Luka

6 year contract. Daniel Levy does it again. And if we (THFC) manage to fudge it all up, if someone decided to pluck him away, the club would have to be heavily compensated in the way of a beefed up transfer fee. As long as the lickle man is on fire. But that's just negative talk.

We should be rejoicing in the fact that he has stated his loyalty, in both words and signature. Unlike say the ilk of a Berbatov, who only really used as a springboard to prove to Sir Alex that he was worthy of a OT move. The clue is in the quote "Yes, there have been enquiries from other big clubs, but I have no interest in going anywhere". He's Spurs. And why should he show interest in going anywhere else considering the season we've had? Footballing principles seem to be of a loyal nature with this one. And I guess he can take the risk (if that's what you want to call it) of remaining at the Lane.

Moddle is still only 24 years old. So I'm expecting him to step it up a level next season. And don't doubt for a second he won't. Add a few more goals in there and we'll have as good a player as we could wish for dinking in from the left or crafting from the centre. Obviously, if he does set the world on fire, we might lose him regardless of seasoned CL football. Modern players are ambitious and always look for the next high when one has been completed. Let's not kid ourselves, we can't hang onto everyone. But how good does it feel that for once, players in Lilywhite want to remain in Lilywhite because they believe? Makes a change, eh?

For now, we have shown intent to take 2011 by the scruffs. And that's all that should matter - to the fans, the club and the player(s). No point second guessing 2012.

First major signing of the summer, and no doubt will prove to be the best.

What did we learn from the England game?

Practically nothing.

Sure, it's a friendly and okay Fabio selected an experimental side and some of the more senior players were applying little assertion to avoid big injuries. And post-match, for Fabio to state he knows his final 23 players already would suggest that regardless of what happened against Japan, there wasn't a lot of importance bestowed on the game, other than perhaps one or two miracles to make him scratch that chin and re-think. Which is fine considering how casually inept the game was as a whole from our standing point. I mean for starters, our two goals were scored by Japanese players. Heskey might have nabbed one all for himself from 3 yards out, but the ball really needed to be 2 yards out for him to stick it away with conviction. Bit unlucky there.

Elsewhere, Huddlestone played well without being exceptional. He did what he did, passing the ball around neatly. Not really a test and not the type of game where he could perhaps show the gaffer he is a better bet than say Carrick. Our back four were pretty much woeful for large periods. Johnson was all over the shop. Again. I bet he's gutted King wasn't on the pitch to take the blame.

And then there's Theo Walcott. I know he's young, and I know two years back many had reservations about Lennon and his (lack of) end product, but why exactly we persist in a player (a confidence player with no confidence) when it's obvious that waiting for him to recreate the type of magic he's created 2 or 2 times before (that many) seems to be quite desperate from an England perspective. He has pace, and if the plan is to use him as a late sub, it still doesn't fit well considering he struggles to influence the game in any meaningful way when given more time on the pitch to impress.

He's had a poor season, has suffered from injury layouts. Still living off that hat trick, that run against Liverpool and that chipped goal for Soton. Is he even a winger? If he played for anyone else, he'd be nowhere near this squad.

Which brings me back to the point of this game. If it was one last chance (to follow on from the whole bundle left behind him) then he failed to impress. SWP did more in his appearance than Walcott has managed for countless England games. This is not a 'Aaron is better than Theo' propaganda piece. This is more of a 'let's drop the dead donkey' awareness campaign. Azza was placed on the left, obviously to accommodate Theo's inclusion. So we hardly got much from our wing-man thanks to Ashley Cole and his marauding runs on the left. That and the fact that the ball spent most of it's time going out to the right hand side, before the players got a little bored of nothing happening. I'm hoping Fabio is well aware that Lennon works better running down the wing, with a man up head to skip past - which is why he is better suited to the right-wing and no Cole. As for Theo, he's better suited at home watching the WC on his wide-screen. Although I'm sure if he doesn't travel, he'll still manage to get a mention (ask ITV and Gareth Southgate who described a Walcott shot on goal which the keeper saved, when it was Lennon who had the effort).

Okay, so it is a propaganda piece. I'm just bored of repeating myself here. And before any gooners latch onto this, there's a fair view who agree with me. If there is room in the squad for a 'wildcard' then I'd probably go with Adam Johnson. He's had a far better season. If TW does go, and proceeds to go on a mazy 50 yard run and scores the winner, then most of us probably wouldn't care if he doesn't do anything again for five years. Seems an awfully big risk and ask of the kid. He has time on his hands. Let him claim stake to true form and end product by developing and improving, rather than us forcing the issue, over and over and over again.

So, over to Fabio for that one. And for the sake of England, Walcott is better off out on loan at a club with less pressure and with no bog-standard requirement for Henry mk II posturing.

As for the rest of the game, there's not that much more to comment on. No tempo from England, all far too ordinary and predictable and pedestrian with (thankfully) some fine moments from Rooney and Hart to keep as mostly awake. We didn't use the wings - but then I've already explained why. It was all pretty much a bore, and I'm sure we'll improve tenfold when we play the USA. At the very least, it will be a more balanced side - so perhaps we'll have some form of tempo to excite us and give us hope. Might actually be a blessing, playing the USA. Could turn out to be a EPL type of encounter.

