Jermaine Jenas. Good enough for Jose Mourinho's fantasy football team, not good enough for Tottenham's first team. To Forest on loan. For a month. I still remember the day we signed him from Newcastle, discussing his fee with another Spurs supporter. JJ was and will always be the original poster boy for Daniel Levy's erratic 'buy young, buy British, sell for profit' transfer strategy. A failure in this case, unlike say Michael Carrick, bought and sold for a tidy profit.
The problem with Jenas? This easily explained conundrum centres around the fact that he 'had all the tools' to be a top class player. Managers, coaches - they all saw something most supporters in the stands struggled to see. Yes, he has an engine. Yes, he's an athlete. But I've always considered these attributes as a given to any player wishing to stamp their authority in top level football. That's the problem with JJ. He struggled to command, he struggled to own the midfield. On occasions, he was unplayable, but then every player has his day. Every player is capable of that something special. When a player destroys the opposition, this isn't always a preview of what to expect every Saturday afternoon. It's just something out of the ordinary.
We got sold on the all-action movie trailer which turned out to show the only all-action bits in the movie.
It was the lack of any true consistency in all those other games that frustrated. And sure, we all tend to miss/ignore the subtle stuff, the grafting which he was capable of because of all those other expectations. There sits in a dark corner the sorry face of irony. We wanted JJ to succeed. We wanted him to do well. We wanted those electric performances he would save up now and again for when we played Woolwich.
Articulate off the pitch but not overly confident on it, its a shame Jermaine isn't a compete **** like Lampard or Gerrard. If he had their relentlessness ethic, ego and self belief, he'd probably be club captain. Good luck at Forest, back where it all started. There might still be a twist in the tale.
'What exactly does Jermaine Jenas do?' video originally posted: Saturday, July 17, 2010 at 2:46PM