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Jim Duggan's TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR site |
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The
thoughts and views on THFC from Jim Duggan – Born in the year of the Cockerel,
Shelfside season ticket holder & supporter since the early 1970s (last updated 01/12/03 18:58 PM) - Spurs
fans of the world Unite
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THE
TOPSPURS COLUMNISTS
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ROSIE
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Colin Ashby
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Shelfer
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Kosher Nostra
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NW10
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Crackers
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Lynford
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WLHatWHL
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James Flinn
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Guest
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December 1st 2003 – Blackburn 1-0 Spurs Those who are proper supporters will point to the fact that Spurs have now very unluckily lost two away matches against teams that started the campaign in Europe by unlucky deflected late goals, bemoan our luck, injuries etc. They probably are looking forward to our exciting League Cup 5th Round tie with Citeh, another premiership humdinger against newly promoted Wolves, before spending around £150 going up to Newcastle. Another great day out ruined by the football. I’m afraid I can’t do that anymore. I can manage to get to the bottom of the road for the first two, encouraged by the fact that I have already paid for them, but Premiership football in general is getting to bore me and worst of all, what now passes for Tottenham Hotspur, the club that I love and have spent all this time on bores me. Its painful watching the beauty of Spurs die & its no consolation that it hardly looks like Tottenham anymore. We are either really shit and or dull and get beat or every now and then get a win without playing well. Following Spurs on the road has been piss poor for many years but for the last year or so, it’s been every game, home and away. Spurs have been bad before, and by no means is this squad on paper the worst we have had, but something has gone and its very empty on the pedestal now. Its getting to the point where I don’t really give a monkey’s whether we scrap away for 90 minutes to get a 0-0 with only one chance in 90 minutes or whether we lose – the feeling inside is pretty much the same, although the odd point here and there could be useful as if we do not pick up the form of less than a point a game in 2003, we are down. I know there are zhit teams in the League, Wolves, Leicester and Leeds appear to be the three standing around the trap door – but along with Everton, Portsmouth and poss. Villa in a very tight points spread, its difficult to see where the rally that saved us in 1998 is going to come in 2004. The 1997/98 season is the last time we were in relegation trouble and a season much like this one in terms of the previous season sewing the seeds of decay which proved awfully hard to shift. On 29 November 1997, Gross first game saw Ramon nod us ahead and a magic run and shot by Ginola take the points from Everton. Our home record was 3-2-3 and our away one 1-2-5 and we had 16 points from 16 matches. This season we have a record of 3-1-3 at home and 1-2-4 away. Should we fail to beat Wolves and things go to form up at Newcastle… it’ll be “Oh Mother, I can feel the soil falling over my head” Then we had Ginola, and later JK and Berti and I really cared, sleepless nights, the agony of letting the lead go three times in a classic match against Liverpool at home, not beating Barnsley etc, the joy of Armo’s diving header second goal against Palace away, Baardsen’s save against Bolton, beating Newcastle and then the Party at Selhurst against Wimbledon. It was not always fun, but at least it felt like being alive, but at the moment I am numb to it all. Numbed by all the shit over the intervening years and the disappointment that Hoddle did not make it as a successful Spurs manager. Something really died the day he left. A decision the club had to make at the time, although subsequent events have shown that the players were just as much to blame. It’s not the potential of relegation that saddens me. From 1978 to today this is one of the longest spells we have had in the top flight and all good things come to an end, the thing that really gets to me is what has happened to our great old club. The dullness where there was once a great spirit that burned bright and kept us loyal and devoted followers all these years. Life without hope is no life at all and the fact that there does not look like anything immediate on the horizon to save us from this slump whether we go down, or remain for another season to have sand kicked in our faces. Now the only thing that burns is RomeN17, and “Nero” Levy does not even dare fiddle he is that scared of making a noise & the silence from the board is deafening. The only decision made is to not make a decision – not even waving, but definitely drowning, well out of their depth. It’s a time for the strong in the club to stand up and be counted, but the only thing that is being counted is money as it all drifts away. Ricketts Contract Reports that fans favourite Rohan Ricketts has been offered and signed a new contract seem wide of the mark, and if anything his snubbing by Pleat firstly not starting after scoring the equaliser last week, and then only getting 5 minutes at the end is not