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

6^th April 2002 – Thoughts on the Arse

Goons: There is no doubt this will be a tough one – Goons chasing the double and prising open all domestic defences at will while Spurs with 7 points in 9 easing into the comfort zone at the top of the crap in 7^th place.

The good news is that Spurs will have Ledley back for this game, but still have doubts over Thatcher, Ziege, Anderton as well as having the usual suspects and Ferdinand on long term injuries. Unfortunately we also have Sully unavailable for selection as a result of off the field activities as much as the slight injury he has but we all wish Keller an inspired afternoon in goal.

All the press are billing this as the goons just have to turn up, and while this may turn out to be true, it could work in our favour in that they already think they have won. It will be tough and getting away with a clean sheet will be a great result in the circumstances. There are structural reason why we go into this match in a position of weakness and while it will be no consolation if we are unsuccessful this afternoon it must be remembered that the gulf in ability between some of the players in the respective sides has been built up over years of mismanagement both on and off the field at Spurs.

Our task is enormous - our record against the top 5 away from home is a horror show. Last wins at Man U 89, Arsenal 93, Liverpool 93, Chelsea, 90, Leeds 95 and last time we avoided defeat Man U 96, Arsenal 98, Liverpool 96, Chelsea, 95, Leeds 96. As the events of Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge in the last month prove - we need 11 men on the pitch for the whole match and then some luck. Lets hope this is another step forward in the revival of Spurs – COME ON YOU SPURS.

Grand National – as a bit of half time entertainment, I suggest a couple of quid on Ad Hoc for the big race. The dictionary definition of the word - unplanned, off the cuff and makeshift – somehow make you think of the management of Spurs over the Sugarlump years. Kingsmark would also be appropriate and more forward looking, but has a hefty weight and probably would prefer a bit more cut in the ground. The Gooners may have the Wenger horse “What’s up Boys” but may need a “Red Ark” as the Spurs goals go flooding in and Chelsea will no doubt be on Paris Pikey after their “hero” Petit.

5 against the field Ad Hoc, Paris Pike, Bindaree, Spot the difference, Davids Lad

No Updates: Work has meant I have been away from home all week and I will do a weekly review inc comments on Sully and the Kappa deal (first mentioned here in Feb) on Sunday.

1^st April 2002 – Spurs 2-1 Leeds

Onwards and Upwards: A fine win by Spurs – this time with grit and determination supplementing the usual flair. This was our first home win against a top side this season and should hopefully give the team some belief that they can defend a lead against a top team in the future (something that we have looked less than comfortable doing earlier in the season). Spurs 2-1 Leeds match report

Rumours were rife at the Lane today about the position of Sully at the club – and I hasten to add I am reporting the rumours and not what has or has not happened. The rumours were that he has had a bust up over his contract and “has walked out on Tottenham”. Not sure of any details and I hope this is just a misunderstanding or crap but it is said to be related to his contract and the dispute is between him and the Board and not Hoddle. I’d just assumed that he was injured after the Scotland – France match and I must admit I think this is still the most likely story. I hope there is no truth in it, or if there is that it is sorted sooner rather than later so that our player of the year in 2001 is back in the first team.

Fresh on the back of Sky making the Boro - Spurs match a 5.35 kick off, thus ensuring that no Spurs fan could get a train back and was forced into a 450 mile round trip by car – they have some wanky advert in the programme showing an empty terrace implying that somehow subscribing to sky is saving football – utter wankers – they are the ones killing the game in England and this is an insult to the fans and something we could do without in the programme.

31^st March 2002 – Back from Boro

Smoggies & Stuff: Had a cracking Easter weekend away in North Yorkshire and despite letting in a late equaliser, pleased with a point from Middlesboro away. Big thanks to Haverhill’s finest Lynford for giving us a lift back to Whitby after the match – very much appreciated.

Bored on the train, and with only Murdoch’s filthy rag the Sunday Times available – I have a couple of observations. Firstly, the Sunday Times match report. What a pile of shite – the journo employed to cover the match Louise Taylor provided the usual digs at Hoddle, did not mention anything about Spurs hitting the woodwork for the 20^th time this season before this gem “Etherington might have scored when he stretched Keller to the limit after Iversen cleverly beat the offside before centreing (sic)” – back to the cookery section next week for her unless her paymasters are suitably impressed with the Hoddle digs.

It was a good day for Iversen – his first away goal for Spurs since 31^st October 1999 at Sunderland! and the words

“Iversen cleverly beat the offside” cannot have been written many times since either – home or away. Good luck to him and lets hope he finishes another injury-ravaged season on a high.

