Summer Wind(ow)

I have done my best to avoid transfer talk, it is mostly rubbish and I find it particularly disrespectful when journalists continually speculate about our players, most of whom have never indicated, even off-the-record, that they would like to leave. But I do have some views how I would like to see the Spurs squad at the end of the transfer window.

The first thing is obvious, we need to keep our best players – and they are Luka Modric, Rafa Van Der Vaart, Aaron Lennon, Gareth Bale, Sandro and Michael Dawson. And we can safely assume that our best player of all, Ledley King, won’t be going anywhere. And I think unless there is a falling out with the Manager, the others won’t be going anywhere either. Both the Chairman and Manager are strong and ambitious, and for all their other faults, won’t be bullied by other clubs or the players’ agents.

By and large over the last couple of seasons, unlike at other clubs, our best players have made no real noises about leaving, and the recent quotes from Modric while he was away at Croatia have been the exception. In the last year Rooney handed in a transfer request at Man Utd, Tevez has made no secret of wanting to leave City, Torres left Liverpool without a thought, and Arsenal’s captain has spoken non-stop about how he would like to sit on the Barcelona substitutes bench.

And that is why the recent quotes from Modric were disappointing, because there is a very good case for him to stay if he was given the choice about whether follow the footsteps of Carrick and Berbatov and sit in the shadows at Old Trafford (a choice I don’t think he will be given).

The idea that previous Spurs players were fed, that they could only win titles at Man United, and never at Spurs, should now be quashed. The fact that we have half a dozen players (including King) that would get into the United side shows there is no big gap. It is lazy, complacent thinking. It swallows the Sky status quo whole, and the broken logic that the World doesn’t spin around, but stands still with a manufactured ‘big four’. But, as Sir Alex Ferguson often acknowledges, football is cyclical.

United are in heavy debt, they have an ageing team to the extent where their biggest priority is now replacing Paul Scholes – a player who only started 16 League games last season, half the games started by Modric – and their cycle will end one day, just as Liverpool’s did before them. In 1992 we hadn’t won the league for 31 years. At the same time, Manchester United hadn’t won the League for 26 years. Things changed quickly in a short space of time. And with four teams now qualifying for the European Cup, the chance of success at the highest level is also now greater than it has been for many years, despite the down playing of expectations from Harry Redknapp.

Manchester City can spend silly money on James Milner, Liverpool can go to town on Jordan Henderson and Andy Carroll, and United can spend big money on Phil Jones (who showed in the U21s last night he is comfortable losing possession with long balls, an attribute that no doubt made Sam Allardyce such a fan); but their extravagance doesn’t mean their teams are better than Spurs.

But, it is a squad that is needed to succeed, and whereas Spurs currently have a good team with some high quality players, there is a need to invest in good players that can step into the first team now – players that are comfortable on the ball, players that have a winning mentality, players that can change a game, and players who when used are effective enough so we don’t notice any of the aforementioned quality players are missing.

Players who fit that bill include players we have been linked with, and arguably players we should have signed before this summer. Had Scott Parker been a Spurs player last season I think there is a very good chance his dynamism could have made the difference in home games against Wigan, West Ham and Blackpool. Parker is a better player than Palacios, and he is a better player than Jenas, and when he did play last season he was often the best player on the pitch, who ever the opposition was. (When he was absent, West Ham suffered). And he has looked good at International level now he has finally been given the chance. (And from what I heard a while ago, he has been openly saying that he wants to join Spurs for some months).

Too often last season we persisted in relying on a small group of players. That was partly because the manager didn’t trust the squad enough, and this summer is the time to resolve that. He rotated his team more in his second spell at Portsmouth then he did at Spurs last season, and next season we should be having a real tilt at the title, as well as having a go in all the cups. Cups are important, we know that. Our History tells us that. And even Arsene Wenger is finding that out now from his own fans.

We shouldn’t have a situation where Van Der Vaart is playing two games for Holland and then playing out of position away at Wigan three days before the Club’s biggest game in Europe since 1984, as we did last season. Ideally, by the time the squad of 25 is named, we will have two quality players for every position, plus an extra keeper, a third striker (in additions to two ‘number 10s’ – VDV and one other), and a fifth CB who is versatile – i.e. Younes Kaboul.

It is not even worth speculating who the three strikers are at this stage, though I would expect at least two new ones, and maybe three, especially if the manager doesn’t want to have an exact like-for-like cover for VDV. (The fact that Modric played in the VDV position against Milan suggests that there is room for an extra midfielder).

There are strikers I like that we have been linked with, but nothing solid to suggest we are actively going for them, or that they want to come (unlike Scott Parker, where I understand West Ham want to sell him to anyone but Spurs). Likewise, we have been recently linked with Jack Rodwell, a real quality player who was originally an England Under-16 Centre Back and Captain, but who could go on to play in the holding room for the national team, and would be happy to start of as a squad player for Spurs as he is at Everton – but it could just be speculation, and the market for young talented English players seem to be inflated, to say the least.

So, credit to the scouts that bought Kyle Walker and Danny Rose, who regardless of their age, could now both be considered as first choices, which is particularly welcome, as the full-back positions have been a weakness for us for many years now. And for a club with our aspirations, we should never have a full season where we effectively only have one left-back, as we did last year, when the apparent decision was made that Bale’s permanent position was further forward. Regardless, with the amount of games we will be playing next season, both Walker and Rose will get games.

It is tempting to name the ideal 25 squad I would like see now, but as successive windows have proved, there is no point in second guessing. Not signing a World Class striker in January was a big disappointment, but getting Van Der Vaart in the previous window was an unexpected triumph.

So I’ll wait and see. (While checking the BBC gossip column every day, before they sell it off because of pressure from the Daily Mail and BSkyB). 

MG

My e-book on Tottenham Hotspur's return to the European Cup after 49 seasons is available on Amazon and Smashwords.

 

F.E.A.R. – Martin Jol’s time at Spurs

An ex-colleague of mine once told me that people only do impersonations of you if they like you. He told me that after my then MD did an impression of me, when telling a funny anecdote. I do an impression of Martin Jol. Everybody knows that.