going to help persuade him to sign what on the face of it looks a pretty shabby deal, being only one year and all. This pissing about of Ricketts is pretty bad and you cannot blame him getting the hump at progress into the first team seemingly based on dead mans boots. Ricketts could do worse than old Sourness and march into Pleaty’s caravan and demand he gets in the first team otherwise he’s off. I happen to like Konchesky but he has had a few dodgy matches playing in a position he allegedly does not like and even if he was playing well, Ricketts overall contributions when he gets a chance suggest he deserves his place in the first X1. Sournessballs Everytime we go up there, Sourness in his desperation to get noticed by a big club tries to make an arse of himself and this weekend it was not different. Hoddle for something with a bit more grounding got a bollocking by the FA but the following quote was so laughable that they’d never take it seriously: "I just said to him 'I didn't know you were a
Tottenham fan'. Then I said it again and he sent me off. There was no bad
language, no swearing, no argument.“ That is the same Graham Poll who refused Spurs a dead cert penalty in the last minute of the league cup final when Teddy Sheringham was fouled against…err …Blackburn managed by Sourness. Sourness is a first class twot! INTERTOTO Its that time of the year again & at the risk of annoying an already down in the dumps TNFC, with no Hoddle to apparently insist we give it a swerve this time, should we show our determination to haul this club off its lazy arse by signing up this year? Now that UEFA qualification via what looks a piss easy
league where Perrydinho is looking at Champions League football with Charlton
is unlikely and not wanting to rely on the vagaries of the cup, should we
sign up for a few Euro matches in the summer and possible UEFA qualification
with nothing to lose, or should we pretend to be a big club and have a
kappaslappa friendly against an equally fallen Euro team like Florence or
Lazio. Columnists & other stuff After another dismal weekend, the columnists have been updating their columns with the usual good stuff from Colin, James and a new contribution from the KosherNostra. Many thanks to Andy Varley for being the “wheels” from Sheffield over to Blackburn at the weekend. |
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27th November 2003 – Blackburn Preview & more on Hughton
This weekend Spurs visit our old friends Blackburn Rovers up in the land of the clogs and tripe. In attempting to review this match, it is almost impossible to know what to expect up there from Spurs, only that it will be a varying degree of poor, as that is all Spurs ever are when we have left WHL over the last 5 or so years.
It’s sad to say, but Blackburn love us. Their two biggest wins since the mid 90’s have both come against us – winning on that rainy day in Cardiff nearly two years ago and sealclubbing a dead Spurs at the end of last season to sneak into 6th and to their second consecutive season in Europe.
Blackburn have lost the over-rated Duff and Dunn in the summer which should keep the board in cigars for a few years but their replacements have failed to have the desired effect and they now languish even further down the table than us. They are capable of good form on their day; no Spurs fan needs reminding just how good Friedel is in goal and they have decent enough players elsewhere in the team so we need a good performance to ensure we take something more than a cold and a hangover from the afternoon.
This is where the players come into it – are they a load of could n’t give a fuck (blame it on no manager, wrong manager, something else) as long as we get paid, or do they want to pull together for Tottenham in the wake of the relative discomfort of not having a full time manager and do the job they are paid to do. You know the what the Goons would do, winning at places with injury hit squads, down to 10 men etc and fighting all the way but somehow our players (club in general, apart from the fans, stone island clad or otherwise) don’t seem to have the same ethic. My humble pie is ready should the unimaginable happen, and a row of Stella’s if its business as usual, like Spurs reassuringly expensive.
In one of the few bright spots of last season, we managed to beat Blackburn in this fixture – Keane opened his Spurs account with one of his wonderful goals and the expensive conman who is currently our club captain scored a late winner with a mishit shot. Spurs have a decent number of wins against Rovers at Ewood but also have a 7-2 defeat of the star clad 60’s side which was our joint biggest ever defeat when I were a nipper (they have also done us 5-0 and 6-1 up there which was a big deal in the old days). In the Premiership, we have exactly the same record home and away against Rovers, 4 wins each at home and away for both teams: Click here for a full record of all Spurs-Blackburn matches over the years
In terms of team news, I really can’t be bothered to put myself out to find out who is doing what these days, nothing is that important in our current squad apart from when Kanoute returns whenever that is, so it is likely to be pretty much the same side that beat Villa. If it all goes well and the team gel or Blackburn bottle it, we have a chance as long as someone up front can put the ball away…
That leads me on to Postiga – after his less than impressive showings in recent weeks, Postiga has drifted out to a pretty decent 8/1, (click the link to get a free £10 bet at Blue Square). I have serious doubts about him being too slow for the pace of the Premiership, but away from the pressure of WHL and the live cameras against a wobbly defence this could well be his day.
