Does Levy have to break the wage structure?

Daniel Levy emerged victorious in one of the battles of the summer
when he refused to countenance the sale of Luka Modric to Chelsea,
despite the star midfielder making it plain that he wanted the move. It
is fair to say the Tottenham Hotspur chairman's success prompted
surprise.
He has previous when it comes to buckling in the face of
eye-watering offers – think of Manchester United prising first Michael
Carrick and then Dimitar Berbatov from White Hart Lane for £18.6m and
£30.75m respectively, and Chelsea were prepared to pay £40m for Modric.
Player power regularly holds sway in these matters and most of the
Tottenham dressing room fully expected the Croat to appear in Chelsea
colours after the closure of the transfer window.
Levy's stance
represented a statement of intent and, on one level, it was pleasantly
received by the players. Maybe there is something afoot here, they
mused. For Levy, though, it has heralded the beginning of a war and it
is one that stands to define the future direction of the club.
Modric,
who is under contract until 2016, might have been made to stay but he
wants to do so on his terms and they involve a pay rise to
£100,000-a-week and written assurances that if a big club came in for
him again, he could at least talk to them. The thing that irked him over
the summer was that there was no option to discuss Chelsea's proposal,
even though he thought he had a gentleman's agreement with Levy
regarding such scenarios.
The new contract talks between Modric's
advisers and the club are described as "ongoing" and they have been for
some weeks. For Levy, the situation is particularly delicate as he is
aware that the eyes of the squad and their agents are fixed upon it. In
many respects, it is a watershed moment.
Levy has managed to keep
the weekly wage ceiling at the club bolted down to around £70,000, with
some players topping up their pay with performance-related bonuses. Even
Emmanuel Adebayor, the on-loan Manchester City striker, has been
accommodated into the structure. He might earn £170,000-a-week but City
are contributing £100,000-a-week for the duration of his season-long
deal. As an aside, this feels like one of the most graphic examples of
City's financial might/extravagance.
Tottenham's wage ceiling
compares unfavourably with those at the Manchester clubs, Chelsea,
Arsenal and Liverpool but if Modric were to power through it, it would
not so much as lead to knocks at Levy's door as a stampede through it.
Key personnel such as Ledley King, Michael Dawson, Gareth Bale and
Rafael van der Vaart, prompted by their agents, would follow Modric in
demanding rises.
They would not be the only ones. Less heralded
players such as Benoît Assou-Ekotto who know they could earn more
elsewhere and have demonstrated their wholehearted commitment, would
want renegotiations. The full-back was chased by the nouveaux riches of
Paris St-Germain in the summer but he has a love affair with London and,
like many of the first XI, he believes that the club could be on the
brink of a golden era, if there is adventurous leadership.
Assou-Ekotto
did not travel to Wigan Athletic with the squad three weeks ago as he
was suffering from illness but the manager Harry Redknapp called him the
night before the game to ask how he was and wonder if he could yet
feature. Assou-Ekotto took a taxi to Wigan at 7am and he played the 90
minutes in the 2-1 victory. There is the strong sense of attachment to
the cause.
Harry Redknapp's future is also linked to the Modric
situation. It is widely assumed that he will leave next summer to
succeed Fabio Capello as the England manager but he might stay at the
club if he could compete at the very top. Redknapp is mindful of the
scope for serious personal abuse if he were to take charge of the
national team. Were he able to offer the six-figure weekly wage packets
to tempt the likes of Rio Ferdinand, for example, a player that he
covets, he might yet have an agonising choice to make.
It was
revealing to hear Redknapp's take on Modric v Levy. "You can't say he is
worth £40m and want to pay him the wages of someone who is worth £5m,"
Redknapp said. "You have to look after the boy." The players loved that.
Levy
is happy enough to make Modric the highest-paid player in the club's
history but he is understandably wary about giving him possible escape
clauses as well. The worst case for Levy is that he opens the floodgates
and still sees Modric skip off in search of Champions League football.
If he did nothing, discontentment would fester.
Levy's goal has
always been to establish Tottenham as regulars in Europe's elite
competition and he knows that the increased cash flow could sustain the
club at the next level and also ensure that the ambitions of players
like Modric were fulfilled in N17. The problem is that the financial
speculation normally has to come first and the associated risks are
clear.


From The Independant.