I like Martin Jol. Everybody likes Martin Jol. He was a very popular figure in English football in his time at Tottenham manager, an unusual period when non-Spurs fans would often mention in passing how much they liked our manager. And most people that met him have a good story to tell, be it the family of a young player I know that Spurs tried to sign in 2007 or my own group of football friends who met him in Braga a few weeks earlier when we were staying at the neighbouring hotel.  Once during Jol’s tenure, I happened to be eating in a restaurant in central London, got talking the owner, and it somehow came out in conversation I was a Spurs fan. (I can’t reveal the interrogation techniques used to get me to volunteer that piece of information.) The owner told me Jol had eaten there a few times and had given him tickets for his kids to come to the training ground. Most satisfyingly for me, the restaurant owner, a West Ham fan, told me that Jol said he hated his club, and would never forgive them for their fans singing “Arsenal” on that infamous final day of the season in 2006.

Jol was a good manager for Tottenham, and they way he was treated publicly by the club in his last few months, culminating with his sacking, was appalling. Reading Levy’s vote of confidence (effectively an undermining vote of no confidence) a few weeks earlier on Sky Sports News graphics, was one of the most bizarre things I have ever seen in a pub in London on a midweek evening, and that’s saying something. But tweets from numerous Spurs fans yesterday wishing that Jol was replacing Harry Redknapp now, seem to be based on sentiment rather than logic, and there is a tendency to look back in the past on his managerial spell through a rose tinted mist.

Similar to Redknapp, Jol is a manger who gives journalists good copy and makes people laugh. The footage of him at a Tottenham supporters meeting retelling of his confrontation with Mark Clattenburg after he didn’t give Pedro Mendes’ “goal” is particularly funny. Redknapp produces those moments on a regular basis, but while Jol never committed the crime of treating Spurs fans with disdain, both his ego and negativity were problems that led to his downfall.

It is well known that Jol seriously considered jumping ship for more money to Newcastle, but it is often forgotten how he openly coveted the Chelsea job while Frank Arnesen was the Director of Football there, even saying in a Guardian interview the day before Spurs played Chelsea in the 6^th round of the FA Cup how he wanted to win a title in two or three years, and dismissing Tottenham’s chance of even challenging, talking about a satisfactory top six finish.  

That Chelsea game was just three days after Braga, and followed a spell where Spurs had a good run of wins, after a period when Jol himself was under pressure. There had been rumours Levy wanted to bring Redknapp in then to replace Jol, and when Spurs won 4-0 away at Fulham in the 5^th round of the FA Cup, the relief to Jol was clear as he left the field ecstatic as he walked past the away end. He blamed the poor slump up until mid-February, and that game at Fulham, on the absence of Jenas and Tanio, but it was quickly forgotten with the good run that followed, which included a great Berbatov performance at home to Bolton when Spurs had ten men (after Keane got two early goals before being sent-off), the memorable 4-3 win at West Ham, and wins away at Everton and Braga.

The cup-tie at Chelsea that followed highlighted both the good and bad sides of Jol’s football decision making; the previous summer during the World Cup he wrote an excellent column for The Times, showing a great tactical understanding, which he rarely seemed to put into practice at Tottenham, almost with a fear of losing. One of the things he said during his World Cup columns was how Aaron Lennon was capable of playing in the hole, behind two strikers in a diamond formation. Against Chelsea that day, he played Lennon there, and as he predicted, Chelsea couldn’t cope. Spurs went 3-1 up early on, and the atmosphere in the away end on a hot day at Stamford Bridge, just two days after we had returned from Braga, was fun in the sun.

We missed a great chance to go 4-1 up at the start of the second-half, and an opportunity to score four goals for the fourth consecutive Sunday, and also a chance to go on and get our own 6-1 win. As the game went on, Jol’s negativity got the better off him. He took off Berbatov (who reportedly only played because Levy insisted on it) and Spurs dropped deeper and deeper, eventually conceding a last minute equalizer, and narrowly avoiding defeat in a game that should have been wrapped up.

Jol understands the principles of good football, and his use of Carrick to dictate the pace of the game transformed the side that was struggling under Santini, to a side that was comfortably one of the best four teams in the league the following season, despite dropping down a place on the last day. Towards the end of that season we out played Arsenal in the last North London Derby at Highbury, and had we won that by four or five clear goals, it would have been a true reflection of the game. I was too busy celebrating Robbie Keane’s goal in the Clock End to see Jol’s confrontation with Wenger until I left the ground, but what stood out during watching many replays of that goal, was Jol’s firm instructions to “Play. Play. Play.” Simple instructions, but the players rightly listened, and when Spurs did play under Jol, we were a very good team.

Six times in Jol’s that season we lost a decisive late goal, which cost us in both cup competitions, as well as of course Champions League qualification. It was no coincidence that when those goals were conceded, Edgar Davids was off the pitch – he was a great influence on that side, and an excellent signing. With a Director of Football it wasn’t always clear who made which signings – it is safe to assume Arnesen got in Carrick, Comolli got in Berbatov, Kevin Prince-Boteang, Beniot Assou-Ekottto and Darren Bent, but Davids was probably Jol’s choice, and a very good one at that.

That Davids was taken off in games was understandable, but it was Jol’s general use of substitutes that was worrying. He liked the idea of having a big striker upfront, even when Keane and Defoe seemed to be the best pairing before Berbatov arrived. And it wasn’t until he fell out with Mido towards the end of 2005-06, that he gave them regular starts together. For someone who has tactical knowledge, Jol seemed reluctant to change things during a game, and would often fall back on the old Dutch trait of having a big man in the box at the end of the game.

By the time of the 2007-08 season expectation was high, particularly from the chairman who invested heavily in the team, and the first team had financial backing no other Spurs manager had had for years. That all the players weren’t Jol’s signings was an issue and team selection started to become a problem. Bent was bought in case Berbatov left, Jol’s treatment of Defoe was strange, particularly if he wasn’t acting on instruction on the club because Defoe wasn’t signing a new contract, and he didn’t have his old favourites to rely on (he was still be bemoaning the big loss of Carrick after a year) and Jenas flattered to deceive (him if no-one else).

The poor start, coupled with perceptions of Jol’s ego behind the scenes caused the club to look elsewhere. And Jol can’t complain about the club keeping their options open, when it is a practice he not only did himself while Spurs manager, but one he has continued to do; when he was at Hamburg, he publicly courted Sunderland, and when he left from Ajax it was hours after Newcastle had sacked his former right-hand man, and true Tottenham legend, Chris Hughton. (Had Jol stepped in Hughton’s shoes then, my “I love Martin Jol” t-shirt may never have seen the light of day again, and the memory of singing “Martin Jol’s Blue & White Army” in Leverkusen might have been tarnished).

