Love Story

Sometimes it's best to remember the good times because they were good and the feeling you had at the time, undeniable. So why pretend any different? If it happened and you felt great at the time then surely that's worth something and therefore worthy of a small place in your heart. The bad times might be fresh in your mind, so it can be difficult.

You meet a girl, it's unexpected and you're unsure about it but soon enough you're smitten. And even though she might annoy you and frustrate you at times, there is something about her that you just can't resist. Even when she's standing in the kitchen waving her arms around screaming at you, it's worth it because soon enough she'll perform a fancy trick that leaves you starry eyed. Energetic and loyal, the perfect combination. Even if her dancing wasn't the best, she still made you smile.

It will never end you say to yourself. And then it does. Abruptly. And there's nothing you can do other than scratch your head and wonder why she walked out on you. You can't understand her reasoning especially after she claimed she was happy and content. But off she went to be with her childhood love with his fancy job jet-setting around Europe, leaving you with nothing more than the memories of the relationship that made it such a strong one, as you question and wonder why it had to change. Why she took the easy option. To walk away. Not so strong after all.

Sometimes its best to just remember the good times, right? But it's hard to do so. And it's especially emotional and confusing when she comes back, not because you wanted her back, but people have a habit of forcing the issue and you think, go on then, let's see if we can make it work. Because it did work once upon a time. She's been dumped, rejected. I shouldn't forgive her but there's too much in the past that has us anchored together in the present. I can't turn my back on her.

You're conflicted.

But alas there's no spark. There's hardly any passion. No matter how hard you both try. No tricks. Not even a shouting match in the kitchen with her waving her arms around pointing at the mess you've made and failed to tidy up. In fact she hardly acknowledges it. You're both just going through the motions, only together again because of circumstance, any hope of turning back the clock lost in time.

You know in your heart it's over. For good. But even though the relationship has been tainted and the love completely lost, you can't disregard the history between the two of you as much as you'd like to detach yourself from it. It's set in stone. There's no point in being bitter either. People make mistakes. You know she made a mistake. She knows it. But then perhaps it was never a mistake and the magic had degraded much earlier, you just never really noticed.

So an amicable parting is for the best. A respectful one. Because there is nothing to be gained by being twisted or cruel. She knows. You know. Best to move on.

And that's it. All over. Goodbye. And good luck. Thanks for those memories.

Life, it's a series of choices, decisions, when taken can lead you to good or bad paths. Sometimes forgiveness is not an option. Sometimes it is.

Talking of goodbyes, Robbie Keane will be allowed to move on in January. He's in our squad for the Twente game, which we need to win to avoid the potential of an 11-0 loss at the Camp Nou in the next round. He might end up at Newcastle now that BMJ looks set to take over up there. Better than Scotland or the MLS I guess. Well, actually probably not, probably on par. Wherever he ends up, I hope he has one more jig left in him.

And if he happens to make an appearance, a final fling, a one night stand for old times sake. I'll politely applaud.

It's the right thing to do.

Goodbye Zoko

134 appearances.
No goals.
Locomotive runs from midfield.
Plenty of dancing.
Plenty of smiles.
Great engine.
No brain.
Comolli classic.

Goodbye and good luck to Didier Zokora.

He was meant to be some form of Carrick replacement. A defensive midfielder to fill the void. Comolli positively beamed when we signed him. He looked the part. Athletic, strong. But tragically Zoko's first touch and lack of depth to his passing quickly let to the conclusion that he was £8M better spent on someone else (which we did anyway with Kaboul).

In two games Palacios showed us what we had hoped to get from the Ivorian. Composure. Intent. Intelligence.

But he wasn't all bad. He did give us much in the way of effort. And he was superb when covering as a right-back, proving the lack of footballing brain he possessed as he was able to perform the job admirably there. Mainly because the job as a right-back is more straight forward then it is in centre-midfield.

He never scored. He never came close. Well maybe once. And there was that run and shot against Chelsea in the Carling Cup final that had everyone screaming/jumping/crying when it ballooned into the sky. But all was well in the end, as he jigged along to the music along with thousands of Spurs fans. He knew how to lap it up.

£8.65M apparently the fee. Not too shabby business that. Although we might have forked out a bit to them for the Ramos compensation. But at least the window has began for us.

One out. Bent next?

As for our departing friend. Average footballer. Great guy. I bet he scores on his debut for Sevilla.

Have a good one out in La Liga Zoko. You mad bastard.

