Let’s be Franco: the Baldini Effect

So Franco Baldini has finally joined us, as Technical Director, and I for one am delighted. Since AVB was appointed last year there have been many rumours that we would be reverting back to the old continental style management set-up, and that someone would be appointed to be the middle man between Levy and the new manager. At the time it was Tim Sherwood who was being talked about as the man for the job. However, he was overlooked for the role.

And so the season went on without the job being filled and, quite frankly, I think it’s what cost us in the transfer market. AVB prefers to handles the players while someone else deals with the transfers and communicates with the chairman. Ever since he was appointed Head Coach last year he has continuously stated about his need for another man in between him and Levy. “The most important thing is the relationship with the person who bridges the gap between manager and board, and that he is able to be focused on the technical side of things. Someone who has experience of dressing rooms, represents the club, is able to link up with players, agents.”

We are at a very crucial stage as a club. As it stands we have the foundations for something special. With the right players recruited we could well see a title challenge. For that we would need someone of experience who has a lot of contacts within the game. Baldini’s contact list is probably longer than you or I could imagine, while he has also shown that he has a real eye for spotting talent.

During his first stint at Roma, he was the one who saw the potential in a then 18 year-old Daniele De Rossi, who he brought in for free. He also saw fit to recruit a 31 year-old Gabriel Batistuta who fired in 20 goals for the club. He repeated the feat at Real Madrid when he recruited Gonzalo Higuain and Marcelo, both 18, in addition to Ruud Van Nistelrooy who, at 30, topped the Liga scoring charts with 25 goals.

This fits in perfectly with the current Spurs project. As much as I might dream otherwise we cannot compete with other sides in the league in financial terms so we have to scour the market for the best deals. This means signing youngsters with potential sell-on values while adding a couple of experienced heads, all for the right price.

So Baldini seems like the perfect man for the job and for any doubters out there, just remember it could be worse….we could have Joe Kinnear.

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