I expect Hudd and Daws to be tuning into the game with the rest us. Both lack the experience and can't be risked. Although the irony of someone like Dawson (who has arguably had a fairly fantastic season) missing out, is then not so hurtful when you consider the experience that stands before him for those central positions. Even with the likes of Rio and Terry looking a bit shaky at times. You can't honestly see him going because every CD has more England experience than him (although I don't rate Carragher or Upson above Daws - but the former is (apparently) more versatile).

It's all come a bit too late for Tommy (Joe Cole a shoe-in), so perhaps next time round. For the both of them. Crouch, Defoe, Lennon and King - dead certs.

England expects.

The Tournament pt 1 - Dark Horses

The World Cup soon cometh. And in the downtime between Spurs’ latest epic, era-changing victories, it’s a nice distraction. There will be a fair few players on show that we have an interest in, but more importantly it’s simply the greatest celebration of football ever created. I know it’s the fashionable thing to say that the Champion’s League and club football has surpassed the World Cup and the international game.

To that theory I say this – bollocks. International football is still the ultimate proving ground for the best players in the world. We’ve see countless ‘top top’ players succeed on a domestic and European level, only to be totally shown up by some minor former Soviet republic in a World Cup Qualifier.

This World Cup has all the ingredients of a straight-up banger. Wild fans, all the best teams, evenly matched groups, an element of danger and games at a reasonable hour. I will be surprised if it’s not seen as the best one so far. So who will succeed? Who will fail? And what the hell is going to happen? In a series of frankly scintillating previews, I will tell you. First of all, I would like to deal with that group of teams that everyone is always ranting on about – The Dark Horses.

The first World Cup I ever watched in detail was Italia ’90. And the ‘Dark Horse’ for that tournament was Yugoslavia. In reality, they were not a dark horse – they were a strong contender. But not much has changed. The lazy answer to the dark horse question seems to be, for this WC, Serbia. But trust me, Serbia will not make it out of the group stage, despite the fact that their main rival has just lost their best player. They (still) haven’t got a centre-forward to match their decent midfield and excellent defence. Zigic doesn’t count; he’s just a shit Peter Crouch.

Also, discount Cameroon and Nigeria – they had good teams 20-odd years ago, but have since suffered from the disease of ‘thinking you’re too good to listen to any form of coaching’. Ivory Coast are probably better placed to succeed, but suffer from the similarly specific African disease of ‘good team, shit keeper’. However similar the outfield skills of teams are, expect Chris Ronaldo and co to completely sodomize Boubacar Barry. Of the African teams, I would have tipped Ghana to have the most success, coming through their group and losing in a great game to England in round 2. But that was before Essien was injured. But who knows, maybe the stage is set for the Ghetto Kid to make himself a hero…

The group that I think could provide the most unexpected surprises is Group A. Mexico showed flashes of what they are capable of against England, and in the past 2 WC’s they have practically eliminated themselves due to pure psychological incontinence. If they can overcome these demons, I could see them beating Uruguay, Argentina, and maybe even Germany. They have a better team now than in the past 2 tournaments, but the mental weaknesses still remain.

Uruguay may well be a better bet. Despite the bizarre decision not to take the brilliant Christian Rodriguez, they could still be a force. Whoever qualifies 2^nd in that group will have to play Argentina – a team blatantly there for the taking. Then after that it’s Germany, who technically should be underdogs for a lot of games these days. Unfortunately no one seems to have told them. If either Uruguay or Mexico can raise themselves out of their collective psychological pits of despair, expect significant things to happen.

One thing is for sure, and that’s whoever meets Argentina in round 2 will give them a hell of a game. The Mexico-Argentina game in ’06 was a wonderful game of football, and one that Mexico really should have won. If they can carry that experience through, and really believe in themselves, they will expose Diego Maradona’s side. Then on to Germany…

While on the subject of Germany, let’s mention another Dark Horse. Germany. Whilst there is no way my logical football brain can entertain the prospect of them winning it, I’ve seen enough in the last few years to tell me that they will do better than they should. They are a very pedestrian team. They lack anything but the most basic kind of firepower up front. Their CBs are cumbersome.

But they have that mentality of superiority. It has carried them to WC and EC finals in this decade that they had no right to be in. And it will probably propel them to at least another semi. Ballack’s absence is irrelevant. You could put a team of German pub players in the WC and they would probably beat the majority of African, Eastern European and South American teams. They are the Martin O’Neill of international football – built for tournament play, essentially inferior, but don’t know when they are beaten (a potent mix).

Now onto 2 teams which are the antithesis of the German side – South Korea and Japan. South Korea remains the last true enigma of World Football. People will always tell you that their achievements in 2002 were due to dodgy refereeing, but that is mostly elitist football propaganda. They rode their luck against Spain, but beat both Spain and Italy fair and square, and were the better team in both games. They have those performances in them. They are quick, strong, and technically good. But they have the crumble factor.

As do Japan. In the last WC, Japan comprehensively outplayed both Australia and Croatia, but failed to win either match. They are a brilliant passing team, and they actually have pace and great organisation too. Sooner or later they will learn to shoot and then we’re all in trouble. Along with Russia and England, they are the great inadequates of world football. All the talent and tangible resources you could want, but lacking any form of winner’s mentality.

If you really pressed me, I would tip both Greece and Denmark to come through and the 2^nd place teams in their respective groups. The experienced European bully-boys boring everyone on their way to routine 2^nd round elimination. But if either of Japan or Korea brings their game-faces, then we could be pleasantly surprised. Korea should beat Nigerian and Greece comfortably, but something tells me Greece will old-man their way through. Not a dark horse so much as a shit horse.

