Thud. Slam!
Well, that was a fun 3 months. Who wants to go through it again? Not me, that’s for damn sure. Even Euro 2008 offered no respite from the tedium of the off-season, as I had to watch a lack-lustre Italy underperform, stutter, miss crosses and get bundled out by much better opponents. After that, there was nothing to do except for wait for the new seasons kits to come out, watch Cristiano turn a deep shade of mahogany, rekindle my interest in Olympic ‘football’ and try to keep warm.
Oh, wait, should probably get the formalities over and done with, this being the new multi-faceted Bagel & I the interloper. I’m Mick, from Australia, with a deeply rooted Italian background. Next to Spurs I support Internazionale and Atletico Madrid, and generally can’t stand Australian ‘soccer’. Ok, that’s sorted.
As June, July and August stretched on, it became bitterly cold, wet, and especially in my city, boring as batshit. To add to the banality, there seemed to be no major activity this year, only the same drawn-out pantomime with the names and locations changed: Lamplard to Inter, Cristiano to Real, Little Bob to Chelsea and…. and… oh, yes. Dimitar.
To be brutally honest, I grew tired of Berbatov’s ‘will-he-won’t-he’ charade quickly. Of course, I cared. The playground posturing and name-calling over the man became boring and sent me almost to sleep. At least in Spain Marca and AS tried to make it at least seem interesting, what with the digging up of the mother and great-aunt and all, but having to rely on The Guardian, Soccernet.com, Football 365 and News Now, all I got was “Fergie wants Dimi. Levy says no. Dimi pouts and smokes wistfully.” Hardly the stuff of Zidane-to-Real-para-juogar-por-Real, is it? Although, to be fair, it did break up the winter of discontent, I guess.
What irks me about the whole event was that we could have sold him for £30m a month ago and gotten the Bulgarian Black Hole out of the dressing room, and got around to with the sorting out a new strikeforce before the season actually started, rather than another four weeks of speculation on whether or not the pouty, sulky child would stick around to throw some more toys out of his pram.
Roman Pavlyawhatsit looks like he could be quite a good acquisition indeed from what I’ve seen, although I said that about Postiga & Younes Richards. I must say, though, the failure to sign Arsehavin isn’t such a bad thing in my eyes. Two decent games, one mediocre one and a UEFA cup at age 27 do not, to me, spell ‘savior’. As Wenger was quoted: “If only he were ten years younger,” and I tend to agree with him. There’s just something about his age and lack of significant world-wide attention grabbing behaviour that gives me a very odd and nauseous feeling and it’s not the curry I had for lunch. This, of course, brings us to Robbie.
Robbie, Robbie, Robbie. I loved you, I admired you, I forgave you that spell at Leeds, I bought an Inter shirt with your name on the back (which, sadly, has long since been lost). I was hopeful when you came to Spurs, I chanted your name at 1am in various pubs and bars where we’d been shoved into the back corner as that was the only TV available to play some obscure Spurs game, the rest of the TVs having been reserved for the plastic Liverpool, Chelsea and Manure supporters.
I thought, as it has been said here, that you were one of us.
I thought you’d shun a big-money move to some faceless marketing machine which would provide you with a shirt with ‘Keane’ written on the back in Chinese, ready for the latest commercial tour; you’d turn your back on those clubs that have no soul, for a club that loved you, that looked up to you as one of its leaders, one of its bright shiny beacons of glory. Did you fuck.
[nb. You may or may not be able to tell from that passage that his move to Liverpool cut me deep.]
Although, I probably can’t be too bitter about it all, with him being a ‘boyhood Liverpool fan’ and all, and considering the pessimistic part of me thought it as inevitable that he’d leave eventually, like the consequences of sticking a penny-banger down your undies - there’d be tears before bedtime. Au reviour, I guess. It’s been emotional. On to Pavlyuchenko to score us to greatness.
Gomes has impressed me more and more since the first trial game. I was a big fan of his when he was at PSV, and being a half-assed goalkeeper myself, I take an unhealthy interest in the custodial arts. That save against Lamplard’s dipping shot was brilliant, and his tall & imposing frame is becoming most welcome between the sticks.
As much as I liked Paul Robinson, there were a few glaring shortcomings in his gloved repertoire - most notably his complete and utter inability to make a decision and follow through on it - a fault that seems to have followed him to Blackburn. He was/is utterly useless at coming out and plucking crosses out of the air, and his positioning in set pieces was rather average. Yet, I couldn’t hate him, as when he had his good days, he was actually very good. He had a great camaraderie with the fans, and I’ll always like the guy, like a dive bar where the toilets stinks and the food is of dubious nature, but, damn if it hasn’t got charm. After Croatia, his confidence was shot, and he hasn’t gotten much better since. Hopefully for him the change of scenery is the necessary catalyst for his regeneration, but I doubt it.
Sticking with defence, Corluka is another welcome addition, not least because of my massive man-crush on him. Big, tall, hard-tackling, good distribution, great positioning and an all-round damn good defender, what’s not to like about him? At the very least, he’ll keep Hutton/Woodgate/King/Dawson on their toes, and that can only help the defence. His countryman, however, I’m still at odds about. Whilst Modric has looked like a very good player for Croatia, and he could well be a very good player for us, at the moment it seems like he is still getting used to the rigours of the Premier League. When he does, and god knows I can’t wait for him to fire, I shall pass judgement. To think, a midfield of Bale-Modric-Huddlestone-Bentley? Oo-er. I need a lie down now.
So where does this revolving door leave us? Prior to Chelsea, I’d have said nothing except shake uncontrollably and wondered when the season was going to be over, but after that game, Im somewhat confident. We battled and defended well and earned our point, and a little part of me can see it slowly all coming together, whilst the pessimistic part of me has a sneaking suspicion that we’re going to have yet another year of living dangerously. Villa, I believe, will be the litmus test, the important game. They’re the sort of club we’re competing against for the top six, and as such we need to stamp our authority on them. It’s unsettling to think that we’re already in an uphill dogfight this early, but we did it 2005/06 and 2006/07, we can sure as hell do it again with The Magic Juande at the helm. And, remember, it could be worse.
We could’ve signed Heskey.
Mick.
September 2nd, 2008 at 10:21 pm
Brilliant.
I agree with you, Mick, about Gomes - he seems to getting better.
It also could be worse, we could be facing the reality of Dennis Wise taking over. Oh, and on that subject - I would like Poyet to stay put - if only for his media skills.
September 2nd, 2008 at 10:27 pm
I like to think that “the Radio” has got the kind of motivational skills he showed with the crowds at the Lane as a player as he does on the training ground as well but then, he could just be an utter mentalist.
The Bagel.
