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3 January 2012 - Drink
up and have another. Now as you regular
readers know I am usually a glass half empty kind of guy in the wonderful
dreamscape that is Hotspurland though not generally
outside in actual real life. Over the years I have learn't
to find reasons to be cheerful but have been quick to wake up in the cold
light of the day after the latest Spurs setback. I've tried, I really have,
to believe, to trust, to hope and keep the faith. And it's getting easier I have to admit. But Swansea was
the kind of setback that quickly drains the glass if you're in the 'Down at
The Dumps' saloon. So what kind of mood am I in after Swansea? Half empty or half
full? Normally I'd be staring dejectedly at my dwindling glass:
if only we'd hung on to our one goal lead we would have kept well ahead of
the chasing pack and gained two points on both of our Manchester rivals in
another weekend of thrills and spills, of hairpin bends, handbreak
turns and outdoor snakes and ladders. But the fact that we played poorly in the main, that half
the team looked jaded, that we were fortunate to go ahead and lucky to hang
on until it was too late to get beaten doesn't depress me at all as I
contemplate the rest of my exciting cocktail, a Tottenham Whizzbang
of pure pleasure. We got a fortunate deflection from which Van der Vaart swivelled and scored.
Another deflection swerved the ball dangerously into our six yard box where Kaboul, who played well overall, hesitated and Brad made
his first error of the season to provide Sinclair, sans Walker, with a tap
in. We came away with a positive point to add to our three from Norwich at a
ground where only Man.Utd have won, and few have
even scored. We were generally outplayed and Joe Allen ran the game.
Why we didn't set one of our attack dogs, Parker or Sandro
on him to deny him space, as they did to crowd out Modric
I have no idea. Vorm, Allen,and Sinclair would all be useful additions to our
squad and there are not many mid-table teams or their players that I am
usually so positive about. We looked a little jaded, especially Parker, who was
carrying an injury and needn't have played with the availability of Sandro. Bale too looked in need of a rest and at home I
would like to see Kranjcar given some time.
Townsend might have given a useful addition of pace but he's gone on loan to
Leeds. Adebayor seemed knackered by the
end and perhaps Defoe should start the next game. Gallas
too seemed hesitant on the ball and was caught in possession a couple of
times. Benny deserves credit for the dazzling run for the assist but this was
not Tottenham at their best. But away from home against a good team we didn't
play well but didn't get beaten unlike some of our rivals. Four points from two away games at a hectic time of year
is normally a satisfying haul whether your're
chasing top three or desperately avoiding a relegation scrap. If you look at
the last three results of the top seven it becomes even more positive. Man City:..
1home/2away....points.4 Man.Utd.....2home/1away...
points.6 Spurs..........1home/2away....points.5 Arsenal.......2home/1away....points.7 Chelsea.......2home/1away....points.2 Liverpool....2 home/1away...points.5 Newcastle...1 home/2away...points.3 We lost ground on only Arsenal and Man.Utd
but still have a game in hand over both and a three point lead over Arsenal
and a better goal difference which to say the least is unusual. We now have a
run of four games at home, one against Cheltenham in the cup, all against
'beatable' teams ( W.Brom, Everton and Wolves) Yeah, yeah , 'no easy games' and 'scrapping down at the
bottom' aside, the future looks decidedly 'Lillywhite
Bright' to me and 9 points and clear in third look by no means impossible,
and I am the 'fickle ' fans 'fickle' fan by my own admission. So drink up everybody and help yourself to another, on me,
if you can track me down. 'Barman, does my bar tab need topping up? Oh and have one
yourself'. JimmyG2 is available for motivational seminars and barmitzvahs at very reasonable cost. Negotiable. |
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TOPSPURS COLUMNISTS
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9th
November 2011 Still Riding the Tiger For over 20 yrs from the mid fifties Fulham's Chairman was the comedian Tommy Trinder. He was President of the club until his death at 80yrs old in 1989. His catchphrase, 'You lucky people', could no doubt be heard resounding around the great Stadium in the Sky on Sunday night after his beloved team, though themselves no mugs on this performance were nevertheless mugged in the great Fulham High Road smash and grab raid. Which raises the question 'How lucky were Spurs?' Practically every report of the game contains the word 'luck'. But the words 'good luck' bear closer examination. It's not lucky to have a player on the post at corners. It's not luck to have an experienced keeper whose positioning meant that every shot seemed to go straight at him. Nor was there anything lucky about any of our goals.. Once again Lennon set up Bale and Bale set up Lennon to put us two up at half time. These were the result of rapid counter attacking and clever inter-passing. Walker did brilliantly to get onto Adebayor's wide layoff the find Lennon with the cut- back. His incisive ball across the goal evaded Adebayor but found Bale whose fierce goal bound shot was diverted into the goal by Baird. For the second a delightful return ball by Bale found Lennon in enough space to intimidate Fulham with his pace and his swerving run enabled him to score inside the far post reminiscent of Bale against Milan. The third goal was the reult of clever hold up play by Adebayor as we ran the clock down and an instinctive strike by Defoe in full view of Capello. Not that it did him any good as he is not in the England squad for the upcoming friendlies. We even had to score for them when Ledley's header cannoned of Kaboul for their only goal. Of course when your keeper is MOM that tells at least part of the story. But many people will tell you that there is 'no such thing as luck'; that you make your own luck; that good luck is the result of hard work, good planning, and circumstances. Gary Player was once accused of being a lucky golfer. He replied, 'The more I practise the luckier I seem to get'. There are plenty of proverbs around the world to support this view. As the Hungarians say, 'The brave have all the luck', or as the Scottish put it, 'Diligence is the mother of good luck'. 