Jol has another dig at Comolli

Regardless of what Jol is saying in the press (its all Comolli's fault for buying players he didn't want), it doesn't hide the fact that he is laying blame elsewhere while on the pitch the team fell to pieces. Yeah sure the drop to 3rd from bottom can be seen as a knock-on effect from the troubles behind the scenes but it seems Martin is hellbent on deflecting responsibility to others rather than looking at his tactical naivety, even for a second.

See how easy it is to yo-yo between differing opinions on this matter? It's well documented in other blog entries and I think now Jol should simply move on (hopefully he'll get the Ajax job at the end of the season) and let it be.

We will soon find out who has the biggest say in transfers this January. I'm sure the signings will fit into the Ramos mould. Of course, maybe Comolli has learnt a lesson or two with what's happened with Jol and will now sanction exactly what the manager needs. There's no room for error and I doubt - after the Jol farce - that DM and DL will take any risk to upset the brand spanking new error. I mean era.

When Spooky met Martin

So there I was. Standing, chest pushed out, wearing my Jolfather t-shirt with pride. I’m not going to lie. I was nervous as hell. The big man was three aisles across in the frozen food section and by my calculations he would be heading back in this direction for the Monster Munch. He’s so far picked up some general groceries, pasta and some Brylcreem. Earlier I missed an opportunity, next to the organic vegetables. Sort of bottled it. Held a cucumber in my hand and attempted small talk by saying, ‘Nice size don’t you think?’ as I sniffed it. Thankfully he didn’t call security. He just smiled. That’s the Dutch for you.

Before you think I am stalking him, I’m not. Sure, I’ve kept tabs on him for a week or so noting down his daily habits and routines outside of training and match-days. And with his recent departure from Spurs it’s not been too troublesome to follow him around building a profile of all Monday to Friday activities and therefore potential places where I could approach him without raising suspension. You know what its like. Every red top journalist is probably after an exclusive. Can’t afford to make him nervous.

Obviously, when I finally do approach him and initiate actual dialogue, I need to make it appear as a chance meeting between a Spurs fan and a former Spurs manager. It’s been 5 minutes since my first attempt failed miserably. The cucumber incident wasn’t exactly how it played out in my mind. I chose Tesco’s for this very reason. You always bump into the same shoppers when you walk around a supermarket.

Further reconnaissance required. He’s no longer in the frozen food section. He usually spends exactly three minutes there. Maybe I miscalculated the average handling time with the microwavable goods. Not in the crisps section either. Damn it. Moves fast. Deceptive for a big man.

Hold up, there he is.
Time for an approach.
Be natural.
He’s looking at the aromatics.
He’s reaching out for the Twinings Lapsang Souchong. This is it, don’t bottle your one-on-one now…..

SPOOKY: “Nah mate, wouldn’t bother with that one”

Oh crap, he’s looking straight at me. With that scary slanted-eye look. I’m dead.

MARTIN: “It’s not good?”

SPOOKY: “Erm, yes. But you look like a someone who would much prefer an English cup of tea. Try this one. Earl Grey”

MARTIN: “Thank you. I will. Nice t-shirt”

SPOOKY: “Oh this? Yeah its…OMG….its you, Martin Jol! What a coincidence! I’m wearing a t-shirt with your face on it! What are the odds? I’m a Spurs fan! Wow, you don’t mind if I spend five minutes or so asking you a set of non-rehearsed questions that won’t place you in a position of uneasiness resulting with having to state ‘no-comment’ as a standard response. For the record I don’t work for the national press and wouldn’t dream of mis-quoting you and currently have no electronic devices on me such as a recording device or hidden camera”

MARTIN: “Walk with me”

SPOOKY: “Cool. So firstly, let me just say you were a breath of fresh air. Don’t think Spurs fans have sang the name of a manager as much as they sang yours. Ramos not being bald is going to mean overtime for the Lennon’s and McCartney’s of the South Park Lower. You were truly one of us. We will dearly miss you Martin”

MARTIN: “What do you think? Jaffa Cakes, Chocolate Digestives, Custard Dreams or shortcakes?”

SPOOKY: “I suppose Jaffa cakes”

MARTIN: “Hmmm. I like custard creams and shortcakes, usually together. Now and again I don’t mind a Jaffa cake but don’t care much about digestives. I usually get all four so that I always have the option. You know, with the English cup of tea”

SPOOKY: “Of course. Variety is the spice of life. So, any regrets?”

