16^th June 2008 - Is Modric the new Carrick? Let battle commence on the electronic highways and byways of Spurs' supporters. Not only has Modric been compared to Carrick in style and role but he looks likely to split us in much the same way as he did .(and Jenas for that matter though he probably has more detractors than fans) Now it is very difficult to compare players precisely. Modric in the two Croatia games I have seen is more of a harrier and carrier than Carrick but possesses that ability to keep the game going with good passing and plays in an unhurried way. He makes space for himself and gives his team-mates an out for the ball. He does not attempt the defence splitting pass as often as Carrick preferring quick ,short passes. He is a more attacking player with 'quicker feet' and will probably score more goals. In the first game against Austria he was disciplined in a more defensive,Carrick role. In the second game against Germany he played a more attacking role which is where I think he will play for us. How lovely that phrase sounds 'he will play for us'. I will come clean immediately I am a Modric admirer. He has that indefinable Tottenham quality. Something involving style and skill and clear evidence of a football brain. Now I tend to think the best of our new signings, want us to welcome them and pray that they will take us to greater glories. I am very defensive of our players and probably go on supporting them after their sell-by date. The only recent signing I struggled with in these terms was Bent,but we can't all be Berbatov. I have not yet given up on Boateng, Kaboul, or Tarrabt, but think that loan spells might benefit them. Dawson and Huddleston can be trained up by Ramos into effective players and Zokora can also make a useful contribution when his role has been more clearly defined. Jenas in my opinion is a quality player who will partner Modric as a fast and skilful attacking midfield pair. But Tottenham fans are not so sure. Is he too frail for the Premiership, allegedly the toughest and most physical in the world. You don't need to watch much Spanish and Italian football to know that this is not a claim that it is easy to maintain. Didn't he slip out of the game against Austria: shades of Jenas. The fact that he was clearly playing in a defensive role as part of a tactical plan explains this difference between the two games to me. Ever the optimist I agree. Now it doesn't pay to make too much of a case on limited evidence. Searching for a midfield defensive general which clearly Modric is not, Spurs' fans alighted on Frings of Germany and Engelaar of Holland. Both were innocuous or worse in the second matches, Engelaar was substituted and their names disappeared from the transfer wish lists. Both these judgements could well be premature. However I am confident of the class of Modric, as I was about Carrick and as I am about Jenas. Of course players who desert us as, Carrick did and Berbatov might, immediately incur the wrath of the fans who, in their anguish, deny that they were any good in the first place. A difficult case to maintain in both these cases I would have thought. And in their perverse way that fans have they adopt players of lesser abilities who play with spirit and energy. Michael Brown and Steffen Freund come to mind. Zokora is a better player than either of these and like Freund has never scored for Spurs' and looks unlikely to. He plays with great energy but has never been taken to our collective bosoms as Freud was.

. .

So I come back to the original question. Is Modric the new Carrick? There are signs that his quality is doubted, worries about his capacity to survive the Premiership and doubts that he will be able to perform his defensive duties effectively. All these have surfaced on the fan sites. I think that he will become a Spurs legend very quickly. However there is the next Croatia game to come and all this may have to be revised. But I predict that Spurs' fans will take him to their hearts perhaps because of his size, though this hasn't quite happened with Lennon. God help him if he ever tries to leave . Jimmy G2 http://jimmyg2.blogspot.com/

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9^th June 2008 - Fans, followers and throwbacks

I have been accused of being out of date, a throwback, old fashioned, behind the times, ,obsolete, past it and virtually extinct (with thanks to Collins 'Essential English Thesaurus')

Of course I have been accused of many other things but these are the ones relevant to articles and the Blog that appears under my JimmyG2 by-line.

