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3rd June 2009 – Season Review In starting the season preview, I thought back to the opening day and for the life of me I could not remember who Spurs played (can you, quickly, without looking? Really? You should get out more (click here to put yourself out of your misery). It has been one of those largely forgetting seasons in terms of spirit lifting experiences/great games (as opposed to relief at avoiding the embarrassment of relegation) and complete with the now traditional boardroom inspired fiasco But a step back from the season and prima facie it looks quite a decent one. Spurs reached a cup final, finished top half in the league (only the 8th time in 17 EPL seasons) and finished the season strongly under a manager who appears to be turning spurs into a credible outfit. To put this in context Spurs have appeared in domestic cup finals in 13 of the 100 years since Spurs became a league cup in 1908 (excludes first cup win and 82 treated as one year) so taking into account war years, on average a Spurs cup final is a one in seven year event and as such along with the cup lift in 2008 and league improvement under Jol the period from the mid/late 00s while perhaps not a golden age the best for well over a generation. That said, getting to the final after that shambles up at Turf Moor was typical of the lack of spiritual lift behind what bare achievement for last season. Best game of the season was the 4-4 at Arsenal, Spurs had started to breathe again after contortions of Wendy Random had left Spurs at the bottom and it was an all too rare moment of pure magic to nick the goals at the end. Wendy Random’s reign at Spurs should stand Spurs fans in good stead to believe what they see with their eyes and are not spun by the club and media. Looking back, were the players really fitter? Did Spurs play a better way? Or were Spurs a shambles lacking motivation for more than half of his tenure? Best league win has to be overcoming Chelsea 1-0 at the lane but the most significant in many ways was the late winner at Hull which set Spurs up for the end of season flourish. There were plenty of disappointments – at the start of the season despair at the results and later in the season frustration at the good run not being even better. The defeat at United angered those who do not accept that the league is fixed but perhaps the defeat at Blackburn raised the most questions for the season ahead Best player over the season was Aaron Lennon and perhaps the most improved was Gomes but it has to be said it started from a very low base and had as much to do with a much tighter Spurs outfit where goals at both ends dried up. Bentley has been a massive disappointment as he looked a good if over-priced signing but the shenanigans in the transfer market of selling players on the last day to unbalance the team through to buying back old players have set new levels of head scratching. In some respects it’s a bit like the end of season 2004/5 where then new manager Jol was just starting to fashion a decent outfit at the end of his first half season in control. With that in mind, its already best to forget last season and start to look to next season and hope Mr Harry retains his decent touch in the transfer market to prepare a talented but importantly balanced squad to go into war with next season. The holy grail of the have nots/squanderers is top four which still seems beyond Spurs reasonable ambitions unless Wenger walks away from what appears to be a listing ship at Arsenal but another top of the crap 5th place should be well within the grasp of the current set up, esp when you consider how little Everton/Villa had to do to achieve it this year. That said, if there is not a medal for it is it any sort of achievement or just a media concoction to keep the customers of the league cannon fodder interested to the end of the season. No UEFA will be a disappointment to the fans but not the players/staff who need more time to spend their wages rather than playing football for Spurs. With the Premier League firmly ensconced as part of the entertainment/leisure industry where gossip and celebrity are more important than any sort of substance, its still a relief that there are one or two journo’s out there with a sense of perspective and leading this small group is David Conn from the Grauniad and its well worth having a gander at the following articles about EPL debt: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/jun/02/premier-league-clubs-debt http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/jun/03/english-premier-league-debt The latter is very interesting for the long term prospects of the club and is summarized below: (Accounts for the year to 30 June 2008). Ownership 82% owned by Enic International Limited, registered in the Bahamas, a tax haven. Chairman Daniel Levy and family own 29.41% of Enic. Turnover £114.7m (up from £103.1m the previous year, an increase of 11.34%) Wage bill £52.9m (up from £43.8m in 2007, an increase of 20.8%) Wages as proportion of turnover 46% Profit before tax £3m Debts £65m Interest payable £3.95m Highest paid director Daniel Levy: £1m While most topspurs readers are well versed in the eye watering salary Levy takes each year for his deadhand stewardship of the club and the decision to issue a dividend the year after the preference share buyback allowed ENIC to have the majority of shares (and as such take out the majority of the money), but I did not realize the extent of Spurs debt at £65m. Perhaps this will not be an issue when the gangsters who run the country turn on the printing presses and Zimbabwefication emerges out of QE but even then the rise in interest rates will wipe out the club unless they are fixed. I suppose the debt is only to be expected given the way the money has been splashed about on transfers but nonetheless is a sizable chunk when considered relative to turnover and also interesting to know when this debt is due. Add in the money for the new stadium costs (if they are serious about actually building one) and you can see that they will be coming to the customers for more money to pay for it all… be prepared. Perhaps we could organize a sponsored walk for the cause… LevyAid (or should that be KemsleyAid?) where all the fans could walk around the ground once, passing a replica of what the “naming rights” stadium will look like it if ever gets built ending in the club shop where you can buy a whole range of branded tat for the cause The size of the debt seems strange as the Spurs model as I understood it should not be like this as the wage bill has consistently been around 50% or less of the turnover (as it is again this year). In the last few years the income has been £70m/£77m/£103m and now £114m and with the wage bill at 50% gives a balance of around £180m for the club to play with and outside the wage bill, the only other serious drain on money are transfer fees and I can’t seem to remember the club spending another £65m (in total £240m) on transfer fees during that period The only other significant change in the period is the ownership of the club. When ENIC came in they paid Sugar well over the odds for 29% of the club and needed the preference share wizardry to buy a greater stake of the club on the cheap which is now up to 82%. As a failed accountant, I don’t know anything about finance but surely the accumulated surplus has not been used to buy a greater share for ENIC Then again, what do I know. We should be loyal … keep the faith… coys… this time next year… (I wonder just how different it will all be) That’s your lot for this season. I’ll pop back if anything major happens over the summer but otherwise intend to spend long lazy afternoons watching dull county cricket at lords, taking in the wonderful British countryside on the North Downs and at the stables watching my equine hopes & money evaporate in training fees, vets bills and dodgy jockeys. All that remains is a massive thank you for all the TOPSPURS columnists and guest columnists for their excellent contributions throughout the season which has enabled TOPSPURS to be well up there as a site of interest for Spurs supporters as it enters its 9th season next year… and of course a big thank to you the reader for logging in and hopefully the site still provides some entertainment albeit more sporadically and from a greater level of physical and emotional detachment thesedays.
