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10th
January 2012 - The Double is still on I have not written for a while, enjoying a Christmas break, as well as taking in Spurs continuing excellent season throughout the festive period, a time where traditionally our form is mixed. We started it third in the table and as the top London team at Christmas for the first time since 1995, we finished it unbeaten in the four games and cementing our third placing and well and truly looking up at the two Manchesters. It seems incredible to think that if we win against Everton we could go level with United. It is interesting that until game 18, United had collected their most ever points after the equivalent number of games in the Premier League era and yet here we, with a real chance of going level with them, as we enter the second half of the season. Indeed such was the form of the two Manchesters, that our outside title challenge is not really being taken too seriously by most pundits or even by myself or probably many of the Spurs faithful. Yet the reality, on closer inspection is that at the half way point in the season we have maintained championship form. We have 42 points after 19 points, extrapolated over the season that would give us 84 points. 84 points is a tally that has been good enough eight times in Premier League history to land the title. In fact even last season, only 80 points were required. With both Manchesters slipping up in recent weeks, it is looking less likely that this season will have a 90 point plus season, which I thought was a distinct possibility as recently as two weeks ago. Based on current trends it is much more likely that the title winners will win the title with between 82-88 points. I’ll be honest, if someone was to offer me a final position of third place now, as the top the London club, I would take it. In fact in my heart of hearts I would probably take 4th as long as it was above the Goons, but I am starting to think that this could be our best chance of the title not only in decades, but in future decades too. The Manchesters will spend again in summer, as will Chelsea and I am sure the Goons and Liverpool will be back at some point. This could be our time right now. Coupled with our assault on the title we also strolled through our FA Cup tie against Cheltenham. I thought the club got it spot on pricing, much as I think the management of the club take us for granted more often than not, credit where credit is due on this one. We had the highest crowd of all the Saturday ties and a decent atmosphere ensued at the Lane, for what let’s be honest was all but a bye for us. We have now pulled out Watford in the 4th round, which although away, should still see us through, even with a semi-strength side. Watford currently sit 18th in the Championship at the moment, so all things considered, the draw has been kind to us again. So we have a very strong chance to make the 5th round. Some quarters of the press, have said that out team is the best since the Double team, although I think this is clearly the usual Premier League hyperbole, sides we have had from both the early 70s and early 80s both stand up to closer scrutiny at the moment, as the “best team since the Double tag”. However we do stand on the edge of something here and I suppose while we maintain our championship like form and remain in the Cup, why not keep dreaming. In fact I can’t think of a better way of truly emulating our great 60’61 Double side – than actually winning the double. So here’s to continuing the dream with a victory over Everton. Up the Spurs! 21st
December 2011 - Time to move on from 1995 1995, the year of the Oklahoma bombing, Barings Bank collapsed, OJ Simpson was found innocent (the gloves didn’t fit!) and President Clinton declared that Area 51 exists. Something else happened that year, which seems nearly as farfetched as Area 51 – Tottenham Hotspur finished above the Goons. We also finished as the top London club, just fending off QPR by one place and two points. Now, as we face a truly massive clash with one of our other London rivals, Chelsea (who incidentally finished a lowly 11th in 1995 – pre Abramovich’s billions of course),we have the best chance since that 94’95 season to finish not only above the Woolwich nomads, but also as the top London club. As it stands we are two points above Chelsea and five above the Goons, with a game in hand on both and we deserve it. We have won every game in the league since August, except for the Newcastle draw (just two minutes from a deserved win) and the solitary defeat since August against Stoke, when a referring debacle cost us at least one point. This is the best team I have witnessed in person since I have been attending the Lane (my first game as nine year old was the 1987’88 season – thus missing the last truly great Hoddle inspired team by a year). We may have had some better individual stars, over the years such as Gazza, Lineker, Klinsmann and Ginola, but never such depth in squad and collective team brilliance as the current crop. I may have had doubts about the team at start of the season, no more. Freidel in goal, despite his advanced years, has been a rock so far, the full backs have been inspired, supporting the lightening Lennon who is beginning to get into his groove (until his unfortunate injury that is) and Bale, who is back to his glorious best. Kaboul has been “on fire” as the song goes, the midfield of Parker & Modric (and Sandro when played) masterful and all three main attackers have had moments of quality and have scored over 20 league goals between them thus far. But the very best has been the King. Ledley Brenton King with only one knee, has 12 appearances to date, with 11 wins and just one draw, he is still yet to play on a losing team this season. I have said it before, Levy – sign him on new contract – now!! Meanwhile Chelsea look vulnerable, the manager under pressure, lots of out of from aging players, with clashing Mount Everest size egos. As for the Goons, with the exception of Van Persie, they are just not very good. They have turned it around from the dismal start, in truth we always expected that and they are better than some of the dross in the lower reaches of the table, but many of their players are average at best and would struggle to even make our bench. We have run them close over the last few years, with them only finishing above us by one place, in four of last six seasons. Indeed St. Totteringham’s day (the Goon’s name for the day it is mathematically impossible for us to surpass them -this event being their response to our April 14th St. Hotspur day) has twice been on the last day of the season in last few years. However we have ultimately failed. I truly believe we won’t fall short this year, tomorrow we have a chance to keep or even extend our solid lead over the Goons, but also put distance over Chelsea. However if we fail, although disappointing, it won’t be a disaster, Chelsea would leap frog us, if they win, but that could only be temporary as we still have that all important game in hand. The Goons celebrated their 125th birthday the other day (forever behind us), why the hell it was in Islington as opposed to Woolwich I don’t know and they erected three statues, one of an ex-con in a donkey shape, one of a handballing cheat and the final one a Spurs reject, who was also banned from the FA for life, only to this somehow rescinded. The Goons have to look back now, their future a little bleak, for the first time in long time our future looks much brighter. The elephant in the room for us is Harry Redknapp post this season, but apart from that uncertainty, things are pretty rosy. So bring on Chelsea and sod the Goons it’s time to move on from 1995. 2011’12 is our year, the season Tottenham Hotspur will take the crown back and become the pride of London. Up the Spurs and Merry Christmas!
