|
|
Jim Duggan's TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR site |
|
The thoughts and views on THFC from Jim Duggan – Born in the year of the Cockerel, Shelfside season ticket holder & supporter since the early 1970s (last updated 31/12/03 17:57 PM) - Spurs fans of the world Unite
|
|
|
|
||||||||||
|
THE TOPSPURS COLUMNISTS |
||||||||||||
|
30th December 2003 – Thought for the day… The darkest part of the night, is just before the dawn… 29th December 2003 – The Great Tottenham Hotspur Swindle? The TOPSPURS financial man has looked over the club’s proposal for the “discounted share sale” and thinks it comes up smelling worse than the Tokyo fish market. THFC as a PLC have £10.6m net debt and are looking to raise around £15m via a discounted share sale to existing investors, with the headline intention of using the lolly raised to fund player purchases. The deal is that Spurs will sell 60,000 redeemable preference shares for £250 each, with investors being allowed to buy one share for every 2,500 ordinary shares held, but here is the key, they are being offered at 56 percent discount on the current price. The preference shares won't pay a dividend until October 2007 but each share can be converted into 1,562 ordinary shares Oct. 31 from 2007, with the same option every Oct 31 from then on. ENICK, the club's largest shareholder will underwrite the sale – i.e. any shares not taken up they will be able to buy at this discount and increase their stake in the club on the cheap but to get this little perk, they have to ask investors to waive a takeover rule that compels anyone owning more than 30 percent of a company to make an offer for all the equity. Lets do the Carol Vorderman – 60,000 huggy bear’s at £250 = £15,000,000. For each of these 60,000 shares, they can be converted to 1562 ordinary shares, i.e. creating another 93,720,000 share capital if all were converted to ordinary shares. 93,720,000 divided by £15m, comes out at around 16p a share – well below the current market value as of today, which is 28.25p. Sounds like a con, or typical sneaky ENIC trying to do something on the cheap which mugs off supporters. How could they bid investors 16p to buy them out as usually a takeover would command a big premium to last traded price, not a 56% discount. The TOPSPURS financial man is really concerned as to what Levy's game plan is. Of course getting 15mill quid in the buy players is a good thing but will be very interested to see if they actually spend this cash. Even so it does appear Levy can go issue new stock at any price that suits his needs as it appears ENIC will be getting the bulk of this new share placement. Feels like he bought it at a high price, would like to average down his position but no liquidity down here so hey presto lets issue a shit load more stock at a huge discount and lower than it has traded for the past 6 or 7 years. It saying that it's better for the club that it's not debt and therefore doesn't have to get paid back if not converted. A shareholders' meeting will take place Jan. 21 2004 – I’m not sure if this has been rubber stamped, but I don’t think it is in the interests of THFC to let ENIC get greater control of the club and all those that can vote should vote against the takeover waiver rule. The Robbo View … Very rarely to ex-players say it in a way that fans can identify with, but not so with 80’s legend Graham Roberts who having first hand experience with Pleat knows exactly what is wrong with Spurs and knows what are the first steps to putting us on the path back. In an interview with Sky Sports (Full story) he said the following: "David Pleat's been given the job 'til end of season, but maybe that was the wrong thing to do. Since he was given the job full-time, they haven't won a game. They are going backwards, I feel. They're worse off now than they were under Glenn Hoddle. They're not playing well, there's no confidence. Maybe we should have stuck with Glenn until the end of the season and got some stability "Whoever goes in there David Pleat will have to go. He can't just sit upstairs. They need a new start. You can't have a director of football always looking over your shoulder. And when someone gets sacked he comes in and takes over. That's what Glenn had and they should have got rid of him before that." "What they need is a strong character manager. They just seem a soft touch. There's no one to put their foot in, there's no one to boss people and maybe that's what they need, a leader on the pitch.” All roads lead to getting rid of Pleat – every great journey starts with one step and that has to be ours. In the longer term there are other issues about how our club is run, but short term, get someone decent in and knock that decent squad into a decent team. |
|
|
|
|
28th December 2003 – Tottenham Hotspur 0-1 Charlton Athletic
Spurs have now lost 7 from 9 – cannot score and cannot keep a clean sheet, don’t get any luck and cannot pick up any points and are now in the bottom three with a goal difference equating to a point less than those above.
