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TOPSPURS |
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The thoughts and views
on THFC updated daily from Jim Duggan – Born in the year of the Cockerel,
Shelfside season ticket holder, White Hart Lane resident & supporter
since the early 1970s (last updated
02/08/02 9:30 AM) |
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28th July 2002 – Sometimes in this summer sunshine
the world looks down on us Same old Same old - re-affirmation of plans – With so much of the negotiations between manager, club and now players, being done in the press, the official site have sought to re-affirm the plans of THFC & Hoddle has been quoted as saying: "We're going about our business behind the scenes and it goes without saying if we can improve the squad, we will. That is what the board and myself are always working towards. I'm working with the board all the time and Daniel (Levy, chairman) and I are in daily contact. It's no different from last season, we are looking to improve the squad if we can. We've got a few youngsters on trial and, sure, we looking for striker but we'll only buy if we think it's right for the club. There is a new scenario as well. We have a transfer window to oblige to now and go past August 31 and your squad is your squad. Sensible but hardly inspiring stuff when the increasingly unsettled fans need a lift & I think the club should come out and stand up for THFC in the press. Beyond the immediate ship steadying, a period of external calm is called for. All this crap – however truthful it is, is not going to lower the price of Phillips & they must learn to keep all this private. This is where we need strong leadership in the boardroom. Someone aught to give Phillips and his agent an ultimatum – ask for a transfer and help out THFC or fuck off remain forgotten near Scotland forever. The next issue is a difficult one – on one hand I back Hoddle all the way and support the ENIC’s statement that they will back him all the way BUT, I wish he’d be a little more flexible about who he could work with at the club. There are a lot of things we don’t know about personalities and how players work with different player – but there has to be more strikers in the world that can be the finisher Spurs are looking for. Surely one or preferably two from Phillips, Keane, Fowler, Agahowa, Gudjohnsen and even Hasawank can work with the great man at Spurs. While £ for £ Phillips is a much better player than Richards, the similarities between a player at a little club that Hod wants where no-one else is interested are the same, and no matter what happens, we cannot allow Sunderland to screw £12m out of us for Phillips in a market where Yorke went for £2m on Friday. The best solution would be to get Phillips to ask for a transfer, the next option would be to move on as Spurs can ill afford another Richards where the players value falls to 25% as soon as he moves. Remember Spurs record sale remains Gazza or Piggy Barmby at a measly £5.5ish, reflecting the poor quality of our purchases for far too long. Reading between the lines, it appears that to fund the extra between what we are offering Sunderland and what they want, Anderton is being used as bait for Leeds. My own views on Anderton aside, this is completely the wrong way to go about things. Swapping Anderton for Boateng, who has moved to Boro for £5m would have made sense to us Anderton doubters and given us a player that is younger and a better central midfielder. But selling Anderton to fund a over priced 29 year old striker is not on & Hod is right to kick off over this issue. It really is time for the words to be over – sort this f**king mess out behind closed doors – and come back when you have two strikers at a decent price, that Hoddle will work with and that are going to score at the rate of at least one in two. No more put a pony in my pocket, I’ll get a suitcase from the van, I’m bored with this shit. Right in the Shittu – A second division team known as Quarter Pounda Rubbish have turned over THFC in a friendly in the West London sunshine. Well done to Ronnie Henry getting his first senior goal, but what a pile of shite. If you can’t laugh at QPR….. Spurs: Sullivan, Carr, Thatcher, Redknapp, Perry, O'Donoghue
(Henry, 11), Davies, Iversen, Doherty, Acimovic, Etherington. |
