Mess
Wednesday, August 15, 2012 at 11:36PM
I don't do this often. This is a one-take blog, written in one session from start to finish without going back to edit. Therefore no re-writes and countless re-drafting and tidying up to allow for a solid easy to read structure. It's a mess, so please excuse the grammatical minefields and lack of flow. I wrote it in 10 minutes during a tea-break on Wednesday afternoon. I guess I've got another epiphany due and I've just gone into labour.
After signing two players early on in the summer transfer window, we await for more activity to consolidate the squad. Strikers, a right-winger and a midfielder are the much maligned topics of conversation and hope. Then there's benched players that probably don't future at the club that need to be moved on. One certainty is we have only Defoe and Kane available to start away to Newcastle United. At the time of writing it's Wednesday. It's highly improbable we'll see new arrivals before the weekend. Even if we did it wouldn't impact the squad selected to travel up north.
The fifth final bid has been made by Madrid. Might still take one more final bid to finally finalise the deal. We've spent £18M on the two players that did arrive early, so what's the hold up with our other projected targets? I can't believe we're reliant to shifting Luka out of the club to complete deals with other players. Why? Well firstly because Daniel Levy's stance is 'we're not a selling club' and that we don't look to pluck out our best players and stick 'em in the shop window. If Luka wanted to stay and Madrid still perused him, Levy wouldn't sell him. He made that clear last season. He made it clear this summer with Gareth Bale signing a new deal. Yes, we are building a new stadium and long term the club have to be vigilante and assured of how we handle our finances now and in the next five years and beyond that time period. But surely we have money to spend. Unless we don't and we're all completely missing the point of what's going on behind closed doors. Because let's face it, everything we discuss is based on breadcrumbs from the media and other sources. Perhaps it's all posturing and mind games and we read either too much or too little into it. It's funny how we dismiss some-things out of hand and yet take the next thing literally, probably because that person is reinforcing (subconsciously) an agenda.
We have to remain fiscally fit, attractive to prospective players and to the fans in the stands. We can't risk a meltdown. Is it no wonder Levy drives forward with robust shrewdness, making sure he gets the best possible deal every single time? But does his stubbornness impact detrimentally to the progress of developing the squad? I guess the arguments relate to the fact we've not signed a forward - loan deals withstanding - for several years. Which is staggering or perhaps not. Redknapp and Levy hardly saw eye to eye on transfer strategy. Adebayor is the likely signing, the second 'forward' we also wish to see concluded tends to be dressed up with media rhetoric and football fan obsessions. Leandro, Llorente, Hulk…we don't really know, we just select probable players that fit our bill of expectations and expect the club to bid for them because the back pages say so.
I'm certain we're bidding/talking to clubs. So if I'm right (I am because how could I possibly not be because being wrong would mean we're not interested in anyone which is just crazy) then much like Madrid can't agree a deal with us for Luka then surely the same issues occur elsewhere - a struggle to shake hands and put pen to paper. Or are we simply unlucky? Are the clubs we're dealing with driving a hard bargain much like our Daniel does? Good enough for us, right? Other clubs have signed their players without drama. But then, we did sign two players with no such issues (aside from the traditional 3 month medical that attaches itself to every transfer).
So either we're not offering enough (from the opposing clubs viewpoint) or we're constrained by our wage cap. Which is there for a reason. We break it for certain players but it will be budgeted or worked out through signing on fees/bonuses etc. If we start throwing money at everything that moves, the books won't balance. Do we then perhaps have to scout better, for cheaper alternatives? Are we aiming too high? But then why should we not? The players we've been linked with this summer CAN play for the club. We're hardly reaching for the stars from the depths of the ocean.
Fact remains though, the way we attempt to do our business, it means we're mostly staring into the first weekend with key areas not fleshed out with new blood.
Are we suffering for being far too business inclined with our approach work in transfers? Arguably, looking back, it's not like we've been shy in the transfer market. Under Redknapp's tenure it was wheeling dealing rather than rock'n'roll, although some of his signings worked superbly well - but were short term not long term. Is it dreamy to expect decisive conclusions to strengthen the squad, or does reality laugh back in our face calling us petulance?
