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.

Alan Hutton

Massive rumours going around that we've paid somewhere in the region of £8M-£9M for Rangers attacking (right) full back, Alan Hutton.

You just can't make stuff like this up, can you?

Manager Odds

Evens: J Ramos

4-1 J Mourinho

13-2 M Lippi

13-2 F Capello

8-1 J Klinsmann

9-1 D Deschamps

10-1 L Van Gaal

10-1 G Houllier

12-1 bar

What, no Harry Redknapp? And who the heck is 'bar'? We don't need another Gross thank you very much.

The Spurcial One

Anorthosis Famagusta were a soft touch. Nice little confidence builder, nothing more. A couple of superb goals from Defoe (who seems genuine when he says he wants to stay) and also good to see Berbatov smiling on the bench and mucking around with the other players. Not seen him that animated all season. Not good to see that we cant keep a clean sheet against a pub team.

Extra special note to the away end last night. Surely White Hart Lane hasn't seen this much hair since the 1970's. Lively bunch, even though they look like they've been burrowed from an episode of Fraggle Rock. Disappoint of the night was not seeing the idiot with the Turkey flag wrapped around him (idiot Spurs fan) getting his arse kicked. Little bit of politics there.

This was always going to end in victory and makes the second leg nothing more than a nice sunny trip to Cyprus for fans and players.

Elsewhere, Spurs fans are jetting out to the land of make believe pleading that Levy makes a phone call to Jose. That phone call will probably happen, but with the Special One stating 'goodbyes' to his kids school teachers you get the feeling he is about to fly out of the UK to pastures new.

Jose to Spurs? Not in this dimension. Would be far too much of a challenge. Though how refreshing would it be for a manager to emulate Cloughie by leaving (Derby) Chelsea and going to (Forest) Spurs - and turning them from not-even-pretenders to champions. But we don't usually see 'world class' managers go down a peg or two to work themselves back up again. They want the foundations built before they get there. Not always (Fergie built an Empire at OT all on his own), but the likes of Fabio and Lippi usually have a set of extraordinary talent at the clubs to start of with. We have Berbatov. The rest aren't world class, though one or two might be in a few years.

Onto Sunday. Lose that and we could be bottom of the Prem. And the tabloids will then start rumourwhoring about Jol's future and 2+2= Jose.

Its never a dull moment supporting this lot. Though today, no matter where Jose's future is, I'm happy to see Chelsea fans cry their lickle eyes out with losing the best thing they've ever had. Though arguably, Roman is the best thing they've ever had. Without his money, they probably wouldn't even exist. God, I hate him. Could he have not just bought a few islands or something instead? That's what I would have done. Whores on one island, self-catering drug factory on the other and my own personal strip-club somewhere in the middle. These billionaires don't have a fucking clue how to live their lives.

Jose walks out on Chelsea

In your face, headhunters. The Roman Empire loses its emperor. If he was sacked then its even better. Anything to divert the attention away from White Hart Lane. Having another 'crisis' club dominating the tabloids suits me fine.

Proof that its not just the Director of Football setup that causes problems. Interfering chairman are also a pain in the arse.

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.

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.

Afternoon Update

News items from the Evening Standard:

- Jol on his way out
- Repeats of the Berbatov/Jol row story
- Ramos has had an offer from Spurs and will give an answer in two weeks. Wants to compete in the Super Cup v AC Milan on Sept 1
- A 'Source' close to Ramos says 'meeting/offer did take place'
- Tottenham wanted to keep it quiet. Ramos is unhappy with 'behind the scenes' problems at Seville and is thinking very hard about offer
- Ramos started taking English lessons last year

So, we are set to get rid of Jol BEFORE Ramos agrees to join? And if Ramos takes the two weeks to decide, then goodbye transfer window deadline. Wonderful timeframe there to get this problem sorted.

If true......it's comedy. I swear, I'm on the verge of becoming the most anti-spurs spurs fan of all time. Like I said. Season over. Another transitional period brought on by directors who think they are bigger than the club, and more important than the fans. They have fucked it up...again.