Before I start, I want to make it
clear that I am not Redknapp bashing
with this piece. Our Premier league campaign in the few months has been
nothing short of spectacular and the events of last night while hopefully in
time pale into insignificance if we continue to keep our place near the
summit of the league. However the contrast to our amazing league form to our
disastrous Europa campaign is quite startling. Redknapp misjudged the competition badly and
now we face the humiliation of failing to even make the knock out stages,
despite being presented with, let’s be honest a pretty easy group. Many
fans, who think that Champions League qualification is the be all and end
all, will no doubt lose little sleep over our exit. Indeed the attendance of
just 26,224 (and that includes a very decent PAOK turn out I might add) tells
its own story. People would rather watch a run-of-the-mill Premier League
match at Bolton. Personally I am not in that camp. Since when have we earned
the right to turn our noses up at a competition? Unless I am very much
mistaken we have only won three trophies since 1984. In fact many of our
younger fans will only have been around for a couple of league cups, I was
only 13 when we last won the FA Cup for crying out loud! This
tournament was an excellent chance to bag a major bit of silverware and to
show everybody in Europe a that Tottenham Hotspur are back as a major trophy
winning force, instead we are bowing out dismally, collecting the same amount
of points as poor old Birmingham City thus far. I appreciate the juggling act
that Redknapp has to do, and I not suggesting that
he needed to put out a full team for every match, but yesterday, at home,
with a win or a draw giving us a huge chance of progressing too many
wholesale changes were made from our excellent win at the Hawthorns and quite
simply it cost us. He
should have gone with a stronger line up from the outset, to get the job
done. He did this against Hearts away and we were then able to field a second
string in the return leg. If we had beaten PAOK, he could have put out the
youth team against Shamrock. What
is also disappointing is that our proud European home record took another
chink. Until we lost to Getafe in 2007, in that bizarre last match of the Jol reign, we had only lost one match at home in
Europe which was against Real Madrid in 1985. Five or so months into the
Ramos era it was defeat number three at home, this time to PSV, courtesy of
blooper by Gilberto. Real Madrid beat us again at home last year, and PAOK
made it five home European defeats, in our 150thEuropean game last
night. This defeat also means that Redknapp also
has the distinction of being the only Spurs manager to preside over two
European home defeats. We
still have the faintest of chances of going through. As I am attending the Tallaght stadium in two weeks I will clinging
onto this hope, but I know relying on a win for team already through and
needing a huge victory ourselves means that it is all but a pipe dream. So,
we will be left with two competitions, well one really, as winning the league
is probably another pipe dream. Although I will say the bookies now have us
at 18/1for the title, not exactly short odds, but realistic outsider type
odds all the same. The type of odds you might just have a flutter on and
occasionally win. So
as I said at the start of the piece, the defeat against PAOK has not
consigned us to a season of doom and gloom a win over Bolton could even
catapult us to the giddy heights of second, but it was a real lost
opportunity to enjoy some proper European glory nights in the latter stages of
the competition. Redknapp said after
the game, that his rotating policy had helped us on our fantastic league run,
in his words “you can’t have it all”. Maybe he is right, but I wanted us to
at least to have got further than Birmingham, and sadly we failed to do even
that. Oh
well, back to league it is. Let’s take out the disappointment on Bolton. Up the Spurs! 24 November 2011 – Eggtastic So it was around the 11th minute against Villa, I was standing in my regular perch with my mates in the Park Lane when Adebayor missed a gilt edged header. Readers of this column will know that Emmanuel is far from one of my favourites, fuelled by a mixture of lager and sambuca, our on loan striker, who hadn’t scored in two months, was at the end of a few choice words from yours truly. 180 seconds later and Adebayor had well and truly shut me up, cue lots of laughter from fellow season ticket holders surrounding me and much egg on my face. The thing is, much as I am perhaps always too quick to criticize Adebayor (who duly doubled his tally later in the game, to now make it a very respectable 5 in 9 since his arrival), I don’t mind getting things wrong about Spurs, if it means we are a success. I would take the metaphoric taste of yolk all over my face every week, if it means, Spurs can carry on this glorious run of form. And the win over Villa, was in many ways glorious. You could say that the second half was almost a training match at times and one friend described it as boring. Yet this was simply because of our superiority, once we had the two goal lead (which is now the 7th time we have raced into a two or more goal lead so this season thus making it much easier to win matches than last season’s habit of coming from behind) we did not need to get out of this training mode. Villa just did not have an answer to Lennon and Bale on the wings (Hutton attempts at shackling Bale were laughable) and our sublime midfield of Parker and Modric again controlled the middle of the park. Kaboul enjoyed his best match of the season at the back and forget the talk of Modric landing a new mega bucks contract for the time being, Levy needs to prioritise a new contract for King at least for another year and fast. King has already appeared in more league games than he did in the whole of last season and is in some of the best form of his career. The last thing we want at the end of season is for our loyal talisman Ledley to be forced to join another club on a free because we dithered over a new deal for him. Back to subject of mega bucks deals and now that I have acknowledged that Adebayor is playing his part in our superlative run (our best start for 45 years), I will return to form and have a pop at him. Adebayor has come out publicy since the Villa match to reiterate what he has said ever since he joined us on loan, that he will not take a pay cut to join Spurs on a permanent deal. Unless he changes this stance (and I very much doubt he will – cue more egg perhaps?) then Adebayor will be off at the end of season. So yes I hope we enjoy a few more of his goals and assists from him but let’s not get used to it and let’s treat him like he does us. I don’t mean get on his back like I foolishly did the other night, I mean cheer and clap when he scores but, but let’s not think that he is here for anything else than a quick fix to get his profile up and a move to someone who pays him what he thinks he is entitled to. This move looks like it is working out for us and him which is great. However he is not a Spurs legend and is unlikely to ever be. Let’s be honest if he was turning out for Chelsea next season (probably one of the few clubs who could afford to pay his wages) would you be surprised? And if he is, will the same people who are so quick to call him a Yiddo at the moment, be calling him scum in 9 months? Also he may be playing reasonably well for us but is he really worth three times some of other senior players in terms of wages? Not forgetting of course that Man City would want some kind of transfer fee as well. I just cannot see Levy going with it. Adebayor justified his demand for his exorbitant wage by saying that he had to distribute it to a collection of charities, which is a bit weak as far as I am concerned. I’m not saying he doesn’t give to charity I’m sure he does but perhaps his wage demands are more about maintaining his collection of mansions. Yes, I said collection of mansions not collection of cars. He has no less than 25 mansions in Togo (www.modernghana.com), as well as others dotted around Africa and homes in Europe. So I am not quite with the Ade as the new Bob Geldof just yet. While we are talking of charity that lowlife Jack Wilshere, via Twitter, has offered £3000 to charity if the Spurs finish above Arsenal this year. For man who must earn at least £60k a week at the moment, this is hardly big beer and to him and surely represents that he does not really have the conviction in his beliefs. Sorry Wilshere, this is the season we finally finish above your Woolwich Wanderers and I hope you stand by your Twitter claim. We are going to finally do the business this season and we will be north London’s, maybe even London’s top dogs this year and after that sweeping statement, I really hope that I don’t end up with an ostrich egg on my face come end of season. Up the Spurs! 8th