Spurs did not play badly today, in fact in the first period we should have been at least one perhaps two ahead with numerous spurned opportunities and a dead cert penalty which little fat fuck Durkin gave the other way, just as he cost us a place in the 1999 Cup final with an equally abysmal decision. We did n’t take the opportunities and got punished.
Losing a match like that in most other seasons is just one of those things, crap team mug Spurs for three points but this season with us dropping into the bottom three on goal difference thanks to a last minute Sir Les goal. What can we say… well Jackson had an excellent home debut and Kelly also showed he can cut it at the top level despite a couple of nervous mistakes. King as ever made Parker look a little wanker in the middle of the Park and Treacle continued his consistently decent form at left back. It was also good to see Perrydinho one last time, 30 years ahead of his time & surely one day all football will be played his magical way. With Gardner getting yet another booking and no medical training needed to see that Deano is struggling, just why did we get rid of Perrydinho? Ask the director of football…
Pleat must be the biggest of big cunts – making Kasey “Fuckup” Keller captain – surely the second biggest wanker after Redknapp to ever wear the armband. Keller had his usual erratic match, saving shots kicked straight at him and conceding a needless corner from which we let in the goal – just how many is that from corners this season?
Pleat also trumped even that mad decision by bringing on a left footed forward to play an orthodox right midfield role. Pleat is a cunt and the sooner he gets the bullet the better – or at least we get some explanation for why his job is guaranteed despite a record 1.08 points per game and £75m wanked away on shit players while he has been Director of Football. He’s a big cunt and if not removed will take us down just as he did Leicester and Sheff Weds.
2003: bonnet de douche! as Del Boy would say – 36 matches, 20 defeats, and 10 wins – only 1912 and 1924 have had a lower total. Spurs are in the shit big time – something people who have watched the performances over the last nearly 2 years (or at least since the 3 4-0’s in March 2002) have known only too well. It would be easy to blame Hoddle for all that, but it should not be forgotten what Pleat was up to behind his back, causing unrest and leaking negative Hoddle stuff. Now that he has the controls, he has shown he is useless, playing his own agendas (Blondel at Coventry etc) and steering Spurs to the Nationwide.
Who can the club attract to Spurs in our current predicament? Do we need to get into massive debt to try and strengthen the squad or should we try and make the best of what we have to that if the worst happens in May, we are not totally fucked like Derby or Sheff Weds. My own opinion is that we need to get whoever we can to strengthen that midfield alongside Ledley, more defensive cover but without putting the club in a position where if relegated we are fucked financially, as the empty seats today showed – patience has almost run out with ENIC fuck ups and being mugged off with high prices for crap with a Tottenham badge on it.
The pressure is on the THFC board – but it is all of their own making by bad decision making - and I would be screaming ENIC out, if there were anyone else to come in, but until I hear of a serious bidder coming to relieve us of this lot, like the first team players themselves, we just have to hope they come through for Spurs, or if not for Spurs in Levy’s case (I assume he still has his Goon season ticket) for their own financial investment in THFC.
27th December 2003 – The State of Spurs…
Fuck doing a Charlton preview – apart from a warm welcome back for Perrydinho - I really am at my wits end to say something positive or even original about Spurs so I am grateful for the contributions received from the TOPSPURS columnists – notably Logan’s WLHatWHL, Colin Ashby, James Flinn and several excellent articles on the Guest column including one from Joff Wild which along with Daniel Wynne’s THST Letter to Levy is much more worthwhile reading than anything I can come up with at the moment.