MARTIN: “I once bought some Polish biscuits. Let me tell you, they were fucking shit”

SPOOKY: “I’ll remember that. I think the way Levy treated you was disgraceful. Do you really hold no resentment?”

MARTIN: “Which way to the cereals?”

SPOOKY: “That way”

MARTIN: “Levy? No, Daniel is like Coco-Pops. He turns the milk chocolatey”

SPOOKY: “Is that a good thing?”

MARTIN: “If all you want is milk, then no”

SPOOKY: “Ok. So could you have turned things round Martin?”

MARTIN: “No, the wheels on this shopping trolley are rubbish. I didn’t even ask for this one. The attendant gave it to me”

SPOOKY: “And what about Kemsley?”

MARTIN: “I’m surprised he didn’t eat Ramos. He eats anything he can get his hands on. Me? I wouldn’t eat Ramos. Miss World, maybe. But my wife would kill me”

SPOOKY: “No regrets then with selection or tactics? Never wanted to change anything?”

MARTIN: “No. Even a broken clock is right twice a day”

SPOOKY: “Many people, directors and fans felt you struggled with team selection”

MARTIN: “A wrong decision is better than indecision”

SPOOKY: “And what about Paul Robinson? Surely he should have been dropped an age ago?”

MARTIN: “All due respect, you got no fuckin' idea what it's like to be Number One. Every decision you make affects every facet of every other fuckin' thing. It's too much to deal with almost. And in the end you're completely alone with it all”

SPOOKY: “Sorry, I…I….”

MARTIN: “Pick that up for me”

SPOOKY: “Ariel?”

MARTIN: “No, Daz”

SPOOKY: “Thanks for the chat Martin. Can you sign my t-shirt? I’ve got a silver permanent marker”

MARTIN: “My pleasure”

SPOOKY: “Martin, there’s one more thing. I don’t want you to freak out it’s a bit out of the ordinary, a bit leftfield…..”

MARTIN: “Left-field? Fuck! Look, I admit, it was a mistake to sell Andy Reid. Oh God, don’t tell me you have Andy Reid here. Motherfucker! Is that Andy Reid over there? Oh Christ, that’s him, isn’t it? It’s him. He always said he would take revenge. I’m gonna get fucking whacked, no? It's all gonna suddenly turn to black!”

SPOOKY: “No Martin, that’s not Andy Reid…that’s an obese middle-aged woman.”

MARTIN: “I knew that. What was it then? This leftfield thing?”

SPOOKY: “What I had in mind involved a box of matches and this effigy”

MARTIN: “What is that in its mouth?”

SPOOKY: “It belonged to Chirpy, pre-castration”

MARTIN: “Interesting. Meet me in the carpark in 10 minutes. Make sure the bonfire is lit”

SPOOKY: “Nice one. You planning to stay in football right?”

MARTIN: “There’s no retiring from this”

-

He didn't let me down. 10 minutes later he was there. We toasted some marshmallows and watched the effigy burn then said our goodbyes before the police arrived. He clinched his fist and gave me a reassuring nod as I stood proud on top of a parked Clio Renault chanting, 'Martin Jol, Martin Jol, Martin Martin Jol, he's got no hair......'

Goodbye Martin. All the best.

Jol: Levy is alriiiiiiiight

This is unexpected.

Martin Jol revealing that he found out he was sacked from his nephew after the game. Believable Factor – 40%

He also states that it was 'rubbish' that he knew before the game. This is believable. Levy would have waited until after the game. No logical sense to ask him to clear out his office pre-kick.

But this is the most curious of his statements to the press:

Despite that embarrassment, Jol denies he angrily confronted Spurs chairman Daniel Levy as some reports suggested.

"I don't have a problem with Daniel or the club because they treated me very well throughout my time there.

Makes you wonder doesn’t it? If Jol is telling the truth here, and why doubt the big man, then that would suggest that Levy has been telling the truth throughout this ordeal meaning that everything we have been led to believe is nothing more than exaggeration and distortion of the truth by our friendly neighbourhood tabloids. Yet some how, from body language and turn of events, you just can’t quite fathom that as a possibility.

End of day rant

We over-achieved. We looked better than we actually were. The Jol / Levy (and the rest of those mugs) relationship was deep and brooding away, behind the scenes, disguised by those two top 5 finishes. Nobody on the outside had a clue, while inside the club it was going to shit. Hence the collapse. Jol was a massive improvement on the past attempts to get this club moving forwards, but football is fickle and you can see how the whole mood at the club (in the stands) has shifted back to despondency this year just because of a 10 game poor run.