September 2nd, 2008 at 10:30 pm
We could’ve signed Heskey… and I guess that might have been bad. But hell, with all the money we got from Berbatov’s sale, we could’ve signed him anyway. AND still had plenty of cash to spare. I figure that Russian bloke might work out ok… but I’m a little nervous. I have a hard time believing anyone who plays in the Russian league can be all that great. Especially when he’s going on 27. Same thing about the Croatian league. And, from what I’ve seen of Modric so far, I don’t know what to think. He may not be settled yet… but he certainly hasn’t been terrible. Just not anything special. But hell, Berbatov took a long time to actually start playing decently when he came to Spurs. Corluka was a good signing, and I think at the very least, we shouldn’t hemorrhage goals like we did last year. And if we can keep Woodgate and King healthy, our backline is sorted. Sadly, though, we will no longer be guaranteed to score in practically every game we play. What do I feel good about? Gomes, for one! He’s been amazing, when it comes to stopping. He’s made a few daft kicks, but nothing too bad. I also think this year might be Aaron Lennon’s year. It has to be, I keep telling myself. And maybe Jenas will rediscover some of the great form he showed briefly toward the latter part of last season. And I think Bale will just continue to improve. He’s young, but has plenty of pace, a left foot, and a pretty decent cross. Huddlestone is looking pretty good (or at least did so at Chelsea). Too bad we didn’t keep Malbranque.
We probably won’t finish in the top four. But who knows. We all started out last season thinking we were destined to break into the Champions League. And we know how that turned out! Maybe a little cynicism will pay off… and we’ll be pleasantly surprised as the season progresses.
September 2nd, 2008 at 10:51 pm
Bale lacks a bit of defensive, catch up type pace. Thats why Juande likes ekotto, even though he’s shite.
September 2nd, 2008 at 11:35 pm
This all stinks. I haven’t been more depressed about football in a long while. Not so much the Berbs thing - although getting £5m less back in May would have been far better, not least because we could have bought a decent holding midfielder to play alongside and get the best out of Luka the mod.
I’m depressed because of the state of the football world today. We all knew it was money driven - Sky saw to that, Abramovich just upped the stakes. But yesterday’s Man City purchase by the Abu Dhabi lot has just confirmed my long held fear that you can’t just develop as a club ‘in the right way’. Spurs won’t eat at football’s top table until they get taken over by the latest foreign boardroom import: and when it comes (which it will), we’d better all hope that they have the deepest pockets of them all.
Of course we then have to hear Man City fans crowing about this player or that player and how it’s now a top 3 etc… I hate that, in just the same way as I’ve hated having to deal with Chelsea fans for the last 5 years. I guess what depresses me most is that if Spurs get their Abu Dhabi moment - I know I will be jumping around crowing about it.
Football ain’t what it used to be. In the meantime, can we please just have 3 points against Villa next time out?
September 2nd, 2008 at 11:55 pm
Amen to all these comments.
Football is depressing now unfortunately, especially if you value glory over success.
Our season can be recovered I guess… just looked at the fixture list and the next 6 games are all winnable. I think a realistic short term target would be to remain unbeaten until we face the Arse…7 games from now.
September 3rd, 2008 at 10:23 am
Agreed. But Man City won’t finish in the top four just from one signing. One man doesnt make the team. But in the long run the table could see some shift I guess.
Glory Glory, lets hope we can stay unbeaten well beyond the Arse.
September 3rd, 2008 at 11:15 am
I think the players and management are in place to go on a unbeaten run. The age of the squad and the spine of the team look good. Ramos always had a team of workers at spanish hotspur without having big name stars so fingers crossed. just a side note on the Bitchatov transfer. I take it we wouldnt be able to play Cambpell against them but they can play Leavatov against us? I thank him for the goals in a spurs sthirt be don`t really want to see him back at the Lane. Ps the only anwser to all this money coming into the game is to have the best youth program in england. What you fellow yids think? COYS!
September 3rd, 2008 at 11:23 am
Enjoyable, Mick! And always wonderful to meet another Azzurri fan! (Let’s just gloss over the fact that you’re an Inter kind of guy and I’m a Juve kind of girl… :p)
Agree with you on Gomes, and a bit iffy on Modric too, though I’m pretty sure he’ll come through in the end. Look forward to reading more from you!
September 3rd, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Wattson, it was a short-term aim! I think we need to be realistic and although I do find myself daydreaming of beating a top four club again, our record shows that it is much better to be pessimistic about those fixtures.
Add to that the fact that L’Arse are looking shit hot at home and I think we just need to focus on the next 6 games.
Villa & Pompey are the key games where we will see what kind of attitude & application the new squad have. IF (and it’s a big IF) we can get 6 points out of those fixtures and avoid the banana skins in Stoke & Wigan then we are in business again (or should that be in sport again?). Home to Hull & Bolton have to be bankers if we have any realistic ambition of finishing top 6 this season.
Now, to be controversial, I would quite happily go out of the League Cup to Toon - In my opinion, we need fewer fixtures now we have a depleted strikeforce. Clearly I’ll be happy if we win, but losing up there may well be a blessing in disguise.
September 3rd, 2008 at 6:14 pm
Mick
Nicely done. It’s great to hear from the Spurs diaspora.
I’m glad that you referred to your Italian club by its proper name and not the incorrect version that is always used. Internazionale or Inter but never Inter Milan. I’m amazed at how often I see written Tottenham Hotspurs. Maybe I’m a pedant but these things are important.
It was interesting to read the club statement about the final day of transfer dealings. We were obviously very much after another high profile experienced striker but the deal fell through due to forces out of our control. At least the club are trying to keep us informed. We may or may not choose to believe it but they are not hiding like the West Ham and Newcastle hierachy. You are right that we should have sorted the Berbatov saga out weeks ago and also sorted out a replacement but we are where we are.
It’s time to get fully behind our boys. Hopefully, we now have any disruptive influences removed from the dressing room and we can look forward to our team all pulling in the right direction.
September 3rd, 2008 at 7:52 pm
Spot on, Mick. Well done.
September 3rd, 2008 at 8:45 pm
Although, if Raspberry Pavlova gets crocked against Wales next week then we might be rather fucked. Bale Bale Bale will also be playing in that match. Oh shit!
September 3rd, 2008 at 10:48 pm
Good job, Mick.
As a fellow non-local Spurs fan, I like to hear from the aptly-named “Spurs diaspora” (very eloquent, hornchurch).
I expect to see flashes of brilliance from Gomes, while at the same time, I expect to see several mishaps that make you scratch your head. He seems like a great shot-stopper, but absent-minded at times. I hope this is not true, but he seems like he will make some mental errors at times, like his slowness to protect the post against Sunderland in the first half (he would have been the goat if Sunderland had not hit the post).
I was skeptical of Modric when we signed him, mostly because of the rather large fee we paid. I thin now that he can be very good. I like him in the attacking role along side of Zokora, or perhaps Huddlestone.
I do not think Modric can be a great holding midfielder. He is too small and can be easily blocked, cut down, or contained if the midfield has the room. He should be the attacking link between the defenders and strikers, and should be getting to the edge of the box as much as possible. There, he can deliver dangerous balls.
Because of this observation, I think we could realistically think about selling Jenas in the next couple of years if Bostock can show us anything. I think Jenas is pretty good at a number of roles but stands out at none.
I said we needed a target man and I am happy we got one of the memorable players from Euro 2008 and the leading scorer from the Championship last year. I hope they can make up for some of our goal gap from last year.
As is usually the case at the beginning of the year, I am optimistic. I only hope that Ramos does not disappoint.
COYS!!!!!!!
September 4th, 2008 at 2:26 am
Nice article Mick.
I totally agree with you on everything from Gomes the octopus, the Ber-bat-off saga, and the devastation that was losing our Robbie.
Nice to hear from another Aussie Spurs supporter too.
Which part of Australia do you come from??
Melbourne Massive?
Yid-ney?
Brisneyland?