A little bit of news going round is that Rebrov is at the training ground, desperate to come back to Spurs. Another great Pleat inspired waste of money, we got rid of his registration but he obviously likes his life in Repton Park, Chigwell and is keen to get back at WHL. Anderton appears to have little chance of starting against Charlton and a certain centre back has no faith in certain of his colleagues and hopefully his energy can be harnessed positively. Not a happy camp at the moment, and neither should it be, as long as they are directing their energies towards making things better and not settling silly scores with each other.
One thing I will say that is while things are bad, its always good to have a light at the end of the tunnel – but what do we have when we know even if we survive – Pleat will be kept on as Director of Football no matter what. Pleat is a hated by most fans and a pony manager, and you have to ask why should he be assured a position irrespective of whom we appoint next as manager? Why is his failure rewarded and what sort of message does this send out to others who are also failing within Spurs. Is it because Pleat is a loose cannon, like the continued slagging of Hoddle after he was sacked, and Levy fears Pleat will dish the dirt on the incompetence of the current THFC board? I cannot think of another reason why they keep the old bastard.
Also, if you want to guess at Pleat’s motivation skills, picture the scene in a pre-match or halftime team talk: Pleat, or Pervo as he apparently is known by some of the players at Spurs lodge, trying to motivate a lazy load of over paid wankers, who think he is an old, multiple failed manager who has no real authority over them anyway. If successful European coach Bobby Robson is still pondering how he can make a millionaire run harder, just what a serial managerial failure who has been lifted twice for kerbcrawling can do is anyone’s guess – although recent events show its pretty minimal.
Surely Spurs need someone decent in such an important role as recent events have proved we can’t mug by with him, and when we get that decent person in, surely its time for Pleat to spend more time in his motor rather than hanging round Spurs like a bad smell.
26th December 2003 – Portsmouth 2-0 Spurs
Oh shit! Only a late Newcastle goal prevented us dropping into the bottom three and if we did not realise already, this is very much a relegation scrap and we do not appear to have a team that is either classy enough to get us clear or be prepared to battle for each of the 24 or so points to safety.
Walshie on Gooner Gold said words to the following effect: “the worrying thing for spurs fans is that as soon as spurs go a goal behind they fall apart, just as they did up at Newcastle and at other times this season, which shows a weakness in the character of the team”. That is just so true – this time in 1997/8 we were down but starting to look up. It’s very different this time.
Various reactions to this defeat from the supporters – Levy Out, Pleat out… everybody out etc, all stemming from the same dismay of how shit Spurs have become, but while we all have our pet dislikes of what is going on at Spurs, no one as yet has produced a feasible solution to get Spurs back to somewhere decent, let alone where our great club should be other than by hard work from those lazy wankers we have representing us on the field, and the wanker of a caretaker manager.
Just look at the crap above us in the league – Bolton with Simon Charlton and alike getting results, Fulham and Saints, just nothing teams who are well organized and work well together. A great example is our very own Perrydinho, who is champions league bound after being part of a Charlton side which continued its impressive form by beating Chelsea today – if he was “not good enough for Spurs”, how is it that he can be a massive success elsewhere at a lesser club?
As supporters, whether we like it or not, we have very little impact on what goes on. We can chant “X” out during the match, stand at the gates and vent our dissatisfaction as players and officials come and go or even leak our frustrations to the press, as there are always obliging journos ready to pick up on trouble amongst the Spurs board and fans, but none of these are positive steps to take Spurs forward and rescue us from the shit we are in. Give me an idea of what we can do as supporters and I’ll go with it but what can we do apart from turn up every week and give our support for fuck all back apart from years of disappointment?
And that is the worry; the only people that can rescue Spurs are a load of over paid players who quite clearly have no team spirit and don’t give a toss, and a wanker director of football who after helping create the mess which saw Hoddle sacked, cannot do anything to arrest the decline.