November 2011 - A perfect autumn Our very strange start to the season seems now like a bad dream. Riots, routs and rumours about Modric conspired to give us a sense of negativity around N17 in August. How things change. There is a feeling of genuine optimism in the air. Yes we had a fair amount of luck against Fulham and we were actually quite poor in the second half, but perhaps the cliché about a sign of good team, is winning when playing badly, is true for us. The Spurs fans were in great voice, and I thoroughly enjoyed the fans who had the “I love Martin Jol” t-shirts, only to reveal “Get well Harry” on their back. Brilliant. Both Parker and Adebayor have yet to play in a losing Spurs XIs, both careers now eight games long. Indeed Parker has now enjoyed as many wins in his short Tottenham employ as his did in the whole of last season with West Ham. It is Parker who has been the greatest success of our summer signings (underwhelming signings I thought at the time) so far. He is the cultured water carrier, in a team littered with more skilful quicker players. However Redknapp (on his return to work) has an important job keeping Sandro happy. At the moment, such is form of Parker that there is no way in for the promising eccentric haired Brazilian. Parker, is undoubtedly in his prime, but within a couple of years, because of his age it is likely he will start to wane, Sandro is the future. But he won’t enjoy playing second fiddle, not if some of the Italian clubs start sniffing around again, like they did in the summer. Redknapp has already acknowledged this dilemma. It’s one that if he needs to keep delicately balanced. Adebayor, a player that I still cannot bring myself to cheer, had a great early impact for us, but has now failed to score in five, including a couple of quite unbelievable misses against QPR. However, it would be churlish of me to discuss dropping him, when our team form is so strong. But with Defoe performing much better this season (six goals in thirteen appearances to date), despite only having sporadic playing time, perhaps Redknapp should experiment in an easier home game with dare I say it, VdV and Defoe up front? He has said that he can only accommodate one of them at a time, but they have not been given much of a chance together. Both are in excellent form and it would be interesting to see. As for the rest of the team, just about all of them are gelling and playing at the top of their game. Bale, is back to his best, VdV was slightly off against Fulham, but has been immense during this run. It is so great to see King becoming an almost permanent fixture in league games at the moment, Assou-Ekkoto and Walker are both impressing. A friend said to me the other day that Lennon wasn’t doing a lot. He is probably not quite where he was before his bad injuring against West Ham curtailed his 2009’10 season, but in the last two games, he has made two assists against QPR and then netted an excellent goal against Fulham – if that is not doing a lot – then I will take it! Freidel was brilliant against Fulham, as he has been since we signed him, I keep saying it though, I am concerned about this position in the medium term, a 40 year old is going to diminish eventually. Funnily enough one of the few players, not quite doing the business, is Modric, a great game against Liverpool apart; Modric has been a bit average of late. The Chelsea dreamer, is not playing badly, and is perhaps bringing the best out of Parker, but he is not living up to his supposed £40 million price tag at the moment. It really has been the perfect autumn so far, and as the fall turns to winter, we just need to keep this momentum going. Winnable games continue for another four or five games and if we can collect maximum or near maximum from them, we will be in position where we can really cement a Champions League place. I would also like Redknapp to keep it going on the Europa League front. Our understrength team was disappointing against Rubin Kazan and only Cudicini prevented an embarrassment. Yet it is still very much in our hands, I would like to see Redknapp put out a few more first teamers versus PAOK and then if we get the job done, we can rest a few them against Shamrock. The Europa League will begin to get interesting in the knock out stages and offers us a real chance of silverware. Let’s not waste this opportunity. It was nice of Gallas to grace us with his presence in Russia (albeit he failed to finish the match) for the first time this season. Two weeks ago he was inexcusably seen at the ground of his former employees, posing with Robert Pires and the Goons ridiculous mascot, for a cheesy snap, this on the same day that Spurs were playing. I am sorry, but if I was seen at an event held by my company’s fiercest rivals, I would have questions asked about me. Although Gallas did a job for us last year, I questioned giving a two year deal to a 34 year old. So far, he has spent a quarter of the season in the physio room and now he even thinks it is acceptable to get paid by Spurs to watch Arsenal. All I can say, is I hope Ledley and Kaboul keep him firmly on the bench. Meanwhile Capello treats some of our players with his usual disdain, with Defoe and Lennon overlooked again in preference to inferior players such as Zamora and Walcott. He also rewards that no mark John Terry with a squad place. Disgusting. I find myself getting more and more removed from caring about the fortunes of the England national team, all I can is that I hope Parker and Walker do not get injured while on duty. We have a chance this season, to not only finally finish above the Goons, but to make history, I’m not going to start to talk about a title challenge, far too premature, but we should aim as high as we can; we have the best Tottenham team for 30 years, maybe longer and I’m thoroughly enjoying it. Up the Spurs! 19th
October 2011 - The 200 Club It is fairly easy to chart the start of the rise of Tottenham as a Premier League force; it was 27th November 2004. We beat Middlesbrough 2-0 at home, to finally kick start Martin Jol’s reign. It was his first win as boss and the first of a run of five wins in a row, which we have not equalled since (although we came within just five minutes of it against Newcastle on Sunday). This run of form under Martin Jol, not only kick started his own tenure, but it started a period, which continues to this day, of Spurs being competitive in the Premier league and competing for European qualification (and often succeeding) through league placing’s. We actually fell at the last hurdle in that 2004’05 season, by just two points, as we fell out of a UEFA cup position, with just two games remaining, managing just one point in those final two games. But, something felt right in the summer of 2004’05, a corner had been turned. Sure enough, we made sure the following year, when we qualified for Europe with games to spare and only a dodgy lasagne stopped us from nabbing a deserved Champions League place. It was our first qualification for Europe proper via the league since the 1980s. If you were to plot a graph, you can see a sea change from the mediocre Sugar years and early ENIC period from 2004’05; you would see a quite dramatic change. It’s not been a completely upward curve but we have only finished outside the top 9, once in the last seven seasons (11th in 2007’08 and that year we won the League Cup ), whereas in the previous eight seasons, we only finished 9th only once, spending the rest of the time between 10thto 14th. We have moved so far from this period, that finishing outside of the top six would be seem disappointing now, whereas in that barren mid 90s into the early noughties spell, not only was the football generally painful, but a sixth place finish would have a miracle. It is important to remember this in the context of our occasional disappointing results these days, not that an away point at St James Park, where we have only won three Premier League games, can be considered a true disappointment. Although letting two leads slip, was none-the-less a blow. However with an easier run of fixtures on the horizon, we really could be on the heels of Chelsea come early December. So how did this transformation from mid table obscurity to top quartile league regulars happen? Clearly, credit has to be given to the management, Martin Jol started the upwards journey, Ramos stumbled in the league (but I still do not look back with disdain on his appointment, he is the only manager to win us a trophy this century after all) and Redknapp has taken us up another notch from Jol. Also, I have to acknowledge a change in strategy from the board from 2004. It will take a hell of a lot for me to treat Levy, Lewis and their ENIC model, with anything but what I consider healthy scepticism, despite our upturn. This was amplified to me following the Stratford debacle. Also the fact is, that the essence of any investment company is to make return on said investment, which will always be at odds to me, as a fan. However I cannot deny, that since the appointment of Jol, they have largely backed the manager in the transfer market, certainly much more than they did with Hoddle (regrettably, as I would loved to have seen what Hoddle would have achieved if he had the full support of the board and did not have Pleat meddling in the background). However the other reason for our rise up the table and general league placing consolidation is squad stability. We signed a significant proportion of our current squad between the years of 2004-2006, which as I have discussed is the time of the beginning of our ascent. Putting it simply if you keep a nucleus of good players together and tweak rather than have wholesale changes, then you have a better chance of success. Man United are the ultimate example of this, with squad changes normally gradual. It is no surprise that the two most difficult periods for Spurs, post 2004’05, was when we allowed key players to leave when they were in their prime, I am thinking of Carrick in 2006 (Martin Jol, never quite recovered from the board allowing this departure) and even worse the summer of 2008, when we dismantled our 50 goal strike force to barely replace them. We have four members of the current squad who are part of the “200 club” i.e. they have made 200 appearances or more (the great Ledley is our only current player to be in the “300 club” and the only player to remember dark days of Sugar. He cut a disconsolate figure as he limped off against Newcastle; I hope we see him add to those 300+ appearances soon). There are another three players who could join them within the next season and a half. Apart from Ledley, the players who are in the “200 club” are; Defoe, Lennon and Dawson. Huddlestone, Assou-Ekkoto and Bale are the players most likely to realistically join them in the short term. Jenas is also technically still part of the “200 club”, however he may well have played his last game for us (here’s hoping many of you will be thinking I’m sure – but he played his part in our improvement, certainly in the early part of his Spurs