To win the match, Spurs are put in at a reasonable looking 11/5 (I make Spurs 7/4 shots so the extra over is a bit of value) but cannot chose between that and a draw at ‘top of the head’ 9/4. I know I’ll end up having Spurs to win if I play this market, as I can’t be doing with watching a game where I have not backed Spurs to win, even if taking the draw would represent a good result.
In terms of a correct score, when Spurs win it is usually by the odd goal and when we win away it is more often than not (or at least it seems to be) 1-0, which again is 8/1. I can’t really make my mind up about the score and think that a 1-0 Spurs win or something unimaginative like a 1-1 1/2 or a 0-0 8/1 seems about right. For us romantics who can erase reality when we bet on Spurs and still dream of the old Spurs emerging from the rubble can get a 3-1 win at 28/1, and a scorecast of Postiga scoring first before Spurs go on to win 3-1 is 150/1 shot.
Another bet that has caught my eye for this weekend is Spurs to be winning at half time but ending up drawing the match. This is not too much of a stretch of the imagination and can be backed at a large looking 16/1.
Hughton Update and other stuff
Heard some more about the Hughton/New manager situation today. It seems the gist of what I put up yesterday is pretty close to what is the current thinking, although I jumped the gun a bit in terms of its certainty. It seems that efforts are still being made to sort the situation but if nothing comes up before the AGM or the get fed up being blown out, Hughton gets the nod to the end of the season. Until some action is taken by the board, my sentiment with them remains the same.
Of the many interesting emails I get on Spurs, Maltese Spurs supporter Godfrey Gauci described the possible appointment of Chris Hughton after all the huff and puff of the last couple of months thus:
'And the mountain went into labour and it gave birth to a mouse'
That’s not to say he won’t do well or indeed that he does not have our full backing, but you know what he means!
Also other odds and sods. It appears that it’s a bit of a free for all when it comes to taking training at Spurs lodge. Pleat has his name over the door, but Hughton and now this week Poyet have been doing the work with the first team. Poyet has a bit more time with his coaching text books after a setback with his arm which kept him out at the start of the season has now re-emerged and now looks to need an operation. I’d be lying if I said I was happy with Postiga but the good news is that he is better than ever at the training ground and desperate to do well. Whether desire to do well can make up for that extra yard of pace in the Premiership is another matter but while faith in him is variable amongst the fans, he still seems to have the support of the other players which is good to hear and hopefully “when he gets one he’ll get more”.
And don’t forget to check the columnists – many of which are regularly updated
26th November 2003 – Its going to be the Hughton (&Pleat) show for the rest of the season
What I thought was just Pleat manoeuvring the situation to his advantage by putting Chris Hughton in the frame as Spurs manager appears to have some truth behind it and from what I hear, Hughton is going to be appointed first team coach or whatever til the end of the season on or before the AGM next month.
Firstly, Chris Hughton is a hugely popular figure amongst people at THFC and the supporters, esp. ones like me who were old enough to see him play. (Click here for Hughton's playing career at THFC). Apart from a few years missionary work with the lost tribes in the lower reaches of the Lea Valley, Hughton has been at THFC in one capacity or another for all but three years since turning semi pro in 1977. He knows Spurs, he had great talent as a player, played with other great players, knows how to win things and is well respected as a coach – hopefully he can have that bit of luck to lead us back from the purgatory of recent years, but we all appreciate it will not be easy and if we have any sense and any heart will go easy if things don’t improve in light of the difficult situation and the previous other failures.