Levy continues to groundhog day us over and over again:

Graham - Sacked a week before an FA Cup Semi Final against Arsenal. Perfect timing.

Hoddle - Was at no point backed 100% in the transfer market and was then sacked 5 games into a season with no replacement lined up. Everyone believed (from the stories pouring out of WHL - that Hoddles ego was the problem and that he was at fault for signing the wrong players).

Pleat - Placed in charge of the first team for a whole season. WHY would anyone wish to do that?

Santini - Brought in, probably because the other 10 targets all rejected a move to WHL. Santini appeared to completely mis-understand what his powers he had at the club as coach, thinking he was in fact manager. Huge huge mistake of an appointment.

Jol - Brilliant appointment by... Frank Arnesen. Levy seems hellbent on ridding Jol from the club. Yes, Jol...the best thing to happen to this club for 20 or so years.

If Ramos joins Spurs he will be Levy's 6th manager. Thats the sixth man employed by Levy. And in that time only Jol has actually made progress and appeared to know what he was doing. You cant dismss two 5th spots and the fact that the fans are singing their hearts out for a bald Dutch man who starts every sentence with 'no'. We are not an easy lot to please. We have got it right, Levy, you smug sonofabitch. You haven't.

6 managers. And 3 directors of football. That's some nailed on stability for you there from DL.

Levy might know his way around wage structures and releasing funds to purchase players but appears to lack basic footballing decision making instincts on how to leave a coach alone to run the team. Which, is ironic, as the whole point of the DoF system is that the club buy the players and the coach works with them and everyone gets on famously. Its obviously not working. Not because the system is at fault, but because the people in place away from the first team are mugs.

I'll leave you with this for the time being. Posted by Cule-Spur on gg.net. Some of this is already being reflected in the Spanish media and in England.

Of course, that overlooks the possibility that Comolli is possibly restricted by the general lack of faith at board level with Jol. I mean, if Jol tells the board that he wants Downing, Boro quote £12m, Levy tells Comolli he isn't spunking £12m on Jol's target unless he (Comolli) rates him aswell, Comolli says he doesn't rate him, and that's that.

Endless permutations. Maybe Comolli comes back and says, "we should get Ben Arfa". Jol says, "I want Downing and if you get Ben Arfa, I'm not going to play him - he's too lighweight for our midfield", etc.

It's all clear as mud, as I said earlier. Whichever way you look at it though, it's not a question of Jol or Comolli, simply because even if you remove Comolli there are still clear problems with Levy/the board and Jol's relationship.

Ramos has a year left on his contract but it is a rolling contract and the whole set up at Sevilla is fairly complicated. There is a rift between Ramos and club President, Del Nido, over the terms of that contract. Ramos, justifiably, feels that he should be given a fairly substantial and long term deal for all that he has acheived. Del Nido, on the other hand, is an egomaniac ( possibly the biggest arsehole working in football with the possible exception of Calderon and Taxi Shinupwhatsisface). Its not just the issue of the contract but the fact that Del Nido parades himself around as if he is soley responsible for the club's success.

I can't comment on the Tottenham end of things as it falls well outside my remit, but I can shed some light on things at the Spanish end. As I understand it, and this comes from very close to Ramos, the meeting that took place was staged by Ramos' agent. His agent contacted a couple of contacts in the Mardrid press (one of whom I spoke to Yesterday) and made it known that the meeting was taking place, who would be there and even where they should stand if they wanted a photo.

The idea, on the eve of the Supercup final, was to place pressure on Del Nido with Ramos making it clear that he is in demand. Tottenham have been chatting up Ramos for a long time. Not neccesarily with an eye to making a firm move but rather to developing a strong relationship with arguably the most promising manager working in the game right now.

Before everyone gets on their high horse and starts screaming about loyalty to Jol etc etc - lets be very clear. This game is a business. Tottenham should be applauded for developing a strong bond with a manager who is so highly sought after. It shows forward thinking and shrewd business sense. There is no loyalty in football and six months is an eternity.

