17^th August 2007 – Mid August Blues When Jim asked for s pre season synopsis, I kept it brief. I said that we needed to “hit the ground running’. It seems that we either have not left the plane or that the parachute was faulty? I’m not going to brief here though, in fact I’m going to go on a bit – and then a bit more. We’ve lost two games. Yes, just two. However, the knee-jerk reaction to our start has been incredible. Scouring the various comments on sites on NewsNow and listening to the angry whingers on radio phone ins after losing at home to a committed and half decent Everton side, it would have been possible to believe that the world had ended and that it really was not only mid-August. When I did a reality check this morning, the leaves were still on the trees and the league table showed that after all of, ooh, two games, we were only six points from topping the table with newly promoted and widely tipped relegation candidates Derby to play at home on Saturday! Get a grip folks. Yes, we’re all disappointed. Yes even me. I too expected a minimum of seven points after our first three games but two games do not a season make. We can analyse it and pick the bones from it and chew the fat off it until we are lilywhite and blue in the face but let us take a sensible shot at the reasons for our poor start and hopefully we may find the methods involved to putting the problems right? I’ve got a few ideas or speculative guesses and the odd suggestion. POOR TRANSFER POLICY? Martin Jol has taken a lot of criticism of late but let’s look at it a bit more sensibly. We should not be criticizing him for signing Darren Bent. Bent cost a lot of money but has scored goals in less talented teams than ours, is still young, has time on his side and gives us four top notch strikers with different attributes. We will recoup nearly half of this money when Mido finally commits his bulk to Boro or Sunderland. It’s not as if we cannot afford him and it shows we are at least trying to be ambitious. Some people are quick to criticize when we don’t spend money and accuse the board of being tight, so FFS support the new boys and get behind them. Can anyone say Kaboul is a bad signing? Or Bale? Or Taarabt? No, thought not. They are all good, young, hungry players. However, the problem area remains this left midfield role. With no natural lefty there and now even the option to put the pace of Lennon out wide, we look second rate and exposed. I cannot believe the flak Steed Malbranque has taken from some fans here. The guy works hard and does his best but we all recognise that he should be in a central spot where he can surge forward and score goals, as he did so well for Fulham before his injury. Stalteri whipped in a cross or two with his left even on Tuesday – but the gaping chasm has been obvious for some time and needs to be filled. However, I am of the belief that Jol intended to play Bale there initially, at least for some of the time. Bale is injured but we should have a plan B regardless.

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23^rd April 2007 – A call for realism

I am a bit concerned about some people’s lack of realism. The self perpetuating top four are the self perpetuating top four because for some years the same clubs have made huge sums of money from the cash cow of The Champions League and mass television saturation and from the add-ons of corporate investment and sponsorship, to reinvest in bigger stadiums, better players and larger squads on bigger salaries. That is a simple explanation. I thought we all knew that?

I thought we all realised by now that to break in to that top four is a massive achievement. Everton managed it once but then couldn’t cope with a smaller, less talented squad of players and spent the next season in mediocrity, having bombed out of Europe before the ink was even dry on their passports.

Therefore, when Spurs narrowly failed to bridge that gap last year, we should have taken into account not just how narrowly we had failed but also just how few games our relatively small (compared to the over fed corporate fat four) squad had played, having gone out of both domestic cups at the first hurdle and having not been involved in Europe – unlike our rivals from up the road, let alone the other usual three clubs that perennially make up the “greed is good” cartel. They can all bridge that gap from 40 games a season to 60 plus because they’ve been doing it for years and have accumulated large squads to do it with, thanks to the money success brings being invested in the squad. All common sense.

This season has thankfully seen us progress in all cups, where we made the semi finals of one competition and the quarter finals of two more, having played quite a few games both at home and abroad – and more to the point, more games in total. These extra games have taken their toll on a smaller squad that has been without the services of one of the best and most experienced players in the squad (Ledley King) for most of the season and has also at times been stretched defensively, simply due to the lack of numbers available to play in so many high profile games. This may be stating the obvious but our players are simply not used to so many games and for some of them it has been more demanding than they have been used to. This is not an excuse, it is a fact. Furthermore, our second choice players are not of the quality of our first choice, evident when comparing Mido to Berbatov in any game this season, for example. Ditto Davenport when he covered King.