Many of the supporters have written off this season as a total fuck up, sacking Hoddle so early on after not doing the decent thing in the summer and the subsequent uncertainty has left no one to take the blame for some shameful displays, and Spurs drift while others progress. This environment and the goodwill towards Hughton should give him a few games to impose his ideas on Spurs and hopefully he can work the magic somehow.
While taking nothing away from Hughton, after waiting over two months since sacking Hoddle and then appointing someone that was available the day after, you have to wonder, yet again, about the competence of the THFC board. Sure they still have their “we knew what we were doing all along” card of appointing their man Martin O’Neill next summer when he appears a bit more available than he does now and if that happens, fine, what I am about to write is written in haste without recourse to the full picture, but as it stands now, they looking like bungling idiots who haven’t got a clue, making it up as they go along. Amateurs who have made their dough in property and as they all supported Spurs thought they’d have a bash at that as they had a few quid.
Sure there have been moments when they looked like they had some sort of strategy, and I have done my level best to see the good in them on here in recent months, but more often than not they have looked second rate or worse – skiing while Rome burned last Jan, the Rivaldo nonsense, getting mugged for double Richards value, waiting til Sept to sack Hoddle and all the other crap boredom has allowed me to forget, as a succession pony clubs have pissed past us in the League, although they have never missing an opportunity to squeeze more money out of the loyalist supporters.
For Christ sake all we fucking wanted was a bit of leadership, someone to come to the fore of what is increasingly looking like a shambles, which is getting out of hand. No one was clamouring for them to make a managerial decision in haste, it was all about getting the right man and if it took time, so be it. We’ve been waiting so long now, what would a few more months be as long as we got a top rated coach. But what have we got – a wasted two months and someone on the cheap they could have appointed as soon as they sacked Hoddle. They may have a strategy, but to an outsider it looks like an increasingly desperate ad hoc “make it up as you go along” mess as we lurch from slump to slump.
Decision making is piss poor – we still have no firm idea where we are going to play our home matches, if we are going to get a new training ground and the club appears to be a set of factions, notably the players who appear to be a law unto themselves if and when they turn on what modest talent they have. Making the chief discontent amongst them team captain for the few weeks before he pisses off never suggested to me anyone had a clue or gave a fuck.
We need someone to make tough decisions, risk being unpopular by showing some leadership and making all aspects of THFC perform with some pride rather than go through the motions. If Levy can’t/won’t do this, for the sake of his investment and for us poor bastards, he should stand aside and let someone else have a go, preferably someone who is qualified to do the job not just another mate in the North London community.
I’m sick of Spurs being shit, but I’m more pissed off at being taken for granted as a mug that will turn up no matter what. This season they have lost around 5% of the home gate and as more and more people get fucked off the days of capacity crowds to see rubbish of 2001/03 will seem long gone.
Again let me re-iterate, I’m looking forward to seeing Chris Hughton get a proper stab at the job and nothing would please me more than to see him succeed, but the environment he has to work in – a team captain that wants out, an interfering director of football who will distance himself from any failure and associate himself with any future success and the clueless board room means any sort of progress on the pitch will be a fantastic achievement.
(btw – for those wishing to back Hughton, currently 14/1 on Betfair and available tomorrow morning at Blue Square – (click here for a £10 free bet) we all have to bear in mind the wording of the statement that sees Hughton appointed. If he is given the role as an interim/caretaker to the end of the season, all bets remain until the next permenant bloke is appointed) but if he is given a year’s contract or something, he is the man. As yet, my “dinner ladies” have not been able to establish this so I would urge caution, and as ever, my info may be correct as of tonight, but as things change all the time, this may not come to fruition for whatever reason.
25th November 2003 – I did n’t watch it…
…an hour of Sarah Beeny on the other side was always going to win over unless they were being battered but lest we forgot when it really mattered Inter did ‘em 3-0 at Scumbury. And not just a few late goals past an already qualified team, they whooped their asses good. So while it feels a bit pony now, just remember the “Valencia” moment has n’t gone away, its just been postponed.
It was once written:
In my youth had someone told me what would come, and how things would be, then these days would have been a much brighter place, But the doubt of not knowing leaves a stigma that is hard to shake…
Time for chins up. Fuck the goons, we’ll come good someday, and while we won’t exactly laugh about 96-? (03 hopefully), it’ll certainly make us savour our moments when they come. We were strong and filled our ground and away ends when all hope was almost squeezed out of us. See the luck we’ve had could have made a good man, bad, but it has n’t. We still have our crosses to bear: A Board navel gazing over a new manager, acting as decisively over the new appointment as they did over the squad strengthening last January, or our new stadium stand, training ground etc… but we’ll come good in the end!