Even more bored – I looked at the league Table and plotted our results against the teams in the table as they stand – and this, more than anything shows the huge gap we have between us and the top 6 – a gap that cannot be filled with good intentions, pensioner power and a trip to poundland over the summer:

Away record against the bottom 10 – Won 2, Drew 2, Lost 4

Away record against the top 10 – Won 2, Drew 1, Lost 5

Too many defeats away against the crap – but otherwise not too bad, with a couple more away fixtures against poor sides we have done at home this could start to look ok……. BUT

Home record against the bottom 10 – Won 8, Drew 1, Lost 1

Home record against the top 10 – Won 0, Drew 2, Lost 4

While our record of putting away the crap at home is excellent, our record against the decent sides stinks – and needs to be put right ASAP starting with Leeds tomm, and over the summer when we need to start competing.

CADD – New issue of CADD out for the Leeds match, make sure you get a copy of the Number 1 Spurs fanzine from the usual sellers.

and finally – big TOPSPURS welcome to Lars Hirschfield who was our sub keeper away at Boro after impressing in a couple of reserve matches. Lars, who looks like a cross between Nuno Gomez and Paul Warhurst is a Canadian with International recognition and hopefully he can have a successful time at Spurs.

28^th March 2002 – Daily Round Up & Easter Preview

The Transfer Deadline: Despite rumours of Gomez and Stam it’s the same old same old with only Ciaran Toner being the only name on the move, and we wish him all the best at Bristol Rovers.

The Smogmonsters: Boro – Safe in the Premiership, Cup Semi against the Scum next week and another 3 points in the North East to make it a perfect 9 this season? We all know what happens when things look too good for Spurs but this does appear to be a game we can win to keep up the pressure to record at least our best Premiership performance for 10 years by finishing 7^th – No Europe but it is about what we could realistically have hoped for knowing the finance available.

Hopefully no International injuries for Spurs should enable the great man to field pretty much the same team that turned over Fulham with Ferdinand coming in for crocked again Iversen and possibly, although I don’t want to see it, Richards coming in for someone that is better than him at the back and Spurs switching back to 3-5-2. Anderton is another doubt as he does not seem to have fully recovered his form since his mid Feb injury and with two games in three days, he might get an extended rest with Davies coming in for him.

For a full list of Spurs Boro matches have a look at: http://www.topspurs.com/thfc-middlesbrough.htm

Leeds: Despite having fond memories of Leeds during my time at University up there, Leeds football club are being cultivated as a mini Arsenal of the North – run by Tubbs from the local shop with a collection of dirty undesireables I cannot imagine many people having Leeds as a second team.

Despite their lack of appeal, Leeds were just about the best visiting team to visit the Lane last season and have a good team with all-round strength when they click and Spurs will do well to improve on their run of 6 straight defeats against them. In saying that, the shite pitch will not help either and I’d be happy to avoid defeat and injury with the Scum coming up at the weekend.

For a full list of Spurs - Leeds matches have a look at: http://www.topspurs.com/thfc-leedsunited.htm

Happy easter to all Spurs fans everywhere!

27^th March 2002 – THST update

All Tottenham Hotspur supporters trust received, or should have received the following email from the trust over a recent meeting between the Trust representatives and the Club. As with every carefully worded statement – it appears to be worth reading between the lines. Are these the words of a man who has been allowed to look into the crystal ball to see a rosy garden? Looks like a tough summer ahead (make up yer own mind) – but it looks like Price rises for the season ticket holders with little justification as to where the money is going or efforts to raise money outside the loyal fan base who go to games.

Prove me wrong (please – and until proved conclusively otherwise, ENIC still have my support) but I don’t think anyone is in the mood for a no action rip-off summer. Won’t get fooled again? Start digging the trenches….

“As we have said before, it would be unrealistic to expect there to be no price rises next season, however strongly some of us may feel on the subject. We've always known that the club will make its own commercial decisions. Our priority has to be to express the supporters feelings, which I did as faithfully as I could, and to try to ensure that the club is 100% open about the prices. Before deciding whether to renew our season tickets, all increases must be fully explained. All prices must be totally clear. Everyone must know exactly what they get for their money. All pricing and allocation policies must be 100% clear to everyone, and must not change once they've been announced. I emphasised these points very strongly and the club has agreed.

This dialogue with the club is continuing, and we'll continue to exert as much pressure as we can. I advised them that it is critically important that the fans know how the club intends to fulfil its stated objective of consistently playing in Europe, and competing with the the top clubs in Europe. This is especially important after our failure to qualify for the UEFA cup via the cup competitions and probable failure in the league also. They acknowledged and accepted this point. I told them that people will not want to buy tickets, especially at increased prices, if they cannot see real evidence of the club's serious intentions.

We are not in a position to dictate how the club manages its finances, or how the manager selects his players and who he chooses to buy, sell, play or leave out. But whilst we cannot dictate these things, I see no reason why we cannot express our feelings, which I have done both in my own words and by passing on directly to the club chaiman Daniel Levy our members comments. There's no point in trying to get involved in arguments about purely playing decisions, because quite rightly these should be the province of the manager alone. But one of the advantages of building a relationship with the club is that we can pass on our opinions without their feeling the need to become defensive, and this is starting to work. As a result, as time goes by and our membership increases, our influence will grow.