When Levy started chatting up Ramos who knows what the next six months promised - Jol could have quit, gone to Manchester United, fallen out with all and sundry or, god forbid, been hit by a bus. Remember how when we signed Berbatov he revealed that he chose Tottenham because we had been after him for a long time and that our interest was genuine and that the way we had courted him was impressive.

Its the same thing - In football contacts are everything and if for whatever reason we find oursellves managerless on any given day then its reassuring to know that the club has a strategy.

Now back to my little tale as I have it in Spain. John Alexander gets the phone call and trundles along to the Alfonso XIII hotel in Sevilla. ;This is where it gets interesting. According to a Marca journalist - who is running this today - Ramos' agent was expecting a coffee and a natter (as has happened on numerous occasions before only without the cameras lurking). Totally unbeknown to him , Alexander turns up with Kelmesly who offers Ramos a 4-6 year deal along with a gargantuan salary. I've spoken to the journalist - Mercedes Torrecillas (she knows Torres- Ramos agent- well and works the daily press brief in Seville) and She has given me her word that Torres insists on that he was not expecting an offer just a chat.

Further, he tells her that Spurs have given Ramos until the end of the week to decide. The size of the offer has left Ramos tempted - but at the moment he is leaning toward staying in Seville - although he will see how the news of Spurs' offer plays with Del Nido.

I know the above is all a bit Tom Clancy but that is how it works. I don't do ITK know shite and nothing in the above will not surface as copy over the next 24hrs ( In Spain anyway) - I've just sought confirmation frm some of the characters involved - that is all. They are journalists and football agents so we are just an estate agent short of the axis of evil. Take it or leave it - its just what is being said in Spain.

For what its worth, with regard to Ramos - he is a fine coach who has won trophy's in one of the best leagues in the world and taken some impressive scalps. His footballing philosophy would put a smile on old Sir Bills face - score one more than the opposition and then score another one just to be sure, the best form of defence is to attack, attack, attack. He accepts nothing but sheer bloddy minded grit and determination to go with it and like Sir Bill is not averse to giving out a rollicking after a 3-0 win.

There is a proviso - he owes a lot of his success to his sporting director at Sevilla - Monchi- and it is hard to gauge how effective Ramos would be without him - he supplies Ramos with some fine players on a budget that makes Bolton look like Chelsea. Further, prior to Seviilla, Ramos past is somewhat chequered and he has not always been so succesful, there are a couple of blemishes here and there.

There's meant to be a board meeting this evening, with some saying Jol will be out of a job by 11pm. Whilst other rumours suggest he has '2 weeks'. Its all pretty much guess work from everyone - fans and media alike.

We won't know until the club or Martin Jol says something, but the fact nothing has been said all day today would suggest that once more, its all gone pear-shaped.

Welcome to Tottenham Hotspur.

And the shit has hit the fan

A Bulgarian browsing a Spurs forum takes acclaim for this piece of newsworthy info:

Berbatov gave an interview to the Bulgarian New Television yesterday. On the question whether he is going to stay at Spurs he said: There are still 12 days till the transfer window closes. I do not exclude the possibility for moving to another club.

He didn't say the usual "I'm happy at Spurs". He looks as if something has happened during the summer. He may be disappointed with someone/something at Tottenham.

Let's see how long this little gem takes to hit the mainstream media. The above was posted on Glory-Glory.co.uk (where else?) at 4 hours ago.

The interview was broadcasted on New Television (Нова телевизия) in Bulgaria, The World of Sport (Спортен свят), at 14: 30 PM ( yesterday afternoon).

The name of the journalist who conducted the interview was Krum Savov (Крум Савов).

Now. This might be nothing more than made-up bollocks. It was posted on a forum so theres a 97% probability rating that its exactly that. But regardless, someone will see this and tell people who will in-turn tell a bunch of other people. And like a wildfire, it will spread. So, as I said, let's see if this makes it way to the back pages of the tabloid newspapers. And if it does - see how easy it is to push any information (true or false) into the public domain and therefore cause further dis-information and propaganda.