To be honest, its time we fucking banned all this 1960's shit and 'We have to make top 4' and all the other bullshit we churn out that drags us down all the time. Yes, we were really good 50 years ago, so fucking what. You can’t expect to be that again simply because you were like that once upon time. There’s not right to expect that. Yes, be ambitious but be realistic too. And the fact WE believe we should have it is something that rubs off on the players who seem to join Spurs for the simple reason that there is little pressure or stress and its a comfort zone (or stepping stone even). Seems the ‘We deserve 4th’ mentality has engulfed the board, hence the impatience and ego-wars and the PR disasters.

I honestly hope Ramos doesn’t give a shit or even mention The Past™ when he takes the helm and simply aims to achieve success for his own personal ego and gain. I wouldn’t mind seeing us finish Top 4 because of his own personal goals. This is no disrespect to Nicholson or the players from yesteryear. By definition, a club is defined by its history. But when you’re history is firmly lodged in black and white its time to create a new one. Remove the anchor and fucking sail upstream.

Jol was too much of a fan. And yes, it was endearing and yes, I fucking loved the big fat bear and wish he was my dad, but our club, our little club lives on nothing but promises and ‘what ifs’ and ‘we deserve to be there’ instead of shutting the fuck up and achieving it on the only place where it matters - the pitch.

Notice our bench last night towards the end of the game? The players enjoyed a joke. Personally think that was disgusting. For £20,000 a week I wouldn’t unzip myself and piss over the fans but they appear to have no problem doing so.

If Ramos comes in, I hope he plays players who want to play for this team, his team. That story about him taking off a player and leaving 10 on the pitch to force them to work harder for each other when they were coasting 2-0 makes me quite confident that Spurs have found the man to finally sort out this mess.

If he fails, then let it be down to footballing matters and not conspiracy theories from the board room.

Bizarro World

The timeline, so distorted and confusing. But then nothing is simplistic with Spurs.

At around 5pm Ladbrokes stopped taking bets on Ramos being the next manager, apparently most of the money coming from Fleet Street. The game kicked off without this making the headlines, but the story managed to leak out during the game. Perfect timing. Initially we were led to believe Jol tendered his resignation. Cue ‘how can he quit then manage the team for the evening?’ questions. As the game progressed, he remained glued to his seat. Looking sad, despondent and generally a beaten man. That went hand in hand with the Spurs performance. No shape no dominance. 1-2 score-line, only our second ever home defeat in Europe.

The 'rumours' continued. Ramos in with Poyet as his number two. Next week? In the summer? No one knows yet. But if we have to wait until the sun is back in the London sky, then welcome to the hellmouth.

An hour or so after the final whistle Spurs release a statement telling us that they asked Jol and Hughton to ‘step down’ after the game. Curious as it looked like this might have been agreed earlier on in the day. Especially reading Jol’s body language during the match. All in all, exactly the kind of inept (there’s that word again) handling we have come to detest from Levy and his board of directors. What a mess.

No hair, we don't care

However, I’m not going to start slating him or Kemsley. Not yet. I prefer to just say, thank you. Thank you to the first manager in an age that the fans loved and adored. Thank you for two 5th place finishes. Thank you for the hope and pride you gave the home faithful. Thank you for the progression.

Yes, it turned to shit in the end, and fuck knows how you even managed to stay on considering the bastards stabbed you in the back months ago – but you did and you will not be forgotten.

Thank you Martin Jol. And all the best for the future.

You took Spurs as far as you could. Lets hope that this is not as far as the club can actually go. Because if Ramos fails then we've hit a bottleneck.....which means we may as well let go of the dream and support West Ham.

Jol given boot

Apparently he is not included in the new Spurs Monopoly board game which would suggest the obvious. What is far more worrying is Chris Hughton’s inclusion. Although to be fair, he was a decent player for us and there is no valid reason for Jol to be included in a game. Why anyone would even bother purchasing this unoriginal attempt by the club to gain more merchandise revenue is beyond me.

I can already see how the game will pan out.

Your boss has been revealed in the media as a backstabber and is attempting to replace you as manager. Collect £4M.

Misery

Not sure where to begin.