So, we'll keep up the pressure. And remember, if there's anything you want passed on to the club, or anything you think we should be doing that we're not, just tell us. We are here only for your benefit. We can't guarantee results, but we will do our best.”

Peter Haring, Tottenham Hotspur Supporters Trust.

26^th March 2002 – Daily Round Up

Bad Day for Football: The beginning of the end? ITV digital in administration (i.e., will keep going but avoid its two massive owners paying the commitments of the company), thus leaving a lot of lower league clubs in the shite and our thoughts are with them. As usual, the veil of incorporation is used to protect corporate interests – just imagine the fans reneging en masse in this way! Lots of county courts and bailiffs to ensure the money was paid.

Another company NTL has announced debts of £11bn – who lends these people this money to invest in something like football? Just where was the money meant to come from? Those fat armchair fans? Serves them right – as this season we have had almost half of the Spurs matches moved from their original kick off times for TV fucking up the plans of those idiots who provide the atmosphere at the matches – do they want anymore Juve-Arsenal atmospheres to sell beer during the commercial breaks?

As mentioned before, this does not occur in Italy where all games are played on Sunday afternoon, plus one live Evening match - so why here? I really cannot see how 12noon/5.35pm kick offs etc help anyone. The FA aught to allow a live game to be shown on Saturday and Sunday at 3pm and no other fucking about with match times otherwise the golden goose will suffer a further relapse (and god help a shite world cup to dampen down “football fever” even more for our armchair betters – a strip away the hype surrounding our so called stars and the 5-1 against Germany it does not look good)

The spurs slant on this is two fold. In terms of getting Tottenham back to the top, this makes the market place for selling media rights etc pretty poor – who is going to invest/waste a lot of money in Tottenham in this environment? Name the stadium for £30m my arse! It is not impossible, but difficult, and does not prevent the new owners getting something like THTV subscription TV channel up and running by the start of next season at least.

The other ramification is the Spurs share price – which is around 28p per share, down from a post League Cup final 1999 of 89p – which leaves the club ripe for a takeover – should anyone want to invest in Tottenham making the club worth about £27m (assuming ENIC paid £22m for 29% at a price of 80p per share – not the wisest move for an investment company, even at the time when the shares were worth 50p).

Today’s look-alike – Italian Manager Giovanni Trappatoni and Joe from the Royal Family

25^th March 2002 – The Pre-Season

Great Leap Forward?: The start of the next season is a while away and although the new THFC board controlled by ENIC still have the time to get things right, one early sign is not very encouraging. Everyone knows we need money and we need to grow the brand of Tottenham so more people are putting money into Tottenham so we can go on to bigger and better things.

As part of this strategy, a pre-season tour to a football mad part of the world would seem like a good idea taking Tottenham to the potentially massive worldwide Spurs audience that could be paying a £5 per game to watch Spurs on the web in 5 years time – think of it, 250,000+ people logging in worldwide to watch every Spurs match, and all the money going to Spurs as we have not sold our media right! It is another step on the road to the top for a club with ambition.

Well the dream was shattered by the news that our current “far east” is Colchester – and a worthy but uninspiring Testimonial against the locals – most of whom are Spurs anyway – with the date suggesting that we are not on our travels abroad.

I really don’t understand this, and if we are not spending the summer raising the profile and money for Tottenham aboard – why not enter the InterToto as another potential way into Europe rather than playing meaningless crap like this.
They talk about raising money - but yet again it'll be the season ticket holders who are made to cough up. The door is still open to ENIC, but what part of this suggests that we are looking let alone going upwards.

25^th March 2002 – Redknapp day

New signings: As the media could not slag us off for winning, choosing instead to call us lucky despite having more shots, attempts, corners etc against Fulham – it became silly season with Redknapp and his proposed move to Tottenham.

Old news of course at TOPSPURS (see entries for 28^th December in http://www.topspurs.com/thfc-jmdview(Dec2001).htm) where Buchler’s comments "We are looking at the Redknapp situation," make interesting reading against the Clubs statement today The Club has moved quickly to deny newspaper reports that Jamie Redknapp is set to join us from Liverpool. A Spurs spokesman said:  "There have been no discussions between the two clubs." www.spurs.co.uk

Picture the scene – you can have a player for free in 3 months time, when you have more chance to assess whether he has recovered from injuries that have ruined the last two seasons for him, or you can jump in and panic buy him for £1m when he is not fully fit and you have plenty of cover (albeit ordinary players) in the position including having Clemence coming back – when we only have an outside chance for Europe, even if we do finish 7^th.

There does not appear to be money growing on the trees in the ENIC garden, and while it is possible that we might take him off Liverpool’s hands for his train fare down to London before the transfer deadline on Thursday – paying anymore would be madness.