When Jol became Tottenham Manager, he was the right man, at the right time. Even after a couple of early defeats in his first games in charge, there was a collective confidence in him, and we went on to score five goals three times that season, as well go on a five match winning run in the League culminating with a memorable win at Carrow Road on Boxing Day. The following season, we were solid as a team, playing good football, with King and Dawson masterful, Carrick pulling the strings, and Lennon a constant threat. And in his final full season, with Berbatov added, we scored goals in all competitions, but were left to wonder how well we might have done had Carrick stayed, and King had been fit (things we sometimes still wonder now).

The handling of his departure was awful, and unbefitting of this great club, but Spurs have moved on now, past the limited ambitions, and seemingly past the internal managerial in-fighting. Jol was replaced for a reason. He is not the right man now, but that doesn’t mean to say, if his mind-set has changed, he may not be sometime in the future, if a vacancy naturally opens itself up. But no man is bigger than the club, and we at Tottenham set our sights high. At times Jol forgot that.

MG

My e-book on Tottenham Hotspur's return to the European Cup after 49 seasons is available on Amazon and Smashwords.

 

The Trouble with Harry

Earlier in the week I went back and watched ESPN’s preview to the Blackpool match last Saturday, which I had recorded. I like ESPN’s coverage of football, but last week one of the pundits was Dion Dublin. Ahead of the game, Dion’s opinion of Spurs was that they had over-achieved this season, and he said another midfielder was the only outfield signing we needed to make in the summer.

Of course this was the usual problem of pundits not really knowing their subject, particularly signified by Dublin’s comments on our squad. More worryingly though, some of the better football writers were also tweeting on Tuesday night, after defeat at Manchester City, that Tottenham had over-achieved this season.

For those of us that do see us week-in, week-out, of course know that is not the case. Expectation is currently high. Unlike many a well-paid football writer, we can make our own mind up, and Redknapp’s comments about going for the League Title were not a factor. In fact Redknapp’s ambition has been a great quality, which is why his comments, justifying Tottenham’s recent slump, are so annoying, coupled with a thinly disguised arrogance, which appear at times to reveal a self-belief that he is better and bigger than the club.

In fact amongst his modern day contemporaries, only Jose Mourinho is a bigger self-publicist who consistently displays a bigger ego at the expense of his a club. A number of Spurs fans have told me they would prefer Mourinho, because he would win things. I wouldn’t. Firstly, there is no guarantee he would win anything; secondly, the football would almost certainly be very negative; thirdly, his stays at club seem to be short-term, and when he leaves, the club is in a worst state; and most importantly of all, no manager is bigger than the club.

One of the golden rules of Project Management is to under sell and over deliver, and the element of Redknapp’s comments regarding next season could be seen as an understandable case of down playing expectations. It could also be seen, as Daniel Taylor commented this week in the Guardian online, as a message to the Chairman that Spurs need to invest in the first-team squad, which few would argue with. But, as he has now regularly used Manchester City’s spending this season as an excuse for our terrible slump in form, it is will be perceived as a case of spin, which seems to work well with his friends in the media.

Being good at PR is not a crime. Redknapp is clearly an engaging speaker, and comes across on television as a very funny bloke. A few years ago, I stopped what I was doing for a couple of hours when I saw he and Jim Smith were the guests on Goals on Sunday, and every story was a gem. And it is no surprise football writers have their favourites, and vice-versa, with the disgusting and unfair treatment Glenn Hoddle has always received a great example.

And the headlines are often misleading; Redknapp didn’t actually say that Spurs fans had no brains yesterday, he said that people that rang into written radio phones didn’t see the games, and had no brains. While not literally true, it is hard to disagree with the sentiment, but it is a dangerous game for him to start having a go at the ill-informed sound-bite, the tool of his biggest defenders.

If anything, Redknapp’s recent comments seem to be from a man under-pressure, desperate to maintain if not his job, his reputation. It is reminiscent in its desperation for reasoning to the two times Martin Jol was under pressure, first when he blamed a slump in form in early 2007 on the absence on Jermaine Jenas and Teemu Tainio, and then later just before his departure in when he was understandably stating his case and defending his record.

But Redknapp’s problem is the way he talks about the club. Always in the third person, and at times almost with disdain. Referring to your club in the third person doesn’t have to be bad thing; Kenny Dalglish always talks about Liverpool in the third person, and is the total opposite – in fact he is so deferential, it is both a little bit boring and at times sickening to the outsider. But if you supported that club, it would be fine.

Of course, we still have Gerry Francis in our memories, who in his opening press conference said how he always wanted to be a manager at a club “…like Spurs or Arsenal”, before then going on to manage the team in a style of a negative Arsenal side, with ridiculous transfer dealings from which it took years to recover.

As Francis went on to talk about taking Tottenham to their highest ever Premier League finish, for years after he left, under the pretence that football only started a few years before he arrived, Redknapp builds up his achievements at Tottenham out of proportion. He is a good manager, and there are no stand out alternatives to him waiting in the wings at the moment, but he would do well to pipe down about being a messiah when the first-team has just had a long costly slump that would have cost many other managers their job, and more crucially may have damaged the progress of the club in building on set of top quality players.

There is a feeling of a wasted opportunity at the moment, and Redknapp no doubt feels that, as do the players as well. And the fact expectation is high, is partly due to the good football we have played since he arrived as manager, as well as the genuine quality players we have.

It is worth noting most of those quality players are ones he inherited, plus a couple that were signed for him; we can though assume he authourised them, even if it meant getting Jamie to check with Ruud Guillit first, as we know happened in one of the cases. And it is what happens in the summer that is key now, keeping our top-class players, strengthening with real quality in the right areas, and just as importantly, having something in place so we are in a stable position for any handover, when Redknapp moves on, which he surely will at some point during the next 14 months.

Redknapp is good a PR, but he is not a master, because if he was he would bear in mind that his messages needs to communicate with all his audiences. He does it effectively with the press and the pundits, and those who just dip in and out (like the people that listen to, work for and phone-in to talk show, ironically). But he is not great at communicating with those of us who do see every game, and whose love for the club is not transient.