'Fortune favours the brave' as we have it in everyday terms. Our attacking style personified by Walker is nothing if not brave; not to say foolhardy at times. There is no doubt that Fulham played well, the Craven Cottagers, which is not as sexy as it sounds, moved the ball quickly in midfield and rendered Parker less able to put tackles in and therefore less effective. The blow to the head from Sidwell might have affected him more than was at first apparent and could be the subject of review. But bear in mind that over a season these episodes of apparent luck even themselves up. Carl Walker not only handled the ball he adopted it and put its name down for Eton. But Scott Parker was pushed to the ground by Sidwell on the edge of the area and the ref. missed that too. Ironically the phrase, Overpaid, overfed, oversexed, and over here. said of American serviceman in Britain during WW2 is attributed to Tommy Trinder and might well have echoed round Craven Cottage after Brad Friedel's display. He was Chairman of Fulham when the maximum wage was abolished and made Johnny Haynes the first £100 p.w. player in line with a promise he had made earlier before the raising of the wage limit was on the agenda. We limited Modric's impact by playing the ball carelessly out of defence and cutting out the middle man. He was so miffed that at one point that he went and stood against the left hand post in a sulk and inadvertently saved a certain goal. Zamora again impressed with his hold up play and Dembele was good on the ball. Both of these might be useful additions to the squad, though neither are prolific scorers. Danny Murphy was as industrious and clever as always but he like Bobby Zamora. made little impact when he was at Tottenham. But that was then. But the table doesn't lie and we are where we are. The police are still looking for the International gang that carried out this daring raid in broad daylight. Locals described them as a 'disorganised ragbag who got lucky', but we know differently. New in the Spurs shop: Miniature cast of Ledley's knee on a key ring to act as a 'good luck' charm. You might need it but Spurs certainly don't. Six appearances six wins. Lucky? I don't think so. As Tina Turner once so nearly sang: 'What's luck got to do with it?' Trivial pursuit Question When was the last time in England that opposing professional football teams fielded two Colonial goalkeepers with a combined age of 79? Note: the Gary Player quote is sometimes attributed to Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino and even my favourite Media Mogul, Sam Goldwyn. 12 October 2011 Scott Parker and Me Those that tuned in
expecting or hoping for intimate revelations of a 'True Confessions' nature
will be disappointed. Scotty Parker I think not. I like Scott Parker in an
old fashioned sort of way. Harry certainly thinks he brings responsibility
and solidity to the team, on and off the pitch. Which
is why I think he will be made team captain quite soon. Can you imagine him turning up to training with a
blue Mohican? Or attending matches in ripped jeans with his 'arse hanging
out'? The latest criteria for a favourable judgment is the fact that he
still wears black boots. Now in my day there wasn't any choice once the old
traditional brown leather ones had been replaced.The
Addidas introduction of three white stripes was the
ultimate in sophistication. The feeling was that wearing,
say, white boots exposed only but the very best to ridicule. And it still
does in certain sections of most football grounds. You need to be more than
just good to play in them. But Scotty eschews the peacock trend as befits his
character. Lime green boots would
draw unnecessary attention to his whereabouts and prevent him from cruising
about in midfield like a cruising shark, imposing himself on the opposition
whilst pretending not to be there. So black boots and a side parting it is. Now don't get me wrong,
I'm not fully converted yet. When I saw him playing as well as anyone against
Montenegro, though that wasn't a particularly high bar, I didn't
automatically get that knot of pride and spasm of concern that I usually get
when Spurs players turn out for their country: concern for their physical
safety and fear that they might do something silly. Why? Because he hasn't
quite become a True Spur for me, although I acknowledge that he has played
well, so far, I haven't completely adopted him as one of our own. It will be
some time before I dub him a 'Yiddo' an accolade
that we are too quick to bestow on occasions. Why this reluctance on my
part? Well for a start he has turned us down at least twice at Chelsea and Newcastle
when it suited him to chase trophies and the money. Now having failed to save
W.Ham he is looking for a final pay day in N.17. So it's a mixture of hurt
pride, West Hamism; the sight of Karen Brady
sucking up to Siralan; the Olympic Stadium debacle;
the dopey duo in their furry hats and general all round prejudice not all of
which can be laid at Mr.Parker's door admittedly. More importantly I judged
that he was not good enough for us as we once more aspire to the heights, and
the wrong side of 30, (31 this week) to be anything more than another stop
gap in the Gallas mould. Now I have been rightly
crucified for suggesting that he was no better than O'Hara who at least had
the merit of being home grown. In my defence I will say that this was before
he had turned out for us and being a fair man I have revised though not quite
reversed my opinion. He can do a job for us in
midfield especially in the absence of Sandro. Now I
am not a fully paid up member of the 'Just what we've been missing since Dave
Mackay left us' brigade. We said that about Wilson
who went from being the best thing since sliced bread to toast in next to no
time at all as his limitations were exposed. We have burdened the boy Sandro with the same hype but he is good enough and young
enough to support the acclaim. I think that a couple of
decades of under achievement have deeper underlying causes than just the
presence of Jermaine Jenas in midfield. Changing
manager every 18months prior to the arrival of Martin Jol
for a start. These players; Sandro Palacios and Parker all 'like a tackle', as David
Pleat once said of Spurs and are designated the long lost midfield destroyer
whose lack has been the cause of all our recent failures. But Parker's
experience and positional discipline makes him for the moment a key component
in the team. I'm certainly warming to
him and my period of hair shirt, flagellation and sackcloth and ashes to
which I was sentenced after my intial doubts will
soon expire. He needs to stop that strange going round in a circle manouevre, score a goal, and smile just occasionally
before I clasp him completely to my bosom. A visit to Sandro's
or Bennie's barber might help too, though that's probably a step too far.