We didn't get players in early last season but that didn't cost us CL football. Sure it cost us points as we searched for a forward and midfielder and attempted to deal with wantaway Luka. But the real cost came later in the season with Harry losing focus and not having the mental metal nerve to retain and order of balance to proceedings. This time round we bemoan we've not done ALL of our business early and there's no doubt if things remain as they are it will impact our preparations for the long haul. So is there blame and if so who takes their place on the naughty step? Is it truly this difficult to sign players? It certainly appears to be if the three people involved ( us, targeted player + agent, opposing selling club) don't agree in unison.
The long game is this. ENIC are an investment company. They have shareholders. The new stadium will make the club a very healthy option for someone to bid for at some point in the future, when a new chapter of ownership will begin. In the mean time, the club delete loyalty points to award supporters that have money in their pocket presently, discarding those that might have shown loyalty for 10-20 years but not in recent seasons. It's a business. It's fickle. Loyalty differs from one person to the next.
However, fans are equally fickle. Go back to our not so distant past and tickets for games were easy to come by. We had no season ticket waiting list that sat in the tens of thousands. Fans only want to see the big games and ignore some of the lesser ones (as witnessed on a number of occasions last season). This nods towards a knowing concern that a 55K + stadium might have a few empty seats, but if they're taken up by tourists the club wont waste a shrug on it. Down the road, our enemy have had to make sacrifices, on the board and off it. They've accepted a position of competing and attaining CL football and have redefined this as something that constitutes success. Although many of their fans haven't accepted the shift in ideology, even with them losing their captain every summer, they survive within the top tier by working within their means. Once they are debt free, they might afford to be more adventurous and speculative - although they've not done too badly this summer in the transfer market.
We are also working within our means. But we're not quite on that top tier, we're fighting to be part of it season in and season out. All the politics of modern football, the way we are perceived as consumers and not supporters, it's always been there, eating away at me, taking bites out of me and spitting them in my face. I have to go back to the 80s and early 90s to remember how different things were. Even if the football was frustrating at times, there was a wonderment with the experience. We got on with it no matter what. I remember the '91 season and the troubles the club had. Had we not won the FA Cup, who knows what would have happened. But get this, we'll have a bigger stadium hopefully fashioned on the old skool whilst maintaining modern design. New bricks but a closer to the pitch atmosphere, unlike many of the new skool arenas being built. And we've also got a brand new training complex. The future awaits. Only question is how we plan to get there. In a steamroller or a unicycle.
I don't know where I'm going with this, I'm trying to scratch away at the surface of something. It's an itch, it might go away or it might not and I'll end up breaking skin. In recent years football has felt as good as it did when things were far more purer and not corrupted by Sky Sports hype and money. Progression is something we love and hate, we pick and choose. There's a lot wrong with the game but there's plenty good about it too. I guess I'm trying to figure out if it's possible to support a club and be detached by the weight of expectation or whether that very weight is what gives football it's passion. You wouldn't join the army if you didn't much like the idea of combat. Without the war they'd be no need for that army.
I don't think you can support a club without getting your hands and mind dirty. It's intrinsic to it. Those very same politics that pull away at our heart strings to the tune of melancholy beats are necessary. Is it really possible to just go to the game and sing and love your team no matter what and then do the same the following week? Yes, probably. But you'll be sucked right back in again because you'll still have an opinion on something, you'll still want to share your thoughts or displeasures. It's no longer an escapism. There's just too much going on, too much coverage, commentary and commitment to the game for it to be dismissed as 'just a game' to enjoy. That element of aspiration, to be better, it comes with pressure. Without the intensity of pressure there is no true impact of progression once it's achieved.
We want success, we want it the Spurs way. It's an impossible mess of misery and magic. That's what football amounts to most of the time. Mixed emotions, highs and lows.
Christ, this rambling started off about transfer targets. The irony of it all is that all of this will be dismissed if we signed 3/4 players before deadline day. Which sort of nudges towards the fact that when you do strip it all the way (the business, the politics) it IS all about the football. It is all about the 90 minutes of THFC we get every week, home or away.
The feeling of being marginalised will only get stronger over time. It's unavoidable, complain about modern football as much as you like, it's something to face up to. It's not really our club any more. It's an entity, a brand name, a money making machine. We can't control anything associated with it. All we can do is attempt to influence our own experience and perception of how we support the team and how we enjoy match day. The essence of THFC isn't something found on some legal document in Levy's desk drawer. It's in your heart, in your voice, in your song, in your belief. It's you.
Which makes everything else is filler.