We study the detail, we see the bigger picture, and we have longer memories. Redknapp is right to talk about the great football this season, and when we look back on it in years to come it will be remembered for the win at the San Siro, winning at Arsenal, the trip to Madrid, and the great European nights at WHL. But ultimately his job is to work for a Club for which is just a small part of, and he would do well to remember that.
   
MG

My e-book on Tottenham Hotspur's return to the European Cup after 49 seasons is available on Amazon and Smashwords.

 

I Know It’s Over

With three games to go it is perhaps too early to write an end of season obituary for Tottenham’s season. And while there is still the possibility we could finish in one of four different league positions (I am sure I am not the only one who thinks 7th could now be a possibility), a third consecutive Saturday of disappointment yesterday surely means our season is now effectively over.

If the season started like a thrilling rollercoaster - with a breathtaking but goalless performance at home to Manchester City, a return to the European Cup with the horror show of the first-half an hour in Berne, an excellent win at Stoke away, and then qualification for the group stages of the Champions League all in the first eleven days – it is ending like a very slow slide through the mud.

The twelve months from 14th April 2010 have been full of some great highs as a Spurs fan, some of the very best in the last quarter of a centaury in fact. And there were a quite few of them as well, as we put both Arsenal and Chelsea to the sword in the space of four days, qualified for the European Cup on a memorable evening in Manchester, outclassed Internazionale on one of the great nights at the Lane, won at the Emirates from two goals down, beat Milan in the San Siro, and took over 10,000 fans to Madrid.

But it is the knowledge that we have so painfully under-achieved this season in the League that is such a big disappointment at the moment, and one that can’t be ignored. In the unlikely event we now play to our potential, and win our last three games, and Man City were to fail to win both their last two games, we may still scrape fourth, but finishing above Manchester City and Liverpool this season should have been routine, and we should have instead, as Harry Redknapp was still saying in January, been challenging for the title.

We lost momentum in February, but January where was where it all started to go wrong because crucially we didn’t strengthen our squad. The areas where we lacking were fairly obvious even at that point – leaders, full-backs that could defend, and of course, a goalscorer.

In just our fifth game of the season our failings were crystallized in a one-goal home defeat to Wigan. We failed to put away a team despite being dominant in possession, and let in a crucial soft goal. And we have continued to concede soft goals, and they have been costly. Four times in big cup games away from home we have let in early soft goals (Young Boys, Inter, Fulham and Real Madrid) that have resulted in some form of capitulation. And it is now more likely then not, we will let in a soft goal to a team in the bottom half of the table.

Yet, come the end of January, a squad who rightly had title pretensions still only had one left-back, with no strengthening of the defence, and no leaders or a top quality finisher brought in. Pienaar was the only real addition to the first-team squad, a good bit of business by the Board for £3m in today’s market, but not enough on its own.

The squad that looked reasonably strong on paper at the start of the season wasn’t as strong in practice, as already prior to Christmas Redknapp appeared to have no faith in, or fell out with, several players including Kranjcar, Keane, Bentley, Dos Santos, O’Hara and Hutton respectively.

While some of those players may not be good enough now for where Spurs should currently be, his treatment of Dos Santos, one who surely has the potential to be a match winner at the highest level, was particularly bizarre. Named as one FIFA’s top three young players at the World Cup, apart from three brief substitute appearances when we were chasing games, his only half of football for the first team was against Arsenal in the League Cup where we had little possession while he had no service from the three defensive midfielders played behind him.

Last season one of Redknapp’s better qualities seemed to be pragmatism, picking players he didn’t like at crucial times, because it was the right thing to do, notably bringing in Pavlyuchenko and Bentley to effect, and finally giving Bale a run of games. But for all the plaudits he receives for his man-management style in the media, Redknapp does seem to lose a lot of players along the way. This is not necessarily a bad thing, and as the Manager it is right that he should be in charge and pick who he believes best taking both a short and mid-term view, but it is worrying how readily he is to criticise his players in public. And of course there is also a question about his judgment; as we know Bale was one of many he didn’t fancy, and there is the impression the best two signings made since he was manager – Rafael Van Der Vaart and Sandro – were not his signings.

With Javier Hernandez of Manchester United, Van Der Vaart has been the signing of the season. Of course, had our Board signed Hernandez in the summer, the likelihood is he would be out on loan somewhere in Europe now, having played 45 minutes of football in the League Cup without being given the ball once, plus maybe the odd five minutes here and there as a sub. But with Van Der Vaart, even Redknapp couldn’t ignore him, despite playing him out of position a few times.

Van Der Vaart has made a massive difference to the team, particularly prior to Christmas, and was the extra ingredient that gave both the players and the manager the belief that we could challenge for the title. And that is where Redknapp does deserve credit, for having that ambition, and instilling that belief in the players; a belief that has been exemplified by scoring a number of decisive late goals, the sure sign of a side with a winning mentality.

That belief was perhaps best shown through in the home game against Liverpool, when we were a goal down, and had missed yet another penalty. Modric, our player of the season, picked up the ball, and ran with a determination that led directly to an equaliser. And, as so often, Aaron Lennon made a late telling contribution, scoring a great winner.

That we have missed five penalties this season is another issue, but just as important, is that we have gone on to win all of those five games where we missed those penalties. And there is little doubt that at that stage, after Liverpool, the more experienced players in the team like Modric, Van Der Vaart, Gomes and Gallas believed we were challenging for the title.

And they weren’t the only ones. When Man Utd came in January, Sir Alex Ferguson thought Spurs were genuine challengers and he played for a 0-0 draw. Post-season statistics will now show how easy it actually was to get a draw it the league this season at White Hart Lane, but again Redknapp deserves credit for going for it in that game, finishing the game with two strikers, two wingers and Modric and Van Der Vaart in midfield.

With the exception of the cup defeat at Craven Cottage, the next few weeks were fruitful as well, a spell culminating in one of the great Tottenham Hotspur team performances of all-time, deservedly beating Italian league leaders Milan in the San Siro. Right from the first minute, when Van Der Vaart sparkled, we looked at it, and it was one of those nights when every single player played well, and we played to potential, even without Bale and not being able to play Modric and Van Der Vaart on the pitch at the same time. An unforgettable night and a reminder that nights like that make all the bad times worth it.

