TOPSPURS Jim Duggan's TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR site
The thoughts and views on THFC updated daily from Jim Duggan - Shelfside season ticket holder, White Hart Lane resident & supporter since the early 1970s

31^st January 2002 – Newcastle fall out

Not again – For the third time this season we have fail to come out and build on a halftime lead with feeble second half performances (Man U, Blackburn & Newcastle) and while things are generally pretty good – this is becoming an area of concern.

After getting it all wrong at Newcastle and not giving us that many problems in the first half – Robson finally got it right for Newcastle with the introduction of Robert in the second half. For the first 10 minutes of the second half the reverberated to a non stop “Glenn Hoddle’s Blue and White Army” as the Geordies sat quietly in the corner – but during this time they started to get into the game and Spurs had no answer to the pace of Bellamy and Robert and were dragged all over the place.

The equaliser had been coming before Richards could not cope with Bellamy and committed what should have been his second bookable offence when pulling back Bellamy. Ted stood still and the smallest bloke on the pitch nipped in to head home. Newcastle had their luck a minute or so after when the ref again failed to pick up a foul throw from Distan and Bellamy did Perry before setting up St Shearer of Neverfoul.

An ugly confrontation between Sully and Richards (who’d given Sully another shit backheader in the first half which Sully saved bravely at the cost of a leg injury) with Sully bollocking him and then brushing him away occurred soon after. Not the sort of togetherness you want to see to get back in the match. Richards for his part did provide the funniest moments of the match when running with Bellamy – Bellamy tearing away like an athlete and Richards pottering away behind him with his ‘cork up his arse’ running style.

Newcastle rounded it off soon after with Bellamy running unchallenged across the pitch before getting on the end of a one-two. Many wankers left after the third goal.

We should remember that Newcastle have also done the Arse and Leeds on their own patches and are third in the League - and are a much-improved outfit. This game should serve as a template of what we need for the next level. We need a board with funds available to buy players of quality and Spurs need to buy forwards with pace – as an equivalent forward of Bellamy’s pace at the other end would have given us an out ball and stopped the wholesale retreat.

We can’t win them all and it is fair to say the best team won - sentiments that are not often allowed in modern football – but we need to start picking up some league points – notably 6 in the next two matches to ensure that the good play earlier in the season is not wasted. But with the FA Cup wide open and our ability to raise our game for the cup – the most crucial matches before the final is the Bolton (and hopefully Tranmere) matches.

29^th January 2002 – Daily Round up & Newcastle

Geordies – After our great win up at a wet St James Park back in October, we have a chance to complete our first league double of the season against Newcastle, who always provide strong opposition and an entertaining match at White Hart Lane. After the events of last Weds, everyone will be on a massive high and we should approach the match with the confidence of a team already in a cup final.

The morning before the Charlton match in early December, Spurs had a chance to beat a team that was beaten at home by Walsall on Saturday to go second in the Prem, but we fluffed our lines and have floundered in the league since. Newcastle on the other hand, have gone from strength to strength over the same period and after leading the League over Christmas are well ensconced within the breakaway top 5 – and when we look at where they are and the points we have given up against soft teams – it is a little galling.

All credit to Robby Bobson in crafting a top team from players with a wide range of abilities. The midweek before Christmas saw Newcastle play at Scumbury, and attending a Christmas do at the Cock Tavern on Highbury corner, I made a point of wishing every Geordie I met good luck against the goons – which helped them on to a 3-1 win, their first in London for 27 games. Ending runs of 20+ games is fun, as we well know – but lets hope we start them on another run tonight.

I think Spurs will have to play nearly as well as last week to win the match - and it will be interesting, having seen such a great performance from Anderton last week, whether he can turn in a similar performance this week. As long as we play well and do not have any injuries, bookings or sendings offs (see next item) – I’ll be happy and think the score will either be 2-1 to us or 1-1, and as Poyet always scores against them – try him at 10/1 for the first goal.

Full History of Spurs – Newcastle www.topspurs.com/thfc-newcastleunited.htm

Injuries & Suspensions – With memories of Stevie P in 1984 sitting out on what should have been one of the greatest evenings of his career when we won the UEFA Cup, I thought I’d look into who is getting close to a ban. I have been reliably informed that any ban starts 14 days after the suspension has been reached, which means that the Leicester game on Feb 9th is the last one that counts towards the final. So they’ll all have to wait to the end of the season before they give Savage the kicking he deserves on the day we relegate them.

So as I understand it, it should work like this – any automatic red between now and Leicester will mean missing the final (and two other matches as well) – something we could well do without – Mike Arsehole Riley stay away. Players that get two yellows for a red miss one, or maybe two matches and those that accumulate 5 yellows get one match.

This means that two and three match bans picked up in the Newcastle and Derby matches will miss the 5^th Round of the Cup, the Final and Sunderland at home. One match bans will miss the 5^th round of the cup if we beat or draw with Bolton, and the final if we do not.