24^th March 2002 – FULHAM match report

Easy: It just goes to show, money – our holy grail over the past couple of weeks cannot always buy you success as Spurs easily disposed of a piss poor Shite Ground No Fans Fulham the way you would expect of a team that has only lost 4 times in 46 league matches against them. When you see FA Cup Semi final appearances in a team’s list of honours in the programme, you should not really be thinking of anything other than another 3 points and so it proved with a competent performance where we never looked in danger.

Big thanks to TV’s Daniel Wynne for giving TOPSPURS a plug on his Fanzone commentary for SKY – quality bloke.

22^nd March 2002 – Daily Round Up

Early Fulham thoughts: I like a little wager on Spurs every now and then and part of my betting strategy is to price up matches before I see what odds the bookies are offering, which enables me to pick out value bets. I would never bet against Tottenham and usually don’t bother when things are not in our favour, so I was looking forward to a tasty 3/1-7/2 at Fulham.

We have lost 6 of our last 7 in the league away, as well as a couple of away cup matches against Premiership teams and are at a low ebb after 4 straight defeats so I was amazed to see we are as short as 2/1 across the board - somebody else obviously has faith in us despite the month of woe since the League Cup Final.

As ever I am confident we can get something at both Fulham and Middlesbrough (we know to our cost what teams are like with thoughts of Cup finals are like in the League).

Spurs should line up with a similar team to Monday night with Rebrov up with either Iversen or Ferdinand if he can recover from anyone of the recent injuries he has picked up recently – as Sheringham looks to be out for a while with a knock. I wish Rebrov all the best against an outfit he has already scored twice against this season, although a commanding performance like West Ham is more a hope than expectation.

Much debate has centred on the goalkeeping position in recent weeks, with Sully a bit down on his brilliance of last season. I have to say that it must be frustrating for Keller, who has done well when he came in (apart from the Hasawank free kick in the Semi) but overall I think I would stick with Sully, but it is obviously an area we are looking into as a Canadian international keeper played in the reserves tonight.

With Richards out to at least Boro and the expected Line-up should be

Sully

King-Mr Ed- Gardner

Davies – Anderton – Poyet – Sherwood – Ziege

Rebrov – Iversen (Ferdinand)

With the Doc and Clemence possibly making the bench alongside Ethers. I fancy us 2-1 or 2-0 with Poyet looking a big price at 10/1 to end his bad luck and get the first goal.

Argentineans On Trial: Fortunately this is a good news story that does not involve Treacle in trouble. Sometime Topspurs regular & 1981 Cup Final Hero Ricky Villa has introduced three young talented Argentineans to Spurs for an initial two-month trial period to the end of the season. Ariel Seltzer [defender, 20], Emanuel Frances [midfielder, 18] and Mariano Pavone [striker, 19] were all at the training ground today and there were great reports about Pavone – so hopefully over the summer at least Pavone, maybe with the midfielder Frances or even all three could sign for the club and figure in the first team at some stage during the next season.

Hopefully, Ricky can be of great use to Spurs in finding young talent in the world current number 1 footballing nation as his hero status with his native Argentineans as a world cup winner should ensure that he gets the pick of the bunch and this seems a good avenue for Spurs to pursue (dodgy Italian passports all-round!)

Football and Money: Yet again financial concerns dominate “what used to be a football club over there” and both THFC and ENIC, 29.9% major shareholders in THFC released their figures today. ENIC dressed their figures up with a non too discrete “not much available for Tottenham investment” warning – while Hoddle went public for the first time, gently hinting that his magic can only be worked on suitable subjects, of which we are not overflowing at the moment.

The THFC accounts look good with turnover and net assets both up – well they should with the liberties they took with season ticket holders at the start of this season. Chairman Levy was quoted in an all too familiar way by saying ''It is your Board's intention for the team to remain competitive in order to qualify for European competition.’’ Classic ENIC (so far), woolly good intentioned but not substance or clear plan. Action, reasoned well balanced & before the start of next season.

and as a bit of light relief – with many thanks to Jacob of Chingford – TOPSPURS play on to the end with Hoddle – we’ll be there!

(although I should stress – The Good Ship Tottenham is not sinking!!! and apologies for all those I could not fit on)

21^st March 2002 – 3-1! The Scum have been done 3-1

Judas, what’s the score: No matter how old I get, seeing the Goons cock up still brings a rosie glow and a smile that has been conspicuous by its absence in recent weeks. No doubt Packet of sweets will moan about Deportivo putting out a weakened team – but so did Juve & the Goons still failed to win!

With such an odd set of circumstances, I had considered the scenario of wanting to see Arsenal win, but get knocked out cos Leverkusen had also won (something I considered by rejected as its never good to see them win, ever) – but losing against the Juve youth team and missing a penalty is much better. Well done to Juve, Leverkusen and Deportivo for making this an agreeable evening.