One week later though, and somehow despite creating several great opportunities, we lost at Blackpool, and we have never regained momentum since. Conversely, despite the squad being under strength, the domestic Cup exits didn’t help, as we had to wait two weeks for the next game after Blackpool, and only played three games in total in March.

Going back to that League Cup exit, Redknapp not only played his hand to hand too early by revealing he was going to play a weakened side, he also totally misjudged the importance of any North London Derby, as well as getting his team selection wrong. Bentley, who is not exactly blessed with pace, was on the left-hand side of a front three, rather than in a central trio who were struggling to keep possession or create, while Kranjcar was left on the bench until we were 4-1 down in extra time.

And the use of the squad since has also been questionable as we have hit our long-drawn out slump; Rafael Van Der Vaart has been fantastic this season, and is vital to us in big matches: having played up until the World Cup Final, not having had a proper pre-season and then playing two internationals in a week for Holland at the end of March, it may have been an idea to give him a break on 2 April away at Wigan ahead of the club’s biggest game in 49 years three days later in Madrid, rather than playing him out of position, while leaving Pienaar and Kranjcar on the bench.

If Ferguson, Wenger or Mourinho had been in charge of Spurs in the same situation, it is unimaginable that Van Der Vaart wouldn’t have been rested ahead of that Real Madrid game, and whether we go on to finish fourth or seventh this season, it is the knowledge we have not made the most of what we have had that is the big disappointment. We have under achieved this season with the players we have at the club, the unused resources when we should have strengthened, and our position and place in February in a League that was there for the taking.

Whatever Redknapp says about the money Man City spent, of all the players they have bought since the end of last season, only Kolorov would probably definitely be a starter for Spurs, while Yaya Toure adds experience and leadership which we lack, and we would probably have signed Dzeko if possible, although he has made little difference to City. We should be comfortably ahead of City in the League, and both the players and manager know it.

It was no surprise Everton beat them yesterday, and had we won our last four games, including winning at Eastlands on Tuesday, there was the distinct possibility City would fail to beat Bolton on the last day, with the pressure on. We can go away and perform well in big matches, which we showed at City last year, and of course at the San Siro and Arsenal this season, and we played our best half of football since Milan at Stamford Bridge last week.

Modric, Sandro and Van Der Vaart in particular looked brilliant as a central trio last week, not only as good as any in the country, but surely one of the best in Europe. With a win yesterday, wins against City and Liverpool were then on the cards, but the late kiss-of-life Everton gave us yesterday was not enough to revive us into a late run of form.

It is unlikely Redknapp will be the Manager beyond next season, and as with replacing Martin Jol and Juande Ramos before him, the Chairman is likely to already have alternatives in mind, as he should as the Club’s custodian.

It is not long ago we were in a good position as a club, and quickly regressed. After winning the League Cup largely with a side that finished in the top five two years running, we then made too many changes to the first team, with eight of the players who won the League Cup not being there the following season. And we suffered for that, as it took new players time to settle and get used to the weight of expectation that grows heavier at WHL when things aren’t going well.

The transfer business in the summer that preceded that season 08/09 was mixed, Modric of course the great signing, Pavlychenko understandable as Berbatov and Keane both left, while the signing of Bentley for £15 million, with Lennon apparently being offered as a makeweight, absolutely ridiculous. And in the early games of that season it was only Lennon, who had his first full pre-season behind him yet mainly being used from the bench, the one player who didn’t hide, and offered some hope.

The lessons from that two-year period are clear. We sold players that were key to our success, starting with Carrick, and then made too many wholesale changes, effectively giving us another season of transition when we should have been building on success. We are a much better team now than we were under Martin Jol. Where Jol had a tendency to be negative, particularly with substations, we are now more progressive, still playing passing football, but with the attitude we have the ability to win every game. (For all Redknapp’s faults, it is hard to believe he would have not gone for it against Sevilla for example, after equalizing, or that he would have taken Berbatov off when 3-1 up at Chelsea).

The recent poor run of form may overshadow the many strengths we have, and whether the manager decides to jump ship in the summer or not, the priority is keeping the nucleus of top quality players we have – namely Modric, Van Der Vaart, Bale, Lennon, Sandro and Dawson – and strengthening in the areas that are apparent.

With or without European football, now is the time for the Board to hold their nerve, build on what we have by investing in the first-team, and make sure we are challenging for the title next season.

Audere-est-Facere.

My e-book on Tottenham Hotspur's return to the European Cup after 49 seasons is available from Amazon and Smashwords.

Simple Twist of Fate

Sport, and Football in particular, seem to have a remarkable capacity to deliver redemption, fairytales, heartbreak and coincidences that would seem far-fetched if they were scripted as fiction. From players scoring against old clubs to great athletes finally fulfilling their potential at their once in a lifetime home Olympic Games, sport continues to have multiple storylines.

Very early last season, around September 2009, I said to a few people in all seriousness I could see Spurs winning the European Cup at Wembley in May 2011, 50 years on since we became the first team to the Double there in the twentieth century. That just wasn’t based on some blind romantic notion, or the superstition of the year ending in ‘1’; in my eyes we already had the making of a very good team who played progressive football with attacking intent, and which had an attitude to go on a good run, be comfortable on the European stage and was starting to show a winning mentality.

But of course I also felt it would be a fitting anniversary fifty years on from the all conquering ’61 team (which went on to be the first British team to win a European trophy), while also being a redemptive return after we were hard done by against Benfica in the semi-finals, the last time we were in the competition. As Jimmy Greaves, who played in that European Cup Semi-Final for Spurs, used to say: Football is a funny old game.

After criminally conceding an early goal and then going down to ten-men in the Bernabeu, the quarter-finals may now be as far as we get this season. But I immediately thought there was another story of footballing fate that non-Spurs fans may want to write.

In a bar in Madrid in the early hours of Wednesday morning, long enough after the game that the conversation moved back to the result, I said to five “football friends” I usually go to games with, what I thought in the stadium at the time – a neutral may see Adebayor’s goals as justice against a clubs who’s fans have given him racist abuse for three years. And unusually amongst an argumentative group, as everyone contemplated what I said, they all just nodded their head, and there was no dissent. Everyone agreed, because that is how football often works. And we all agree that the Adebayor song is wrong.

