Smile, because it will happen
Tuesday, August 2, 2011 at 10:15AM It's easy to lose yourself in the midst of satire and self deprecation, shrugging despondently at yet another downplayed soundbite from Harry Redknapp already writing off our chances of a top four finish with ample self preservational rhetoric about how impossible it is to compete with the Man City's of this world. As you attempt to cover your ears the echoes of the earlier Kevin Bond bombshell bounces off the walls as a look of disdain collapses your face at the thought that the club are willing to sell Luka Modic because Luka Modric does in fact have an acceptable selling valuation even though the chairman had banged the drums to the beat of 'no chance in hell'.
To compound matters furthers, Mirko Vucinic was never really interested in leaving Italy, preferring an Old Lady rather than a big blue and white cock. It's your fetish Mirko, whatever turns you on. Juan Mata was a bid too far, the player with eyes only for Champions League football. But at least the ambition is there. Elsewhere, people laugh about Joey Barton being made available on a free and conversations implode with 'what ifs' whilst they pollute the social networks and make their obvious journey to Sky Sports News.
We've still not sold Robbie Keane or Alan Hutton. Whilst the rumours that Jermaine Jenas has in his possession photos of a naked Daniel Levy swimming in a hot-tub of melted cream cheese bagels with Chirpy, carries more weight by the day. Elsewhere the most active of the In the Know community 'insiders and those privy to inside information' continue to only provide us with commentary based on pragmatic guess-work and ambiguity aided by the colours of the rainbow.
Blue and yellow says the Phantom of the Lane. As one esteemed friend pointed out, blue + yellow = green. Green is the colour of grass. Football is played on grass, therefore...hold onto ya hats...we're going to sign a footballer! w00t!
Practically every single ITK has mentioned practically every single known target so well done in advance for the sixteen of you that called our first major signing of the summer months back.
If I said we're about to sign Rossi, or Llorente or even ex-gooner Adebayor - does that make me ITK? Does it? Or does it simply make me someone who just reads a lot. What's that? Rossi is no longer on the transfer list? Okay then, stick him in the bin and promote Benzema in his place.
But whilst we can all easily run away with the doom and gloom let's remind ourselves of a few things and allow that sun to shine back in our lives.
We could have finished top four last season, the margin of difference between success and failure was as thin as a strand of hair. Even with our misfiring misfits up front and lack of general formational cohesiveness we failed because we allowed ourselves to fail. We disappointed because we could have and should have been far better over the course of the season. We hardly lose at home but didn't win enough to deserve Champions League for a second successive season. It hurts because if you dare to think of what the consequences might have been for the likes of the big bad scary monster from Eastlands, it warms the cockels. But every glitch we hiccuped is hardly of epic proportions, and not insurmountable if we attempt to correct them and better ourselves.
We still have Dawson, BAE, Huddlestone, Sandro, Bale, Lennon, van der Vaart...hey, even Luka Modric. You know Luka - the meek mulleted kid who never handed in a transfer request who might yet quietly fall back in love with us when the reality of a closed transfer window slaps him across the face. Hey Luka, don't be forgetting that gentleman's agreement you signed with pen and signature.
And as for the top end of the side - it's the area that we must improve without doubt. There's the clue. Without doubt. So light up a cigar, kick back, stick a smile on it and relax. It might seem others are progressing at a faster pace than us but let's remember we finished 4th and then 5th with Redknapp in charge. And he's meant to not have a clue. When we sign our forward we might just fluke another top four placement. Smile, because it will happen so you might as well be wearing the right face for the occasion.
Cometh the Spurs.
If the forward is Zamora obviously discount everything I've just written.
The Fighting Cock is a brand new THFC podcast. You can stream it or download it here on DML (make sure you have a Quicktime plug-in installed).
Love the Shirt.
Flav, tehTrunk, Spooky, Ricky, Chicago Dan.
The FC Podcast group on Facebook.
Also listen to The Fighting Cock via:
e-mail: thefightingcock at gmail dot com - we want your feedback, suggestions and e-mails.
Reader Comments (93)
You're right Spooks. I'm smiling 'cos Baliotelli looks like being available. Just our cup of tea.