Any one, two or three match bans picked up during either the Bolton or Leicester matches, will mean that the players will miss the final.

Players at risk from this appear to be Ferdinand and Perry – on 4 yellows – and Poyet, Sheringham and Treacle all on three yellows. All these are first choice players and we could really do with them staying card free from now to the day after the Leicester match, although it would not be too bad if Sir Les and Mr Ed got their cards in the next two matches (assuming my logic and sums are correct) as they would then be ok for the final.

Topspurs TSHIRTS – getting closer to having the topspurs t-shirt organised. It will be like the design in the top left of this page, with Tottenham being replaced with “Glenn Hoddle Sunshine Football”. They will be about £5/6 each plus p&p and should be available within two weeks – if you are interested send an email to tshirts@topspurs.com

Carr - a new insult – Less than a week after one of Spurs best victories of the last 15 or so years if not more, rather than come out and say how much he is looking forward to being a part of Glenn Hoddle’s Tottenham or how gutted he is about missing the final – the person we all used to love called Carr has come out with this crap about the man who stood on the throat of Tottenham, choking the club for 26 months before he was flushed away.

"There have been a lot of rumours recently about George Graham returning to football. He's been out of the game for a while, but I've no doubt he's still got plenty to offer at the top level.
Considering what he has achieved in his career as a player and manager, the thing that surprised me most about him when he was at Spurs was his hunger. He still desperately wanted to be a winner and anyone who thought he might have rested on his laurels when he arrived at White Hart Lane was totally wrong.
His will to win was amazing and his determination was infectious. Of course, he didn't have the happiest of times when he was manager with the fans because of the Arsenal thing [webmasters note - fucking nonsense – Graham was hated cos he was making Spurs ordinary and had a worse points per game record than his predecessor Gross www.topspurs.com/thfc-managers-index.htm - 20th of 22 managers at the club], but you couldn't fault his commitment.
You always felt with George that he was not done with the game that he felt he still had a lot to prove to himself and other people. In my opinion, there's no reason why he couldn't do a great job for another big club and I'd be very surprised if we didn't see him back in the Premiership sooner rather than later."

This comes on top of the “I love Rsol” & “I want to play for Barcelona” stories. Defenders of Carr say he is happy and that these are Ghost written bits of rubbish – but the fact remains – he has put his name to them and not come out to contradict them.

Just a reminder of about George Graham – he was convicted fraudster who was banned from the game for a year, he suppressed the young talent at Leeds and then wasted a lot of Spurs money on ordinary players he did not feel intimidated by, before running the club into a boring rut – taunting fans as he went knowing if he was sacked he was due a pay off on his fat contract. He was and remains a no good dirty goon – who has yet to find a job in football after nearly a year as the facts of the Goonersaurus begin to remain in people’s minds rather than the bullshit he spouts about a trophy or two for some small club in Woolwich in the days before the Premiership.

Any man who defends him is no friend of topspurs or Tottenham come to that & Carr is rapidly becoming the new Barmby – and will go the same way as the little pig if he is not careful – which will be a great shame for someone that was once held in such high esteem. We would still welcome back the brilliant full back we last saw at his best over 15 months ago – but the more crap he spouts will require more bridges to be built.

28^th January 2002 – Daily Round up

Quiet day – Not much to report today – Spurs linked with another load of players that have no chance of coming. Young Fergie – the Scottish Michael Owen - scored the winner for the reserves against Charlton & this ‘umble site made it in the Daily Mirror top 10 Spurs sites – which was nice - but a kind of non day in terms of new Spurs stuff and more time to reflect on the events of VC day last Weds night.

27^th January 2002 – Tranmere at Home, if we beat Bolton

Posh Scousers – You could n’t make it up – first we have Bolton twice in two different cups and now its Tranmere who beat Cardiff 3-1 today if we beat Bolton in the rearranged match on Tuesday week. This tie should hold no problems for Spurs having already done them easily 4-0 at their own ground earlier in the season and the 6^th Round feels quite close as long as we don’t do anything daft.

As far as I can make out, we have never met two teams in both Domestic Cup competitions in the same season, but we have met the same one in both on these occasions (and god knows, with Chelsea and Fulham still in the cup…………)

Wimbledon 98/99 – won FA Cup replay 3-0 at the Lane after a 1-1, and won 1-0 on aggregate in League Cup semi thanks to a Selhurst goal from Iversen.

