There are many fools at Spurs; will Fabio Paratici be one of them?
By Don Scully
As we, the world and even Uncle Tom Cobley know, Fabio Paratici has been confirmed as Mr Levy’s stooge or, if you prefer, the new Tottenham Director of Football. Ever since his appointment, he has been working behind the scenes from Italy (and away from Levy and the Board).
When Paratici talked to the media, he said: “I will dedicate all myself to this new venture and look forward to working with the management team to write a new and hopefully successful chapter in the club history.” [Evening Standard]
Really? And what role is that? To win us trophies, maybe? First of all, he will need to put a world class manager in charge of the team, which will cost money. And we all know that Levy has short arms and long pockets unless he is paying out his, the Boards and his investors’ remunerations. So, it seems that his objective and Levy’s are sort of at odds. Levy wants what Paratici probably wants, but on the cheap, and that isn’t going to happen any day soon. Granted, we may win one of the minor trophies (League or FA Cup) but nothing above Levy’s pay grade threshold.
We are now more than 60 days on from sacking Mourinho, and the supporters have been pissed at the speed… sorry, the slowness of it all. We have gone through potential applicants as fast as a cocaine addict goes through cocaine.
The club has been criticised over the years for their lack of quality signings, and when they have had somebody, he was quickly sold for mega-money. However, Paratci has a good history when he was at Juventus, where players were concerned. He signed such stars as Cristiano Ronaldo, Paul Pogba, Andrea Pirlo, Paulo Dybala, and many more during his time at Juventus. Of course, we would love such quality at Tottenham, so I hope that he will be able to provide great signings for us, but somehow I doubt it… We could have done that without him if it wasn’t for Levy’s tightness where transfers were concerned.
We have a defensive problem. Paratici has reportedly shared his desire to focus on that issues (Calcio Mercato). We (as in supporters) have been wanting quality defenders every single transfer window. But with Fabio Paratici running the club as the Director of Football, Levy will, as the theory goes, feel pressured to spend money on defenders in this window. Really? What is Paractici got over Levy to achieve that goal? Nothing will happen until Levy invests in the club, which he hasn’t done up until now. Managers have come and gone, and they all have failed in their time with Tottenham due to the chairman’s lack of investment.
This is what I think
I believe that Levy will use Paractici as a shield in the hope that he, and not himself, will get most of the stick. But our fans aren’t that stupid and will know where the buck stops, and they will also know that Paractici is just Levy’s puppet.
Nothing will change until either Levy goes or he starts to realise that the heart of Tottenham isn’t the stadium but the team. Without it, you’ve just got a cash cow pumping machine.
By Don Scully
I have been following Spurs since the sixties and work in London. My current job is as a professional writer (working in the media), and I have work connections to the club and had previously worked for them. Including working at the old White Hart Lane stadium.
I also have my own blog and have written for the SpursWeb app & its website.