Jol was interviewed yesterday (shown in SSN), and he stated various things that were contradictions. Like how we (Spurs) spend more time practising/training set-pieces than any other Prem club. Firstly, how would he know what other clubs do in training? And secondly, OMFG! We spend time practising set-pieces? And yet we hardly ever score from them and ALWAYS concede from them. This is like Jack the Ripper telling everyone he’s actually a great conversationalist.

Martin looked huggered. Completely defeated, his fate blatantly obvious to all. We all know he wont walk (money money money) and we know Levy has no options with who to bring in. So, the cancer continues to spread from top to bottom, from board level to first team and through to the stands where hope has disintegrated into a puddle of shit.

Is he or is he not friends with Berbatov? Who know’s. Everyone’s read about how he apparently asked Berbs 3 times to get up and warm-up. But then Berbatov has looked and acted like a stroppy bastard since pre-season so I wouldn’t blame him. Jol explained the benching down to 'saving him for Thursday'. I wonder if Defoe feels privileged to have been left at home, all in the name of the UEFA Cup.

The confusion continues to drown the memories of what it felt like to be on the up. Once more, I refer you back to the Newcastle game (yes, I have now seen it). Tactically astute is our manager and as for our players, they know exactly what their responsibility on the field should be.

Tainio: "I was surprised I was put on pitch, as I had only trained once after an injury. I went on to play on the wing - which wing it was, was a bit unclear. I think I was told to change positions four times during the match."

It’s Total Football all over again.

The Omnipresent that is Jenas continues to do what he does so well. Nothing. But to simply lay blame on his incompetence (unable to pass or hold onto the ball), to be fair, most of the team were guilty of the same inept display. Again. May as well start copy and pasting previous blog entries to save time ranting about the same thing every week. Then again, it’s therapeutic to laugh at my own misery. Helps to elevate the tragedy of the situation.

So who is exactly responsible for this mess? As manager you expect Martin to oversee and get the fundamentals right:

- Shape
- Passion
- Belief
- Fight

But there’s so much one man can do, because out on the pitch the players are producing nothing more than a Keystone classic whether home or away. Has he really become a bad manager over night? Of course not. Looking at our prima donnas you’d think they were playing to enable those relegation clauses, post haste. All is wrong and God only knows what the psychological shot in the head this will have on the club. Again, amazing how quick you can go from being ‘nearly top 4’ to utter gush. Proving that we were never nearly top 4 in the first place (blame the fans and the media on that one).

Yes we have talented players. But we have no true balance. No true leader. Key positions are weak. And talking of 'no true leader', Jol loves pointing out the fact that we have a leadership issue, but again not his fault that we spent £16M on a striker we don’t need at this current point in time. Talented players – no direction. And the same olde trend is set to be followed. We cant handle or live up to the hype.

Modern day footballers don’t tend to bust a gut for a manager on his way out. And the boards general incompetence with on the field management and football (rather than merchandising) is dragging us down. It always has. The two 5th place finishes flattered to deceive.

We sacked Graham before a semi-final. We gave Hoddle millions to spend when it would seem Levy and his pals always looked to set get rid of him in the 2004 season and did so 6 games in. Then there was Arnesen who’s advice was ignored and Levy drafted in Inspector Clouseau and his magical mystery tour bus. Nine games later he’s gone and Jol is promoted. That’s some shrewd re-structuring there, very slick. No wonder we are hot on the trails of Arsenal. Apparently that’s the reason we have a Director of Football structure at the club. We can replace a coach without upsetting the karma around WHL – and yet it seems to do the exact opposite. To further compound the fact that Levy doesn’t have a fucking clue, him and the board (including Kemsley who apparently has wanted Jol out for an age) knee-jerk after 2 league games resulting in the Ramos fiasco and this rendering our season dead.

Fact. Jol has over-achieved. The fans got a tad too excitable. The board got too Billy big-boots.

It’s summed up perfectly by this:

Levy has enjoyed popularity over the past few years because he has put up the money - but the buying policy is now under serious doubt - many people claim that Levy wanted the young English talent like Jenas and Bent - and Comolli is bringing in player after player who are not the finished article. Running a club is not just about spending money - people tipped us to break the top 4 just because we had finished 5th and then spent £40m. But look at how Allardyce and Eriksson spent their money and look at the way we spent ours.

