SSN (Spooky Sports News) Morning Report

So, footballer Pascal Chimbonda has declared he is on his way to Newcastle because…well, let him tell you himself:

“Kevin Keegan has approached me and they’ve offered me more money. I am definitely leaving Spurs. It’s all about the money. I don’t care about the final, I don’t care about the cup.”

What a prick. For the record, you’ve had about two decent games this season. Liability better spent lazing around in the Newcastle defence rather than ours. Not exactly surprising he is moving on so quickly. He shafted Wigan. He was always going to shaft us. Although it's far more likely that he is going because we (Ramos) doesn't rate him. Hence the Hutton chasing and the fact that we haven't denied he wont be sold.

Although, as a disclamier, maybe the quotes have been made up. It is, after all, The Sun who run the story.

Classy

Robbo has come out all guns blazing:

(From Sky Sports News)

"It's not exactly a fall-out. I was disappointed to be left out - like any professional would be - but I'm certainly not angry at being dropped by the team if you like. Every professional player gets phases like that in their career. If the manager decides I'm not performing and I'm not up the standard he wants at the time then he picks the team and I can't argue with that. I was disappointed with the way the situation was handled let's say. I saw reports yesterday saying I've put in a transfer request, I've never put in a transfer request."

"Definitely not. However, any professional worth their salt wants to play. If I don't play between now and the summer I've got a decision to make. If the club turn around to me and say I've got no future at the club then that's a whole different situation. As of yet that's not the situation.

The press and media seem to be having a lot of fun and games at my expense recently and I seem to be reading stuff day in, day out. The truth of the matter is I'm getting my head down and working as hard as I possibly can to get my place back. I've taken a lot of criticism over the last 12 months. I think it's affected me. I think it's unfair. At times my confidence has dipped, but I'm rebuilding it again."

At least he has admitted he has been affected by it all (self-inflicted though Robbo mate), all though less of the ‘unfair’ and more of the 'rebuilding' should be the way forward for him. Time will tell if Ramos has dropped Robinson so that the player can prove his true worth to the team by fighting back into first team selection and recapturing his past form. Or if he has simply paved the way for a transfer. Spurs will buy a keeper in the summer for sure, with Cerny on his way home when his loan finishes. Whether Robinson will be number one or not down the player. He wont stay at the club if he is number two, and will be flushed faster than your first dump in the morning.

Then we have Woodgate. The Darren Anderton of the defensive world. Hardly ever fit (although unfair to say he hasn't done ok this season). So quality when he is fit, but….but always a risk of a break down. Are we aiming to bid for as many 'not sure I want him' players as possible? First the one dimensional Downing and now a crock. With King back in the team and Dawson finding his form because King is back in the team, the last thing we want (if King gets injured) is a player who probably won’t be fit at any given time. Although I shouldn’t be that scared of this going through, as the likelihood of Wodogate failing his medical is very probable. Surely the world pool of available players is massive. Is Comolli scouting via the BBC’s squad selector? Jesus wept.

Its the 25th January. There's not that long to go before the transfer window shuts.

Still no central defender.
Still no right-back.
Still no defensive midfielder.
Still no creative midfielder.

Although potentially:

Still no central defender. Woodgate.
Still no right-back. Hutton.
Still no defensive midfielder. Tiago.
Still no creative midfielder. Jenas (to blossom under Ramos).

Is this the way forward?

I'll ask again in a month.

"Right", said Fred, "I'm staying at Lyon"

So Fred rejects a move, probably due to the fact we won't pay 70k per week. Who are we kidding? Why would anyone want to join a club with no Champions League and a wage cap? Harsh reality. But then we don't want to go down the route of some clubs who pay ridiculous amounts in wages. Thinking about, we pay ridiculous amounts in transfer fees. Not quite on the ball are you Daniel me old son? Talking of which (quote from the start of the month):

"Juande, Damien and I have reviewed the squad and Juande feels that we are not looking at any major changes. We are all clear that the January window is the worst time to buy quality players so we shall not be doing any business that is not essential.

"Once again for the record, we are not a selling club, rather we are building for the future. When we have players on long contracts we have no need to entertain offers."