Man Shitty 92/93 – The Nayim hatrick game saw us win 4-2 in the FA Cup and we also won 1-0 in the League cup, both games at Maine Road

Liverpool 84/85 – After doing them 1-0 at the Lane in the League cup, we lost by the same score at Anfield in the FA Cup

Man Utd 79/80 – That Hoddle special from the Free kick helped us win 2-1 at the Lane in the League Cup second round, but we lost the second leg 3-1 to go out, but gained handsome revenge in the FA Cup after being held 1-1 at the Lane and having Hoddle in goal after Aleksic had been knocked out by Jordan in the replay at Old Trafford, Ossie popped up in the 117^th minute to win the match 1-0 after also scoring at the Lane

Aston Villa 68/69 – We won 4-1 away in the League cup before having a 3-2 win at the Lane in the FA Cup with Chivers a hatrick hero in the first match and two from Greavsie making sure in the second.

we also met Liverpool twice in the 72/73 season – after a 1-1 at Anfield a John Pratt special sent us on our way to a 3-1 win at the Lane in the replay in the League cup which we went on to win, but two Martin Peters goals in a 2-1 home win in the UEFA Cup semi final meant that we were robbed on away goals with the tie level at 2-2 after a 1-0 defeat at Anfield. Many thanks to Steve Marson for alerting me to this omission.

27^th January 2002 – Match Postponed

Extreme Weather – It was pissing it down for a whole 24 hours before the match so it probably should not be a shock that the Bolton cup game was off. Just a wasted day – and thank god it was not last week with Oystein coming over from Norway and Den from Ireland! (See there were worse things than that Everton match!). At least this gives us more time to prepare for Newcastle and no midweek replay up at Bolton – but it does make you wonder why if even heavily in debt Chelsea could afford some plastic sheets to cover their orrible pitch, we could n’t? Easy to be wise after the event and I’m sure it was just one of those things.

More Shit in the Sky - On the subject of the postponement – why the fuck do Sky persist in getting Gooners involved with our matches. Thick Pinocchio Goon Alan Smith in his “I wanna do the Garden” Brummie voice told us that the game was off yesterday, while they’ve had that the convicted accepter of bungs and general tosspot the Goonersaurus giving his bitter no-job opinions on our matches earlier in the season.

Do they think they are doing us a favour by having these cunts we have no respect for involved with our matches? Why not have Clive Allen, Graham Roberts or another ex-Spurs player giving the expert analysis – or even a player from the other team – but no Goons. I cannot imagine them getting Roberts in to give us his appreciation of the Goons – so why should we have them messing up our tree

God Bless Boro – Everyone, including Spurs can now see the Millennium stadium getting a bit closer with Boro removing Man U from the Cup. With Leeds, Man U, Villa, Charlton (up yours Youngy - twat!), Sunderland, Southampton, Derby and Leicester already gone, one of Liverpool and Arsenal to go today with Chelsea holding no fear for us anymore, and that’s if they can beat the Hammers in the replay – we must fancy ourselves to get to another cup final later in the year with a bit of luck and some decent draws (and not Arsenal in the Semi again).

The winner will probably come from Spurs, Newcastle, (Arsenal/Liverpool), (West Ham/Chelsea), Fulham, Everton, Blackburn, Ipswich – a great chance of a cup double for us – so come on you Spurs – shit team at home in the 5^th round, with the winners of the Liverpool Arsenal match getting Newcastle and Fulham getting the winners of the West Ham Chelsea match – come on you Spurs!

Goons! – Just watch that shamble of Goons luckily scrape past Liverpool with more red cards than goals. Doubtless myopic Wanger will have missed Monkey Keown fouling Owen and Bergwank’s dangerous play to earn the goons their cards, as well as missing the numerous missiles thrown by the idiotic Arsenal fans. I am at a loss to see how Carragher could be sent off for throwing one of the missiles back into the crowd? What law has he broken here? Tidying the pitch? And does it carry a straight red?

Utter nonsense, although the FA needs to bollock him for his daft behaviour I don’t see what law he has broken to be sent off and all it does is reward the idiots who threw the coins – which is surely the last thing the FA want to encourage in the current climate.

For their part Liverpool were crap and deserved to go out, but I think it is no co-incidence that a perfectly normal match was turned on its head when Bob Wilson was caught by the TV cameras lurking around the tunnel area (add your own Rsol joke here) – I wonder what evil magic he was brewing up unseen to the naked eye.

Well done to Perryman – The second Tottenham Trust Newsletter arrived yesterday (what happened to the first?) and there was a little piece – what’s happened to your tenner? Exactly what has happened to my tenner – I applied at the end of October with the £10 cheque cashed in the first week of November & as yet I await my card.

Stevie Perryman must have applied long before me as he is seen pictured with his card – lucky sod. With my non pro-rata membership which running out at the end of June I wonder will I receive the card before it does so? And lets not forget when I applied – that means that if you applied after this point, you will also have not got your card – or have you? Let me know. It can’t be that hard – get a letter with a cheque in it – write the membership card out, send it out and cash the cheque. Just cashing the cheque and not getting a card for a quarter of a year is not a way to win friends and sounds like something that the club would do and not a supporters association.

While there are a number of excellent people involved in the trust – the current person in charge of the membership organisation side does not seem to be run by someone who has the time or inclination to get the job done properly.