None of us sing that song. I never have. Some of them did the first time we all heard it together, a few days have we hammered Arsenal 5-1, and were walking towards the away end at Old Trafford for the FA Cup Fourth Round in 2008, fuelled by the prospect of at least one trip to Wembley and a lot of beer. I said then I thought it was racist, and despite what the CPS say (not exactly the first time they have called it wrong), and the ambiguity of ‘Kick It Out’s comments since the game in Madrid, I still think it is. And I know a number of other Spurs fans, in addition to the five mentioned, who shake their head in shame every time they hear it.

It is not hard to figure out how the song started – it was adapted from the song Arsenal fans were singing about their then hero in that 2008 semi-final second leg (I don’t remember them singing at all at their own ground in the first leg, and it was about the only thing they sang in the second-leg - at half-time, when Adebayor was warming up). They were singing about giving him the ball to score, and someone adapted it to his dad washing an elephant, and his mother being a whore. (You’ve got to wonder how the mind of someone like that works).

But it is easy to see how the song then quickly took off – it scans well and basically tore apart the only song Arsenal fans used to sing at the time. The point about it scanning well is not flippant - after Adebayor scored for Man City against Arsenal last season, running the length of the field to celebrate in front of the gooners on the day he also retaliated against Van Persie - the words for a while afterwards by Spurs fans were changed to “He stood on a rapist/And then slid when he scored”. While still not the most pleasant song in the world, the main target of abuse remained Arsenal, rather than Adebayor because of his race.

It is hard to imagine the song would have been sung by so many if Adebayor wasn’t an Arsenal player to start with. It is revisionism to say Adebayor gets so much abuse because he has a dislikeable reputation, as his main misdemeanour when it started was whom he played for.

But the first adaptation has hung around and contrary to tweets I have read since Madrid, it was sung by more than a small “minority” in the official allocation of 3,602 in the away end at the Bernabeu on Tuesday night. To be fair there were probably around 15,000 Spurs fans in the stadium, so in that sense it was the minority. (And the ones who do the actions to the song are definitely in the minority, thankfully).

Racism isn’t a problem at Spurs – there are racist Spurs fans, just as there are racist fans at other clubs, but the majority of people that sing that song are not racist; because the song is not overtly racist, most of them probably don’t even recognise it as such. But ignorance, just as saying other clubs are far worse (which is true), doesn’t make it acceptable.

Which is why it is a good thing Adebayor himself has finally raised it. And the problem is not a Tottenham problem. It is a problem in a society in which non-racist personal abuse is acceptable. We live in a time where Chris Moyles, Jeremy Clarkson and Jimmy Carr are pillars of light-entertainment, and The Sun is being read by on average 7.7 million people (Media Week, March 2011). So it’s not surprising the varying boundaries between criticism, banter, bullying and personal abuse become blurred to some.

It is embarrassing for Spurs that Adebayor has the higher moral ground, but he has it comfortably in this case. Tottenham have a great record in attracting both English ethnic minority fans and players, and those from oversees, going back many, many decades.

The Adebayor song is an aberration that will now hopefully soon come to an end. Unfortunately considering some of our players like to take their nap when defending set-pieces, it was always tempting fate.

MG

My e-book on Tottenham Hotspur's return to the European Cup after 49 seasons is available on Amazon and Smashwords.

 

Heartland

When Chelsea won their second League Title in 2005, fifty years after their first, Sky Sports News cameras followed the victory parade the next day, where the plastic flags were out in force on the streets of Kensington. The reporter spoke to fans, including a bloke well into his forties, in one particular interview that sticks in the mind. The fan explained he had been there through the hard times, since he first started going under Vialli…

Earlier this week, ESPN’s enjoyable football magazine programme Talk of the Terrace had as a guest David Schneider, a comedian and Arsenal fan (separate entities on this occasion). Schneider also explained how he only became an Arsenal fan in more recent times, coinciding with Arsene Wenger taking charge. And Schneider is not alone in only have supported Arsenal through the thick and thick; the voluble criticism about Wenger being trophyless from some Arsenal fans last season can’t just be put down to the modern age of half-baked opinions on radio phone-ins – there are a sizeable number of Arsenal fans who don’t remember pre-Wenger.

Now there is nothing wrong with people coming late to football, and the two anecdotes above are no evidence alone that Chelsea and Arsenal have a large number of fair-weather fans; however, it is very questionable whether the Emirates will be full when Wenger has gone, especially if they revert to playing the “brand” of football that was associated with them from Herbert Chapman to Bruce Rioch, via Don Howe and George Graham; and it is also doubtful that Chelsea’s matchday revenue will hold up if they slip out the Champions League, and further down the Premier League, something Roman Abromovich probably recognised with his recent big money throws of the dice in the January transfer window.

Both Arsenal and Chelsea are in the top ten of Deloitte’s guide to the income of football clubs released today, but Spurs remain in the top 20 and despite the differences in stadium capacity and years of Champions League investment, the gap is less than three over-priced strikers. Of course that gap accumulating season upon season will affect Tottenham’s bid to compete in the transfer market, as UEFA rules will ensure money can only be spent from matchday income, broadcasting revenue and commercial deals, which is why I would expect the Northumberland Project (NPD) to become financially viable again, if, after any legal challenges, West Ham are confirmed as having won the bid for the Olympic Staduim.

What we at Tottenham do have is a very large and loyal following, which won’t be wavered while the Club’s history and tradition remain intact. When we were in the second division in the seventies there were thousands locked out at away games; there are many Northern fans that started following Spurs as youngsters under Bill Nicolson that still travel to see Spurs all over Europe; there are current Tottenham season ticket holders that travel from South London, the Home Counties and the Midlands to White Hart Lane for every home game and have done so for years; there are countless Scandinavians who grew up watching the Spurs team of the eighties live on television on Saturday afternoons rather than go to their own local games (and like all Spurs fans who grew up watching that great football of that time, have continued following Spurs through the grey days of Gerry Francis and beyond); but most of all Spurs have a hardcore following in North London – in Enfield, Edmonton, Southgate, Broxbourne, Harringay and of course Tottenham itself. Even Barnet, where Arsenal play their reserve games has a large Tottenham fan base.

A move East would have meant that Tottenham would have lost that last natural geographical heartland to future generations who will grow up with their only local team being a red one originally from south of the river. And while Arsenal would have been handed a catchment area to them on a plate, Spurs would have had a new home in a territory where most local allegiances lie elsewhere.