28 September 2011 Eyepatch, what eyepatch? You know the one where
you perform like monsters for half an hour and then revert to normality and
ordinariness, showing both facets of the team at a single sitting. We began at Wigan where we left off at Liverpool:
quick passing, retaining possession scoring two early goals and the promise
of more and then relaxing or in the case of Sandro
and Van Der Vaart, both
returning from injury, fading away. Adebayor claiming an injured eye brought out the old school
ruthlessness in Harry which he has shown before with Gomes, Bale, Lennon and others,
who declared him fit to continue probably with the words, 'You've got two,
use the other one'. Apparently he requested
an eye patch which Harry turned down on the grounds that it would make him
look like Johnny Depp, leading to too much swash
and not enough buckle. Actually Harry hasn't seen 'Pirates of the Caribbean'
1,2, 3 or 4 because he doesn't wear one in any of
these films. I think it was a
premonition of Ade in an eye-patch that led me to take to the lifeboat
earlier in the season. He set up Van Der Vaart in some style after only 3 minutes after some
charitable defending by Wigan. They scored from one of
their few meaningful attacks from a defensive muddle initiated by Ekotto but aided by Ledley, Kaboul and Parker, Diame
finding the corner on 50 minutes to give us the once familiar tenterhooked run in. In the end we had 65%
possession and a dozen shots to their 4 which sounds comfortable but was only
so in retrospect. A similar defensive muddle was evident at Liverpool too but
on that occasion Suarez was correctly ruled offside. I do not subscribe to the
theory that as long as you get the three points all is well but it can't be
denied that we are up and running. Better teams will punish this occasional
lack of certainty across the back four. This was Ledley's
third consecutive game and three consecutive wins to boot. Coincidence
obviously. Bale the 'unstoppable
force' who I made MOM, is getting back to his best and for the second week
running had his full back sent off for two yellow cards. He scored from a
near post header from one of our nine corners mostly well taken by Modric who was subdued after being taken away from the
centre of midfield. Parker again played well
especially in the first half; Van Der Vaart took his goal well and Walker is a super de luxe version of Hutton but needs covering when he
rampages forward. Kaboul rattled the bar with a
deflected free kick and looks a strong pairing with King. But then who
doesn't? The run by Adebayor and the ball which bisected the Wigan defence, I
use the term loosely, to set up Van Der Vaart was a thing of beauty
and delivered with such casual grace that I am beginning to bemoan the fact
that he won't be with us next year. Any chance of a whip round to pay his
wages? This week we have Shamrock Rovers and Arsenal, both
highly winnable though I expect the NLD to end in a draw, they often do
whatever the current form of the two clubs. We won't underestimate Shamrock
but our second strings should tie this one up on Thursday. (See it on Channel
5) In our occasional 'Where
are they now?' feature we find Peter
Crouch at Stoke ending Man.Utd's winning run
with a proper header of a kind rarely seen at Spurs. It gives me great
pleasure to watch him now mainly because he is playing for someone else. The guy in charge of
marketing at Spurs, Charlie Wijerata, who has barely been in the job a year and
is probably on £100.000 or more has decided that our
history, tradition, and reputation for good football are our key branding
points. I would have told THFC
that for nothing. What else is there for a football club? Billionaire owner?
Racist fans? Mercenary players? Whoever can I be thinking of? I'll even let them have
the JimmyG2 slogan free of charge: 'Good football before
success: Success through good
football'. A small levy on all Spurs
tattoo logos, which are the new 'branding', should produce squillions. Eye patches with the cockerel motif available
now in the Club shop. 31st August 2011 - Abandon all hope Above the Gates of Hell in Dante's 'Divine Comedy' are inscribed the words 'Abandon all hope ye who enter here'. I'm paying to have it similarly placed above the Bill Nicholson gates to White Hart Lane as that is my prediction for the nature of the coming season. Now as all football fans and especially Tottenham fans know 'It's the hope that kills you'. Well it looks as if we will enjoy a season free of the fear of imminent death. 'Hope springs eternal' as we are often told but the eternal doesn't seem to be lasting forever at Spurs. I confidently predicted sixth pre- season: now I'm not so sure. We seem to be running up the down escalator whilst our main rivals take the 'Executive lift in the 'Priority' lane. The fact that Arsenal fared even worse than we did at Old Trafford does little to suggest that we will shortly be making any upward moves. Now reasons are the excuses of the hopeful and there are plenty around. Our opening 'easy' game was abandoned due to looting and arson so our first two games appear to have been against the eventual first and second in the league. This at a time when we have serious non availability problems through injury or attitude from those that bother or can be persuaded to turn out. There has been no sign of Ledley or Gallas; Modric