The Post-Pep Paradigm: Decoding Man City's Rebuild & Tottenham's £300m Financial Gamble

Just as I pressed the record button on this podcast the heavens have opened and a deluge a downpour has begun here in Manchester we have not seen rain for weeks but on the eve of the Premier League season a thing starting to pour for Manchester City players are leaving Tottenham Hotspur set to make a double swoop for two Manchester City players we'll talk about that on today's show and then of course looming large the specter of the 115 charges when and what will the outcome be welcome to football social daily my name's Nile joined by Joel Tudor for today's episode and on the last podcast Joel we spoke about your team Manchester United now you're going to have to take those rose tinted red tinted glasses off and put your blue hat on or at least try and be as objective as possible because we're going to be talking about Manchester City on today's episode first of all Pep Guardiola I've never seen a man cry so much before neither of I didn't realise how emotionally was I know we were talking very briefly about his documentary that everyone definitely should watch because it gives you the inside of someone who's achieved great like object at least speaking great things in the game but I didn't think well was the jury still out in terms of what the transition's going to be like after him life after Pep I mean life after any big managers difficult unless you live up or whether win the league straight away after you hook and clop which was very lucky but yeah it was anyone who's seen it if you're in our telegram group talk to me about it and what you thought of it because the merineo one in the Pep one are two very different ones it's almost like David Goliath and I'll let people understand which way I tell it I'm kind of distinguishing between the both they're two such so different characters like Harry Potter and Voldemort like they're just two different guys completely different which is why they have such a hatred towards each other there's a beautiful story isn't it well I'm not going to try and guess which one's which but Voldemort is bold and so's Pep so I don't know maybe I'm putting two and two together making five I'm not sure we're not going to talk about the Pep Guardiola Manchester City era because he's gone remarkably after 10 years and one of the greatest managers we've ever seen on these shores he has moved on and so it's up to another boldy Enzo Morescar to take charge of Manchester City they've made signings this summer they've also sold players but there are two outgoing heavily linked in the media today as Tottenham Hotspur are in talks to get their checkbook out once again this summer for a double swoop to sign man cities Savinio and Omar Mahmouche now I think one thing that's interesting with Manchester City is when players aren't fit for purpose they move them on pretty quick even if those players are actually involved relatively regularly look at someone like Joao Cancelo who springs to mind off the top of my head from a couple of seasons ago Joel Savinio probably fits that mould doesn't he he isn't quite the player that Manchester City were hoping he would be and so I think it's fair enough they're looking to shift him on Omar Mahmouche meanwhile was only signed in 2025 cost 60 million quid eight goals in 36 games last season wasn't really Pep's favourite let's just say and now he could be on the move as well also to Spurs let's talk about the Manchester City side of things first are you surprised these two players are being linked with moves away I want to talk about this because I think there's a big topic of Manchester City's recruitment post Tiki I can never pronounce his second name I'm going to call him Tiki B since he's been at the club and since he's left sorry and Hugo Viana is coming from sporting I just want to talk about his transfers and what you think about them because for me they've been questionable and it's not very characteristic of Man City's recruitment so if you go through his signings Hugo Viana's signing since since he's came in Omar Mahmouche who's about to be sold after a year Niko Gonzalez has been linked with Newcastle Kusanov has been decent Ryan Aitneri decent Tijani Rinders has just been sold to Saudi Ryan Cherke has probably been the biggest success James Trafford sold after a season Donna rummer I don't know where the city fans write him or where they were too expensive Semenio has been a hit Marge he's been a hit Elliot Anderson's too early to call and Vittor Rice has been okay in that the hit rate is very very low when you look at majority of Manchester City signings usually you embed themselves quite quickly or they go quickly after a year I'm just wondering whether his recruitment has been not up to standard at Man City compared to when Tiki was there because that's a number of transfers where you're looking at them thinking how the only last three year why have they not made such an impact at Man City because all these guys cost a lot of money and they put obviously a lot of confidence in them when they came in to then sell them a year later is that just cutting your losses and I mean it's not like they've made a loss actually and a lot of these plays have actually made a profit so is it more a case of just you've got one year to prove yourself and go and that's almost the the philosophy at Man City now very cut throw or is it just the case of really mismanagement in the recruitment section I think it's hard to tell because we're in this crossover period between Pep and Enza Morescar so we don't know how Enza Morescar is going to deal with these players and how many chances he's going to give to these players but we saw how ruthless he was at Chelsea when he was faced with a massive squad and had to streamline it slim it down chop off the ends and figure out who was going to stay in his main squad and who was going to go and train with the academy so I'm not saying that Enza Morescar can't do that but what we know about Manchester City over the last 10 years whether it's cheeky beginner's style or Hugo Viana putting the strings on the signings Pep Guardiola has been the main man there and actually we joked about the documentary at the start of this episode I think what we saw in that documentary at least the clips that I've seen because admittedly I haven't seen the whole thing just in those small clips and snippets