Tradition is a big factor in Tottenham’s fantastic following – both in style of football, and the famous history of the club, which includes its home; leaving N17 after what would be at least 130 years by the time of any suggested move to Stratford would have affected that. And in a few years time, Spurs, like all clubs, will also be directly competing against live football that will be even more readily available on the television and internet then it is now, in times that are likely to be financially tougher for the paying punter after years of savage public service cuts that will inevitably lead to a downturn in spending and disposable income for the many, rather than the few.

There is little doubt Spurs could fill a 60,000 seater stadium in N17 week-in, week-out, but there is no guarantee of that in a new area, with the tradition dented, no local goodwill to draw on in the future, and more reliant than ever on form on the pitch, which for all teams is only temporary to varying degrees of extent; a wholly owned stadium with an increased capacity, in its own heartland is the only solution that accounts for Tottenham’s long-term future, with the look ahead to forty years, rather than to ten.

The Board were right to look at a Plan B when considering the NPD; however, while not putting all its eggs in one basket while working on the NPD made good business sense, it seems a converse position where the Olympic Stadium is now the only option, if all public pronouncements are to be believed.

It is entirely possible that the recent positioning has been taken in order to win the bid – if it was known the Club had other alternatives (including a viable NPD), it would have been another negative factor in its Olympic Stadium bid, which clearly became the Board’s preferred option on financial grounds.

It has been speculated that a reason for Tottenham’s initial interest in the Olympic Stadium was the fear of another club growing to be a competitor with increased matchday revenues; but West Ham’s ticket pricing model for the new stadium, which recognises the need for widespread ticket reductions and concessions, is not the same as Tottenham’s plan.

Daniel Levy has been an excellent chairman up to this point, being decisive on footballing matters and not only running the club on a sound financial footing, but investing heavily in the team, with the recent transfer window being unusual due to poor execution, rather than lack of ambition. But while there is sound reasoning in benefits of a move to the Olympic Stadium, those benefits alone didn’t make it the right decision for the Club as a whole. 

It’s not relevant at this point to look at the reasons why it looks like Spurs won’t be awarded the bid – from the outside it looked a technically competent bid, while apparently compelling from a footballing view for neutrals (echoed by the whinging in tweets of certain broadsheet football correspondents today as well as the Football Supporters Federation); but two factors that weren’t on the criteria against which the bids were measured were the Social Responsibility to the area of N17, and the long-term interest of the club in deserting it’s local fanbase. And they are the two key reasons why a rare win at anything for West Ham tomorrow morning may be seen as a victory for Spurs in years to come.  

MG

My e-book on Tottenham Hotspur's return to the European Cup after 49 seasons is available on Amazon and Smashwords.

 

Graham Roberts Interview - May 2003

Originally Published online on melstars website on 10 May 2003

Graham Roberts Interview
Thursday 8 May 2003
 
There have been few bigger influences on the Melstars' outlook on sport than the Spurs team of the early eighties. A very good group of intelligent and talented players that played with style, courage and class. Graham Roberts was central to that side and its successes, and he kindly agreed to be interviewed for the site; we spoke about that team, the reason he left Spurs, his playing days away from the Lane, his managerial career and of course the current Spurs set-up.

Roberts was signed from Weymouth in 1980 for a record figure for a non-league player, records show it was £35,000 but Roberts added that with the incentives in the deal Weymouth eventually received beyond a hundred grand. "Burkinshaw hadn't seen me play" he revealed, he was spotted by a scout, Bill Nicholson, not a bad judge of a footballer.

The same season Burkinshaw also bought Garth Crooks and Steve Archibald, building one of the greatest sides in the Club's famous history. "I played in the reserves. I earned the right to get in the team, and fought every game to be in it. Every game I played was a bonus" said roberts.

"When he bought Ossie and Ricky no one had really heard about them. What he did was build the team around those players. We needed an out-and-out goalscorer, a 20 goals a season striker. Archie and Crooksy were those sort of players".

It was a great team. "Every player was made for that team. You had Tony Galvin on the left. Ricky, Ossie, Glenn, what would they be worth now? Paul Miller and myself at the back, Stevie Perryman and Chrissy Hughton. It was a good blend. And you had players that could come in, Mark Falco, Garry Brooke and Mickey Hazard. They could all do a good job".

Two attacking full-backs who pushed on, a two-footed left winger and three flair players in midfield, what were Burkinshaw's tactical instructions like? "Keith never gave a team talk. Peter Shreeves would tell us who to watch at set-plays. We never ever went out to stop a player. We knew that if we played to the maximum of our ability we could beat anybody".

"The Captain was Stevie P and he ran things on the pitch. We were all good talkers. We never worried about other teams."

At the end of that 1980-81 season Spurs reached the FA Cup Final, which was to be their first of an amazing seven appearances at Wembley in sixteen months. Roberts famously lost his front teeth in the first match, when he received an accidental kick from his own team mate Chris Hughton.

"I remember going in at half-time with a face full of blood and the doctor said to the manager at "he can't go out, he's concussed", and slipping out the other door and playing. You play in a Cup Final, you're not going to give it up easily, and we were one-nil down at the time".

Spurs memorably won the 100th Cup Final in the replay with the winner the individual effort from Ricky Villa that was voted the greatest goal ever scored at Wembley; that summer Burkinshaw bought Ray Clemence from Liverpool, and players, including Hoddle, whose contracts were expiring, signed longer deals.

The FA Cup was retained, but it could have been a lot better. Spurs challenged on all four fronts, unfortunate to lose the 1982 League Final to Liverpool, going out in a dirty game at home to Barcelona in the semi-final second leg of the UEFA Cup (a 1-0 defeat that is the only European home defeat in their history), and coming close in the League.

"In 1982 we had a big backlog of games. We were playing four games a week. In the last two weeks we never trained. Just played and rested."

The Barcelona game came days after a defeat in the League at Old Trafford. After the European game Spurs played nine league games in nineteen days, including two matches against Liverpool, who went on to win the title. "We were two-nil up against Liverpool in the league, and they got back to 2-2". Spurs played 66 matches that season, losing just 13.

European success eventually came in 1984 when Roberts scored a dramatic equalizer in the dying minutes at home to Anderlect in the second-leg of the UEFA Cup Final. He also scored the first penalty kick in the shootout and went on to lift the Cup, as Captain in Steve Perryman's absence.