clearly doesn't want to be with us; Huddlestone is not match fit ; Bale and Lennon still seem to be on holiday; Sandro will be another couple of months; after Man.City Lennon and Van will be out for at least a couple of weeks. Palacios is likely to go to Stoke before Wednesday. The Modric saga has cast a toxic gloom over the club and even if he stays until Xmas the damage has been done and things will never be the same. None of our problems can be easily fixed at this late stage in the transfer window. Of the starting eleven on Sunday only Ekotto and Van Der Vaart really bothered to turn up. Defoe and Livermore showed some enthusiasm when they appeared but Livermore is rumoured to be bait for Parker. A case of the cure I being worse than the disease. Crouch talked up again by Harry was as bad as he has ever been and rumours of his going appear to have petered out. At the other end Dzeko scored four. Our new first choice keeper has now conceded 8 in our first two games. In the last three games a defender has scored the only goal. An Anglo Saxon Chief was asked the difference between a wise man and a fool. He replied ' The width of this table' I suspect that Levy has this in mind in his meetings with Harry who has gone out of his way to contradict and undermine the Chairman's stance over Modric. As in the famous ' Friends, Romans, Countrymen' speech by Mark Anthony at the funeral of Caesar murdered by Brutus every repetition of the phrase but 'Brutus is an honorable man' underlines the duplicity of the murderer. Harry at the end of his press interviews always refers to the fact that the Chairman has decided otherwise about Modric leaving me with the distinct impression that Harry has already spent the money. 'But the Chairman is an honorable man'. Now I admit to be being a 'miserable sod' from time to time, that's how you get supporting Spurs for so long, but don't shoot the messenger guys. It's not me that has left it until the last 48 hrs to make significant alterations to the squad, apart from Adebayor on loan. It is likely that in the final 24 hrs we will buy a job lot of cheap and cheerful players approaching their 'sell by' date. Parker, Cole and Bellamy come to mind..They can, like Friedel, Gallas and Adebeyor on loan all do a job, the phrase 'du jour', but it all smacks of stop gap. Hold the fort until the cavalry arrives, perhaps next season. But who will come to a mid-table outfit with fast vanishing memories of last season's Champions' League who don't pay top whack? Diarra and Damiao are giving us the cold shoulder even now. 'In reality,
hope is the worst of all evils, because it prolongs man's torments'. You have
been warned. Two games down, 36 to go and no worse off in points gained from
the same matches last year. But there is a smell of decay around the club. I have no inside knowledge of whether it's a
breakdown in relations between Harry and Levy; a breakdown in relations
between Harry and the players or dark rumours of financial problems.
Something is rotten in the State of Tottenham. 3rd
August 2011 Season Preview
This time last year I threw
my natural curmudgeonly tendences to the winds and
was cautiously optimistic.. This year the Modric saga has cast a pall over the proceedings
obscuring banking, MP, journalistic and police corruption. Better PR is the
modern answer to all these things. If Harry, Levy and Kevin
Bond ever get their stories in alignment. we
might just stand a chance of starting
the new season with our soldiers facing in the right direction. I note in
passing that at the time of writing Modric and Bale
are still with us, and Harry; but on the downside Keane, Bentley, and all our
strikers. I am not hopeful about Modric in the long term or even the very short term when
it comes to it. No body is indispensible of course but as a statement of
intent retaining him is important. Signing a new striker or two underpins all
my comments this year but the signs are not good. Anyway I can sense your
impatience and mumblings of 'Get on with it Jimmy' so here goes. Who knows what will happen
in the cups but it would be nice to see some youngsters get a chance. If we do as well in the Europa as we did in the Champions' League or even
slightly better it will keep the fans amused on Thursday nights. But 'Oh how
are the mighty fallen' from the triumphs of last year. In the league we will do
well to finish in the top six given the spending power and the inclination to
upgrade amongst our rivals. We didn't do it last year due to a less then impressive
end to the season and the poor record of at least three of our frontmen. Last year we had some
brilliant performances against top teams in Europe and the Premiership but
our challenge petered out on all fronts. What signs are there of an improvement
this year? Not many I'm afraid So given a tough opening to
the season, the injuries to a number of players and the general clouds of
anxiety and controversy hanging over us, well me anyway I can see us
struggling to get amongst the leaders from midtable.
2pts from 8 and
the demise of Harry is unlikely but it could look pretty bleak at the end of
September. As Mona Lott used to say
(ask your grandad) 'It's being so
cheerful as keeps me going'. So this year I am verging on the cautiously
pessimistic. But that's just between me and you and
'Topspurs'. Down
the pub I'm hot for Top Four.
