Building for the Future
I couldn’t help cheering on Osasuna last night. The Sevilla fans, both at the games and here on the bagel, were top notch but damn them, damn that club all the way to hell and sodding Kanoute for that matter. I wanted them to go out. I wanted them to concede in the last - dirty cheating wankers that they were against us but I’ll save my venom for the final and wherever Sam Allradyce ends up, which according to the Sun is a dead cert to be Newcastle for next season; Big Face manager, small club from Scotland.
More immediately relevant are the plans The Bagel read about our own adventures. I’m talking big stuff here, stadia, ours, The Lane, she we stay or should we go now. It seems that the Olympic stadium’s out and so is Wembley…as a permanent home. But how about for a season or two until we’ve fixed up WHL. There’s nothing concrete here, barely even wet sand but the outline of a plan has appeared in the Mail. It runs something like this…
Phase 1 - Get the Tfl to extend the Victoria Line one stop further up the High Road and to build a little more than just a shed onto the platform at Northumberland Park. This has always been the sticking point but the club, with Haringey Council behind them, have finally got Tfl to agree and that ball has been set in motion.
Phase 2 - Leave the Lane, possibly the season after next, go to Wembley, not the Emirates as has been suggested because, frankly fuck that lot and also some bright spark has realised it’d be a recipe for vandalism and disaster. Spend a rather echo time at the home of football but increase season tickets by 20,000. At the same time, build onto the West and North Stands back at the old girl, including restaurants, a museum and a life size, interactive replica of Gazza’s goal in ‘91 (joke).
Phase 3 - Move back to an extended 50,000 seater, fully transport linked up Yid Palace.
How do you like the sound of those bagels? Best plan I’ve heard yet. Let’s hope there’s truth in them thar words.
But to the present or the near future anyway. It’s Charlton away on Monday and while we may be fighting for our dinner, they are fighting for their lives. Some relegation strugglers will go quiet, some with a fight but all will try to take you with them. We must be strong, ruthless and above all stick more in the onion bag than they do.
The bad news is that Keano took a knock on Wednesday in training. The good news is that it’s a sprained ankle and frankly he’s a big girl if he can’t recover by Monday. Should he not there’s always the Little Yiddo and it may do us all the power of good to have him playing and scoring; a little reminder for all as to where he belongs but more on that as the transfer treadmill really gets rolling.
One striker I am prepared to discuss is Darren Bent, now that Pardew has come out and said that he’ll have to sell the much sought after striker should the worst come true for Charlton. Padew said:
“That has been the situation of players coming out of the Premiership and is usually the situation in terms of the top players.
I was at West Ham when they tried to hang on to Jermain Defoe and that didn’t work out.”
Is this a wee hinty as to where he may be going? Probably not but what it does mean is another striker on the market. So even if we do have to sell the Little Yiddo, we may still have three good centre forwards. Oh, and just in case I don’t say it every day, ‘We are not selling Berbatov.’ MJ agrees:
“I have no fears of selling him - from anybody or any circumstances. The chairman would not sanction it, even if I would like to.”
I was about to end it there but I’ve just read yet another article in the Mail. Now either they want to test out a new media lawyer or they’ve got a hot source pretty high up n the Tottenham ranks. They have it today that Levy is preparing to fight off a takeover bid from another billionaire of former Soviet origins. Vagit Alekperov is reputed to thbe the 48th richest person in the world with a cool £6.3m to his most eastern block of names. But that’s all we need to know because despite comments a few months back, it seems clear that the club is not on the slab and as one of the 20 riches t clubs in the world, why should we worry, as long as the Premiership around us doesn’t become the rest of the 20.
Anyway. Enough’s enough for today. Cakes to cook, bagels to bake, you know how it is.
To bagel or not to bagel,that is the question.
The Bagel.
May 4th, 2007 at 4:45 pm
Bagel, thanks for the update.
Well, if and when it happens let’s hope the club gets the design and building right.
I still would much rather be in the old WHL with the Shelf and all the Archibald Leitch details. I know that times change and we have to move on.
I would hate to see a bodge job where a few more rows are bolted on to a couple of stands and the whole place starts to look ill conceived. St James’s Park springs to mind.
The club has the chance to build and real football ground again. One where the fans can feel it is uniquely theirs. A new ground that will do justice to the glory of the old White Hart Lane, surely the most beautiful football ground that there has ever been. Not some generic stadium that looks like any other ground in the country. Pride Park, Walker Stadium, Stadium of Light (absurd names) are all souless and indistinguishable apart from the colour of the plastic seats.
So far the club has done a reasonable job on the changes to WHL. Now it is time for them to make an achitectral statement, just like they did in the 1930’s when the Leitch inspired modernisation of White Hart Lane created a small piece of heaven in London N17.
Glory Glory Hallelujah!
May 5th, 2007 at 11:00 am
The powers that be seem to have had the right idea so far; not sharing with arsenal, not wanting a stadium with a running track and fingers crossed the decision to stay put. I trust that they will continue to make the right moves in what they do to our ground.
It was only after going to Stamford Bridge that I saw how money can make a real mess of a stadium. It’s such a horrible bastardisation of the Lane. I would hate to think we’d end up like that. But I do know our plans include a statue of Billy Nic. That’s a pretty good start for me.
The Bagel.
May 5th, 2007 at 4:04 pm
the tredition spurs have is unique,i hope we don’t change the name.and a statue billy nic is just about what everyone wants.
May 6th, 2007 at 1:43 pm
oh, and just been band from yid-army, i’ve been wrongly branded as “”the gooner”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?????????????????