No doubt Rsol will sign for one of the last 8 (although probably none of them want an over-weight error prone centre back) citing the need for European football for someone of his weight (shurely stature?) and the 8 “good” months he has given the Scum ^{© old Jokes from when they were about to be knocked out before}.

Now come on you Barcode Geordies – you were all over them up there, did them 3-1 in the League before Christmas at Scumbury – finish the job on Saturday so Packet of Sweets and his motley crew are left pot less again at the end of this season – with all their so called stars driving to Stanstead (Beavis to Felixstowe naturally) on the phone to their agents to rescue them from Scumbury. Lest we forget – last trophy won. Arsenal 1998, Tottenham 1999. Uuuuuuuurtcha!

Trust Stuff1 - Q&A with Old Pleaty: Our friends at the trust have asked me to pass on this message about Pleaty doing a Q&A. Work means I can’t get there myself, but I would urge you all to go, and then go on to the Youth Cup semi and give the young lads a cheer against Everton. If someone does go there, could they ask for me:

“David, with your excellent knowledge of football at all levels within Britain and your great success in picking at least three gems in Davies, Gardner and the Doc for around £3m back in 1999/00 – why don’t the club give you a proper budge to speculate each season?”

“Director of Football, David Pleat will be holding a Q&A session exclusively for Trust members on Wednesday April 3rd, at White Lane starting at 6pm sharp.

This will finish in time for members to watch the second leg of the Youth Cup semi-final second leg and members are encouraged to stay and support the youngsters. At a time when many members have so many questions on their mind, this is a great time to pose them to a senior member of the board. We hope to see you on April 3rd.”

Trust Stuff2 – Ticket Survey: After the recent Ticket Pricing Survey, the following is an email sent by THST committee member Peter Haring to Chairman Levy. I think Peter has done an excellent job in communicating the views of the supporters & there can be no misconceptions as to what the fans will find unacceptable. Like everything else, we wait and hope.

----- Original Message -----
From: Peter Haring
To: Daniel Levy
Sent: 20 March 2002 10:32
Subject: THST Ticket Survey

Daniel

We've had replies from around 130 Trust members to our ticket pricing survey, and the collated results are attached. Given the short time, that's not a bad response and whilst it can't be as reliable as a scientifically determined sample, it's probably reasonably representative.

I also attach the additional comments that we received, uneditted.

Some things stand out, and a few points may be worth emphasising:

1) A large majority would like Season Tickets to include 4 pre-paid cup vouchers. Our interpretation of this is that since there is a strong feeling that prices are already high, vouchers would  be welcomed if  the cup games cost no more than the league games. If this were the case, and if ST prices are acceptable, it would appear that it could be a very popular move.

2) There does not appear to be very strong support for increasing the price differentials for seats, Numerous comments suggest that people don't feel that the facilities in the most expensive seats justify  relative price increases.

3) Whilst some people would pay more if certain improvements were assured, (principally transfers, the youth system, stadium development and facilities), many of the additional comments express the feeling that prices are already too high.

4) The comments reveal strong dissatisfaction with what is seen as an attempt last year to conceal the real price increase of tickets. This has been answered in the past  but the feeling clearly persists, and is damaging to any sense of goodwill that might exist between supporters and the club. We cannot emphasise too strongly the need for transparency and openness in all matters.

I think it is important not to underestimate the impact and importance of match results. Had recent games not been so devastatingly disappointing the club would be in a far stronger position to propose price increases. As it is, many fans believe very strongly that any increase at all would be unjustifiable. Whether this opinion accords with economic reality or not, price rises will damage the club's relationship with significant sections of its support. It is very important indeed that supporters know that the club is trying to match their ambition, and they have become very sceptical in recent years.

We are asked time and again to pass on this message to you:
Please explain what you're doing and planning to do.
Please be open with both bad and good news.
Please think big, and take some risks to build a team and a club that we can support without reservation.

The fans want to support you but your actions have to convince them that the club's ambition matches theirs. In return, you can be confident that they'll provide enormous support.

Peter Haring.

20^th March 2002 – What we’ve had, Where we are & Where we want to go

Where we are: It first showed itself on a freezing cold afternoon at the Valley in December. Spurs were poised to go second in the league and for the first time for ages people were beginning to take us seriously again after a series of good results that had seen un win 7 of our previous 9 matches scoring 19 goals from all over the front line. Charlton was a massive disappointment and we lost 3-1.

It got better, briefly, as we scored 10 unanswered goals in two matches at the Lane in the week after – but a poor performance and being reduced to 10 men saw us fail to overcome a previously pitiful Ipswich & after that the season has been pretty ordinary – run of the mill wins and defeats against teams that we would have beaten earlier in the season, except for one night of magic at the Lane, which despite everything will rank as one of the greatest Spurs performances at White Hart Lane in recent memory.

