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.

Euro 2012 Predictions

The tournment starts in a matter of hours, there has already been 125645621 reasons why England will not win it and my girlfriends birthday will be interupted yet again. Yes its another International football tournment, this time Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine. I have been pretty decent in recent tournments in predicting the ‘surprise package.’ Heres some of my previous bold statements:

2002 World Cup – I said Senegal would surprise the world and they got the Quarter Finals and beat France in the opening match

2010 World Cup – I predicted big things for Urguay. They finished 4th. Nice.

So for the Euro 2012 surprise package……

Russia!

Yep you heard it here first. Russia will win the Euros. Well they might not win it, but I reckon they will get to the semi finals.

What about England?

I really fancied England to win the whole thing a couple of weeks ago. The whole England going to Euro 2012 was very low key, no one really cared and then suddenly Rio Ferdinand has a paddy and its all over the papers. Back to being good old England with a drama. I cannot see them getting out of the group stage personally but with England you will never know what will happen.

Happy Euro 2012 everyone!

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.

AVB GTG LOL WTF?

Don’t understand the title of this blog. I don’t understand the story behind it!
Translated, that title reads Andre Villa Boas Got to go, laugh out loud, what the f***

AVB got sacked on Sunday. What a mess Chelsea find themselves in. But why. Well here’s my thinking behind the situation. I could be totally wrong but reading between the lines, this is my theory and reasoning under a few headings:

COST

Andre Villas Boas was brought into Chelsea at a great cost to the club. Sums of money being quoted £18 million, £20 million. Either way, he’s cost Chelsea somewhere in the region of £1 million a game. Not bad work if you can get it.

MEDIA RELATIONSHIP

He was played out by the media to be the next Jose Mourinho and this was possibly his downfall from day 1. I rate him hugely as a manager, he has proven success and is younger than some of the players at Chelsea. He is a modern clever manager, treating the job as a project and looking at the whole thing long-term, not just next Saturday. Perhaps he was looking too far ahead considering he inherited an aging squad.

I get the impression he was an argumentative figure. He never really got the British Media. He never really joked with them and snapped on quite a few occasions. But unlike your Ian Holloways of the world of management, he seemed a bit more quiet and stroppy when he snapped. The media did not like this, he was no fun, he gave nothing away, gave them nothing to report. For this reason, they would write negative things about him.

RELATIONSHIP WITH THE STAFF

Whether there was ‘unrest’ in the playing staff or not, I got the impression he walked into the club and said ‘Its my way or the highway.’ Perhaps not the best way to deal with a group of players who have had it quite easy in the past. I do not agree with the players in their complaints about their manager. We have all at one point or another worked for a boss or company that we dislike or do not agree with. Do we go out of our way to ensure the company we work for fails? No. We continue on because they are paying us. If it is still unbearable, we then leave, go elsewhere.

Perhaps there could have been an even ground on this. What was AVB’s problem with Frank Lampard? Is this what upset other players? I get a feeling more happened than we are lead to believe on this
RELATIONSHIP WITH THE BOSS

Everyone is pointing the finger at Roman Abramovic. Lets not forget who put their money into the club to ensure this high level of manager could come to the club in the first place. This is the boss who will support you and give you the tools to succeed. Why wouldn’t he sack someone who was not coming up with the goods.

POTENTIAL FOR SUCCESS

Had he been given more time, I am confident he would have succeeded. I totally agree with the comments I keep hearing that he was the right person for the job at the wrong time. Had he got the job in 5 years time, you may have seen a totally and more successful period in Chelsea’s history.

FUTURE

People keep looking at him to be the next Jose or Special 1…. hes not. No one will be. Thats what made Jose Mourinho so special. There is no one like him and there never will be.

If you want to liken AVB to another manager, try Arsene Wenger. A manager who needed time to create a project which although not doing too well now, has been hugely successful in the past mainly down to Wengers project. AVB would be able to create a similar situation where ever he goes next.

WHATS NEXT FOR AVB?

I would love him to be the man who replaces Harry Redknapp at Tottenham. To continue the great work already done there but to add something a bit different to it. He won’t goto Spurs however as I cannot see Tottenham paying out the kind of money he would want.

He will goto Spain or Italy and he will be hugely successful. He will win the Champions League and he will come back to haunt Chelsea. He’s been given a rough ride this season but I think it will make him a better manager from the experience.

WHATS NEXT FOR CHELSEA?

Jose? Nah. I expect them to stick with Di Matteo to get the job full-time. It is strange of Assistant Managers to be kept on like this when the manager has been sacked but I do not think AVD and Di Matteo actually had a lot in common. They did not play together and I doubt they knew each other that well before Di Matteo was appoint AVBs assistant. I think it was a clever move by AVB to bring in a Chelsea favourite to assist him. Chelsea will be looking to spend very little on a new manager so to help with the financial fair play rules coming in. Di Matteo is more than capable of this and has proved it at lower levels. I think he can step up and save Chelsea’s season and would be interested to see how much he has to succeed to get the job permanent.

Chelsea FC – Never a dull moment