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Entries in all action no plot (4)

Saturday
Apr172010

Cult Heroes caption competition update

From this.

All the below made me chuckle extra-hard.

Mackay "what do you mean you can see into the future and we will underachive for decades"
Apr 12, 2010 at 5:06 PM | the glory boys

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you should have gone to speck savers
Apr 12, 2010 at 8:07 PM |  martinspur
 

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Bollocks you "slipped on the pitch"....
Apr 12, 2010 at 8:32 PM |  PLN

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Mackay: "Trust me, this image will go down in history. 50 years from now, long after our playing days are over, we'll still be immortalised in caption competitions the world over. We'll be legends, I tell you, legends."

Bremner: "We or you?"

Mackay: "Details, Bremner, always with the details."

Apr 13, 2010 at 9:47 AM | Ginola14

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"She's not even born yet but I'm climbing on Dannielle Lloyd before you do. Now Fuck off!"
Apr 13, 2010 at 1:02 PM | Skinny

 

Ginola14. You win. Get in touch.

 

And for the losers of this wee caption comp, you can still pick yourselves up a copy of 'Spurs Cult Heroes' in the Spurs shop all good bookshops and online (at Tottenhamhotspur.com, as well as WHSmith, Amazon, Tesco, Waterstones and Play). 

Follow the All Action No Plot facebook group here.

Monday
Apr122010

Cult hero anyone?

We might not have any new heroes to induct in our hall of fame after the weekend, but there's still plenty of time for the current batch to write themselves into history. Chin up and other stuff you might do to put on a brave face. Plenty still to play for.

In the mean time, we can at least be content that we have a rich tapestry of history when it comes to players who know how to swagger. And All Action No Plot's first book captures the ethos of our club by looking at some of the finest to stick on a Lilywhite shirt. 20 of our very best players are included in 'Spurs' Cult Heroes'; essential reading by AANP blogger Michael Lacquiere.

It charts the greatest moments in the club’s history – from the FA Cup win of 1901, to Gazza’s demolition of Arsenal in 1991, via the Double-winners, Ricky Villa’s wonder-goal and many more. It also explores some of the behind-the-scenes stories - including what Dave Mackay said when he grabbed Billy Bremner’s shirt, how Keith Burkinshaw reacted when offered Ardiles and Villa, who dented the FA Cup and why Gazza turned up for training covered in £50 notes.

So fancy a free copy? Of course you do.

Best caption wins one.

 

And for the losers of this wee caption comp, you can still pick yourselves up a copy in the Spurs shop all good bookshops and online (at Tottenhamhotspur.com, as well as WHSmith, Amazon, Tesco, Waterstones and Play). 

I think I just officially sold-out there, telling you to go buy something from the Spurs shop.

Comp also on DML facebook page.

Follow the All Action No Plot facebook group here.

Tuesday
Mar232010

Sandy signs

Transfer sagas. We do them better than anyone. During the duration of the deal that appears to have taken Sandro from Internacional to White Hart Lane (pending medical and the dreaded work permit) we've done little talking out in the open. Other than Harry's rehearsed sound-bites to questions from the media about how he thinks 'the chairman' is working away at it, we've not given much away. It's been impressive from our side. No need to be in the know until everyone is made to know.

All the hullabaloo that has kept the guessing at Richter scale 8.0 has come out of Brazil (not quite epic - that honour belongs to The Sock aka Diego who hit around 10.0) with the deal - on the surface - yo-yo'ing from collapse to maybe from one week to the next. I even got distracted with suggestions that Real Madrid were sniffing around, which is believable considering the noise made was loud enough to attract their limitless pot of money and acquisition greed. That and someone saw some documents, but let's not talk about that.

As per usual we all take every written word as variants of gospel. Sort of. Not always believing it to be factual but still deeming it worth of commentary and making assumptions based on the half-truths (gospel) in the aftermath.

Politics, deflection, mis-quotes, lies, guesswork…whatever you want to tag them as, you never quite knew how far-gone the progress of signing this young rough diamond midfield player was because of all the hype. I'm sure a representative from Internacional (or was it their chairman, I forget?) suggested that the clubs partnership (to loan players to us) was not even finalised. There was always a lopsided viewpoint which for the rest of us translated as: This is a difficult transfer. Even the player got involved and in the end the clue was in the statement about learning English in preparation for a possible move. The words 'done' and 'dusted' finally whispered quietly for the first time.

All very colourful and erratic. Which is what you come to expect from the boys from Brazil. Regardless of how we've got here. We are here. And if you strip away all the message board discussions and red top twist and turns, you might find yourself believing that this deal wasn't as tricky as it looked.

We showed interested. We signed him. Months later, but still, signed.