I’m guessing that you are apart of the great organisation that is the mighty OzSpurs. Did you come up for the last national in Brisbane?
I probably had a beer with you if you did make it up here?
Keep up the good work.
“We’re the Brisbane,
we’re the Brisbane,
we’re the Brisbane Tottenham” !!!!!
September 4th, 2008 at 9:25 am
Dear god, please let this be true…
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1052281/Comedy-Comolli-faces-Spurs-axe-bungled-transfer-attempts.html
September 4th, 2008 at 9:27 am
Oh, and Fraizer Campbell has apparently been given squad number 23. See what they did there..?
September 4th, 2008 at 10:02 am
Rumours are that Comolli is going to be fired.
Please god let this be true!!!
September 4th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
Comolli is pony, there is no doubting that….bring back Pleat !
September 4th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
What did they do there Purephase. Yes, I am embarrassingly slow.
September 4th, 2008 at 7:09 pm
23 was *spit* Judas Campbell’s squad no.
Although the website is now saying he’s been given no. 18..
September 5th, 2008 at 9:43 am
I don’t know why but I am feeling
sorry for nocastle fans..
September 5th, 2008 at 10:09 am
How do we all feel if they were to lure Poyet up there?
Personally, I don’t think it would be much of a problem for us. I’m sure the players like him and he is a good coach to work with but he was just brought in the help Juande settle in. Maybe Ramos has a few candidates who he would rather work with anyway.
I like Poyet, he is great with the media and the players but I reckon that he is very replaceable. After all, he will be going at some point. He is obviously a manager in waiting.
If he were to go to the Geordies then Bagel will be spot on with his assessment that “Radio” is a complete “mentalist”.
September 5th, 2008 at 10:17 am
Let’s face it, anyone who would take the Newcastle manager role would have to be a mentalist - it’s the biggest poisoned chalice in football.
I heard a Newcastle fan on the radio this morning insisting Mike Ashley was a Spurs fan - can anyone verify that? If it’s true, let’s hope he sells up, buys another rival club and fucks that up too.
September 5th, 2008 at 10:47 am
Not sure he is a Spurs fan but is best mates with Paul Kemsley who left our board recently. They sat together at St James’s last season each wearing their respective footy shirts.
They looked a right pair of tossers. Over paid, over weight and over their heads when it comes to running a football club.
September 5th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
Did anyone see Kelmsley on the last series of The Apprentice? Cannot believe that was the calibre of person on the board at THFC Plc. Mind you, if Comolli can be on the BoDs then anyone can I guess.
Was also reading Wendy’s summary of the transfer window on the official site… I am amazed at his praise of Fraizer Campbell - it’s as if we’d been chasing him all summer long! Do Spurs really think all us fans are stupid?
September 5th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
To b fair GG he’s not gonna come out and say what a load of shit Fraizer Campbell is, is he?
September 5th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
interesting article here http://www.oleole.com/blogs/harryhotspur/posts/fan-thanks-levy-exclusive
September 5th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
There are times when we the fans need to vent our frustration and anger at what we perceive as a lack of ambition and nowse in the transfer market.
There are also times when we the fans need to stand together and roar our mighty club onwards to glory.
It is now time to roar!!!!
We are where we are. Our club (players and management and even board) deserve all our support. Now is not the time for disharmony. We have had enough of that with that cunt Berbatov (admittedly, a genius of a player).
Ramos seems to be emphasising that he now has a group of players all committed to the club. It’s now time for us to do our bit.
Come On You Spurs!
September 5th, 2008 at 11:47 pm
im roaring along with you buddy! COYS!!!!!!
September 6th, 2008 at 10:05 pm
Nice read Mick, thank God Berbatov has fucked off.
I would have preferred that we had got Campbell for good, I have it from a Manc who is well informed that the kid has got talent. Instead we are just giving him some Prem experience. Nice one Levy/Comolli.
But no looking backwards, time moves on, and players move on, we all stay Spurs through and through. Que sera……….
Tottenham Hotspur 2008/2009.
Gomes is quality, I work with a lot of Eindhoven fans and they all credit him with a lot of their success in winning the title 4 years in a row. (I can still picture his save from Malbranque in Eindhoven last year. From where I was standing it looked unstoppable, until he stopped it).
The defence should be alright, we have totally overhauled it and every player, including young Benny from the Bronx with a stupid haircut, looks up to the task.
We are one striker short, probably Arshavin in Jan, but the midfield does not look right.
Our midfield is just too unbalanced for the Prem. Modric has talent, of that there is no doubt. But watching hime in the Euro’s, Niko Kovac provided everything we lack in our midfield.
In my opinion Jenas is not a defensive midfielder and never will be. So either he plays or Modric does if we play 4-4-2.
Zokora, Huddlestone and O’Hara have all recently been awarded new contracts. Why? They all (should) play in the same position. And none of them look like a true world class player.
However if we could get that machine from the the film ‘The Fly’ and put all three in it then we might be onto something. Do you know what I mean?
Out wide we have Bentley, Lennon, and Bale, possibly Dos Santos although he is also a Number 10, whatever that means.
But I just don’t think that Ramos is sure who, how and where he wants to play them yet. Time will tell.
Which leads me to the season to date. 3 games - 1 fucking point. That my friends is what is called a shit start to the season.
After 6 games last year we had 4 points. Plus we had played 3 of the teams who eventually finished in the Top Five.
And Derby. They gave us 3 points by the way.
By the 1st of September last year I was telling all who would listen that Jol should go. This year I have 10 times more confidence in our manager, and playing staff, but still feel we are someway short of a CL spot or even Top 6 finish. And unless we sign a striker in January who is eligible for the UEFA cup, I guess more European heartache is on it’s way.
So where to now?
I can’t decide if we won a point at Chelsea because a/ they were shit, b/ we were lucky, c/ Ramos is some sort of tactical genius or d/Scolari is a Premiership novice. More than likely all four.
So hopefully by the time I go to the the UEFA game we will have beaten our previous points total of 4 out of 5 games from the 2007/2008 season and the Spurs will be marching on.
See you there!
COYS
September 7th, 2008 at 11:33 am
Been a Spurs fan for many years and seen some highs and lows at the club but right now I’m not sure I like where football is going at all.
September 7th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
What a nightmare, just been on my well deserved summer holiday (to a huge villa on a private estate in Cannes for anyone following my financial exploits) and while away refused to watch any telly / read papers / jump on t’interweb.
I met a spuds fan in a hotel on my way back last night* and he told me about berbatov, and also told me we hadn’t signed anyone.
While drowning in beer and constantly sniping at eachother I gleaned from him an unease about the new season, mid table were his thoughts which were so in line with mine they could have married.
It does look like you will lead the line with Bent, and as mentioned here before, although he breaks up play involving keane and berbatov, on his own he may be a much neater performer, but that remains to be seen.
For our virtues, the Mighty Arsenal have lacked ambition in the close season. Unless I’m very much mistaken, scraping a top 4 berth this season is one of the hardest tasks Lord Wenger has ever has to undertake.
With Nasri we have our Pires, with Adebayor we have our Henry, with Walcott we have our Llungberg, with Cesc we have our Vierra. What we dont have is our Grimandi / Gilberto / Petit / Flamini - what we are missing is a workhorse in the liddle of the park, something we had an abundance of a year ago.
Strange times ahead in North London, thats for sure !!!