Yes, thats why we bid £8M for Hutton (he didn't want to leave his beloved Rangers)

We agreed a fee with Lyon for Fred (he wanted silly money to join)

We want Downing, Downing knows we want him, but Spurs are not willing to pay Boro the fee they think the player commands. Quite shocked here considering how much was forked out for Darren Bent. Maybe Daniel's ball control has improved a tad.

Almost (potentially) £25M for three players had the transfers occured. Read the Levy quote again. Now stitch up your sides up.

Maybe Spurs will focus on signing players who can play in the positions we need to improve on.

Stitch 'em up again.

Element of surprise

Boro want £12M for Downing. Petrov, proven international and La Liga veteran cost £4.7M. It's not difficult to see what's wrong with this country. How Southgate can keep a straight face asking for that amount and how we persist in mugging ourselves off with paying it is beyond me.

So far, we've been linked to several players, with ITK's and the press alike, sharing the whorage. I'm gonna place the little faith I have left on Tottenham signing one or two players 'OUT OF THE BLUE'. In other words, players nobody who claims to be an insider has knowledge about.

I'm pretty sure, Berbatov came out of nowhere. Never remember reading anyone claiming to know we were after him - although the Bulgarian media picked up on the story, us lot over here didn't get a sniff of it. Obviously, the position this time will be a midfielder or defender rather than another striker (if you believe the press and forums, 'Fred' is on his way).

Gunter was 'out of the blue'. You'd just expect the quality would be as near to world-class as possible, because once we lost Berbatov we won't have a player of that type of quality in the squad.

Replace 'hope' with 'expect'.

Back to the whorage

I love the rags. Back pages telling us Defoe was set to be Harry Redknapp's first signing for Newcastle. Yes. The same Harry who this morning told everyone he isn't leaving Pompey. Still, he may yet sign JD. Although gossip suggests Villa will be in for him (matches up with the news item about him looking to buy a house in the Midlands for himself and his bit of skirt).

Another player who's future is in doubt is Robbo. Again the press suggesting he handed in a transfer request. If this was true, then see you later Mr Robinson. Bit fucking immature. However, Jeff Stelling on Soccer Saturday stated he knew (ooh ITK) that this was untrue. Still, Poyet didn't offer anything either way today stating:

"I would say no comment because I don't know. There is nothing wrong with Paul. He was part of the team and squad today".

Cerny did OK in goal. He got beaten from distance. Which I'm sure is something I've seen before, somewhere.

Late last night I got a text telling me deals for the following were on the cards, with some of them practically done (yeah right):

Diarra
Jarque
Fred
Downing

Diarra and Jarque are not new 'interests' in the transfer market. Fred is. I pray that the only reason we are looking at yet another striker is because Defoe is on his way. So, get rid of inconsistent JD and bring in the inconsistent Fred. A player rumoured to want a return to Brazil where his goal-scoring ratio was fantastic. Hasn't set France alight. Perfect for Spurs then.

Downing. Christ. £12M? We do like to burn our money don't we? Though in actuality (I hope) Spurs would fork out something like £2M-£2.5M a year for 3 years and then pay out more depending on appearances/goals/CL (lol).

Downing is not £12M player. He isn't a bad player. Harsh to call him average, but he isn't world class and he isn't all that better than what we have at the minute. Yeah, lovely left peg as they say. One of the best crossers of the ball in the Prem, but can he beat a player? Can he devastate like a Petrov? Nope. Is he a Ramos player? Does Ramos know who he even is?

I wouldn't be aggrieved with him joining, just not for a ton of cash. The fact is, the player is the crown jewel of Boro, so they will not want to let him go for cheap. It's more to do with him being their prized asset rather than a player worth every penny of a multi-million pound transfer fee.

And if we layed 12 big ones, do the math with the money spent on Bent. That's our sodding case overspent on players who are not in the 'fucking ace' category. But then, the team isn't in the category either. But then we did pluck Berbatov out of the continent. So, how about doing the same again.

Ramos is improving the team, from top to bottom. And he knows that his ideal tactics and style of play won't happen with the current bunch. Some need to be culled. The remaining need to be complimented. If Ramos believes Downing can restore balance on the left, so be it. I'm guessing Steed will move into central midfield. When Bale returns, that left side (along with Gunter) won't be too shabby.