Daniel Wynne & the Jewish Chronicle – Just to let you know, Friend of topspurs Daniel Wynne has got an article about himself in the Jewish Chronicle (inside back page, 25/1/02 edition) and make sure you watch him have a laugh at that Chelsea ponce on the Premiership Parliament when they review the semi final action from last week on the Premiership parliament in a weeks time.

26^th January 2002 – Daily Round up & Bolton

Trotters – Bolton in the Cup was my first ever match in the FA Cup back in the promotion season of 77/78 and after a 2-2 at the Lane, we lost up there 2-1 after extra time & this tie was the last time we have met them in the oldest cup competition, enabling Bolton to get back level at 2-2 in terms of going through to the next round.

10-Jan-78 F.A. Cup 3® 31,314 A Bolton Wanderers L 1 - 2 (a.e.t) Taylor (pen)

07-Jan-78 F.A. Cup 3 43,731 H Bolton Wanderers D 2 - 2 Hoddle, Duncan

10-Jan-48 F.A. Cup 3 37,075 A Bolton Wanderers W 2 – 0 (a.e.t) Duquemin (2)

25-Feb-35 F.A. Cup 5®® 26,692 VP Bolton Wanderers L 0 - 2

20-Feb-35 F.A. Cup 5® 47,453 A Bolton Wanderers D 1 - 1 Hunt GS

16-Feb-35 F.A. Cup 5 70,347 H Bolton Wanderers D 1 - 1 Evans W

04-Feb-25 F.A. Cup 2® 51,774 A Bolton Wanderers W 1 - 0 Seed

31-Jan-25 F.A. Cup 2 52,635 H Bolton Wanderers D 1 - 1 Seed

Apart from a “Duke” inspired win at Burnden Park in 1948 (and even that was after extra time) – all the first matches have been drawn – a result our wallets and the legs of the players could well do without – and it should be noted that Bolton have drawn 4 of their last 6 matches!

This match preview is only being put up at 10.30ish on the day of the match as a result of the euphoria of the win on Weds night – I just hope the players turned their attentions to the cup a lot earlier. While we have beaten Bolton 3-2 in the League and 6-0 against a slightly weakened team in the League Cup 8 days later – we still have to be pretty close to our best to be sure of going through, as Everton proved last Saturday.

Allerdyce the Bolton manager faces a dilemma of credibility after his decision to field a weakened team in the League cup “so that they could get a result in the Premiership” 4 days later. This nonsense will be put to the test today, as Bolton have two league matches in the next week, and surely to be consistent he will have to rest all his so called “best” players.

Tottenham have the result in their own hands and if they go out with a similar attitiude to Weds night, - and of course take our chances! – we should go through, and lets hope it’s a good win to cap a great couple of days for the Post Sugar Tottenham Revolution!

24^th January 2002 – The day after the night before

Smiling & Grinning – The more you have time to think about it, it gets even better. Even with a day’s reflection that was one of the greatest Spurs performances of my lifetime & 28 years of going to the Lane. It, or virtually any other game cannot match that day in April 1991 with the off the field troubles threatening the very existence of the club, but it has to be up there and we will be talking about it for years.

As in 1991, despite the magnitude of the semi – we still went on and won the cup against all the odds – player injuries, missed penalties, disallowed goals etc – so lets hope for a repeat on that score.

Blackburn will be tough opponents and we will need another special performance – but if we stay injury and suspension free and serve up the same again we should be ok. For me this is about Silverware – getting to a cup final and winning a cup. Sure playing in Europe will be fantastic for everyone – but 20 years on, more people remember the 1982 cup final that what we did in Europe the following year and it is the cup win which goes on the list of club honours on page 3 of the programme.

We have only met Blackburn twice in the League cup before, and both times we came out on top, so let’s hope we maintain our good record against them.

01-Dec-93 L.C. Cup 4 22,295 H Blackburn Rovers W 1-0 Rsol

09-Nov-88 L.C. Cup 3® 12,961 A Blackburn Rovers W 2-1 (a.e.t) Thomas, Stewart

01-Nov-88 L.C. Cup 3 18,814 H Blackburn Rovers D 0-0

The last biblical reference for a while will be that there is no room at the Inn – with it being virtually impossible to book a hotel in Cardiff on the Saturday night. I do however expect many of these to be freed up, as wanky Chelsea fans will have to cancel their reservations.

Cup Final News – Away Shirts and Unlucky End? – Blackburn have won the toss and will play in their normal halves while we will be forced to change kits and wear the Argentinean Blue kit. No great problem there – we wore yellow to win in 1982 (although QPR also changed their kit) and the Argentinean link, however tenuous, will hopefully bring us good luck.

We have also been given the South Stand (another stadium planner with great imagination) – the fans in which have seen their sides lose all 7 of the domestic played there. Not a worry for that reason as it is due a bit of luck – my only concern is that it will stink of those rancid Gooners from last May – so I hope they have done a thorough job cleaning it.