Dark horses are notoriously tricky to predict. The problem lies in the fact that whenever a team is tipped as a dark horse, they suddenly are put in the pressure situation, and the freedom that they would have experienced is taken away. This usually leads to a total breakdown, the most famous example being Colombia in ’94.

The teams that make a good fist of being dark horses are usually the teams that no one in their right mind gave a chance to – Cameroon in ’90, Bulgaria in ‘94 and Senegal in ’02. This is where, paradoxically, the Asian teams could have the advantage. No one, quite rightly, is tipping them to do anything, so the pressure is off and anything they do achieve will be a bonus.

by guest-blogger Chrisman

Still to come – The Favourites, The Fakers and the The Players.

Memories

Casual musings for a Friday afternoon, as I guess most of you are out of the office already, and down the pub downing a few, in what looks to be another decent start to the weekend. I'm stuck indoors, with the newborn, not yet had the chance to review the days headlines (or lack of) and what players (other than Richards) we're being linked with. Although I'm keeping a curious eye on City and their targets, and whether players from the continent, who play seasoned CL football, take a plunge - for the project and not for the money - and sign for the Eastland's outfit. Six/seven forwards on their books, hoping none of their rejects make their way to the Lane.

Back to the casual chit-chat. Earliest memories of supporting Spurs? Mine, are:

1980, Ipswich at home. I think John Wark scored a penalty at both ends, we lost 2-0. Upper east stand towards the Paxton End, and I remember an Ipswich fan sitting next to me with his dad. I was a wee kid, obviously. Might have been my first game actually, and I'm fairly certain I feel asleep for a period of time just after the second half. Boring boring Spurs.

1980, running outside into the back garden to re-enact Brookings goal for West Ham v Arsenal, moments after it was scored. Picture-perfect memory. Wasn't too fussed about the Hammers, but seemed to have a natural instinct to enjoy the misery inflicted on the red scum.

1981 Cup Final. Both games. I remember these vividly, including the interview Keith gave re: Villa and his performance, and the conundrum over whether he would play in the replay. Like it was yesterday.

1982 Milk Cup final. Not sure this was on tv, remember listening to it on the radio with my uncle.

Showing my age no doubt.

Fergie's Grudge - Why he keeps trying to nick our best players

There's a bit of noise about the place regarding Luka Modric as a potential transfer target for 'Yoonited.' Most of us can laugh this off as a bit of slow news day, pre-World Cup nonsense, but then we've been here before haven't we? Harry's been swift to nip it in the bud this time, although there are some that can't help asking why he would bother making a statement on something that is supposedly untrue. I guess the only way to kill the story is to get the chequebook and the specially engraved contract-signing pen and give the boy a bit of a raise. Just ask Gareth Bale.
 
But why is it always Fergie that comes batting his eyelids at our prize assets every year? Sheringham, Berbatov and Carrick succumbed to his wily charm just as we were starting to build a team around them, and we were a much weaker side for it. Yes the lure of playing for the self-appointed 'greatest team in the world' must be quite exciting for any professional. As is the chance to clock up a few medals to show the grandkids. But you rarely hear of Chelsea or Liverpool doing the same. At least with not such brazen consistency.
 
Well I think I've found the answer. Today I was ambling through youtube electronically jizzing my pants at various video compilations of our most recent season when I came across (figuratively, not electronically) an interview with 'Ol Red Nose talking about the talented Mr. Gascoigne. Besides being quite an interesting interview, if you watch to the end you might finally understand why Surralex is hell-bent on signing any decent player we manage to get hold of.

What a sad, bitter old man he is.

by guest-blogger Fox Mulder

Not so Keane on Robbie

Robbie Keane. A few seasons back I would have had him down as my favourite Spurs player in our squad. He was on fire for us. On fire. And his goal scoring record in the Prem is pretty much conclusive for anyone who doubts his ability. Sure, he's not world class and he sucks most of the time when faced with a one-on-one situation where the brain is required to act faster than his feet. But for all the much-maligned negatives thrown in his direction even when he was doing a job for us - like his pointy shouty antics and sometimes playing too deep and complicated or far too flicky with the ball - there is no doubting his pedigree. Well, at the very least prior to his move to Anfield. After that season in red, his pedigree was fed to the dogs.

And he returned, wounded, a move of desperation for both us (Defoe injured) and Robbie (had to get out of Anfield). We all know the story. He did okay initially, galvanised us without ever really tapping back into the olde mojo and then it all went a bit flat. No big surprise. Tainted at Liverpool, how he managed to bag the captaincy on his return remains one of the more questionable decisions made by our gaffer. Rafa never wanted him, showed in Robbie's confidence. And it must be fairly soul-destroying for people to suggest you're not good enough for the next level. Although to be fair to him, there are plenty of players at Anfield at the minute who fit into that category anyways.

Joining Celtic in the manner he did (on loan and in a league that is some way off from past glories - the standard of football up there isn't exactly fantastic, honestly, it's shit) - was all very apologetic and  embarrassing. Great goal-scoring ratio for the hoops, but you could send Theo Walcott up to the Scottish Prem and he'd probably score in every game too.

Okay, he probably wouldn't. Let's try this again. Great goal-scoring ratio for the hoops, but you could send Theo Walcott an inanimate carbon rod up to the Scottish Prem and it'll probably score in every game too.

