Harry Kane… I Can’t Even

Minutes after I’d decided not to write about the tedious Harry Kane situation in last night’s post, The Telegraph posted an article which is the closest thing I’ve seen to client journalism since the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg passed on Dominic Cummings messaging verbatim. I am absolutely staggered that Jason Burt would do this, he’s always been someone that I’ve respected and who has been pretty good on Spurs.

The Kanes have essentially, through The Telegraph, The Daily Mail and The Sun — i.e. the baddies — submitted a press release. It reads something like this: wahhh wahhh wahhh I want my own way and I’m not getting it wahhh wahhh wahhh. Cry more, Harry. Pathetic.

When you’re up against Daniel Levy and you are seen as the villain, you know something has gone wrong. Levy was public enemy number one for Spurs fans at the back end of the season and throughout much of the summer and there were even some continuing protests against him and ENIC outside the stadium on Sunday. This should have been an open goal for Kane PR-wise. The sort of tap-in he’d have sworn his daughter’s life on. Kane could have left on his terms, with his head held high and our fans largely understanding and even supporting his decision, his legacy in tact. But the Kanes have truly blown this in every conceivable way.

The latest grumbles don’t even stack up. He claims that at the end of the 2019/20 season, Levy told him that they’d go “all out” in pursuit of a trophy and Champions League qualification (hindsight lol) and, if we did not achieve that, he would be allowed to leave. But Levy’s not an idiot; on no planet would he allow Kane to leave for significantly under his market value.

It goes on, ‘It is why Kane also then felt empowered to conduct a Sky Sports interview with former England coach Gary Neville’. These are weasel words. This is gaslighting us, as fans — we have every right to feel upset about the interview because it was not a matter of empowerment, it was a matter of his greasing of the wheels. And, if we are to believe the rest of his side of the story, giving this interview before the season had even ended in order to try to ready the path for his move was not even necessary due to his ‘gentleman’s agreement’.

Then we move on to his late return. Kane ‘feels’ he’d been given an extra week away. The Sun’s version of the story (don’t worry, I used a proxy to read it) offers more detail. Of course, once again, it’s not Kane’s fault.

‘Kane believes he had permission from Levy to take an extra week’s holiday after spending time in the Bahamas and Florida. But it is claimed that two days into his stay, Kane was told new boss Nuno Espirito Santo wanted him back for pre-season training.’

‘CITY BREAK Harry Kane expects breakthrough in Man City transfer move before the weekend as Tottenham now resigned to losing striker’, The Sun, I’m not linking to it

Does he ‘feel’ he had permission, does he ‘believe’ he had permission, or did he ACTUALLY HAVE PERMISSION? Nuno Espirito Santo is hardly going to renege on an agreement Kane had made with Levy before he even arrived at the club, is he? This seems like a pretty clearcut issue — you either have a WhatsApp or an email telling you when to be back or you don’t. If you have it, if it is as straightforward as he makes it out to be, the story would have been shut down minutes after it was run with a firm statement (‘I’m here because I have permission from the club to be here’.) — not by an opaque Instagram statement days after it broke when the tabloid press had already got to work.

It is just so disappointing that this is playing out in public in this way, all orchestrated by Kane. The Neville interview, the article in The Sun by a gossip reporter who knows the Kanes, the Instagram statement and now this. Everything Kane is doing now is an attempt to force Spurs to lower their asking price; he’s out there wrecking his reputation to save the richest club on the planet a few quid at the expense of our club. By creating toxicity to the point where the club just wants rid of him, he thinks he can force Levy’s hand. We — the fans, his fans — are being punished when, ultimately, there is only one party in this deal who can decide if the transfer happens: when City make a fair offer, the deal gets done.


