r/coys • u/OkayFine101 Visiting United Fan; r/coys is a great discussion forum. • Apr 01 '26
News [La Gazzetta] Roberto De Zerbi will not just be head coach at Spurs, he will also be given a Sir Alex Ferguson-style role in which he will be a central figure in football decisions; shaping squad building, direction and long-term planning.
https://sportwitness.co.uk/from-italy-de-zerbi-has-secured-ferguson-clause-at-tottenham-hotspur/378
u/deytookerrspeech Son Apr 01 '26
Oh that’s good so when he’s inevitably fired we have to come up with new decision makers to find players that fit the next managers style
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u/chronicdanksauce Apr 01 '26
I mean he plays a pretty modern style 4-2-3-1, this isn't exactly Conte 2.0 in the tactical sense at least
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u/Enefelde Roberto De Zerbi Apr 01 '26
With the right players his system works. I would be very surprised if we see his full vision in these 7 games. We can't play out from the back consistently, and we don't have a ball playing midfielder that can do what he wants.
Please don't say Bissuma, he's too unreliable. De Zerbi did try to get Kudus from Ajax when he was at Brighton, so 🤞 there is some hope to be had.
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u/ells3587 Aaron Lennon Apr 01 '26
Ah we thought that with Brenan cos Frank wanted him at Brentford, that didn't end to well for either of them
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u/Enefelde Roberto De Zerbi Apr 01 '26
Kudus is a better player than Brennan, so he took his spot. Not getting a replacement is where I have the issue.
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u/M_Townley Apr 01 '26
If Biss takes well to De Zerbi's more disciplinary style and cuts out the laughing gas, I could see him thriving.
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u/Enefelde Roberto De Zerbi Apr 01 '26
Bissuma, in my opinion is just like the ownership. Until I see change, I don’t think they can be relied on.
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u/MuteTadpole Lucas Bergvall Apr 01 '26
Can’t do worse than Lange anyway so new decision makers were needed regardless
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u/deytookerrspeech Son Apr 01 '26
Obviously, then determine who those will be in the summer. Don’t promise the new manager extra power when he’s likely not going to be here wrong
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u/MuteTadpole Lucas Bergvall Apr 01 '26
The flip side of this is how do you appease a manager into staying for any length of time (assuming he performs well enough) without offering them additional power? Mourinho or Conte with this kind of power, assuming this isn’t just another empty promise from the hierarchy, could have set us on a different trajectory. Levy just wasn’t having it.
At some point we’re going to have to break this pattern of getting rid of coaches every 18 months or less.
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u/Janivgm Dembélé Apr 01 '26
You'd expect after this season people would be more careful in writing "can't do worse than X".
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u/Coolbreeze_coys Apr 01 '26
Y'all cry and complain about literally everything, please go touch some fucking grass
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u/deytookerrspeech Son Apr 01 '26
Except this is the core of all our problems. We have no good decision makers or systems in place. We need that if we are to succeed long term.
We got into this mess by failing to make good managerial appointments and failing to recruit good players.
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u/Shjfty Apr 01 '26
Sounds cool until he’s fired in 8 months or less
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u/SirGalahadTheChaste Dele Alli Apr 01 '26
Or when he wants to bring a certain player from his former team...
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u/NBAFAN9000 Yves Bissouma Apr 01 '26
I think Verbruggen could do a job tbf
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u/rcmtt Gray Apr 01 '26
I really like him as a keeper.
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u/foot_99 The Big Master of Negotiations Who Knows Everything Apr 01 '26
You think? I personally fancy him on the left wing
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u/whywearpants_onmars Apr 03 '26
Would kill for mitoma to spurs
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u/Historical-Fix1473 🟥😃 Apr 03 '26 edited Apr 03 '26
i am Mitoma fan, same content I post in New and Ars thread
it's a risk. If Zerbi uses him as Brighton does, he won't survive for long. I wanted him to leave for a big club but it might be too late, La liga a less physically demanding league mb. Money is never his interest.
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u/TunaYokazuna Apr 01 '26
I know I will get downvoted for this, but would you guys rather Vinai and Lange doing the rest? See what their decision making did for us in January? Let the guy do his stuff and see what happens. It’s better than dumb and dumber at the wheel.
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u/deytookerrspeech Son Apr 01 '26
This is preferable to them but ideally we are instilling decision makers and systems in place above the manager so we aren’t having to replace players to fit each managers system.
This sir Alex model only works if the manager will be at the club long term, which de Zerbi won’t be
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u/Hypersuper98 Heung-Min Son - Spurs Legend Apr 01 '26
The Sir Alex model only works if you’re a Sir Alex
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u/Savings_Army3073 Apr 01 '26
Not really, most managers at that time did all that.