career at least). All of the above mentioned players, apart from Ledley and Bale, joined us in the years 2004-2006. They have all appeared for us many times in Europe (compare this to Teddy Sheringham, who didn’t manage a single European appearance for us, despite over well over 250 games for us, due to the fact that he plied his trade for us during some very lean years) and most have spent the vast majority of Spurs careers looking up the table instead of down. You couldn’t say the same about some of the long serving players, who played in the period just before 2004. The likes of Iverson, Sir Les, Armstrong or even Anderton, were I am afraid to say (I say this as I like them all in a bizarre nostalgic way, despite the mediocrity) were all part of the reason why we spent so much time in mid-table purgatory. I am perhaps being a tad harsh on Anderton, who was a very decent player, when fit and at his peak. Of course it is not just about our current long serving players, why we have been more successful, others players many for only short periods, have contributed enormously, but the fact is this class of 2004-2006, have remained the stable core for over half a decade. I guess conversely, the reason why we can’t quite push on to compete at the very top of the table, is that although these players are very good they are not quite on the same level as the Chelsea/ Man U and until recently Arsenal long serving players. There is also perhaps an issue now with the age of our squad, which until of late, was generally considered a young squad. Not so anymore. The “200 club” are getting on and Redknapp has gone for experienced players in the last couple of seasons. We still have lots of young players in or around the squad, many of them appearing in the Europa League, but as yet none are really pushing to become first team regulars. Livermore and Walker are the exceptions, but with a full strength midfield, Livermore would surely get the axe. In fact three of the players who have appeared more than 200 times for us, are approaching 30, or are already there (Ledley 31, Defoe 29, Dawson 28 (next month). And our big signings from the last two seasons are VdV (29), Parker (31), Gallas (33) & Freidel (40), Adebayor is on loan. Sandro is the only “first teamer” signed in the last two years, who can be considered young. It does appear that Redknapp is not building for the future, another sign, as if any more were needed, that he does not see himself here for very much longer. So the future is perhaps opaque, but we can be thankful for our “200 club” players, they have all played an important part in dragging us from the doldrums to the interesting part of the table. Alongside the experienced additions continue they should continue to provide us a top quartile team for this nest season or two. However I hope we start looking for the next generation of long serving players, as I am convinced, unless you have Man City’s millions, that to build a lasting legacy, you need a gradually changing quality spine and no forced sales or revolving door policy. To Levy’s credit he has held onto Modric, who has played over 120 games himself now, it is him and perhaps the likes of Walker, Sandro and Bale that we need to form a new “200 club” for the next five year period. If we can do this, then perhaps we can push onto even higher league positions and maybe a trophy or two. Up the Spurs! 8th
October 2011 - Goons to be relegated. For the third time in four north London derbies, Tottenham have reigned supreme. The Goons now have to go back two years for their last win over us. The cockerel is well and truly crowing. North London is most definitely ours. Yet although we only won by one goal, as we did on our two previous wins, this was by the far the most comfortable. I kept expecting the Goons to come back at us once Walker smashed home our second, but they never really tested us and the only criticism can be that we didn’t kill them off completely with a third, but for the moment, that is still being greedy. It was also the first time in a long time that we have been clear favourites with both the bookies and pundits, and despite me having a gnawing irrational pessimism pre-match (probably stemming from being unable to fully eradicate the feelings of our ten years of failure pre-Danny Rose, despite our recent success) we did not disappoint. After all as Jim say’s in his editorial, this is “new” Spurs. The media had a field day with the chanting of both set of fans, one well known hack calling it a “cancer” in the game, yet they take none of the blame. They hype matches up, gladiatorial style beforehand and when fans then play their part in the manner of the mob at the Coliseum they act surprised. To be honest, it is hardly a cancer, 25 years ago the north London derby, as at many other matches, would have seen fans smashing each other up, now the hostility is generally restricted to offensive chanting. I love the fact that VdV scored against the Goons yet again, it was a controversial goal, but on reflection perfectly valid, with ref getting it spot on. It is four in three games against the Goons for my TopSpurs 2010’11 Player of the year now and our very own Goon nemesis. We have not had one of those for a very long time and another passionate celebration to boot, exactly what the derby is all about. The Goons must hate him. So we are now firmly looking up the table, Champions League qualification a genuine target. Meanwhile the Goons face their worst season since the 90s. They may well climb and with their recent history it would not be a surprise to see them rival us for fourth spot come season end, but the longer this calamitous spell goes on, the less likely it seems and quite honestly when you look at their team, they look a joke. If we don’t finish above them this season, then we never will. And now to leave you with one of those pre-match pub hypothetical dilemmas, you know the type where in some alternate universe you get to choose Tottenham’s destiny. The one that has come up lot recently, both in the pub and on various blogs is “top 4 for Spurs or a trophy?” (You can’t have both and I would choose a trophy in case you are wondering) You have probably anguished over it yourself. But this is not the one I am going to think about for now, oh no. There is a far more important scenario to theorise over. With the Goons currently languishing in the bottom six and with us sitting proudly above them in the top six (with a game in hand) what about this one – “Spurs top 4 or Goons relegated?” For me, much as I would love to see us back mixing it with the elite, I would have to choose the Goons relegated. Seeing a half empty Emirates at home to Doncaster or some other lower league clown outfit would be delightful or even better the Goons playing West Ham in the Championship, while we carry on fighting it out at the upper echelons of the Premier League, you don’t get a more perfect hypothetical situation than that! Up the Spurs! 20th
September 2011 - Hall of Shame I have got to say the performance against Liverpool was as good as I have seen it down the Lane against top opposition. Certainly in the Premier League era we have not had such an amazing result against one of the so called “big 4”. Let’s not forget that Liverpool were tipped by many pundits as outside title challengers in the summer. We outclassed them in every department and it was a sobering lesson for the scousers. It looks like I am eating my words already with regards to our summer transfer activity. Although I maintain long term there may be issues. Freidel, who was bystander for much of the match, is looking very reliable when called upon, despite his advancing years. Parker was the perfect foil for Modric in the middle, which allowed Modric to rip Liverpool apart. As for Adebayor, well he too looked very impressive and every bit the 25 million pound player that City paid for him. Adebayor will never be a Spurs favourite of mine; in fact he is likely to my least liked Spurs player for a long time, unless Redknapp somehow re-signs Campbell. However I have to admit that on early signs show he is a big step up from Crouchie (still chasing his first Stoke goal) and Super Pav. Reading between the lines of Adebayor’s interviews he is unlikely to stay with us beyond a season, but if he scores us 20 goals during his sojourn in Tottenham, then great. If that helps us secure a Champions league place, that even better. I would be a fool to put my dislike for Adebayor over my love for Spurs. However I can’t agree with the chants of “Yiddo” from some of the Park Lane faithful as early as the 2nd minute. Let’s get it right, he is not even a Tottenham player, he is on loan from City and surely has to do a lot more on the pitch before he becomes a darling of Lane. A true darling of the Lane is the King. The guy is truly astounding. Since we beat Stoke on April 9th, Spurs have played 11 league games. We have won four of them. These are the only four games that King has played; they include three clean sheets and only one goal conceded. This is no coincidence, he brings a calmness and quality to the defence, which is sadly lacking when he is missing, and I hope we can string games out of him for many years to come. It is still a couple of weeks until the first north London derby of the season, and we have three games before then, but I am looking forward to it immensely, even more so considering the Goons appalling start to the season. Indeed a friend of mine told me that Arsenal have gained just 17 points from their last 16 games, relegation form spanning nearly half a season, it’s just a shame it spans two seasons! Long may this continue. Coupled with this we are currently unbeaten in the last three league fixtures against them, winning two, our best sequence of form against them since 1993-96, when we went unbeaten in five, winning three. With the Goons woeful start and with us beginning to find our form, we have every reason to believe we can extend this nice little run