Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Poch timing spot on, and Spurs must back him to the next level
IF I were Daniel Levy, I’d be giving it the big ‘un when Mauricio Pochettino walks through my door this week.
‘Oh, blimey, I don’t know, Mo,’ I’d be telling him, pulling the old chairman’s trick of pleading poverty. ‘The purse strings are tight, what with the new stadium and all. I’ll see what I can do but, honestly, I can’t promise anything.’ Then, as the door closed behind him, I’d be punching the air and thanking my lucky stars it had taken him four years to put that on me. My next move would be to whip out my cheque book and do exactly what he asked, completing the old chairman’s trick of looking like the good guy.
New contracts for Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Co to keep them happy and hungry. And a marquee signing that makes that lot look up from their sun loungers after the World Cup and think, ‘Crikey, I can’t wait to get back’.
With his status in the game, Poch could quite easily have said what he said on Sunday – that this is the time for Spurs to be ‘brave’ and ‘take risks’ – two years ago.
But he didn’t and big respect to him for that.
Instead, he waited until he’d milked the cow dry and I don’t think anyone on planet football can fault him for that.
Also because he’s right, now is the time for Spurs to be brave and take risks.
And if they do then they have a manager in place who can, with that right backing, take them to the next level.
By that, I mean qualifying for the knockout stage of the Champions League for a second successive season.
Then consolidating their top-four spot, maybe fighting for the top two, and winning a trophy, even if it were the League Cup.
But to do that they will need a couple more new players, maybe three, and one of them at least has to be a marquee signing.
That would be someone costing £30million or £40m, a superstar in the making. A Luis Suarez, Sadio Mane or Mo Salah when they went to Liverpool, someone who is just under the radar for now.
Do that and Pochettino could be just as sensational as any of the other big managers in turning a relatively modest spend into the next big thing and the foundations would be laid for the next stage of the Tottenham project.
If they started reaching the targets I mentioned above then you can bet your last pound players at home and abroad will be looking on and thinking, ‘Gorgeous ground, a very good young team, they’re competing, winning trophies, they’re in London, I tell you what, I wouldn’t mind signing for these’.
The time when Pochettino called it on was always going to come and what will be fascinating to see now is what he is like spending proper money on players.
I’m sure he will be good at it and if he brings as much cohesion and team spirit with one or two big names added to his squad as he has done in the last four years, then everything he said at the weekend will look very good value indeed.