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  1. Well said.
  2. H is a wonderful footballer He is on a pedestal for all home-grown players H either lacks business acumen or his advisers (brother?) have damaged his unblemished reputation by their poor, amateurish advice. Levy has seen all of this stupid behaviour with others in the past. Levy will not be railroaded the Club is more important. I say let H kick his heals with the acadamy boys until Christmas. Give him time to reflect. His future market value is not that important - he cost nothing - the club's standing as one of the top teams in world football is far more important. COYS
    1. "Levy will not be railroaded the Club is more important". Sadly, the "Club" (aka the 'Anchir Tenant') isn't. The ENIC investment company is, though.
  3. If Harry says that he had a verbal agreement with Levy well it all comes down to if the club are in a position to sell. Do not think for one moment that because of a verbal agreement Spur are going to give in to City and give Harry away for peanuts, well they have another thing coming. Levy decides when Harry goes and for how much. If Spurs take this to court against Harry the later will be the big looser. Man C as Daniel said it's either 160 mill of FO.
  4. Absolutely on the Money. Levy has said all along you can go as long as my valuation is meet. This is not a problem created by spurs but by city and Kane. The article mentions that Kane has been in contact with city throughout the season. Could this be the reason why kane was off the boil in the latter part of the season (goals and assists dried up) and why he went missing in cup final.
  5. Yes this is what the real Spurs fans think COYS
  6. Has anyone seen a transfer request from Harry? Surely if he really wants to go, then demonstrate it with a request to leave, or is he wanting a loyalty bonus. Architects/villains are his advisors looking to make a fortune. The club will survive without Harry and he may jump from the frying pan into the fire. Disappointed with Harry, will find it hard with all the egos at Citti.
  7. Well said. Totally agree with the sentiments and views expressed. What I can’t understand is where are the multitude of Levy bashers who if the shoe was on the other foot, would be filling Twitter with “Just pay what they’re asking, you cheapskate” tweets.
    1. We are still here. Harry you are a fool to do anything verbally with Levy and you shouldnt have signed a new contract - played right into Levy's hands. Oh and you Levy lovers - check out Harry's current market value.
  8. Very well said
  9. Maybe I’m a bit cynical, but I honestly believe that it’s his brother/agent who is the driving force behind this farce. Imagine being the agent of the supposedly best player on the planet haha and you’ve earned diddly squat out of it!! Who the fuck has even heard of him, apart from his family? Has Kane never heard the saying of family and buisness don’t mix? Spurs will always be bigger than the likes of Kane and co. COYS.
    1. Ahh, so Kane has retained his brother as agent and they all knew nothing about Release Clauses and his brother agreed to a 6-year extension 3 years back when Kane was 25. Kane can only blame himself
  10. Gentlemen's Agreement 2020 Harry “Can I leave next year if we don’t win a trophy?” Daniel “I promise I will consider it!" 2021 Harry “We didn’t win a trophy, I wan’t to leave as you promised" Daniel “As promised, I would consider it. I have considered it, the answer is £160m from Man City or NO!” Daniel has not broken his promise!
  11. It goers without saying that I'm a massive Harry fan, but it seems that he has been operating as if he is bigger then the club for some time. Before the Champions League final, I remember the narrative being that Harry would be considering his future if he didn't start against Liverpool He started and was anonymous. I personally always felt that we were better against Liverpool with Son and Moura as a split front 2 and pack the midfield- Dele Eriksen Sissoko Lamela/Winks/Wanyama (Winks probably). The point here is that he was putting pressure on to play and it got into the media ahead of the biggest game in our history. And ever since it feels like he thinks we are the "Harry Kane team". I wish him well, but we should let him on. City have players we could/should look for to sweeten the deal- Bernardo Silva and Laporte are the most obvious good fits. For proper shithousery, Levy should bid Harry + €25m for Mbappe. If we offloaded N'Dombele, who seems to have downed tools again, we would have
    1. This
  12. Some amazing comments, but are the posters really saying that they believe and trust Daniel Levy, despite twenty years of misinformation and downright lies from the ENIC stooge? The club has repeatedly said that Kane's not for sale, but isn't it really about Levy getting the biggest fee, as with Berbatov or Bale? Would we really be trawling Europe (or Italy, to be precise) for new players if a Kane windfall was expected? Haven't people learned anything from seeing how Levy and ENIC work? No, clearly!
    1. 'Wasn't expected' - sorry.
    2. This is not about how ENIC/Levy works. I'm sure that there was some discussions about Kane moving on and i don't have an issue with him doing so. The issue is why should we bend over and sell him for well below market value, especially as City forked out £100m for Grealish. If City want him and stump up the cash then off you go and good luck. Plenty of us Spurs fans moan when Levy won't pay a few extra quid for a player we believe he wants to buy so why should it be different the other way round. We can't have our cake and eat it too.
  13. Good article. I love Harry and will forgive him if he stays but every move he makes puts him in a worse light. First the idea of a gentleman's agreement- even if Levy did say something along the lines of "you can leave if we don't get CL football" (and there is no evidence he did) it cannot possibly amount to an agreement- aside from the legal position ie he has an agreement in writing that no doubt says it can only be amended in writing, the idea that it could have meant we will sell him for whatever price the club he wished to go to wanted to pay is silly. Further this training stuff- so he asked Levy for a longer holiday, Levy said yes but he forgot to mention it to Nuno? Come on!