Time to be positive in the face of logic, god knows we’ve tried everything else. We won last week, we’re gonna win on Saturday, and again on Weds and again Saturday week. I’ll be standing in the Darwen End at the weekend with a beer in my hand and a song in our hearts…
You know I can't smile without
you,
I can't smile without you,
I can't laugh and I can't sing
I'm findin' it hard to do
anything
You see I feel sad when you're
sad
I feel glad when you're glad
If you only knew what I'm goin'
through
I just can't smile without you
Never a truer word. Fuck the lot of em!
... and anyway, don't forget, there is always someone worse off down the Bingo...
24th November 2003 – Pleated or Forked tongue
Whenever Pleat comments on anything, rarely can it be taken at face value, he’s usually up to something and rather than report on another piss poor display (despite the very welcome win) the press chose to pick up on one of the bones he threw them about Chris Hughton being the next new coach, comments which have seen CH’s price to be manager go from 160/1 to 6/4 on betfair.
But what was old Pleaty really up to. Starting at self preservation for him and his £300k a year is usually a good place to begin, and after Hoddle exposing the additional “help” he gives to the incumbent Spurs manager, it is unlikely that any serious manager is going to take on the already difficult enough job of managing Spurs, with him sulking and making a nuisance of himself in the background.
So if we get someone decent, its likely Pleat will be cast adrift. So in putting Chrissie Hughton in the frame, specifically as coach with a director of football rather than as a normal manager which most of these poor other clubs struggle by with, he as ever is acting primarily in his own interests.
After serving his apprenticeship as a Lift Engineer, Hughton sounds ideal for Spurs at the moment. No one could doubt the loyalty to the club he served fantastically well as a player between 79-90, making his debut in the “Hoddle free kick” match against Man U, two FA Cup wins, his legendary partnership with Galvin, thro scoring twice against the goons in the 5-0 win 83 and collecting a UEFA cup winners medal a year later before finishing an illustrious career with 406 first team appearances and 19 goals, and then as various positions on the coaching staff under various managers since 1993. It would be a shame if his only game in charge of Spurs as a caretaker was a 1-0 defeat against Palace in Nov 97, but our current position in English football does not leave us much room for sentiment, as the last bloke found out.
Two things count against Hughton. Firstly he has been coaching, to an undefined level of responsibility, the first team with Pleat for a few weeks now and its difficult to see where there has been any improvement in Spurs performances. This could be quite a harsh assessment as its not clear how much input he has, but the second point is his so far untried motivational skills. Can he get players like Carr or Anderton who are set in their old and none to productive ways to start performing again? Can he be the motivational leader we need, someone to life the whole club and set us back on our way again? I’m not saying he can’t, but it would be a leap of faith to assume he could and you would have to wonder if the board were just doing it to do something on the cheap if he was given the job full time.
I would quite happily see Pleat given back his oh so important job of “manager in waiting” (or better still an appointment at job club) while Hughton was given a crack at the job as a caretaker for a while to see if he has the necessary all round management skills to be a success, but think that Pleat’s comments were purely in self interest to preserve his own little cushy number and that all these weeks on we are no nearer getting the man this long wait has all been about, Martin O’Neill. If he is not available, Hughton and Pleat is not the most imaginative plan B.
23rd November 2003 – Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Aston Villa
Three very much needed three points and a rousing finale that saw Spurs come from behind with two late goals to win a match that looked lost when Villa scored midway through the second half. That a rotten outfit like Villa should have scored let alone been in the lead at the world famous home of the Spurs says all you need to know about corners being turned, but after suffering some real shit in the name of THFC in recent times and with very real worries of a potential relegation battle looming if we lost, it was good to get the win and the thrill of seeing Spurs by coming from a goal down to win.