that I've seen a manager who is dealing with players that are different now to when he started and we say that the world moves on quickly and football moves on quickly you spoke about him talking about his divorce and getting emotional and saying the sacrifices that he had made to stay at Manchester City and try and make this a better team and make the players better you know he's so emotional about football you get the occasional player who you just doesn't feel that way you know they're not connected to football in the same way sometimes football isn't the most important thing in these players lives because they do have so many other distractions like social media and I'm very much putting all footballers in the same box and they're not all like that so I don't want to tarnish them all with the same brush but you see what I'm trying to say it feels like you know football moves and evolves so fast and football is not just about what happens on the pitch it's everything else around it as well and it just feels to me that the modern player is a little bit less attached to everyone else's issues you know there's maybe less empathy there I don't know whether Pep Guardiola was looking for empathy because of all of the personal things he's been through but maybe there's just not the same connection in terms of the passion for the game that Pep has you know I don't know whether that's the case in some of these players where they've not been a hit I'm not sure but Pep Guardiola expects a certain type of of soul from his players I think and I'm not sure that all of those signings have had that so from what I could see from it he just well very evidently doesn't accept passengers passengers in his team and I think that's because he gives so much to that team and he probably does so much analysis and so much thinking behind it so the fact that it's it's almost coming to his personal life that it becomes alien alien for him to look at players that he's just he's just signed and look at them on the pitch would play with no passion and no soul and no identity it probably feels like they've cheated him in a way because there was a moment during it where Kyle Walker asked to leave in the January when City were going through that seven game beaten run and he leaves and he goes back into the dressing room and he says can you believe our captains left us home and dry when we're in this period I can't believe none of you gripped him up by the wall and told him you're our captain leaders the way it's like he demands a certain character a certain fighting spirit in that team and if he doesn't see it or if you look like the weak one it's almost like natural selection but in a squad for him if he sees that you've got weak stragglers you've got I'm not going to make you into a beast you've got to come here and show me that or you've gone the next season and I think that's how Pep works is basically survival of the fittest if you're going to play for me and I'm one of the best ever in football you don't have time you don't have time I don't have time to wait for you to try and prove to me because I've signed you for a reason you should always you should already be there unless you're you know at 18 year old and you still got a bit of bedding in to do but I don't think he has the patience for it because like you say football moves very quick he has the risk of getting sacked very quick realistically things go bad and he needs plays who are on his side and are not passengers so I think if you're interested see what more escus point of view is because clearly he's looking at some of these players and thinking I don't feel as though your character's correct for my style of being a manager very different personality though to merino very different you know it's not like he's a shelter he's going to kick and scream and throw a boot at you whereas merino sounded that way so very different kind of personalities my manager and it's really interesting to see different a lot of speculation about why Pep Guardiola chose now to call it a day some people have thought that it was because these 115 charges are imminent and Manchester City a guilty is this just coincidence that it does appear that they're selling quite a lot more than they normally would or at least that's how it appears that might not necessarily even be true and Omar Mahmouds and Savinio are they going to be first team nailed on starters for Enzo mereska I guess not if they're up for sale or is this just the case of Manchester City selling players because they know something that everyone else doesn't I've seen a lot of comments on social media from city fans saying this is a little bit concerning we keep selling players does this mean we're guilty what does this mean I'm trying to think had Pep stayed I think we still would have seen a similar approach because he wouldn't have accepted losing the title two years in a row and I think he would have looked it as another transitionary window where he needs to change the old guard for a new guard again I mean John Stone's he's been there for years Bernardo Silva been there for years and then obviously you got Mahmouds we just signed and Savinio has been there for a couple of years I think it's there would have been a very similar activity but I'm more inclined to believe that when you're a player who's played just under Pep and then he leaves I think a lot of them look at themselves and think is it time for me to have a new challenge and is it is it time for me because I might even they might not even be in the new manager's plans so I think sometimes it is it's almost like a bit of a turning of a page not only for the club not only for the manager but the existing players so maybe it's a little bit more than usual but on spurs is perspective what this is definitely more than usual for them my spending this about money I mean what's it going to be 300 million quid or something I mean this is two new additions that they've made on top of Tanali and Mathes Fernandez who have both gone for big fees I have two I've got two questions on this my first one is was this relegation this touch with death last season this touch of relegation was it necessary for them to almost get so much trauma from feeling like they were about to go to the championship to then have to spend these amounts of money or was it the fact that they always had this money but they were just refusing to spend it because