So once again, his comments are being reported on in the press (having a month or so back cited that he was still a 'Tottenham' player - he's reminding everyone once again). He wants back in at WHL, at least that's the suggestion. The reality is, he can still play for a EPL team and make a positive impact. Just not us. I don't mind being proved wrong, and I'm cynical enough to believe perhaps all this attention seeking is nothing more than a heavily disguised yet still obvious 'come and get me plea' to other clubs, but I sincerely hope we draw a line under this.

Keane - a fantastic servant to THFC. He found his home. But like most footballers, wanted to take that risk at a critical moment in his career. If he didn't he could deem himself unambitious, and hindsight is hardly helpful until after the event, and can only be used to shake ones head after it happens and wonder what if....what if he stayed and hadn't moved on? He'd have cemented his stature at Spurs as one of our most loyal modern day players. Instead, it's all a bit tarnished, and people have a habit of remembering the way it ends (badly, low-key) rather than all the good bits that came before.

It didn't come off for Robbie on his adventure up in Liverpool. Monumental shag-up for him. Good luck for the future, just don't expect it to be in Lilywhite. And stop whoring yourself back to us. It's unbecoming.

But I don't hold a grudge. He made a mistake. I'd rather remember what he gave us when he was focused on all things Tottenham. Oh well, you win some, you lose some.

The Redknapp Revelation

Harry Redknapp has revealed himself unto me. He appeared and spoke, softly but firmly, and assured me that everything was in hand. He spoke not in a voice or manner I recognised. I was startled at first, but then felt a wave of warm, comfortable euphoria sweep through me. He said ‘Fear not my child. And listen not to what is said. For the truth is thus – we will put those godless fuckers in their place. United, City, Chelsea, Arsenal – Judgement Day is upon them, and soon mankind will rejoice in the Kingdom of Tottenham.’ It was at that point I realised that how Harry appears physically to us is simply his ‘earthly body’. He has to do this; otherwise we would be bewildered by his brilliance. He has spent his time in the wilderness. Many people doubt him, and call him a shaman. But he will lead us to the Promised Land.

Harry has been tested this season more times than I care to remember. And each time he has come through with clarity and skill. I knew he was a good coach, able to organise a defence and get a team passing the ball better than the average gaffer. What I also thought I knew was that he was a man of simplistic footballing views and assertions. And that these assertions would be what ultimately held him back from the upper echelons. More fool me. When Robbie Keane was being sent on loan to Celtic, or Jenas was being basically put out for the binmen to pick up after the Wolves debacle, I found myself double and triple taking – is this really happening? Did Harry really haul Jenas off at half time, never to dress him in a Spurs shirt again? Did he really publicly humiliate £20 million club captain Robbie Keane? Did he really make the calls that all of us implored him to make, but privately thought were a bit too outrageous? Yes. Yes he did.

How many of us, hand on heart, would have gone with the Modders/Hudd CM combination? We thought Harry would be humble, play it safe. 2 points from 8 games. Never had it so good. Punching above our weight. And how we all fell for it! The clues were there though. All season, whilst always playing things down, he quietly muttered that we were aiming for 4^th. Of course, he did more than enough to counter that with the constant bollocks spouted about how good Liverpool are, how far we’ve come, how grateful we should be etc etc. And I use the word bollocks advisedly. Because that’s what it was. Pure bollocks. Harry knew all along that we would do it. Privately, he is probably mad as a lorry that we finished with as few points as we did. Privately, he knows that next season they are all there for the taking. All of them.

He could have brought in a safe bet as keeper (James, Green), but he didn’t. He stuck with the big, odd, whackjob. He could have sold Dawson, or just let him continue having the regular schoolboy panic attacks. He could have let Bale drift as the next floating showpony. He could have let Huddlestone become Jan Molby but without the team-mates. BAE and Bentley have come on so much since Harry and his team of coaches got hold of them. Harry has coached the arses off them, and induced quite remarkable rises in the performance levels of most of the team. Even the recruitment of Sherwood and Ferdinand, when viewed retrospectively, is genius – what PL player has ever heard of old jokes Kevin Bond and Joe Jordan? Better get a couple of flash gits with nice suits and lush birds that the players will listen too. Then sneakily make them better players without them even noticing, while Shersy and Ferdsy regale them with enthralling tales of mindless idiocy.

Harry made many errors this season. Playing Keane and Jenas for too long. Not playing Pav. Getting the left sided choice wrong at times. But on all of these occasions, he has righted his wrongs with startling speed. Once all the debris had been cleared and the engine was tuned up, the team was like a runaway train. And when the hard choices had to be made, he made them. No sentiment whatsoever. Wilson, sorry, but you are not the centre midfielder for the ‘next level’. Thanks, but no thanks.

He has learnt a lot. Nobody knows everything, something that certain other North London managers would do well to remember.

And maybe I’m losing my fucking mind here, but maybe, just maybe, Harry is about to switch on all of us. Secretly, late at night, in Harry’s palatial home in wherever, when Jamie has been tucked up in bed in his Spiderman PJs, Harry lights up a fat Cuban cigar, and sits back in his big chair, Tony Montana style. And he turns to Sandra and says ‘You know what luv? We’re gonna rip this shitty little slag-league apart next season. Wenger? Fucking losing it. Fabregas? Gone. Fergie? Alzheimers. Drogba? Don’t worry; I’ve got a mindgame for that little tart. Lampard? Modric. Mancini? Can’t speak English. Ferdinand, Essien, Persie, all crocks. Vidic is off. Ok, so maybe give me Evra, or that other little ponce who can play left back. And Rooney or Tevez. The rest can fuck right off.’ I’m not saying this because I necessarily believe it. I’m saying it because I believe that Harry is at least 2 steps ahead of us all, and believes in the talent of himself and his players a lot more than anyone else does.