When you look at some of the individuals we have - Dalmat, King, Anderton, Keane, Gardner, Carr and even good solid pro’s like Richards, Treacle along with promising youngsters like Konchesky, Postiga, Zamora and Ricketts you wonder why we can’t be up at the top of the Premiership also rans challenging for a top six place. Seemingly its all there waiting for something or possibly someone to start it all off. Equally, at times it all looks a bit paper-thin and you wonder if there is sufficient fight there to grind out points if talent does not earn the points alone. It’s difficult to pinpoint where Spurs are at the moment, ready to start challenging again based upon a good squad on paper or just another reincarnation of a slow steady decline judged upon the modest lacklustre performances.
The only thing of note from Villa was probably the most preposterous song in football terrace history: "you're only here to watch the Villa", more amusingly, this was ringing round the away end as Ricketts scored. Rohan Ricketts is a big favourite at TOPSPURS, and we have long championed his cause. He’s a nugget and in every appearance seems to do something important and his first league goal could not have been better timed or more accurately executed. In the move which ended with his equaliser, Delaney got injured and as his replacement Dublin came on and was re-organising Villa’s back line, Keane was found in acres of space just inside the box and although he initially looked to have cocked up his chance, a swift re-adjustment and a burst of pace took him past his defender and without any time to think he scored without any trouble.
Despite the performance being pretty modest overall, a few players did well. Dalmat is beginning to show glimpses of the form which has generated the fancy price tags earlier in his career and he can only get better with more premiership experience. Another to play well today was Anderton who with King in the midfield seems to have that bit more time to make his quality tell and on this and the showing against the Scum he definitely has more to offer for Spurs in the short term at least, although his best play was wide right rather than in the middle of midfield. King as ever gave another assured display and it’s too easy to take for granted the quality he has consistently given Tottenham and the fact that he is still only 23. Treacle also had a good game quietly effective in his defensive duties and again unleashing one of his now famous shots that he had before this season kept well tucked away.
A couple of good players did not have that good a game – Gardner has done better and Konchesky was pretty poor, but both are good players in the making and these things happen. Carr was also pretty modest and for me looks well over-weight, perhaps getting himself a couple of extra layers for the cold winters in Newcastle. And of course Postiga. We all want him to do well but it’s difficult to see him making it not just because he has not scored yet but also because his overall game is quite lacking. He is not strong enough or with lightning pace, shirks headers but most importantly seems to want an age on the ball before he does something. In many ways he is a combination of Rebrov and Asillymiss, both have ability but neither made it in the Premiership. Along with Keane, we had a front line that is just not strong enough to hold the ball up or stop it coming straight back as well as offering only balls to feet as an option to them, as neither has the inclination to jump let alone win an headers. Getting rid of Sully for virtually nothing is looking like the most foolish bit of transfer business in recent times, most definitely a false economy.
All in all, after such a paucity of wins or things to celebrate recently, a win turning around a deficit in a few fun filled minutes at the Paxton is definite better than a cold bath with someone you dislike, and god knows there have been a few too many of those recently.
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CADD – The leading Tottenham
Hotspur fanzine written by the fans for the fans is out this weekend &
full of all the usual quality articles, inc one from our very own columnist
WLHatWHL (Logan). MEHSTG is also out this weekend
and is another top quality read www.mehstg.co.uk Both available from sellers
around the ground notably outside the petrol station on the High Road (oppi
Whitehall Tavern, as was) (Subscriptions available – see Links
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20th November 2003 – Villa Preview The people responsible for scheduling Spurs – Villa as “Super Sunday” are more likely to be from the irony section of the light entertainment department rather than the Sports desk, as even to Spurs fans, its just one of the dullest games of the season, and a fixture that has yielded just one goal in its last three starts. Click here for a full history of Spurs - Villa matches Villa have only two points from six away matches, scoring four goals, while we have lost more than we have won at home and only average a goal a game, having failed to score in half our matches. In fact, in the six matches that Kanoute has not started, we have scored just three goals and Kanoute has one of those! He can’t return to first team action quick enough, although when he does, it will not mean that are problems are over. Villa are so dull, you’d have trouble thinking of any of them off the top of your head – Vassell, err…Dublin…and that weird looking dwarf in midfield you looks like he is related to the League of Gentlemen manager. At least disbanding the short-arsed baldie squad of Stone, Draper and Wright makes their team look marginally less sad, although the beige cardigan wearing, tartan flask carrying supporters maintain the image. Villa, like Spurs in many ways, have lost their raison d'être in the modern game – they are not a big player and think they are too big to be one of these plucky little clubs just happy to be in the Prem. Spurs are a big club and have a glorious history and massive fan base to prove it, whereas Villa seem to rely on the fact that their ground used to be used for FA Cup semi finals as their claim to top table status. Just ask what division they were in when big Chiv put em away in the League Cup Final in 1971. |