There are plenty of people calling for Levy to resign, and I have to say I think the bloke is a prick, but as yet I have yet to hear what happens then? Yeah, lets get rid of the little runt, but what then? Levy will be familiar with this situation himself having sacked Hoddle without knowing what to do next. Spurs were 17th when he sacked Hoddle and three months on, we are still 17th but seemingly in a one way spiral to Division 1. When Levy pulled the trigger back in Sept, the bullet found the wrong bloke – but that’s what you get if you do it on the phone 5000 miles away. So Levy is a hopeless cowardy custard of chairman but is there really a Lilywhite Knight out there to save us? Even if there is, could anyone do anything to cure what seems an organisation that is rotten to the core?
And have the board done that much wrong? We all wanted Graham sacked, and they sacked Graham. We all wanted Hoddle appointed, and he was delivered and they also appear to have spent money (Spurs Transfer History), albeit badly, at most times during their near three years in charge. Sure they fucked up badly in summer 2002 and again in the last winter, and sacked Hoddle too late, as well as removing benefits and bumping up prices but they are not the main reason we are in the bottom 4 - that is the players and the caretaker manager, all of whom are not giving everything they have for Spurs.
Pleat is just a fucking wanker and he really needs to be the first one against the wall – blaming referees and injuries – what wank. One free kick was nearly in the Portsmouth half but Helen could not move his spamhead and oversized gloves to even touch. And what injuries – Ziege – ok but everyone knows he has gone, Davies – crap for most of last season & Redknapp vying with Sherwood for being the biggest wanker to have played for our club in recent seasons – who else? And anyway – a team with the likes of Carr, Gardner, Richards, Treacle, King, Dalmat, Poyet, Keane, and Kanoute should not be getting beaten so easily. The blame lies with these twats and Pleat, and these alone. They all have the talent not to be relegated but very few of us think they have the character.
This I feel is the time for people to stand up and prove their worth for themselves and for the club as a whole – no blindly throwing money at it or running away. But I’m sure the THFC board know that and also know that if we do go down, what is left of their £22m investment will be totally fucked – I can’t imagine too many people paying between £30-£49 we are paying now to watch Grimsby and Rotherham next season, should the unthinkable happen.
But that’s the point, just cos we support the greatest club in the world and pay a shit load of money, it does not mean we are guaranteed success or even deserve success – we have to take our chances with the rest and take what life throws us and Spurs. A real achievement is something that is earned and not purchased or given on reputation.
Everyone one knows we are in the shit, the best we can hope for is a heart transplant for our club, so that those that have got Spurs into this mess, can also be the ones to get us out of it. I don’t expect any of these wankers to come up with the goods, but as ever we live in some sort of hope. The only positive thing about relegation is that we won’t get Curbishley who has started to have his name mentioned in the inner circles as the next manager at the end of the season. O’Neill apparently is still on the list, just what we are waiting for I’m not sure, but for the first time Gerry Francis MarkII has appeared. God help us, and god help the spirit of football if he jacks in Charlton for more money to come to us.
ps - God Bless Treacle, a rare smile on a bad day for giving Deadwood (10 goals in 99/00, the last albeit uncelebrated winning goal against the goons and that goal against Chelsea in the arfa match notwithstanding) some proper justice.… he comes from Borehamwood, he’s not very fucking good … Now remember what you did for Savage, Izzet and RSol and you will have the freedom of N17 and a special place in our hearts forever!
Columnist updates
Don’t forget to check the excellent output from the TOPSPURS columnists (see link at the top of the page)
25th December 2003 – Pompey Preview
Spurs are going to record our first Boxing day win since the Ginola magic show against Watford a few years back with a win at Portsmouth. No messing or poncing about – early goals from Keane and Kanoute will settle the issue and all thoughts of relegation will be gone by Half time as Bent Harry’s face contorts into an even more hideous mess as Premiership class wins out.