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28th July 2002 – Deadwood Comments Timmah! – Sherwood has broken ranks and spilled his guts to the News of the Screws with an accurate assessment of some of the problems & contradictions at THFC at the moment. Before we get carried away with the honesty of Sherwood, I think it is worth remembering that he has not done this out of the goodness of his heart and is most certainly NOT a Spurs fan all his life. So you have to speculate why he is using this sensitive time to stir some shit, and when it comes to shit, Sherwood would be well at home. It is also probably not the first time he has used the press to cause problems at the club, as it is widely rumoured as the source of the “bonuses” row that broke at the start of last season. As well as going on about his boyhood team the Goons; there are also unnecessary digs at Hoddle that sour the piece. Lets not have any revisionism about Timmah after this piece; he was, is and remains a twat (albeit a decent player in his prime back in the mid 90’s). Ignoring his intentions, most of the points made are mostly all accurate & hopefully it adds to the pressure on the board to realise that no-one is going to swallow the 5 year plan crap and settle for mediocrity as a feeder club: "We are a million miles away from winning the Championship because no money has been made available to buy the top stars that you need to become genuine challengers. I'm talking about players in their prime, at their peak — the ones who can make the difference. I can't believe Hoddle knew it would be like this when he took the job, and if he did, then I'm surprised he hasn't been stronger. I would certainly be disappointed that a man of his stature and reputation seems willing to accept such a situation. "Remember, Hoddle is an ex-England manager who knows the game inside out, a coach of the highest calibre. So he knows that he needs to bring in some real stars, top players who are at their peak, if we are to genuinely challenge for honours. He also knows that this will take money, big money. And I believe that if he is given that money, and the free rein that other managers at top clubs are allowed, then he will bring success to Spurs. "That's why I think Hoddle should be confronting the club's owners and asking for the investment that we need. He should be telling them to speculate to accumulate like the truly big clubs like Manchester United, Liverpool and, dare I say it, Arsenal. He certainly needs to find out if they will back him and his judgement or if they are simply content for the club to remain Premiership no-hopers when it comes to winning the title. "Are they happy to remain a once great club that's basically reduced to breeding players and then selling them on to more ambitious clubs? That's certainly not what the fans want-I know I'm a Tottenham fan myself and so are a lot of my friends. So let's have the truth. Maybe Hoddle already knows the answers, maybe he's already been told. Who knows? Only time will tell." |
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27th July 2002 – Time to chill Hod’s denial – After the report in the Daily
Express – the Club and Hoddle have come out with this statement: Glenn has reacted angrily to a story in Saturday's Express
suggesting he may quit unless we buy Kevin Phillips. Glenn responded: "The story couldn't be more way off
line. It's total rubbish. There is no problem whatsoever between the board
and myself and we are working together on all aspects of the club's
development. "I have not even spoken to the journalist
concerned." Time to chill! I should imagine that like the rest of us – Hod wants to see some action and I should imagine ENIC are doing their bit behind the scenes (they’d better be), but quite clearly these two parties need to have a sit down and a clear the air, as there appears to be a bit of tension which needs to be resolved. The only way it will be truly resolved is when Phillips is lining up in a Spurs shirt after paying less than £8m for him – and Phillips could help everyone out now by asking for a transfer, as with Yorke going for £2m Spurs could get him for even less than we are currently offering – and what Phillips misses in his 10% I’m sure everyone at THFC would be more than pleased to give him back as a signing on bonus. The Klinsmann signing? – There has been a lot of talk of a “Klinsmann” type signing to “appease” the fans. While someone who could score 29 goals next season would be most welcome & would help to get us thro the last few days of the summer with a smile on our faces and sell a few shirts – I think we would be better off with the player the manager wants. There have been plenty of rumours as to who this “Klinsmann” type signing could be – see message boards and clubcall – I think we’d be better off getting someone who is hungry to prove himself rather than someone who has done it all and will go to the highest bidder. I won’t complain if we sign the player, but would be just as happy to get the players the manager wants & perhaps an ultimatum to Phillips to make his mind up could set the ball rolling. Gillingham 1-2 Spurs – Spurs won the kickabout with a couple from Poyet. You can almost smell the Champions league… Spurs: Hirschfeld, Carr (Leonhardsen, 53), Taricco (Jackson, 71), Bunjevcevic, Doherty (O'Donoghue, 45), Richards, Bortolozzo (Ricketts, 45), Poyet (Etherington, 80), Anderton, Iversen (Sutton, 61), Barnard. |
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27th July 2002 – TOPSPURS Danish Exclusive? Peter Madsen – Topspurs Danish correspondent Jesper
has come up with an interesting story regarding Brondby’s Peter Madsen, the
Danish International striker who apparently is a player Spurs are looking at.
