Ambition . .has it changed

Walthamstow wanderer

Walthamstow wanderer

Alert Team
Staff member
I asked this question back in MARCH 2025.

Has the board , the directors , the owners had a change of heart , out of desire or out of fear . Were plans really in place at the START of last season ?

If so , who decided that Frank was the one .
Why is it only now that our philosophy has changed . A club doesn’t become a big club in one window .

What should our ongoing plans be ?

This is what I posted back then .

Ambition …..

Within a football club , any club , but let’s concentrate on our club , who provides the impetus , who is the one that drives the club to be the best .?. Who provides the Ambition .

Is it just one person ?

Is it everyone , ?

Should it be everyone , or is there a scenario where someone thinks that someone else is there to provide the ambition .

Is it a clearly defined characteristic when discussing contracts .
Can it be bought and paid for if someone doesn’t have it . ?

What is the true meaning of ambition?


strong desire for success, achievement, or distinction. something so desired;… goal.
determination to achieve success., drive , , initiative .eagerness , motivation , commitment.

Does the chairman need to have it . Can he just sit behind his desk knowing that his job is to provide a stable and profitable base .
If he needs Motivation , in what form should that appear .
Signings , ?
If the club is sitting amongst the top ten richest clubs in the world , does he need any more motivation than that ?

Then , there is the motivation , the ambition of the Directors , Directors of Football , Heads of Departments etc .., how do they qualify their ambition .

Do they have to ?
As long as they are doing what they are told , is that
enough ?
How can they push Ambition . ?

Maybe Ambition rests on the Manager and his coaching staff .

Surely he has Ambition .

Do the players have to have ambition ?

Or are they paid enough that they can just turn up and play , collect their wages , and put their feet up in the evening .
When I was recruiting, I would ask the candidates where they saw themselves in five years time .

Can you ask footballers that ?

I would think we all agree that Ambition is vital .

But where does it come from , the top , everyone , anyone .?
Is it conditional on that age old conundrum , the story about Everybody , Somebody , Anybody and Nobody .

Ambition needed to be raised and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it ,
Anybody could have done it , but Nobody did it .
Somebody got angry about that because he said it was Everybody’s job ,

Everybody thought Anybody could do it , but Nobody realised that Everybody wouldn’t do it .
It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done .

Getting back to the point , are we an Ambitious Club .
Tell us what you think it is that makes us Ambitious, or what makes you think we are just the opposite.

How easy is it for one weak link in the chain to break the ambition .

Did we have Ambition in the past , ?
Did the building of the new Stadium kill a lot of it off?
Did the two barren windows prove to Pochetino that it wasn't worth him staying or pushing himself .?

A lot would say we entered a downward spiral
from then .

Give us your thoughts,
 
Covid hitting just as the new stadium opened probably set our ambitions back around 4/5 years in terms of immediate effect and recovery.
 
Do you think we had proper ambition to be a big club in 2018 . ?

We had the ambition to have a brilliant stadium , but nothing was done on the squad development for two years , in fact the squads stagnated and we went into a spiral of sacking managers , resulting in Ange being the first manager to complete a full season since Poch was sacked .

I appreciate your point regarding COVID ,of course ,
 
Walthamstow wanderer said:
Do you think we had proper ambition to be a big club in 2018 . ?

We had the ambition to have a brilliant stadium , but nothing was done on the squad development for two years , in fact the squads stagnated and we went into a spiral of sacking managers , resulting in Ange being the first manager to complete a full season since Poch was sacked .

I appreciate your point regarding COVID ,of course ,
Click to expand...
We did have ambition and the new stadium was needed to be able to compete with clubs who had greater commercial income, we have almost caught up now and we can see the result. As I said, we would have been in this position earlier had it not been for covid.
 
Personally I believe that we're now finally starting to see the rebuild that everyone wanted, post Poch era.
Like it or not we did procrastinate on buying decent players as (for me) the stadium came first.
Again we were 'fobbed off' with prospects and the odd smattering of stardust, but we were either unlucky or stoopid in our acquisitions.
I think what has actually happened is that the board has finally woken up to what many of us have been banging on about
In sort the reality of dropping into the Championship has gave them the much needed kick up the jacksy.
They've sold the family silver and actually started looking at getting 'oven ready' players in, the prospects will have to slip into the team, but not at the rate they were in previous years.
In short the owners look to have, actually 'started' the rebuild which was needed, whether all the cogs fit, is yet to be seen but looking at the plan for me we're now headed in the right direction.
 
Walthamstow wanderer said:
I asked this question back in MARCH 2025.

Has the board , the directors , the owners had a change of heart , out of desire or out of fear . Were plans really in place at the START of last season ?

If so , who decided that Frank was the one .
Why is it only now that our philosophy has changed . A club doesn’t become a big club in one window .

What should our ongoing plans be ?

This is what I posted back then .

Ambition …..