Reader Comments (28)
In your heart in your voice in your song in your belief- love it and how very true COYFS
The catalyst that kick started the 80's cup kings was the signing of archibald & crooks.Those two complimented an exceptionally talented midfield (and their understudies) & the whole team then scored goals (which Levy would know very well). As i grew up watching that spurs team, it has been driving me round the f'ing bend to watch the current midfield talent being squandered by an incomplete strike force, season after season. i have moaned before that we will lose our midfielders before we sign the quality we need up front and yet again a new year is going to start and we aren't ready. look at wenger, he dropped the ball last year but he hasn't let it happen twice. Lesser teams than Spurs have picked up strikers since last jan and this summer. its ineptitude in scouting & shoot yourself in the foot frugality. Goals win games. No goals, no win games. Saavy?
Keep the faith. JD scored a blinder tonight. hatrick against the barcodes, beat west brom, then confirm ade, damiao, mutinhio, ramerez on deadline day. LOL
You could have saved your fingers and just written the last couple of paragraphs really. Its out of our hands so while we have a romantic interest in Spurs we can't influence what goes on with brow-beating and self-flagellation on forums. It makes no difference. The powers that be at Spurs will hire and fire as they see fit. Its as it should be. What do we really know about how a football clun is run and players contracts are entered into or terminated? Nothing. Its easy to say leave it to Levy and AVB but it is also the cold hard truth. Any Spurs fan who doesn't believe they both have the best intentions for the club are totally misguided. What would it serve for us to have a poor disjointed start to the season or unhappy players which contribute to poor results? The simple answer is, even if Levy has only the balance sheet in mind or AVB is using us as a remedial step back onto the mangerial merry go round, they both want to succeed for whatever reasons. Success is what fans want too - although they may not have the patience or wit or wisdom to see what is in front of them. Spurs are not regular top table players in the market or the dishing out of trophies. Sorry to burst some bubbles. We have to live within our means, cut our cloth appropriately and do as best we can with the resources as our disposal - that means getting the best we can for recalcitrant current players or the best terms for new arrivals. The other way lies financial and therefore football madness.
Well feck me. He's only gone and nailed it. The maudlin sod. And whats more, you'll be a
man my son.......
Very good article dude! We must expect a rough start with New Castle, but despite our frailties we are still a rather strong side, fire power being the biggest concern. Speaking of strikers; I find some solace and amusement at our rivals who have just ended another long and inevitable transfer saga, their hero who in their eyes is now gone to zero.
- Seriously though, I am going to try managing my expectations this season, or as best I can anyway. It's the beginning of what should eventually become a lucrative long term project with AVB.
Apparently Ratboy is finally on his way to Real Madrid for a fee of £23.5m. Hopefully that figure is a figment of Sky's imagination and theres another £10m in there or another player. If true it will allow us to replace the Croat and move on. As far as no Strike power is concerned, it's worrying. Surely Daniel Levy knows what is needed in terms of players for each section of the team and surely the targets AVB has in mind are being persued. I'll hold fire for 2 more weeks on that one. I read a blog by someone today and he was saying how Ronaldo used to be used out on the wing by Manure and he had all these stylish 'step overs', but wasn't a real danger man until Fergie allowed him to move infield and that is when he really came into his own and started scoring loads of goals. Well he compared that to Bale on the left wing and being utilised as a front man by AVB and thinks it may solve a problem,'up front' for us. I agree with him. Although Harry allowed Bale to come in-field, he didn't use him properly and maybe AVB sees something we don't. He's wearing a No. 9 shirt.
Great article Spooky. I too believe that Levy/AVB are working hard behind the scene to get in players, - there is no way that we can trust bits of info in the media, - therefore I sit patiently ( with shaking hands )in front of my computer and await confirmation and pictures of the choosen ones, wearing, - our beloved shirt !
A mess of misery and magic indeed, - but after 40 years of undying SpursLove I know that all gonna be just fine....
Keep the faith
@Cookiebun
Very interesting point you made regarding Bale, food for thought indeed !