Christmas comes a day late with Blue Square offering a massive 7/4 - (click here to get a free £10 bet). That just has to be gobbled up despite our pony away form and take yer pick of Keane 11/2 or Kanoute 6/1for the first goal with something like a 3-1 win coming in at 22/1
Michael Brown – Welcome to Tottenham
Spurs revealed today that we will sign Sheffield United’s Michael Brown at the start of the Transfer deadline. In sharp contrast to last year where our chairman was awol, this year we are hitting the ground running which is positive news.
There are two ways to view Brown – 26, Citeh reject, only ever played in the Nationwide and made his name in a cup run (a season which looks remarkably good compared to all his others) or he is an emerging talent secured at a very good price for the club. Either way we wish him all the best at Spurs and hope he is a massive success over the coming seasons.
The THST letter to Levy
Just thought it was worth mentioning an exceptionally well worded summary of the concerns of many Spurs fans circa Dec 2003. Well worth a read at: http://www.tottenhamtrust.com/viewnews.asp?id=232
21st December 2003 – Spurs 1-2 ManUre
We expected nothing and in the end got nothing. We have now lost nearly double the games we have won and as usual have a negative goal difference and are 15th in the table with a crucial 6 pointer away at Pompey on Thursday. But, and I say this with the most reserved caution, we at least gave it a go for the last half hour. No not good enough, and no points is no points, but at least for this period of the match it bore some resemblance to a team I’m not embarrassed to be associated with.
For the last 30 minutes, Spurs played without fear and the shackles of defending deep and moving the ball as slowly as they could manage without it not rolling. It was a bright end to another dark day where we were completely outclassed at the business end of the match – gifting Utd two goals, the first another soft one from a corner and the second a cruel deflection. With Utd 2-0 up they did not need to go into overdrive to score more, Spurs had not scored against them for the 6 previous halves of football so any “excitement” that we did not get whacked or indeed looked better than the usual shameful defeats away from home must be put in context.
I have been astounded at the news coverage of the Ferdinand drug test case over the weekend. The guilty party is Ferdinand – he missed a drugs test, he is breaking the rules and he deserves a punishment. Bollocks to everything else, he is not a “victim”; he is someone who tried to cheat the law and got caught. The FA and FIFA need to be strong on drugs cheats and potential drugs cheats so that the game is clean as can be, and for my money they have acted correctly.
The ManUre fans singing “you can stick your fucking England up your arse” says it all about these wankers, and it just shows you how quickly the toys come out of the pram when they have to play by the rules for once. Don’t forget there is a Spurs fan near you who applauded when these cunts scored against us last April, wankers!
This game has been the one where I have expected so little from the game and I just hope I never go into another match at WHL with so little hope that my wonderful club cannot put out a team that can compete.
Other News….
Congratulations to Fredi Kanoute for being selected for the preliminary 32 man squad for the Mali National team. Semi-finalists at the last Nations Cup finals in 2002 and ranked 4th of the African Nations in 2002. Although it will be a blow to miss him for up to 5 weeks, this should give the international break that Kanoute’s talents deserve and we wish him well.
TOSPURS Shop
Buying Spurs related stuff does not really appeal at the mo, but don’t forget that the TOPSPURS Shop has a wide range of Spurs related stuff – both replica kits and other leisure wear which would make ideal Christmas presents for that avid Spurs supporter in your life J
Click here for the TOPSPURS SHOP Spurs leisurewear (Polo shirts, Caps etc)
Alternatively you could say bollocks to all the over commercialisation of both Xmas (a day to remember Chas n Dave) and indeed football. But its there if you want it, just a click away.