Within a football club , any club , but let’s concentrate on our club , who provides the impetus , who is the one that drives the club to be the best .?. Who provides the Ambition .

Is it just one person ?

Is it everyone , ?

Should it be everyone , or is there a scenario where someone thinks that someone else is there to provide the ambition .

Is it a clearly defined characteristic when discussing contracts .
Can it be bought and paid for if someone doesn’t have it . ?

What is the true meaning of ambition?


strong desire for success, achievement, or distinction. something so desired;… goal.
determination to achieve success., drive , , initiative .eagerness , motivation , commitment.

Does the chairman need to have it . Can he just sit behind his desk knowing that his job is to provide a stable and profitable base .
If he needs Motivation , in what form should that appear .
Signings , ?
If the club is sitting amongst the top ten richest clubs in the world , does he need any more motivation than that ?

Then , there is the motivation , the ambition of the Directors , Directors of Football , Heads of Departments etc .., how do they qualify their ambition .

Do they have to ?
As long as they are doing what they are told , is that
enough ?
How can they push Ambition . ?

Maybe Ambition rests on the Manager and his coaching staff .

Surely he has Ambition .

Do the players have to have ambition ?

Or are they paid enough that they can just turn up and play , collect their wages , and put their feet up in the evening .
When I was recruiting, I would ask the candidates where they saw themselves in five years time .

Can you ask footballers that ?

I would think we all agree that Ambition is vital .

But where does it come from , the top , everyone , anyone .?
Is it conditional on that age old conundrum , the story about Everybody , Somebody , Anybody and Nobody .

Ambition needed to be raised and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it ,
Anybody could have done it , but Nobody did it .
Somebody got angry about that because he said it was Everybody’s job ,

Everybody thought Anybody could do it , but Nobody realised that Everybody wouldn’t do it .
It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done .

Getting back to the point , are we an Ambitious Club .
Tell us what you think it is that makes us Ambitious, or what makes you think we are just the opposite.

How easy is it for one weak link in the chain to break the ambition .

Did we have Ambition in the past , ?
Did the building of the new Stadium kill a lot of it off?
Did the two barren windows prove to Pochetino that it wasn't worth him staying or pushing himself .?

A lot would say we entered a downward spiral
from then .

Give us your thoughts,
Click to expand...
The 'ambition' was always there; hence we ever finally got the stadium done.

But it was underpinned by Levy's incredible financial controls; hence the ridiculous low cost terms we secured it on.

The sporting ambition was always there too - despite what many think, but ENIC was hog tied by not committing to anything that exposed them with funding and their financial security. Levy did as he was told and as his conscience allowed him too.

If you examine the last 20 years of the prem, you will see massive waves of influxes of cash the likes of which terrified many owners, killed off quite a few and infuriated others - Spurs had to generate its own capital from trading and running well, we never had the hundreds of millions to chuck around like confetti - not having that ability tempers your ambition and ultimately affects how you trade.

The late intervention of the now controlling owners (The Lewis trust) is to be welcomed, belated as it is.
 
Last edited:
Maybe ENIC (and the Lewis name) realise that their own brand was in serious decline ... they either do something or sell up and move the barge to another location. Guess this is their last chance saloon ride
 
sldspurs said:
Maybe ENIC (and the Lewis name) realise that their own brand was in serious decline ... they either do something or sell up and move the barge to another location. Guess this is their last chance saloon ride
Click to expand...
I'd love to know what is motivating to do what they are doing now, the cynic in me says it's self preservation, not a sudden influx of excessive sporting ambition, but I'm told Nick is the new driving force behind all this....

Nick Beucher is the Co-CEO of the global private investment firm Tavistock Group and CEO of Tavistock Development Company. He is also the grandson-in-law of billionaire founder Joe Lewis and wields significant influence across the group's diverse assets, including sports investments like Tottenham Hotspur and real estate like Orlando's Lake Nona.
 
Last edited:
Spursex said:
The 'ambition' was always there; hence we ever finally got the stadium done.

But it was underpinned by Levy's incredible financial controls; hence the ridiculous low cost terms we secured it on.

The sporting ambition was always there too - despite what many think, but ENIC was hog tied by not committing to anything that exposed them with funding and their financial security. Levy did as he was told and as his conscience allowed him too.

If you examine the last 20 years of the prem, you will see massive waves of influxes of cash the likes of which terrified many owners, killed off quite a few and infuriated others - Spurs had to generate its own capital from trading and running well, we never had the hundreds of millions to chuck around like confetti - not having that ability tempers your ambition and ultimately affects how you trade.

The late intervention of the now controlling owners (The Lewis trust) is to be welcomed, belated as it is.
Click to expand...
Does the Lewis contribution of twenty years equate to hope rather than ambition ?
 
The owners have to either stump up or fcuk off. Our footprint in the game for a club of our magnitude has been negligible for the last number of years. That must change.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.