HAHA love the small print at the end. Overall superbly put, and you can take the mickey out of the ITK's but without their cryptic clues and colours, I'd have nothing to read at all and would actually have to work, so I hope they keep shovelling it up.
like your attitude. Dont think i'll smile just yet though. Wouldn't mind seeing which striker we bring in before i do!
just seen small print! Classic
Great piece as usual.... Made me smile :)
there was a rumour recently £30m for modders & sturridge, I would be very happy with that, because he wants to leave anyway so let him fuck right off and let's get a quality young striker something we do not have at the moment
Adebayor/Llorente/Benzema <-- It will be one of these.
The way I see it, if we can't sign a player out-right it will suit Levy to sign a player on loan. It's obvious from the three which fall into which category.
I seem to remember a similar postion this time last year, and after years of mass changes I did ponder if the season started with what we already have would that be a bad thing?
For me a settled squad where players play regularly together perhaps has an unknown and often ignored value. So having got Sandro early on in the dealings I was generally happy, and as it turned out we still held our own for most of the season.
And now we have the emergence of Kyle Walker and Danny Rose, to add to the squad and keep the ratios on 'home talent' in check in the future, along with the potential of some of the others, the future isn't as doom and gloom as some media commentators would have us.
So if our strikers remember how to score (even crouch has managed to score away from home pre-season something he only managed off the pitch last year) and we were to start off with what we already have, I wouldn't be too disappointed. Settled players, who would be difficult to replace with greater quality for less than the price of 1/5th of a new stand in NDP, who know each other (and how to cover and anticipate their regular fuck ups) and how to play together. Is it really all that bad?
That said, another 11th hour, off the radar VDV type signing would be most welcome.
liorente will do nicely for me, and we are playing a preseason with bilbao so every chance of that happening.
Tricky, if we made it a hat trick of mishaps, I will fall upon the sword.
Just refuse to believe we'd allow a clusterfuck to play out a third time.
You very importantly forget that we had possibly as many injuries as the ultimate top 4 of last season put together. Injuries included Defoe for over 3 months which cost him his form, Dawson (at least 3 months), VDV, Bale and Modric. We had over 12 injuries for long perods. This together with the extremely disappointing 11 matches before our last two wins of the season definately cost us a top 4 spot.
At last, someone who talks some sense! Wel done Spooky. We only just missed CL for the second time by the smallest of margins. Our team as it is, is a bloody good team. It was just unfortunate that last season all of our strikes suffered from the "couldn't hit a barn door with a banjo" syndrome all at the same time!! What were the chances of that? We could do with some fresh blood but if not, it is not the end of the world. A settled team that have played together for a full season, we just need to be more assertive against lower opposition. Last season this is where we lost 4th place. It wasn't against the top 4 but the bottom 4 where we fell down. We know we can do it it is just a matter of doing it now!! Saying that signing a good reliable striker would do us no harm what so ever!!! Bring it on!!!
COYS
I've been on about a need for (a least) one top quality striker for as long as everyone, but really we are not competing in terms of wages for these guys. This is why Luka, who I still mark as a decent man, has been turned. We have to accept this, and do the best we can. Getting £45M for Luke (dreams) will not bring us the money to raise our wages ceiling, only a new ground will and we all know how THAT stands. So ....... we keep going. I don't want to lose Luka and I don't want Zamora, but we should look to bring in someone that scores in the Premier and will accept our wages, like for example Odemwenge (guess at spelling) or some young kids on speculation. THEN get rid of at least three deadwoods in a fire sale to lower our salary bill. And then be optimistic - start bringing the kids into the cup games and bringing them on; use Rose, Townsend, Walker, etc in games against lower league sides, and play a consistent formation otherwise. And then get on with the NPD because it is the only way forward .... and YES, Spooky .................. SMILE!!!
"preferring an Old Lady rather than a big blue and white cock."
You are a perve and that's why we love you.
We're playing Bilbao so we're getting Llorente?
By that logic, let's leave room in the squad for Jack Rodwell and Wayne Rooney
my only plea to those still unable to smile about our situation is stop sniping about our players manager and chairman.
Those who continually slate Jenas are pathetic...he is an example of the type of player we can attract without too much difiiculty, hence he is happy to play his squad role, do his best and keep out of the press. United have many squad players who don't play for weeks at a time but when called upon do the business to their best ability....it is a vital part of having a successful squad.