To all these charges I proudly plead guilty. I am a member of that perhaps diminishing minority that call themselves fans who can be found in almost every club who cling to a vision of their team as being more than a corporate entity whose trade happens to be football. I believe that the football comes first, before success. I believe that the club has duty of care to its players and its supporters. I am loyal to all the players at the club and want to see their full development and find it hard to accept that a player such as Defoe is no longer a Tottenham player. I don't want to see Huddleston, Lennon, Dawson, Kaboul or even Robinson transferred, unless they want to go, before all avenues of improvement have been explored.

Now all these things make good business sense as well as being the right thing to do. You don't need to throw things away if they can be repaired or reconditioned or recycled. But the throwaway culture we live in now applies in football to the players as well as the single match shirts. It may be the modern way but it isn't right and it doesn't help build a club with any sense of continuity. I still like to think of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club as a family with a history and a tradition going back down the years. A tradition of a playing ethic and style which can be discerned despite the efforts of individual players and managers to short cut the road to success. The club is bigger than any one team or manager and the success of the club is not to be found in any one season but in a story that goes back down the years.

Now I know all about resale value, maximising income, rotating the stock and so on and no-one can ignore the rules of commerce, Leeds anyone? But somewhere in the process the thing we all value gets lost. Babies and bathwater come to mind. Aston Villa have just announced that their shirt sponsorship will benefit a local charity rather than taking two million off some gambling company. Perhaps all is not completely lost but I wish it had been Spurs that did that first. I know that players do a lot for local organizations and schools but that's just good housekeeping, buying a little goodwill from the local community in exchange for the hassle and inconvenience of having a major sporting venue on their doorstep. The day's wages for the nurses wasn't an overwhelming success. I would have made it a week's wages and put it in their contracts as an annual deduction.

You can argue about the good cause but cannot deny that Premiership players are ridiculously overpaid for what they do. Tottenham have tried to hold the line on wages as have Arsenal but Canute had more chance on the beach. All that kissing of the badge when they score is mostly a nod to the Gods of corporate finance as their next contract negotiation looms rather than a heart felt pledge to the club they profess to love. I like to imagine that Tottenham are different but I don't really need abusive fans telling me to hitch a ride into the 21st. Century. I nearly wrote the 20th. Century just to confirm your point 'Dreamer' is another accusation I readily accept.

I don't buy replica shirts, signed memorabilia or Opuses and to be honest I am not, nor ever have been, a season ticket holder. When I was working I didn't have the time and now I'm retired I don’t have the money. Finance and geography have conspired to make me a follower from afar, a fan rather than a true supporter and ticket holder. .

However my most prized possession at the moment is the birthday card sent to me by the club as a member, signed by Juande Ramos, Ledley King and Dimitar Berbatov. Pathetic at my age but there you are.

How did I reach this sorry state of affairs? I have followed Spurs since childhood. After my mother re-married after the War (No, not the Great War, the Second World War) I had a decision to make. My mother's family came from Highbury Corner and were all Arsenal fans. I used to go with my Uncle Ted to the Arsenal mainly to reserve matches. But my stepfather's family were all Tottenham supporters and one or two, including my stepfather were season ticket holders at various times. It became increasingly clear that regular visits to top class football would require a slight shift in allegiance .So I made the switch and have never regretted it.

Perhaps that is why I find the visceral hatred of Arsenal fans so uncomfortable when I encounter it, mainly it must be said on websites rather than in real life. We all come across them and basically they are just like us, they just, by some accident of geography or family tradition, support the wrong team.

We lived at the Archway in North London close to 'suicide bridge' at the start of the great North Road. It was slightly closer to Arsenal than Tottenham but there was a pretty even split amongst my mates and Arsenal against Tottenham was the only game we ever played. In those days you supported your local team. In London we had a little more flexibility. My switch at about nine years old was only a temporary embarrassment. From this point until I moved up North I was a fairly regular attender, mainly at first for reserve games but later in the boys' enclosure and finally on the terraces for first Division games.

Since then I have followed the club as a fan and follower of its fortunes. But I acknowledge that the real supporters are the ones that watch the team regularly in the flesh. I always bow to their right to be the most opinionated and the most avid. Not that they are always correct but they have earned the right to be wrong and to be listened to.