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If nothing else, with Spurs four and Villa three points off the bottom, possibly a lot worse off by kick off, the threat of a relegation battle does add some importance and its simply a game Spurs cannot afford to lose, and after slipping up against both Boro and Bolton, it’s a game we have to win, and if we play positively and with a bit of belief, it’s a game we should win. While the midfield remains second only to the manager in terms of talked about areas at THFC, for me, this game is about Robbie Keane. As we all know, the player of the year elect is the most exciting player we have had at WHL since Ginola and we cannot fault his record of 14 Premiership goals in 36 starts, but he needs to turn the skill into goals and assists – a mazy run with the ball beating numerous players before holding onto the ball too long before being crowded out is ok as a variation, but the stock ball has to be the clever one for the team. This is the Premier league where the gulf between a skilful and effective player is massive. And also, we cannot afford him to hide when the pressure is on – when the ball is lumped up front, he must n’t run behind or away from the defender, jump and challenge for it, he has to do his bit for the team, working to take the pressure off the back players. Keane would not be the first gifted Spurs player to try to get away with not doing his share of work, but football has changed, and players cannot get away with it anymore. If Spurs can have Keane, fresh from his two goal international haul in midweek, at something near his best, his chosen partner up front gifted with some luck to go with their undoubted talent, Dalmat adding some creativity, Sharon adding some class (wide right) and Ledley adding some solidity in the midfield, the game is ours for the taking. But we’ve been here before… I still believe that this is the best squad, apart from a proper midfielder or two, that we have had for a while and all we need is a couple of good results, getting into a pattern of play that suits the players and is effective, we can start to climb the league where moderate to crappy teams such as Charlton, Brum, Citeh and Fulham occupy positions 3-7. Another disappointment, and I’ll be scratching me head! If you cannot make the game and have to watch it on Sky, make sure you have fanzone as the commentary as our very own “Rabbi Crackers” proved so popular he has been asked to do it again. In terms of having a bet, a must to get you through some of the football, again at a slight shade of odds on 10/11 backing Spurs to win is not for me at the moment. Spurs have registered a pretty modest 5 wins against Villa since the start of the Premiership (although encouragingly for what used to be a bogey team, we’ve won the last two) – and 4 of them have been 1-0, so its not rocket science to jump on 1-0 at a realistic 6/1 - long gone are the days when Willie Morgan would announce "And the first goal For Spurs Was Scored By..........." – its any goal now for a major celebration. In terms of who is going to score that goal, well Keane is rightly favourite at 9/2 while his striking partner (either Postiga or Zamora) 6/1 - all represent fair odds should you have a strong opinion on it, which I don’t and so once again I’m giving one last chance to the scandalously over priced pair of 28/1 Richards and 50/1 Gardner, and at those prices, you can afford to split yer stakes. This will be a tight game where there is a strong possibility that goals in open play will be scarce, so while we have not scored many if any from set pieces this season, these two make most appeal at the odds. Scorecasts with these two and the 1-0 scoreline are 120/1 Richards and 200/1 Gardner – and don’t forget there is a £10 free bet for any new accounts opened via the above links. As the game is live on TV, there is a greater range of bets available. If we use Poyet well and have him come from the bench in the last 20 minutes, he should be a potent goal threat as we have and can be backed at 10/1 to get the last goal of the match. Should you have a strong opinion about Postiga good or bad, you can back him to score at anytime in the match 7/4 or if those misses at Scumbury have exasperated you, he is 2/5 not to score in the match. If you think it will be a low scoring match with only one or no goals, this is available at 12/5. |
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TOPSPURS alert – I’ve started to get a virus arrive at my address from john@topspurs. Just to let you know this has nothing to do with me or the site, I have no idea how it gets to use my domain name, but the bottom line is that it looks like a virus, so don’t open it. That goes the same for anything sent from @topspurs such as webmaster or postmaster or something similar.