Players earn obscene ammonts of money in modern game and I feel the only way to attract the best is to offer them the highest wages, but i don't want us to end up like Citeh with a team of stars that are only in it for the money , look at rooney for example , last year he wanted to leave utd for a team with ambition next thing you know hes offered a hugh wage increase to 230g a week and now he loves them again, it makes me sick that players like this are only interested in money fast cars and there international careers , ok they do have a short career and you can't really blame them for everything, i think we have to look at the clubs who have instigated this , chelsea citeh & utd all guilty and the blame lies with these clubs , as for levy paying huge wages why should he, don't players also earn umpting thousands on top of there obscene wages with image rights guest Appearances , opening schools and other stuff they do in the community, why you don't think they get up early and do this for nothing do ya's

I think any club should be content to bend its wage structure to capture a really outstanding player - tbh I do not have any problem with the handful of really good footballers in the PL earning the stupendous amounts they receive

What is difficult to get my head round is why Chelsea, Citeh or Spuds or Arsenal for that matter seem to be happy to pay vast sums of cash each week for what are very, very ordinary players.

Do you really think Spuds' season, trophy prospects, chance of a top 4 finish etc. would be so affected by Modric changing places with £35-£40 million of Roman's money ?

I really don't think so

Do you really think Spuds' season, trophy prospects, chance of a top 4
finish etc. would be so affected by Modric changing places with £35-£40
million of Roman's money ?

I really don't think so

Probably not Nic as no player is bigger than the club and although of course there would be certain aspects of his play that would benefit us there is always someone to take his place. Sandro, Parker are a good combination it central mid for us. Then of course we have Thudd and Kranjcar and Jake Livermore is slowly making a bit of a name for himself. I think it's more the fact that Levy had, had enough of selling our top players to whoever snapped their fingers and I agree with that. Where does it stop?

BazSpur wrote:Do you really think Spuds' season, trophy prospects, chance of a top 4
finish etc. would be so affected by Modric changing places with £35-£40
million of Roman's money ?

I really don't think so

Probably not Nic as no player is bigger than the club and although of course there would be certain aspects of his play that would benefit us there is always someone to take his place. Sandro, Parker are a good combination it central mid for us. Then of course we have Thudd and Kranjcar and Jake Livermore is slowly making a bit of a name for himself. I think it's more the fact that Levy had, had enough of selling our top players to whoever snapped their fingers and I agree with that. Where does it stop?

I think levy has been misunderstood baz, in the light of the berbatov sale, as far as events went a couple of years back what i saw was a man with his hands tied behind his back because berbatov was on his own private mission to get to man utd and flouted his contract, insulted his fellow spurs team mates, and what people forget is that spurs accepted a late bid from man city for £40 mill, that berbatov later said " there was no chance of going to man city "
Levy has now been shackled with cashing in on his players, let me say that its the biggest load of tripe i have ever read,.........berbatov wanted out on his terms to the club of his choosing, and the worst thing was refused to perform for the club that paid his wages.
In hindsight what levy did wrong was that he should have fined the player a months wages, refused to sell, and condemned him for the rest of his contract to the reserves, but ! having said that he must have known that he was in a no win situation with the bulgarian, put him in the reserves and his value would have plummeted.
Levy did the best thing for the club under the circumstances, but is now a chairman who is accsed of cashing in apparently ?, well harry gave him enough rope to say cash in on modric........he didnt but could have.
Imho levy is spurs through and through, his treatment of jol was appalling,and thats his one stain, but i believe his intentions were good, he thought he was getting a master tactitian in ramos, thats his one mistake as far as i can see, other than that i am happy with what he is doing at spurs and he could have cashed in on modric, but he didnt.

His one mistake Lew ? The search for eight months that ended with the unveiling of Jacques Santini was hardly a high point, sacking GG and replacing him with the Hod just before the Cup semi final with us was no great masterstroke, selling/buying/selling Keane/Defoe/Kaboul/Chimbo was baffling, and then we have the ongoing OS/NPD wasted costs lol

I wont go on

I think the other thing you have to bear in mind with the Modric saga over the Summer is the dog's abuse that Levy picked up from supporters after the Carrick and the Berby sales - having said "no" in both instances when the right figure was reached "no" became "yes" - commercially astute but not likely to endear yourself to supporters who believe that they are going to hang on to players

anicoll5 wrote:His one mistake Lew ? The search for eight months that ended with the unveiling of Jacques Santini was hardly a high point, sacking GG and replacing him with the Hod just before the Cup semi final with us was no great masterstroke, selling/buying/selling Keane/Defoe/Kaboul/Chimbo was baffling, and then we have the ongoing OS/NPD wasted costs lol