* I drove to the south of france. I have a foible, one of many I hear you cry, my foible regards AirLine stewardesses. They are in close contact with 600 / 1000 people per day, all going away from their usual climate, this leads to an increased exposure to all kinds of germs that cause illness - my argument is that Airline steardesses, while being immune to colds due to their exposure, also carry the germs and spread them like confetti toward the unsuspecting passengers.
How many times have you caught a cold while travelling by plane ?
I rest my case.
September 7th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
Adam - “We could’ve signed Heskey” - what improvement would he be over Bent ? Could they play together ?
Not sure about that one.
September 7th, 2008 at 5:46 pm
Who the fcuk is luka modric ?
September 7th, 2008 at 7:42 pm
Oi Oi - My point was that with all the money we got for Berbatov, we could’ve signed a few Heskeys and it wouldn’t have made a difference. Or at least we could’ve signed one and maybe, just maybe, he might’ve worked out. As it stands we have a kid who used to play for Hull and a Russian guy who has never played in England. Ouch.
Heskey might’ve been a waste of a little money. But hell… signing him wouldn’t have been any worse than NOT signing him.
September 7th, 2008 at 11:37 pm
Oi oi,
I am quite jealous of your exploits in France. I hope you and your family had a blast.
Due to my profession, I have to travel several times a year by plane, and I never seem to get a cold. I do, however, loathe plane travel for many other reasons. This is especially true when I have to travel across the States (I live by NYC, so I dread any Western destination). I just cannot stand breathing recycled air (which I think is the real source of germs) for more than a couple of hours. It is like putting your head in a vice grip.
The worst, of course, is when you fly to somewhere like Hawaii in coach, and you have to sit in a claustrophobic seat for like 15 hours without being able to sleep or enjoy being drunk off of the overpriced drinks.
By the way, Eurofly airlines (Italian) sucks big time. Flying to Italy was the shittiest flight by far (save Maui, which was just too long).
Anyway, I am afraid that the Arse and Spurs have many of the same problems - too many smallish, young, speedsters and not enough steel.
I always believed in what many Americans say about sports (although I think this is less true in football than it is in many other sports): Offense wins games, but defense wins championships.
I am not all that confident in the Spurs defense, although I think Corluka is a good signing. I am really not confident in the ball-winning capabilities of our midfield. I think the same is true of Arsenal.
I think, however, that this is compounded by our apparently confounded attempts to strengthen our attack before the deadline. This was a huge blunder by any standards and I felt as though our club was left at a huge disadvantage.
If anyone had asked me in May whether Keane would be a Spur in August, I would have laughed off the question. For them to sell off 40 goals and then only bring in a striker who is on loan and being seasoned for a return to the Red Devils, and another striker who is cup-tied, regardless of his potential, is cause for Comolli to go.
The team is imbalanced and is not built for the long haul of the season. I fear that the Spurs will have spurts of brilliance but will be painfully average over the course of the year.
They need a lot of help in the winter market, and I do not know if they will be able to get enough points until then to make a run at the Champion’s League.
I only hope the same is true of the arse.
September 8th, 2008 at 10:20 am
heskey would of been just another rasiak
September 8th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
Are we allowed to talk about the England match?
I was expecting a packed pub full of excited footy fans on Saturday night. Instead, I found a handful of drinkers with one eye on the football at most.
I know it wasn’t the most interesting of matches but the level of apathy towards England shocked me. No one seemed to give a shit.
I’ve always been an England supporter and whilst I’m more bothered about Spurs doing well than the National team, I love(d) England matches. Now, I don’t care.
Has anyone else found this / feel like this themselves?
September 8th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
am i the only one pissed off completely with this lad Campbell attitude. like fair play if he wants to get stuck in, but, saying, yeah Big Alco Alex, has said yeah im in his plans im going abck to Utd, etc, etc….but TOTTENHAM ARE NOT A STEPPING STONE - Surely Ramos must be thinking okay if he does well - hes gone so were left with another gap up front, i hope he is just a sub on the odd few minutes, grabs a few goals and then fooks off to Man Scum…sorry rant over, still peeved about the Deal we got shafted on….
………Heard Luka the Mod did well at the weekend.. Keane was rubbish for us.
September 8th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
There were six people round my place during the England Andorra game - 2 aussies, 3 English and my Scottish self.
We all watched the Murray Nadal game instead, and not just because I had the remote control!
Its not really England’s fault - how can watching anyone play Andorra be entertainment? And Murray was pretty spectacular…
September 8th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
oog - Murray is British and will remain so until he loses / becomes an embarassment - then he will revert to being scottish.
Hope this clarifies everything.
As for English footie - well lets face it, it’s poor football and not played with any passion, I never used to miss a single game whether friendly or not, but now, I find myself struggling to even find out / care about the result.
Who has changed ???? I’m still as passionate about football as ever. Primadonna players and a exagerated media are nothing new. But something has died, something makes watching the current england team as appealing as watching luton v darlington on a tuesday night in february.
Anyone got any ideas why ?
September 8th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
I’d still rather watch Luton v Darlington than Tennis.
September 8th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
So Bilic likes to climb into bed with his team to ensure a close relationship!.. Modric and Corluka say they enjoy their international love-ins..
nothing like good man management!
i can just imagine Wendy and Gus squabbling about not having enough duvet with Little Aaron escaping unnoticed off the side..
September 8th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
Maybe Berbacunt would’ve settled for a weekly duvet day with Wendy… I’m surprised Comolli didn’t implement such a practise after working with Wenger for so long…
September 9th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
oog - forgive my earlier ourburst - Murray is Scottish.
September 9th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Thats cool WHS.
The last three British players to get to a grand slam final have been Scottish, Canadian and South African…
September 9th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
yep, the sun never sets on………..??????…. our underachieving tennis players!
September 9th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
Well done Mick for picking up the baton.
Well can I just indulge you in some shadenfreude. Robbie Keane has become the 7th player to be burgled whilst away on international duty.
See Robbie, Spurs was always where your natural home was, but you’re now living with the bindippers, so expect to see League Cup Winners Medal 2008 on ebay or imascally.com in the near future.
September 10th, 2008 at 2:20 am
Bagel, Gustavo’s loyalty to the Tottenham deserves our support at the villa game. He’s a stand up bloke for turning down Man Ure and now the Bar Codes. He’s a Yid.
September 10th, 2008 at 9:49 pm
Who’s this Walcott fellow - he sounds good !!!
September 10th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
Gotta give Theo Walcott some credit, for sure. Glad to see England have played a match they can be proud of. I hope this points to better things in the future.
Walcott is a quality player… and he’s young. I imagine he’s got quite a career ahead of him. Ironic that he plays for a French football team… Ar5ena1!
September 11th, 2008 at 12:01 am
Good show for England.
No time to start to praising the enemy, mind. coys x
September 11th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
Whoa. Cheers for the comments guys, much appreciated. I’ve been snowed under with uni for the last fortnight, hoping to get a pre-Villa bit up, mid-terms permitting.
September 12th, 2008 at 4:52 am
Well, Englad is my no 2 national team ahead of the states, although right we need a lot of time to rebuild- keep an eye on Jozy Altidore though. In any case, good for England- wish it could’ve came off the boot of JJ or at least not a gooner. Gave the croats what for, but I wish that Mods would have performed a little better. I imagine that our midfield pushed him around pretty badly, and against a runner like JJ even if he gets room I’m not sure what he’d do with it.