Columnist updates
Don’t forget to check the excellent output from the TOPSPURS columnists (see link at the top of the page)
And Finally: Check out the SPORTING INDEX (in association with TOPSPURS) advent calendar
19th December 2003 – ManU preview
With Spurs standing still or going backwards in recent seasons, and United’s relentless march towards total domination English football’s most glamorous fixture gets more and more impossible each season. In fact with 3 wins, 3 draws in 22 matches its been tough enough since 1992 and the start of the Premiership. Click here for all results between Spurs and United over the years
Our wins, when they have come have all been good 'uns – 4-1 on New years day 1996, and 3-1 in both the Carr shot match in 1999 and the Hoddle coming home party in May 2001. A wonderful Ginola goal capped a League cup win another 3-1, in late 1998 and great comeback inspired by RSol 10 days later saw Spurs pull two goals back in the last 20 minutes, with an injury time equaliser. But that’s it –fucking abysmal really but I suppose we are not the only ones to have a ropey record against 'em.
Over the last few years we have had very few periods where we looked like we were progressing – that period late in 1998 was one, albeit brief one, and we need something similar to avert what seems to be an inevitable defeat, but there seems to be little in terms of fighting spirit, trying to get back into a game if we concede a goal around Spurs at the mo. And that’s even before we get onto the gulf in class between the player abilities on each side – the Ginger Pele against Van Horseface should be compelling, and then there is United’s 12th man – the bent official and with Rob “most sendings off” Styles in charge it’ll be the usual one law for them and another for us to contend with should things start to look a bit tricky for United.
Its best not to think about these games too much as on paper there is no way for Spurs to get anything from this game, but things sometimes pan out differently in the reality of matchday and we’ve gotta just hope that some of the magic that once made this club great is around for us, esp. on TV in front of the watching world.
The only consolation this season will be not having to witness “ill judged” fans/wankers applauding Man U goals against Spurs cos they were hurting Goon title hopes, or taking sides with Beckham over Treacle. Or at least I hope so anyway… that really would finish off what little enthusiasm I have left.
In terms of having a bet, with Spurs having such a weak backbone you can’t see us winning – even if we took the lead (or even went 3-0 up at half time), there is not enough belief or organisation to make it last so even while 4/1 for Spurs at home should be something to get stuck into, it cannot be really recommended.
Most of the conventional bets such as first goalscorer and correct score don’t make much appeal – sure we can have a tilt at Fredi Kanoute at 7/1 or even do our old favourite 3-1 score at 50/1 but if you do its worth keeping stakes small.
Of more interest are the non result related bets such as Spurs to be winning at half time 5/1 or Kanoute to score in the match at any time 9/4 which I think is where some of my dough will be going.
Carr – what he says, and what he means
Carr in the Standard said: "I'm keeping my options open until the club come and talk to me. My agent and the club have had one very small chat so far but nothing major. There have been no real talks about a new deal. I will look at what they have to offer and, if it is right for me, then I will stay. I will have to see how things go and if they are willing to give me what I want."
That does not appear to be strictly true. After he signed his latest contract in 2000, Spurs paid Carr for 18 months where he did not play during his bad injury, from which unfortunately he has been much less effective as a player. Ever since he returned to the first team at the start of last season, the club have been keen to sort out a new deal with him – he may not be great anymore but we are not in a position to get rid of reasonable players. His loyalty, not that loyalty means anything anymore, can be questioned as he reportedly tried to sign for Arsenal in the summer after his year and a half off, but they blew him out at the medical, and now can’t afford him/don’t want him. He was also on his way to Newcastle at the start of this season, if they’d have qualified for the CL.
Carr recently sold his house and is apparently in a rental accommodation. You can also tell by his body language and general demeanour that he is not happy, which he cannot be blamed for (it mirrors many of the fans, who are also pissed off at the lack of progress at the club), its just a statement of fact. So while he is keeping his options open, I can’t see how Spurs are one of them, and this little piece in the standard was to keep him sweet with fans, while putting more pressure on the club. It’s the same sort of thing RSol did.
The dilemma for the club is this – we still have a reasonable but unhappy full back on a not to expensive £18k a week for another season and a half, or we can sell him for something like £2m (although top offer so far is £600k). If only it was that simple and our club had the real power but thesedays it appears players get what they want not matter what the contract specifies and no doubt Carr will make a big effort to jump as soon as a decent offer comes in for him, no matter how poor the offer is for our club.
