AVB HAS GONE: NOW TIME TO DUMP LEVY.

So Tottenham have finally bitten half of the bullet and sacked Andre Villas-Boas. Now we just have to see the back of Daniel Levy.

 

Supporters of AVB have produced a variety of statistics that purport to show how successful he really was and how wrong it was to sack him. However, what they ignore is the simple reality of his team's appalling recent performances. They may well have had a good year last year but that was with a team put together by his predecessor and that included Gareth Bale. Having brought in a raft of new blood, AVB was simply unable to blend them into an effective side, at least when they were expected to follow his tactics. While they've won the majority of their matches this season, these have been predominantly against lower-grade opposition; whenever they've come up against a decent side, they've been beaten, culminating in the miserable showing against Liverpool last Sunday.

 

Obviously, there is now much speculation about who will be the new boss, but first up is the Capital One Cup match against West Ham.  A few weeks ago, the Hammers came to White Hart Lane and won 3-0, a match which really started the alarm bells ringing at Tottenham. Whether caretaker manager Tim Sherwood can revitalise his side for this confrontation will be the first test of his credentials and we'll soon know whether or not the problem was with AVB's approach. I can see a resounding win for the home side tonight, perhaps 3 or 4 - 1, which could be a precursor to a real revival.

 

Unfortunately, the really deep-seated problem at White Hart Lane is still there. Since Daniel Levy became Chairman in 2001, the club has seen 11 managers come and go - George Graham, Glen Hoddle, David Pleat (twice as a caretaker), Jacques Santini, Martin Jol, Clive Allen (caretaker), Juande Ramos, Harry Redknapp, Andres Villas-Boas and now Tim Sherwood. If Sherwood doesn't keep the job, it'll soon be 12. No team can perform successfully with such regular disruption and the man responsible for all of this mayhem is Levy. While there can be no doubt that some of his choices were better than others, it is also abundantly clear that several should never have been appointed; some simply fell out of favour or with him.

 

Levy is an incompetent meddler. As long as he stays, Spurs will continue to underperform, whoever the manager is.