But a Ramos 'team' needs one box-2-box midfielder and one defensive midfielder. Those are truly the key positions. Defenders are always wanted at the Lane. But at least things will be easier now the King is back.

UPDATE:

£10M for Downing, with Tainio thrown in as part of the deal. Not sure who's getting the worse of it.

Transfer News

Right. Let’s do a roundup of the past weeks tabloid whorage.

Woodgate and Taylor

Apparently, rejected on both counts. If this is true, then it makes you wonder who else Comolli has written down in his hit list of prospective signings. Woodgate? Has he managed to play more than 3 successive games in his whole career? Taylor is decent enough but considering Newcastle’s problems it’s nigh impossible for them to consider selling him unless he wants to leave. Which is unlikely.

Prefer to file these under ‘disinformation’.

Hutton
So, we bid for him. It got accepted. He declined the chance to come down South. His agent then stated the player wants 2/3 days to think about it. He then apparently rejects us again. We wait a few days and then offer him a better wage packet. He turns it down again. How all this managed to be leaked to the press astounds me. Behind closed doors is a concept football agents are incapable of grasping. £8M for a player from Scotland is about £5M too much.

Berbatov

Oozing class on the pitch at the moment. His agent is insisting that Dimitar’s future lies elsewhere. And that it’s all down to Spurs to take responsibility and settle the matter, suggesting that Spurs may have had bids for the player or attempting to suggest that Spurs want to sell the player against his will. A bit of arsehole is this Dantchev.

Ronaldinho

LOL’ing yet? Back in November an article from Spanish ‘tabloid’ stated a rumour that Ron was on his way to White Hart Lane. This was then dismissed by the journalist who made it up, claiming that his intent was to show how easy it is to start an Internet rumour – and have the newspapers latch onto it. Obviously, nobody credible printed the ridiculous story other than the equivalent to the Daily Star. He should have aimed a bit lower if he wanted to go nationwide with the ruse.

Then, some idiot decided to revise this with an alleged ITK piece which would have us believe that a boardroom conversation was subject to a wire tap (I mean, ffs). Levy allegedly stating that he would pay £30M for the Brazilian. The ITK piece originated from the COYS forum.

Here’s the wire tap:

"Hard to believe Danny’s prepared to shell out that kind of money."
"Saw it with my own eyes; offer on the table for 30 very big ones!"
"Will they take it?"
"Hard to say?"
"He beat both Lumps and Henry didn't he?"
"Yup."
"Would he come here?"
"Even harder to say."
"Tottenham might be a bit of a shock to him."
"It'd be a long way from Port Happy all right" "We can dream. "

Pathetic. The author has since admitted it was a joke. In this day and age, it’s likely to get picked up by a lazy hack and printed (not the wire tap, the ‘Spurs want Ron’ angle). Some minor minor Internet sites have already run the story. LOL’ing now?

Ustari

Apparently Ramos is keeping tabs on 21 year old Oscar Ustari. He’s an Argie and plays for Gatafe. Meant to be pretty decent. Not sure if this one has made it into the Spurs forums yet. Guessing probably has, considering that the press will link anyone considered decent to Ramos due to his Spanish connection.

Shimbonba

Just fuck off.

Defoe

From The Sun:

“The manager has said I can leave if I want — but I want to prove him wrong. I want to stay here.

“He called me into his office and told me.

At first, I thought it was a joke. I thought he was going to say I would be starting against Arsenal in the Carling Cup, which was why he didn’t give me a game against Reading at the weekend.

“But he just said ‘You can leave if you want to’. Yet I have no intentions of leaving this club because I love it here.

“I would love to sign a new contract — and I know people at the top of the club want me to stay.

“But no one can expect me to sign a new deal if I can’t get a game.”

I can't help but laugh. If it's true, then Ramos and the club are actually doing the right thing here. Defoe is looking for the Bosman, plain and simple. And the club don't want to lose out on several million quid. Why should they? It happened with that Judas c*nt, and having to listen to more 'I love it here' soundbites grates me.

The reason he doesn't start more games is because he's not in the same class as Robbie Keane, let alone Berbatov. He has no footballing brain and blows hot and cold far too often to be anywhere near consistent. Fact is, he is dispensable. The club won't be fooled again. He's claiming that this is Ramos telling him he can leave, rather than DL or DC. Believing word for word anything that the papers print is always foolish, so at the moment I don't see this as anything else but a rehash.