I have been to all but one home game this season. I have been a season ticket holder for nine years now, having previously been a decent regular attendee. I have been to a few away games but time and money does not allow me to do as many as I used to. Over the 35 years since I started watching Spurs, I have been to 60 odd league grounds. I feel like I know a fair bit about my club and the players and supporters of it. I’ve enjoyed watching the tenacity of Perryman, the never say die attitude of Roberts, the mercurial talents of Hoddle, Hazard, Ossie and over the years been fortunate to see strikers of the calibre of Chivers, Archibald, Allen, Lineker, Klinsmann and Berbatov. I’ve celebrated in the good times and I’ve shared in the barren ones. I’ve shaken my head at some of the clowns that have worn the shirt and have ranted in the fanzines and on the radio at bad decisions made both on and off the pitch. There’s been a lot to say about a lot of things over the years and I’ve had my two bob’s worth on everything else so I might as well add my views on the latest, fairly ridiculous wave of emotion sweeping some the websites and message boards and in particular to a “fan” – and I use the term loosely here, who sits spitting anti-Jol bile and trash at most home games who sits not far from me in the Paxton.

To you – and indeed all you people spouting for Jol to go. I ask you this: When was the last time you had European Football here? Who signed Berbatov? How many dead wood players have we got in the squad with hardly any sell on value, compared to the days of Hoddle and the corrupt ex-Gooner? Just how close did we come last year to breaking the tedious monotony of the top four? How can you not say or see that we are in a better position now than we have been at any end of season for some considerable time? Look at our young stars of the future, Lennon, Huddlestone, Taraabt, Dawson, to name just four. Do you really not think this is better than we’ve had for years? Honestly?

On Saturday, I watched a game of two halves. Spurs did well in the first half but there is no doubt the Arsenal bossed the second one, largely due to the impressive Fabregas. Arsenal may well have been without Henry and Van Rapist but they still have a very strong squad as we have already learned this season. Fabregas has long been identified as a special passer and we are not the first team to fall victim to his talents. There aren’t many players of his ilk. What really got my goat as Arsenal stepped up a gear was a bloke sitting in the row behind me who spent the entire second half shouting abuse at Martin Jol. He did not stop. He did not get behind the team at all. He just continued a foul mouthed barrage of abuse at the only manager to take Spurs into Europe since the days when shell suits were deemed fashionable. If Jenas hit a misplaced pass, it was Jol’s fault. If Keane anonymously disappeared up some self imposed midfield orifice, it was Jol’s fault. A Huddlestone miscue? Fucking Hell, Jol what are you doing? Berbs ranting at the midfield? Must be down to Jol, obviously. It was relentless. Arsenal, when I last looked were fourth. They often are. Rosicky, Hleb, Lehmann, Toure, Eboue, Adebayor, Gallas – hardly a bad side!

Yes, I concede Jol has made some mistakes. Don’t we all? We have been a bit negative at times in both selection and style. Yes, sometimes I’m baffled as to why Defoe is not in the side but then Keane goes and scores several important goals and it is perhaps more understandable. Yes, I’m not sure about why we signed Murphy or Ghaly either but maybe Murphy was just a stop gap signing to allow the likes of Huddlestone to come through at a suitable pace? Far better that than burn a young player out through too many games and over exposure – don’t you remember what we did to Steffen Iversen anyone? Ghaly, a player I am not a big fan of, has also shown the odd glimpse of something – witness the goal at Chelsea. The point I’m making is, every squad has a few that aren’t quite top drawer, don’t cut the mustard or by the very nature of the game, become more squad player or stop gap than first choice. Chelsea have got Bouhlarouz, Arsenal have Senderos, Man U have Darren Fletcher FFS! To have entire letters on websites moaning about Murphy and Ghaly is somewhat missing the point when they are squad players and we have Lennon, Huddlestone (both young, both talented, both English) as well as Jenas, Zokora, Tainio, even the on loan Routledge. Not every manager can get it right 100% all of the time but to say Jol has to go defies all logic? Some people moaned when he picked Davids but he lets Davids go and the same people still moan that we miss Davids!!

