Maybe AVB is the right man for Spurs?

I have never been through a week where my opinion on something has changed to drastically.

At the start of the week, I was very pro Redknapp and was feeling very nervous that he would leave spurs.
He then left Spurs and I was rather annoyed with Tottenham for letting him go
Harry then goes on about how the board didn’t like him. I am not getting bored with him moaning and looking towards a new era at Spurs. I wanted David Moyes.

Now I find myself quite interested in the prospect of Andre Villas Boas.But I feel I may be the only one (other than the board of course!).

He is 34 years old and a very good and clever manager. He learnt his trade from Mourinho and was very successful at Porto. The trouble with his run at Chelsea is he went in there trying to change the place over night and no one likes change. You try telling Frank Lampard he’s not the major player at Chelsea anymore and he should step back and let others develop. Now imagine telling him that when you’re the same age as him. Tough job.

AVB always went on about this long-term project he had for Chelsea. Chelsea on the other hand were after a short-term solution and will continue to live on the short-term fixes. Spurs on the other hand could well be the team where the project works.

Tottenham don’t have the Lampard and Terry at the club. None of the players have been there a really long time. I feel the Tottenham playing squad have a lot less egos than Chelsea and may actually buy into the AVB project.

The down side to appointing AVB may be that we sacrifice a little of this exciting football that we have been so accustomed to seeing the past two seasons. But if AVB is as clever as we were led to believe 12 months ago, then he may actually try to adopt this into his project.

I am sure next week I will have a totally different opinion on this but for now I actually like the idea of AVB. I just hope he does not cost £35 million or whatever it is Chelsea ended up forking out for him.

Redknapp leaves Spurs, whats next?

I was half way through writing a blog a couple of weeks ago on Spurs, stating how this summer is potentially the most crucial time Spurs have every faced. One of the biggest decisions they needed to decide on was Harry Redknapp’s future at the club. Now they release a statement at 4am saying he has left the club.

I am still sticking with this being the most crucial summer for Spurs, because it is the potential turning point. We could either push on to bigger things or we could fall back into mid table.

With Harry Redknapp, I think there must have been a lot more going on behind the scenes than we would know. Yes the results were not great towards the end of the season and I always blamed the players, but at the end of the day I guess the blame lies with the man in charge. Its tough but Harry has been through it before.

There is a couple of issues, which I reckon made this departure happen.

A: He hired Paul Stretford to negotiate him a new contract. Why? He’s done it himself or through his solicitor on many occasions in the past. Why has he suddenly employed one of the big football agents to do it for him?

B: I am sure his rant about being in the last year of his contract was a catalyst to him not staying on at the club. As much as Daniel Levy may have liked Harry, seeing that in the papers would have worn him very thin. Plus I believe a member of Daniel Levys family had just passed away, so having pressure on him to negotiate his employees new contract would not have gone down well.

I expect Paul Stretford was behind this little rant and I expect it will get Harry Redknapp his millions at his next club which will most likely be in Quata or one of the other mega rich nations.

As for Spurs, well it needs to be a clever appointment. We need a manager who will come in and steady the ship and continue the good work. You must remember that with Harry leaving, so will most of the backroom staff. Kevin Bond and Joe Jordan were very important to the set up, but being Harrys best and loyal mates, they will go too.

 

What Spurs do not need is some manager from a different country who has won the cup in their home nation and is ‘well regarded’ as the next Man Utd Manager. This will not work. They will cost millions, come with loads of pressure and change everything at the club.

The basic principles of the club work, hence why we have finished in the top 5 so many times in the past few seasons.

Harry brought in only exceptional foreign talent, but mainly brought in experienced Premier League players and this has worked wonders on the club. I suggest the club does the same when picking the new manager. There is only one name that can be touted and that’s David Moyes.

I am a bit fan of David Moyes, but you have to remember that his success is also down to having a very understanding and supportive boss in Bill Kenwright. Everton have had their ups and downs, yet David Moyes job had never been on the line.

Should he take over Spurs and by December the club be 12th in the league, I doubt Daniel Levy will keep him on that much longer. Expectations at Spurs are now that we must challenge for the title or atleast be sitting in the top 4.