When Levy announced we would have a DoF structure I thought who the hell is he to decide that he knows better than the boards of Man U, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea where the manager was all powerful - but we stuck with it and by chance ended up with a good coach. But with this structure there is too much potential for conflict and I fear that as long as Levy buries his head in the sand (or refuses to fuck off) we will slip back to being the also rans of the Prem League once more.

Nothing more to add.

Spurs 2 Boro 0

The Crowd: BOO BOO, What you subbing Defoe for? FFS, you don’t know what you’re doing!

Moments later…

1-0 Bale

Moments later again…

2-0 Hudd

The Crowd: WE LOVE MARTIN JOOOOOL, MARTING JOL LOVES US…..

Tactical masterstroke or sheer luck, regardless, nearly scoring goals is not good enough for Jermain or the team and Jol can be happy with himself for bringing on the Orish Ronaldinho and watching us finally break the deadlock against a Boro team full of superstars.

There is still no swagger or extreme determination. We still watch the game with the usual 'oh God, we're gonna lose this any minute' mentality. It wasn’t a bad performance though, but compare it to the past 2 seasons, there is something lacking – though again, we can put that down to all the theatrics off the pitch taking a substantial bite out of our progress. Or if you sit in the other school of thought - Jol is finally being shown up for someone who cant resolve problems that are now very much digging away at the teams moral and performance.

Defending (organisation) is still a mess. Jol is still being over-quoted by the press who seem to have Jol fighting out of a corner every day. Once more, if everything Levy and Jol are saying is true (harmony at the Lane) then why does Jol constantly say things that he knows the media will write up and exaggerate?

Anyways, 4th round for us in the Milk Cup. And a win is a win. For the moment at least, we can be proud of having Gareth Bale in our team - a young lad who is looking quite superb with 3 goals to his name.

Now if someone can find Kevin Prince-Boateng (last spotted in Sainsburys, Loughton) then please return to Martin Jol.

Another point

Reports are now suggesting that Martin Jol ‘has’ agreed to a £4M pay-out and will leave the club once they have found a replacement. This follows on from newspaper reports that he was on his way out yesterday, which were then proceeded with denials from Martin stating the stories were ‘rubbish’.

All this after a rather unimaginative 1-1 draw against Bolton which saw the return of Zokora and TT and the exclusion of Bale (rested? why?) and Defoe. Another goal conceded from a set-piece, Jol looks less likely with each passing game to resolve the long-standing problems we have. And Levy’s Ramos-chasing and the never-ending back pages has resulted in Jol managing the team with an almost scared approach.

We’ve got Boro coming up, followed by Villa at home. Our 125th Anniversary year is one tainted by internal politics and mis-management. The only good thing I've read this past week is Berbatov committing himself to the club.

Five years into Levy’s reign, all we have is opportunism in the transfer market, buying players that look good on paper rather than buying players we actually need to improve team balance.

We may still be (near the) bottom a month from now. It’s not exactly a dream start and a third successive 5th spot is looking less likely with each week that passes. But then again, there’s over 90 points to play for.

Never say die.

Know your place

Apparently Jol has had a furious row with Defoe, telling him he would 'rot in the reserves' if he failed to sign a new contract. Hard decision time for Jermain. Rotting in the reserves as opposed to rotting in the first team.

Coat already on.

NLD (posted on absinthe)

Martin Jol has to go.

This is not an endorsement of Levy’s management of the club. Because arguably, what’s happening behind the scenes has to some degree affected moral within the club. But placing to one side the politics of the situation, the fact of the matter is that perception means everything in the modern game.

Last season, when Jol gave his rapturous speech at the final home game of the season everyone was in love with him and everyone just knew, just knew it, that he wasn’t just the right man – he was THE man to take us to the next stage. But why? Yes, we limped into 5th spot again – but we were never in the running for 4th. Yes, we had some great cup runs. But how great were they? Hardly played giants of football in the UEFA Cup, and when we finally did – we choked. In the League Cup we lost out to a bunch of kids. In the FA Cup we squandered a 3-1 lead. Throughout the whole of the season we still failed to improve on all the schoolboy errors of previous seasons (defending and taking set pieces). Jol still struggled with tactical substitutions. There was still no evidence of true balance in midfield. And some players remained undroppable, no matter what their form.

Into the 2008 season, we find ourselves playing the likes of Kaizer Chiefs and the Pirates – just like we did the previous year, which also resulted in a poor start (much like this season). Other clubs were busy playing big European teams. Preparation is everything, and when have a lazy git like Ghaly suggesting Spurs don’t do much running in training, you have to question who exactly takes place in training sessions at The Lodge.