September 15th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Guess I’ve been let off the match reporting duties tonight then
Can’t bloody wait though. Not because I think we’re gonna smash the Villa (we won’t), I just havn’t been to the Lane since…ages.
September 15th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
Got the players and desire to win this game! COYS!
September 15th, 2008 at 10:35 pm
I want to f’in kill myself.
September 15th, 2008 at 11:02 pm
How about a group suicide adam?
September 15th, 2008 at 11:08 pm
Worst start in 34 years? WTF? Just goes to show how much we are really missing Keane and Berbatov.
We don’t have a forward. At least, I didn’t see one tonight. Aaron Lennon was the closest thing we had to a striker. And I’m almost glad Modric is injured…
September 15th, 2008 at 11:12 pm
Lennon and Jenas played ok.
Dawson, Huddlestone and Corluka were awful.
We’ll sort it out and come midtable. And probably not win the CC cup. How dull.
September 15th, 2008 at 11:47 pm
A great way to waste £750 on a frickin season ticket. GRrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
September 16th, 2008 at 3:09 am
Hmph. Typical bloody Tottenham, is all I’ll say. Anybody else want some of this kool-aid? Tastes a bit funny…
September 16th, 2008 at 4:59 am
*Sigh*
Daws and Huddlestone are just not cutting the mustard. I’ll aloow Pav some time as it’ll take time to get upto speed with the Prem. Corluka can’t be excused.
I though Gio looked bright when he came on. Lennon was good in parts. Most of his good stuff what when he was in the middle….he has a good short game. Suited him against Chelsea in the cup the season before last. He’d never get a run int he team there. Got to play Bentley right and Gio left.
Bit to much Rafa-style rotation at the moment……pick a formation and stick with it.
*Sigh*
September 16th, 2008 at 8:16 am
Defensively we were a shambles. Same old tottenham really. If it werent for Gomes the scoreline wouldve been a whole lot worse (aside from his one mistake). Attacking we werent much better. We never even looked dangerous for all our posession in the second half.
September 16th, 2008 at 9:10 am
morning
well this is what you get when you leave everything till the last minute in the transfer window, you should have told keane he aint going nowhere! and the same for berbatov, should have said it was too late to go or better still you dont sell to your RIVALS or is it that you know you will never be their rivals, which shows lack of ambition!!
obviously money is the most important factor to the owners!!
September 16th, 2008 at 9:12 am
by the way whats happened to beefy then? i suppose we will have to wait untill you start winning again for him to post!!
September 16th, 2008 at 9:21 am
Jenas played very well: he seemed like the only player working for the shirt.
September 16th, 2008 at 9:45 am
Chaps
I’ve done a match report if anyone is interested in reading it. See below;
Absolute fucking rubbish!!!!!!!!
September 16th, 2008 at 10:01 am
Joe Pessi claims that you sold keane and berbatov to rivals - you sold them to premier league and champions league contenders, not mid table mediocre teams.
However, as st totteringhams day edges ever nearer the start of the season, a pre season hype and subsequent capitulation engulfs the shores of lake spud.
In the worst start to a premiership campaign since erm … last season, an untried squad of players has to pull on brave faces and protect their ego’s from a barrage of torrent from the current faithful(?) from down the lane.
Anyone here brave enough to re-issue their pre-season statement of intent ? Their claims of global domination ? The suggestions of year on year improvement ?
Or will be honest enough to face reality ? Who is the juan to blame ? Will the fickle fans that once suckled so willingly from jol’s bulbous teats before deserting him like a mangy cat now skulk in the corner away from ramos’ desperate gaze ? His current return of defeats far outweighs his victories, so is the sword of damocles wavering precariously above his head.
How long will it be before a new covert attempt to lure away someone elses manager become tomorrows chip paper, In the current climate any risk of relegation, perhaps even non european qualification for next season might not only be necessary, it may even be imperitive.
Joe lewis only has finite funds, and his loses are mounting up, it looks like doom and gloom ahead for the 6puds.
September 16th, 2008 at 10:39 am
and you’re still a cunt who supports a team full of cunts watched by a few more cunts.
I’m not sure who is more deluded. Us for thinking we might have a team to challenge the top 4 or you for thinking that you might actually win something.
Both are very unlikely scenarios.
September 16th, 2008 at 11:06 am
But we have actually won something in the recent past - you haven’t reached a top 4 berth in living memory.
In fact, bottom 4 looks more and more likely for you lot, whereas we’ll be there or thereabouts, again.
September 16th, 2008 at 11:13 am
Interesting quote by former whs favourite and enthusiastic racist:
“A lot of dark-skinned people live there [White Hart Lane area]. So naturally the crime rate is higher than anywhere else. It’s not nice to be a robbery victim. So I suggest that Roman [Pavlyuchenko] doesn’t walk but drives around that area.”- Sergei Rebrov
September 16th, 2008 at 11:30 am
Where is “there or thereabouts”? Do you get a medal for finishing there?
Is 1987 in living memory? I remember it. I was there.
September 16th, 2008 at 11:43 am
1987 - great memories of the league cup semi final - now who was it we beat again ?
September 16th, 2008 at 11:46 am
and who did we finish above in the league?
September 16th, 2008 at 11:59 am
Trying to keep the faith in the Boys but it’s sooooo hard. We need a bit of a morale-boosting, pep-talk. Bagel? Mick? Give us something inspiring, something to pull us out of this slump please!
Failing that, I am quite enjoying the banter between Hornchurch Yids and Oi Oi. More please.
September 16th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
3rd then - over 20 years ago - that’s your argument eh ?
That’s your grasp of reality?
While loading up some weapons of mass delusion - you loaded them with damp powder son.
September 16th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
RR
It’s all part of the healing process. On the way home after last nights game I had the usual “what the fuck????? feeling about how bad we are and “what is the point” thoughts running through my head. (this happens most seasons at some point).
Having a “playground” fight with Oi Oi just helps me remember why I love THFC and absolutley despise and hate the SCUM! I’m already forgetting last nights shocker and am thinking that a good win against Wisla on Thursday will set us up nicely for Sunday.
While Oi Oi is a right plum he does have his uses.
Join in. It might help you feel better. After all, we all know that we are the greatest club the world has ever seen. Not those South London nomads who have no soul. They are just SCUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cheers Oi Oi.
September 16th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
Gomes is no better than Robbo - certainly not £7m better than Robbo.
Still, at least Super Martin Jol’s Hamburg side aren’t top of the Bundesliga… oh, hang on a minute…
September 16th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
I didn’t even move when we scored. I didn’t join in with any half-hearted attempts of a sing song. I left early (bang on 90 mins). It was shocking.
September 16th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Robbo did us the usual serving of favours on saturday - now 46 goals in 14 games against us, Phenomenal really.
I’m glad I’ve reminded some to ignore reality and comfort themselves with idle dreams.
September 16th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
Big-up to the arseblogger:
http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/6729/image001wr6.gif
September 16th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
You been made redundant Oi Oi?
September 16th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
Wilson
It seems that Oi Oi is still working full time as a cock.
September 16th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Job update:
I’m still working, though do know people who are being laid off, in fact, I used to work with the (ex)credit risk manager at lehmans, I guess I wont be name dropping him in future.