Jesper is quite keen on Madsen “not only scores goals but plays the Spurs way
& has pace”. The 24 year old has 22 goals from31 matches this season
(although his scoring record before that is less prolific) and nearly signed
for Inter Milan, before the skint Italians pulled out. Link: http://www.brondby-if.dk/truppen/truppen/player.asp?id=13 My usual sources have no knowledge of any interest in Madsen
(but no one knew about Bunje or Acimovic) and Hod moves in mysterious ways –
so I have posted this as a maybe, you never know & according to Danish
paper Ekstra-Bladet, representatives from Tottenham, watched Brøndby and
Denmark striker Peter Madsen yesterday. |
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26th July 2002 – Friday Bust up – Something has got
to give Hod vs. Pleat – Some bad shit is brewing. At the start of the week, when the proper Keane rumours started to come out for some reason Pleaty went public with a statement saying "We are keeping abreast of the Robbie Keane situation." This was a wholly inappropriate thing to say – if things were going on behind the scenes, all this kind of talk could do would be to alert other clubs and make what should be private negotiations public. Ok so the fans might know a bit more, but most people only believe any signing is going to occur when the press conference is announced. This it appeared has pissed off not only the board of THFC who you suppose would have not wanted a comment made about private negotiations and Hoddle, the manager of the club. On Tuesday after the Colchester match, Hod told Sky Sports "I am not saying whether we are interested in Robbie Keane or not. I know who we want and where we will go to get him. It might be Robbie Keane, it might not. We'll just go about our business quietly, like we did with Jamie (Redknapp). "You don't tell people who you're after. There might be a few people giving a few bum steers, which is fine by me, because it might well detract from our actual target." The first hint we got of Hoddle finally losing it with the current situation was the story in the Mirror earlier in the week (although the Mirror look like they are making it up, as today’s exclusive about Anderton going as part of the Keane deal is the rehashed story first put out by the Standard yesterday), but overnight we got the most unequivocal statement that Hoddle is not happy with things at the Lane at the moment when this came out in the Grauniad and other papers: “If someone wants to give you a bum steer, then so be it. If people want to know, they should ask me. I have a list of players I want and Keane is not on it.' This is quite clearly fuck off out of my business Pleat & probably a message to the directors that as manager of the team, he needs to be consulted more about what is going on. On this subject you have to support Hoddle. The board have been at pains to say what Hod wants he gets but it is quite clear Hoddle wants Phillips and so far they have not been able to budge Sunderland or sort a deal out, no doubt the remembering the last time that Hod wanted someone Spurs got stitched well over the odds when there was no competition by Wupert for Richards. It is a tough one – on one hand the board in trying to get Keane are doing what looks like good deal for the club – either as cash or cash plus 30 year old Anderton deal, but the bottom line is that Hoddle wants the players Hoddle wants as he manages the team out on the pitch. It appears quite clear that Levy and Hod should get down and talk this one through until there is a transparent understanding between manager and board, and then they should take the issues decided and make them happen. Pleat is also becoming a nuisance to everyone in his current role and while he still has a valuable role at the club identifying young talent (esp. if ENIC’s 5 year plan is to make us a profitable nursery club), he should be given the role of chief scout and removed from first team matters – as in the words of Chas n Dave, with all that Rabbit, he’s becoming a pest. 442 Season Preview – The topspurs views (from June)
have made it into the season preview for 442 magazine & check out the
name of the bloke who did the goon one, Richard Head! This is what I wrote on 16th June – not much has changed then has it! What has
your team got to look forward to?