Spurs fans seem to want Grade A plyers in every position, even as back up to our backups! Forget it. We should commend JJ for his loyalty.
Look at the likes of Keane who have frequently in the past thrown hissy fits when subbed/dropped but then refuses to go anywhere that fails to meet his lofty wage demands. Even VDV got shirty last season when he was frequently subbed with 15 mins left.
Players like JJ are vital to our squad and have an important role to play. Just like the sorts of Park and Anderson at Utd. Not the greatest players but they know their role.
All our squad deserve support becuase harbouring bad feelings towards them before the season even starts does not bode well and only means that we will be far too willing to groan or boo if that palyer misplaces a pass / shoot wide / cross badly / miss a tackle (which will happen to every player.
Support the f#~@ing shirt people!
just heard jason dozzell is coming out of retirement to save us, its from a top source too! the girl that told me grooms levys cat.
Whilst it's bleedin' obvious that we need a top top top striker it has been for two years.
Maybe Defoe will stun us all and rediscover his shooting boots?
The rest of our team is pretty ace and still improving, I'd personally stick with Gomes, we've got BAE who is maturing into a world class LB, Walker to come in at RB, Dawson becoming even more solid, Sandro about to play his first full season, Hudd starting to boss it, Bale..., Lennon still a joy to watch when played on the right. VDV - if fully fit will be awesome. Krancjar should play more. Kaboul getting there, Gallas can put in a shift. Rose a good prospect at LB.
We just need to cut loose the deadwood - problem is who is going to pay Keane, Hutton, Bentley etc what we do?
If we can squeeze into the CL spot, get Harry to take the England job we'll be well set next season to win the league!
Great defence of JJ. The same applies (IMHO) to other core team members - Dawson, Corluka, BAE[1], Huddlestone, Lennon, et al. These guys get on with it and have stuck with the team. Lets hope the period of stability in players will be benefical - though I'm still expecting musical chairs in the last few weeks of the window.
[1] Though the secret of his awesomeness is out now.
If we sign that filth Barton, we're getting relegated
You guys are going to laugh at this, and it may even by pathetic. However, the way things are going I will be happy if we only got Barton (I know!!) and Lloriente. What I fear most is on the 2nd of September reading about all the stars we missed out on because we didn't get the paperwork through on time....PLEASE God not that again.
I would be more optimistic if Harry was behaving himself as he was in his first season. I think he has become a dangerous influence. Don't forget, he and Kevin Bond travel to work together and Kevin Bond's comments on Talk Radio came with Harry in the car with him. It was Alan Brazil who interviewed him and his show finishes at 10.00am. Harry is just a shit-stirring cunt and I wouldn't be a bit surprised if he gets a 'drink' from Chelski, when all this is over. Does anyone know when his Court Case is due.
I can't see us signing anyone other than loan players or youth players... the precedent has been set with Friedel, Ceballos and Coulilaby and, to me, it sends out a clear message. We are in a state of transition with our manager almost certain to leave at the end of 11-12 to take on the England job.
So, with him leaving it wouldn't make sense to plough what should be a sizable transfer kitty in to players Redknapp rates... aside from the obvious (his transfer record is patchy at best) it's far easier to attract a manager to a club when you give them a few quid to throw about and make the team their own. So I reckon the cheque book is closed and we're in for a season of consolidation and a managerial change come 12-13.
The obvious need for a new striker cannot be lost on those in power, we've needed one for 3 transfer windows... he doesn't necessarily need to be Sergio Aguero/Benzema/God but we do need someone in there to liven up what has become a stale bunch and provide a bit of impetus.
And we must have a few quid to spend. OK, we'd need to take a loss on a couple of players to fit a new striker in to the 25 squad limit but Hutton, Bassong, Jenas, Bentley... all capped internationals so they won't be hard to shift so long as the price is right. So where is this saviour in white?
This is the only reason I can think of as to why we haven't invested much at all in the last window and why we'll be doing the same in this one. When you take in to account the heavy sums weighed out by L'pool, Man Utd and Man City already it leads me to believe that the powers that be have thrown in the towel for this season... lets have a crack at it, sure, but not with the investment required to realistically challenge because we can't.
That's what I think. apparently, that's what Harry thinks... I just wish, as an ambassador for our club, he'd keep his thoughts to himself once in a while instead of spouting off to Sky at every given opportunity. It's gone past becoming tiresome. COYS.