3rd
August 2011 Man the lifeboats
'Tottenham are not a selling club'. 'Oh yes we are '. 'Oh no we're not' 'Modric is not for sale at any price'. 'Oh yes he is' . 'Oh no he's not'. Bold statements and I wish that they were true. Which bit of 'not for sale' do I not understand? Well 'not' for a start. Daniel Levy may have backed himself into a corner over Modric but if not in this window then probably the next we will sadly wave our little Luka goodbye with his suitcase neatly labelled, 'Please look after this Croatian, thankyou'. We are a selling club because the finances of football determine that we are forced to be exactly that. No billionaires and their accountants to plot their way round the new regulations; no Super Stadium to double our match day income and no likelihood of any such development for several years. It is our only method of generating the sort of money we need if we are to stay somewhere near the front runners. At the same time we need to nurture our young talent, Bale, Lennon, Sandro and Rose with one eye to the profit motive. Or buy cheap some of the senior players available, Davids, Gallas, Friedal, were good examples as experienced stop gaps to bind the team together while we cement our position in the top six . Don't get me wrong I am not pointing the finger at Levy, ENIC, Joe Lewis or the top money men. Harry and Kevin are just innocent bystanders in all this. It's the logic of a financially stable club in a financially unstable world. Lets sit it out for a while and see if the new restrictions work; or if the Murdoch empire implodes following the recent revelations; or if the financial crisis spreads to football. Birmingham's billionaire has had his assets seized; who knows the world might return to sanity. In the meantime Iv'e got a plentiful supply of seasick pills and I am prepared to take to the lifeboat as the good ship Premiership founders and we can perhaps help pick up the survivors. The football world has gone mad and I see no reason to join the insanity in pursuit of short term, or evern long term, success. If Modric goes will van Der Vaart and Bale be far behind? Fine if that's the onle way to survive without a stadium, without paying ludicrous wages, or being taken over as the vanity project of someone with more money than sense playing with dubiously acquired assets. We have long suspected that this has been the implicit system at Spurs. We have been a selling club for some time.In a sense this is not the moment to change. Our failure to make fourth again is at the route of the problem. Doing it again looks unlikely though our failure to repeat it had nothing to do with Stadia, billionaires, wages or Harryy' press performances. Check out the results of our last dozen games Lets make our situation explicit at least to ourselves As long as we sign decent players in every sense of the word and play attractive football I will be content. Decent footballers rules out Joey Barton though he might appeal to Harry. He's not much worse than Parker, younger and on a free. It will also get up the noses of the Tottenham purists and Harry might at least tease us with his name even if we don't sign him. I would imagine that he's on silly money at Newcastle anyway. We might make it again into the CL soon though it's not looking likely, so just take a step back and relax.The £70 million we get from Modric, Bale and Van Der Vaart and eventually Sandro will help us rebuild and by the time the dust settles everything might look different. It's not my preferred way: wage caps; restrictions on foreign owners and players, stricter home grown rules; stingent application of the financial rules would all help level the playing field., but for the moment money talks very loudly indeed.It drowns out everything else. In the meantime give youth and the up and coming players and a couple of old-timers a chance, and enjoy the ride.There's more to football at Tottenham than just winning football matches at any cost. 22 July
2011 - Trawl the Malls
The only people who benefit from window shopping are
double glazing companies. But there's plenty going on around Spurs at the moment:
window shopping that is. Now I like a nice shop window as much as the next
man and if you ask Mrs JimmyG2 she'll tell you its one of my favourite
displacement activities. It's getting me actually into a shop that's
difficult. Eventually though you have to take out your shopping list
and cruise the aisles. Harry who used to be a bit of a shopaholic has had the
purse strings tightened by Daniel and their shopping basket is looking a bit
threadbare at the moment. A couple of new untried products and something out of the bargain tub are
all we have to show so far from when Harry met Danny and went shopping. They
are mainly scouring the 'exotic and foreign' sections as new regulations have
led to a steep rise in the price of 'home-grown' produce. But at least we've got some football to kvetch about now
which takes one's mind off all the other peripheral matters that crowd upon
us: where Harry might be this time next year; where Spurs will be
(league-wise and stadium- wise); where Modric will
be; where all the players in the grand clearance sale will be and which two
top class strikers will be arriving to help our challenge for the Champions'
League. In S.Africa the team we put out
in the first half against the Kaiser Chiefs were all apparently in the shop
window. The problem is that if you do that everyone can see if any of the goods
are faulty.. Yes I'm talking about you Robbie Keane and David Bentley, two
items that are well past their 'sell by' dates. Actually the team played more like those mannequins
they drape in white sheets to prevent people seeing what the special offers
are before the sale. In a cunningly arranged tournament we managed to qualify
for the final without winning a game and scoring only once. All four strikers
were on show and none of them managed a goal. Van Der
Vaart scored direct from a free kick for the first
time in over a year and some might say he had enough practice last season.
Stand by now for much more of the same this season. Bale almost repeated the
trick later. The two S. African teams play off for the privilege of
facing their distinguished visitors in the final but don't start measuring up
the trophy cabinet just yet. `I wonder if we can get this qualification system up and running for the FA. and Carling Cups. Against the Kaiser Chiefs we were dreadful and they
snatched a deserved late winner. Against the Pirates we were better with a
stronger team out. Rose and Walker gave me some hope for the future. Harry
shrewdly made Modric captain and he had shaken off
his ankle injury to show touches of class for the first 15 minutes. Van Der Vaart is clearly going to
be the main man this year;
Bale made some strong runs;
Dawson was reliable as usual. We were lacking in ideas and movement and played football only
in patches. In the second game Orlando dominated
the second half and showed us how to pass through the midfield. They were
skilful and patient and might easily have won. Friedel
made a one handed flap for their goal and if it had been Gomes the fan-sites
would have been steaming. How can experienced professionals earning upwards of
£40,000 per week forget how to control and pass a ball? I got on a bike for the first time in a
year yesterday and didn't fall off once. We didn't hit the football heights
but we were playing at high altitude so perhaps I am being harsh. The idea that they would be unphased
about losing is laughable. Most of
them would red card their own kids for a foul in a kickabout
on the beach. These games are also about confidence and momentum and putting
yourself in the window for Harry.. Yes I know its only pre-season;
that it's more about fitness than results; that it's important for Harry to
look at the squad and for the lads to re-bond. Add to that the fact that pre-season performances
can be a poor guide to the season. 2 points from 8 games after a decent
pre-season under Ramos tells its own story. I know all that and take it on
board but we were still very poor indeed and presumably not on purpose. If our performance in these games is in inverse proportion
to our league prospects we should not just be challenging for Top Four but be
runaway winners of the Premiership by Xmas. We perpetrated on our hosts the
old barrow boy trick of displaying all the best fruit at the front but then
serving up rubbish from the back of the stall. So we still have several previously owned items from good,
non-smoking homes and careful owners available for cash or on easy terms. Try
any offer . We might be able to do you a buy one: get
one free on some items especially strikers. Don't delay as we might have new
stock arriving soon and need to clear the shelves before it arrives. In the meantime Harry and Daniel continue to press their noses against the glass throughout the footballing world in the hope of spotting a bargain. Or if that fails, but only as a last resort, paying good money for a genuine piece of quality. Trawl the Malls boys and shop till you drop.But
use your credit card Daniel in case we want to return the goods if they don't
settle. 14th
July 2011 - Modric and the Media Mogul
Have Daniel Levy and Sam Goldwyn ever been seen together? Exactly. They are one and the same person. 'Don't pay any attention to the critics - don't even ignore them.' ( Sam Goldwyn) And that is
exactly what I am going to do after being taken to task last time for banging
on about L**a M****c.