And they are wrong sometimes. They were wrong about Carrick and are only just waking up to their mistake. I think that they are wrong about Jenas, a classy player who has been an ever present under two managers and three England squads, and they are wrong about Berbatov. I don't believe that his alleged attitude problems outweigh his contribution to the team. I These are all quality players in the Spurs tradition, and the Spurs tradition is important to me. It has certain elegance and time on the ball quality about it. It involves style and panache, close passing with ball mainly on the ground. It espouses an attacking style and players who overcome the opposition with skill and vision. It prizes fair play and generosity in winning and dignity in loss.

Is this attitude applicable in this world of corporate ownership, foreign billionaires, ridiculous transfer fees, and even more ridiculous wages? We come back to throwbacks, and being out of date. I can see why you would accuse me of this, but it's not me that's wrong, it's the modern game. I cling to the belief that Tottenham are different and that they can triumph the old-fashioned way. If they can't then I fear that the prize is not worth winning. If you have to buy, clog or cheat your way to success what sort of success is that? If we are going to do it, let’s do it right. If not then watch and enjoy.

30 May 2008 - Pantomime season opens early

What’s with the Widow Twanky socks? Now I realise that there are only a limited number of changes you can make to a blue and white strip but hooped socks? I don't think so. We would be better off borrowing the magic lamp and getting three wishes. I'd blow all three on keeping Berbatov but I expect the world will go on without him.

A Limited number of changes that is unless you can come up with some marketing wheeze to allow you to dip into the fan's pockets without the Old Bill feeling your collar. You know, like the 125th.anniversary strip, only worn once mate, good as new. Who ever heard of a 125th anniversary in any case? Or the final season at the old stadium strip which our North London neighbours came up with. What about the special commemorative strip for the last time that season ticket prices went down? I think that would sell. The trouble is they all sell: fans buy them and they know it.

Personally I like the all white strip: single colours are very flattering for the fuller figure, Huddlestone looks positively sylph like in all white, and if its good enough for Real Madrid its good enough for me. It never did Leeds any harm either when they were carrying all before them. We know why they change strips every year: revenue. But really its a rip off and totally unnecessary. Isn’t their something nostalgic for the fans in the team wearing the same kit year in and year out? Doesn’t it help the supporters identify with the team, or the product as they say in marketing. And on a practical level it might be the cause of so many misplaced passes, the lads don't know what colours we're in this week.

I think there aught to be a vote amongst the fans as to which kit is their all-time favourite and then we go with that for a minimum of three years and then vote whether we want to change it. I’ve already cast mine for all white. Away kit would be dark blue shirts,white shorts and white(not hooped)socks.

Of course we have had a bit of a pantomime season so this might be Levy's little joke to amuse the lads and show the fans that he’s not just a calculating revenue machine but a warm human being. Somebody after all has got to try to cheer up Joe Lewis after the financial disasters he has endured on the U.S.stock market. Hooped socks might just be the thing.

19 May 2008 - Not with a bang

As T.S.Eliot said "This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang, but a whimper."

Now he died in 1965,and wasn't even a Spurs fan, but accurately summed up the end of our season. How did he do that? I missed the Liverpool game though "missed" is only true in the sense that I didn’t see the match, I apparently did n’t "miss" anything.

So what is the final judgement on the season? We won silverware; upgraded our manager; bought two excellent players in January and another before the end of the season; we beat Arsenal in some style; beat Chelsea with grit and determination and some style; played well against good teams; were within a kick of going through in the UEFA cup, and played some good football at times. The future is bright, the future is Lilywhite in many ways.

But the enduring feeling is disappointment, particularly as the final phase of the season since the Carling Cup has been so uninspiring. Now we are faced with the prospect of losing Berbatov, the best player seen at
Tottenham for some years, because in a sense we let him down, we didnt make the grade when we had every chance. More than that though is the prospect of one, or probably two more years of re-building under a manager who is likely to want to do some serious re-structuring.