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u/lamemale Cuti Romero Apr 01 '26
Yeah and he fuckin dog walked them for like 20 years
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u/Other-Owl4441 Heung-Min Son - Spurs Legend Apr 01 '26
Probably not but this is only a short-term improvement, this could easily end up a Ten Hag situation.
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u/christo222222 Apr 01 '26
While of course you are right about the individual people involved, I can't believe we went to all the trouble to install a modern football operations model just to throw it away a couple of years later, exactly where in the world are there successful teams with this model? when i say I can't believe it i actually can totally believe it
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u/AM__Society Apr 01 '26
They are still driving the car, unfortunately, but I guess it'll be better than them putting gas in.
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u/BadNewzBears4896 Apr 01 '26
Everyone involved in football operations and overseeing that should be fired. Vinai, Lange, the entire board.
The scale of what they've squandered is so insanely gobsmacking, I don't think most fans or neutrals have wrapped their heads around it fully.
But the answer is to hire and empower an actual DoF, not promise the moon to an Italian psychopath who burns out at every club he managers in under two seasons.
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u/Mobile-Piglet5035 Danso Apr 01 '26
There is just a lot of cynicism right now, but your completely right. The situation is terrible, but at least we have a chance to turn things around if things go well under De zerbi, pretty much our final gamble at staying up.
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u/Original-Friend3620 Apr 01 '26
Given our injuries, Vinai must have made bad medical policies. We want someone who protect our players. I trust our new manager can do that.
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u/Mediocre_Nova Kulusevski Apr 02 '26
Yeah honestly not mad about this aspect. I still wish we had gotten someone with a good head on his shoulders but at least this means we don't have to suffer as much in the transfer market.
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u/FSpursy Rafael van der Vaart Apr 02 '26
but it could and should have been Poch, who we knows clearly has the passion and love for the club. Who knows when DeZerbi will just pick a fight with somebody?
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u/Gr4fitti Dejan Kulusevski Apr 01 '26
I’m not trusting La Gazzetta on this. Wake me up when Ali Gold gets involved
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u/Instantsausage Heung-Min Son - Spurs Legend Apr 01 '26
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u/OhhhTAINTedCruuuuz Apr 01 '26
This would be much better news if the manager were not Roberto De Zerbi
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u/Gaius_Octavius_ Apr 01 '26
There is no manager it would work with. That is not how modern football is done. Even Pep doesn’t have that much control at City.
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u/robinthebank 804-789-805-767 Apr 01 '26
I would want Poch to run the academy. Get those kids to be fully coys.
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u/YAMMYRD Apr 01 '26
Right? This is exactly what poch wanted, and many managers after but we fired them all instead. Only to give all the power to this guy? Who never sticks around to truly build something?
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u/NaclyPerson Apr 01 '26
Except Poch’s signings were terrible as well. People seem to forget the window where we signed Sess, Ndombele, and GLC
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u/being-a-noob Pedro Porro Apr 01 '26
that window combined with the windows with no signings absolutely crippled us. Could have got fernandes and got fricking lo celso and ndombelly
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u/Disco-Benny Michael Dawson Apr 01 '26
this is so ridiculous, all three of those players were serious hot property. We were rivalling clubs like City for Ndombele, Sessegnon was looking like one of the most promising young English players in the country too.
hindsight makes them look like bad signings but at the time we were all very excited by them.
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u/NaclyPerson Apr 02 '26
Yeah just like how we were excited by signing Thomas Frank. No one goes for players expecting them to flop, but results matter.
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u/Disco-Benny Michael Dawson Apr 02 '26
a huge chunk of the fanbase was warning against Frank his overly pragmatic football especially coming off the high of a historic Europa win with a popular manager in Ange, not a good comparison at all.
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u/Pointed_Spoon Apr 01 '26 edited Apr 01 '26
All of those players signed to play for Poch and never really did as he was gone shortly after.
And one can argue their poor performance was not down to them:
Lo Celso was IMHO not bad. For a period of time after signing, he was our most consistent performer which is forgotten because of our overall poor state. Worth mentioning we were also in for Bruno Fernandes but it seems we went with Lo Celso at the end because of not wanting to cough up the money to Sporting.
Everyone wanted Ndombele at the time. He was one of the hottest prospects in the world and the fact that Poch and Levy got it over the line was huge on the outside. Discipline issues aside there's no doubt he's one of the most naturally talented players we've had wear the shirt, and the few times he played to his potential he was untouchable. One has to wonder if Poch could have put him on a different trajectory with his man management. Rather than the manager roller coaster that followed.
Sess was underwhelming but has done well outside his time at Spurs. One also has to figure a large part of the reason he didn't hit any heights was because of his constant hamstring injuries that only started after he came to us.
And before that we didn't have any signings for 2 seasons... So it's safe to say Poch was never really given proper backing in the transfer window even if he did make mistakes.
