Close that (transfer) window....it's giving me a chill
Thursday, January 29, 2009 at 11:08AM The sooner this month of January is finished the better. Deciphering the tabloids (and broadsheets) logic when it comes to transfers is beginning to bore me. The truth is out there. It’s just buried under heaps of rubbish.
Whether it’s swapping Luka Mordic (22 years of age) for a defender in his mid-thirties or giving Aaron Lennon to Liverpool to allow for the return of Robbie Keane (along with writing off the debt owed to us from the Anfield club even though we’ve already re-signed Defoe who could never really play upfront with Keane anyhow)….it’s borderline fantasist paradise. 1 + 1 = 3.
Bale and Gio are surplus to requirements if you believe some quarters, suggesting that Spurs want to replace youth with experience. Which means in a few years we’d have to re-look at bringing in young players again for the future. The formula here is, if a player is young and is either not in form/just come back from injury/not playing on a regular basis – then he is not good enough, and thus will be sold. Therefore, link him to a move away every other week. There's always a chance it might actually happen, and if you've linked him to 5 different clubs, you're in with a chance to stamp one of those exclusive 'we broke the story' articles, basking in the glory that your information was sound, even though you made it up.
Agent talk? Guess work? Bit of both? You’ll find rumours and transfer scenarios of equal quality on any given message board. It’s a mess of a month.
Is the Lennon story simply Liverpool/Rafa testing the waters to see if we are stupid enough to lose a young lad with the world at his feet for a 29 year old who decided that the prospect of playing Champions League football was enough to write-off 6 years and leave the only true footballing home he had? Or is there credence in the story that Aaron wants to leave the club and move back up Northish? If Appiah is signed by us, then what happens to someone like Jenas? Palacios, Modric, Zokora, Appiah, Jenas, Huddlestone…that’s quite a selection headache. Although we’d be two short next year when the African Nations Cup is held, so depth is required which would mean selling players isn't. Still, anyone can see that one of these players will potentially fall victim to a Harry midfield cull because you can't keep 'em all happy. So, as Jenas is high profile, it makes sense to flog his name around as the player who will be sold on. Jose had him in his fantasy football team, so that surely means Inter will be after his signature. Can we have Adriano in exchange please? We need about eight strikers to climb away from the bottom three.
Darren Bents name crops up everywhere. Apparently, with Michael Owen injured, Newcastle are looking at Darren as the man to save them from the drop. Nobody has said this other than someone who wrote up an article with no quotes or suggestions of truth. So naturally, this would involve N’Zogbia/Viduka coming to Spurs as part of the deal. Naturally. Maybe Owen faked his injury and is currently having a medical for Chelsea who are also signing Robinho for a cut-price £7M. Obviously.
In the past month or so, that hasn’t been a single eventuality that hasn’t been discussed in print or on SSN.
I don’t mind transfer gossip. As long as it’s within the realms of logistic reality. Digging through to find that 5% which is sprinkled with a little logic is no longer fun.
What is even worse is the alleged 'In the Know' people who claim to be connected in some way to the club or know people who work at Tottenham, and then pass on info in forums and message boards using a cryptic style that actually protects them if they happen to be wrong with their information. It's like an art-form. But it's nothing more than a parody of what's printed in the press. Fact is there are X amount of teams and X amount of players and it's not rocket science to sometimes take that 1 and take an other 1 and add them together to get a 2. And when one of these ITK characters gets it right, it's almost like he's done something akin to predicting the lottery numbers, with fans worshipping his oracle-like awareness of events before they happen.
Well thanks for letting us know something five minutes before we officially know it through the official site. Knowing it for those five extra minutes makes it so more satisfying.
Just a few days left now. And then we'll be back to reading Rafa rants and Wengerisims, Harry drafting his wife into the first team and Ronaldo linked with Madrid (that one is with us all year round).
3 days and counting...
Reader Comments (16)
You love it really.
Thats all well and good, but my mate Dave has just dropped Roque Santa Cruz of at White Hart Lane in his taxi.... remember you heard it here first!!
Anyone remember the classic plumber story with Martin O'Neill, where he tells him 'Yes, I'm going to Spurs'.
I've heard about 5 different versions of this over the years.
My mate Fred (no relation) picked him up 5 minutes later and took him to Middle Eastlands though, whilst dropping off Arshavin and Pogrebnyak, who were already wearing shirts they'd bought and had printed themselves they're that keen to sign.
Arshavin looked a bit weighty though, and it looked like he might've had more than one shirt on
The ITK fraternity and their 'confirmations' of transfer talks and deals makes for spellbinding reading.
I don't post on forums, I do however lurk and I'm signed up to a fair few of them. Some of the Spurs forums vary from one extreme to another. Almost like there are sects of Spurs fans with varying levels of sense of humour and seriousness.
Some are even closed off for registration or you require an invite to sign-up.
I'm sure most know Ben or have heard of him or even seen him at the Lodge. This is the bloke who spends his time up a tree and gets the info back to be posted (I think on the COYS forum, if I'm wrong please feel free to correct me).
It rare for anyone to predict something spot on. Making comments and passing on info that everyone has read about in the media is not exclusive ITK info is it?
Stating something BEFORE the media get wind of it and the deal concludes soon after IS being ITK. I can't remember the last time that happened on a Spurs forum. Not that clear cut anyway.
"The ITK fraternity"
They can bend the truth.
Is Appiah done yet or what? I reckon he is fit but the sticking point is the wages.Harry said we'd know today.
I totally agree with what you're saying, although to be fair - as Harry has pointed out himself - the number of stories linking us to players in this window has been consistently correct. We have been chasing all the players that have been linked, with - possibly - the exception of Keane.
But then I agree, does it really matter? I would prefer to find out we signed someone on the day the deal broke from an official source...
Even the truth (if you consider that to be the official line from the club and Harry) isn't always the...truth. Take the Fred transfer. Or lack of. We claim he didn't turn up WHL. Fred claims we didn't turn up in France. I'm sure most of it is deflection while the real deal is done under the radar and away from the media red tops and forum warriors.
"the number of stories linking us to players in this window has been consistently correct"
I've always wondered if clubs just inquire and make up a list and then decide who should be the player we sign or if they jump from one target to the next, which is a scattered approach.
Even with Comolli gone I cant see Levy dumbing down the way he does business when dealing with transfers.
I forgot about that comment and how it was suggested Spurs have a mole who is leaking information to the press.
Back to my original post. Here's a perfect example of what passes for ITK info, from 'that' Ben character.
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Posted: Thu, 29 Jan 2009 09:18:37 GMT
who BEN
date 29/01/09
time 09:13
site FTL10 AM TODAY
APPIAH GETS TOLD IN MEETING
IF YES OR NO
---
Ridiculous.
I think that is exactly correct. They have drwan up a list of possible players to fill the strong forward role, and have approached all of them. It therefore makes the job of the hacks easier as they are usually correct in predicting whether or not we have approached, say Santa Cruz as an example
ITKs live for the window. Once it shuts they move onto team sheets and injury info. Bit bland that.
Cant remember why we introduced the January window. Should be done on August 1st,one day only.All players at Wembley and managers pick in turn.Like we did in the playground.
Wages capped at 50,00 and first ten picked get top wage second ten get45000 and so on.
Give it a try you know it makes sense
US style draft picks. Would be a laugh.