Go on then, let's flirt with a very reliable source
Wednesday, June 27, 2012 at 10:04PM Bale
It's too humid to think. Got just about enough energy to smile at the news Gareth Bale has signed a new contract. He will progress this season I'm sure of it, with far greater discipline tactically than he experienced last time out. Nothing wrong with switching flanks, cutting in, playing like an inside forward but has to remain effective from the wings with his crossing. With more men in the box, we'll score more goals. Football is simple. He just needs to be controlled and developed for the good of the team, because if he plays well in a team playing great he'll get better. Football really is simple.
Sorry, really obvious statements shared there that we're lost in the hyperbole of season 2012.
A win win for the club. We keep our most potent of weapons and if the CL dream fails to materialise at the end of next season then Barca/Madrid can pay up to buy out the worth of his contract. But let's not think too far ahead. Especially with thoughts of such a negative type. Bale signing a new contract will shatter some of the tabloid hacks who haven't stopped crying their eyes out and spewing spite towards us for the disgraceful sacking of Redknapp. Carry on lads. You'll have plenty to sick your teeth into in the coming months.
ITK INNIT
It's all actually very quiet at the moment aside from all the predictions and rumours of when x y and z will happen. The new manager and new players have been perpetually predicted to happen every week for weeks now. So law of averages, any day now. It's like a competition with the ITK's and club insiders. Twenty blokes all standing feet away from a dart board all wearing masks all throwing for the bullseye.
Can I play too?
I saw this posted over at the epic ITK collection thread (clicky click) at The Fighting Cock (the actual source is 'Ryan' via FTL). I feel cheap and dirty doing this. Probably should have added a question mark to the article heading.
"Some ITK news for you from a VERY reliable source:
Vertonghen WILL be a Spurs player come July 1st
Sig WILL be a Spurs player come July 1st
Loic Remy WILL be a spurs player come July 10th (delays in agreeing terms)
Modric WILL be sold to Real Madrid (?30m + Sahin) by July 9th
AVB WILL be Spurs manager on July 1st
we WILL be signing with our MAJOR sponsor/investor for naming rights on July 15th
Stadium work WILL be commencing July 27th after the signing of the final contracts.
2 x more MAJOR signings WILL be made before July 18th"
Covers practically everything being discussed currently.
My thoughts?
Vert will end up signing. Predicting something that everyone knows is 99% done is hardly ITK. The player, Ajax, everyone involved (apart from Spurs) have more or less confirmed it's happening but there are snags to do with money owed. Well, money the player believes to be owed, his current club disagreeing. I'll favour it happening because in principle, it's done. The technicality is pretty much bullied into the corner (99% v 1%) and Spurs, as quiet and professional as they are on this saga, won't allow the deal to die if we are truly serious about making him one of us.
Sig is a done deal. Again, it's been shared publicly. Okay, so you might argue it's been shared by foreign websites equally as dubious as some of our English based red tops, but it all fits in quite well with one or two official feeds confirming the deal. Quite happy with this one. Young, attacking midfielder. Cracking shot, forward rather than deep and gives us options. Rotation when required is imperative this time out. We need the quality to sustain it.
Remy. Don't know. He's been linked all summer, it's probably worth a punt. Steady that hand when throwing that dart. I personally think (as per the usual template of surprise) that any further signings will come from left-field and surprise us. No, no, when I say left-field I don't mean left-footed by the way. No cryptics here. Just a gut feeling. Then again, once the manager is appointed, our targets might become far more apparent and with any luck happen far quicker than how the summer has crawled along so far. More likely Adebayor than Remy (I'm using the logic of 'he played for us last season' as my reasoning there).
Modric? Of course he's going to Madrid. Where else is he going to go? No chance Levy will let him sign for another English club. Madrid only possible club that can afford him. Levy won his battle with Chelsea and with the Croatian being at his prime to be sold on for a massive profit, the club will take that quite easily. It's a massive shame we're losing him. Honestly think retaining him + new manager and new players would galvanise us. But new beginning, the player wants his wage packet and CL football now, so selling him abroad makes it easier to swallow.
Sahin as part of the deal? Think this is probably based on the fact that Luka would push Sahin further down the pecking order and what with our 'relationship' with Madrid, 1+1 calculators are working over time. Think we need someone far more prominent and high profile as our 'new playmaker'. Very much dependent on the style of football we play next season. Do like us being Madrid's feeder side though. Better than selling our best players to Utd.
AVB on the first of July? Again, very well documented. Plenty of whispers about contractual obligations and such. The silence is deafening. Worst kept secret in football. I'll welcome him, I'm buzzing about it. As long as he scraps the side line squatting, I'll welcome him with open arms. Just make sure you're not squatting because I'm not bending down to hug you. He likes his three up top, two inside forwards with a lone striker. Holding midfielder (or two), Sandro could play a massive part this up and coming season. Some media training, a few post-match smiles and the pressure won't be half as as bad as long as the Lane sing a song or two in his name. We've got the quality, we'll consolidate it with new blood. We just need to learn to be shrewd, heartless and cut throat, killing teams off.