Spooks, it is true that watching history repeat itself once again is almost beyond belief. Unfortunately the key word there is 'almost'.
You wouldn't bet against it now would you, think the moric situation is bad now wait for the first two weeks of MOTD, with every single kick analysed and a collective 'hes too good not to play in the CL' by all but lineker (who will be to busy shuffling his backside on the sofa having 'lost control' once again).
I (like many) had high hopes in june that early business and the departure of the peripheries, followed by sensible acquisitions. However, I realise now I must have been too long in the sun and heady with anticipation.
The last six weeks have shown (once again) that the complete vacuum of actual info on what might happen has been filled with the sort of ITK's that year after year, we dismiss as utter gash. Only because this year it's now recirculated by so many online forums and blogs that the beeb falsely give some of it credibility amongst the fans (I include myself in this as well).
Give it another four weeks and SSN will still be outside our training ground (as they always are) waiting for the inevitable 'hes a good lad' soundbite from our manager, and a 'special announcment' to fill the 'yellow ticker of conjecture and lies'.
Sometimes I swear Levy does this just now to make sure SSN are camped out at our gaff, so don't be surpirsed is suddenly a bigger sponsor logo appearrs by the gate this year.
nb: even if we do swap Keane for Zamora, I'm still blaming Robbie for all of this.
Nilmar anyone?
Nice one Spooky...I was smiling already (probably wind) but a reminder doesn't do any harm I reckon.
Less injuries and the killing of certain teams off would have seen us comfortably 3rd let alone 4th.
Reasons to be cheerful...COYS
Nearly qualified for Champions league,,nearly signed Adams,nearly won the cup,nearly signed a deal for a stadium.
The frustration being we are a team of nearly good enough players almost getting there but always its "next season we will learn from this , or next season ,we will push on from here" Been hearing it since 1967.
Meanwhile the other team up the road have won cups ,the league and qualified for Europe season after season while we have been mid table by and large with the occassional pop at glory to keep the interest..We are a big club, of that there is no doubt,we have spent a fortune on players but always been one or two short.When we had strikers we shipped goals,when we had a defence we couldnt score.But a big club needs a big manager,one who believes in us one who can sign the best and retain what he has.What isnt required is a manager who pours scorn on his own support and dismisses the teams chances before a ball is kicked in anger.We will sign a striker and a defender before the end of August I am sure ,our "last minute dot com" approach will continue until such time as we get a manager who knows what he wants and goes and gets it.We have needed a striker and a replacement for Woody and Ledley for at least two transfer windows now,there is no excuse for this approach except for to provide an excuse for poor performance.
Signing players during pre season while they have a chance to blend in and settle just has to be better than waiting for a bargain on transfer day
lol just read the fineprint. you are a genius spooky. still the best spurs blog by miles
We don't have to spend big to compete, we have a core to our squad that with the right tweaking will only get better and better. We don't need wholesale changes like the bindippers or L'Arse, we need 2 or 3 class players of character and ability. We don't have to pay the earth, just spend it wisely on players that will make a difference... and to say there aren't any players in the whole wide world that won't come to us cos we're only paying a max of £80k/week is bollocks.
2 strikers currently in the Prem that wouldn't command salaries above our ceiling are Odemwingie and Gyan, both of whom would make a big difference to us up top... yes they aren't as marquee as some of you would like but they're not out of our league and they're certainly better than what we have.
The likes of Benzema, Rossi, Mata & Nilmar are out of our league and to be honest we're wasting our time if that's who we're chasing. I don't rate Llorente that highly, certainly not at £20m+, Vucinic would've been too much of a gamble and i don't want to ever see Adebayor in a lilywhite shirt.
There is little point in chasing the elite players, we can't pay the ridiculous salaries. But remember, there are only a maximum of say 7-8 teams in world football that can afford to pay those sorts of wages, so we have no choice but to bide our time and see what's left at the buffet after the rich kids have had their spoils.
We don't have to spend a fortune to compete for top 4 next season, we don't need to make wholesale changes, we don't have to pay £30m+ and £200k a week to secure players that will convert more of our chances at home or help us win away at the likes of QPR, Swansea, Norwich, just the right players at the right price!