But there are lessons to be learned and inferences to be drawn beyond the
everyday story of a Croatian in London. And anyway it's the only story in N17 at the moment. So, spoiler alert , this column contains flash photography, strobe
lighting and references to a footballer who seems to be rapidly getting on
every Spurs fans nerves. ' A verbal agreement is not worth the paper it's written on' (Sam Goldwyn) This has to be our starting point in this seemingly
endless saga. But in the Modric, Levy showdown
there is a further complication because it has been described as a
'gentleman's agreement. For this to work you need a handshake between two
gentlemen. When I want your opinion, I'll give it to you. (Sam Goldwyn) Levy's whole schtick is in being
known as a hard nosed, tough negotiator. He makes no claims and has no
pretensions to being a 'gentleman'. So the agreement falls at the first hurdle.
We will never know exactly what was said but until this point Modric has come across as a decent, modest individual.
His claims though naive and somewhat pathetic have the ring of truth. I read part of it all the way through. (Sam Goldwyn) This is where Luka's and his agent went off the rails when they signed his new 6yr contract last year. The virulent attacks on Luka for his about face in some ways reflect the high esteem in which he was held. Many, including me, thought that Modric, with his background in war torn Croatia and his apparent humility, was different. Shockingly to some of us he is exactly the same money grabbing mercenary las all the rest. I'll take fifty percent efficiency to get one hundred percent loyalty'. (Sam Goldwyn) We are
dicing with death on the high wire of football and there is apparently no
loyalty at the top. This is not the first example and there will be more of
this to come. Some are reflecting that this finally shows that football has
gone beyond the pale. That it is dominated by obscene amounts of money and
egos bigger than the size of a new stadium. Hello. Where have you guys been for the past 20 years?. The business model of professional football is
unsustainable and leagues throughout Europe are dominated in each country by
a three or four very
rich clubs who use their economic power to dominate the market. This is not
new, it may be getting worse but it is not new. For your information, I would like to ask a question (Sam Goldwyn) . What does it tell us about Tottenham if Luka goes?
Firstly I still believe that he will when the price reaches £35 million or
above. Clearly it would demonstrate that our progress under Enic, Jol and Harry has run out
of steam if we can't hang on to our key players. The line on the sandy beach
will be obliterated by the falling coconuts of high finance. Hold onto that
image if you can. I can only give you definite perhaps on this' (Sam Goldwyn) Is this a strategic pause whilst the new financial regime
kicks in, or until the Harry legal situation is resolved? Nobody knows not
even the most prestigious of ITK's. Although the words 'prestigious' and
'ITK' do not fit easily into the same sentence. Spare no expense to
save money on this one. (Sam Goldwyn) The idea that Levy will let Modric
'rot on the bench' is laughable. That particular train left the station with Dimitar Berbatov aboard. I am not
cynical enough to believe that this is a put up job by Luka, his agent and
Daniel but I do believe that this move will be facilitated in the 'best
interests of all concerned' when the threshold is reached, whatever it is. Am I obsessed by our little Croatian? If I am I'm in good company as it dominates the Tottenham scene at the moment especially in the absence of signings that help to advance our situation. But it clearly has a significance beyond the individual player. It tells us more exactly where Tottenham under Levy are at this moment.
In these terms Modric cannot be
sold. Unfortunately he doesn't come out of this too well and a bond of trust
has undoubtedly been broken whatever happens. But Levy in particular backed
up by Harry have declared that Modric
will not be sold. In other words we are no longer a 'selling' club. Getting
into the Champions' League was not a blip, but a logical result of several
years of progress with a stable squad and more stable managership. It was failing to get there this season that is the blip
and incidentally the root of our current problems. Blame who you like for
that failure but Modric was certainly part of it
and this intensifies the hostile reaction to his expressed desire to move to
Chelsea, not for the money, but because he wants to go to a 'bigger' club. We're overpaying him, but he's worth it. ( Sam Goldwyn) Now Chelsea are Johnny Come Latelies to the 'bigger' club scene and owe most of it to
the whim of a Russian oligarch of dubious provenance. But this century they
are more successful than us and are offering to more than double Luka's pay
from £45.000 a week to £120.000. Try explaining to your new wife why you are turning
your back on that. Harry has distanced himself nicely from events by siding
with the disappointed and confused player and Levy will get all the back wash
if Modric is sold. Good cop, bad cop? Perhaps but
Levy runs the risk of finally losing all credibility if this plays out how I
think it will. 'You've got to learn to take the bitter with the sour' (Sam Goldwyn) Of course it's only one player and we have done well without him at times; Van Der Vaart could play his role and we have plenty of talented midfielders on the books even now. A couple of strikers and we are good to go.Although if Kranjcar, Palacios, and Jenas move on we will be looking a little threadbare especially with Sandro out for a couple of months.