Today we sit on the back of 4 humbling defeats and all our dreams on finally coming out of the mediocrity that has characterised our club over the years in tatters (for the time being at least). The fall in the last month has been spectacular and made to feel worse as we have had our expectations increased with the Gooner cull, appointment of Hoddle and the good form earlier in the season. Under the Gooner expectations were confined to getting rid of him before he did any more damage, and this hurts cos we are losing as Tottenham.

So where did it all go wrong? As a bit of a statto (yeah honest!), I seem to remember Sheringham’s contribution in each of his last two seasons at the Lane in his first spell under Mullethead were pretty ordinary from January onwards – two league goals in each of his last two seasons 95/6 & 96/7. This season has followed a similar pattern with his form tailing off a little earlier.

Teddy’s loss of form has disrupted Spurs an enormous amount. At the start of the season he was instrumental in our great form, but when his touch in and out of the box went, it affected the whole team in a bagpuss effect. The importance of Sheringham cannot be overstated. Leicester at home was our only League win without him in the team & despite getting bollocked for missing chances against Sunderland was still there to put the pass thro to set up the winning goal.

As well as knackering our whole season and plans for 2002/3, the defeat in the League cup final opened up an number of wounds and for the first time in a year there was proper debate between the fans. People are now starting to moan about our players being too old and that we should trust in youth. To some extent this is true – a fit Gardner and Davies should be amongst the first on the team sheet, but who else? Thelwell? Piercy? (with respect to the latter two). Reports suggest there is no one else (yet) ready for the step up to the first team & it will be a year or so before we can even think of Slabber, O’Donoghue etc coming forward and being contenders.

We should not forget the quality that the older players have given us this season. 15 goal Ferdinand, maligned for costing us the final despite getting a goal every two matches and leading the line well. 12 goal Poyet, a goal every three from midfield often rightly criticised for playing the game too often at walking pace, the intangible quality of Sheringham & 7 goal “Lazy” Ziege, from a position that Chris Hughton was the last outfield player to score a goal from. Sherwood….ok I’ll stop while I have some credibility, but he was top notch in the two Chelsea semis.

Other debates about 3-5-2 vs. 4-4-2, the use of substitutes, Rebrov, Richards & criticizing players in public are concerns that some or all of us have had with the managerial stewardship over the season – but I think by and large - Hoddle has done a fine job in crafting a “Spurs” team out of the ragbag left him by his predecessor and good summer signings at Poundstretcher and overall he should be proud of his first year in charge.

Both Francis and Pleat inherited good squads for their initial success as managers, but more often than not long term success is built over a few years (and a few mistakes) like in the case of Burkinshaw, Venables and even Bill Nick had a dodgy first season.

Hoddle needs time. He is the only and best person for the job. While some decisions may baffle us (the sometime use of Rebrov & substitutions), we should know that he is extremely talented and has the best interests of the club at heart. If he cannot do it, who can, given the squad of players and financial restrictions placed upon whoever is the Spurs manager in 2002. I will be there supporting Hoddle to the end, even if it means being part of the band on the titanic, we will continue to play “Glenn Hoddle’s Blue and White Army” for as long we can – although I hope and am sure it would never come to that. As with any cloudy day, there is always sunshine, just above the clouds.

One thing Hoddle could do with as a manager is a bit of luck – without wishing to put my Mullet on and stare at my shoes, we have hit the woodwork fifteen times in the Premiership alone this season and 19 overall, about double the average & we have been denied by some scandalous refereeing, mostly at the start of the season. We could do with learning (however you manage that) to get points out of games where we do not play well, as a poor performance more often that not leads to a defeat for us at the moment & above all we need to start taking our chances in front of goal – no more heroic goalkeepers from the opposition, but whether we have the quality to do that at the moment is open to debate.

So at the moment we are in a low. A season that has promised so much, looks like ending in disappointment. What we need, although it is difficult to see where this is going to come from at the moment, is to finish the season with a few wins & we start with a team we have beaten home and away already this season on Sunday – and there would be no better time to get the Tottenham revival back on track, esp. in front of a TV audience. Going into to work on Monday after another defeat does no bear thinking about!

What we are: Just in case it is lost in all the gloom – we are the famous Tottenham Hotspur from White Hart Lane, the world famous home of the Spurs. Double winners, Twice League Champions, Eight times FA Cup winners, Three European Trophies, Three League Cups – averaging a top 6 finish every 3 three years and a top 3 finish every 6/7 years over our long and illustrious history playing football, where we are known around the world for a tradition of playing football in the spirit of Brazil70.

This all ended a long time ago & the young ones will be tearing their hair out at another sad old git going on about the old days – but if I had n’t seen such riches, I could live with being poor & we need to reclaim our former status as the leading club of the south before it is too late.