Mind you, there's value for money but there's also Bobby Zamora and Carlton Cole... please no!
Spooky - good stuff. Entertaining as normal and nice to see someone willing to see the positives. We've come so far so quickly, that for some people, last 8 in the Champions League and 5th in the PL just isnt enough. Its amazing: 10 - even 5 - years ago, any of the people slagging off Harry, Levy etc today would have thought you nuts if you'd said to them that in the future they'll be demanding the head of a manager that took us to 4th and 5th and into the latter stages of the CL. But thats they way it is with football, raised expectations can be a curse. But a few of us (actually the vast majority outside crazy internet blog-world) cant believe how lucky we are to watch the football we see week in week out, absolutely, genuinelty world class players in the lillywhite short, playing for a team thats lost a couple of games at home in 2 years. For fans wo remember the doldums of the Francis, Graham, Santini, even Hoddle days, this has been fantasy land. Fucking well enjoy it while it lasts people!
cookiebun, your words are not really worthy of comment, but I cant help myself. Like him or not Redknapp has been a remarkably successful manager and has taken the club to the Champions League for the first time in 50 years. To suggest he is being bribed by Chelsea is frankly insulting. Maybe you werent there at the City of Manchester stadium when Crouch scored to put us into the CL, 18 months after we had been bottom of the league with Frazer Campbell starting upfront. I was and I I can assure you that the 5000 yiddos with me that night knew exactly who had taken us from despair to utter delight. You and others like you should be ashamed of the things you write about Redknapp. Without him we might well have been in the CHampionship now: at best we'd be back in lower mid-table.
Dils - I dont really agree with your reading of the situation. Redknapp might well be moving on, but I doubt that would prevent the club from signing players that they feel would improve the squad. My reading is, firstly, strikers better than what we have right now arent that easy to find, at the money we are willing to spend. Secondly, the wage bill is maxed out. We cant go any higher without breaching shareholder assurances (50% of turnover) and banking covenants (ask a Leeds or Southampton fan what happens when you do that...). Its all very well saying that players like Bentley should be moved on: of course he should, nobody could disagree. But he's probably on £50k a week. Who would take him for that money, let alone pay a fee? And its not like we can force him to go either. We havent played him for months but he is happy to pick up his wage. As for Hutton, Jenas and Bassong, there was no chance of moving them on last year - we needed them . Look how many games they played. And Jenas did well in almost all of his appearances. Hutton will probably go on loan now, but Bassong going would leave us desperately short at CB, especially given King's issues. The real deadwood that should be moved on is Cudicini (huge wages, clearly not considered good enough since Friedel was signed on a big signing-on fee), Hutton (now Walker is back), Bentley, Dos Santos, Keane. But even the best salesman on the world would struggle to give them away given their contracts and their performances in the last 2 years
Is there a player out there called 'Nearly' that we can attempt to sign?
'Spurs nearly sign Nearly'
Redknapp is like a malignant cancer, the sooner we cut him out of the club the better.
Nothing but a gob shite chancer who got lucky.
If he signs Barton will you hate him even more?
Barton? Is that how far we've fallen already? Absolute joke.
don't hold back TMWNN, no-one's going to judge you if you say what you really think. ;)
btw, opinion amongst the gooners seems to be split as to whether they really could do any worse than Barton. Their reasoning being that for all of his previous failings, he did single handedly bring the barcodes back from the brink of a drubbing to a 4-4 last season.
Now, THAT'S how far we have fallen!
Everyone who's come out in defence of Jenas has a fair point, he is a good squad player. However, he's eating too much of our wage budget to justify being kept, salary too high for a backup player. It would be better to have a young player (eg Livermore) in his role, and would also save money.
As for Barton, he is actually a good player (shit human being apparently), but where does he fit in?
Modric's replacement?
If Redknapp thinks Spurs are such a weak team with no chance of a top 5 place, why doesnt he take his 'honest Joe' face and get a job with a club worthly of his stature. I had more trust for Alan Sugar.
1. TMWNN is a legend. Not afraid to let the truth be known. The truth hurts (especially to blinded Harry followers) but sooner or later we all have to face it.