'I'm willing to admit that I'm not always right: but
I'm never wrong'. (Sam Goldwyn) The highlighted quotes are attributed to Sam Goldwyn the Movie Mogul. I'm not certain that he said them all but as he might have said himself: 'Even if he didn't say any of them, it's still a
remarkable achievement. (JimmyG2) I've said how I think it will pan out but with proviso. Never make forecasts, especially about the future (
Sam Goldwyn) 22nd June 2011 Who let the dogs out Well it's a dog eat dog world in the Premiership as we
know but cards on the table; sleeves rolled right up to reveal nothing but
arm; chrystal ball hidden under its cloth and tea
leaves thrown straight into the recycling bin, I have absolutely no idea whether Luka Modric, apparently still of this parish when I last had
access to the wonderful world of the web, will be a Tottenham player come 1st.
September 2011. I set off for the beautiful Azahar
coast of Spain with mere rumblings and general disquiet in London. amongst the Spurs fans, to find that the pool is cool but
that the promised wiffy is decidedly iffy. When it
finally whirred into action I find that Luka is apparently off to Chelsea
even though Dan.Levy is playing an admirable straight
bat and categorically pledging that he
will not be sold under any circumstances. This much we know. Luka is going to cost somebody
an arm and a leg eventually and that is precisely what Chelsea's initial offer of £22 million would
have got them: just the one arm and the one leg. Now the statements seem
unequivocal from both Harry and Levy and from Luka that he will not request a
transfer. End of story; nothing to see here; five minute wonder;
move on.But of course Tottenham have form here and
I have predicted for some time that any offer for Bale or Modric
in the £35 million area would cause at the very least minor tremors in the
Lilywhite eco-system if not a major quake and resulting transfer tsunami. For some, including me, the selling of any of our key
players but especially Modric is the litmus test of
where we are today. We are not talking mere aspirations here but solid
achievements over several years culminating in our thrilling Champions'
Leaguer run last season. We are in a dfifferent place now
from the days of Carrick and Berbatov. To sell Modric,
Bale, Van Der Vaart, Sandro ( add your own 'must
keeps) would be to confirm that nothing has changed and that we are still the hand maidens of the the old and new top four. Chelsea fancy
our delightful Croation temptress for the Harem?
Send her up without delay. Great thanks O mighty Russian oligarch. Please feel free
to walk all over us; to soil our dignity; we hasten to obey; the privilege is
all ours. The price? Whatever you feel able to give your Abramovichness.
It's not on; it won't do and it will finally shatter the pretence that we are
ready to take our place once again amongst the European elite. Now some may argue that Modric
or whomsoever are not indispensible and that the money would buy us what we
really need, a top striker, and that we have midfieders
enough and to spare. A 'Never mind the quality: feel the width' kind of attitude.But if you aspire to the top you need top
quality players not just to get there but to stay there. Modric is just such a player.Topping up with the Parkers of this world, decent
player though he might be just doesn't cut it at this level leaving aside the
message it sends to our rivals and as importantly the fans.After
the pronouncements of Harry and Levy would we ever trust them again. Would it
spell the end for Redknapp and ENIC as far as the fans are concerned? I'm not sure that the
scenario painted by the Modric interview rings true
in any case. Did he hammer on a journalist's door to make a clear unsolicited
declaration of his love for Chelsea, his regret at leaving Spurs and his
undying gratitude to Harry? No he did not. Interviewed on holiday on a boat he responded to leading questions such as 'Would you like to play for a club that is regularly in the Champions League and is London based? Perm any one from two here.
What my legal contacts call 'leading qustions' and
the inevitable spun replies. Notice the subliminal reference to 'a boat'.
Doesn't that nice
multi billionaire Mr. Abramovich have
a boat? Now the Internet is down again
and by tomorrow we
may have lost the battle already. So the pool and the beach it is and fingers
crossed for later. It will be slow progress until the £35 million threshhold draws near.(Upped to
£25 million today apparently) So that's another bit of Modric secured. The attack dogs of the
Premiership, and you know who you are, will have moved away for the moment to
consider their positions and lick their wounds. But they can smell our fear
as all dogs apparently can and will be back before long. We are relying on
the integrity of Mr. Levy and hoping that his football cap takes precedence
over his business bowler to keep the circling hyenas at bay. Past events make us jittery and quite
rightly so. But we don't have to sell and if we are serious about our current
status we should not. Modric is already
back-tracking from his interview saying that he would only move to Chelsea if
Spurs negotiated such
a deal. So who let the dogs out? Was Modric
just seeking reassurance about signing new players? Did he need to feel the love? Or was it his
agent just angling for a new contract? The whole thing stinks to me of jounalistic manipulation perhaps with Chelsea's
involvement but that could just be me being paranoid. Rumours are circulating
of a £32 million bid. The threshold is nigh. Did I read that Real Madrid want
Sandro? And so the moving finger having writ moves
on. The dogs of war come sniffing round again Only another 2 months and 9 days to go in this
window. More than enough time to buy a
couple of strikers and dispense with the services of players not up to it but
not Luka Modric. He is now our touchstone; our
talisman and our symbol of ambition.Throw the
coyotes a bone but not one of Luka's. It's going to get worse before
it gets better whatever Mr.Levy, Mr Redknapp or even Mr.Modric.