I’ve no time for Carr anymore, he’s not as good as he was and appears to be a negative influence, but I’m also not sure we can afford to lose him without getting decent cover. Just a small sub plot in an overall depressing story.
17th December 2003 – Spurs lose out to Boro on penalties
A very strange evening of football started with a Spurs goal within a minute, saw us lead for most of the match before ending with our South American due of Poyet and Treacle not scoring with penalties to see us exit the League cup, our best chance of a trophy this season. It’s disappointing but these things happen and you’d have to say Boro deserved it. Already knowing that we had a two-legged semi against what was sure to be a full strength goon side lessened the disappointment as while we had a chance in a one off cup final, over two matches, the Goons were always likely to prevail and I really did not want to lose to those cunts in a semi again. Naturally we wish the Smog monsters well in the next round.
Anderton who is enjoying his best form for ages in right midfield put us in front with a minute gone with his 48th goal for Spurs. After not scoring for nearly two years, that’s three in a month now. Spurs had a few chances and generally did well for most of the first half but it was a different story in the second period. Off went the Italian Postiga and Boro went to one up plus plenty of support and crucially gave Juninho a free role, and he pretty much ran the second half. Despite this and courtesy of a few bad misses, we still led with 5 mins to go, when we had a throw deep in Boro territory and did the worst thing possible by throwing it backwards which Keane missed to set up a Boro counter attack. There was still plenty of work to do when Carr made a mess of intercepting the cross and the poor man’s Heskey scored. A truly awful goal to give away and it is incredible that players could be that stupid.
Keller made some good saves during the match but most were well within reach and ones that he had to really be saving. Of the penalties, Keane scored a great one just as he had done against Spain in the World Cup finals, Carr banished the memory of missing one in a Youth Cup final for Spurs in the early 90’s by putting us 2-1 up and when Konchesky smashed his home things were looking good for Spurs. I was surprised that Poyet did not score and being honest, it was not a good penalty, but Kanoute scoring and Keller saving Mendieta’s penalty meant that it went to sudden death in front of the Paxton which hosted our first ever penalty competition nearly 20 years ago now. Penalties are great for the emotional swings and from being down after Poyet, we were now up and a successful Treacle penalty and another Boro miss from going through, but just as we’d gone from being low to high, we were back down again. Treacle took a decent enough penalty and an inch or so to the right and we’d have been ok, but it was n’t and we were n’t. French Frank put us out of our misery and another chapter was written in what is becoming a hapless season of decline.
Boro are no mugs and it was always going to be tough, but after taking the lead you could reasonably expected something a bit better than the collapse that followed. If we’d have fluked our way through on penalties I could not have been happier, but the problems would still have remained, and as it is the cup exit just brings them to the fore.
It looks like being a long old season of struggle, starting with what looks like an almost certain defeat to the Champions at the weekend, who have scored 12 without reply since Spurs went 3-0 up just over two years ago and have won 16 of the 22 Premiership encounters including the last four, with cheatin Van Horseface having a record of five in four against us. As its in front of the TV cameras. I just hope Spurs put on a bit of a show so that for once, we are not the laughing stock.
15th December 2003 – Boro Preview
The most important game of the season so far – well at least until all those relegation scraps later in the season and/or that glorious cup final at the end of February!
Boro are not easy, but it is at least at home and we have avoided the most dangerous two teams so we have to be pleased and cautiously optimistic. Boro have good quality all over the pitch and have a couple of gems in Mendieta and Juninho so it will not be easy, and you don’t have to think hard about any number of Boro wins against Spurs in recent years, they have n’t let in a goal for 7 matches or something er… shit I’m depressing myself when I’m trying to be upbeat.