Sponsor/investor and stadium, would welcome it. Haven't got much to say on this other than its fairly imperative the club outline times-cales for the NDP. We know it's going to happen but it's not quite happening but it can't not happen. So here we are waiting.
Two more major signings? No sh** Sherlock. You think Levy isn't going to give AVB a war chest? I'm sure in the coming weeks we'll be linked with every other top star at Porto.
That was fun. I might do this again.
Reader Comments (67)
@OldSpur - Thanks. I must say, it feels good to have made a small contribution to the debate. They have been bombing me on that Man Utd site - but I hope I have been holding my own. Here is part of what was subsequently said:
sheikh 352 posted about 3 hours ago Contributor I
Really? You mistake me if, as I suspect, you believe I am referring to Americans, in general. If you want to see what the Glazers are responsible for doing TO Man Utd and its abilities to remain relevant in the transfer market, look below to the Guardian's report on their finances.
0 : Like Reply
Keyser Soze posted about 1 hour ago Contributor I
@sheikh: Ability to remain relevant in the transfer market? Like last season transfer activity which more or less 60 Million?
0 : Like Reply
Darin Pike posted 26 minutes ago Featured Columnist III
@sheikh: Didn't take it to mean Americans in general. It's just that there is generally a lot going on behind the scenes that the press and general public aren't aware of. I tend to regret when I haven't given the benefit of the doubt...at least at first.
0 : Like Reply
sheikh 352 posted 40 minutes ago Contributor I
@Keyser: Last season, yes - and THIS season the Glazers took out the equivalent of one million EVERY FOUR DAYS, to service the debts that you did not have before they took over - but hey, knock yourselves out over it. The fact remains, Fergie is UNDERVALUING potential targets - players that, apparently, Man Utd needs in order to keep pace with it's "noisy neighbour". Why is it, that all of a sudden, after years of spending fearlessly (Veron, Rooney, Rio, Carrick, Berbatov, Young), Fergie suddenly baulks at valuation of a player that even the majority of your fans are calling for him to get? In case you missed it, Modric more than held his own against Iniesta, Xavi and Busquets, last week and, last season , was in the top three passers of the ball in the Premier League. Why do you think he could be stolen for a mere 22 million pounds, when last season, Chelsea couldn't buy him for 40 million? As I said, in my first post, if 22 million is the most you can spend, then you simply cannot afford him. He will move, to (shock horror) a BIGGER club than Man United 112.5 million Euros MORE revenue than Man Utd, in 2011, 33 Titles, compared with 19 and 9 European Championships plus 3 times runners-up, compared with 3 European Championships and twice runners-up) and he will b e a star there. Madrid, at least understands the VALUE of the player and will make the package attractive enough to sell to the player and valuable enough to show respect to the selling Club (us).
I am not belittling your playing achievements. I spent my 20s watching Liverpool dominate this country AND Europe and, in my lifetime, that is the only extended period of domination that outdoes yours. What I am saying is, unless you sort out the debt situation that Glazer and his sons have created for you, then you are going to be shopping in the same supermarkets as us, sooner, rather than later.
My Club needs a new stadium - but, as everyone at Spurs understands, not one brick will be laid until our Chairman is satisfied that the whole thing can be built without compromising our on-field performances. Yes, we run a tight ship - and no-one is perfect (we spent 15 million on David Bentley) but you need to concentrate on buying players you can AFFORD and to stop dreaming about those you can't. Just like us!
Enjoy the upcoming season.
What a thoroughly refreshing article. Actually cheered me up about the whole fiasco.
So the first piece of ITK I decide to copy and paste and comment on appears to be:
"re: Ryan - guy is regarded as a WUM merchant.... so prob best to ignore it"
In other words, like most, they just work out the likely possibilities and attempt to add some weight to it. Hardly the da Vinci code.
Predicting more signings is like predicting the sun will rise tomorrow. We own 1 striker, 2 proper full backs and 2 wingers. The options..Pav, Niko, Keane (?), Charlie are all gone, money bagged. Together with OHara Hutton, WP, 3MP who have all moved on thats probably the best part of £50m-£60m received. With the deadwood to also be moved on - Bassong, JJ, Bentley, GDS maybe another £10m-£15m could be raised and with Modric (whether player + Cash or just cash) we could seriously have +£100m at our disposal....and this is just money raised, selling to buy. It doesn't even tap into our transfer kitty. If Sig & Vent are coming for a combined £17m then that leaves a lot unspent.