Redknapp is a lucky chancer who has been riding on other people's hard work and is now being found out. Arnesen provided the plan for our recent relative success, Martin Jol and Comolli implemented it. However, their acrimonous relationship (and MJ lack of belief in his team) led to both being sacked and judged unfairly. Redknapp saw the opportunity and jumped in, bringing with him a collection of some of the worst players ever to be signed for 50 million pounds (Robbie Keane, Chimbonda, Crouch and Defoe! Yirk!). Now Redknapp refers to Tottenham fans as "idiots" and with a sarcastic and evil grin declares that a season where we lost 4-1 in the carling cup, 4-0 in the FA cup and 5-0 in the CL, is "as good as it gets" for the Spurs. I don't agree with his evaluation of us. After all, he is a Westham man and Westham men don't tell us what our "limit" is.
2. Jenas. No one said that whenever misfortune befalls us, Jenas can't step in and kick a ball (mostly backwards towards the goalie), but having him sitting on the bench, taking up 70,000pounds every week just to be a "squad player" while we complain about being unable to offer competitive wages to our "real" players doesn't make any sense. Give Bostock that opportunity or Jake Livermore and sell Jenas to....well, who wants Jenas? Give him away for free. If Newcastle can give Barton away, we can also give Jenas away. He is stalling the development of our youth and is too comfortable as a "squad player" which is detrimental to the attitude development of young players watching him. Get rid.
3. Crouch.... Someone please buy this embarrasing misfit and save Spurs. No wonder no one wants to sign for us. When ambitious players see this joke play as a solo striker for us, while Giovanni dos Santos, Pavlyuchenko and Defoe are on the bench, Adel Taarabt sold and Harry Kane not even in the squad, they will naturally be cautious about signing for us. Surely Mike Ashley/Stoke/QPR/Anyone can save us from this. Crouch starting for us again surely means that Levy has finally given up on Spurs....
What are we aiming for next season? Lets atleast play football the "Spurs way" if we can't compete with the wealthy clubs. No more embarrasing hoofs and knock downs.
Ronnie you seem to have forgotten we were in SERIOUS trouble when Harry took over, I honestly thought we would go down. Levy gave Harry 50 mill to spend to get us out the shit and he did it. Why do you forget that? Did you know we had 2 points from 8 games?
Keane was a massive panick buy but only cos Defoe got injured, and no one could really tell how bad Keane had become in such a short space of time.
I'm with Paul F, everyone forgets how shit we were for 10 years, beaten by the scum EVERY season for 10 years - until Harry.
For all the shit 'Arry spouts, i do agree with him on one thing: some of our fans are idiots.
Sorry MM...but I don't believe in that "SERIOUS trouble" spin. We had played 8 games. We had 30 games to play. Yes, there was a bit of confusion (Jenas was captain!) but any average/seasoned relegation battler could have gotten us out of that.
Wait a minute....
DY....I agree with you.
@TMWNNN "Redknapp is ........Nothing but a gob shite chancer who got lucky. "
@Ronnie "TMWNN is a legend. Not afraid to let the truth be known. The truth hurts (especially to blinded Harry followers) but sooner or later we all have to face it.
Redknapp is a lucky chancer who has been riding on other people's hard work and is now being found out."
I think one thing Harry has done is to accurately identify the mental capacities of some of our fanbase.
As Ronnie said, the truth hurts.
I think there is a more than evens chance that Robbia and tmwnnn are the same poster. Spooky - any chance of matching the ip addresses and showing up the mental / juvenile / stupid cunt (delete as necessary)?
I would guess that if you were to put a cross section of 36,000 people together in a room, statistically speaking some of them are bound to be complete bellends. Stands to reason.
Harry was just using the laws of probability and got lucky. See, he's cleverer than you think, our manager, clearly not just a pretty face.
Devonshire: Thank you for the point about Jenas. He was linked to Inter last season and I'm sure could have got a deal with the promoted teams this season or last. Instead he said he'd stay and fight for a place, and he's been happy to wait for the call ever since. He's not VdV, or Modric or even Sandro in ability but is a useful Squad player. Pisses me off no end when people get on his back, usually just after he's been subbed on to close out a game, and hasn't even touched the ball.
I've been increasingly impressed with Harry Kane this pre-season. I don't think he's ready to be a first-team starter yet but looks like he could fill the '20 minute impact sub' role very nicely.
any chance of matching the ip addresses and showing up the mental / juvenile / stupid cunt (delete as necessary)?