We’ve met before in the League cup, with Spurs having two victories to Boro’s one (and Boro’s one don’t really count as it was at a sad time for Spurs when, 16 years of greatness was coming to an end)
|
03-Oct-72 |
L.C. Cup 3 |
23,822 |
A |
Middlesbrough |
D |
1 |
- |
1 |
Pearce |
|
11-Oct-72 |
L.C. Cup 3® |
19,256 |
H |
Middlesbrough |
D |
0 |
- |
0 |
|
|
30-Oct-72 |
L.C. Cup 3®® |
19,287 |
H |
Middlesbrough |
W |
2 |
- |
1 |
Gilzean, Peters |
|
11-Sep-74 |
L.C. Cup 2 |
15,216 |
H |
Middlesbrough |
L |
0 |
- |
4 |
|
|
31-Aug-76 |
L.C. Cup 2 |
19,042 |
A |
Middlesbrough |
W |
2 |
- |
1 |
Moores, Neighbour |
The only good thing to come out of Saturday’s shameful non-effort is that Spurs rarely play that badly twice. Well that’s not strictly true but we need something to cling to as we are just as likely to struggle against what will be a well organised side with a bit of midfield class who mercifully have pony strikers. They are unlikely to be the feeble pushover Man Citeh were in the previous round.
|
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR - Full Record of 5th Round League Cup Ties |
|||||||||
|
Date |
Round |
Att. |
Venue |
Opponents |
Result |
Spurs |
- |
Ag. |
Scorers |
|
30-Oct-68 |
L.C. Cup 5 |
35,198 |
H |
Southampton |
W |
1 |
- |
0 |
Collins |
|
18-Nov-70 |
L.C. Cup 5 |
31,670 |
H |
Coventry City |
W |
4 |
- |
1 |
Chivers (3), Gilzean |
|
17-Nov-71 |
L.C. Cup 5 |
30,099 |
H |
Blackpool |
W |
2 |
- |
0 |
Chivers, Peters |
|
04-Dec-72 |
L.C. Cup 5 |
48,677 |
A |
Liverpool |
D |
1 |
- |
1 |
Peters |
|
06-Dec-72 |
L.C. Cup 5® |
34,565 |
H |
Liverpool |
W |
3 |
- |
1 |
Pratt, Chivers (2) |
|
03-Dec-75 |
L.C. Cup 5 |
25,702 |
H |
Doncaster Rovers |
W |
7 |
- |
2 |
Pratt, Chivers (2), Duncan (3), Chappell (og) |
|
02-Dec-80 |
L.C. Cup 5 |
36,003 |
A |
West Ham United |
L |
0 |
- |
1 |
|
|
18-Jan-82 |
L.C. Cup 5 |
31,192 |
H |
Nottingham Forest |
W |
1 |
- |
0 |
Ardiles |
|
19-Jan-83 |
L.C. Cup 5 |
30,771 |
H |
Burnley |
L |
1 |
- |
4 |
Gibson |
|
27-Jan-87 |
L.C. Cup 5 |
28,648 |
A |
West Ham United |
D |
1 |
- |
1 |
Allen C |
|
02-Feb-87 |
L.C. Cup 5® |
41,995 |
H |
West Ham United |
W |
5 |
- |
0 |
Allen C (3, 1pen), Hoddle, Claesen |
|
17-Jan-90 |
L.C. Cup 5 |
30,044 |
A |
Nottingham Forest |
D |
2 |
- |
2 |
Lineker, Sedgeley |
|
24-Jan-90 |
L.C. Cup 5® |
32,357 |
H |
Nottingham Forest |
L |
2 |
- |
3 |
Nayim, Walsh |
|
16-Jan-91 |
L.C. Cup 5 |
34,178 |
A |
Chelsea |
D |
0 |
- |
0 |
|
|
23-Jan-91 |
L.C. Cup 5® |
33,861 |
H |
Chelsea |
L |
0 |
- |
3 |
|
|
08-Jan-92 |
L.C. Cup 5 |
29,471 |
H |
Norwich City |
W |
2 |
- |
1 |
Walsh, Lineker |
|
12-Jan-94 |
|||||||||