But thanks for asking.
As I updated a few months ago I’ve been shorting the market for a while now which means I’m doing ok.
September 16th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
Yawn!
September 16th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
pavlovalaychenko = panic buy!!!
poorluka = panic buy
bent = shit
September 16th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
From the Times:
Ramos is a fantastic coach, one of the best in Europe, but, if he is to have a long and successful career at Tottenham, it is time he started to prove his quality by getting his players to show theirs. Getting to grips with the English language would be a start, but nothing is more important than getting points on the board.
True in two key points: Getting these players to actually perform, Time to earn your Money, Juande. And for fuck’s sake, learn the lingo.
However badly the players performed, you have to look at the tactics. I was up to my arse in marking, and listening on the radio, but did Bently come on on the LEFT?
To anyone who was there, actually ‘there’, not TobytheYid-listening-far-away ‘there’, Was Luka the Mod shite, or painfully out of position??
September 16th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
I had to check the info button on my TV remote. I almost thought I was watching the Paralympics.
Modric wasn’t there. I mean, technically he was on the field, but he wasn’t making much (if any) impact. Pavlyuchenko was easily being brushed aside by the centre backs anytime he got near the box.
I didn’t think Corluka was all bad. Not good, but not a total disaster.
But Lennon and Jenas seemed to be the only ones doing any work. Ironic that £60m+ later and it’s the old guys who are doing the most work.
September 17th, 2008 at 7:43 am
Got to play the players to their strengths and stick to a formula. Too much chopping and changing at the moment is not helping anyone…including us!
2 things the Spurs management should be doing right now:
Starting Bentley on the right.
Finding two bloody good holding midfielders to play behind our forward 4 and get them lined up now for 1st January!
September 17th, 2008 at 10:01 am
I also didn’t celebrate when we scored. The goal was so incredibly shit that I would have been happier with 2-0.
September 17th, 2008 at 10:53 am
Looks like something is badly wrong at our club and not just on the pitch. Would not be shocked to see gus in charge by january and then it all begins again…
September 17th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
According to footie 365, the special juan has got a worse win record that christian gross?
Can anyone confirm this ?
September 17th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Ramos really ballsed up in this game.
Gunter should have started at RB, I would have played Corluka at CB instead of Daws. Against a hard running Villa side we should have fought fire with fire, I would have had O’Hara with Jenas in the middle with Dos Santos left (in fact I would have had Malbranque), Lennon right.
I despair that big Tom is not going to cut it at the highest level and fear that Wenger may be right about Modric.
It still early doors, but we’ve got to start playing people in right positions and in right formations. Villa pissed us because we didn’t match them over the park. I watched on Sultana and didn’t know what the fuck was happening and the players look equally clueless about what they should be doing.
One thing I will say is that Pavalyuchenku will be a top signing and to expect a £50m bid to come in from Utd in 18 months.
September 18th, 2008 at 9:35 am
guys - is our game on TV tonight anyone know? I can see every other one but not us!?
is it on Sultana?
September 18th, 2008 at 10:24 am
Yep, it’s on Sultana bran.
You can have my ticket if you like?
Only kidding, I’ll keep the ticket. I predict a good win for us and a confidence boost for Sunday.
If not, you can have my ticket for Sunday.
September 18th, 2008 at 10:42 am
I’ll lower the bar - if we lose tonight, I’ll pay someone to take my ticket for Sunday.
September 18th, 2008 at 10:50 am
Thats some faith you are putting in our underperforming side Glory Glory! But I like it.
September 18th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Does that mean you’re interested Wattson?!
What a strange week this has been. I can’t remember ever feeling so low about Spurs as I did on Monday night/Tuesday morning.
After a bit more reflection, and having read some idiotic calls for Ramos to be sacked, I now feel a bit more positive (not much, but a bit).
We are still in 3 cups and have 102 points to play for in the league, so it is far too early to write the season off. Even a loss tonight wouldn’t change that fact (although certainly wont help my point!).
I’m not going to blindly make any predictions for the rest of the season just yet. We started the last two seasons W1 D1 L4 in the league and ended up finishing 5th & 11th after both those poor starts. Anything can happen and we still have the opportunity to improve on 4 points from 6, so from our worst start after 4 games we could actually have our best start (over 6 games) for 3 seasons. I’m sure this is how Wendy & Gus will be looking at it and I just hope Levy isn’t trigger happy still, apart from when it comes to that cnut Comolli.
September 18th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha poor spurs fans all them
signings and u still play shite football
September 18th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
what do you guys think of luka modric worth 16 mill ??????
September 18th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
Fuck me we still can’t hold onto a lead for more than a fucking minute!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
September 18th, 2008 at 10:02 pm
Win! A Win! C O Y S………. love it.
September 19th, 2008 at 10:23 am
Oi Oi said;
“As I updated a few months ago I’ve been shorting the market for a while now which means I’m doing ok.”
And so the financial regulators have seen fit to suspend this form of trading as it has clearly contributed to the financial instability of the markets. It is also being said that “Shorting” is rife with insider trading and those who would destabilise the markets for their own personal gain.
Oh dear Oi Oi! No more shorting for you for a while. You must be very proud being partly responsible for the financial chaos that we are all suffering at the moment. Well, as long as you did alright out of it while others have lost jobs, homes, savings and shares then everything is OK isn’t it?
And I just thought you were a cunt for being a Scum fan.
Enjoy your day.
September 19th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
Nice one Hornchurch, well put!
Greed
Lust
Gluttony
Sloth
Wrath
Envy
Pride
Supporting Ar5ena1
September 19th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
good win last night! - although for most of it I found myself watching Polish advertising - reminds me, must pick up a Polski loaf on the way home..
September 19th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
We will need to sharpen up in defence if we want to though in Poland, but otherwise there was a lot more flare up front than against Villa.
Well done Campbell, the boy done good.
Coys
September 19th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
Rod Stewart spotted in Chigwell resturant. Cover for Ledders???
September 19th, 2008 at 7:31 pm
P.S. What the fuck was up with the Wisla fans invading the whole of WHL?? Glad I wasn’t there, hard to think I would have kept to myself if the guy next to me unfurls an Arsenal fan (which apparantly happened in the West stand).
September 19th, 2008 at 7:31 pm
flag*..
September 20th, 2008 at 9:30 am
hornchurch skid,
I shorted the oil futures market, which meant I predicted that oil prices were too high and unsustainable when the price was around $150 a barrel and that they would fall, nothing unethical in that as far as I see.
I think you are refering to the practice of short selling. In this case you have a portfolio of shares and some of the shares, or all of them are falling in value, you could sell these shares in the morning and buy them back in the afternoon for less money meaning instant profit and your portfolio remains exactly the same with no overnight positions change.
Perhaps you should concentrate on your broom on the streets of hornchurch and try not to read between the lines of the financial pages of the star, or are you back on the dustcarts again.
September 20th, 2008 at 10:46 am
Gosh - it must have taken you aaages to work out that oil would fall in price.
Well done x
September 20th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
Tottenham Hotspur are proud to present this season’s Christmas Party and as a bonus include their End of Season party on the same night. Each guest will receive a goodie bag including; A History of Tottenham Hotspur (includes that thrilling 12th place season) and a set of Champions League Pillowcases (so you can keep dreaming!)