Nearly Bad lucked us. In the programme, the club published details of what we should do if we get to the final. Did they learn nothing from 1987? I know time is pressing, but they could quite easily put it in the Newcastle programme if it was going to be relevant. Anyway - click on this link for the ticket details from the official Spurs site. Cup final ticket details

Possible Black Cloud? – In the melee which saw Hasawank get sent off, saddoes with nothing better to do that try and spoil things have spotted that Treacle gave skinny Legs Melchiot a slap, and although well deserved this could get old Treacle who had a great match in to a bit of bovver with the FA, and if found guilty and he got a 3 match ban – he would miss the final.

This would be terrible news for the little bloke, esp. as he missed out in 1999, as he was cup tied. It also presents a problem in terms of personnel if Ziege does not make it back in time, as we have no cover at left back. Lets hope the FA are not petty wankers, and give Melchiot two red cards – one for the punch and another for the tackle he did on Treacle minutes after, while telling Treacle he is a naughty boy and not to do it again. I have a feeling that they will try and nail him after copping flak for letting him off that Graveson tackle at the start of the season. Lets hope he is ok.

Fantastic Day – Not a cue for closet haircut 100 fans to leap out, but yesterday saw Spurs do Chelsea and reach the League Cup final, but it saw our Youth team beat Bolton in the Youth Cup with a couple more from prolific young striker Jamie Slabber and our “fives” team made up of fans, beat their Oldham counterparts to reach the final to be played on the same day as the League Cup final. Add to this that the DINKT quiz team have also learnt they are through to the next phase of the quiz – it was a great great day.

What a week – The excitement generated by the Semi and the fantastic win has given TopSpurs its best ever week with 2500 people daily logging in & I thank you all – it is a great time to be a Tottenham Supporter & its going to get even better – COME ON YOU SPURS

23^rd January 2002 – The SuperNova of the Glenn Hoddle Sunshine Football

Spurs 5-1 Chelsea – Absolutely fantastic – Super Spurs battered Chelsea 5-1 to go thro to the final of the League Cup 6-3 on aggregate on one of the famous nights at White Hart Lane. A fantastic performance from all of the players and we had no bad luck to rob us of our rewards. A magical evening that will live long in the memory – COME ON YOU SPURS

22^nd January 2002 – Chelsea Preview

The Big match – No matter what has happened in the two weeks since Chelsea narrowly beat us at the Bridge – the equation remains the same - we need to win, & probably by a two-goal margin. All of their 9 goals scored in the beating of Thames Ironworks and Delia Smith & our disappointing results against Ipswich and Everton have no bearing on the match. It’s just the start of the second half, and we are 2-1 down but well in the match.

This year’s league cup has been a tale of revenge for Spurs – Hoddle and Gorman going back up to Tranmere and winning 4-0 only months after that pile of shite he used to manage gave away a 3-0 lead to lose 4-3 to Tranmere in last years FA Cup. Next up it was Fulham, who got their arse kicked 2-1 on their own patch in revenge for the Goonersaurus 3-1 defeat back in 1999. This was soon followed by Bolton, who were sent back up the motorway with a 6-0 hiding that was at least some consolation for when the players gave up at Burnden Park for Mullethead back in 1996………And then there was Chelsea – surely the biggest revenge of them all after the miserable run we have had against them in recent years.

The date of the match is exactly 11 years to the day after we were done 3-0 in what was to become an all too familiar tale of woe in the League Cup 5^th round back in 1991 when the Gulf war was about to begin & older Spurs will remember the Semi final back in 1972 when Chelsea scored directly from an Indirect free kick to nick a draw and get them into the final 5-4 on aggregate. We can add Hasawank’s cheating antics this September, and you can feel the weight of injustice building.

With all this and the fact that it has been 5,268 days and 15 miserable matches since we have beaten them at White Hart Lane (a period which they always forget to mention, included a humiliating Chelsea relegation) and 4,365 days and 27 matches in all since we have beaten them at all – the time is surely right for the good lord to look favourably on us at last.

And favour from the almighty has been something we have lacked this season. Apart from getting a semi dodgy penalty against Boro at home – we have been victim’s big time of some bad decisions and some cruel luck throughout the season. These things happen I know, and as the great one said, even themselves out over a season – but come on God, its payback time & try to look favourably on the virtuous of N17.

While the events of the last 14 days have no bearing on the match itself, its fair to say that we have not been at our best, whereas Chelsea seem to have thrived. While we could go through 1-0 after 120 minutes, all other score lines that will send us through require us to score 2 goals more something we have done only once in a match (against Div 1 Coventry) since we put 4 past Fulham 8 matches ago, with the majority of these goals scored by Sir Les who is 50-50 to start the match at best.

On the plus side we have Sheringham back, who scored two of his three outfield league goals against Chelsea in September & welcome back both Ledley & Poyet after missing Saturday’s match and we will probably line up 3-5-2

Sully

King, Perry, Gardner

Davies, Anderton, Poyet, Sherwood, Taricco

Sheringham, Ferdinand/Iversen/Rebrov

Subs – Kelly, Thelwell, Leonhardsen, Etherington and one of the forwards.