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27th April 2009 – This story is old… When it comes to the odd dodgy game in football, I feel I’ve done it to death on here when I gave a toss earlier in the decade. There are only so many games you can watch with systematically dodgy decision before you question why you bother, esp with your own club bending you over at every opportunity. In football, as in all major businesses with lots at stake, the law is rarely applied evenly when push comes to shove and teams from the G14 gain significant advantage for important decisions. Perhaps not statistically significant but ones which equate to crucial points which are the difference between success and failure. And its not just in the EPL but in the German, Spanish and Italian leagues, and probably in the rest of the world as well. Its just business. Unfortunately, some of us used to view football as a recreation, an escape not a mirror to the money dominated structure of everyday life, but logical consequence of modern football is to reduce the “sport” and “uncertainty” for a more predictable business friendly investment climate and art is mimicking life. Why should there be assistance for the big clubs? The logic goes that the league needs the best supported teams to do well both as they can attract the best players, which in turn attracts the greatest worldwide TV audience of the high spending socio-economic groups which attracts worldwide advertisers which allows the EPL to negotiate the billion pound contracts with worldwide TV rights. Everything else is secondary to this dynamic. With that in mind, I still think there is a miracle awaiting for Shearer’s Newcastle in the same way that the (apparent) multi millionaire owners of West Ham succeeded over the less wealthy Sheffield United in the Tevez affair, who may also have been victims of former big five Everton’s miracle survival back in 1994. With all the modern technology available, you have to wonder why it has not been implemented to eliminate wrong decisions – but then again, its purely because the wrong decisions can be put down to individual errors to grease the right wheels at the right time. Does anyone really think that new offside rule which no one understands was introduced for any other reason but to add some doubt to what was a pretty hard and fast rule previously. Where-ever interpretation comes in, you are opening the door to abuse of power Fans still engage the competition between the individual franchises for historical reasons, but the real competition is between the respective leagues for the best players, best revenue results. Currently the EPL is doing very well and with more patriotic hat on we could perhaps celebrate this very successful export as it is a great example of the high quality niche market product where a country like the UK can compete on the international stage in the new millennia. You can either buy into it or walk away which ever your conscious dictates because as end consumers (or even small shareholders) there is nothing we can do about it. If you buy into the EPL product but restrict your interest to the Spurs franchise, just as this was not the first, it will not be the last frustration of this type as the actors play out the script without too many serious improvisations. However, if you ‘support’ the league as a whole, which again is how it appears to be marketed abroad, you get 10 interesting stories which unfold each week involving many of the most gifted players around, and the odd dodgy game gets lost in the overall compelling narrative. Most supporters would be aghast or genuinely not understand the idea of supporting the league over a team as that is the culture in the UK, but it makes the most logical sense when trying to get the most out of the current set up. Far too many fans, whipped up by the brand marketing take it all a bit too seriously. Getting stressed and upset about something you can do nothing about is a negative and ultimately futile emotion and much of it appears to stem from the perception of supporters in the scheme of things. Fans still think they are part of the club and refer to it in the first person, a perception cultivated to ensure brand loyalty. But in reality they are customers, a captive market to sell club branded merchandise and provide ‘atmosphere’ and sense of occasion for TV audiences, esp foreign ones where the passion of the fans is promoted much more than at home. Do you think that the Spurs hierarchy really gave a stuff about how close the fans are to the pitch, when they were approving the design of the new ‘Naming Rights” stadium and all those rows of exec boxes? Once upon a time before I had my EPL/modern Spurs epiphany a few years ago, I had my “man u moment” back in when Taricco was sent off and a penalty given back in 2002. Even ‘on the other side of the mountain’, it remains one of the most scandalous sporting decisions where ref Riley did not even give a foul as Scholes threw himself to the floor jumping but not quite reaching the box (when it was alleged that Treacle was tugging him back, which should have forced him backwards), only for a dodgy lino to not only signal for a penalty but to get press villain Tarricco sent off. After this, the Mendes incident was not a shock, although Spurs meek acceptance of it at the time was