The venue…
The night will include:
* Four Course Meal
* Party Games - including pin the tail on Jenas
* Tottenham Legend Sergei Rebrov as guest speaker
Highlights of the evening for our guests to enjoy include: Darren Bent’s Greatest Goals, Ledley King and Jonathan Woodgate’s 10 best injuries and “1961 - The Last Time we won the League” - now for the first time in colour (due to computer colouring techniques used on the original reels of remaining footage)!
This is a unique opportunity to enjoy two parties at the same time so get your tickets now and double party for half the price!
Tickets £25 per person or a table of 10 for £200
You can buy tickets by phone - 020 6161 6161
Or online at http://www.deludedspuds.com/61neveragain
Also available on the night will be specially reduced merchandise:
70% off BerbaGodT-Shirts
50% off “4th Place - 2009” T-Shirts
£10.99 “The League is upside down” T-shirts for £10.99
And for just £15.99 get you’re “The Carling Cup is bigger than anything” T-shirt and Mug combi
September 20th, 2008 at 9:06 pm
Nice to know you care Toby - but please keep the kisses to a minimum.
September 21st, 2008 at 8:39 am
When the fuck is Alan Hutton going to play??
Does he even exist?
September 21st, 2008 at 3:37 pm
33 minutes against Wigan and our old team is back… was last Thursday night just a dream?
And they just made a close-up of Bale’s hair-clip. Just shows how much action there is on the pitch, eh?
September 21st, 2008 at 9:37 pm
Oh god. We Were Boring.
Don’t bother even thinking about MOTD.
There is nothing you haven’t seen already.
Oh Spurs, Come On.
September 22nd, 2008 at 9:53 am
The glory nights have returned to white hart shame as on sunday afternoon 6puds doubled their points return for the seaon.
It looks like the skies the limit for lilly-livered boys from londons poorest area with a relegation rival clash with fellow strugglers in the carling cup on wednesday.
Phew it must be adrenaline fueled times for the followers of those carling cup heroes, no 2 game rest for the players for this tie though.
I wonder how long the glory cup days down the lane will last ?
Still, on the brightside, a nice trip down the coast to follow.
September 22nd, 2008 at 11:24 am
Oi Oi, How can you type with a straight jacket on? but then thats the only straight thing about you. your team full of hair dressers are only top because they like the thought of loadsa men behind them. Ps nobody cares what you do or where you do it! \m/ COYS!
September 22nd, 2008 at 11:29 am
“There is huge expectation when you play for Tottenham and you need players to perform and it’s only a matter of time before they do in my opinion because they have so many top players.”
Well Said Mr Bruce, it’s just a matter of time till we come good i’m sure.
COYS!
September 22nd, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Let’s not kid ourselves, The Futures Bright,The Futures Lilywhite. As much as I like & respect Steve Bruce, he and all the PL managers have these kind of stock answers ready and waiting for the press after every game.
He’s not exactly gonna come out and say ‘Spurs were crap today and I would be shitting it if I were one of their fans as they couldn’t even score against my bunch that includes Titus Bambi’!
I was feeling rather positive for a change before the game yesterday, but after seeing the lack of cohesion, quality and any kind of creativity or support for the strikers from our midfield, I am seriously concerned that by the time we do start to play football it could be too late to save ourselves from a relegation scrap.
It happened to West Ham when they nearly went down two years ago - no-one thought they were relegation material, but they just didn’t get results in key games and were bottom at Xmas.
Yesterday was one of those key games for us and we failed miserably to threaten Wigan, considering the supposed quality we have available to us.
I don’t want to get onto individual performances, but Bentley I will single out because he was just so poor. Gave the ball away for fun, couldn’t cross, don’t remember him beating a man all afternoon - these are not the traits of a £17m winger and I hope he is dropped in favour of Lennon, who was the bright spark of the day and was unlucky not to win a penalty.
Very very disappointed with it all and although the finger pointing will continue in the media, we really do need to pull together and support the team. Hate the club & the directors by all means, but let’s get behind the players before it’s too late. I don’t want be challenging Newcastle for the most laughed about club.
COYS (please!)
September 22nd, 2008 at 4:42 pm
well well it doesnt look good for you yids does it! a strikeforce of pavluychenko, bent and campbell!!….oooo.. that has got to be down near the bottom in terms of quality/strengh/class/goals!!
and where the f*ck is beefy bagel? surely he hasnt given up in these dark times!! maybe he has seen the light and become a gooner!!!!
September 22nd, 2008 at 5:58 pm
Joe P
Didn’t you know that the Bagel has given up his Blog?
It’s only you and Oi Oi with your posts that are keeping this Spurs blog going. What would your scum mates think if they knew that you were actively keeping alive a Spurs blog?
If I were you I’d just stop posting on here and let this thing just disappear. It’s what Bagel would want.
September 22nd, 2008 at 6:31 pm
Glory Glory.
I bet my house we won’t be bottom by Xmas.
September 22nd, 2008 at 7:07 pm
Ramos needs to find his best 11 and give them a run. There seems to be so much chopping and changing. Obvioulsy there will be changes through injury, suspension and being cup tied but I just get the feeling that the manager still doesn’t know who is best and in what position.
Maybe I’m being old fashioned?
September 22nd, 2008 at 10:06 pm
sorry to hear old beefy has given up on things! any reason for this! very unyid like to give up on things!! oh well! fun whilst it lasted then but like all ..er..good things.
the futures bright, lillywhite I’ll take that bet i could do with another pad!
final thought! every time keane has left a club the following season they have gone on to get relegated!! I dont think it will happen this time though , as they say…your to good to go down!!!!!!
September 22nd, 2008 at 10:23 pm
Let this blog die-RIP Beef Bagel!
September 23rd, 2008 at 12:45 am
We might not be bottom, but there are 3 relegation places and if we don’t start picking up points soon we could find ourselves down there and struggling.
I actually just looked at the fixtures again and our next 3 league games could provide some respite, although failure to take these chances for points could have disastrous consequences.
COYS
September 23rd, 2008 at 7:56 am
Glory Glory - it’s a dire situation, indeed, considering that at least one of this year’s promoted teams (Hull) are playing decently. It looks like they might actually survive this year in the Premier League if they keep it up. And the other two only have one win each, but I see Stoke winning more games. We don’t have a Derby County this year. Or, more accurately, for the time being WE are the Derby County this year.
Our team might ‘gel’ sometime in the near future and start scoring goals. But I’ve not seen anything that leads me to believe this is inevitable.
Maybe Keano’s goalless drought will find him relegated to the bench, and we can get him back in January!
September 23rd, 2008 at 10:47 am
dave
What’s with the negative vibes man?
And in any case, can a blog die? Doesn’t it just sit on some computer server somewhere forever?
This site may be a bit quiet at the mo but then Spurs are playing shit. Maybe for your next post you might come up with something a little more……………
September 23rd, 2008 at 1:15 pm
hornchurch skid is right, keep the blog alive:
Rather than concentrating on the negatives of 6puds’ start to the season, lets look at the positives.
Both berbatov and keane are playing rubbish, there is unlikely to be any fixture congestion at the end of the season, a top 4 finish is almost certain next season, if you read the table in australia you are actually top and The Mighty Arsenal are bottom, no need to move stadium.
Theres just a few to get you going.