So it’s a MASSIVE summer for Spurs. I am hoping the board do the right thing. The more I think about it, the more I get the whole Redknapp leaving this. I was angry at first but we all know it was going to end sooner or later, I am just happy its ended at a time when a new regime can come in and actually make a difference instead of half way through October when we are battling relegation.

Dont worry fellow Spurs fans, we will find out Arsene Wenger or Sir Alex Ferguson eventually…

And sorry Everton if we steal your manager and you get relegated.

Redknapp vs Hodgson

As a Spurs fan, I am delighted the FA seemed up for irritating every England fan by not appointment the fan favourite for the England job. But you have to wonder what has actually gone on here and whether or not the FA has made the right decision.

So I have devised a little Redknapp vs Hodgson battle to see who is the right man for the job no one actually wants.

Experience:

Redknapp: Vast experience in picking teams up when they are down and turning them into something they would never of dreamed of. Portsmouth – bottom of Championship all the way to winning the FA Cup and giving AC Milan an almighty battle at Fratton Park in the UEFA Cup. Tottenham – relegation candidates, usually mid-table – turned into Title Contenders (for a bit) and now expecting Champions League football.

Hodgson: Where do you begin?! He’s been all over the world, he even managed Inter Milan twice! Kept out of the England radar while managing teams in Scandinavia, including taking Switzerland to a World Cup Finals and nearly qualifying again with Finland. Then comes to Fulham, saves them from relegation and gets them to Europa League Final. Off to Liverpool, does not quite work for him, straight in at West Brom and steady the ship there.

Winner: Hodgson – They have both done well at improving teams, but Roy has been all over the world doing it. The England job is something quite different to a premier league side where you buy more players when needed.

Fan Friendly:

Redknapp: Always been on the fans side where ever he has gone. He even went from Portsmouth to Southampton and back again and the fans still loved him

Hodgson: Fans sometimes find him a bit boring but they seem to be confident in what he does.

Winner: Redknapp. Hodgeson will bore the fans unless he gets England winning games in an attractive fashion live Harry would.

FA Friendly

Redknapp: When you been in and out of the tabloids for non football reasons, the FA will not be interested. Was never fancied last time he interviewed for the England Job so making himself some friends at Wembley was always going to be tricky.

Hodgson: everyone’s friend in football. He has worked for FIFA, UEFA and the FA. They know what he’s about and he knows what their about. Have you ever seen him in the front half of The Sun? (before today).

Winner: Hodgson –  He is safe while as Redknapp is liable to cause some havoc along the way.

Media Friendly:

Redknapp: Depending on how you refer to the term of media friendly. He has been quite bitter with the media in the past and they have not always go on. But then that makes great headlines, so in that respect the media love him.

Hodgson: Boring, keeps himself to himself. Journalists probably don’t even bother going through his rubbish as I bet that’s really boring too. He never gives the media that quote they want at press conferences and is very guarded. Hence all the negativity towards him in the papers today.

Winner: Redknapp – The papers need something to report on other than football. Hodgson will not give them that.

Potential:

Redknapp: There is not much else Harry can do to improve as a manager. At Spurs he has a tried and tested team of staff around him, he knows what players he needs and wants and everything works well for him. Never been a manager of a national team so perhaps that’s the only area he would want to grow in. He’s never going to manager Barcelona or Man Utd so perhaps that’s his next step.

Hodgson: He’s done pretty much everything but seemed to fall at the first hurdle in what was meant to be his first big job at Liverpool. No idea why that didn’t really work other than all the problems they were having behind the scenes with the owners. This is his chance to prove he’s not just a midtable manager.

Winner: Draw: They both have something to prove in terms of making the next step up in their careers.

So by my calculations, that makes them even in these terms, but I think whats more important to the FA and quite rightly is having someone they can work with. Imagine employing someone you were not sure you could work with. You would not do it and I think the FA have realised this and need someone who will come in quietly and get on with it.

Good Luck Roy!

The Downward Spiral know as Spurs

My reaction to seeing the score from the QPR vs Spurs match really sums up the season for Tottenham. I was not annoyed, I just let out a sigh and switched my phone off to continue drinking at the engagement party I was at.

The last 2 months have really made me frustrated being a Spurs fan, not because of the whole Harry Redknapp

to England fiasco, but because the players are letting everyone down after all the hard work that has been put in.

