Rome wasn't built in a day
Tuesday, December 15, 2009 at 12:10PM Dear Mr Levy,
Rome wasn't built in a day. But then again Rome wasn't built with plasticine. It seems that’s the main building block used by our centurions as they attempt to fathom the foundations for a brave new empire. Our putty like team of very small creatures is becoming stop-motion when it should be morphing and leaving all the goobledygook behind. It's the cause of missed heart beats. Are you as nervous as I am? You should be.
The last thing we want is for us to lose our grip on this very precious chance we've been given. You know exactly what I'm talking about. This season, nobody wants to do consistency. But at some point, someone, possibly more than one club will hit form. And if we're left behind then we'll be face palming well into the summer months at another lost opportunity. We don’t have to be great, we just have to be good. A little better than good will do just fine.
New stadium? Grand. Lovely. But that’s years away. And we've still got to get planning permission for it. And I can't be staring at photos of the proposed structure for the next half a decade whilst others travel around Europe visiting already built and populated stadia in the Champions League. Applause for all the sterling work off the pitch, with the business side of the club. I'm not naïve, I know that in this day and age the finances have to be strong in order for us to be able to spend £15M a pop on the latest player of the moment. Everything is primed and in place. It always has been. But that cutting edge in both decision making on a managerial level and on a chairman level has been left wanting. Leaving us with no cutting edge where it matters most - on the pitch.
You say, in a round-about-way that there is no money to spend on players. Meaning to sign someone we need to sell someone. Harry then comes out and suggests that all the proposed outgoing players according to the press are not actually going anywhere. And in the midst of all this we are meant to be signing Sandro. That's the Brazilian defensive midfielder, not Harry's better half. Classic word play there.
Obviously, what is said publicly is never a true reflection of what is going on behind the scenes, and that should be the case. No need to be in the know until the press conference. How we get there does not matter, as long as we do. As long as the conclusion is identical to the one the majority are hoping for. And in this case, the majority want to see certain players gone and brand spanking new ones arrive. You might believe that consistency regarding players is the way forward, but if some players are not capable of that, then consistency will never be forthcoming.
Recent results have highlighted that the team under Harry requires a bit of tweaking. By tweaking I mean gutting and by a bit I mean the same amount Jack the Ripper ripped out of his victims.
Harry has a monumental job in attempting to reshape a culture of comfort that exists deep in the psychosis of the club, no matter the players, staff or coach. The same niggling reoccurring issue of mental strength arises. Perhaps it’s our transfer policy and the ilk of players we traditionally bring here that are of a certain criteria that is only good enough for a mid-table to a rare 5th place position. Any player with true hunger for genuine success, looks elsewhere and we become a stepping stone for those who truly believe they can achieve more. Rather than those who don’t quite grasp the moment and remain content, chasing shadows on the field of play and women in bars.
Carrick moves on striding forwards with confidence. Jenas stays, picking his nose and chasing butterflies.
As a collective we constraint the entity that is Tottenham, eleven players, lacking a sustained balance to shift up a gear to the next level. From one generation to the next. It has to end. And doing it slowly slowly leaves no potential for a conveyor belt of club shop dvd releases. Score-draws are so yesterdays news darling. We want more. Much more. And we want it now.
It's time to throw more money at the problem at hand. It's the only way to fix it. No time for patience. No time to wait for the players to learn from their mistakes and grow together. They have taken us as far as they can. Harry (when he arrived) rid the club of the cloud of depression, got the players working as a unit, got us strong and capable away from home and lifted belief. But these blips we are experiencing are ones that are becoming detrimental to our immediate ambitions. It's because some of the players are punching above their weight and failing to land any shots.
The responsibility is split between yourself, the coach and the players. But one cannot move to resolve it unless the other two aid its attempt.
The blips need removing. Show Harry the money. Let Harry make the changes to the team and that will allow the team to turn from plasticine into something more quantifiable. Like Lego. You can build cool stuff with Lego. Like the Millennium Falcon. Plasticine doesn't do hyperdrive. And let's face it, Han Solo or Lando Calrissian sitting on top of a ball of clay in the midst of the Galactic Civil War is never going to be a cool or productive sight to behold. And remaining on this literal space kick...