We should remember that in the 180 minutes of football we have played against Chelsea this season we have done well and have been unlucky to have lost both matches, but we need to watch out for their dangerous forwards. As much as Hasawank is a twat, he is also a brilliant goalscorer and just as ominously, has a great record against us. Alongside him will be Gudjohnson who is a goal a game since the start of December or Zola, scorer of the wonder goal last week.

These players will be up against an uncapped back three with two of the players only 21! Fortunately two of the uncapped are only without international recognition as a result of their age, while Mr Ed usually revels in a scrap where the emphasis is on last minute interceptions and saving tackles rather than passing to a team mate – but we cannot afford any of these players to be injured as Thelwell is almost certainly not up to the challenge. Whoever is on the pitch for us has be alert for every second of the match.

It is a reassuring to have Sully in goal considering his heroics last season and he will probably need to he at his brilliant best to keep us in contention with a clean sheet. Our wingbacks are fine, but Davies needs to be careful to balance his defensive duties with his excellent attacking play.

In the midfield, we can expect a hard performance from Sherwood, getting in and mixing it for us, with him & Anderton linking well with Sheringham and Poyet, who I have a feeling will score against his old club. All it remains for whoever plays up front is to not miss any of our chances – this is so so important.

Our task is enormous when you consider the goal deficit, the Chelsea forward line and our injury problems – not to mention the mental effect of the record against them which more recently reads one draw and 11 defeats in our last 12 against them.

The match is not about how far we have come, about getting into Europe or anything like that – not on Wednesday night anyway – all that matters is that Spurs get to the final.

All we can realistically expect is the players that represent Tottenham go out and give their all right up until we are in the final or have gone out fighting & that we as spectators must get behind the side from the first minute to the last.

While we need to be realistic about our chances, and put Anderton on suicide watch if he loses in another semi final, we should take heart that games do not always go to form. Chelsea can be notoriously unpredictable (except against us in recent years) and games are not always decided by logic.

I’m hoping the spirit of Sir Henry Percy, Harry Hotspur is coursing through their veins of all the Spurs players and crowd – lifting them to superhuman efforts & that the Good Lord, sitting along side Danny Blanchflower in the Paxton in the sky, is looking down favourably upon us & that bit of magic from his son Glenn is just enough to see us through – 2-0, 3-0, 3-1 whatever…… COME ON YOU SPURS

21^st January 2002 – Daily Round up

Sir Les – After his concussion on Saturday, the official site rate the great man at only 50-50 for the big match against Chelsea, and being realistic – I cannot see him coming back so soon after concussion as in other Sports people are stood down for at least a week after this.

While it would be great to have Sir Les back, it will only be worth it if he is 100% and there is no point risking his long-term health just because we have not been active enough in the transfer market. Good luck Les, keep taking the anadin.

Janker – Hoddle has literally laughed off rumours linking us with Carsten Janker on loan for the rest of the season. While I agree that the lanky Bayern player is probably not the man long term at Spurs – with the excellent commitment of Sir Les resulting in him picking up an injury in virtually every match, saying Iversen is prone to injury is an understatement and Armo in a virtual footballing coma – a German international striker who has done well at domestic level in the Bundeslegia might not have been something to scoff at to give us more options than Sheringham and Rebrov, a player Hoddle does n’t rate.

Injuries – Part 1.Carr – Carr seems intent on doing an Anderton 1996 Lazarus just in time for the summer major championship as his comeback date has now been shifted back from late January to the “before the end of the season”. Opinions of Carr are very much a free vote & while this could have as much to do with the medical staff at WHL – I cannot help thinking - one way or the other we will never see him as good as he was before in a Tottenham shirt. I not comfortable with these thoughts about one of my heroes from the last few years, although they are more an intuition or feeling than a rational comment.

Injuries – Part 2.The Doc – Better news on the Doc as he has announced that he should be back in contention at the start of February, and a quick look at the fixtures reveals that we could see him on the bench at the very least in the home match against Leicester City.

Injuries – Part 3.Clemence – More bad news for Clemence who has been out since a bad foul from Flitcroft at the start of the season as he has picked up a different injury in one of his comeback games. While if I were totally honest, Clemence would probably not feature in the first 16 – it is disappointing for him as he is an honest and likeable player.

Gazza – The FA has called for a video of the game against Everton on Sunday in order to investigate an incident involving Paul Gascoigne and Oyvind Leonhardsen in which Leo claims Gazza elbowed him in the head. I think I saw one of these in the first half and have to admit that Gazza, for the second time has acted stupidly after last season doing a number of stupid things including pulling Treacle to the ground by his hair.

I hate to be critical of such a great and important player for Spurs, but it would have been nice if he’d not retuned to the Lane as an old man - his body not able to keep up with his mind (and doing stupid things such as the fouls more out of frustration than anything else), and we could have had unsullied memories of him.

