been out shopping and signed loads of other players for millions, so he was always going to be the fall guy. Why
Because if they hadnt then someone would have rightly asked the sporting director: Why have you spent £30m on this player when we already have a brilliant one at the club who earns £5,000 a week
Im sure its a question that will emerge sometime in the future, too.
Townsend is better than all these big-time charlies but it seems he was being used as a political football in every sense.
I would bet that, when Tim Sherwood picks the team to face West Ham in the Capital One Cup tomorrow night, the first name on his teamsheet will be Townsend and this kid will start to resurface in a lilywhite Spurs shirt once more.
Whoever takes over from Villas- Boas now will face an interesting situation. If its a character like Fabio Capello, a vastly experienced and old coach, he may work well with Baldini. After all, those two do come as a pair.
But Glenn Hoddle might not be so happy to have someone else sharing his task of buying players without any of the responsibility of building winning sides.
The seasons not over for Tottenham and they can still finish top four as they have so much quality.
But one thing that hasnt helped AVB is the cursed Europa League.This bloody tournament should come with a health warning for managers. Its a load of rubbish.
Im sorry, but it is. Most Thursdays I watch a load of third-rate teams from obscure European countries who were not even good enough to win their leagues in who knows where
Some of them would struggle in League Two and the Thursday-Sunday routine for matches does no one any favours just ask Villas-Boas.
The only European tournament worth being in is the Champions League. Of course, it was AVBs job to get Spurs into that and he didnt last season. AVB has had two huge chances managing in England now.
But Im sure that hell bounce back and get a job somewhere else soon.