This has just reminded me of a similar thing which happened at Liverpool in 1999 when Spurs somehow found themselves 2-0 up towards the end of the first half before the helping hand of a soft sending off and an even softer penalty set Liverpool up for a 3-2 win. I’m sure it would n’t take supporters long to dig up similar examples which are more than just loser sour grapes One wonders what would have happened at Upton Park in 2006 had Spurs been in front against West Ham on the final day and destined for the CL at the expense of the then heavily in debted Arsenal who could not have afforded not to qualify. Spurs had already been forced to play the game after the Lasagne-gate incident and it proved a wise choice for the EPL guv’nor Scudamore to visit Arsenal the then 5th place club, as a positive result for Spurs would have seen him beltin down the Balls Pond Road to greet the final CL place team at the Boleyn. And should West Ham have needed that pen to keep Spurs away from the top table, I wonder if an obviously sympathetic Sheringham would have been allowed to take (and let Robbo save) it After all that above, while the penalty was wrong I have to say it was one of the more excusable ones in the dodgy list. If Webb, who for the most part is a decent ref sees Carrick nick the ball away from Gomes in the split second he has to make a judgment, he may legitimately think penalty without being bent as he may not have the secondary evidence of the angle the ball traveled away from the incident which could only have come from Gomes that was afforded to all those watching from the elevated perch of the TV cameras. Then again if he thought it was a penalty, why did he not send Gomes off, a question which I suppose cuts both ways? While the penalty was an injustice, perhaps much of the wailing and teeth grinding over it took the attention away from another pretty meek collapse from Spurs who shipped four fairly soft goals when the pressure was on. Was it the dodgy penalty which put Utd back in the game but the sniff of weakness in the Spurs side who did not believe they could play as well for the remaining third of the game as they had for the previous two thirds. This perhaps is the more searching question – and its not the first time a Spurs side has surrendered in a similar fashion in the post 91 era, even in the game in 2002, ten man Spurs shipped four which was to become the first of three consecutive 0-4 defeats. Different players over the years (and most in reasonable Spurs sides) but never too far away from a similar capitulation. I often wonder if this can be put down to the modern ethos of the club where it appears to be ‘money first/football second’. All teams get beaten heavily from time to time but regular capitulations always appear to be endemic of an empty heart at the core of the club, where the spirit of the Hotspur has been hemorrhaged away over the years in the search for the goose to lay the golden eggs … but then what the fack do I know, just some observations from an ex season ticket holder who only saw highlights on MOTD. And just when you thought things could not get any worse…
6th April 2009 – Blackburn Probably ever since football began, mid table teams with nothing real to play for (remember 7th is a relatively modern invention) playing teams in relegation trouble tend to lose. That Spurs were gifted a goal lead through a soft penalty and were in no trouble for most of the game should not take anything away from the fact that these sort of games, tend to end up that sort of way. As for the Grand National, its just a pity I updated the link to 2009 as if I’d have left it to the 2008 link…Click here 3rd April 2009 – Grand National preview With Spurs starting to go well and another European campaign more likely than relegation, we can divert attention this weekend to the worlds greatest race: Click here for TOPSPURS guide to the 2009 Grand National 3rd March 2009 – Wrong medicine The media are reporting (from what feel like briefings from somewhere within the club) that “Spurs plan a clear out in the summer”. Really, again? Another season starting with half the team making their debuts on the opening day?… stop me if you think that joke isn’t funny anymore Perhaps this is just a press brief to keep the customers happy, as there is nothing a modern football fan likes more than the hope that the chequebook is coming out to solve all the dissatisfaction, esp as season ticket renewal time is looming. And perhaps it will be unavoidable if Spurs manage to perform worse than the likes of WBA, Stoke, Hull etc and are euthanized to Div2, but if Spurs stay up, is yet another wholesale change really going to be the answer? Or should we look beyond the football, and wonder whether clear out is desirable for other reason beyond the comprehension of wally customers? Its fair to say there have been some gorblimey signings over recent seasons where Spurs have mirrored Godolphin, splashing money around with little success, rhyme or reason. There is no doubt a few of the players who have not and will not make it should be moved along in the normal scheme of things (just as there should be a few signings to improve the squad in weak areas), but for the most part Spurs have a fairly decent squad and most of the problem with the new signings has been price relative to ability and balance within the squad, mostly a legacy of the director of football dogma. And remember, all this money that Spurs seem to throw at things has to come from somewhere, as Spurs like all the other clubs have to balance the books at some stage, and waste is waste whether or not there are unlimited money trees in Spurs garden which seem to have bankrolled the club beyond the other midtable rivals such as Everton and Villa in recent years If a Premier League team fielded: Gomes-Chimbonda, Dawson, Woodgate, Bale–Bentley, Jenas, Zokora, Lennon-Bent, |