Robbie Keane is playing football out of phase, like that episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation where Geordi La Forge's quantum state is out of sync with normal matter, leaving him invisible to all around him. Unable to influence anything or anyone around him. If I remember correctly, it was thanks to a transporter accident. Something that is quite possibly the reason behind Robbie's demise since his road trip north went south. He can't even be arsed to wave his hands around and shout anymore. That's the damage Rafa inflicted on this once crowd favourite. The player that made Berbatov look great.
Crouch isn't scoring the goals - proving that tall players are only good for hoofing the ball up to their head, and as he's useless with his head, he doesn't really do enough with his feet to warrant a place alongside Defoe. Honestly, that thing he does with his feet. You know, the controlling of the ball? Don't shout it out but I swear I've seen normally sized players do the same. Ssh.
And as for Defoe, over-rated. Scores five against Wigan then misses a penalty against Everton and does nothing against Wolves. That's all the evidence I need. He's due another loan spell.
Pavlyuchenko? I can't actually remember the last time I saw him play. Does he still wonder the aisles in the Tescos over in Waltham Abbey looking to pick up cheap dvd players with the aid of his interpreter? Can you perhaps email Comolli and ask him to forward the youtube link that he based his decision to sign him on? Perhaps we can sue the Frenchman for industrial sabotage.
The midfield requires more weight. And I'm not talking about feeding Huddlestone extra cheeseburgers. There is no leader, no one to scream and shout at the players. It's a fundamental basic ingredient. And it's missing. Talking of which, your poster boy Jenas is still knocking around. Doing what exactly remains a mystery. But there he is. There. Just standing, watching, as the world passes him by. Young English player with bonus sell-on value. So when the fuck do you ever plan on selling him then? HIS VALUE IS DECREASING WITH EACH SUNSET MATE.
And as for Hutton. Allow me to make a suggestion here based on what I know from experience. He was signed from Rangers. That's it. No more questions your honour, no more questions. Players that look good up in Scotland will probably be passable at a Championship side down south. I guess if the club spends £8M on Dean Richards, then £8M on Alan Hutton is a given. You know, cause we don't want to appear to be racialists.
Gio. Mexican. Likes to party. Doesn’t like to train. Played for Barcelona. He's going to be a mega star. He just needs time. More time. And protection. Just like Adel out on loan to QPR. Both world beaters. You just wait and see. Just wait. They can dribble, the lads. Get 'em playing for us. Recall Adel. Play Gio. I'm telling you, it's…okay, this one, it's going nowhere fast.
Even the good ones are struggling. Take Wilson Palacios who has gone from beast to Gruffalo. He has lost the tenacity and discipline to own the space between defence and the oppositions midfield. Like a key lost behind the sofa, he's busy looking for it in the kitchen. Its behind the sofa! The sofa, Wilson, the sofa! He just needs to refocus. Thankfully, that might happen with the aid of a little Croatian by the name of Luka. Small enough to fit his skinny arms and reach out for the missing key. But we cannot place all hope on his petite shoulders.
The back four changes it's line-up more times than Danielle Lloyd changes…ah, nah, I'm not going to go there. Way too easy. I'll be the first not to.
And don't even dare get me started on David Bentley. You know Dave, right? He's the one making mischief with the star jumping and the skip shooting. You can't miss him. He's wearing a wolf costume. And as punishment, Harry sends him to bed without his supper. And in his room a mysterious wild forest and sea grows out of his imagination and he sets sail to the Land of the Beck Things. These are smouldering good looking sexy creatures that Dave conquers by staring into their beautiful green eyes without blinking once and is made the King of all Beck Things. And he dances around with them in a not so but quite possibly metrosexual way and has much fun and then finds himself lonely and homesick so he returns to find that although his supper was left waiting for him, it was now gone. Yep. No hot supper. No, it wasn't Tommy. Not this time. It was patience. Patience ate his supper, his last supper. And as far as I'm concerned he can go back to his imagination land with his showboats and row z free-kicks if it means selling him to any mug willing to take him off our hands.