I wont go on

I think the other thing you have to bear in mind with the Modric saga over the Summer is the dog's abuse that Levy picked up from supporters after the Carrick and the Berby sales - having said "no" in both instances when the right figure was reached "no" became "yes" - commercially astute but not likely to endear yourself to supporters who believe that they are going to hang on to players

Ha ha ! yeah nic ! great from a gooner.........check the facts nic .
The graham sacking was well broadcast at the time......check all the comments before you make your own, about that situation, maybe its on google still.
Hoddle was wanted as a spurs legend, and levy did the right thing in appointing him as a fans favourite, hoddle was reported as coming home to make spurs great again, and its all history now.
Santini quit because..his words " he didnt know who was boss " and levy had to turn to jol.
Second point is that harry wanted all those players back, i guess because he feared spurs were in relegation trouble because they sold them....worked though didnt it, from bottom to sixth.
No manager , not even the volatile mr wenger could have hung onto berbatov or carrick , the same as you goons couldnt hang onto fabregas or the rest of your best players and that is why you are in the mess you are now.
I rate the carrick and berbatov sales as good business, they are second choice mainly these days at united, what would they sell for now.......enough said i think.

I know the Graham sacking was "well broadcast" at the time Lew - it was a move designed to ingratiate Levy as the new chairman with the Spuds fans, by bringing back Spurs legend good old Glenn - unfortunately it was a cock up and Hoddle had to be sacked two years later.

As for Santini no one knew why he was appointed, Levy included, much less Arnesen or Jol - a similar situation that he got into with Commolli as far as I can see

I agre that it was good business to flog Berby and Carrick - and as you say if a player wants to leave, they leave, ask Fergie and Mancini about Ronnie or Robinho -

the only question for Levy then would be then why leave Berby's sale so late, i.e. 11.55 on transfer night, that you could not sign anyone to take his place ? Now that was not good business

anicoll5 wrote:I know the Graham sacking was "well broadcast" at the time Lew - it was a move designed to ingratiate Levy as the new chairman with the Spuds fans, by bringing back Spurs legend good old Glenn - unfortunately it was a cock up and Hoddle had to be sacked two years later.

As for Santini no one knew why he was appointed, Levy included, much less Arnesen or Jol - a similar situation that he got into with Commolli as far as I can see

I agre that it was good business to flog Berby and Carrick - and as you say if a player wants to leave, they leave, ask Fergie and Mancini about Ronnie or Robinho -

the only question for Levy then would be then why leave Berby's sale so late, i.e. 11.55 on transfer night, that you could not sign anyone to take his place ? Now that was not good business

Actually santini was a good signing, here was a national manager at spurs nic, suited me.
What was questionable at the time was the signing of arnesen and jol because i felt that undermined santini.
Maybe arnesen to seek out talent but jol was becoming a sort after coach...in his own right, santini should have been able to work with his own choice of coach, and that comment doesnt deflect from what jol achieved with a team no where as good as what harry has to work with now.

As for levy taking the blame for not signing a replacement for berbatov, as i remember man utd had to pay monies for an illegal approach, they were to blame for the situation along with berbatov but of course the blame was put at levys door, i doubt levy knew what was actually going on.
I well remember the cameras being there nic, levy looked bemused by it all, berbatov and united bulldozed the deal through and levy was caught up by naivety........i doubt that will happen to him again.

Santini might indeed have been an inspired appointment Lew - the trouble was he had gone after 13 games - for reasons that even now have never been fully explained

As for the ManYoo approach for Berby it was underhand - and Levy rightly complained to the PL about the illegal methods used - but then dropped his complaint when the deal was struck - Hmmmm

anicoll5 wrote:Santini might indeed have been an inspired appointment Lew - the trouble was he had gone after 13 games - for reasons that even now have never been fully explained

As for the ManYoo approach for Berby it was underhand - and Levy rightly complained to the PL about the illegal methods used - but then dropped his complaint when the deal was struck - Hmmmm

Too many chefs nic ! that is the very simple reason for santini getting out.
For levy it was a naive triple signing but at the time looked inspired, great manager, great coach, great talent spotter, looks good on paper, but personalities have to gel ! in this case it didnt, santini didnt understand the role of arnesen or the role of jol ? what he actually said was that he didnt know who was boss?

The berbatov transfer is still a little confusing but only in regard of levy, i personally think he was just clueless on how to deal with the situation, perhaps a straight forward fck off to ferguson would have spoken volumes.........it isnt all about money with levy otherwise he would be cashing in on bale, modric and others, you have to view the evidence before you label a man, that its all to do with money .