Paul F, if that's how you want to roll, why don't you start your own blog where you can delete anyone who disagrees with you? I'm sure it will be full of lively discourse.
Re your earlier post, "We cant go any higher (on wages) without breaching shareholder assurances (50% of turnover) and banking covenants." I am totally calling bullshit on this.
Our only significant shareholder is ENIC/Joe Lewis, controlling more than 85% of the shares (depending on how you calculate the conversion of the preference shares). There are no other material (3%) concentrations of ownership. So breaching a 50% cap, if it exists, is a matter of a phone call between Levy and Lewis.
Regarding the banking covenants, I sincerely hope you made this up to try to sound ITK, because bank agreements with a closely held company like Tottenham are extremely confidential. Having the terms and conditions of one's credit agreement bandied about on a fan website (however well-esteemed, Spooky!) would be a gross breach of the bank's confidentiality agreement with the borrower and would certainly get the individual responsible for the leak fired and probably see the borrower take his business to another financial institution. And, yes, I am a corporate lender so I do in fact know what I'm talking about here.
Further, while it is theoretically possible that a loan agreement could contain a covenant like the one you described, it is a) extremely unlikely that the borrower (Spurs) would agree to anything so restrictive, particularly given that the company is not at all leveraged b) a "breach" of an operating covenant is considered to be a technical violation of the credit agreement and in virtually all cases the violation is waived and the covenant amended (for a fee, of course) and c) per the Spurs annual report, the great majority of debt is short term or non-recourse, so there would be no operating covenants at all.
In short, bullshit.
Oh please! We are idiots because we believe Spurs can do better than 5th? Especially when you consider that all that was needed was to beat the relegation teams and we would be 2nd. I'm sorry Jamie Redknapp, but the truth indeed does hurt.
If the comical "crouchie" had not been around, we would easily have taken 3rd place or better. Every team knows how to defend against him but...Redknapp would rather concentrate on excuses (& calling fans names), while hoping that the ball will smack his beloved "crouchie" in the stomach and be called an "assist", than play a real striker...and win.
Can you guys really declare here that Jenas sitting on the bench, collecting roughly 70,000 pounds a week, while Livermore, Bostock, etc rot away makes any sense? Who can state here that he wasn't dismayed when he saw Jenas prancing about at the Bernabeu before our CL QF? Why would any of you want a player that strikes fear into his own team's fans to take away precious 70,000 every week when we can't pay our actual players "competitively"? And how does this situation help us convince young talent to sign for us?
Lets face the facts, if the best we can do is "crouchie", then we don't deserve top4 status. We are the new pompey.
50 million pounds to spend. That is how Levy got us out of the relegation mess, not by getting Redknapp. Our 50 million pounds which was wasted on Robbie Keane, 4-goal a season Crouch and Chimbonda!
Redknapp! Isn't he the one who, after mis-advising Levy and making sure we missed out on Suarez, still had the audacity to request for Phil Neville. Yet we are not supposed to question him at all (otherwise we are idiots!).Give us a break.
Thanks Harry for giving us something to argue about post OS.
We finished 7th/8th? just missing out on Europe in his first season. Hardly in severe trouble really. Signed Keane, Crouch, Defoe - out of those I think Crouch was probably the only one that involved a spend, as the other two we were probably owed money on already as both players had left us in the recent past. Keane has spent more time on loan than at the Lane and Defoe's goalscoring stats leave a lot to be desired. He tends to score a lot in a short period of time then go off the boil.
Modric had just signed and was adjusting, Berbatov had just left after pulling a strop, GDS was thrown in at the deep end, never to be seen again once Harry judged him as no good.
The fact we still have Bale is down to luck - Harry would not have played him at left midfield otherwise. Bent one of the most predatory strikers in the Prem, got treated with no respect, a soundbite maybe. But Defoe missed some sitters last season and never got the same treatment.
Crouch for me sums Harry up. He can't run and shoot, fouls more than Defoe is offside and doesn't help us play free flowing football. Yet Harry loves him and because of that he plays.
Can't wait for the Crouch / Rooney England knockdown routine.
Harry is out for himself. Some of the things he says and does don't sit well with me at all. We just need to wait for him to be the next England manager.
Remember fellow idiots 5th is our level, and failing to beat teams in the bottom 6 should make us happy.