May 8th, 2007 at 12:06 pm
I reckon they’ll have to sort of ‘move’ the pitch as there is loads of room on the High Road side and a pavement to build on on the East. They might not get the extra 20 odd thousand over a pavement…
I also heard they’ll flatten the lot and start again, i know the newer stands are only 10 years old or whatever and still fairly nice and that but i think they’re the wrong place. It might be more cost effective to start from scratch, too much pissing about otherwise.
I was alway confident we might get the permission with the tube etc, otherwise if we left, the Tottenham area would probably end up as ‘landfill’ in ten years without any reason for investment in the area. Large parts of it still look and smell like a toilet as it is!
Also David Lammey (MP for Harringey) is a big time Yiddo which helps. The old school ‘militants’ in the council would never have ‘gotten in to bed’ with big bizz like Spurs before. Probably wanted Spurs out so they could turn the Lane into a commune for one eyed lesbians… or something.
So it’s great news this regeneration stuff, both for Spurs and the area…
Statue of Bill Nic has to happen doesn’t it??
May 9th, 2007 at 2:36 am
The conversations we’ve had tonight, you could never be branded a gooner, you’re a Yiddo through & through!
Anyway Bagel, I’m awaiting you next input, having withdrawal symptoms, ssssuffffferrrring ccccoldddd tttturkkkkey! I need a fix NOW!
COYS!
May 9th, 2007 at 10:03 am
Easy Yid of the Norf - If you need some cheer to tide you over until the next Bagel, May I suggest the ‘Berbatov pledges future to Spurs’ headline in today’s Guardian?…Did you read that Fergie? Now feck off.
May 9th, 2007 at 11:14 am
cheers mate, the bloke who runs the site is a complete spanner, where’s the mighty bagel lately?
May 9th, 2007 at 1:21 pm
Lillywhite, i think it’s a bit harsh to dascribe tottenham as a toilet, we park down Whitehall street when we go, it’s a bit rough but otherwise it’s allright, definitely the best borough in london! COYS!!
May 9th, 2007 at 2:42 pm
TobytheYid
You’re a life saver! All I’m getting up here at the moment is how my eldest son is sure to go to the manc scum, can’t wait to tell them the news!
1992YIDO
I must agree with you, Tottenham holds a special part in all our hearts & besides I’ve seen a lot worse places in other boroughs. I’ve got a plasterer starting work in my house next monday, he’s only a man city fan, I dread to think what my lounge walls will look like after Sunday’s result!
COYS!
May 9th, 2007 at 3:14 pm
is one of the spurs your son yid of the norf? COYS!
May 9th, 2007 at 6:05 pm
Yes 1992YIDO, legend has it that berbatov is infact the son of yid of the north…after a fling he had with some eastern european bird.
May 9th, 2007 at 6:17 pm
Yes, I holidayed in Bulgaria just about 9 months before the Great Dimitar was born. I had a brief liaison with the delectable Nadia, a sweet. but well proportioned Bulgarian beauty. Now I know I’m on a tenuous link here, but I claim the rights to fatherhood of the Great Dimi!
COYS!
May 9th, 2007 at 6:29 pm
wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
May 10th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
1992YIDDO, sorry, i’m not dissing the great borough that spawned the mighty T.H.F.C. I was just trying to make the point that the area has been left to go downhill for lots of reasons and that Spurs staying is the best thing possible for the area. ‘Toilet’ was a bit harsh ok…
I used to live in Tottenham for 3 years, i work there a lot and my folks are from there so i’ve only got the best interests of the place at heart. It has been a badly run borough for a long time but i think they’ve been getting their act together in the last few years, about bleedin’ time too… This is maybe more evidence of that.
Over the moon we aren’t moving… far better than moving to an ex-rubbish tip, like the Goons.
Yid of the Norf or Absent Father… re-unite with your son and claim your fortune. He’s gonna be on about 40 odd grand a week soon!!!
May 11th, 2007 at 2:55 pm
Lillywhite N17
I’m tempted to turn up on the doorstep as the long lost father, but I’m still checking out the legal standing in Bulgaria with regards maintenance payments… I mean, if the meeting all goes badly, i must get stung for a few hundred thousand pounds myself… That’s about 160.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000 Bulgarian Leva!
I may try to break the ice at Sunday’s match, wish me luck!
COYS!
May 11th, 2007 at 6:49 pm
lillywhite N17
sorry mate bit of a missunderstanding, it is true though it’s been badly run, the old exit from the west stand car park, my god, the bricks were litreraly crumbling, but yeah, lets hope us staying will tidey the place up a bit. but lets all remember, theres only one rat in norf london, arsenal.
COYS!
May 14th, 2007 at 7:47 pm
1992YIDDO
Talking of the Arses, is there any danger our wonderfull new stadium might have to feature some kind of lame sponsorship in its name? eg The Emirates (Library mark 2 or Cashburden Grove would have been better…), Reebok etc?
I mean ‘The Mansion’ would sound a bit rubbish, it’s sort of got Hugh Hefner connotations… Hopefully we can finance it ourselves (by that i mean the club and not us!!) rather than it all being a bit Macky Dees like the rat infested, Red and White landfill site up the friggin’ road!
Yid of the Norf
I guess Berba was too busy picking up awards to talk to his long lost father on Sunday… oh well, there’s always next season. Seeing as he’s staying on.
COYS!
May 14th, 2007 at 8:39 pm
yeah, it would be a shame if we change the name, but i don’t think we will, after all we are tottenham hotspur, the most treditional team in the universe; btw like cashburben grove…never heard that before, brilliant.
COYS!