this is so uncharacteristic for spurs and not only have they spent money but they spent money on some of the top plays in the country and they've outspent teams and they're given insane salaries to the point where even money and I couldn't compete with them so what which one is it or is it the fact that both exist at the same time well it could be both at the same time I mean maybe they've been prompted to actually spend the way out of trouble because they have been in trouble the last two seasons but not as one thing dies in with death but to do it two times in a row you know you spoke about flirting with that trauma I mean how much trauma do they want it's finished in 17th and one season non yeah clearly they want to be in a relegation fight every season it's incredible but 185 million combined on Mathes Fernandez from West Ham and Sandra Tanali from Newcastle plus however much they're going to spend on Marmouche and Sophigno they're interested in Cody Gackpo from Liverpool I think that would be a really good sign this could be a massive summer for spurs financially but what that means for them in terms of where they finish in the league I don't really know I don't know I just don't know what I've seen from Tottenham in recent times it'll definitely be an improvement on 17 that's I didn't know what we said that last year when they won the Europa League and finished 17th and then what did they do last season they went to finish 17th again and there was you know the Champions League football on top of that but it it's just it was just dreadful it was dismal recruit recruit I think the recruitment I've always said this about spurs they used to be leaders under pet and on the potch and I'm not talking about buying the best plays but having really good ideas solid plans to the yeah whereas in the in the years that preceded that it was very very you know endombole le selso salanki I'm still not convinced with a lot of the definitely the first two obviously salanki still juries still out but the fact that they're going for tonnale one of the best me fielders in the Premier League Mateusz Fernandez one of the best players in the Premier League last season alongside okay Marmouche is scored some big goals a big play for his nation I still think he adds quality straight away in goals that are lacking in their teams so he knew the widening for got two years now so it's like he's not like he's a new player on the radar I'm starting to wonder I wonder what angpasta coglue and tonnale content Jose Maria think about the summer where's the money being what they want the whole time yeah yeah absolutely maybe they'd still be at the clubs if had spurs his hierarchy said we're going for it this season we've got the manager we're going for it I just think that sometimes you have to have a touch with death to be that close to feel like we we have no choice I think so I think they've got a little bit complacent with the sixth place in the thought and they're trying to balance the books Daniel levy left and all of a sudden you know the flood tie the tide opens and everything suddenly becomes crazy money I know what you're saying it's dance macabre isn't it it's you get so close to death that you want to make sure you live your life because you didn't do it previously I understand exactly what you mean it's almost that in football terms isn't it but I just wonder and having not looked into Tottenham's financials recently whether the ownership or whoever makes the decisions that spurs these days wanted to reach a certain baseline before they started making outlays on the squad maybe they've seen this as an opportunity because everyone else is so vulnerable right now city with no pep selling their ball on door winner et cetera spoke about Liverpool new manager no seller Chelsea new manager nobody knows what's going on Manchester United still relatively inconsistent you know aside from Arsenal their big rivals the door is a jar because we don't know for certain exactly what might happen amongst the other big clubs in Tottenham would see themselves as a big club in that traditional big six even though I disagree with that I don't think they've got the silver whale the accolades to back that up but certainly financially they're in that club commercially they're definitely in that club of the biggest teams around and I think I saw an article recently and I might be completely wrong here but something is is nagging at me to say this that Tottenham make more revenue from outside of football than any other club in terms of hiring the stadium out to the NFL and concerts et cetera I'm sure I saw an article which put Tottenham in and amongst the top clubs on the planet for that kind of thing the commercial revenue away from the football side of things and maybe they were just waiting for that to reach a certain point because they still had to pay the billion pounds for the stadium you know they have been quite conservative and still being competitive at the same time maybe they've reached a point now spurs where they are willing to go you know what let's put some money down let's science and players the stadium project has worked we've found our commercial value from the stadium project we've managed to stay competitive-ish in the main aside from the last two seasons in which one of them they want a trophy for the first time in god knows how many years maybe this is just a point they've reached where they are able to to knuckle down and invest in the football side of the operation maybe that's what it is I'd love to look for 10 minutes through Tottenham's finances and read some press bits and pieces and see whether that's accurate or not but that's just my hunch because when you think about the other side in North London and Arsenal how many years did venga slave without much money to spend to keep them in the top four when the Emirates was built and now it's taken 15 years from then for Artetta who's been there five years himself to really wrangle this squad into a position in which they are one of the best teams in Europe I just wonder whether that might be an element or is it it does seem weird though suppose just doing this out of the blue I mean there must be reasons for it yeah I definitely think the last two seasons of influence decisions where they know that having another season like that cannot happen again but everyone forgets that they've got the fifth highest income in the league