11^th August 2010 – Season preview Hoping for a decent title tilt and a good CL showing should not be unrealistic. We have a settled team, and a manager who looks at last to be confident he can compete with the best. In Modric we have one of, if not the, best playmakers in the league, and that little left-sided triangle of him, Bale and Niko looks tasty. Some depth, and nous, in the middle of the park and in defence plus, most importantly, a genuine goalscoring striker capable of operating on his own - because football clubs cannot thrive on 4-4-2 alone - would take us up the necessary notch. Optimism doesn't come easy to long- time Spurs, but we are capable of good football, can battle too and, so far, are still operating as close to a sporting institution as it is possible to be in the increasingly ridiculous environment of corporate moves and attempts to buy instant success. More than most, we've created what we have, which should make any success all the sweeter. Plenty to look forward to. Read all of Martin’s work at his blog: http://martincloake.wordpress.com/

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10^th May 2010 - A giant step four Spurskind

Even the Double side eased up after the job was done. The performance – and I use the word loosely – on the final day of this season against Burnley did rather unnecessarily raise those questions about desire and will to win that we hinted had been left behind. Which is a great pity, as there is much to be positive about. Arry’s evident displeasure at the second-half showing the way shows that he is aware there is still some work to do, which provides a further positive.

Let’s start with the manager, for credit is due for leading Spurs to their best finish since the third place of 1989/90. It’s true to say he divided opinion when he arrived, and still does. But his fiercest critics seem willing to put failure down to him and success down to luck, which doesn’t stack up. The team is motivated, with one of the many encouraging trends this season being the ability of squad players to move into the first team and provide quality. We play attractive football and obviously benefit from the straightforward set-up of having a football man is sole charge of the football team.

We clinched the Champions League place with a great team performance which also provided encouraging evidence that Arry had shaken off a tendency to adopt a cautious approach in key games away from home – which augers well for the future.

There were plenty of high points, but the climax to the season when we negotiated what looked like an impossible set of fixtures was the best of all – and beating Arsenal and Chelsea rarely gets much better. Two great performances that got White Hart Lane rocking like it hasn’t rocked for years.

So many players stand out. Lennon for his fine form at the start of the year, Dawson for his emergence as one of the best centre-backs in the country, Modric for finding his feet and turning into the kind of creative playmaker we love at Spurs, King for some breathtakingly classy efforts, Bale for thrilling and delighting us… I could go on. But my player of the season would be Heurelho Gomes.

I must confess that, while he always looked a quality shot-stopper, I had my doubts about him due to his weakness on crosses and erratic decision-making. But just think how many points he saved us this season, how many times he turned in superb performances reminiscent of the very best of the legendary keepers we’ve been lucky enough to have at Spurs. All of which proves the value of giving a player time and retaining faith – a quality which the club seems to have rediscovered at all levels and which is clearly paying off. I’ve loved Gomes this season, and my unwillingness to offer him the option so enthusiastically proffered in the Gomes song should not be taken as critical.

A word, at this point, on songs. For years our tradition of fine and inventive terrace songs had been in the doldrums, but we are back on form. The full version of the Gomes song, complete with introductory instrumental, always brings a smile, and there are fewer finer sounds than the long, slowly-built Marching In when it rolls around the stadium. My favourite, though, was heard on a train back to Liverpool Street and, sadly I fear, will be to complicated to catch on. “Supercalyfragilistic Roman Pavlyuchenko, not as good as Gascoigne was but better than Shevchenko, when he has his breakfast he puts Smirnoff in his Kenco, Supercalyfragilistic Roman Pavlyuchenko.”

Several Spurs mates have said coming fourth is nothing to celebrate, and while I take the point the hard fact is that it does mean a lot. A place in the Champions League, with the exposure and the money it brings, and more important, a real chance to hold on to our best players instead of sell them to Manchester United. And maybe too to attract top talent.

Of course, we’re not there yet. It will be a tougher qualifier than the imagined walkover against Locomotiv Traktor, and will Spurs have to start even better than they did this year in order to qualify for the group stages. A task that will not be made easier by this summer’s World Cup.

I can’t see the board going mad with money, and quite rightly bearing in mind the all-to obvious mistakes made in the past by clubs who have banked everything on continued Champions League success. The ghost of Leeds United’s single stab at the CL is never far away. But the fabled wage structure may well be tested, and some additions to an already very good squad would not go amiss. A little European experience would help, some extra quality at right back, more depth in the middle – and for all that our strikers have stepped up at the right time, the addition of a truly top-class and reliable regular goal-scoring machine would move things up a gear.

Our test next season will be to maintain our top-four position and gain as much European experience as possible – not a task to be underestimated, but one that is perfectly achievable.

What’s so good about this season is not just where we finished, or the way we played – and didn’t we do well, as one of our celebrity fans might say. It’s that, despite the money we’ve spent, our success is founded on the more old-fashioned but lasting virtues of building a team that plays entertaining and effective football. So credit to Arry, credit to the board for recognising that they needed to let him do his job, and credit to the players for doing their part so well. We have much to be positive about. Hallelujah!

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.