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19th November 2003 Images from Spurs History, no 156. “Behind the Scenes at THFC 1991-…” Spurs give new definition to the management doctrine of other successful PLC’s and other team organisations of “singing from the same hymn sheet”. This story is old, but it goes on (and on and on…) (with thanks of course to Private Eye) |
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On this day 1887 – Spurs were in the process of hammering Royal! Arsenal 2-1 at the Marshes in our first ever match against their various Romany incarnations when the game was abandoned with 15 minutes to go. A moral victory to Spurs and a high ground we have retained ever since.
Also on this day in 1994, Francis took charge of his first match, and three years later on 19/11 Gross complete with choob ticket was appointed manager. We’ve become that sort of club; get a new manager in after a third of the season ever two-three years (The goonersaurus first match was on 19/10/98, only a month out).
After waiting this long for a manager, lets hope they stick to their guns and get the man they want, and that he is the one to break the cycle of mediocrity. No one cares how long it takes (within reason), just as long as we get the right man. No wankers, chancers or B list will do.
And
Finally – Help me out here; is this Pires or Ashley Cole? Or just a
generic cheatin shit goon?
with many thanks to Gav Horton
17th November 2003 – Tottenham Fightback
Bravo to Levy, who came out ‘did’ those who sought to cause injury to Spurs in the press by slapping down the untrue story about what was added to the end of what Pleat said in a press conference. It was not run on here cos it was quite obviously a phoney, despite 4thegame and the BBC running it without checking, and it was amazing to see so many other sites mugged by it, all copying each others “news” item and getting featured on Newsnow.
This was good leadership by Levy and now we need a follow up story in a couple of days with either the Sydney Herald contributing a fair sum to Levy’s nominated charity or getting a letter from M’Learned’s to show that we will fight our corner.
Perhaps the most revealing part of the whole fiasco was that people did not have to jump too far in their imaginations to believe Bleat could still be harping on about Hoddle after all this time, which says more about their perception of him and his motives, as it does anything else.
14th November 2003 - Christmas Shopping
The official Spurs website informed us today that with only six weeks to Christmas, Ledley King is looking forward to “as many points as possible over the busy Christmas programme”. Well we don’t have that at the TOPSPURS Shop, but we do have a wide range of Spurs related stuff – both replica kits and other leisure wear which would make ideal Christmas presents for that avid Spurs supporter in your life J
Click here for the TOPSPURS SHOP Spurs leisurewear (Polo shirts, Caps etc)
Alternatively you could say bollocks to all the over commercialisation of both Xmas (a day to remember Chas n Dave) and indeed football. But its there if you want it, just a click away.
TOPSPURS Columnist – Keep checking the columns as the Guest, James Flinn and Crackers column have all been recently updated.
Evil X1 – TOPSPURS has decided the time has come to put together an assortment of the most loathsome opposition players we have ever had the misfortune to come up against - the likes of Savage, Bosnich and of course Campbell are certainties for a starting position, but who else deserves to line up against them in the hall of shame X1
Email me with your suggestions and reasons for inclusion at evilx1@topspurs.com
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11th November 2003 – Annus Zhitus The stats obsessed webmaster was thinking while watching down the clock at work, the office equivalent of takin the ball to the corner flag, just how our 8 wins in 2003 compares with other calendar years. Surely there have been other years as bad as this one? Surely… Since our first full calendar year in 1909, and excluding half years for wars and stuff, our worst ever years were in 1912 (inc that famous one at Anfield) and 1924 with only 9 wins; seasons saved by having good adjoining years. We still need one more win to equal our worst ever year, although allowing for the fact that we still have 7 matches to go, (which extrapolating our current trend of winning 8 matches from 29 so far this year means we can expect to win two more matches) this would give us a grand total of 10 wins, placing 2003 alongside 1914, and our previous post war worst totals in 1988 and 1997. A far cry from the 31 wins in our best year, 1960. Even allowing for the fact that most seasons before the 80’s had 42 matches, compared to 2 or 4 match reductions since, the scary thing about |
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