Anyway TBBM continued his tirade all through the second half. Berbs offside? Down to Jol’s bad training, obviously. Huddlestone miscue? “fucking awful player, fuck off back to Derby” – I wondered what he’d said when Huddlestone scored that screaming twenty five yard half volley that won Goal of the month a few months back? I was getting more and more agitated. Jol’s fault that Jenas was having a mare, Jol’s fault that the giant Adebayor could out leap a shorter Spurs player and score what was a good a header as I’ve seen from anyone in recent seasons at WHL. I swear the veins were bursting out of the red-faced BBM’s neck as he literally showered us with spittle, enraged at Jol as he took Lennon off. Maybe Lennon’s had a hard season mate? Maybe he’s played more games than you’ve noticed for both club and country, often not on his favoured flank? Maybe it was time for fresh legs? Jol’s the manager and Lennon was hardly having his best game was he? We were losing. It was time to try something new? I could not believe the vitriol I was hearing. None of it is printable. All around in my row, the one below and the one above, we had to keep turning to look at this strange man as he seems two seconds away from a heart attack at every game he attends! He clearly does not enjoy coming to the game at all, so why he does is a mystery. I wondered what he would have made of the 76-77 season?

Is it really Jol’s fault that The Goons can afford to have Henry and Van Rapist missing and have several squad players out on loan yet still give us a good game? Is it nothing to do with us having a smaller squad (due to considerably less income over many years) of high quality players that have just been severely stretched in all competitions? Isn’t it also partly to do with Jol being forced to accept that he had to sell Carrick, whom his team was organised around, against his wishes? Can you honestly look me in the eye and say you’d really rather have Zokora - who can’t pass like Carrick does, is as one-footed as Heather Mills McCartney - and shoots on a Freundian level with banana boots, than a guy who seems to be taking Man U to another level? The 18.6 million might be nice on the balance sheet but it doesn’t wear a shirt, doesn’t spray passes out to Lennon or set up goals for Berbs and it sure as hell hasn’t stopped us from being fleeced next year for our season tickets has it?

For some seasons, let us not forget, this club was in the wilderness. We missed out big time in the 90s when football went mega. We missed the boat because we didn’t have the right men in charge in the boardroom or the manager’s chair. We missed out on the boom time and we missed out on the finance that went with it. When we could have had Zidane and Trezeguet, we got Chris Armstrong and Ruel Fox. It says it all. We slipped down so badly that we were, for some seasons, hanging on to Premiership status – at least those days are now a dim and distant memory. We are now right back amongst the chasing pack but we haven’t got Europe guaranteed. It takes time to go up another step to permanent European qualification. It takes stability, both financially and on the pitch – and in the manager’s chair. If Jol was sacked, answer me this – who are we going to get instead? Who’s out there?

Whoever he is – it’s back to square one, another load of players and coaching staff in and more money spent and excuses about it taking time as the policy changes yet again. Why can we not just for once, give a guy five years and assess it then?

The point I’m trying to make throughout all this bluster is that we are still playing catch up to those four clubs with the money and it is getting harder year by year as teams such as Bolton, Portsmouth Everton and Reading are also managed by shrewd men backed by rich chairmen and making progress. If we don’t qualify for Europe on a regular basis then we aren’t going to hold on to the likes of Berbatov, Lennon, even maybe Dawson and Huddlestone? However, hurling abuse at Jermaine Jenas, Mido or indeed, Martin Jol, is not going to make it any better for either them or us. Yes, OK, so you’ve paid your money and you’re entitled to your views but in the great scheme of things, if you saw Tramezzani, Dozzell, Kevin Scott, Vega etc under Ossie and survived that, then, quite frankly how can you really blow your blood vessels at this team of talented young players and our best and most honest manager since Keith Burkinshaw?

Let’s have some realism please. 

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