If you wanted to look beyond the sensationalism, the story may be as simplistic as Ramos telling the player if he wants to leave he can leave and Defoe stating he wants to be top of the pecking order at the club. Defoe will take the option to leave for the reason given earlier.

Berbatov Update

Oh, we do like these, don't we? We get them every day. If it isn't Ramos or Levy or a football agent or another player, its Berbs himself this time. Interviewed on the radio.

According to Blighty (who lives in Bulgaria) who post's at the COYS forum, Berbatov was interviewed by Nova TV via telephone. Summary:

- Berbs was angry stating that all the 'quotes' attributed to him in the press about wanting to leave or wanting to play for Manchester United are not his own.
- Other people, including Danchev - his agent - are speaking for themselves and not the player.
- He was asked about leaving and he said he had everything he wanted at Spurs including the money he wanted.
- He didn't directly say he wasn't leaving but gave the impression he wasn't personally pushing for a move in the Jan window.

Again, the fact that he doesn't directly state 'I am not leaving, I want to stay' means that it's pinch of salt time. With rumours of Chelsea tapping up the player, this interview makes him appear to be innocent of any transfer goings-on, which will then make Spurs appear to be the ones selling him on their own accord when it happens. But that then contradicts everything Levy is saying about the matter. See how easy it is to read anything into a string of words?

We've known for an age something isn't quite right. Nothing has changed. I'm counting the days till February.

UPDATE:

British press now reporting on the interview.

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11095_3028551,00.html

Public Apology

I should know better (though part of me is still screaming that something ain't quite right). Berbatov has finally spoken out about all the rumours, and isn't best pleased that lies are being published about him wanting to leave Spurs. I wonder if the press will cover this story in comparison to the other ones suggesting he hates being at the club. Ironic that yesterday evening I was reading about Ramos suggesting he couldn't keep the player at the club if he didn't want to stay.

Berbs:

"I don't like to speak too much and don't like to be in the spotlight or the papers," said the striker. "I just want to play football.

"There has been a lot of stuff written about me leaving. I haven't said anything until now, but they are now involving my family and I cannot allow that. When somebody is writing lies about my family I must get involved.

"I am my own man, when I want to speak I will and I will tell you the truth no matter how hard it is. That is why I am talking now.

"I want to let everyone know that I am a Tottenham Hotspur player, I love the club and everyone at the club. I don't always smile so much, but that does not make me a bad person.

"I don't smile because we are near the bottom of the table and have not been playing well - I have not been playing well either.

"The worst thing is when someone starts writing lies and when people see that they start to believe it. That really is the worst thing.

"I just want to say that I am here, I am happy here and I will help the club in any way I can," he added, before stating his gratitude for the ongoing support the fans have given him since his arrival from Bayer Leverkusen in the summer of 2006.

"The fans love the club and they have been behind me ever since my first game. I appreciate them the most and I want to tell them that I am not going anywhere.

"I have a contract and I will give my best, for now it is not going so well for me because all the writing in the papers has been messing with my head and I lost my concentration.

"I don't want to see my name in the papers anymore - I just want to play football and enjoy myself. When I see things in the paper with somebody telling lies about my father, how can I be calm? I am disappointed and I don't understand how somebody can write something like that - it is a lie.

"Bringing my family into it is the biggest sin."

That's pretty conclusive, no? Would someone truly lie about his feelings so publicly? Well, ok, not a good question considering a certain Judas did something very similar a number of years ago. But this seems geninue, and I feel a tad guilty now for believing everything else about the player just because he sulks. Not that I'm forgiving him for his lack of effort and other complaints I have about his form, but I suppose you could argue that his lack of form has more to do with the fact that his team mates are shit and we have high hopes of him to carry everyone on his back due to being some what 'world class'.

I think it's time for his feet to do the talking, and hopefully todays UEFA Cup match and Sundays clash against wonderful Wigan will play a big part in re-building confidence for Berbatov, the team and the fans.