despite finishing 17th or 16th in the league they've also been able to offload players for a really high value and they also have the champions league money from last season which which people forget because obviously they got into it through the Europa League which has now come to fruition during this season so they have money at the disposal I just wonder if they've just been quite tight with it in the last few years you know trying to and don't even want to say balance books but almost just trying to conserve value in terms of the cash on hand I don't know I don't really know I don't know exactly what their finances are but they are still a really high income in teams so I think the Spurs players the Spurs fans they needed it it was almost essential imagine going into this summer and thinking we can spend 80 million everything's going to be fine this was their heart surgery summer where they had to do it if they didn't do this they were facing yet another potential relegation fight because clearly one season is you know maybe an anomaly two seasons is no coincidence that that's the state of your team so they had to do this it was it's for the sake of the club's future and maybe like you say maybe that happens to put out a huge outlay now just a secure top seven finish next season and then maybe next summer we might see a lot of sales you might see a big reduction but it's just for the sake of we can't be in that position again this season is impossible I think the one thing I've noticed with Spurs is anytime there is a feel good fact of the bubble bursts very quickly very quickly like Thomas Frank the first game of last season Burnley the Thomas Frank era begins they're three nil up on Burnley inside an hour Rachaelison scores a couple of goals they've batted them opening day of the season what to start the Thomas Frank gets his opportunity at a big club after doing so brilliantly with Brentford and then all of a sudden the bubble bursts they lose in the last minute to West Ham they lose or can see last minute goal to Sunlet they just kept losing in the last minute and the bubble burst pretty quickly and Thomas Frank was sacked we don't need to go into what happened after that because it was just disaster after disaster for Tottenham last season in terms of the decisions that were made I think they've got a really difficult start on Saturday they've got the 530 kickoff Brentford away that's tough that's tough because Brentford are one of the only teams in the Premier League this season where they haven't had a great deal of turbulence that all happened last summer with Thomas Frank leaving you know they're one of the more solid teams in the Premier League in terms of they've kept a hold of their manager who I thought would not be a success and has been so I need to say apologies to Keith Andrews because he's done an excellent job so far but I don't think that's the easiest start at all and then after a game at home in the caribou second round against Charlton they host new castle so Brentford away and new castle at home at their first two games but like I say with Tottenham I think it's going to be this season if they do well well they've spent 300 million quid so we'd expect them to do that necessary a necessary 300 and also they made they've had some big outgoing stuff so he's balanced itself I guess the thing I was trying to say was I don't think they can win I think it's I don't think it's an argument they can win if they play well we expect that they won 300 million quid and if they play badly it's a case of well they were 17th last year what do you expect and they've spent 300 million quid so they should be doing better it just feels like there's going to be an argument no matter what spurs do this season I think that the first two games are going to be really interesting not only for me but probably spurs fans of has there's okay you can spend 200 and 30 million and bring great players in which I think they have and don't forget Vanneck as well is a great sign in and Sinesi I just want to see has the trauma from the last two seasons of finishing in 16th and 17th as it gone are they going to go into these games nervous feeling like this pressure for them to win or if they've got a new leash of life which deserves instilled in them over this summer I think it will be the latter purely because they brought in what five new fresh faces they haven't undergone that trauma of the last two years they come in on very good season with the respective teams I think it'll be a new look spurs team I don't think they're going to be a revelation where they're going to finish in the top three in everyone's thinking wow this first team I want to watch like it was under parched but I definitely think they'll be within a shower of top six top seven at least because it's hard to bet against it they brought in top the top players in the league last season for every position it's hard to bet against that but like we say and we've seen in the past money doesn't necessarily buy you an instant you know Q jump to the front you have to still mold your players but I think there's a great manager to do that with like when you look at what he did at Brighton I think he still can still do that Tottenham and Manchester City making headlines but by the end of the weekend will they be making headlines for success on the pitch we will find out of course in due course because the Premier League kicks off this weekend Friday night the first fixture it is Arsenal against whole city and we will talk about that on the next episode of football social daily it's not Arsenal against whole city that's wrong it's Arsenal against Manchester United there are just too many games going around already it's not you know it's not Arsenal against Coventry I mean these are all games that will happen in the season Joel I'm just getting them in the wrong order just getting in the mood yeah you know mouthwatering stuff Arsenal gets Coventry is what we'll talk about on the next episode of football social daily and if you want more cutting edge analysis like that then hit subscribe or follow and that way you'll never miss an episode of the podcast again all of the links are in the description we are looking for a sponsor as well on the pod so if you are interested then get in touch with us as I say the details are in the description but for now that's it and we'll speak to you next time on football social day