Yes, I see the irony in what I'm doing. But it serves a purpose to prove a point.

Ramos linked

Didn't take long for whispers of 'crisis talks' (The Independent) and this 'In the Know' whorage has even made its way over to Wikipedia:

I have it on good authority from someone connected to Joe Lewis that communication between BMJ and the board has broken down and that a replacement could be announced by Saturday and that replacement is Juande Ramos. I must stress that I do not usually post rumours and I will believe it when I see it but the guy was adamant it is true so thought I would share this one.

At home to Derby on Saturday will be the single most important 90 minutes of Jol's reign. I can't believe for a second that Ramos would leave Champions League football for North London. Although Ramos himself admits that the Spurs board contacted him last year. Levy, you dirty dog.

But how wonderful it is to see that the 'ITK' characters are now apparently adding 'weight' to these rumours, hoping to score some points from the desperate Spurs fans needing some kind of quick fix of hope.

Dragon1 on COYS:

ok here goes

ramos would love the job and we would like him but it aint that simple

i cant go into things but it is complicated so martin will be given a little longer, he certainly will still be in charge for sat

What a crock of shit. Sorry, but that's just BS.

Its text book classic 'Oh, let me link a manager who is being linked by every man and his dog, but then cover myself by using the 'the board will give him time' so that if he does well, and Jol stays then its because the board changed their mind on it - meaning I was right in the first place. If he doesn't, he'll get sacked, because that's what chairman do, right? So, when Ramos comes in (the obvious choice) I can claim to have been ITK about, and therefore get several cyber-pats on the back and people telling me I'm a legend' trick in play.

Everyone thinks they're a Daily Mirror journalist.

Name and Shame

Apparently, in some bar in Loughton, Mr Lennon (pished) was 'aving it large and telling everyone he doesn’t care what people say (with regards to his drinking) and that he Spurs pushed him out of the club because of his behaviour he would be 'ok' because plenty of clubs would be happy to take him on.

Right, firstly, what a fucking crock of shite. This 'rumour/story/exclusive' is simply a bunch of text posted on an Internet forum. It serves no purpose other than to stir up fan opinion against the young urbanish r'n'b hobbit like winger.

Firstly, people in all walks of life with jobs with responsibility go out and destroy their livers on booze or worse. And I've seen no evidence that Lennon is painting the pavement with carrot coloured flavor. He's a young lad who has been photographed a couple of times out on the town and people who either see or snap a photo of him are quick to add in a quote in order to make it all a bit more interesting.

Its cool to be a footballer

I'll give you an example. I saw Jade Goody at Harlow shopping last week. She was with some random bloke (obviously her designated driver) and Jack (her bloke). She walked past me flicking her hair with a look that read 'Yes, its me'.

That's it. Nothing else happened. Now, if I was inclined to shit-stir I'd go posting on a BB forum that I saw her (the truth) and that she was fighting off abuse from other shoppers who were calling her a daft bint (the lie).

You can call this lie 'The Prestige'. A fabrication that gives the truth some weight for it to get noticed when it gets posted.

This type of propaganda is very much what The Agents of Levy partake in. It incites negative energy towards a player.

In this case, the aim would be for fans to turn against the talented Lennon so that when Levy sells him to a rival club (for a substantial amount of dosh) we wont be too fussed. We'll all be:

"Yeah, that Lennon is a proper little Greavise off the pitch with the booze....good riddance"

As (currently) the only active member of the League of Lilywhites, I hereby denounce this bullshit story as bullshit.

Avid readers of this blog will point out that I have been a stern disapprover of the Bling Squad that has developed at the Lane and would like to clearly state that I was quick to judge certain players.

Enjoying the odd beverage in-between training should not be an issue of public concern. The Bling Squad should be allowed to party on as long as performances on the pitch are of a high quality.

I'll be keeping an eye out for any developments of this 'story' on Lennon and will critically attack any member of any Spurs forum who attacks Lennon.

The League Of Lilywhites will NAME AND SHAME.