Struggled with the article somewhat, but do understand where you are coming from. We are all typical Spurs fans suffering our usual every new seasons frustrations over who is coming or going. But till it is resolved, hows about this one for an idea. I am old enough to remember big Mike England playing for us, one of the best centre backs in the world at the time. We put him up front for a good spell when we were struggling for strikers. He did a good job. So now why dont we look at our present situation, ready for this? Put EITHER the Hudd, yes him! or Kaboul up front. Two big burly lads who could do damage to the oppostion. We know Hudd has a boot on him, and Kaboul knows how to head a ball, and even shoot if training ground pics are to believed. Any comments on this? Lastly I,m not losing the plot as I get older, just think about it!! Henry did not start as a striker did he?
This is a disaster. I can't believe that Modric's value is just 27 pound. Really, REAL?
Telegraph says Modric was £35m with £30m up front. Most believable newspaper out there IMO.
"We didn't get players in early last season but that didn't cost us CL football. Sure it cost us points as we searched for a forward and midfielder and attempted to deal with wantaway Luka"
run that by me again...what was the difference between us in 4th and 3rd place...it wasnt one point was it...now forgive me for my thought that its 3 points for a win and to say that it cost us points but not the CL spot we deserved is just weird
Without doubt Levy is a good business man, but is football his business? He no doubt remembers the signing of Rebrov, Postiga, Raisak, Tremazzani, Acimovic and all the others over the last decade or so. Good coin for no return basically. When you sign someone from far away places you have to be sure that they can adjust and fit in, not only at WHL but also London and England. I can appreciate his reticence in the spending of large amounts of cash on some import that may not fit the bill or find the PL just a little bit beyond them. As much as I like some of DL's policy I get the impression that he is ego driven. Once he has made up his mind on a players value he will stick to it regardless of the consequence. Modric is NOT a 40M player. If DL is basing his price on Carroll's 35M then he must think RM are mad. It appears that Arsenal are selling RVP for about 27M. Personally I would rather have RVP than Modric any day. At least he can score goals. DL has signed AVB, apparently for the long haul, so at least give him some of the tools to aim for the top. I get the distinct impression that something is not quite right at WHL. Why are Dos Santos, Bentley, Jenas still at the club? We have hardly seen them for the past two seasons. Why not sell them to free up salaries for other players? Or are they cases where DL's valuation of them is too high? DL's financial control has, and always will, ensure we don't do a Leeds, Glasgow Rangers or a Pompey, which is good news for the Spurs supporters, but I don't think we will ever be anything other than the "nearly team" if he stays in control. Sugar revived the club in the early 90's. Levy has taken us forward, but where is the next step coming from?
Supporting Spurs is not just about the Football. It's a religion, a nationality, an identity. You are invested in it, but cannot uniquely own it, even if one day you get to run it like Levy does now. So it's Not just about the 90 minutes. It's about everything that affects the 90+ minutes and more. 23.5 or 30 Base? Makes a Lot of difference, and I can't help but have strong opinions.
Genuinely can;t believe that after a summer of holding out for 40 - OK, make it 35mil in used readies - for Modric, Levy would suddenly agree to let him go for 23mil and a promise. Unless AVB came knocking on the door with a polite request to SELL HIM NOW AND BUY ME SOME FUCKING STRIKERS OR I WALK. Suspect the 23mil rumour might be coming from the Real PR machine to illustrate what great negotiators they are blah blah.
The transfer ins/outs so far this summer have been been self-financing. The Modric money pretty much buys Moutinho. But they're also going to have to shell out 40 ? 50? mil for a couple of decent strikers and a keeper. I'm assuming/hoping that this is the 'war chest' that Levy dangled in front of AVB when he agreed to come here.
At the moment the club's transfer policy seems an omnishambles - but if they sneak a point this w/end and beat WBrom en route to picking up some new faces before the window closes, suspect most of us would be OK with that.
@Victor Meldrew
How anyone can think for one minute that Alan Sugar revived Tottenham Hotspur is beyound me. He took it back 20 years. Then he took the money and ran. He was and IMO will never be a friend of THFC. He was an investor that put in very little and took out a lot.
I hope you still have a job because if you wrote this in your tea break it must have been a pretty long one. What a nice contrast to the Ginger Whinger on TalkSport. I know that they have to be controversial but Adrian Duur!Hmm? should at least make a rationale argument. This article is too much for his little brain to take in but it explores the issues in a way that most journo's couldn't cope with.
Of the many nails that you hit on the head (a) DL and AVB are not the sperm of the devil intent on the destruction of the club, (b) nor are they morons and (c) we do feed on the crumbs of information and misinformation. Let's not forget what Levy has learn't along the way. How much money have we wasted in the past on overpriced stars or ones that HR failed with all his masterful man management to play?
