00:00 Talking about the demeanour of the players, obviously the players play a big part but when we speak to some of your players they often talk about how happy they are playing for you, how much they enjoy it.
00:11 And it looks like Richardson is enjoying this football as well. How conscious are you of making them enjoy their time here?
00:20 I'm a little bit torn with that. Like I keep saying, we're not going in there holding hands and singing songs. I just think it's how you define the word happiness.
00:35 I think my responsibility is to provide an environment for them to fulfil their dreams. And that doesn't mean that I'm always going to be cheery around the place.
00:47 I think sometimes that requires me to show them the way forward and that way forward sometimes is tough. It's not about... but hopefully they get enjoyment from seeing themselves improve, from seeing themselves achieve things, from seeing themselves being part of something special.
01:07 And that's the kind of happiness that I want. I just don't want players... I'm really wary of that actually. If I sense anyone's getting too comfortable, that sort of disturbs me more than anything else.
01:23 And I feel like I need to give them a bit of a push along. But like I said, depending on how you define happiness, I do think that my role is to, like I said, give them a sense of purpose.
01:35 For all of us, mate, if we've got people around us who love us and they're all healthy and we wake up with a bit of purpose every day, then I think we should all be pretty happy and thankful for what we've got.
01:49 You've just finally won the chance to win seven goals in seven days. You mentioned that you think you can play better and get even better. Is he making a pretty good case at the moment to be the long-term answer?
02:03 And in my best 11, is that what you're saying?
02:08 I guess it's talking points. People wondering if you're supposed to one day bring in the Australians.
02:12 Again, I've never thought in those terms. Because I just think if you do, then like I said, again, you box yourself in. What I do want is for Richard to keep improving and developing his football and becoming a real force for us.
02:31 And then we'll see where that takes us. Because as this year alone has shown us, whatever plans or designs I had about what kind of formation I'm going to play and which players are going to play a part of that, that pretty much went out the window after the first 15 minutes of Brentford when Romero gets a concussion and I've got to make a change.
02:52 I've never thought in those terms. Like I said, for me it's about trying to get players to fulfil their potential and with Richie I still think there's growth there. And if he keeps growing, well, we, the football club, will be the beneficiaries of it.
03:06 Can I ask you a bit more about James Planacin? I'm a bit related to your happy talk, which you've probably said, but some players just seem to have a lot of inspiring fans lifting the stadium and he got a great reception when he came back. Why do some players do that? Why does James do that?
03:27 Look, I guess, he is one of those players that A) is exciting to watch. I think he's a very creative player and invariably supporters for the most part love those kind of players who are a little bit different and can do something a little bit different on the football field.
03:49 Part of it is just the way he carries himself. I think Matt is, likes to be, for want of a better term, in the spotlight in the right way. He doesn't shy away from that responsibility. I'm in the team to create and be a force and he embraces that.
04:10 I think, again, supporters enjoy that, watching one of their own stand up in that kind of environment. I think it's a combination of things and he's just a lovable little rogue, mate. Apparently.
04:24 Is he like that around the camp?
04:26 Yeah, pretty much. He doesn't mind him own. Like I said, when he was injured he wasn't great. He's a very upbeat guy and he's not short of a word, which is not a bad thing. I think characters like that and personalities like that are really important in a dressing room, provided they back it up on the field. For me, that's always the ultimate measure and he's more than backed that up out on the field.
04:50 I know you're going to tell me England's not your problem, but we've all known that you've got a relationship with, or you might call flair players in the national team. Is it an important inspiration for you to bring apart the England team and the Euros?
05:12 Yeah, I'd like to think so because I don't think there's any reason why what he does at club level is not transferable to international level. But again, that depends on the team structure and the other players in the team because there's always got to be, whatever side you have, there's got to be a chemistry there.
05:32 You can't have as much as, there might be a universe where that exists, you can't have 11 James Madisons in your team. You need other kinds of players, other different types of players. That's the beauty, that's the chemistry we're all after, where you've got a little bit of everything in your team.
05:51 So that's always a challenge for every manager is sometimes how do you fit all these pieces so it makes a beautiful puzzle at the end of it. Sometimes we try and jam these pieces into spaces they don't fit.
06:09 It's pretty unusual to see Tottenham as the biggest spenders in a transfer window. It's almost a parallel universe.
06:17 It's a parallel spending window. There's a bit of context there.
06:21 Do you see this as a level of play?
06:24 Come on mate, don't tell me I brought my weight to the top because I spend.
06:32 Is this the perfect opportunity for a big club like Spurs that has been sensible in the future?
06:40 Again, I think all those things are an advantage. Whether you've got one pound or a billion pounds, it's how you spend it. I really do.
06:48 I have no issue with clubs that spend a lot of money if they get it right. Good on them. They're investing their money wisely. It's like all of us.
06:54 Whatever you've got, you want to invest it wisely. So whether that's a limitless amount or a finite amount as we're all finding out that there is now, you can't just spend. You need to be prudent around it.
07:06 It's how you spend it. I think for us, we've done a good job strategically because part of the brief, from my perspective anyway, was to do it early.
07:17 That was really important for us. I know people dismiss that aspect of it, but if we didn't have Timo and even Radu over the last three weeks and dropped games, we wouldn't be in the position we are.
07:29 We'd be in a very different position. That was just as important for me as us doing business. Maybe you're right. Maybe because of the lack of activity, it allowed us to do that early.
07:44 But I still think we were pretty smart about it in terms of the targets we identified and the way we did it with Timo and Radu. Is there an opportunity? I think there's always an opportunity. It's how you embrace it and take it.
07:59 Do you feel there will be an opportunity in the future because of the financial problems?
08:05 It depends again how we use that money. If we misspend, we're going to be in the same kind of bind because once you misspend, you have to replace, don't you? And you can't.
08:17 Like I said, it's as much about how you spend it as it is what you spend. Because one mistake now, particularly with a financial fair player, one mistake costs you more than that because you've got to replace that player.
08:33 You can't sell him for what you bought him. So there's a whole knock-on effect. I think part of it is clubs are just taking a little bit more care in the kind of way they're going to spend it.
08:46 I don't think that'll change now. I think they're going to say, "Well, look, if we're going to invest X amount, irrespective of what that is, let's try and get it right as much as we possibly can."
08:57 We did see the previous manager here say the recruitment has been terrible. You had to say that and put lots of people on loan. It seems very impossible to see that happening with the squad you have at the moment. You've already got the building blocks.
09:15 Yeah, to a certain extent. I don't talk about the past because I wasn't here. I don't think it's fair for me to talk about other managers or the circumstances they're in because I know how challenging this role is.
09:30 But from my perspective, I said last week, recruitment ultimately is my responsibility. If we go down the wrong path, it's on me because I've got the one that's got the final say.
09:44 That's where I put myself in that position. Obviously, if it doesn't go right, then I've got to take the flak for that. I'm also very, very confident when I make these decisions about minimising the risk any club takes because I've just got a real clear idea about what I want and whether it'll fit into what we're doing.
10:08 Can you talk about Lucas Boateng? I know the deal's not been announced yet, but we understand he's here now, sort of predicting the move. What are you seeing?
10:18 I think just with respect to the player, the club, even our club, I don't like speaking about these things because there's always something to look at. It's fair to say it's a fair way down the line and hopefully it gets concluded. Once it does, I'll be happy to chat about it then.
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