This story is covered by most sports sites (who took the quotes from the Official Spurs site), though nice to see the following in todays The Sun:

"Dimitar Berbatov's brother says the Bulgarian striker has "outgrown" Tottenham and wants to join Manchester United "

"Dimitar Berbatov's brother says the Spurs striker gets "grumpy" when he is not the "centre of attention and main man "

There's an interview with his brother, but no quotes from Berbs, more an opinion from his bro - however, would he lie about family in this manner, blatantly saying that Berbatov wants to leave? See how easy it is to get confused when people are constantly contridicting statements?

I feel dirty that I allowed my frustrations to blind me to simple logic. Just because a newspaper reports something doesn't mean its true. Even and interview with Berbs bro.

And if Berbatov does have personal issues, unrelated to football, these are his own and not for us to judge him. Won't stop the gossip though. And we all know that even when certain people in football say something, it doesn't mean they mean it. Look at Jol and his short stories and soundbites.

I'm gonna wipe the slate clean. Today is a new day. The past is the past.

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.

Riquelme

Riquelme's agent (yesterday evening) was on various late night football shows on Spanish radio (cadena ser, radio Marca etc) and stated that Tottenham's offer of 15 million euros for Riquelme is the best that the club has received and that Villarreal are happy with it. AS and Marca all over this as well now. Seems that our director of football is busy trying to rose-tint the steaming pile of shit that Levy has created for himself.

I'd be shocked and surprised if Riquelme decides to join us.

Dire Levy?

Apparently we are interested in Kieron Dyer. That’s the one that doesn't do much for £80k per week, other than shit in the goldfish bowl. Does this rumour consist of any elements of truth juice or is it simply a glass of donkey spunk? And if so, who is holding the glass and would they consider drinking from it to validate the story?

If this transfer was to occur, which would mean that aliens have taken over the brains of the manager, sporting director and chairman at WHL (because surely even they are incapable of agreeing this would be money well spent) then the only resolution would be for me to bring the end of days upon this great civilization we live in.

I’m placing my money on this being nothing more than mis-direction.

The Right side and the Left side

Yes, the source is one of the worst tabloids from your local newsagent, but as far as the SWP story is concerned, its being echoed by 'In the Knows' on several forums. Must be true then.

Source From Mail:

Tottenham are aiming to tie up the £12million signing of Chelsea winger Shaun Wright-Phillips this week.

The north Londoners are in "advanced negotiations" with the deposed champions to snap up the England star and take their summer spending to nearly £50m.

Reports in the Daily Mirror suggest Tottenham have refused to comment on the state of talks between the clubs but boss Martin Jol is a huge admirer of Wright-Phillips, whose acquisition would give a massive boost to the club's chances of breaking into the top four.

Jol has snapped up Darren Bent, Gareth Bale and Younes Kaboul as part of some impressive transfer dealing to leave Spurs fans dreaming of easing arch-rivals Arsenal out of the Champions League qualifying places.

Now the swoop for Wright-Phillips, 25, is sure to heighten those expectations - especially as the winger is thought to be keen on the proposed move.

He was chased by Tottenham two years ago when he was up for sale at Manchester City but they were blown out of the water by Chelsea who paid £21m for the player.

Aston Villa and City are also interested.

Tottenham are also on the brink of signing Bulgarian left-sided midfielder Martin Petrov from Atletico Madrid in an £8m deal.

Wright-Phillips to Spurs? Maybe the kid is hard of hearing, considering the abuse he gets when he visits the Lane every season. Though, out of him and Robben (both admired by Jol) I'd take SWP. Robben is class with the disadvantage of being made out of glass. SWP, along with Lennon (though both naturally right-sided) could both fit in on the left too (taking turns) - though adding Petrov would give us an immense midfield, which we could arguably call 'balanced'. Even though Petrov (and his injuries) worry me a little.

The £50M spent this summer simply means Levy cannot afford to fail.

As for the current debate.....do we need a central midfielder of the Roy Keane type? Or a Carrick styled player. Well, that's still open to debate. We still conceded a ton of goals, even with Carrick. The defence cant be expected to cope if we always get over-run in the centre.

Maybe Zokora will do the business this season.

What?

Anyway, one thing is for certain. If the club are in for these players and they do achieve the impossible and sign them, then depth wise, Spurs will be very strong.

On the other hand, Ian Wright at the Lane celebrating a SWP Tottenham goal?

The world has gone to hell.