"That was the best night I have had in my life. I never went home. I was drunk out of my brains. I then went to Scotland to play for England. It was a good week. I will probably live for that for the rest of my life".

That European run was typical of Tottenham in that era, winning in the final with an under strength side, after some classy performances on route to the final. "After letting in a sloppy goal against Barcelona [in 1982] we were determined to win [a European trophy]. We were cruising against Feyenoord 4-0 up. We then let in two goals and got slaughtered in the press. We then went there and won 2-0."

That Feyenoord squad contained Ruud Gullit and Johan Cruyff; Cruyff had reportedly watched Spurs prior to the first-leg and was dismissive about his forthcoming opponents, although he changed his mind after those two performances.

Some fantastic achievements, but did that Spurs side of the early eighties really fulfil their potential?

"We probably should have won the European Cup Winners Cup [in 1982] and we should have won the league. Particularly in 1985, under Peter Sheeves."

Shreeves took over after the UEFA Cup Final when Burkinshaw left, famously looking back at the ground, and saying "there used to be a football club over there".

"The worst thing Spurs ever did was get rid of Keith Burkinshaw. They have never replaced him. Irving Scholar wanted to do the contracts. Burkinshaw wanted to run the football side, and leave the PLC to run the rest of the club, as it should be. They wanted someone just to coach".

Spurs came very close to winning the title again in Shreeves first year in charge, and again tiredness caught up with them; Everton, the eventual Champions, won 2-1 at the Lane in a critical game in April. Neville Southall made a famous save from Mark Falco that would have made the game 2-2, although he couldn't stop a Roberts "screamer from 35 yards". "We pummelled them second half".

Buy now Spurs had added Clive Allen and John Chiedozie and were to add Chris Waddle and Paul Allen before the next campaign. Shreeves stayed just one more season though. "Peter done a good job, Tottenham through and through. Maybe should have been given longer".

Shreeves' sacking in 1986 and the arrival of David Pleat led to Roberts' exit from Tottenham. "He rang me at home, and told me any offer he got for me he'd accept. I said okay and put the phone down. He rang me back and told me not to put the phone down on him".

"I worked very hard in pre-season and got back into the team in midfield, and he couldn't get me out. I never really wanted to leave - I would have stayed at Spurs all my life. I had two more years on my contract, and asked him for another year that would take me to ten years, and he said "you've got no chance, you'll never get a Testimonial from this Club".

"Rangers came in for me and he told me I wasn't going, which made my mind up I was going. When they eventually offered the right money, he rang me at five o'clock in the morning the day I was due to play against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. He said "you're going" and told me not to come to the match. When I came back from Scotland on the Monday to pick my boots up, my boots, my gear, were all chucked outside the gates. When people say to me "why don't you like him?" I think that speaks for itself".

Roberts' portrayal of the club now is one that has failed to teach it's staff the respect due to its former greats; he tells us to our disgust how two weeks ago Burkinshaw was refused entry in to the car park by an ignorant attendant and went home, how former players including himself have to pay for match tickets, how his wife is charged £58 to go to Legends, and of how someone on the commercial side of the Club told him - when he rang to offer his services for the Washington D.C. tribute match for old players earlier this season - he wasn't needed.

In contrast he is welcomed back at Glasgow Rangers, where he enjoyed his time and won the league under Graeme Souness, a manager "who never asked you to do anything he couldn't do". On visits back he has been given a box rather than paying for a single ticket, and at no charge.

"Every week Rangers have different former players come out at half-time. Spurs should have a couple a former players on the board, who know what the supporters want".

After he was released from Rangers he went to Chelsea, who bought him after they got relegated. Mickey Hazard was there at the time as well, and they won promotion with Roberts not missing a game.

A falling out with Ken Bates over a house deal that fell through and left him and his family homeless meant the player-coach role he was promised never materialised and prompted him to go to West Brom under his mate Brian Talbot. Talbot got sacked soon afterwards, and it's the only move he has regretted.

His managerial career started with Enfield where he took them to second in the League, and the FA Trophy semi-final. He was sacked four weeks after his mother died, and he was promised a future at the club.

He went to Yeovil, who after their promotion this season, he believes will now be the biggest club in the Third Division. During his time in charge in an effort to raise funds he invited Newcastle down, which led to his secretary writing and sending the infamous fax, wishing Newcastle luck and saying "we're not all arseholes in the Conference" that precipitated his departure.

He thinks he left Yeovil in a good state but would probably have left them at the end of that season because of the travelling. He was then asked to take over at Chesham who were bottom of the league, and they won 13 of their final 16 games when he took over to stay up.

After that came a spell at Hertford which he did as a favour for a friend, but he never got paid. And now he is at Carshalton Athletic, where he won the league last week after taking over when they were third from bottom of their division last season.

He must want the chance at a higher level? "I would like to go into professional management, but it's not what you know, it's who you know".

"I work hard. I work 80-90 hours a week in part-time football. I find young kids. I enjoy coaching and enjoy making them better players."

"My ambition is to go back to Spurs and Rangers in some capacity and give something back that they gave to me. I would run through brick walls for Spurs".

As for the current Spurs set-up, he believes Hoddle is right in releasing players like Freund and Sheringham before next season, even though he acknowledges the jobs they have done. He appreciated that Hoddle was trying to achieve a bit of short-term success by bringing in experienced players for his first two full years, and victory in the League Cup Final against Blackburn would have been justification of that policy.

But it took Alex Fergurson, a manager like Burkinshaw in terms of running the team, a few years to win a trophy; "Hoddle should go with the youngsters now and stick with them. Even if it doesn't go well, stick with them. But people have got to have the patience.'

'Hoddle should be given three years to bring youngsters through. Spurs haven't got the funds they need so success has to be achieved gradually. And he should get rid of anyone who doesn't want to play for the club and is not committed."

At the moment Roberts has written a letter that he is going to send to the Club to ask for help with a testimonial.

"I am willing to give some money to charity and some to the ex-Tottenham players if they want it. I have been in non-league for twenty years, and professional football for twelve years. I am an old git now".

Spurs, when they hopefully finish educating some of their low-paid staff about the tradition and history of the Club, as well as about Customer Service and Respect, should do one of their legends the honour he deserves, and grant him a testimonial at the Lane.


MG
May 2003

My e-book on Tottenham Hotspur's return to the European Cup after 49 seasons is available on Amazon and Smashwords.