11^th March 2007 - Paolo Hewitt writes in defence of Martin Jol Still want him out? Still want Jol to go? Still on the phones to the radio stations laying into him? Even after a week which has yielded four wins, fourteen goals? The fickle nature of football fans was never more evident than two weeks ago when following three defeats on the spin, numerous Spurs fans suddenly started calling for Jol's head. A month previous, with the team two nil up against Arsenal, White Hart Lane shuddered to the sound of 36,000 fans shouting, Martin Jol's! Blue Army! It was an amazing sound. But not so amazing because some of those very same people started crying for the man's head just three weeks later. Actually, If I was Martin Jol, I would personally thank every one who called out for his sacking. Their calls created a sense of crisis which Spurs responded to in the best possible fashion. Against Fulham, Everton and Bolton, West Ham, the team literally sprang into life. Robbie Keane who had been having a miserable season, characterised by few goals and bad outfield play, hit gold and now looks unstoppable. Paul Robinson finally re-discovered his confidence and began making match winning saves again, Zokora has got more adventurous, the midfield has got tighter and harder, and suddenly the world class Berbatov finally has a set of players he can fruitfully work off. There are many who harbour mistrusts against Jol, have done from day one. Yet I am not one of those. I think him one of the best since Bill Nick, in there with the Burkinshaw's and the Venables. Here's why. From day one, Jol, unlike many of our managers, has instantly understood Spurs and its traditions. He has tried to combine pragmatism with adventure, style with steel. In doing so, he has achieved something that was quite beyond his predecessors; he has steadied Spurs, put it on a good grounding for the first time in years and raised our hopes and expectations to realistic levels. Champions League? Not for at least three years. A cup victory? Possible. Since his time at the helm, Jol has ensured that the season does not end for Spurs fans in January but May time. He has done so because he knows how to put a team together. Look at the core of the team now. Robinson, King, Dawson, Chimbonda, Lennon, Zokora, Defoe, Berbatov, Keane, Huddlestone, every one of them and more would be coveted by other managers. When he took over, Michael Carrick was inexplicably languishing in the reserves with Santini, refusing to play him. Jol used Carrick from the start, deploying him in a great position to guide Spurs towards Europe. At the same time, Jol has developed a very forward looking policy, placing great emphasis on speed and youth, and building a team for the future as well as the present. His faith and trust in the young minds and legs of players such as Lennon, Huddlestone and Dawson, is refreshing. Although he sometimes baffles with his team selection, (Ghaly, prime example) it is normally only one or two players we scratch our head over as they wander onto the pitch. In the case of other managers, it was the whole bloody team sometimes that left us perplexed. Tactically, he might have deficiencies.

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Whoever told the team to stand off Arsenal in that second half at the Lane, and play for a break, needs a yellow card. As one Gooner amico told me, he had never never seen Arsenal let off the ropes so easily. But one mistake does not make a tragedy - as long as we live and we learn. Moreover, Martin Jol is the only Spurs manager I have known for other fans to really admire. Every time I tell someone I support Spurs, their first reaction is always, 'Oh I like your manager.' Why is that? Because Jol is a class act, down to earth, and very clear. If we play bad, he says so, loud and clear. No excuses. 'I told the players,' he said one week on TV, 'you don't score the goal, you don't win the game.' Couldn't be simpler. He also never moans. As I write Wenger is still crying about the FA and the final, and it does him, (and the game) no favours whatsoever. Jol may point out the errors but that's it. He refuses to lay blame at other people's doors, and he is right to do so. When we were beaten by Benfica in the semi final of the European Cup in 1962, refereeing decisions were widely made responsible for our defeat. Bill Nick would have none of it. 'If we hadn't made those defensive errors they wouldn't have scored and won the game, no matter what the ref did,' was his comment. Jol is cut from the same cloth. I have only one other beef with Jol and it is a major one; the man goes to Eric Clapton concerts. Apart from that sackable offence, the man in charge of Spurs right now is the best man for the job. And long may it remain so. Agreed?

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