All this transfer talk of Bellamy, Richards and Carlton Cole is rubbish. He is going to sign 2 shit-hot strikers and 1 left back. He knows that there is no such thing as standing still in this league. You’re either going forwards or back. And forwards for us means challenging the top 2. And you ain’t doing that with Craig Bellamy, much as I have always been a fan of his play. Behind the façade that Harry presents to us, there is a disturbingly ambitious and motivated man. Harry wants to prove he is the best. Behind old cockney bagpuss is an absolute beast of a manager waiting to be unleashed.

By guest-blogger, Chrisman.

Never pass to Walcott

Cracking ad this. Especially the Rooney bit. And yeah, it's a slow news day.

The Bill Nicholson Stadium, thank you very much

Blog articles might be a little sporadic from me in the next several weeks, most of my active on-line time will be in late evenings and the early hours of am. Good news, no more epic 10,000 word extravaganzas for a while, so happy days for people who like short, snappy blogs that don't choke up valuable time away from surfing porn. Although this one is ye olde slighter bigger than average size edition.

Guest bloggers have been busy with off-line duties too, but they've all checked in, so plenty to come in this summer of World Cup disappointment (it's going to be penalties again) and the usual shenanigans what we have come to love and know as the 'summer transfer window' (Spurs fan up a tree looking into The Lodge, in 3...2...1...).

Anyways, tonight's article is simply this: I love the new revised stadium design (re: Northumberland Dev Project). Official site article here if you've been asleep all day. To quote the sexy key bits:

• A redesign of the Southern area of the site resulting in a stunning new design for the hotel and residential buildings.
• An enlarged public square on a raised podium, which extends from the High Road to Worcester Avenue and connects directly into the Stadium, new Tottenham Hotspur Foundation offices set alongside facilitating even greater community use and activity.
• A high quality environment along the High Road with a new courtyard setting for retained historic buildings to the South and trees, gates and structures in front of the Stadium linking to the existing terrace of historic buildings to the North.
• Grade II listed Warmington House, along with 3 other locally listed buildings with historic links to the Club, to be retained - the Red House, Dispensary and the former White Hart Pub - all to be refurbished and brought back to life.
• Fantastic new Club Megastore with integrated Club museum, ticket office and café.
• Further improvements to the development including a Skybar and roof garden on the adjacent supermarket, linked directly to the Stadium.
• The re-use of the famous Bill Nicholson Gates, ‘Cockerel on the Ball' Clock and ‘Golden Cockerel' statue within the public realm.

Lovely. So basically we are looking to retain some history along with improving on the original design (hotel and residential stuff).

I'm glad we were asked to go away and come back again because if you compare the original design (the one that had no listed buildings left after the proposed rebuild) to the new one, you'll be hard pressed to disagree that it's not been improved on, tenfold.

Original design:

Look at the bottom right-hand corner, no listed buildings, hotel etc across the face of the stand.

New revised proposed design:

 

Yeah sure, the listed building sort of look out of place/quaint, but for me its the change to the hotel bit that is a massive improvement. In fact, the original looks completely cluttered in comparison.

For actual photo close ups of the listed buildings, click on the below links:

http://www.savebritainsheritage.org/pix/articles/tot5.jpg

http://www.savebritainsheritage.org/pix/articles/tot6.jpg

http://www.victoriansociety.org.uk/images/photos/Tottenham_Dispensary_1910,_no746_locally_listec-2.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3104/3107773597_b714451612.jpg

Regulars to the Lane will get a better perspective of things seeing the above linked photos. What does make me smile is that these buildings have sat there, some of which are derelict, and nothing has been done - by anyone - to restore them to former or in-fact newly-improved glory. We want to knock them down, and machine says no. Doubtful they would say no to the new plans. Why would they when we are giving them purpose once more?

I could handcuff myself to the gates if things got tasty with the board of directors

Nothing to hate, everything to love about this. Not too shabby of a new Spurs Shop either. For more information on the building which formally had the Cockerel at the front of it (Red House) click here. There's a bit of nostalgia attached (or not so much of since 2008) and retaining the Bill Nick gates along with that removed golden Cockerel, we get a nice nod to the past. Obviously, security must be tight here, on the look out for any cheeky West Ham fans that might drive up the high road at 4am to pay us a visit and leave their calling card for us to choke over whilst we tuck into our morning bowl of corn flakes.

Again, can't believe I didn't hate on the original design more when I first saw it (the hotel part of it).

Kudos to the Bill Nick inclusion too. Mr Tottenham Hotspur deserves this elegant touch for a new era, linking us right back to when this club became a fully fledged giant (before falling into deep sleep again for a while).

Shame there are no multi-millionaire pound companies called Bill Nicholson out there looking to buy the rights to the naming of the new stadium. Because I can't think of a better name for it.

Perhaps we could request the sponsor to be part of a pre-determined template, i.e. The Bill Nicholson 'enter sponsor here' Stadium?

Petition anyone?

Stadium images can all be found in their original form over at the official site.