20^th January 2002 – Weekend Round Up

Everton – Another disappointment – It has to be said that not being able to take maximum points off Everton rates as a big disappointment, esp. after taking the lead so early on. Again the fine line of fate was not on our side with a couple of handballs not given as penalties and the log hitting the bar (crossbar I should clarify) in the last minute.

It seems that we can raise our game to play well, without winning against the better sides but cannot polish off those sides are expected to beat. Expectations for Chelsea after this performance will not be raised, but we should remember that this result has no bearing on the crucial semi coming up in the week that is another 90 minutes. Saving the legs of Poyet and Ledders was probably a sensible move in terms of our season as a whole, but the injury to Sir Les is a bitter blow & we must hope he recovers in time.

The equation remains the same – we must beat Chelsea – and more than likely by a two goal margin – come on you Spurs!

TOPSPURS Gathering – While the game is already forgotten, it was great to meet up with so many of the people that have made topspurs such a pleasure to run (in the order of distance travelled ish):

• Oystein and Wenche from the Trondheim area in Norway
• Irish Den McGarry and Lisa from Dublin, Ireland
• David McKean from Northern Ireland
• Meatloaf, Anthony “Chris Evans” Slatz & the rest of the Cumbrian Spurs
• Gordon Lynn & son Ian also from Northern Ireland via North Yorkshire
• Lynford, Scooby, Haverhill Yid and junior
• Fred Dowry
• Lee Dumont & John “and their bags”
• Chiefy & Tim
• Block 27 Sean & Guest Jo-Anne
• Jacob Goldberg
• Jason Merritt & Lauren
• And last but not least Rosie

I was also pleased to meet Bob Goodwin who in my opinion has written the best book on Tottenham “Spurs a complete record” and has a similar version out in print now called “The essential History of Tottenham Hotspur”, isbn 0755310195 – available in WHSmiths for around £15. I would like to give a special thank you to Fred for the introduction and for pointing Den and Lisa to the post match drink we had in the Park pub.

Oystein, who was previously most famous for his “totty” quotes earlier in the season, has a new claim to fame being the only person I have ever met who drinks 4 Jack Daniels as his stock drink – and he had about 6 of these during the day and was still going strong at 9ish. Star man & see what this sort of drinking and a devotion to Spurs does with his Spurs website http://home.c2i.net/ogen/

Daniel Wynne – The Everton match was also a big occasion for Daniel Wynne who had an ITV film crew with him at the match for the Premiership Parliament show for which he represents Spurs. The show will be broadcast on Monday evening around 1030 (check schedules) on ITV1 and make sure you watch the show if you can.

New issue of CADD – I’m not blessed with many good ideas, but Paul Lederer seems to think something I included in the Sunderland match report is well worth doing & my thanks to him and the CADD team for furthering this idea after all “every little bit helps Spurs back to the top”

19^th January 2002 – Drugs

One law for one……… – The local free paper in Harringey with the cooperation of the club and old Bill sought to further damage the image of Spurs fans with the article “Spurs fans targeted in drugs operation”.

The paper bragged that the old Bill had been at three Spurs matches and arresting 25 suspects for drugs offences mentioning class A and B drugs. This did not tally with the old bill they got a quote off who seemed to suggest it was a bit of a waste of time with the comment “most were for personal use”. They also failed to mention the snide way they went about it – hiding the other side of the turnstiles mob handed to nick people for having a joint on them without any prior warning.

While the club are right to sort out dealers and those using dangerous drugs such as heroin, they could do us all a favour by broadcasting this policy on the web and in the programme – making it clear what the rules are – and why cannabis is decriminalised in some parts of the country but not for a trip to football? How a naturally growing plant can be illegal is another matter.

If the old bill were that serious about getting a load of arrests for Ecstacy and Coke they need just go to any nightclub and wait behind the doors and search people as they come in – or pub or cinema for that matter – but they won’t – So why are football fans (yet again) treated separately?

……..and for that matter – why have they not arrested Gooner Prince Harry – it has been a week since it has been revealed that the little twat has spent tax payers money breaking the law by buying drugs! That to me is a serious offence, but as if we did n’t know, this only goes to prove the real role of the police, to protect the rich.

18^th January 2002 – TISA

The closing down of TISA – The TISA committee have asked me to spread the word about the closing down of TISA and the funds being transferred to the Tottenham Trust. Click on the following link for more details www.topspurs.com/thfc-tisa.htm

17^th January 2002 – Daily Round Up

Everton Preview – After the easy confidence boost of the win at Coventry, Spurs have a great chance to make it two wins on the trot on the lead up to Chelsea when they take on an a struggling Everton side. And if the team approach the match in a similarly over confident manner we could come unstuck as we did against Ipswich at home before Christmas. Despite their problems Everton have won their last two matches with clean sheets, but all being well we will welcome back Sheringham up front and we will simply be too good for them all over the park.