The Ballad of Zokora

If there is a moment that sums up Didier Zokora it's the run from midfield in the Carling Cup final against Chelsea. The run that should have ended with a goal, which would have put us 2-1 down. The run that had every Spurs fan in Wembley and at home or in the pub looking up to the heavens for an answer. Storming forward with the goal in sight, he smacked the ball with absolutely no direction. Hearts in mouth, followed by heads in hands. I just smiled reminded myself that the end product of a Zoko glory moment always ends up in row Z. But as much as I should hate the bloke for his rush of blood to the head incompetence, I can't.

Maybe it's the infectious smile. Or the after game dance, jigging up and down for the Park Lane. Or the fact that even though he has the discipline of a virgin on Viagra in a brothel his determination and effort could never be doubted. It's unfortunate that he wasn't as good a footballer as he was an athlete. But then, all footballer are (meant to be) athletes, so what we got with Didier was a player that was unable to fill a void left by the departed Carrick. The lack of that ever-so important footballing brain.

Its more so frustrating because there are certain players you want to see succeed more than others. Didier is one of these types of players. Honest to the bone in effort. At the Lane we've had far too many apologetic players in recent years. Players who are loved and hated. Players that always have excuses made for them by the ones that are hoping they see the person in question improve and prove the others wrong. Jenas is the most cited. But Zoko has far more in common with a certain Steffan Freund. An absolute legend of a personality, if lacking a polished touch. For all their hustle and bustle neither ever found the net for Spurs.

Zokora cost us £8M. And rather than take the game by the scruff of the neck in central midfield, he struggled to assert himself. Much like one of his locomotive runs, there was never any discipline or composure. Stick him into the right back position (or even left back) and it was like watching a Zen version of the same player. Calm, controlled and focused.

But alas, he is a central midfielder and when you compare him to Wilson Palacios your hope and aspirations to see the lad make it at Tottenham disappear faster than you can say 'no first touch'.

He's a decent bloke who quite obviously loves playing football and loves playing for Tottenham. He connected with the crowd (usually with a long range shot) and gave it his best. Unfortunately his best isn't quite good enough. Hopefully he does end up at Sevilla rather than a club in the Prem, because I don't know whether I could handle him scoring against us. Which you know would happen in one of those ridiculous footballing moments of oh my gosh irony.

Didier, wherever you ply your trade. Good luck and all the best.

Zoko running with the ball through the middle, down the wing or from the back,
Park Lane faithful, please close your eyes and pray to the Gods for a slice of good luck,
Because the swerving ball will probably hit you hard in the face if do not quickly duck,
But do not fret and do not curse,
For Zokos smile and jig will nurse,
He dances up and down which you can't help but love because he thinks he's so cool,
And as you leave the ground you'll find yourself singing all the way to the pub...Do do do.

i-Zoko for sale, battery life good, playback erratic

You've purchased a brand new mp3 player. You had it imported from abroad. Cost you a packet too. But you had no choice having had your previous model nicked. Your new player might not be a known brand over here in the UK but its likely to make a name for its self based on reviews you read.

It's sturdy, no flashy gimmicks and does exactly what it says on the box. Or at least that's what you hoped when you removed all the bubble wrap and packaging. The reality was altogether a little disappointing.

Instructions state that it needs a decent battery charge before inital playback and that the more times it's used the better the quailty gets. And battery life is decent, but the device fails to improve with usage. In fact, it gets worse, none of it aided by the low intelligence of the application.

It has no problem switching on and off, but the shuffle hardly works and most times it takes more than one touch to get anything to work. When selecting fast-forward the player doesn't stop. The search option is non-responsive and when you think you've found one thing you end up with something different. It also struggles with varying formats.

But worst of all the player spends most of the time jumping up and down after prolonged periods of playback.

You find yourself gutted that you've spent £80 on something that isn't up to the job. So your only option is eBay. Except nobody is interested in buying a second-hand player with clumsy playability for the same amount of money you bought it for.

Knock off a few quid.

£40 should get you one or two interested buyers. You might even manage to sell it to someone outside of the UK where they still rate this particular player highly. I hear it's very popular in Spain.

Talking of which, Didier Zokora is looking for clarification on his future with Sevilla sniffing for his signature. Don't think he has a future with us so best we look to off-load him and stick the money in the transfer pot.

No need for eBay. Just accept he isn't worth the transfer fee we originally paid for him and move on.

Departed

From the official site:

Stalteri departs

Paul Stalteri has had his contract with the Club cancelled by mutual consent.

The Canadian international joined us from Werder Bremen in the summer of 2005 and went on to make 56 appearances, scoring three times.

We wish Paul all the best for the future.

Thanks for the memory