The Huddlestone Proxy

He is perhaps the player that has elicited the ‘ahh I get it now’ response from the crowd (as the season itself unfolded) and from fans alike, and over the course of the season has grown in stature. But there are still question marks for some.

Spooky has previously mentioned the conundrum, in that whilst he appears to some to be immobile, lacks pace, is a luxury player, goes missing in big games, needs to play alongside a strong defensive player (basically Sergeant Wilson) to play to his own strengths or indeed lay off the Tommy K, he is not without his merits. And all of these have been common consensus opinions, since joining the club and a lot are, to be frank, not without merit (although the Daily Snail clearly haven’t heard of Photoshop).

      Huddburger anyone?

As some of you here will know, for the last couple of years I have been banging the drum (to the extent that I have been accused of acting as his PR agent) that Huddlestone is the closest we have had to replacing Carrick, to the point where those that have not been converted to my way of thinking have been silently assassinated and I carry on in my crusade. And as much as I’d like to now sit back and say ‘I told you so’, that wouldn’t tell the whole story.

But taking a step back it is easy to see that Huddlestone is also an anomaly in the bigger picture. It would seem the media has consistently pushed for an altered view on the game in England and with so many opinions out there by ex-professionals it is easy to see how it happens.

We are told time and time again about how great the English Premier league is, how tough it is and how the pace of the game is so much more intense than our European counterparts. And so in this frenetically paced environment we see an increasing number of waif like players, athletes who can ‘kick a ball a bit’, as opposed to the more skilful ‘guile and craft’ type players whose numbers appear to dwindle year on year, a perfect example of which is the increasingly frustrated Berbatov (who’s love for squirrels may see him moving to the continent).

And yet I can still (just) remember my Saturday morning’s as a nipper being told to pass the ball because ‘the ball can move quicker than I ever could’, this was relentlessly drummed into me (not in a Roman Catholic priests way) and yet amongst the myriad of opinion from ex-players it never gets commented on. Instead we are simply told that it is ‘pace’ that is so dangerous to teams and that these days they are all highly toned ‘athletes’.

Well Hudd doesn’t really have pace, I’ll grant you that, but he does put in some good leg work (often not noted or indeed commented on). So does that make him a ‘luxury player’? What exactly is he? Is he an attacking central midfielder? As he’s not your ‘box to box’ engine that get’s tagged onto so many other central midfield players (notably Lump-o-lard, Gerrard and more recently Fletcher for United). So maybe he’s not the player you want at ‘the top of the diamond’ or pushing forward. However he does have one hell of a strike on him when he connects. Conversely, he seems not to score very many from the positions he gets in, he doesn’t drive into the box to get onto crosses, in fact if anything he sits off waiting for the counter attack (good in my opinion, others find it frustrating).

So is he a defensive midfielder? Well there are some who say he can’t tackle, that stats from the last season alone will contradict that one, but actually this is where one of the subtlety’s of his game comes in. If you position yourself correctly and make it difficult for an opponent to get round you, you can stop them advancing without actually making a tackle. Helps If there’s a lot of you to get round of course, but it slows the attack and will force the opponent to rethink his attack. Does this appear on the ‘stats’ that get poured over each week? After all clearly there someone somewhere sat at every game with an abacus marking down every half-tackle, half-chance, along with the incomplete passes? Again you only have to look towards the media for their views on all manner of stats and indeed opinions. 

Well I have yet to see a specific column for ‘defending well without making a tackle’, but I have noted that Hudd has done this to great effect in some games (not all, and this is where the criticism is valid), most obviously in games where he shepherds the player into the brick wall that is Wilson.

But this whole ‘quarter back role’ that he’s been saddled with, does that make the best use of the fact that he can score a cracker right out of the top draw? And it relies on Wilson doing the tackling and passing to him to make the pass. Surely if you had the one player who could do both it would be more effective, wouldn’t it? And a quarterback dictates play, Hudd even at his best never really seems to ‘dominate’ oppositions, he just gets about his job without the shouting and ref surrounding that the aforementioned ‘box to box’ players all seem to have in common. He’s not a vindictive or terrier type player whose attitude commands the middle of the park like a (Roy) Keane or a Dennis Wise.

So he can’t beat his man for pace, he can’t really tackle (allegedly), he doesn’t have a ‘big lung bursting engine’ on him, and he doesn’t appear to outwardly have the big game attitude, so what is he? This ephemeral ‘luxury player’?

Or maybe he’s just a straight forward central midfielder, no ‘makalele’ or ‘quarterback’ tags. Just a simple player, where all he has to do in the middle is receives the ball and makes a pass. Well yes, but then anyone can do that, right? Wrong!!!! I refer back to one of the most frustrating and loveable players to have watched in recent times, Didier Zokora, who would run 30 yards to make a 5 yard pass, rather than simple make the 35 yard pass in first place. Was it because he couldn’t complete a pass over 5 yards, or that he was simply a headless chicken? I don’t know, I loved his heart and attitude, but it was never really matched by his play as it slowed down our attacks and allowed the organised teams to get back into their ‘two blocks of four’ an expression Messrs Hanson and Dixon seem to have patented.

So Hudd can make a pass, course he can. But that’s not the simplistic beauty of his play, no it’s always been far more subtle than that. He has two of the ‘gifts’ that others are not graced with, the ability to place the ball on a silver platter in any position on the pitch and more importantly the vision to see the movement by his team mates. Combined these give speed of thought and execution of a pass that turns defence into attack, and can split the most resilient of defences, or catch out players who have pushed out of position. For me, if the ability to create a goal from a single pass is a luxury, then in my humble opinion it’s a luxury every team could do with.

