A few questions answered

Much was made of our turnaround of managers, even though there are reasons for the removal of many. If you understood our strategy when Mauricio Pochettino was appointed then you would know that he was here to see us through the building of the stadium and beyond. It's a time when you simply can't change managers, without the money to invest in the team he would have his hands tied. He would be on a hiding to nothing, no top manager would be interested without the possibility of investment in the team. people seem to forget Arsenal appointed someone nobody in England had heard of.

Still fans said Pochettino would be gone by Christmas, or in a year or in 18 months, that all smacks of the 'I must have now' society we live in. A simplistic approach without any consideration of the bigger picture, it's disappointing, but understandable. From what I understand we did more checks on Pochettino that we have done on any manager before to maximise the chances of getting the right man to do the job we want him to do, build a club, through the youth, playing style, mentality, approach, quite apart from the team on a Saturday afternoon, or Sunday afternoon in our case!

I find it incredible that we have so called supporters who don't support our manager and don't support our club in what we are trying to achieve, followers is a better term for these strange beings.

There has been much speculation surrounding the stadium and naturally there were a few questions asked about it. If you go on a tour of White Hart Lane the guide will tell you that Tottenham are doing all they can to secure a 61,000 seater stadium, not the 56,000 everyone has been expecting. If this then has the capacity to be built upon, then that could rise in the future. It would be crazy not to build it with that option available.


Each new change to the original stadium design requires planning permission, unless it is re-fitting, we can't for instance simply add more car parking or even add an external door. If we are discussing a potential future NFL tie-up then even though it may not happen now that has to be factored into a stadium design. The old design was basically out of date as soon as it was applied for. The application was simply to get the permission, afterwards you then start changing things as long as doesn't materially change what has already been agreed to. You still submit plans but these are likely to be approved.

If we want to increase the size of the stadium, as we want to do, then we'll be having lots of meetings to be advised of what would get approval and what wouldn't, thus we can tailor an application that is likely to be successful as opposed to one that isn't.

There is a Haringey Council Sub-committee meeting tomorrow where the recommendation is to approve the underground level alterations we have made. This hopefully clears all the preliminary work that allows us to start building as opposed to clearing, not that we know what we are building yet. There is plenty to do starting to create the underground level and preparation for the structure which will not change in  outer size.

That is as I understand it but I am no builder, don't even like DIY.


The vision for the club has been pretty clear for a while, the trouble is a lot fans can only see tomorrow. Everybody wants everything now in today's society, driven by the Internet.

The only way we can regularly compete for titles is if we grow as a club, if we grow financially. We are not a play thing, we are a football club. We need to build the club around a sound business model that in turn then means we can provide the best team we can on the pitch. Appreciate that and you can then appreciate the constraints under which a team has to be built and thus understand the current strategy.

Cash talks. Why would you come to Tottenham when Manchester United, Manchester City or Chelsea can offer you £350,000-a-week? Or Liverpool or Arsenal offering you £140,000-a-week? We don't have the income to offer those wages, we have to look for a different way and/or cut our cloth accordingly.

A new stadium in central to growth. We have had to overcome years of legal objections and a government who took 18 months to make a CPO decision. These weren't delays Tottenham have requested or deliberately put in the way, the vision has been to grow us financially and thus compete on a more even footing. It's a clear strategy that has been in place a while and there are rumours of large deals, we'll just have to wait for a summer announcement next.

Further Reading
Spurs need Gareth Bale's attitude

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