Some fans will say "good riddance to Berbatov", on the grounds of his attitude and will still demand instant success. I disagree with both of these views: I don’t mind players with attitude if they are good enough and
crave good football over success. I am hopeful that good players, playing good football, will bring success and am quite prepared to wait for the top prizes, for ever if needs be. In the meantime I want to be entertained, to be
proud of the team and what it does and do not want us buy our silverware, or clog and cheat our way to the top.

There are other worrying problems on the Ramos agenda. The main one has been his inability to motivate the players for the final games of the season. Others include our inability to hold on to winning positions and our
appalling away record. However the blackest moments of the season were not in our performances but in the Jol sacking saga, an inept and underhand process which reflects badly on the values of the people running the club.

So to next season, what do I hope for? First that Berbatov stays, which is a possibility if Ramos wants him to and the club hold out for their high valuation. The perception of him as moody and even lazy might help us here. That Ledley returns to fitness and puts in a full season along with Gareth Bale. That Modric is as good and as tough as he seems to be. That we continue to sign talented youngsters and to give our own younger players a chance. I include Dawson, Lennon and Huddleston in this category. We need one or two new experienced players in key positions but the more we change the squad the longer the transition will take

On a wider level I would like to see a wage cap on the Premiership or, if this is deemed illegal, a 10% levy on all Premiership players, the money to go into the funding of Academies. I would also like to see a limit on the
number of Non-British players permitted to be fielded by any club in any given match(say 5)in order to prevent a team in the English Premier league fielding a team and a bench with not one British player. Finally I would
love to see Spurs in the Champions league playing dazzling football at their new 60,000 stadium with Season Ticket and gate prices cut by 20% on current values and in the same kit for a minimum of three seasons.

8^th May 2008 - The gloves are off

Now then let me see. A few facts. All the players who usually wear gloves were absent from the team on Saturday against Reading. A little dash of rumour. At least two of these players are strongly tipped to be leaving the club; Ramos has been laying down the law to the first team squad about effort, fitness, diet and anything else you can think of. A little bit of double meaning. "Off" meaning not in the side today, or leaving the club. Catchy headline and their you have it a genuine copy of a back page football article.

Now Lennon and Berbatov were injured and Gilberto is fit and filling the position he was bought for ,left back. Never let the facts get in the way of a good story as they say on Fleet St. or wherever they cobble together their rubbish. How much of this we are going to have to put up with I dread to think. I see today we are linked with Diarra, Eto, Capel, Gattuso,and Uncle Tom Cobley.

But to return to the real world and for the first time for several games I managed to watch the game on an excellent stream from Sopcast and was delighted with an away win and a clean sheet. The linesman ruled a good second goal out for offside; Darren Bent had a better game and was unlucky not to score. Everyone except perhaps Huddleston played well and for an hour we dominated the match and played some excellent football. The goal ,set up by the strength of Bent and his delicate final ball to Keane, who had recovered from being fouled and floored in midfield, and who glided past two defenders and scored with a deft touch into the corner was as good as any I’ve seen this season. We faded a little in the last half hour and Cerny made two good saves to secure the victory.

In my new end of season relaxed mode I have given up berating the team and worrying about Berbatov and in truth we played well without him though against poor opposition. And so its on to the last game of the season at home to Liverpool. Nothing left to worry about except the new stadium which has surfaced again, comings and goings in the transfer market, where Modric is going to play(still unresolved from last week)whether to subscribe to THFCtv, whether Ledley will be able to put in a full season and so on.

Before you know it, it will be pre-season and it all begins again. I can’t wait.

29^th April 2008 – More Spurs musings from JimmyG2

Modric to Spurs-oh and we played another game too

It was just before half time, I couldn't get an internet thread and was listening to the match on Radio London, an irritating experience in itself, when I realised I couldn’t really care less. Now this is a very unusual situation for me. They went ahead through a poor Dawson 50yd bullet ball which comes off about once in five attempts , then he failed to cut out the near post ball, Cerny dives over it and we are one down. But I don't care, I shrug instead of howling and walking round the garden to cool off and five minutes later we are on level terms. The match is easy to summarise: total domination; at least six good chances; more corners; more shots in a ratio of ten to one; unmissable chance for Berbatov right at the end, which he misses and its another 1-1 draw.