Tea breaks over fellah, but well done!
Not my words, but very apt considering the above.
It's about Pride,
It's about who we are.
It's about knowing where we've been and how we've come so far.
It's the colours that we fly,
It's for all the reasons why,
You can't take away the love we feel inside.
It's about Pride.
To dare is to do?
What a fcuking joke. Redknapp was vilified for bricking it at Villa, and no fcuking wonder. What he/we needed in January was a chairman with conviction, bollocks, an understanding of fan emotion. What we needed was TEETH. A scary forward, a goal machine, someone to ignite the team into a all consuming fireball. Redknapp wanted Tevez, he ended up with a damp safety match, which struck twice and fizzled out. To dare is to do.
We guessed that Levy was keeping the WAR CHEST nailed shut for the new manager. The rub is, we sacked a successful manager because we were off in a new direction (Have we bought a sat nav from lidl?). Signposts so far (jenas 2 miles) have compelled me to look out of the back window crunching on motion sickness tablets, watching Top 4 slowly dissapear.
The Modric debacle has nothing to do with our failure to sign players, Levy is. If we've caved in and sold Modric for less than 35million after a summer of rain and bullshit then may I be first to say - (due to the communications act 2011 this was hollered into at a random pigeon from the 4th floor window of a building in somewhere in Bournemouth.
Wake up people, we're heading for a cliff.
Regarding the transfers I have a sneaky suspicion that a lot of our 'targets' (whoever they really are) will be holding out for a CL club to take a punt on them. I think that as we get closer to deadline-day if there hasn't been any interest in them they will realise that United/City/Cheatski/Barcelona/Inter etc aren't interested and the players in question will suddenly realise what a good step for their careers it will be to sign for Tottenham!
Gotta garee with Whisky Tom....We are 2 days before the start of a season where AVB is expected to land running, and we have minimal forwards!! All do respect bu surely they arent relying on young Kane to be thrust into the first team squad with ONE other recognised striker in Defoe?
We needed firming up in January and it didnt happen....we are 2 days before a start of a season and we are arguably in a weaker position than January!!
What the Hell is going on!!!???
As the man on the cross sang..."Always look on the bright side of life!"
A new season. We're currently tied for first. It's all to play for. THudd and Daws are back. Ade will be there in a minute. I like AVB and I think he's the Man. New stadium is coming and maybe new money. The new shirt is fantastic. My God, can life get any better?
COYS boys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!COYFS!!!!!!!
@cookiebun
Cast your mind back to the late 80's/early90's Spurs were in deep financial trouble. Venables got together with Sugar and he bought the club. He took over the club, paid the bills and publicly stated that he was not going to run the club on "prune juice economics". ie cash in one end and straight out the other. How right he was to do so. He eventually sold to ENIC and made a profit on the deal. Good luck to him, at least Spurs are still in existence, thanks to him. Sugar took the club as far as he could and under ENIC we have progressed further. Personally I think DL has got us up as far as he can. To really compete for the top spot, year in and year out we need to have an enormous investment. However the new financial rules governing the PL may bring everyone back to the pack if they are properly applied. In all fairness to Sugar other clubs did a lot worse than us.
The great hidden point that you are dancing around, Spooky, is that it would be mighty helpful to the Levy's and Tottenham's of the world if the transfer window closed before the season started. Two games - six points can make or break a season. It is very helpful to the deep pocket clubs like the Manc's, but no so much to the next tier who may really be depending on those one or two players (or deep pocket clubs) to make a decision. Honestly, close the window in early August or keep the dang thing open until January.
That’s because the man on the cross could see his Winnebago! try doing a jig around someone, singing that shit, while they’re being repossessed, you’ll end up with a foreign -body lodged in your throat!
Eric idle wasn’t actually fearing death, he was faking it. There are loads of positives I agree, but we are on a collision course with reality, and reality bites.
Sorry guys...bit pessimistic when the season has'nt even started, but its really bugging me that nothing is happening on the striker front.....COYS!
Aaannnnndd.....Al-ways look on the bright side of-life...
The way I see it...if LevyB pull it off...we get to drink our faces-off. If they don't...we get to drink our faces-off. Either way...the season starts tomorrow so bring on the beer and the attitude, boys.
COYSTIFD