Where we have come from: Recent years have been mediocrity interspersed catalogue of disasters and missed opportunities, culminating in the appointment of the evil Goonersaurus who was trying to rot the club from the inside. Fortunately he was flushed away and Sugar relinquished executive control. New blood was introduced to the board room, a former great with a fine managerial pedigree was appointed & the fans were united – everyone pulling in the same direction. For the first time in years things were looking up – and they still are in the long term, but action not words is needed to carry our dreams onwards. We cannot go back to the days of changing managers and calling for the board to go just because we lose a few matches – we need a period of stability where medium to long term plans can be put together.

Where we want to go: The image of the pepsi/coke choice is for thought provoking purposes only – at the moment that is & I am not suggesting that there is no difference between Sugar’s regime and the new Board of THFC headed by ENIC. Sugar was probably well intentioned but ineffective as a controller of a footballing PLC in the 1990’s while the new Board of THFC headed by ENIC are largely untried. They have talked a good game, but that is as far as it has gone in their near 13 month period in control. The parallel between New Labour taking over after the Tories and our own situation is interesting. An old and largely unliked incumbent is talked out of office by a new mob with fancy words and appealing images, but after a little while it is sometimes difficult to tell the actual every day differences apart.

This is not to say the new Board of THFC headed by ENIC will not get it right & I stress that we must give them full backing – but in return we need action. Not tomorrow possibly, but soon, before the start of next season, before its too late.

I will not be happy if the club try to fleece the most loyal fans the season ticket holders again, while sitting on untapped millions of pounds of assets in terms of media rights, Tottenham TV channel, stadium naming and other commercial ventures which involve people other than those who already spend most on Tottenham digging their hand in their pockets even further to pay the wages of a 30+ year old Bosman.

So far, most of the noises from the new Board of THFC headed by ENIC have been positive – but they need to be acted upon before it is too late. This is not a call to rush Spurs into debt – nothing could be further from the truth and as much as I want some action, I certainly do not want to follow the path to ruin that Chelsea and Leeds have achieved with such moderate and no success respectively. But we are under utilising our assets, and this needs to be addressed without putting the club in danger.

Even if decent money is available it needs to be used well & this is a massive task to persuaded the right kind of player – top quality, young and keen to do well to the Lane. Why would they want to come? All those that remember the glory days are doddery 30somethings and I’m afraid it’s the old Groucho Marx thing “I would n’t want to have any player, that would want to come to Spurs in our current state”.

These are massive challenges and everyone appreciates that the chances of success – of getting regular Top 3 finishes and winning trophies with a host of international stars are modest to slim – but we have to give it a go. We cannot however allow the calls for stability to mask a lack of ambition – things need to be moved forward. The new Board of THFC headed by ENIC need to give it their best shot & if that is not good enough and we rumble about where we are now, or even slip further behind – so be it & I will be happy that we gave it our best shot and failed – we need to try and we need to do it soon.

If, and I’m not suggesting that they are, the new Board of THFC headed by ENIC are just an investment company out to make a few bob out of a loyal and relatively well off fan base – the history of legitimate protest against people who are running the club in its best interest will no doubt re-surface. I don’t want another war with another owner – I just want us trying to get back to the top, a happy club with everyone pulling together, but I’m sure the stomach for battle spurred on for the love of all that is the Tottenham way is there, if need be, but the need for any such action will probably mean we have missed the boat for a very long time as a whole generation will have been lost to the magic of Tottenham and we will go from a recent fallen giant like Everton to a more distant fallen giant like some of the famous old clubs in the North.

The daily round up – Treacle & singing:

Treacle: The witch-hunt against Treacle has got him a £5,000 fine and a ban that means he will be back for the Bolton game. It is good that it is not as bad as we feared with the hate campaign against him, but a bit shit when you think his two sendings off were no more than yellow at best. The real problem will be the dirt that has stuck over these incidents and he faces a problematic time on his return when people will be out to get him as he now has a reputation.

Tuneless? To cap it all, we are the second most tuneless singers in the league. Some pratt with no life and a dodgy grant has done some pathetic research on who has the most tuneful singers by studying recordings of crowds at Premiership matches.

Those 6 fingered banjo players of the SCBC have something to get excited about at last as they top the table, and somehow the bloke has managed to find Man U fans singing, and after a suitable bribe has slung them in second spot with the half a dozen or so Derby that sing in the corner by the away end coming in third. Just how some academic no-nothing could tell the fans singing apart was not revealed although Lady Nayim suggested that I was the sole reason for our poor performance as I’m not in the Chas N Dave league when it comes to being a tuneful.

