What are we meant to do with Mr David Bentley?
Monday, May 18, 2009 at 6:16PM Click on the following hyperlinks for Part I and Part II.
Tapestry Part III
What are we meant to do with Mr David Bentley?
Dear Mr Levy,
David Bentley is typical of this creed that blights us with each passing season. On paper he looks the part. England's new hope for the right-wing. Good looking, so he must be as good as David Beckham because no one with a face like that could possibly be shit. He's the 'it' player of the moment. And we need a big name signing, so let's just go out and sign a right-winger because we don't actually need one having Lennon there already, but who cares, it's too much of a bargain at £15M to turn down. Let's sign him and hope he can somehow fit in to whatever system the coach decides to play.
We are then treated to some tidy goals pre-season but a run of two points from eight games turns all our players into fragile pathetic apologetic losers.
Are they playing badly because they have no confidence?
Are they playing badly because they have no confidence in the manager?
Are they playing badly because they are a team of individuals that don't quite gel together as a unit?
Are they playing badly because they are prima donna millionaires who just can't be arsed?
If it was a confidence issue that progressively got worse with each passing game thanks to Ramos inability to fashion some form of consistency and style, then why did some of our players (most of them in fact) climb out of the depths of despair and reclaim some self-pride when Harry arrived? Bentley, momentarily, did so with That Goal©. You know the one. From the half way line. He flicked it and hit it. 40 odd yards out. Flew through the sky like a squirrel with a rocket up its bum, and come down over Almunia and into the goal. It was Beckhamesque. From the half line. It’s on youtube. If you haven't seen it.
Since that giddy high, we've had very little. Plenty of Hollywood flicks and showboats. Everything that ought to be a simple pass turns into 'OH GOSH, THE CAMERA IS ON ME, LET ME DO SOMETHING A £15M WOULD DO. LOOK MA, I'M ON TOP OF THE WORLD!' instead of just, well, passing the sodding thing to the player that wants the ball.
It's not quite Neo in the Matrix. More Kev on the Hackney Marshes.
Tragic decline, witnessing a player who was so proud to sign for us and ecstatic he made the move down south to disappear into mediocrity with the rest of the team but then fail to re-emerge, rejuvenated.
Personal problems were cited. Hmm.
Play football for a living. Check.
Train two or three times per week. Check.
Millionaire. Check.
Good looking. Check.
Ok, so I'm making assumptions that just because someone is a millionaire footballer, then all is well. Something is obviously deeply wrong. Was it the transfer fee? Was it the bad start? Was it the fact that Redknapp managed to get the best out of BAE and nurse Lennon back to his blistering best, but couldn't quite work his magic with Bentley?
Surely a quiet word would have done the trick.
"David, just do the simple things lad. Don't try and do the impossible with every touch. Play for the team"
It obviously didn't work even though Harry persisted with playing him. The he was dropped. And injured. And playing for the reserves. And now on the bench. And Harry is hinting that the lad might leave because he can't get into the team because Harry is happy with his current selection. Keane played on Saturday. Bentley didn't.
And there we have it. In modern day football there is no room for patience. You'd think that Bentley - regardless of the transfer fee - has qualities that any top side would want in their squad. And David himself must surely want to stay on because this was his boyhood dream club move, no? To leave when you've told everyone that personal problems have been the reason for your lack of form means you haven’t been able to give it 100% and thus owe the club and the fans. And as for the club, having forked out £15M, surely that warrants a little more time to see if the investment was worth it. Unless of course there is no reason to keep a player that can only play one position and won't play in that position much if Lennon is fit.
Once more Mr Levy, this illustrates the superfluous Tottenham transfer policy that has hindered us far too often. Yes, we are a club steeped in prestigious tradition when it comes to individual flair players. We've had an abundance of them. And talking of tradition we do love a big name signing. But 10, 15 years of very little league success (only two 5th spot finishes) proves that we don't always have to buy the obvious 'must have' players just to keep up appearances on the back pages.
Bentley was not required. And yet we bought him. And I can't help but think we bought him because we had lost Keane to Liverpool and needed a flashy pick-me-up. Either that or Ramos/Comolli had written off lickle Lennon altogether. Either way - shambolic management. Yes, we're rich. But we don't have to spunk it like Peter North in a harem.
The lad seems genuine enough. And maybe he's lack of form is because of that woeful start we made, followed by the form of Lennon. Which would point to the frailties of his character. Have we signed a fragile 'must be wrapped up in cotton wool' type of player who needs hugs and bedtime stories and must be covered with the duvet so that the booger-booger man under the bed doesn't come out at night and scare him?
Maybe we'll get more 'up for it' type of bullish gritty players with Redknapp rather than the glossy cover-boy powder-puffs. But I do hate to knee-jerk. I hope he stays. I hope he tells Harry he wants to fight for his place, even if it means more time on the bench. If he asks to leave, then so be it. So much for him being a Spurs fan. But if he goes because Harry wants the extra cash in the bank, then let this be the end to superfluous signings.