Enough of this ‘Fergie took 5 years to get things going at Utd’ nonsense. That was a different generation. The game is a monster now. And the fact is, our mentality of ‘lets be patient’ is costing us. Yes, we don’t deserve success we have to earn it. Well, at Spurs the money has been spent. We have the players. We just don’t have the manager. He has taken us to a level which we appreciate, but you have to be a certain type of cunt to proceed further (i.e. Fergie, Wenger, Jose). Even Rafa and his constant complaining and bitching constitute him as a cunt. Jol, the big cuddly bear with dagger eyes, appears to wear his tracksuit way too often. Not that wearing a suit will result with wins on the park. But one wonders what kind of respect he earns in the dressing room. But the fear of God into the players, for fucks sake. You’ve got the looks for it.

Results this season have seen us lose two goal leads. Concede last minute goals. We were plucky against Utd. Unlucky. But how many times are we gonna settle for ‘almost’ winning? Why should we settle for it in the first place? How long does it take to get things right, simple things right?

Jol still shoots himself in the foot with irreverent substitutions in the final 20 minutes of games. Players appear to back off and defend deep allowing the opposition to attack and take the initiative. And as all this is going on, our players begin to show signs of fatigue and loss of concentration. It’s happened way too often and way too consistently. And far too often in BIG games.

The NLD derby. How many times are we going to take the lead against them, on occasions matching and outplaying them (bar the 3-0 at AG last season)? Spurs have made a vast improvement in catching up with Arsenal (only because they have stagnated a little). But if you lack a team of players who have not experienced a NLD win (more the fault of previous generations of managers and average players) then it’s down to the manager to instil that belief.

Can’t beat Arsenal. Can’t beat Man Utd. Liverpool. And probably Chelsea. Defeating them last season was the kind of performance that Everton achieve over Liverpool now and again. But if we need to take that next step we have to do it more often. Other clubs – nowhere near the top 4 – have better records against the top 4 clubs than we do. Even with their lesser players, then find the spirit to overcome the odds. We flatter to deceive. It’s not acceptable.

We have to evolve. We have to make a sacrifice and remove the manager and bring in someone who is the genuine finished article. A world-class manager. One will drop Robinson and Jenas. One who will look at the team and introduce a system that works from the back to the front. Have players playing for each other and the team as a whole. Completely revamp training and preparation. Get each player understanding the very basics of the game, like closing down and bossing the midfield.

Spurs fans get slagged off for being ambitious. For wanting success. We get accused for dreaming. For aiming higher than we can jump. Well, if I didn’t do any of that I’d be a West Ham fan. We have a rich array of talent at the club. But still lack a true midfield general. Man Utd have the likes of Carrick and Hargreaves. Liverpool have Gerrard and Alonso and Mascherano. Chelsea have an abundance of grit and skill. Arsenal have Fabregas.

Spurs, with a full fit squad will still make the same mistakes because no evidence has been forthcoming that the mistakes will be ironed out.

Fully fit, we will do exactly what we did last year. Finish 5th. Get to a Q-F or S-F in a couple of Cups. And then the same will follow the next year with more players joining the club and giving Jol a selection headache.

New, fresh approach is needed. We are – on paper – the 5th best side in the country. With Levy’s pathetic display of boardroom antics he has possibly cost us that 5th place. Jol is not at fault. He’s just not good enough.

Bringing in a new manager wont be a case of ‘another transitional season’. It will be the case of damage limitation and immediate progression and improvement. An injection of adrenaline that will settle to consistent and a true 4th place challenge.

There is simply no room for mistakes with the next appointment.

True Lies

Berbatov's agent is stating that Utd have enquired about the player. Claims Spurs don't want to sell but are set to have a meeting in the next couple of days to decide. Jol tells reporters earlier in the day 'over my dead body'.

What are we witnessing here? If its true and Jol publicly states there is no way Berbs is leaving and also states the player told him that - then why the conflicting information from Emil Dantchev? Is it a ploy for an improved contact? Doubtful, as Berbs will probably leave the club in the summer, as finishing 4th after last weeks circus is a task far too grand (like it wasn't prior to it anyway).

If Levy sells the player to Man Utd then it destroys the club. Jol will walk. Spurs will be left with an ordinary side, and its normal service resumed. Back to the dark ages.

Melodramatic, isn't it? Wouldn't want to disappoint.