Rewind to when Harry took over, bottom of the table with some of the best players in the league. Fast forward to November 2011 and those players are challenging for the title in the same Spurs shirt that saw them rooted to the bottom of the table. Harry didn’t make wholesale changes to the squad, just added a little experience.

Harry Redknapp got them playing a way that the league had not seen. It was 100 mph for 90 mins and no one could handle it. The last two months however, something has changed and no one seems to know what it is.

After last weeks defeat in the FA Cup Semi Final, I amazingly read on twitter some spurs fans saying Harry Redknapp should get the sack. What else could Harry have done? He has played that team, that system, that way all season long and it seemed to work. It’s the players that are to blame.

I have a feeling Spurs have hit the peak and are back on the way down. The players have tasted the highs of the Premier League and a sense of arrogance is coming in. Dare I say it, but now people expect this high tempo from Spurs, the pressure hits and the egos come out.

Whats more worrying is that this whole situation leaves no reason for Harry to turn down the England job. Do you want to represent your country and attempt the impossible job, or do you fancy playing in Poland on a Thursday night for the sake of ITV 4? If we had Champions League, it might be a different story but I cannot see that happening now.

Some of Spurs best players will be on their way, Van Der Vaart I predicted at the start of the season would be on his way at the end of this season and I still think that will happen. Adeybayor will probably find a pay day else where. Modric will have his pick of sides to go win the league with and suddenly Spurs lose the spine of the team. This in turn will see Gareth Bale tempted to go else where.

This will then trigger a panic in the Spurs Board Room. They will go out and get the biggest name manager money can buy, they will change the way spurs play and suddenly we are in the same position we found ourselves in before Harry came to save the day.

Sorry Spurs fans, but we have hit the peak, its time for another midtable battle with Aston Villa and Sunderland until someone like Bredan Rogers comes along and picks the team up again. Hey, it was fun while it lasted.

And another Transfer Window Closes

Around about the 31st of Jan and August each year I have the same arguments at home about why its important for me to watch Sky Sports News all the way up to midnight. Every time it seems to work. What I do not understand is why clubs leave it so late to buy these players. What has really inspired me to write this post is a comment I just read regarding my beloved Spurs.

“Harry Redknapp has always been a big fan of Ryan (Nelson)”

SO WHY DID YOU LEAVE IT TO 10PM ON TRANSFER DEADLINE DAY IN 2012 TO ADMIT THIS?! Hes 34 years old, has a knee injury which has meant he’s not actually played in nearly a year and makes Ledley King look like a stranger to the physio room.

Harry said a similar thing about Louis Saha as he purchased him yesterday too. Are we going to be having the same conversation in 15 years time regarding Christiano Ronaldo and Messi?

I can only assume deals like this happen because of Agents making a silly amount of phone calls and Tottenham appears to be the only club who actually take any of these calls seriously. Either that or Harry seems to be under an immense amount of pressure to perform. In previous windows, White Hart Lane has been the place to be for the last-minute action, so all the journalists will camp out there in the freezing cold in the hope. Harry seems these people suffering, so to give em what they want, he signs Louis Saha.

I am not criticising Tottenham either just to make it clear because I can see a continued theme in all our transfers this season, they all have vast amounts of Premier League experience and most know what its like to win leagues and trophies (even Saha has a Premier League Medal).

Earlier in the day it seemed that very little was going to happen during the transfer window. Andy Carroll had his backpack and packed lunch ready just incase someone had £35 million ready to lure him away from Anfield and King Kenny had to motor running for that last-minute lift, but in the end the excitement boiled down to Lous Saha going to Spurs on Loan.

I find it really fascinating sometimes to think how strange it would be if all jobs worked with a transfer window. Your about to finish up for the week at work in say Brighton when suddenly a call comes in at 4.50pm. “Would you like to come work for us in Manchester?”… Erm…can I think about it over the weekend?… No, the deadline is 5, we need a decision NOW!

Finally can we all spare a thought for the poor Arsenal fans. Arsene Wenger still needs a cuddle and had he been ‘Tonked’ again this weekend I reckon he would have snapped and tried to sign Andre Santos again only to find he already owns him.