The game will also offer what will be a final opportunity to say a fond farewell to Gazza & we wish him well.

Missile Throwing etc – Tottenham today announced a range of tough new measures against fans that throw missiles and it seems that the club have been leaned on privately to make sure that Spurs are not responsible for any more incidents of crowd trouble.

In light of this, it is disturbing to read that we managed to price many of our own fans out of the semi final with a number of seats going on general sale and potentially to Chelsea fans – who if throwing a bottle in the Spurs end, could get us in real shite. So the money they thought they might make by robbing us with the ticket prices might be taken away (and more) with a fine in what would be a cruel irony. The measures to stop the hooligans are:

Banning the sale of beer in bottles hopefully they will also search people entering the ground as my bottle of mineral water would make just as good a missile

Doubling the number of CCTV cameras at White Hart Lane. With the 100’s of old bill around and the cameras already present, surely they could have caught who was responsible before – and if they did n’t work before, doubling what does n’t work will be a waste of money

Increasing the number of stewards. Re above – more people who are more likely to obstruct supporter’s views of the pitch than do anything useful – and when you double this…….

Life bans on fans caught hurling missiles. Is n’t this already the case?

Asking fans to identify missile-throwing offenders immediately. Bingo – this is the only measure that is going to work. It will work like the stamping out of racist remarks in all grounds by peer pressure. The supporters must be strong together and if there is a Muppet who does this sort of thing, they should identify him to the old bill or a steward. And this is the crux – when these people are identified, the Stewards/Old Bill must act. All confidence in this will be lost if plod comes back with something like “can you prove it? whereupon the person who identified them faces a tricky situation when they have to go back and sit with the offender. All cases should be proven or otherwise by the CCTV with innocent until proven guilty an essential.

But while Spurs takes steps to cut out the idiots at the Lane – it should be a football league thing where all 92 get involved to stamp it out – cos it is most certainly not just us who are doing it.

David Buchler, who has again spoken some sense (although action from ENIC on a number of fronts – Transfers, fund raising etc would be good in the near future) said: "We have decided that we will no longer be selling beer in plastic bottles inside the ground. It will only be served in plastic cups. Stewarding will be increased by a third and more cameras will be fixed all around the ground to monitor the behaviour of the fans. Any fan carrying out an improper act, such as throwing missiles, will be identified by CCTV, ejected and banned for life from White Hart Lane.

"We are also asking our fans to inform stewards immediately they see anyone throwing missiles. This type of behaviour is simply not what we want at this club. We are taking a pro-active stance at Tottenham because these so-called fans bring the club's good reputation into disrepute and we don't want them. We ask every decent fan to support the club in its aims and help us to stamp this kind of thing out now.

"This small hooligan element is doing us no good at all and is tarnishing our name. We simply won't let that happen and we have had enough.

Bolton & The ticket office – Despite paying the club £500+ a season per ticket, season ticket holders did not even have a designated phone line before today and had to queue for hours with everyone else – but thankfully that has been rectified and there is now a line for the Season ticket holders – which is at least a step in the right direction after the sleight of hand which has screwed us for more money since the new board has taken over.

The Club is currently in the final development stages of a 3D Virtual Reality Online Ticketing Solution. This will be available for both Season Ticket Holders and Club Members 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and will
launch in the latter part of this season.

CADD – The new issue of CADD is out for the Everton match. The number one Spurs fanzine is a couple of quid well spent and will be available from the usual outlets before the match. You can subscribe to CADD at

CADD
c/o PO Box 6979
LONDON, N5 1JQ

16^th January 2002 – For you Mabbs!

Easy – The easiest win since Tranmere & not even a contest most of the time. Good to meet up with Northumberland Arms Jacob, David Etere and of course Meatloaf – as well as Rosie, Daniel Wynne, Chas n Dave manager and the rest of the SIMB people at the Beer engine.

And now for Bolton – come on you spurs!

15^th January 2002 – Daily round up

You’ve only been there once – While this is not a very difficult match in the scheme of things, we could have expected an easier on at this stage in the competition (and god knows, we don’t need difficult matches to slip up recently).

Spurs will be without Carr, Doherty, Ziege, Freund, Ferdinand and Captain Ted, who did not get a reprieve from the FA on a ground where he did well in our colours, notably the “Shooting Stars” goal celebration back in 1995. This should enable Rebrov to get another chance in the starting line up, probably alongside Iversen who made his debut at Coventry all those years of largely unfulfilled promise ago. Strangely, I am confident that these two will do well tomorrow – more of a hunch than anything based upon the hour they played together at Ipswich – and while I’ll probably be regretting saying this after about 20 minutes or so, I just think the game is set up for them to flourish with a bit more time and space.

As with any Spurs match these days, Spurs should win if we play well and take our chances. A team of Sully – King, Richards, (Mr Ed/Gardner) – Davies, Taricco – Anderton, Sher