The problems we have, they are obvious ones. Do not allow complacency to ruin it. Remove the dead parts. Replace them. And then work with the improved group to further improve their state of mind. Your job is to make sure that Harry has the support to birth consistency before we lose our way completely.
All this is quite possibly in hand already. So I guess this just serves as a reminder of what I'm expecting. Because you know, us fans know exactly how a football club and team should be run more than anyone. Take note and get back to me at the end of January.
Regards,
Spooky
Reader Comments (60)
Nice of you to be cocise for a change
Unparalleled nonsensical genius.
Who cares about the length of it? At least that's what my wife tells me.
The lying cow.
David Bentley + Where the Wild Things Are.
Perfection.
Loving this.
Young English player with bonus sell-on value. So when the fuck do you ever plan on selling him then? HIS VALUE IS DECREASING WITH EACH SUNSET MATE.
hahaha
Hmm, speaking of Dean Richards, how about bringing him back as a defensive coach? Surely that'll lead to loads of clean sheets just as Ferdinand has resulted in goals
Why has Huddlestone missed out on criticism here?! I can't understand how he is starting every game for us. He plays one cross field pass inch perfect per game which MOTD pick up on and go nuts over him. He can't tackle, can't run, his passing is over-rated and for his size he's pathetically weak. I'm actually not ahater of Jenas, I think he does a hell of a lot of running and driving forward for us, and his tackling is under-rated.
I wouldn't be unhappy to see Hutton, Keane, Pavlyuchenko, Bentley and Gio go. In my opinion we need a commanding centre back (how often do we say this?!) who has experience - therefore NOT Anton Ferdinand! We misse a trick by not signing Dunne, but himdsight is a wonderful thing. And I might be laughed at for suggesting this, but we need a hard bastard centre forward. We have a goalscorer in Defoe, but the Wolves match showed we don't have anyone who can put himself about a bit when we need it. I'm talkin the likes of Heskey or Davies, that type of player, not necessarily them.
Not sure which way to take this post!! Spooky I normally agree with the majority of your articles, which is why I am not sure if this is just tongue in cheek!
If not, you are simply a knob!!
Does everyone remember how Carrick was slated week on week, then he has a good season, gets sold and all of a sudden we have sold and not replaced a world class player!!!
We have had a couple of bad results, all the games though we have been the better side! Do you think that when Evra has a bad game for Utd the fans say he should be sold? No, so lets just let our players get on with what they are doing, get behind them and judge them at the end of the season!! The league position at this stage does not read that bad!!!
Ah, this is proper old skool letter writing harking back to the knee jerking that makes Glory Glory such a messy message board. Park Lane - These are not Spooky's opinions. It's a reflection of certain peoples opinions.
I've not forgotten about Huddlestone. He's getting his own personal letter via Levy.
I love this shit. Love it.
Some inspired stuff in there Spooky.
Top work. You long winded bastard.
INSANE
Don't think Levy will be reading that one.
I agree with park lane spurs (not about you being a knob!)
Spurs fans think:
- If a player is out injured (Modric), his influence to the team is indescribable and they were the reasons for all things good before their absence
- If a top 4 team buys a player (Utd) it validates their ability absolutely and all things they did in a Spurs shirt must have been tremendous before their departure
- Players who aren't playing are always better than the ones who are and are the former are always the answer to the problems on the pitch
You completely nailed David Bentley. Completely.
Not seen this before. I'm unsure how I managed to read through it all but find myself to be content with its conclusion.
I read this word for word on Harry Hotspurs blog.
Sean, you summed it up, in a far more direct way although not half as colourful as Spookys translation. Spurs fans are the clubs worst enemy. Some of our fans just don't understand football.
Spooky .. I think you are always entertaining... but just lately epitomised by tonight the dreaeded writers block may be setting in... think lot what you said is accurate but some was a little off course...
Hope a quick rest for a one man grand blog band sees you right and write soon... meant well cheers.
Spooks....a Masterclass!!!!
We are the one constant through the wave upon wave of transitional seasons. Sack the fans?