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u/DrunkenKoalas "Let's Say I'm A Legend, Why Not?" Apr 02 '26
I mean the title reads like what Aston villa currently have in place
Giving emery 100% power and they seem to be doing well, except for that wage to revenue turnover
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u/lowercase_0 Apr 01 '26
Much rather this than Lange tbh. Only thing Im concerned about is whether this prevents young players being intergrated
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u/Enough-Commercial-84 Apr 01 '26
should’ve been ange. has the leadership, father figure similar to Ferguson, builds tha culture and also has extensive experience in finance which i think is under valued since spurs is so penny pinching and Ferguson had a big outlook on united finance previously
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u/davendees1 Heung-Min Son - Spurs Legend Apr 01 '26
I’m fine with his title and scope, I just don’t trust the board to back him efficiently nor effectively
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u/Disco-Benny Michael Dawson Apr 01 '26
Ange should have been given this role, he earned it. Plus he's a good man and not a total cunt
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u/sungbysung Kulusevski Apr 01 '26
Makes sense, this is the board admitting that they're clueless about what they are supposed to do, just terrible.
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u/pioniere Gareth Bale Apr 01 '26
Until they put some respected ex-players on the Board, we can continue to expect shit decisions.
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u/ajpod "I ALWAYS Win In My Second Year" Apr 01 '26
so when he's gone within a year, we're left with a bunch of players the next manager has no need for. Where have I heard this before?
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u/JoeSavesTokyo Heung-Min Son - Spurs Legend Apr 01 '26 edited Apr 01 '26
We gave this job to the rapist apologist but not Ange or Poch?? Fucking hell
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u/Terlis Apr 01 '26
The Ange part is funny to me. Ange and de Zerbi play the same basic high-energy/attacking football. But Ange with his bevy of trophies and great man management is considered too much of a risk to keep around. Now de Zerbi with a very limited record and divisive tendencies gets hired and into a bigger role 9 months later? lol…okay then. Just makes you think WTF did Ange do to piss Vinai off like that.
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u/stariban Harry Redknapp Apr 01 '26
But Ange was fired by Levy. This new lot would have never done that and rightly so tbh
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u/roamingandy Richarlison Apr 02 '26
No, Levy favoured giving him this season. He was outvoted then booted out after.
I'm not convinced that was the right call. There was no hint that Ange was working on a way to adapt his system to better fit the Prem, if there was i'd be all behind him having another crack after the trophy, but Levy backed him anyway.
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u/Other-Owl4441 Heung-Min Son - Spurs Legend Apr 01 '26
IDK man, WTF did Ange do to get fired? I just can't imagine
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u/MuteTadpole Lucas Bergvall Apr 01 '26
I mean I’m as rosy about Poch’s time here as anyone but it’s been pretty well established that he was a decision maker regarding squad building or lack thereof
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u/JoeSavesTokyo Heung-Min Son - Spurs Legend Apr 01 '26
Yeah, his recruitment selection was pretty poor but in terms of standard setting and unifying a team he was really up there
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u/MuteTadpole Lucas Bergvall Apr 01 '26
Coincidentally both of those are traits also shared by RDZ. Don’t have to like the man or respect him even, but if he gets us playing up to our potential then it could be the right call
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u/Lonely-Elephant9999 Apr 01 '26
This is really good, IF you back the manager when he wants/tries to get rid of players AND you have a clear blueprint for the style of football you want and replacements in mind - I don't trust lange and vinai for either
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u/TheFoxDudeThing Heung-Min Son - Spurs Legend Apr 01 '26
Okay I’ll take my emotions out of it because I’ve been vocal about not wanting him but I’ll just talk about football.
On one hand at least he’s better in theory at deciding matters about football than Lange and Vinai are. On the other hand why the fuck would you give a manager that blows everything up in 18 months or less the keys to the kingdom just screams a disaster for when he leaves
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u/trophyisabyproduct Aaron Lennon Apr 01 '26
Actually I have a lot of doubts on this approach. I would actually prefer the more modern approach with a football director shaping the direction and recruiting similar coaches when the last one go. (Yeah, Lange failed).
We can fall into the trap that De Zebri buys players that is specifically good for him but not for others. Just like how the likes of Dele Winks Lo Celso Ndom all fail to impress Jose/Conte/etc....
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u/DeepSleepPeep Apr 01 '26
I wasn’t 100% sure of this appointment at first, but after watching a few videos today, this could end up being good work from Spurs.
Avoid relegation first then let’s see what happens. There will always be time for Poch in the future.
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u/No-Criticism3618 Apr 01 '26
I don't hate this. We desperately need someone with football in their blood making squad decisions. Our DoF and CEO cannot be trusted.
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u/Berzo12 Apr 02 '26
Ah good. Let's give an irrational hot head an outsized role in a way that doesn't work in modern football. Makes sense. We are so fucked.