of results against them. It is a truly lovely feeling to put one over the Arsenal and we really have closed the gap on them in recent years. Just maybe, this will be the year we finish above them, although I am not counting my chickens yet. For a long period from the late 90s well into the noughties the gap between us was more like the Grand Canyon, as they bagged trophies, regularly beat us, sometimes thrashed us and even took our tag as the London footballing entertainers, a tag that I think we are taking back. The horrible thing about this, which I re-discovered while talking to a Gooner Kiwi in a pub recently was that, many of the new school fans, always think it was this way. They fail to realise that until Wenger showed up, the Goons may have won more league Championships than us, but their footballing tradition was of the dour defensive, grinding out victories kind, whereas ours had long been the swashbuckling, not always winning, but always aspiring-to-glory kind. The other thing that he failed to realise was just how many scumbags that they have employed over the years. It really is incredible just how many criminals, lowlifes and no-marks have worn their tainted shirt. I guess that this is par for the course when you have a club that has a history built on cheating and bribery (see the Henry Norris profile at end of the article). We have our proud hall of fame, with players who have lit up the footballing world, they should have a hall of shame, such is the sheer number of thrash that has turned out for them. Indeed, in keeping with their longstanding tradition they have even signed yet another criminal in Gervinho. He was given a suspended prison sentence and his own lawyer said he was lucky to avoid prison, having knocked over a young cyclist and running a stop sign all while driving without a license (and this when he had already been caught without a license two years earlier). All he could say after nearly killing the innocent cyclist was that he had “an important meeting.” However such is the quantity of scumbags to choose from, he still does not quite make my Arsenal hall of shame XI below, a side what would probably be the vilest XI of all time. Jim has mentioned many of the following in his “Arsepaste” section of the website, but I see no harm in reminding ourselves again of their disgusting players as we count down to the 158th north London derby in two weeks. Up the Spurs! GOALKEEPER, DAVID SEAMAN: Serial adulterer Seaman walked out on two families. Having already done the dirty on his first wife he cheated again on his second wife with numerous women. She finally got sick of ridiculous hair-cut and the fact that he let England down and divorced him. DEFENDER, DAVID HILLIER: A druggie and a thief and joke of a footballer he was caught smoking weed while playing for the goons and also bizarrely convicted of stealing luggage from Gatwick airport. DEFENDER, TONY ADAMS: The drunken donkey, served time for drink driving. Famous for his incredible number of own goals, Adams has tried so far very unsuccessfully as some kind of cod-philosopher/football manager. He relegated Wycombe, presided over just 10 points from his 16 while in charge of Portsmouth and is now languishing in Azerbaijan where he has so far taken a team who had finished in the top half before he arrived into the bottom half. DEFENDER: PETER STOREY: The 70s right back/ defensive midfielder was also a counterfeiter, car thief, pornographer and brothel owner. He has served much time behind bars and is now living in France after no doubt the shame of his criminal past became too much to bear in England. Either that or his is on the run. DEFENDER: SOL CAMPBELL (Captain): The biggest traitor in football, likes nothing more than to walk out on a club. Despite playing professionally for nearly twenty years, and appearing for 5 clubs, with one of those in two spells, no one has ever paid a transfer fee for him. DEFENDER: ASHLEY COLE: Where do you begin with this tool? Leaving his Cheryl Cole antics to one side, this is the guy who in his own words nearly swerved off the road when “only” being offered £55k per week. He had already had numerous run-ins with the law, when at the age of 30; he shot a student from five feet with an air rifle as a game, resulting in the student bleeding profusely. MIDFIELDER: PAUL MERSON: Drunk, druggie, gambler, alleged wife beater, bankrupt and thick as two short planks. Overrated on the pitch, he became a journey man footballer and consistently failed to deliver for England. MIDFIELDER GRAHAM RIX: Sent down for 12 months for sexually assaulting and having sex with a minor, who also happened to be the daughter of a family friend. He was on the sex offenders list for 10 years. Reports of him being friends with Arsene Wenger are completely unconfirmed. MIDFIELDER JACK WILSHIRE: Started as he means to go and has taken to the Arsenal scumbag way like a duck to water. He has already received a caution for assault, in an incident where a woman broke her arm and has also spat and verbally abused an innocent middle aged cabbie for wearing a Spurs hat. At only 19 he has many years ahead of him of being a total ****. ATTACKER: MARCUS ARTY: Not nearly as famous as some of his hall of shame XI teammates, having only been a fringe Arsenal player when he was banged up seven years ago as an 18 year old. Yet he makes up for it with his heinous crimes. He was locked up for nine years for his part in a string of vicious group sex attacks on women and girls as young as 14. ATTACKER: IAN WRIGHT: He spent two weeks inside for driving offences, a shame this was not a longer stretch, say...life with no parole? MANAGER: GEORGE GRAHAM: Loved nothing better than a brown envelope and a nil nil draw, this bung taking cheat was rightly hounded out of Tottenham, by both fans and owner, Sugar calling it one of his biggest mistakes. He remains Arsenal through and through. CHAIRMAN HENRY
NORRIS: The architect of this shameful club, he brought Woolwich to north
London uninvited in 1913 and presided over the dodgy affair of 1919 when Arsenal
were promoted from 6th (when only two were going up) and forcing
the relegation of Spurs, when there was to be no relegation that year,
allegedly bribing other members to make this outcome happen. Although he got
away with this, he finally got his comeuppance, when he was banned for life
from football in 1929, for dodgy accounting. He died five years later. 6th
September 2011 - The nearly men of football. A few days has passed since the transfer window shut and I although I have now accepted the squad we are left with, the 92 days of the 2011-12 transfer window was none-the-less one of overriding disappointment and missed opportunity. We sold somewhere in the region of £30 million pounds worth of players, including the moving on of some of our highest earners in Keane & Crouch. Coupled with this we still have Champions league monies sloshing around. And yet the total spend on new players comes in at just £6million. Only cash strapped Everton spent less. Levy will no doubt hale the fact that he did not concede to Chelsea in their pursuit of Modric. I suppose some respect to Levy has to be given on this matter. However I am not convinced that Chelsea ever did actually bid £40 million, the only quote on this comes from the less-than-reliable Redknapp. I suspect that the bid was far lower and Levy simply did not feel the price was right. However, even giving him the benefit of the doubt, in that he genuinely does not want to sell our best players, then it still does not equate. Simply keeping our best is only half the story, we fell short with Champions League qualification last year, so not only do we need to keep our stars, but in my opinion we needed to add a couple of “marquee” signings to really give it a go. Just about every Spurs fans was crying out for us to improve our striking positions and we also need a very strong centre back, to go alongside Dawson, when King is out. And yet who did we bring in? Well let’s assess them. A bankrupt (I’ll come onto this later) 40 year old year old goalkeeper, who has seen better days. There is no denying that Freidel has been a reliable keeper over the years, but time is not on his side. His performances (despite conceding eight in two games) have been solid enough so far, but time catches up with the best of them at the moment Freidel is defying the inevitable. He is already our oldest ever goalkeeper and the oldest player to appear for us since the war as well as our third oldest of all time. He is likely to take the number two slot from Harry Lowe, early in new year and if he plays for us in our last game of the season against Fulham or any time next season, then he will take over Jimmy Cantrell’s longstanding record (held since 1923) of being our oldest ever player to appear in a league match. However it is this second season and the fact that he is a current bankrupt which is also a bit of moot point with me. He was declared bankrupt (despite all his years at the top of the game) because of a failed business venture in America. It is now very apparent why he turned down Villa’s one year offer, I was a bit mystified why someone of his age would want to battle it out with Gomes for the number one slot, surely at his stage in his career he would want guaranteed playing time, now though it becomes clear, he needs a two year deal to avoid further money troubles, perhaps he is not too bothered if he ends up on the bench, as long as he is getting paid. After all playing football is the least of his worries. So our early summer signing is certainly not someone to get too excited about. We also signed two teenagers in the early part of the summer. Cristian Ceballos was the first, an 18 year attacking midfielder from Barcelona. There is no shame in being released by the best team in the world, but with the dearth of players we have in his position, I can’t see him making the break through any time soon. It is far more likely he goes the same way as our