1. Southampton 2. Man Utd 3. Derby County 4. Newcastle 5. Liverpool 6. Charlton 7. Blackburn Rovers 8. West Ham United 9. Everton 10. Leicester City 11. Chelsea 12. Sunderland 13. - 14. Middlesbrough 15. Ipswich Town 16. Leeds United 17. Fulham 18. Aston Villa 19. Tottenham 20. Bolton Wands

19^th March 2002 – More disappointment for Spurs

Charlton: It was never going to be easy but nonetheless another defeat is a blow to our already flagging morale & what’s worse we had enough chances to have won comfortably and yet again we are left to marvel at the goalkeeping of Dean Kylie who kept Charlton in the match with a number of saves from Poyet and a Ferdinand header. And even when Kylie who earlier had pulled off the save of the season from Sheringham at the Valley was finally beaten a bloke headed off the line on to the cross bar and to safety to deny the point that we at least deserved in the final minute or so.

Another crap day at work to look forward to again & not in the mood to take any crap from anyone. This is not the time to start looking for a player or manager to blame – everybody tried their best for Spurs and it is just one of those things. If in our blame culture we need someone to hang our disappointment on it’s the board – for not going for it at the end of November when a few choice signings to bolster the squad could have give the management a few more options.

But its gone now and they have to make sure that we buy well over the summer & it is clear that much of the focus of the management is already on this – although I am disappointed that it looks like another Poundstretcher summer for Hoddle.

Gorman "Things have been a hectic in the past few weeks. But now they have calmed down we can sit down and start to think about the type of players we would like to bring in during the summer. "We made some quality signings last summer and we know that Spurs fans expect more of the same. But we know the money will never be colossal, so we have to be clever with the signings we make."

18^th March 2002 –Charlton and the race against time

Charlton: It is ironic that the we go into this match with Charlton at our lowest ebb, just as we went into the match at the Valley in mid December on the crest of a wave that had seen us score 10-0 in two home matches to see us into the semi final of the League cup and if we won, go second in the League. How the mood has changed since that freezing cold day in South East London, after which things have never really been the same since.

I have to admit I’ve been a bit down this week & the doom merchants are out to compound the misery creating a non-unified atmosphere amongst the fans for the first time since Hoddle was appointed. Looking at the facts – we go into the match having won our last two home matches, and having lost our last two away matches at venues where we have not won since 1989 & 1990 respectively. Ok so they were 4-0 defeats (and included a morale sapping cup defeat at home in the middle), but 6 of the 8 goals were conceded when we had unjust sendings off reducing us to 10 men. I appreciate that this account does not capture the downbeat mood at the Lane at the moment, but we should not think we are a bad team overnight or that this season “we have got it all wrong”.

For much of this season we have played well – but have not been able to adjust the team when injury and suspension has affected us. The only point of concern is that we have lost matches we should have at least had draws in, but we have not had much luck this season – the Middlesboro penalty aside.

For the first time in a while – Hoddle will possibly have 4 fit strikers to pick from & reading between the line of his comment about squad rotation over the weekend, it is possible that three games in a week and a loss of form could see one or both of the 35 year olds given a rest. Assuming they are fit and ready to play – I’d continue with Sheringham and Ferdinand but at least this will be another reminder of what Rebrov can actually do rather than dreaming about West Ham away last year every time Sheringham cocks up.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion on Ferdinand & while he has missed important chances that has in effect cost us at least a draw in the Cup final, for me he has been our best forward throughout the season and this should not be lost as the toys get lobbed out of the pram. If he is still the best we have next season – then it will be a real cause for concern & a few bob should be put Hoddle’s way over the summer to give us more options he is ok about playing.

One area we could do with sharpening up – is the defensive midfield role. Sherwood still sees himself as a midfield “creator” – but like a 40 year old with a pony tail who still thinks he is attractive to the Ladies – he just cannot do it anymore and give effective cover to the defenders from midfielders or deep lying forwards like Rsol Campbell’s business partner used to earlier in the season. I think Freund should be sacked for his treachery but we do miss someone to offer this protection to the defence & maybe Clemence can do this more effectively later in the season in the absence of someone better.

And it won’t be easy to get things back on track against a Charlton side that have done the Scum 4-2 at Scumbury, as well as winning home and away against Chelsea – seemingly reserving their best performances for other London clubs. They also have lost only 3 away matches all season – the same amount as we have won so a win would be a massive win and not just beating another little South London club. It will not be easy - but we have to win (a draw would not be a disaster considering the mood) & at the very least restore some pride. Here’s hoping!

But whatever happens tomorrow, for the rest of the season or whenever – we have our the heart of our club back & lets hope with a bit of good fortune (and a bit of money) – and over a decent stretch of time – we can bring the good times back to the Lane on a regular basis – COME ON YOU SPURS.

Daniel Wynne: Topspurs would like to wish good luck to Daniel who, after commentating on tonight’s match with Charlton for the club, has to rush over to the ITV Studio’s on the South Bank by the Oxo Tower to do his stint as the Spurs fan on the ITV Premiership programme – carrying with him the Charlton fan, Wallace and Gromit style, on his motorbike. Lets hope Daniel encounters no traffic problems and can get there on time to be talking about the mighty Spurs winning again.