So I will now say that Huddlestone is the best midfield player we have had since Carrick, for me even better than Wilson (a sacrilege for some for me to even suggest that) and has the potential to be greater still. Sure with age and experience comes the ‘dominating’ aspect of the game, but he can tackle, and does, he puts in some of the hard yards and he ‘sees’ the game when he is on song.

He is versatile as well, he can sit back and make his passes allowing a more ‘craft and guile’ (Modders) or even our own ‘pace merchants’ (Lennon and Bale) to benefit from his ability. Or he can push on and dictate play higher up the pitch (alongside Wilson), as he seldom loses possession and so he allows a higher line of attack and defence. He brings the Balance to both our attacking and defensive play the likes of which we have not seen for some time.

For me he was my player of the season, admittedly this is mostly because I am biased towards wanting him to do well, but also because he has come on so much that we really missed him when he was out more than any other single player (I’m discounting the King as he was always likely to be out regularly).

Sure he’s not the exciting Welsh winger or goal poaching Russian that we love to love, and he’s not the ‘headline grabber’, nor will he get the crowd out of their seats. But, in terms of his overall ability, the effect he has on the game and just as importantly our balance and style of play, it looks like we’ve finally got a young English central midfielder around whom we can base a free flowing game of passing and movement – well passing anyway.

Hey, he might yet make the cut for the final 23 this summer. And I for one am hoping so for England’s sake, Rooney thrives on service and is often acknowledge for his ‘off the ball’ movement, just imagine what he could do with the sort of service that Hudd could give him from deep positions (now’s there a quote for some of you). Lennon (and Tottenham) has already benefitted this season, maybe England can too.

And to all those that wanted him sold 18 months ago I can only say ‘ner, ner, na, ner, ner’! Childish I know, but hey.......... 

.......Go forth and consider the above.

Summer transfer fun: The calm before the...er...storm?

Sandro Arrival Date

Won’t be arriving to N17 until after Internacional get knocked out (or go all the way) in the Libertadores Cup. The next game being played is the second leg of the quarter final (20^th May). They won the first leg. The semi-final second leg gets played on the 2^nd August. So he’s potentially a fair distance away (literally)  from joining. Not forgetting he’ll need to squeeze in a summer’s holiday before training at the Lodge.

So, should take him a few months to climatise to the EPL and life in England and in the mean time we’ll find out whether Harry will continue to start Modric and Huddlestone in the middle or tinker depending on opponent. Sandro, the squad player, at the very least in his first season at the Lane. What we do with the centre of the park and Wilson/Luka/Tommy is a renewed conundrum that will need resolving.

Pav

On his way? The suggestion is that Lokomotiv are looking to approach Spurs again for the Russian forward. No shocker here. Roman had a fantastic mini-spell for us scoring plenty, but perhaps it was inspired with this move in mind, rather than any inspirational man-management from Harry. We do need to make some room in our attack for new blood and Crouch and Defoe offer our gaffer something tangible in comparison to the fragile Roman (Crouch – mad skillz for a tall person / Defoe – destroys the offside trap).

Oleg Artemov (Pav’s agent) is at it again. Says that the player has adapted to the EPL and that he has remained because of the trust shown in him and his performances (oh and the little matter of 4^th spot) but then states there will be negotiations. Add to it the quotes coming out of the Russian media from Nikolai Naumov (Lokomotiv president) and we might be looking at reclaiming the money spent in the first place. Which means...

New striker

We need one. We need a talismanic forward. A next-level forward. And now we have the promised land of CL group stages in our sight, money has to be spent on someone who can smash in 25-30 goals and bring the type of dimension witnessed in Berbatov’s debut EPL season. Asking for the moon on a stick, aren’t I? I can’t think of anyone domestically who fits the bill. As for the continent? Edin Dzeko is a name being touted about. He’s a Bosnian who plays his football in Germany for Wolfsburg. Cracking little player, and expect bigger badder clubs to be interested in his signature. It’s not beyond the realms of possibility, but his wage demands might be (I guess, with 4^th spot claimed, does Levy review the wage structure at the club?). Then again, is all this newspaper talk or forum talk? I forget. The reality of the situation is, unlike Berbatov prior to us signing him, Dzeko is being chased by seasoned CL sides who are serious about signing him.

King

New contract. Says a lot this. He deserves it for the shift he put in this season. Yes, he’s a cameo player but when he does play he’s on a completely different planet to everyone else. Has massive pockets in his shorts where opposing forwards, with thumb in mouth, sleep for prolonged periods during games. Only got one knee, and yet here he is. Still Tottenham. Still a freak of nature. And his 4 games on the trot run at the end of the season should be enough to prove he is ready to answer the call for England.

O'Hara

I've lost count of the interviews and headlines this guy is generating at the minute. Current one is that he's thinking of changing his international allegiance to Ireland. Okay. I think England might survive that bombshell. Just about. If he is being genuine about fighting for a place at Spurs (he's got no chance of being a starter) he should shut up, enjoy his summer hols then buckle down for some hard grafting at the start of the 2011 season. If he's simply using all this to indirectly advertise his availability, then for once, I hope he quits this constant sob story airing and simply asks his agent to get to work behind the scenes and spare us from this daily torture.

