Beef Bagel

Well, it’s all about us today or more specifically, all about MJ, poor little mite. It really is looking like his days are numbered now with not a single paper missing out on the story and bookies, Coral, even refusing to take any more bets. We don’t want him to go, the players don’t want him to go, it’s all rather sad really but don’t just take it from me, listen to new boy Bent:

“He has made a big impact on me already. His coaching methods and the way that he talks to you shows he’s a top manager.

He shows everyone a lot of respect, while others will hammer a player if he’s not done something right.

He just talks to you, gets his point across and everyone knows what he wants.

It’s absolutely ridiculous that he’s under pressure. He has got top-five finishes in the last two seasons.

He’s worked wonders, so people talking about him getting the sack is absurd.”

Now the League Manager’s Association have been throwing one of their useless fits outraged that a Premiership gaffer could be handed his P45 after just two games but that’s not really the point. It’s not about the defeats to Everton and Sunderland. No one would be stupid enough to judge an entire season on the first to fixtures particularly on the back of a 4-0 recovery, except perhaps Newcastle. But as we’ve seen, the not so steady start has given those inside the club the opportunity to exercise their real agenda. Comolli and Jol do not get on and it’s Comolli who has the ear of the board.

Never the most comfortable looking pair, it’s always been a pet worry of mine about the future of the club ever since Uncle Frank did the dirty and went to the blue side of London. Santini was effectively pushed out in favour of the then Director of Football’s mate and none of us ever cared enough about the team coach parking Frenchman to bat so much as an eyelid. Now that the shoe is on the other foot for MJ, and for us as well, it all rather tugs at the heart strings and will no doubt leave a furrow in our brows until the matter and the club are settled.

The Director of Football and the manager must be get on and they must have the same grand vision for the team and the way it should play. You could see the disappointment in MJ’s face when the board accepted the offer for Michael Carrick, inflated though it was. MJ would have gone to the ends of the earth for the playmaking Geordie and was all set to build a team around him. Instead he received Didier Zokora, a very different sort of player to fill the gap in the centre of the park; ever the worker and the tackler but never the same kind of eye for creativity and a player that MJ has quite got to grips with using. Worse still was the purchase of Ricardo Rocha ,whom the manager had never even seen kick a ball before they were posing together aloft that brand new Lilywhite shirt with its high double digit squad number.

There’s little a manager can do if he’s not bought the players he wants and this crisis seems a case of ‘one of us has got to go’ and it seems pretty clear who. From our point of view, it’s tragic given that we love Martin Jol and Martin Jol loves us. What’s more is that he’s respected by the players and the rest of the football community. I’d say there’s no more popular manager in the league. But the Premiership is not a popularity contest. Levy & Co want results and so do we. If we’re all honest with ourselves, we do wonder if MJ has what it takes on a tactical level. After two years in charge we’re still not really sure.

He was ordered to play Dimitar the Great in that FA Cup tie at Stamford Bridge and who knows, we might even have won it if MJ hadn’t taken him off. JJ is clearly a favourite of our boss and as much as I wouldn’t slate the perennial fringe England player, I’m not convinced that he’s the answer. I don’t know if another manager would get these things right and my heart, and a good deal of my head, tells me that to lose the world’s favourite Dutchman would be a mistake, especially now but no matter what we, the players and press all think, the matter is out of our hands.

Juande Ramos is the man set to take over with Marcello Lippi and Harry Redknapp (!) the other two on the list, neither of whom I’d feel comfortable with. Ramos seems a logical choice having bettered both MJ and the majority of the Spanish league. He’s got credentials coming out of his arse along with bits of semi-digested chorizo - those bits are best avoided - and what with Jose and Rafa, managers from the Iberian peninsula seem to be all the rage these days. It looks like he’d want to come as well. It’s well known that it’s been the Sevilla bosses dream to one day coach on the Premiership and here it is on a plate for him. He’s well known for taking clubs up the league, so what juicier prospect could there be than a club with all the assets just waiting for that spark?

The big question here is over Sevilla themselves, notoriously tough negotiators. One only needs to look as far as the Alves deal that never quite materialised after it looked like a price had been accepted. They kept their player and so got what they want, at least until Chelsea unleash the world record fee for a full back and then who’s really the winner? La Liga starts in a day or two and Ramos would want to get things sorted ASAP. Sevilla on the other hand would drag their heels and fight tooth and nail to keep the man that has brought them so much success. At the same time any manager coming to Spurs should really do so before 31st August when that transfer window slams shut for the onset of winter.

Of course Ramos may chose to stick with Spain for now. After all he’s got Sevilla playing just how he wants them and why depart on the eve of their Champions League debut and the final assault on the footballing world? Now if he could turn his UEFA Cup success into some CL magic there be a wouldn’t be a club in our land that could ignore him. Perhaps that is what he is waiting for all along.

Fascinating stuff, if only it wasn’t happening to us. Along with our £10m bid for Riquelme, who’s had it at Villareal and really just wants to go home to Boca Juniors, it all makes for a tantalising week in football.

“Ah that’s it. Bagel over man.”

The Bagel.

 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 21st, 2007 at 11:23 am and is filed under Bagel News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.