It's because I no longer read HHs blog. My inspiration has dried up.
Blanchflower, how long you been following this blog?
Lovely ranting
While we were watching Spurs Reserves v Man U Reserves at Wembley last March, Villa blew a 2-0 lead against Stoke, and never recovered.
I'm looking at our Everton game and hoping it doesn't prove equally troublesome.
Calm down everyone one bad result dont mean we are fuct theres 20 odd games to go and with luka back now things will start to change,ok maybe not one bad result but we have been beaten by man utd chelsea arsenal wolves and stoke and the last two were pretty similar games we battered the pair off them all we lacked is the killer pass but we didnt play bad in either of them games our players just need to learn quick how to break sides down when they play in the manner that stoke and wolves did there not that used to it like the man utd's and chelsea's are.
As for player's we need tio sell i would only sell 3 bentley hutton and pav(feel sorry for the bloke a very good technical player). We need to sign a striker and thats it,Giovani will turn out to be a good player and can cover many positions in the attacking department i mean the lad got voted player of the tournament for the CONCAF Gold cup which isnt of a bad quality. The midfield should be lennon ,modric,palacios,and kranjcar on the left so we dont need to really buy a midfielder as that is a strong quartet with huddlestone,jenas,gio,naughton,bale that can all rotate with them ,we do need a striker maybe pandev is an option a good player for a reasonable price and would make our 4 strikers if pav leaves lke it looks like at the moment.
Peter crouch is a subject i would like to discuss tho in my opinion he dont suit the way we want to play, since him and defoe have been together coupled with the loss of modric we seem to have turned into a very direct team from the patient passing side of the first few games of the season and this is all down to that lanky streak of piss peter crouch our players seem to boot it up in the air all the time and it fustrates me alot lets just hope with luka getting back to fitness and the partnership of keane and defoe again it should change then when teams like wolves and stoke come to play like they do we aint going to have that problem anymore the push for the champions league isn't over yet!...............................................
Gio is not good enough to make the grade in the EPL. Harry knows it. Barca knew it. I say sell him back to a La Liga side.
Time to re-sign Blondel.
Great blog Spooks. But agree that Huddlestone got off lightly. Pun excused.
"Does he still wonder the aisles in the Tescos over in Waltham Abbey looking to pick up cheap dvd players with the aid of his interpreter?"
Ha I remember this.
Spooky: "It's because I no longer read HHs blog. My inspiration has dried up."
Don't be bitter. Just write better.
Half the bloggers on the net write better than HH.
Don't be bitter. Just write better.
Aye. But you're directing that at the wrong person.
Send Defoe out on loan? Really? We'd be weaker up front than the bindippers without Torres!
I think this style of letter will be lost on most who read it if they haven't followed the series. Although Spooky adds to the confusion by stating things he agrees with, face value, and things he doesn't and therefore his opinion is the opposite of what's written.
Fucking hell Oops , what is this? The Da Vinci code or summit?
The trumpets will be a sounding, the ticker tape a flying, uplifting and inspirational quotes presented on Thursday morning, and all will be well in the garden again. Climate change conference - pah, Spurs will be restored as world beaters once more.
Beat City and everyone will turn mentalist again.
Another letter Levy will no doubt as his PA to shred. Give it up Spooky. He doesn't care.
Killjoy - if you could read my mind love. This is all pretty harmless stuff compared to what has gone on the previous 10 years. Calm down dears, It's only a standard week at Spurs!
Hey Spooky, HH is bad mouthing you :-
Reply to paulhasissues:
Harry,
have you had a cyber falling out with Spooky?
Can't see him on the recommended list anymore?
HH: He was touching me inappropriately.
Harry has a monumental job in attempting to reshape a culture of comfort that exists deep in the psychosis of the club, no matter the players, staff or coach. The same niggling reoccurring issue of mental strength arises. Perhaps it’s our transfer policy and the ilk of players we traditionally bring here that are of a certain criteria that is only good enough for a mid-table to a rare 5th place position. Any player with true hunger for genuine success, looks elsewhere and we become a stepping stone for those who truly believe they can achieve more. Rather than those who don’t quite grasp the moment and remain content, chasing shadows on the field of play and women in bars.