You say Daniel, that you don't know your football - hence the need for a DoF. I'm sure you know enough to question the validity of £15M+ signings for players that are not a nailed on necessity. Either you are too trustworthy of the people that work below you or your thinking at times sits with merchandising and club profile ethics.
Harry has got through the first stage of rebuilding, the foundation is set. Just make sure that we don't waste our money on a conservatory or an attic conversion when all that's needed is a few cracks in the wall to be plastered over.
Thank God we don't have cowboy builders.
Cough.
Sorry, clearing throat.
Regards,
S
Slight change of plans, as the creative juices are flowing. Extended the series by one. So up next:
Part IV - Jenas (which is written, but I wont publish until tomorrow morning)
And then
Part V - Redknapp
Ta.
Reader Comments (16)
Harry's been doing his maths and sees profit with the sale of Bentley so he can go spend it on someone else, in a position that needs strengthening. He might come good for Spurs but if Lennon is our number one right winger than there is simply no point in keeping him. I'm with Harry on this.
Sell him.
god damn spooky, you just keep sucking me in lad. another excellent piece of work, spot on assessment and couldn't have said it better meself. actually just beginning to wonder was it me that wrote it. perhaps the drugs are working better than i thought, are you me or am i just still insane. at least thats understandable after supporting spurs through thin and thin of the last forty plus years. i'll keep taking the medicine pal and you keep churning out the blogs.
This sounds like last summer. Where we sold every striker aside from duharren, there's already stories of lennons departure. Just hope we aren't left cap in hand searching for a player for a position we had well covered before the window.
Started six or seven games under Ramos, Harry comes in, drops him and plays Lennon. Rest is history. Aaron player of the year for the club. Nightmare really for Bentley. Can't say he'll still be here come next season.
If we can get good money for Bentley and need it to fund our priority areas (striker and class upgrade on JJ, plus LB cover for BAE as Bale is better cover for LM), then we should let him go as long as the price is right. If not, then let him stay as cover for Lennon or loan him out to another club so we don't have to pay his wages - with regular playing time he could recover his old form and we could sell him for more next year.
Since Harry wants 3 proven players in their prime, I can see that costing quite a bit and we would need to sell; I don't see us having a net spend of more than 10 mill this summer after our January transactions. As long as we hold on to important first team players and younger prospects like Hudd/Taarabt/Gio/Bale&Gunter, I'm fine with selling the others like Bentley, Pav, Bent to raise money.
I have to say that Bentley is a phenomenal talent.
I've had my doubts but this he certainly is.
Lennon, however, brings so much more to our team and is the clear no1 right winger @ the club and possibly 2nd best in the world.
Bentley should be kept, IF and only IF we make Europa League as it will be immensely useful to have him on the bench and rotated in a 60+game season
That was quality.
Don't want to lose him but we will. Not sure who will came in for him but its a shame all round that circumstance deem him secondary to Harry's plans. He's had a shocking season but he'll recover. We'll regret this one for sure.
Strength in depth
Obviously foreign words to Spurs fans.
Having a £15m player on the bench is a waste for both player and club. It only makes sense to let him move on so that he can rebuild his career and Harry can improve the squad with players we actually do need. This time with someone with a bit of pace and a trick or two.
FIND ANOTHER MUG LIKE YESTERDAY !
great goal against the arsenal?
so the talent is there.........
if his game is weak in an area ......you work on it in training
so where's the problem?
squad has to be strong for challenge next year!
Spooky: When only 100 words are needed, he gives you 10,000.
Ha, only kidding with you. Another top article guv. The amount of naive managerial appointments over the past 10 - 15 years has been the reason for our dip.
If you go back to the early 80's we were equal pegging with Arsenal. I think the moment they began to have success in the league we should have been far more shrewd about things instead of continue on like it was the early 80's. I think 87 was a wonderful season but it was a one off effort rather than the beginning of something new. Gough, Hoddle moved on. It all fell apart. We should have got in a manager and sat back and left it all alone but we just can't keep out of the news. Shot ourselves in the foot.
Bollocks. Posted it in the wrong place.
DB has proved earlier he's PL quality, and deserves a chance at Spurs. I presume AL got a little push in the right direction as a result of the arrival of DB as well. If he leaves, and AL falls back into his bad old habits, who can be used as an alternative? I guess no one…So we need to buy again…. and I don’t expect it to be DB quality, and the price will probably be up in the same range as we can expect to receive if we sell DB now… With a little confidence boost I’m sure DB will raise again.
We need a top drawer competitive squad. Keep him. For £15M he is a massive mistake if we sold him on a year later. How much did Ramos know about the player to start off with? Levy signed him on the basis of his ill advised template for Tottenham signings. Young, British, player of the moment, big name signing, hyped, England international. Did we need a right-winger? No.
Him leaving is admittance that we sign players for the wrong reasons and are wasteful in doing so. How many more examples of this do we need to sit through.
Keep him until Jan at the very least because we dont know what will happen with injuries.