  14. Spot on Windy. Kane's PR is disastrous, alienating his own fans and inviting the club to play hard ball. I'm reminded of the advice, when you're in a hole, stop digging. H seems to claim he had a gentleman's agreement for a cheap sale. Really? we have every right to demand a premium price for selling to a rival PL club.
  15. It appears to me all that fans are worried about is losing our best striker with no replacement. It is possible that this has all been set up between Kane and the club. The publicity is through the roof and when it comes down to clicks (something you no all about Windy) the sponsors will be delighted. I am shocked at some supporters trying to make Kane out as some kind of Judas.
  16. Excellent points
  17. Spot on. I can't say that I "loved" Harry Kane but I was proud of him and rate him the best striker since Jimmy Greaves (and we have had a lot of good strikers in between). His misguided attempts to engineer a lower fee for City were at best inept and at worse crass. Jason Burt regurgitated Charlie Kanes words; "believed", "felt" are not legal terms in a contract as far as I know. This is not even 3rd rate journalism when you offer no critique. Next time ask Windy's advice, mate! Justask City to pay the price and go; I will neither forgive, nor forget.
  18. I tend to agree with Harry but his actions since, and including, the Neville interview have sullied his reputation. I agree the ball is in City's court. Offer the £150m plus and you might get a response - note £Sterling not €Euro - they can afford it, so put up or shut up.
  19. Harry has been stupid in several ways, 1 "Appointing" his brother as his manager when he obviously has absolutely NO idea about contract law. 2 Claiming the "gentlemans agreement" when there is no such thing in law. 3 Expecting a BUSINESSMAN like Daniel Levy to stick to something that isn't written down and 4 Expecting D Levy and Spurs to release him to a rival PL club for the sum of money that THEY decide is "fair". Come on Harry, nobody held a gun to your head and forced you to agree to a SIX YEAR contract at the age of 25 did they? If one of the injuries you suffered since you signed had resulted in you becoming a worse player, you would still have expected Spurs to honour THEIR side of the agreement and to pay you the £200,000 A WEEK for the full 6 years wouldn't you? That's £10.4 MILLION A YEAR that they were risking, £62.4 million over the six year period. Grow up for Gods sake!!! If THEY want your talent, it's up to them to pay what Levy and Spurs deem to be an acceptable fee, otherwise they can go and get Ronaldo, after all, their oil rich backers can afford it, and I'm sure they can find some loophole in FFP to explain it.
    1. Agree with Mike completely
  20. A spot on dissection of some absolutely rubbish journalism. The whole situation is mostly engineered by journalists to create a story, and HK could easily have said 'This is what I want' and just made it clear either way. The Neville interview is quoted regularly, but even GN said (several times) that at no point in the interview did HK say he wanted a move; he just wanted an honest conversation about the future. The whole 'gentlemen's agreement' is a fabrication of journalism to explain how they can write crap about HK leaving when he's only halfway through a contract. Noone (apart from journalists) has ever actually confirmed the whole 'gentlemen's agreement' thing. We've heard it before when we had top players being tapped up (Berbatov, Modric, Bale); does anyone genuinely believe that Daniel Levy, that hard-nosed businessman who many club owners are frightened to do business with because he is such a tough negotiator, would say 'don't worry about all that stuff in the contract, if you ask nicely you can leave when you want'. Complete tosh. I'm not particularly a DL fan, but he's got my support 100% on this. Harry is a legend, but he's not bigger than our club. He signed a contract so needs to knuckle down and get on with it.
  21. I agree with everything you’ve said Windy. What annoys me the most is how the press always bang on about a ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ which may or may not be true, but if Harry ever thought he was going to leave on his terms and we’d accept any offer, they he is even more stupid than I feel he is looking with this whole situation. Equally, city only have themselves to blame, if they wanted Kane for cheap, why shell out £100m on an England bench warmer, what does that make the England captain worth?!? I do also however feel that levy and Enic are partly to blame due to the lack of investment when the sun were flying, however it’s not as if we haven’t invested in the squad since then. One thing I have learnt is that Kane’s loyalty is questionable as is the ‘one of our own’ tag. His actions aren’t how you treat people who hold you in such high regard! Rant over!
  22. Spot on Windy. Very disappointing. The timing throughout has been awful and as time runs out city may relent but what are we supposed to do with 150M and a day left in the window
  23. The Kane Bros don’t have to worry about missing any Mensa meetings.
  24. The farce is now over, Kane has said he's staying with City never coming close to offering the full price, something they had no problem doing with Grealish. I have to question how keen they were on Harry in the first place given how little they were prepared to pay. He is probably feeling a complete idiot having believed what City told him rather than keeping his mouth shut and waiting for them to make a serious bid. He'll know better next time, if there is a next time.

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