THIS
Indeed.
Don't be too shocked when he fails.
Haha, delusions of grandeur. Bore off HH.
I have said about the Thudd for ages and ages and people still say give him time,wellhow long does he need.Modric came to us and in his first season has been pretty dam good.We need two quality holding players Sandro and Muntari would be the dogs swingers .We also need a quality centre half with Bassong going of to win the Africa cup we will be left with Dawson,Charlie,the Thudd and a cripple to cover there so we need that as a priority.We will be short at right back with Eric Cantona mark2 going to also win the Africa cup so cover there would be a problem.A keeper is required as the boy from Brazil is doing good but if he has another Gazza moment (tears) then we have real problems .Then there is the strikers,i hear Arry saying he has 4 but the truth be told he only has 1 and he plays in fits.I would love to add Rudd and Baloletti here as they are both class acts at different times in their careers.Who would we sell, well Hutton,O'Hara,Bentley,Jenas,Keane and Pavachenko with maybe a deal to sell Adel aswell .Sell these guys buy the ones mentioned and we have a fighting chance of fourth ,don't and we will end the season 7th or 8th.
Hi Spooky, been on hols visiting Dad, who is very pro Hudd and anti Wilson...he's getting on....
Once again a letter of such wit and wisdom, methinks you could be HR ghost writing.
It'll all be better after the Citeh game.
That did go on a bit and tbh i did not finish it so everything i am about to say may be out of place & misinformed.....
I share the frustrations of most, in the ideal world we should have had 6pts from Villa & EFC and played a load better vs Wolves and got another 3 points. 2 out of 9 is never good, especially when it could have been 9/9.
BUT lets face, every team goes through blips. Man City have drawn loads while we have been a bit on and off. We still sit above them. Same too for Liverpool. Only Villa have made some gains over the pst weeks but they also lost ground a few weeks ago after a few poor results. It is swings and roundabouts.
We are all jumping the gun if you expect us to be (a) Mentally infallible (b)the finished article (c)Able to perform at the top level every week (d) nailed on for 4th spot....sure we can say what if and what should have been but so can Man City and Villa and Liverpool...they all think they should have done better over the past couple months but that is the nature of football.....only the very best stride on defeating all before them regardless of the opposition, injuries, form etc....and we are not the very best.
To become the very best takes time. We have to nurture our team and their confidence. We have had many false dawns, many highs followed by huge lows, many changes of players, managers, regimes and systems and tactics. A few months of decent football/results is not going to see us develop in to world beaters, our weaknesses and mental frailty is still there, it will take time to bury that! Sure buy a new LB, RB, CB, CM, LW that does not mean we will be mentally stronger or a better team, we'd just be starting again trying to develop a team and a winning team mentality.
Stability is the key. Stability in the board room and with the Management. Stability in the squad, keeping the core of players together and making few changes. If we keep going, keep the team together, over time we have the quality (with some selective additions) to become better and better. That cannot happen overnight. Wholesale changes will only set us back especially in the area of developing a winning mentality. The same group of players need to learn from what happened vs Villa, Everton, Utd & Wolves. If we keep changes the players/manager those lessons will never be learnt!
If we beat City tomorrow (God I hope we do) then the cry for change will die down again, until the next time.
'show him the money', didn't I quote that film yesterday and put an exclusive 'spurs blog referencing in the context of a thread trademark and patent' on it?
Outrageous.
Looking forwards to Hudds 'special time', though not in an 'all aboard the licky bus' way.
Of course you won't convince me that he isn't worth more than than other recent attempts to find the 'gem' in midfield to work alongside Sarge Wilson still, but I look forward to it nonetheless.
Push and Run is what made Tottenham worth watching and made a them a winning team. A force to be reckoned with. That's what my dad used to go on about. Even when the glory days were fewer and further between, even when we were relgated to the 2nd division, I was by that time an eye witness, and, yes, the football was attractive.
Now, having Crouch kills that. When he's on it turns the side into a bunch of longball lumpers and makes by beloved Tottenham unbearably boring to watch.