When you consider this money would be used to improve a core team which is actually excellent in probably 9 of 11 starting places then there is real massive potential for improvement, both in the first XI and in the backups.
As a side, I think that if AVB were the man then it would be a done deal. Why would we wait for a convenient yet arbitrary date of 1st July to announce this. If its done its done. In any event who is making the decisions on player purchasing.
I have a sneaky hunch that the new manager might just come out of left field
Predicting more signings is like predicting the sun will rise tomorrow. We own 1 striker, 2 proper full backs and 2 wingers. The options..Pav, Niko, Keane (?), Charlie are all gone, money bagged. Together with OHara Hutton, WP, 3MP who have all moved on thats probably the best part of £50m-£60m received. With the deadwood to also be moved on - Bassong, JJ, Bentley, GDS maybe another £10m-£15m could be raised and with Modric (whether player + Cash or just cash) we could seriously have +£100m at our disposal....and this is just money raised, selling to buy. It doesn't even tap into our transfer kitty. If Sig & Vent are coming for a combined £17m then that leaves a lot unspent.
When you consider this money would be used to improve a core team which is actually excellent in probably 9 of 11 starting places then there is real massive potential for improvement, both in the first XI and in the backups.
As a side, I think that if AVB were the man then it would be a done deal. Why would we wait for a convenient yet arbitrary date of 1st July to announce this. If its done its done. In any event who is making the decisions on player purchasing.
I have a sneaky hunch that the new manager might just come out of left field
I hate Christmas.
You never got what you were expecting and even if you do it isn't as good as you thought it would be.
I especially hate Christmas in July as it smacks of wondering where we will actually be at Christmas-time.
Hey hoe, at least Santa Daniel is thin enough to get down our chimney.
Isn't it wonderful. The 'official' site announce that Bond and Jordan have left the club and about 20 other media outlets announce it also. Exactly 2 weeks ago those same 20 other media outlets were announcing this, but they included Clive Allen in their report. All guess work. Allen must have been retained in some capacity. Happy about that, he's a Spurs man.
I have followed tottenham since 1960, and cant believe we are about to get a chelsea cast off, I read that levy is moving forward
If going forward is other teams failures then the man is a screwball, this guy has no credible history, harry is the best manager since the 60s, I cant believe some fans think avb is a good thing, we are moving backward how the hell can he be an improvment on harry, Levy should stick to finances he has`nt got a clue about football he needs to take a leaf out of evertons book and leave football to the manager I see another ramos, santini situation happening, levy will take tottenham downhill.
@sheikh352
To play devil's advocate for a second, the only 'Big4' club supporters that I've ever seen write anything positive about Spurs have been Man U fans. Of course there are plenty of obnoxious Man U fans too, but personally I find Arsenal (no surprise), Chelsea (with poor grammar and spelling) and Liverpool (with even worse grammar and spelling) fans are the ones who flock to Spurs sites and Spurs stories to spew vile drivel and engage in general schadenfreude. I've even seen it from Newcastle fans (no, really!)
The common denominator is perception of threat- Arsenal, Chelsea and (particularly) Liverpool have been the sides who have suffered most from our emergence (some would say our long overdue revival).
I thought your manifesto was eloquent and very well justified in general though. Kudos for standing up for Spurs without being reduced to the level of the mud-slinging rabble!
@jeff. Every manager is at some point, another clubs cast off. I was not sure about AVB at first, but am prepared
to accept Levy knows what he is doing and I do not think he was given a fair chance at the bridge, probably down
to player power. In life generally, there are times when our face does not fit and we have surely all had jobs where this
is the case. You move on and you do a good, if not better job for A.N.Other. He is young, keen to make his mark and I will look
forward to his interviews with the media, which is something that I tired of very quickly with the sandbanks one.
All...intriging reading...thanks......For what it's worth. I hope is avb...less modric but plus say50m to spend.....new....fresh..here go..coys
Jogi Low to WHL?
:)
@Devonshirespur regarding 1st July - for football clubs that is apparently the start of the new financial year. If we can ensure no signings made before then, then financially we will have even better figures to report, boosting the chances of any potential club sale.
@ walkerboy
1st of June was the start of their new financial year!
Well I see Redkrapp`s at it again. Balotelli has a good game and the old `I was going to sign him` shite spews forth! It`s the best birthday present I`ve ever had, proves once and for all what a dick the man is, totally incapable of learning any lessons. Honestly, I don`t care now if our new man`s Gary Megson thank god we`re rid of that total idiot.
Holy shit.Levy is really going through with this insane move? My god
Yeah..what amazing sense it makes to dump a manager who took us to 4th in the table,and replace him with a proven loser and an alienating charachter to boot.
I simply don't get it.Levy will be laughed out of football when AVB punt goes tits up ..as it's bound to.
@moe..........happy birthday.