Have you got
the right manager in place? Well I might timidly suggest
that Anderton is and will never be a top premiership central midfielder, that
Davies needs to be given a run in the first team as attacking midfielder and
that he could use subs a bit more but I'm happy when Hod is happy. All he
needs is time and for the times when he cannot turn water to wine, he needs
backing from the board rather than the current trips to Poundstretcher when
its buy one OAP, get one free day. |
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25th July 2002 – Weekly Round up Keane, No Keane and Hoddle – A now typical pre-season
week, with rumour and conjecture about who is coming and not coming and after
allowing my guard down to think that things were finally coming right for
THFC with Robbie Keane on Weds, the Hoddle story appeared in the Mirror this
morning. Word has reached the TOPSPURS lughole that something has been
set up with Leeds who are currently touring somewhere more glamorous than the
home counties, and that it is now up to Keane. Who knows? Sounds plausible
but that does not mean that it is true or that it will happen. Keane if he
arrives will be a positive acquisition – a good player, young and with a bit
of pace, but question marks over his ability to score more than 15 goals in a
season and the fact that he has gone thro so many clubs in such a short time. The Hoddle Mirror story was quite odd. The gist of the story
was that Hod has had enough of having to offload previous managers unwanted
players to raise money to buy strikers for his THFC revolution, with the
implication being that as he cannot offload the crap, he has no money to
spend. I keep being told from all sides that we have money (we’d better had)
but the only money I’ll believe is spent money. The story did not contain any
quotes and is more than likely one of a number of media people who don’t like
Hoddle stirring things up, but something about it felt right. Especially when
the Standard/this is London (who appear to have a good ear as to what’s going on inside the club)
did a story about Anderton going to Leeds as part of the Keane deal. Was
having to lose Anderton the final straw that has forced Hoddle from his
hitherto dignified shop at OAP poundstretcher? On balance, the stuff is probably bollocks but until someone
from the club comments on it either way or Keane arrives without Anderton
being offloaded it remains a potential doubt within the harmony of the
management. New Season Squad Numbers – Just in time for the new
shirt launch today, the club have taken the sensible step of announcing the
new squad numbers. No surprises with most being the same as last year &
if we ever do sign Keane and/or Phillips, with Richards dangerous from set
pieces along with Davies and Acimovic in the twenties, we look a good team to
buy shirt numbers with! 1 Neil Sullivan 2 Stephen Carr 3
Mauricio Taricco 4 Steffen Fraud 5 Goran Bunjevcevic 6 Chris Perry 7 Darren
Anderton 8 Timmah 9 useLes Ferdinand 10 Teddy Sheringham 11 Sergei Rebrov 12
Gary Doherty 13 Kasey Keller 14 Gustavo Poyet 15 Jamie Redknapp 16 Steffen
Iversen 17 Oyvind Leonhardsen 18 Ben Thatcher 20 Jonathan Blondel 21 Milenko
Acimovic 23 Christian Ziege 25 Stephen Clemence 26 Ledley King 28 Matthew
Etherington 29 Simon Davies 30 Anthony Gardner 31 Alton Thelwell 36 Dean
Richards Thomson deal – This appeared on the wallyboard & made my blood boil. It appears to be true as the person appears to have a valid Thomson's email address: Topic: Thomson's (1 of 10), Read 110 times Conf: General Chat From: Dionne Chamberlain Date: 24 July 2002 04:41 PM “This is the first time I've logged onto this site; just thought I'd let you all know that i work for Thomson's and I get the Spurs shirts for only £20 and the chance for
tickets to every game home and away!! My little sister may be the mascot at
one of the games also! “ Firstly, I hope the arrogant twat gets a career ending
bollocking from Thomson's for pissing off supporters on the official site but
on the day that real supporters are shelling out £40 for a replica top, it
makes you realise the real position of supporters in the scheme of things.
Think of the “perks” Season ticket holders have remaining above the match
tickets & compare. Anyway – here’s the website http://www.redcard.org.uk/ Bortolozzo – Who? – A new name has appeared on the team sheets for the pre-season kick abouts of Diego Bortolozzo. Apparently he is a Brazilian with an Italian passport and before we get to excited that we have unearthed the next Pele, the bloke is on trial and available on a free from Treviso. Good luck to him at Spurs but it does n’t set the pulses racing & seems another ENIC addition to the feeder club. Kickabout wins – Spurs continue the pre-season
kickabouts with a 3-1 win over Colchester and a 1-0 win over Bournemouth.
Acimovic seems to be starting very well but Rohan Ricketts appears to have a
little way to go judged by the reported comments of the manager after the
Stevenage match! New design for the Official Spurs Website – The official website has been given an overhaul, and just like a lot of things at THFC, although it looks and feels different – it still has the same content. And Finally – Click on the link for the TOPSPURS Big Brother Vote |
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21st July 2002 – Something more for the Weekend Emperors New Clothes – As we sit here less than 4 weeks before the start of the season with a pool of four strikers consisting of two players over 35, another with rumoured “off the field problems” and a one in three goal tally and the other one having just handed in a transfer request – is it not reasonable to ask, who is going to score the goals next season? Goals being a major issue as to why we finished 9th and not 6th with a League Cup win. Before it was we could n’t sign players |