other attacking midfielder that we got from Barca, Giovani Dos Santos, i.e. very rare sightings in a Spurs shirt. The second teenager we landed, is someone to get more excited about. Souleymane Coulibaly is the hottest prospect from the Ivory Coast, picking up the golden boot winner at the U17 World Cup. The new “Drogba” who we reportedly had to shell out one million pounds for. This for a 16 year old playing for the Siena youth team. However in all honestly, it is too early to tell if he will be the real deal or one of the many other so called teenage prodigies that we have had over the years, only for them to be released quietly when they hit their early 20s (Tomas Pekhart, Terry Dixon, John Bostock {hanging on just} are just a few in recent years who has ultimately failed to deliver after promising so much. Now onto the loan signings. Firstly, we made the somewhat bizarre deal for 21 year old attacking midfielder/ winger Yago Falque from Juventus. It seemed to come out of nowhere. We apparently have an option to sign him, but the fact that he has failed to make the break through at Juventus (a shadow of their former selves) Bari, or Villarreal, suggest he may also struggle to break through here. But we also agreed a far more high profile loan signing for a certain Mr Emmanuel Adebayor. He must rank as one of my most least liked footballers of all time and yet here he is about to play for Spurs, this just 12 months after another of my most hated in Gallas joined us. I guess I have to get used to it under Redknapp. Who next? Ian Wright coaxed out of retirement perhaps. However putting aside my dislike for him for one moment and concentrating on whether he is better than what we have/ or did have (Crouch/Keane), I am still not entirely convinced. Since his by far best season (2007’08), he has scored just 29 league goals (in same time period, Defoe netted 32, Keane 24, Crouch 23, Pav 20. Yes better, apart from Defoe, but still only averaging less than double figures in the league for the last three years. Hardly sparkling form. Indeed he has only managed double figures in all competitions six times in his whole career (despite approaching 28 years of age). Again 2007’08 season apart he has never managed more than 14 league goals or 16 goals in all competitions. Jermain Defoe by contrast, just one year older, has scored 16 or more goals, six times and double figures nine times. Roman Pavlychenko has hit double figures in all competitions eight times (although he is two years older) but he has netted double figures every season since 2003. Even Peter Crouch (two years older) has hit double figures nine times in all comps. Although I don’t honestly believe Adebayor would have missed that header against City! My point is this, with Adebayor we will undoubtedly get baggage; he rarely knuckles down and allows his football do the talking. He likes to be the centre of attention, as his wearing of a gun logo t-shirt, just weeks after his Togo team coach was hijacked by gunmen, helps to highlight. Yet his recent statistics suggest that we are not even guaranteed lots of goals. In fact not only do we need him to defy his recent form, we need Adebayor to hit the ground running if this loan move is to work. He will get little slack from the White Hart Lane faithful, if he starts putting in shoddy performances, or even has a slow start. Yet it sometimes takes time for strikers to settle, even the very best, Lineker, Sheringham & Keane (first time round of course) all took a couple of months before they started firing them home. We haven’t got this time with Adebayor, with him being a loan signing, and we cannot have him being a disruptive influence. It is a big gamble by Redknapp. I really hope he has called this one right. The only other signing we made and I won’t rumble on about this one, was the only deadline day deal we actually pulled off, Scott Parker. This is by far the best signing we achieved this summer. I still have some reservations about him, he is no spring chicken after all, and it wasn’t difficult for him to stand out in an awful West Ham team, but he is a good addition to the squad, even if he not quite “marquee” . Finally onto the ones that got away and the one who reluctantly stayed. We desperately need another centre back. Ledley is the greatest when he plays, but it is not often enough and we need another quality player in this position. Dawson is a solid number two centre back, he used to play at his finest alongside either King or Woodgate (who it appears we might have been too hasty to release), however Kaboul and Dawson is not a brilliant combination. The two of them were truly woeful against United and City. So why didn’t Levy push the boat out and land Cahill? The false economy of thinking that just because he only has one year on his deal, that it isn’t worth spending 15 or 16 million, is quite frankly ridiculous. It only works if we are guaranteed to land him once his contract expires, which as is far from certain. The fact is we were able to land a solid on form English international centre back at 25 years of age, at a not out of kilter price in the current market, and yet we let him pass us by. Crazy. As for Rossi/Kaka and Balotelli and all the other “big names” we were linked with, and I admit I was somewhat naively expecting a player of this sort of calibre to arrive; well I won’t even go there. That is except to say that words and figures appear to differ as far I am concerned, in January we were told (by Redknapp who else) that we were prepared to bid £35 million for Rossi. Yet we allowed 92 days to pass, without trying again. I smell bullshit. I’ll sign off with a quick word on Modric. Or the “nicest little guy in football” as Redknapp calls him. So nice that he didn’t even want to turn out for us against the Champions, despite being an employee with a 20 million pound contract in place. Yet, there is little point booing him, although I will struggle to cheer him either, we need him to do what he is paid to do on the pitch and let him sulk off it. Well enough of negativity, I guess we still have the one
of the best squads in England, it’s just that getting back into the Champions
League will be a very tall order, more difficult than last season and yet
with just a couple of top drawer players, we would have been right up there
and made it a lot easier for ourselves. “Tottenham - the nearly men of
football” a non-Spurs football supporter friend of mine calls us, perhaps he
is right. 17th
August 2011 - The Battle of Britain On Thursday we will begin our 18th campaign in European competition. I know the footballing powers have done their best to ruin the UEFA /Europa Cup but there is still something about playing in Europe which is magical and I would absolutely love us to emulate our heroes of ’84, ’72 and ’63 and lift our fourth major European trophy next May. I have said it before, but the UEFA Cup is “our” competition unlike any other team from England. We were the inaugural winners of it, the first team to win it twice, the first English team to play in three finals, the first English team to play in four semi-finals, we have the British record for most consecutive wins in it and we have played in it more than any other team from England. It is time for us to bring our trophy back to north London. There is a long way to go in this Europa run, and despite having the second highest co-efficient ranking in the competition we have been dealt a tougher draw than Fulham, Stoke or Birmingham in the play-offs meeting Heart of Midlothian in our very own “Battle of Britain”. Yes, the two biggest clubs from the respective capitals of England and Scotland come head to head. My nan, god bless her, hailed from Edinburgh and in a very loose sense liked Hearts, so I have always had the faintest of soft spots for them. However it would be an absolute sickener if we were to fail to overcome the Jambos. Hearts may be arguably the third biggest club in Scotland, but with average crowds of just 13,000 they are long way behind the Old Firm. If John Sutton, brother of Chris, who was in our a youth and reserves a few years back, but who failed to even make it in the lower leagues in England, is a starter for them, we surely shouldn’t have too many problems. John Sutton is one link between the two clubs but we have had a few other more illustrious players than him to have played for both. The most famous being our legendary double winner Dave Mackay, who also won the Scottish league with Hearts. Alfie Conn the 1970s cult winger also played at Tynecastle. Both players were before my time, I always liked Alfie Conn though, purely for his quote about Celtic and Rangers. Having turned out for both, he was often asked who he preferred, his reply always being “Tottenham”. One final player who certainly was not a Spurs legend who unfortunately was my time, and who also rocked up in a Hearts shirt in his latter career, but who I wish had always stayed north of border was Juke Box Durie. We may mock our current strikers, but compared to ‘ol Gordon, boy are we blessed. I really hope Redknapp takes the competition more seriously than some of his recent quotes suggest, we have no-one to fear in it, yet although I can tolerate a few kids and a fringe players being drafted in on the bench, we need to play the nucleus of the first team. Two years ago, we reached the knock-out stages under Redknapp, only for him to put at a team of stiffs and teenagers against Shaktar Donetsk. Despite a good account of ourselves we bowed out 3-1 and for me it was a lost opportunity, with a stronger team we could well have got through. Shaktar went onto win the trophy that year. So let’s not have a repeat of that. Let’s embrace the Europa Cup and continue the “Glory Glory” nights of last season all the way to the final. I for one am looking forward to the “Battle of Britain”. Up the Spurs! 5th
August 2011 – 2011/12 Season preview It is 10 days before the
start of the season and normally I am getting a little excited by now.