ITK (in the know) update

Can’t say there is one. Plenty of the usual BS floating around in the basin of tabloids. I see Robert Green is linked. Riiiiiiight. Harry claims all deals will be done BEFORE the World Cup, but then why should he give anything away? Perhaps all our targets are not involved down in South Africa and he’s agreed with Levy we only need one or two players. Doubtful. We’ve got plenty of deadwood that needs to be transformed into sterling and if we are serious about stepping up to the next level that new striker is required along with CB cover and perhaps another midfield.

Arda Turan is another name the papers are citing. A starlet of Turkish football. Scores a few goals. Tasty. But where would he fit in? And don’t you dare even think the ‘he’s a Modric replacement’ thought.

So, CB. Another central midfielder. A back-up goalkeeper (preferably a decent young keeper). I’m not that fussed about our usual intake of young players, mainly because I’m still waiting to see how we handle the likes of Bostock re: development along with a few other academy stars who are meant to be highly rated. Inglethorpe has his hands full there. What we need is to improve our squad (obviously) and perhaps a couple of cheeky ‘experienced’ signings might aid us (if) we get into the CL group stage. Along with, of course, that CB, CM and Forward.

If we’re going down the route of expected ‘targets’ (targets being the players the tabloids and ITK forum dwellers will be latching onto) then expect the following domestic players to be mentioned countless times:

Micah Richards

Joe Cole

Craig Bellamy (handshake innit)

Steven Pienaar

Ashley Young

Scary thing is I can see us inquiring on a couple of them. And I wouldn’t say no to one of them at the very least. The less about the usual ITK favs said, the better (Diarra, Sissoko, Muntari). Been there done that.

As for Robbie Keane’s return. Soz. No. It’s what you get for following your boyhood dream to the gates of Anfield.

Potential qualifiers for the CL

Thought I'd share this for clairty. Although tbh, there's still a chance of remaining a tad confused for a while longer until all leagues are done and dusted.

Thanks to Goonbasher (GG.co.uk) for bringing all this to our attention.

As you know we are seeded for the 4th round of the non-Champions qualifying round. Seeded and unseeded teams mentioned below relate directly to who we might be playing (remember these are 4th round seeded and unseeded sides - if you click on the link at the bottom of this blog post, then you can see the seeded/unseeded sides for round 1/2 including both non-champions and champions).

Seeded teams                   coef.              Unseeded teams                 coef.
------------------------ --- ----------------     ------------------------ --- ----------------
Sevilla                  Esp 108.951              Fenerbahçe *3            Tur  54.890
Werder Bremen            Ger >94.841              Dinamo Kiev *3           Ukr  42.910
Zenit St. Petersburg *3  Rus  61.258              CL-QR3 *3                     39.659 - 47.898
Tottenham Hotspur        Eng  56.371              Sampdoria                Ita >30.810

 Ajax *3                  Ned  55.309              AJ Auxerre               Fra  19.748

As you can see above, some clubs still need to get past round three (*3) which means if those qualifying from round 3 survive, then we potentially face either:

Fenerbahce

Dinamo Kiev

Sampdoria

Auxerre (possibly)

or 'another side'

(sides that might get through the second round, i.e. Celtic, Braga, PAOK, AA Gent and a few others).

And if (/prays) we get through that round, then (just to get you wet in anticipation) the below gives you an idea of what the four pots the clubs are drawn from will look like, allowing you to fantasise about some of the possible away trips and visits to the Lane we could be in for. Although just to reiterate - the below at this current time is just a prediction thanks to the sides (including us) that still have some work to do.

Group Stage (32 teams)

Pot 1                          coef.              Pot 2                          coef.
------------------------ --- ----------------     ------------------------ --- ----------------
FC Barcelona             Esp 136.951              Olympique Lyon           Fra  96.748
Manchester United        Eng 125.371              Werder Bremen *4         Ger >94.841
Chelsea                  Eng 118.371              Real Madrid              Esp  84.951
Arsenal                  Eng 115.371              AS Roma                  Ita >83.810
Bayern München           Ger>110.841              Shakhtar Donetsk         Ukr  73.910
Sevilla *4               Esp 108.951              Benfica                  Por  72.659
AC Milan                 Ita >99.810              Valencia                 Esp  66.951
Internazionale           Ita >98.810              Olympique Marseille      Fra  62.748


Pot 3                          coef.              Pot 4                          coef.
------------------------ --- ----------------     ------------------------ --- ----------------
Zenit St. Petersburg *3  Rus  61.258              FC København *3          Den  34.470
Panathinaikos            Gre  56.979              Spartak Moscow           Rus  33.758         
Tottenham Hotspur *4     Eng  56.371              Hapoel Tel-Aviv **       Isr  27.775         
Glasgow Rangers          Sco  56.158              Sparta Praha **          Cze  27.395         
Ajax *3                  Ned  55.309              FC Twente Enschede       Ned  25.309
Schalke 04               Ger >54.841              Rubin Kazan              Rus  21.758
FC Basel *3              Sui  48.675              CFR Cluj                 Rom  15.898
Anderlecht *3            Bel  42.580              Bursapor                 Tur   6.890

For all the gory details please visit this website of oracle quality - http://www.xs4all.nl/~kassiesa/bert/uefa/seedcl2010.html and keep an eye on the confirmation of the final qualifying teams for the pre-group stage.