73 appearances for his club. Three goals. And one full international cap (and has captained the Brazilian U-20 side). I've not seen enough of him to form a true opinion. I'm sure most of you are in the same boat, and tbh, when it comes to players from abroad there is always a risk element, mostly around adapting to the culture and EPL. And the types of Brazilians who travel over here are never the sexy types. But then we don't want that. What we need is more steel.

So, who is Sandro?

He's young. He's athletic, very strong but perhaps not the best passer - so they say. We wanted an understudy for Palacios - we've got one. Uncanny. And to bring in a player of this ilk means that he must have some potential because we're going to have to be patient (look up the word in a dictionary) for him to bed in. Unless his mental strength and confidence is such, that he will be happy to be thrown into the deep end and come to terms with English football quickly.

Does give us options in the middle now, and quite possibly spells the end of Jenas. Yes - JJ is a different type of player (not sure what type he is - I'll let you know the day he reaches his potential) but with Huddlestone, Palacios, Modric and now Sandro - we have enough in the middle to swagger it up even more than usual. New cult hero in our ranks?

/prays

The more cynical amongst us might think this deal is part of the relationship we have with Internacional and them loaning youth players to us in preparation for any potential move they make to Europe. Is this a sweetener? A long term deal? Does the player see the next five years of his career at Spurs? Does his former club get any % of any future transfer?

The even more cynical amongst us would go one further and question why the likes of Kleberson, Denilson and Lucas are supposedly ahead of him in the defensive midfield pecking order for his country.

Where's that dictionary?

 

Talking of cult heroes check out Spurs' Cult Heroes - the first published book from All Action No Plot blogger and writer Michael Lacquiere. I'll give it a proper review when I get my copy delivered. Be sure to check it out anyway, available from the Spurs official site, WHSmith, Amazon, Tesco, Waterstones and Play…to name a few. Shop around.

Blanchflower, Mackay, Jones, Chivers, Gilzean, Jennings, Hoddle, Perryman, Greaves, Mabbut, Ginola, Nicholson, Gazza…list is endless. Well, it's not exactly endless because he'd never have been able to get the book out, but its jam-packed with legends.

Will be giving away a copy soon. Stay tuned.

Friday
Mar122010

Big Sam, little impact

From an interview, Sam Allardyce (continuing his war of words with Rafa), states the following gem whilst discussing Liverpool:

"The last time one of the big four didn't finish in the top four it was Liverpool - Everton got that spot - and I think this time it looks pretty difficult having lost against Wigan.

"They are having to rely on other teams slipping up now.

"They have a wealth of experience and that may be a telling factor when the nerve ends start jangling. We saw what happened to Tottenham a few years ago with the famous 'poisoned lasagne' scenario - which was obviously never the case - and they let it slip"

What was never the case? The fact that several of our players, ghost white in colour, left their vomit all over the pitch at Upton Park? Or was that just down to the occasion? The ear-bleeding inducing reaction from the locals singing that one same dreary song over and over and over again. Or perhaps the players having epiphanies that we had no right to gate-crash the CL and nerves got the better of them, with diarrhoea decimating our hopes and dreams, which had both left the ground before kick-off hand-in-hand to go fetch their shinebox.

Nice dig there Sam. Subtle, sort of blink and you'll miss it though. I read it on Team Talk. By accident. Not exactly back page banter. I guess too busy with your man-crush on Rafa to fully concentrate on ye old Tottenham and try and stir things up properly post-match.

Shame on me for getting all Bruce Banner there for a minute almost turning a shade of green (green because I'm citing the anger of Banner turning into the Hulk rather than going green from eating a dodgy lasagne or catching the Norovirus - just thought I'd clarify that to avoid any unnecessary confusion).

Whilst on the subject - It's far more media-friendly and joke-friendly to tag the whole incident as food poisoning even though the hotel in question was cleared - which I guess is what Sam is referencing there, bit like saying 'if its not food poisoning then its down to nothing more than bottling it on the day'. Miss Marplesque deduction.

Smash them to pieces I say.

Regardless of the dig, it's only going to rile up a couple of fans and will hardly do any psychological damage to Harry and the players, considering that game happened way way back in 2006. Big Sam, little impact.

Smash them to pieces anyway.

Hit them hard, like an Opus dropped on your head. Talking of books (I'm so smooth), something not so heavy but possibly as good a read (and far more affordable) - make sure you check out Spurs' Cult Heroes - the first published book from All Action No Plot blogger and writer Michael Lacquiere. I'll give it a proper review when I get my copy delivered. Be sure to check it out anyway, available from the Spurs official site, WHSmith, Amazon, Tesco, Waterstones and Play…to name a few. Shop around.

Blanchflower, Mackay, Jones, Chivers, Gilzean, Jennings, Hoddle, Perryman, Greaves, Mabbut, Ginola, Nicholson, Gazza…list is endless. Well, it's not exactly endless because he'd never have been able to get the book out, but its jam-packed with legends. We've had one or two special players in our history, not bad for a ickle club.

Time for a cuppa.