say I'm afraid. The dogs are off the leash; it's open season on our key players and the two Manchesters haven't even stirred yet, just sleeping in
their kennels with their noses in the water bowl with one eye open. 25th May 2011 As good as it gets Welcome friends to this the inaugural meeting of the newly
formed International Division (of the ) Imbecilic
Outraged Tottenham Supporters (or I.D.I.O.T.S
as it is more informally known.) This organisation was set up under the initiative of our
current manager Mr. Harry Redknapp following an end of season interview on
Sky Sports, when we had secured our place in the prestigious Europa Cup by coming 5th a mere 6 points
behind arch rivals Arsenal. I can see from a cursory glance at your excited faces that
many of you will qualify automatically as I.D.I.O.T.S. founder members as you
are wearing your 'Harry for England, Now' badges but you will not be surprised
to learn that further rigorous qualifications are required. On your seats you will have found a pre-registration
questionnaire which I would like to go through with you now prior to
completion. Q.1 Do you agree that this season will prove to be as 'good as
it gets'? Q2 Do you participate in 'phone-ins' ?
( Or write blogs or take part in Spurs Fan-sites?) Q3 Do you agree that it is unrealistic to think that we will
ever beat the current top four? Q4. Do you agree that this season has been 'better than last'. Q5 Are you prepared to 'go and support someone else' if you
disagree with Mr. Rekdnapp? Q6 Do you agree that this season 'couldn't have been better'
for Mr. Redknapp? Q7 Do you think that this has been a 'season of great
football'? If you can answer 'Yes' to at least five of the above then
you clearly qualify for I.D.I.O.T.S.
membership and get immediate entry to the International Division (of the) Imbecilic, Outraged Tottenham
Supporters group. On payment of a small joining fee that goes into a hardship
fund for distressed Premiership managers you will receive your commemorative vuvuzela in club colours and you and Harry can blow your
own trumpets. Unfortunately Mr.JimmyG2 will not be joining us as he has
'issues' with the above and answered 'no' to every question except Q2 and
believes that Mr. Redknapp is wrong on every point especially that this has been a
season of great football. But in all sincerity I ask you what has JimmyG2
done for Spurs? Suffered is the only thing that comes to mind. He feels that whilst there have been great performances
especially in the Champions' League our general level of play has not been as
good as last year and especially against teams from the lower regions of the
Premiership. JimmyG2 speaks Thankyou Mr.Chairman
but in my own defence may I say that beating Arsenal at the Emirates from 2-0
down was quite breathtaking; beating Liverpool at Anfield
for only the 6th time in a century was wonderful; Bale and the
Champions' League was a revelation. But these are stand out performances and
in a 50 game season a dozen or so good ones is not sufficient to support the
claims of the manager. I dont mind being called an
idiot by Harry, although it's a bit like being criticised for being slow by a
tortoise. Many people have come to the same conclusion oiver
the years: my mum, the wife, my daughters and increasing numbers since I
started contributing to Topspurs. But I have supported Spurs since Harry was
a 1yr old and it's my club as much as his if not more so. Having an opinion
different to the manager's does not make anyone an idiot. On other matters against Birmingham we were
fortunate that Crouch went off before half time with an injury allowing
our only current striker capable of hitting the target to settle in and come
up with two fine strikes to snatch victory from the jaws of another home
draw. As soon as Crouch went off we settled down and Modric and Sandro, increasingly
more effective in midfield got the ball down and we dominated the play. But
until Pavlyuchenko came on, apart from Sandro, we
didn't look like scoring. Ledley's second
consecutive appearance and our second consecutive win gives
us hope for the future. I'd settle for Drogba coming in
and for keeping Pavlyuchenko, and Defoe. This last on the grounds that
Jermaine can't possibly have as bad a season as he has had this year. At his
current scoring rate Pavlyuchenko would have scored over 20 goals this season
with more appearances. Unfortunately this raises his profile and makes it more likely
that he will be sold. Our strategy this window will be to sell everyone we
can get half decent bids for and buy anyone we can afford or who will come to
us whether or not they fit the profile of what we need. Harry doesn't like to be criticised by fans and is
obviously being very defensive. It's not the first time he has had a go at us
or indeed talked up his own achievements. I wouldn't be completely surprised
if he is sacked but I don't wish for it to happen. The turmoil and disruption
amongst playing and coaching staff and the inevitable settling in period will
set our prospects back for next year. Would a new manager opt to cash in on Modric
or Bale in order to bring in his own men? It's a risk but if Levy is going to
act it needs to happen sooner rather than later. Its been a good season with
many memories to treasure. The fact that some are disatisfied
with a 5th place finish and entry to the Europa
league is indicative of great progress but 'as good as it gets'? I sincerely
hope not. Idiots of the world unite you have nothing to lose but your brains.
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Disclaimer: Please note the words on this page are the opinion
of the topspurs columnist and are just that,
opinions, not facts and are nothing to do with Tottenham Hotspur Football club
PLC. Just a supporter having his say nothing more
nothing less. Any commentary on betting is meant for discussion purposes only
and does not constitute any form of advice or recommendation. |