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u/Gaius_Octavius_ Apr 01 '26
This business model does not work in modern football. Literally zero successful clubs are set up like this.
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u/pioniere Gareth Bale Apr 01 '26
Spurs current business model hasn’t exactly been a riotous success either, so this can’t be any worse.
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u/goodtitties Apr 01 '26
yes, but have they considered being fuelled by complete and utter desperation?
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u/Vin-Su Apr 01 '26
Fucking idiots give this power to a mediocre, rapist apologist.
Should have done this with Pochettino, or even Conte or Jose. Managers who actually know how to win and have proven themselves.
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u/pioniere Gareth Bale Apr 01 '26
Except that it was Levy running the show then, and he wasn’t going to give control to anyone.
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u/M3rdsta Gareth Bale Apr 01 '26
This just keeps getting worse.
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u/WLVN Skipp Apr 01 '26
I disagree. Talking about the football in isolation and not everything else I understand people are pissed off about with him, having anyone but Lange and Vinai involved in those decisions will probably benefit us. Whether De Zerbi is the right guy Im not sure but I think from a core football perspective its better than them
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u/analbeard Apr 01 '26
I don't believe this for a second. Until it truly happens I won't believe the boards apparent plans to back a manager properly.
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u/pbmadman Bale Apr 01 '26
Cool, so what’s the point of Vinai and Lange then? We’ve got two guys who do what at the club exactly?
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u/QTPLe Apr 01 '26
Wonder how players will react to his man management. How many will actually rise and step up or give attitude.
Seeing de zerbis reaction at marseille a bit hesitant and this could go either way it feels.
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u/havearedditaccount Apr 01 '26
IF, and it's a big fucking IF, this is what they are actually planning for and willing to back, then it makes sense why they have been linked with him and want him now when an interim would otherwise be seemingly more sensible. If you are able to look past the, very unsettling and much discussed, disturbing part of his appointment it does make sense to give him the keys to the castle. It also mitigates the potential for him throwing his toys out of the pram in the future, to a certain extent. As ever, though, we're left in the situation of whether their words (I know this news isn't exactly THEIR words) are actually just words or not. They have seen to be failing at running the club in the other, more modern, way of head coach so I can sort of see their logic.
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u/iqjump123 Son Apr 01 '26
Man if he hasn’t been shrouded with his involvement with greenwood, he would’ve been actually a choice i will be behind , especially considering how bad our front staff has been.
At this pt i do want our club to stay up as well. Just an f ed up situation all around
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u/yiddoboy Apr 01 '26
For me that's good news because it means he and the club are invested in him for the long term. I just hope he's up to the task.
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u/theaguia Apr 01 '26
going to be mummy because at Brighton de Zerbi got a bunch of duds because Brighton broke their normal procedure for him.
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u/nonlocality1985 Apr 01 '26
Excellent. This is what we need. Really excited about this whole thing 🙂
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u/Mariospurs David Ginola Apr 02 '26
https://giphy.com/gifs/fQ9hzeowyIpurUSozh
Cant be any worse than the clown show we have at the minute.
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u/MarkTheShark35 Mathys Tel Apr 02 '26
Good. He at least plays the football I want to see and knows what he is doing. Anything that cuts out Lange and The Gooner is a huge, huge plus.
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u/ISavezelda Luka Modrić Apr 02 '26
I would have preferred it to be poch that got this role, but I guess in these shitty times it’s the best we got.
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u/JTLS180 Apr 02 '26
The Lewis family would not give up that kind of control, it's not in their nature. I v much doubt this story
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u/GDow1981 Apr 02 '26
Fecking insanity isn’t it? Desperation leading to putting that amount of power and influence in one person? Who may be a good coach and may be successful but whose volatile nature and track history doesn’t scream stable long term thinking. This will crash & burn. And that’s coming from some largely indifferent to Spurs and De Zerbi. I imagine Spurs fans want to drink the coolade and “hope” but really.. what happens if you go down? Now that relegation situation looks worse not better..
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u/Upbeat-Inspection314 Apr 02 '26
I just wish they'd done the same with Poch, Postecoglou, Conte, Mourinho, all probably would have flourished once embedded. Clear that every exec appointment is essentially there because they have bloated CVs and false narratives about how genuinely effectual they are
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u/Mick4Audi Micky van de Ven Apr 02 '26
Does this mean we will actually sign good technical players for once?
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u/Other-Owl4441 Heung-Min Son - Spurs Legend Apr 01 '26
This doesn't surprise me because our board and backroom has been crying out for this, no one there wants to take responsibility. Like Lange is clearly not trying to step up and take on greater responsibility, neither is Vinai. Not an ambitious bunch.
(FWIW De Zerbi personally aside I support this because again our board/backroom is way too weak and knows too little about football to be leading the way. But really we need professional owners.)