However this year it all seems a bit flat. The thing is after we missed out
on Champions League qualification, I was still buoyant, I was pleased with
the way we bounced back from this disappointment to win at Anfield and against Birmingham, and although the Europa League is a clear second best after the Champions
League, seeing off Liverpool and grabbing at least some kind of European
football, was reason enough to be cheerful. Modric of course changed all that, just days after being
awarded the Spurs members player of the year, and with Spurs deity seemingly
his, he decided that this and a six year contract was not enough and that we
would surely understand that his dream was always to play for the Chelsea
mercenaries (a club where
incidentally, any Tom, Dick and Harry can get still get a season ticket {no
waiting list here for this “big” club, despite all their success in recent
years} check out their website). So
instead of keeping our squad and adding a “marquee” signing or two, we have
had the long, boring, saga of the will-he-or won’t-he-stay-kind, played out
on the back pages. To be honest I have
lost a bit of interest in the whole sorry episode. I lost something in my
“fan-player relationship” in 2001 when Sol Campbell hot-footed it to the
Goons, despite his denials to the contrary throughout his final spurs
campaign. Nothing that a footballer does now surprises me. They want the
worship and adulation of fans as well as the security of long contracts, but
of course, it is just a job to them, so if a better offer comes along, it’s
“Do viđenja”. The other thing that is
depressing is Man City. Now that they have landed a Champions League place,
they are here to stay (at least until the Qataris get bored). It is another
team we struggle to compete with, and another team that will entice our
better players with a more lucrative job offering if they see fit. Yes, I can
see Bale/Van Der Vaart/ Modric (if he is still here) delete as applicable getting
“dreams” about City in summer 2012. So all we have signed thus
far, is a 40 year old keeper, who may not even be our starting No 1 and a
couple of promising teenagers. Harry keeps moaning about wages (what happened
to his wheeler-dealer tag?), we still have lots of players, that are clearly
surplus to requirements that we struggling to move on (Hutton, Dos Santos, Jenas, Bentley, Keane, Palacios….) and all of the top 4
clubs plus Liverpool appear to be strengthening (although frankly I have not
been impressed with the Liverpool signings – most of them seem the type of
players we used to sign around the turn of the century – except with a lot
more noughts added). So do we have to accept
that 5th is the best we can realistically obtain? How long can we
keep getting capacity crowds and aspire to the new 60,000 home, once the
reality dawns on us, that the last couple of seasons are as good as it gets? I think with the squad we
have we should comfortably finish in the top 6. I would love us to win the FA
cup, but it is over 20 years since we last lifted it, perhaps even this is
becoming an unrealistic ambition. I would probably settle for any silverware,
particularly if we get to nab something while the Goons flounder again. Oh well, the carnival
starts again soon and I will still be watching the show, like I have for too
many years now, habits are hard to break.
I’m off on holiday for a week (I still organise holidays around the
season, sad as that is) maybe we will have landed a super star or two by the
time I get back (and no, Adebayor or Barton, do not
count!). Any way enough of my ramblings, enjoy the season and Up the Spurs! 27th May 2011 - All roads to
Bucharest – A Season review. Let’s get one thing clear, whether you think this season
was a success or a failure or somewhere in the middle, it was yet another
memorable season. Indeed in recent
years, Tottenham has been all about excitement. I sometimes shudder to think
of the years of not only mediocrity under Francis and Graham, but the
negative football we had to endure. Yes, Redknapp
has turned around and called us idiots again, he has said this is as good as
it gets. But Redknapp has always been this way, a
rent-a-gob, who loves playing up to his loveable cockney image, always up for
a sound bite. Basically he talks too much. I have long learned to take
everything he says with a large dollop of salt. I have had an uneasy supporter relationship with Redknapp. I didn’t want him when he first joined the
club, but in typical fickle supporter mode I very quickly applauded the job
he has done. As Jim has pointed at many times in his editorial, he is
statistically our most successful manager in terms of points per game in our
history, but that still doesn’t make him the best because, he has been in not
been in charge for that long, so comparisons with some of his predecessors
are not direct, coupled with this he remains a Tottenham trophy virgin. In my
opinion he is still sits some way behind the great Bill Nick, Keith Burkinshaw and Arthur Rowe (our three greatest managers
in my opinion). However he has still
been very consistent, we generally play attractive football and all in all I
have been more than happy with his reign thus far. But we now here that Redknapp is the favourite for the Chelsea job. My opinion
on this, perhaps defines my continuing odd feelings about Redknapp,
I don’t want him to go for all the reasons stated, however if he does go, I
won’t shed a tear and I wouldn’t be surprised. This is the man after all who
stabbed his best mate in the back (Billy Bonds) and went from Portsmouth to
Southampton back to Portsmouth. Loyalty is not word Redknapp
knows the meaning of. When I look back on this season perhaps there is a sense of
missed opportunity, just nine points off 2nd place in the end,
helps highlight just how costly our many home draws became. However as much as I don’t agree with Redknapp’s “as good as it gets” bullshit, 5th
Place at this current time in our history, is still pretty damn good,
especially in light of our tremendous maiden (reformatted that is) Champions
League campaign. 5th is perhaps becoming our default position, a
“par” perhaps. It is the third time we have finished 5th in the
last six seasons after all. Just one home defeat in the top flight, the best
since 1964’65 and our lowest number of defeats in Premier League
history. Another solid, if not
brilliant away campaign (which strangely is exactly the same as last years)
and our joint third highest Premier League points total. However as I have
already alluded to, far too many home draws, is the reason we failed to nab a
second consecutive Champions League place. Highlights of the season are obvious, in the League
beating the Goons away for first time since 1993, as well as preventing them
from gaining revenge at the Lane was great. But the Champions League campaign
stood ever so tall for us, only let down in the end, but our self-implosion
in Madrid. True Glory Glory nights, nights which I
am sure would stand up against our proud European performances in the 60s,
70s and 80s. So all in all I am content, we also had the delight of
West Ham going down, WooIwich
continuing their barren spell and even Chelsea screwed up. I think it was
important for us to end on a high, which we did by beating Liverpool and
although some turn their noses up at the Europa
League, this is a competition that we have had great success and we should
embrace it. The Europa League remains the UEFA cup
after all (UEFA state that the Europa League is
simply a name change – and that they are the same competition – simply a