But nobody cares including me. I’ve joined the players in thinking its been all over for some weeks. All those posts about pride, keeping faith with the fans, earning their money, finishing top half all gone to waste. All those postings on the THFC. website about needing to put in a good performance in the next game by various players;Poyet and Ramos disappointment and pledges to show more spirit next time out, all hot air.

And so its on to next season and the signing of Modric. This will keep me going until pre-season starts. A top quality, young international in a position we desperately need. Signed under the noses of at least three of the top four(and Newcastle)without any fuss, just the announcement, brilliant. I don’t buy all that "Keegan livid" paper talk but its still brilliant. His names been on a post-it note on Avram's fridge since Xmas, must have been obscured by Fergy's xmas card.

Perhaps that's why I couldnt take the game against Bolton seriously. This is a real statement of intent by the board who are going to back Ramos in the only way that matters, financially and with players who are top class, and oven ready. Not ones to bank or put in the freezer for later, but ready and able to perform now! Whether he is a replacement for Berbatov(or Keane, its him that always gets subbed for Bent unless we go three up front)or a bait to keep Berbatov Ive no idea. But thank you Commoli and Levy for backing the man again. They did it for Jol and then lost their nerve but this could be the beginning of the real deal for Spurs. And he came because of Ramos, although he'd be a fool to say "I came to Spurs but I cant stand that Spanish git in charge". The wage deal would be interesting because he could probably have doubled what we are paying him at Man City, Chelsea, Newcastle or Man U.

But there you see what’s happened I’ve got enthusiastic again. This can only lead to heartache next week. Perhaps I'll go to Tesco's with the missis and give Reading a miss. But Modric is playing on my mind. Is this the end for Jenas? I don't think so, or Zokora? No they are both first on the team sheet for Ramos. Where will he play? Centre mid-field, or left side in place of Malbranque. Possibly. In the hole in place of Keane or as replacement for Berbatov? You know I think I'll have to listen to the Reading game and watch the highlights if I cant get a thread, while I puzzle all this out.

Jimmy G2

http://jimmyg2.blogspot.com/

21^st April 2008 - Groundhog day

Its a nightmare, its an episode of Star Trek ,were caught in a time loop, we cant stop taking the lead, playing half an hour of decent football and then in true sporting spirit letting the other side have a go. Our away record is pathetic and the number of points conceded after taking the lead would be hilarious if it was happening to some other team. I repent now in taking so much pleasure in the misfortunes at Newcastle after the return of the Messiah. It was mean spirited and I sincerely am sorry, honest.

Will it be different against Bolton. Probably not because we cant seem to apply pressure and play well consistently .Huddlestone makes two brilliant passes; Jenas does a couple of enterprising runs, although Zokora seems to have passed on the knack of running fast and achieving nothing; Lennon dazzles briefly, and puts in a couple of good crosses and that’s about it. Its not enough from quality players in a team hoping for better things.

Now we were a couple of regulars short and Wigan needed it more than we did. Add in a swirling wind and a bumpy pitch and you have plenty of excuses again. But the fact is we are a better team than Wigan and after demonstrating this to be true we almost give up. They should be on half wages as they rarely put in more than half a shift.

We have had in many ways a good season and with one or two additions we should have a team good enough to push on and achieve higher things but I dont think Ramos has an easy task ahead. The way were playing we will probably not beat either Bolton or Reading but play well against Liverpool and even win.

Im becoming a very Grumpy Old Man and I don’t like it. Please Tottenham get it together for the last three games and give us a something to take into the summer and the inevitable rumours about Berbatov and all the world class players who wont be coming to us. Give us something to heighten the anticipation for the new season although I will be as optimistic as usual, everything forgotten and more or less forgiven but its the summer I’m dreading, no football and bad memories as well.

