Pochettino told Levy not to sign players

Pochettino told Levy not to sign players

Daniel Levy and Mauricio Pochettino are on the same page

Transfer Talk

Mauricio Pochettino revealed in his book how Daniel Levy and he spent a lot of time together which helped each one understand the other better.

When you hire an employee in any walk of life you are taking a gamble on a short meeting. Sometimes you get it right, sometimes you get it wrong. In civvystreet you can't just sack someone, in football you can.

But, if you have the right guy then it makes sense to get to know him, how he thinks and figure out how you can best work together to a common goal. It goes without saying that a manager has tio buy into the club vision to produce the best results, he can't work to a different agenda as that will cause friction and a parting of the ways.

Pochetino does not have the mentality of a section of our fans, he creates a positive, happy environment, the breeding ground of success. To whinge and moan all the time and try and suggest you have a winning mentality just demonstrates you haven't a clue what you are talking about.

Why should you, if you don't have a winning mentality, and most people don't, then how are you going to understand it. It is the same the other way around, I can't understand anyone playing just for fun, winning is what creates the fun, not taking part.

Taking part is what losers do in my eyes, although I appreciate that if that is their choice that's fine, I just don't want them playing a competitive league sort in my team.

At school, where we represented Kent, I used to love to have anyone in a 5-a-side team, regardless of ability, who gave they're all, who could follow directions while I marshalled from a defensive position.

A game of pool has to be played to win, the fun is in the battle, the contest of minds and you have to seek to improve your game while doing so. If you are not playing 100% to win, you don't have a winning mentality.


Mauricio Pochettino does,

"We [Levy and I] spoke about being more effective, about strategies, about how we can improve and become more competitive. About why I prefer to give homegrown kids chances rather than signing players, and the problems that can be caused by buying players you don't need.

"Leaving a signing on the bench is not the same as having an academy graduate as a bench-warmer.

"We reprised a really interesting game we'd first played a while back. We had to split the Premier League squads into good players, very good players and stars.

"In doing so, the different opinions we each had about these categories became apparent and some very constructive discussions ensued.

"A chairman and a manager can only really talk football at a superficial level. But I was able to explain to him in detail how, the more defined your playing style is, the more difficult transfers become, because either a player gives you something specific you're lacking, or you're better off not signing anyone."