rebranding if you will) and it is the UEFA Cup that we have won twice, been
finalist another time and indeed we have played in the UEFA Cup more than any
other English club. Like it or lump, it is our home. We have a genuine chance
of winning it, we are ranked 2nd in the competition in terms of
European coefficients (just behind Roma – who are a shadow of themselves) and
we are now experienced at playing the best sides in Europe – there is not one
side in it that we should be fearful of. No, I looking forward to playing in the outposts of Europe in the early rounds, perhaps taking in slightly kooky country or team with the boys on another European tour. And then hopefully it will get a bit more serious in the knock out rounds come spring, and if we concentrate perhaps all the way to the final. The final might not be being held at Wembley, or Munich
(Champions League 2012 is at Bayern’s home) indeed it will be in none other
than Bucharest – but should we be lucky enough to make it, wild horses won’t
keep me away! Let’s hope the golden trio of Bale, Modric
and Van der Vaart are
still plying their trade at the Lane come August, if they are we have every
reason to be optimistic. Below is my Robby Boy’s player
of the season 2010’11 ratings and award (only players who have appeared in 10
or more in all competitions feature with the exception of King who only
featured in 9 games). Gomes: Such a shame, he had
turned into a consistent act last season, but the clown prince was back to
his erratic worse this year. Sublime to the ridiculous – often in the same
match. Maybe end of road for Gomes, who cost us
points. However part of me wants the Octopus to stay, perhaps I am just a
glutton for punishment. 4/10 Cudicini: Able replacement when called upon, pleased he got a new deal. 7/10 Corluka: Some poor performances and injury cost him place early in the same season,
but injury and atrocious form by Hutton, brought him back. I like Corluka, and giving away a £36000 watch to a waiter made
me warm to him even more, but I would still like someone a little better at
right back. 6/10 Hutton: Couldn’t believe it when
he forced his way back into the team, but although a few of his performances
were passable and he scored a great goal against Bolton, still not good
enough 4/10 Kaboul: Remains a bit part player and another player impacted by injury, but
decent squad player when called upon. 6/10 Assou-Ekkoto. Some Spurs fans still don’t like him; I don’t know why, until injury
curtailed his season prematurely, he was extremely consistent; his occasional
mad moments, much rarer than in seasons past. Danny Rose will hopefully give
him good completion next year, but Assou-Ekkoto is
still an unsung hero 8/10 Bale: Superlative first five
months of the season, before a tailing off, but still good when playing. One
of three world class players in our ranks, delighted
that he nabbed the PFA player of the year award. We have to keep him. 9/10 Bassong: A worthy squad member, but clearly not rated by Redknapp,
rarely let us down without being brilliant. However I don’t expect to see him
next summer. 6/10 Dawson: One of two players to
have their season’s badly affected by bloody England duty, even when back; it
took him a while before he got into the groove again. Not as solid as last
year, but still a decent second half of the season. 7/10 King: The Spurs Legend,
showed why we should keep him next year, with two match winning performances
in the last week of the season, despite being out for months. He didn’t actually reach my ten game
criteria this season, only playing in nine, but I don’t care, I had to feature
him. I just wish he could play more often. 10/10 when plays – but 7/10 for
the season because he has missed so many games. Lennon: Some crucial goals
against Liverpool and Newcastle and in my opinion a bit of an unsung hero,
mainly because of the greatness of VDV, Bale and Modric.
I hope he is still here next year as I think he offers us a lot. 8/10 Jenas: Remember when Jenas used to score a few?
Quite what he does now I’m not sure. Pretty much an anonymous season. However
with over 200 Spurs games to his name, if he finally moves on this summer, I
wish him well. 4/10 Modric: Simply brilliant. The best Spurs number 14 ever? A couple of months
back I had this drunken debate in Madrid with a few mates, I’m still plumbing
for Ginola, but Modric is
definitely in his slip stream. Tremendous season 9/10 Palacios: Disappointing season,
injury and poor form. A bench warmer if he stays next year 5/10 Krancjar: Popped up with a couple of beauties when we needed him against Bolton
and Sunderland, but Redknapp resisted in giving him
serious minutes on the pitch and thus he remained a peripheral figure. Someone is going to land a good player, if
he leaves us this summer. 6/10 Huddlestone: After a fine season’s last
year, his season was decimated by injury. He will have to fight with Sandro for a place next year, but that means that we will
have good strength in depth. When he played, he was did well, his superb goal
against Woolwich, the highlight. 7/10. Sandro: After a slow start, looking like the real deal by season end. Very
excited about what the he can do for us in the seasons to come. 8/10 Pienaar: Early days in his Spurs career, but certainly hasn’t hit the ground
running. Pretty unimpressive performances since he joined. Maybe next year
will be his year. 5/10 Van der Vaart: Forget Hernandez with is tap-ins from five yards, VDV was the Premier
League signing of the season. What player and he hit three past the Goons. I
was told that he is involved in a goal every 36 minutes throughout his career,
as our top scorer and top assist generator; it appears that the statistic is
true! 9/10 Crouch: Excellent in Champs
league until Madrid, poor in the league throughout. Not nearly enough goals, and even his assists dried up in second half of
season. A disappointing season overall, but his goal against Milan will live
long in the memory. 4/10 Pavluychenko: Our best out and out striker in the end, although the bar was not
high. I still can’t make my mind up whether he is any good or a fraud, despite
him being with us for nearly 3 years. I guess as long as we have purchased
another quality striker or two, I would be content for him to remain in the
squad. 7/10 Keane: Once one of my
favourite players, now completely washed up two months shy of his 31st
birthday. Still he played his part in West Ham’s demise, with some shocking
misses, well done “Agent Keane”. 2/10 Defoe: After 24 goals last
year (18 in league) to just 8 this year (4 in league) – what a difference 12 months
make. His season never recovered from his injury playing for England, a
torrid season for him, by far his worst in a Spurs shirt. Some flashes of the
old Defoe at tail end of season, perhaps bode well for next season, but
possibly not. I do not know what the future holds for him. But with over 100
goals for Spurs, he remains a Spurs favourite of mine, despite his terrible
season 3/10 ROBBY BOY’S PLAYER OF THE SEASON: There are only three contenders who could take my award from last
year’s winner Tom Huddlestone. The holy trinity of Bale, Modric and VDV all have their own brilliant qualities,
but this year, after Bale won the PFA award, Modric
the Spurs Members award, VDV will get the Robby Boy 2010’11 award. It
is only fair, for them to get one each, I’m sure he will be just as proud! Have a great summer, Up the
Spurs! |
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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. |