Jimmy G2

http://jimmyg2.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, 2 April 2008 - More Spurs musings from JimmyG2
Where are we now?


The good news is I'm on holiday and missed the first half of the Newcastle game. The bad news is I got a good internet link for the second half. What was that all about?

Where in the fairground that is the Spurs performance park are we after that dire effort, against Newcastle and at home.

Is it the Big Dipper? No we went on that at the start of the season.?
Is it the Carousel? You know up and down and round and round in circles getting nowhere. We seem to have spent a lot of time on that this season.
Is it the swings and roundabouts? The win some, lose some, end up where you were when you started if your lucky.
Is it the Helter Skelter? Hopes raised high, some excitement and then back to the bottom again.
No its the popular Switchback, plenty of excitement, thrills and spills but not really worth the money in the end.

I could go on but you get the drift, and more to the point is the man in charge the great illusionist Senor Ramisto, all smoke and mirrors, rabbits from hats, silk scarves from sows ears, or is he the real deal, the
alchemist who can make pure gold from the base metal that is Tottenham of the last few years.

We showed spirit and skill against Chelsea(can we play you every week?) and had some of the luck that was going, both our headed goals could have been ruled out for climbing on other occasions. We were competent and organised against a somewhat under strength Portsmouth and Ramos got lucky
with his substitutions. Not the fact that he made the substitutions but that they both scored.

I’m not arguing against the benefits of having a lucky manager just that Lady Luck is a fickle mistress who can soon depart us for another. Against Newcastle we experimented in formation and personnel and it didn’t work, not because the manager was wrong to try things out at this point in a dead end season but because the team didn’t bother to play for the manager.

They obviously don’t believe that they are playing for their places…a worrying response. I don’t buy the 'bad day at the office' excuse though I have used it myself after some dreadful games. We have a Big Match mentality and this year it won us the Carling Cup and produced better performances in the league against the top four, but in a thirty eight game season this is a recipe for at worst disaster and at best mid table mediocrity and Ramos has big job on his hands to address it and our appalling away record

Wednesday, 19 March 2008 - Spurs musings from JimmyG2 - Another frustrating week

Ok so we lost the war but as I predicted we won the battle. Not that it helps.

To take the positives we beat a champions league side away from home, played some good football and were within one kick of going through.

The downside was that Jenas who has yet to convince Spurs fans had the chance to be the hero and misread the script. I have argued his case for some time but hey fella give us a hand. His side kick in the little playlet was Chimbonda who also has his detractors and missed his penalty in some style. Zokora and Bent did their case some good with well taken kicks and O’Hara showed character in stepping up when more experienced colleagues did not.

Anyway we lost and so on to Man.City who usually donate three points even away from home. I assume that Ramos knows exactly what he is doing and that all will come right in the end.Is he not playing Tainio and O’Hara because their fates are sealed. Is Gilberto injured, does he keep subbing Keane because he has a funny sense of humour, does he keep Berbatov on even when he is playing poorly because he hates to see a grown man cry?

These are all questions that only Juande and perhaps Gus know the answers to.

Or do they? I think the Juande Ramos tactical genius show is looking a little threadbare to this mere fan. It certainly didn’t work against City. We went ahead, played some nice football but apart from Keane’s brilliant strike managed very little incisive passing.

Two duff decisions by linesmen and a return to our dire set play defending saw us concede the game and we looked as if we could n’t really be bothered to win it. This from players allegedly playing for their places.

Unless Ramos has a strategy for the remaining games which is not clear to me then we seem to be drifting aimlessly to a bottom half finish. We need another win to be safe, then perhaps we will see Taraabt, Peckart, Rose et al starting games, unless Ramos is going to get rid of everyone except Berbatov, Keane, King, Woodgate and Hutton and can’t wait until the end of the season. Who knows?

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