September 24th, 2008 at 11:32 am
Whats it going to be tonight guys? Another chop an change from Ramos as he tries to find his first team? Id love another clean sheet but preferably with some goals on our side. Think Frazier may get a start
September 24th, 2008 at 11:55 am
Just reading about Roy Keane’s reaction to the players and fans after last night’s scrape through against Northampton.
Can’t help thinking this is the sort of work ethic and attitude we need from our management at the moment + the ability to completely lay into the players to give absolutely everything physically for the cause -basically like Keane was as a player. Ramos is great - tactically and strategically as a manager - and I imagine an equally clever man- manager and motivator. BUT - can he throw the tea-cups like Keane, like Scolari and Ferguson? Gus I’m sure can, although his energy seems more enthusiasm than anger and rage. This is what I want in a coach for Spurs (and England for that matter).
Watching Spurs lately - nice touches and clever football - but we need the blood and guts to battle - like Sunderland, Villa, Wigan all can turn on when needed. we certainly need this die hard spirit to get a result tonight as everyone’s back is against the wall - I love Chrissy Hughton but I hope he doesn’t end up putting one over on us - because he certainly deserves to by the way the directors treated him.
the players we’ve signed are high quality - but unfortunately they need lots of time to adjust - and time which just aint there in the premiership, especially without a proper pre-season to gel. I only hope Levy has the sense to learn from this. I foresee us improving marginally until January and then splashing a lot of cash again - probably at the last minute of the window!
COYS!! - give everything for the spurs to beat the barcodes!
September 24th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
It’s one of those games that can really go either way. Even if we were playing nice stuff and getting decent results I would have little confidence about going up there and getting a win. St James’ is one of those places I never feel confident about Spurs going to, even now, with the Barcodes in such a state.
Newcastle are as much of (if not more of) a shambles us at the moment and I think the team that show the most desire will be the victors. I think overall quality is irrelevant when both teams are severely lacking confidence.
I do find myself not really that bothered about going out the competition to be honest - This more of a reflection on my attitude towards Spurs and football in general now, than thinking that it’s a nothing competition - a cup is a cup after all.
The other thing is if we do win and get drawn against Arsenal’s kids we will be severely embarrassed and I would rather go out now than risk that happening!
September 24th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
Victory in the laughing stock derby!
September 24th, 2008 at 10:18 pm
Is this true? rumours that Gazza has killed himself? :(:(
September 24th, 2008 at 11:39 pm
That’s a bit extreme really…I mean it was a terrible first half and all that, but come on!
September 25th, 2008 at 8:52 am
nigerian consortium in to buy Newcastle?
Ashley really shouldn’t take those late night anonymous calls:
“yes sir - I will require your bank account number and sort code..”
COME ON YOU CARLING CUP SPURS !
September 25th, 2008 at 9:40 am
Happy with the result. Our defense was looking half decent last night too. A bit more structure and communication say us even catch someone offside. Definitely need to create more attacking opportunities though… but baby steps.
September 25th, 2008 at 10:22 am
Thank God for that. Was tying noose at half time.
Is anyone up for reporting on the Portsmouth game? I do so miss Monday morning match reports. Anyone going to the game?
Also, what’s this about Terry Venables temporarily supervising Newcastle? Any truth is this rumour?
September 25th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Mike Ashley’s cockney mafia revenge
1) Knocked out of the League Cup by the mighty Spurs
2) Newcastle’s shortlist of managers; El Tel, God, Graham.
3) And to top it all he’s thinking of selling to some Nigerians who he got an email from saying he had won £500 euro’s in the Uzbekistan National Lottery.
HAHA
Good to see Jamie get a goal. He may be a stop gap measure, but we need his work in midfield at the moment if we are going to dig ourselves out of a hole. Look on the bright side, unbeaten in three and Portsmouth up next, with 10 goals shipped in past two games. The lads will be a bit more confident this morning, a win at Pompey and avoid defeat against the Poles and the season would have really started. Oh, I forgot the ghost of Jermain Defoe…its inevitable really.
September 25th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
Pompey will be livid at having conceded so many goals recently and lets face it, we are not exactly scoring freely. I think it will be tough to win down there, but if we play like we did in the 2nd half last there’s every chance. A performance like that of the first half last night and we will be lucky to get 1 point.
September 25th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
cautious as ever GG - it’s a good point and sure it’ll be a tough game against the Spurs rejects down south
‘Now, having engaged Keith Harris, the chairman of Seymour Pierce, the investment bank, to help to sell the club and having had firm interest from potential buyers in China’
I reckon Orville would go down quite well in a Newcastle shirt! He’ll wish he could fly that’s for sure!!
September 25th, 2008 at 10:09 pm
Off the mark.
Enough. Now let’s sort the sailors. COYS !
September 26th, 2008 at 11:00 am
Interesting :
Dimitar recently said: ‘My father was the best. He taught me everything.’
Did that include gang rape and kidnapping ???
Phew, thank god he’s not in london anymore, at least our daughters can walk the streets in safety.
September 26th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
The Newcastle United soap opera just gets better and better and better…..
Wise getting Kinnear in is just absolute gold. I wish I could make stuff like that up.
September 28th, 2008 at 7:22 am
Oi Oi:
I bet you lot could’ve used someone like Berbatov yesterday, yeah? Downed by the mighty Hull at home!
September 28th, 2008 at 7:59 am
Ah - so it is US who are next in line for a takeover.
An unnamed ‘Asian Billionaire’ is interested - see today’s Observer.
Hmmm… that’s taken my mind off of today’s ‘must win, again’ game a little…
September 28th, 2008 at 10:37 am
Sorry to go on -
The worrying detail is that the person in question is described simply as ‘an investor’. The problematic takeovers have been where people are looking for a quick return.
Continuity, and decent, timely, signings is really what we need.
Now it’s in black and white (OK, it’s all just speculation at the moment) I seem to have changed my mind. Having been secretly wishing for a wealthy owner to come in, I just worry about the longer-term future. It is an OLD argument, but really, what does happen when a billionaire decides to sell up, What would happen to a club that suddenly has a wage bill that is simply unsustainable?
I’m sure in 3-5 years we will all find out - I just don’t want Spurs to be the first fall guys.
Levy may be many things - good and bad - but at least we are one of the very FEW who make a profit, and are solvent. At the moment…
September 28th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
Hmmm… well, we have achieved some sort of consistency this season.
Fuck.
Penny for your thoughts, Bagel?
September 28th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
Toby,
Interesting reading your post makes - i’ve been on a media blackout all weekend due to business/illness/apathy. Only through vitriolic text messages did I find out the result earlier today!
I’m ignoring the current plight of the team for a change…
I personally cannot bear the thought of a wealthy ‘investor’ buying Spurs. That would be the final nail in the coffin of our club and they can have their season ticket back gladly if/when that happens.
The speculation does not surprise me one bit though - Levy has been ‘fattening up the goose’ for a good couple of years. The mindless ‘asset’ stripping we saw in the summer is testament to this.
One of my mates made a joke when he found out that the season ticket prices had gone up by so much this year - he said the only way he would be renewing next season is if we got relegated and the prices then dropped! Well, looks like he may not be far off renewing aleady.
Ok, the scum lost at home to Hull, but maybe before we wind them up we should look at our results so far this season - and also our fixtures…Hull at home next and does anyone on here care to confidently claim we’ll beat the ‘whipping boys’??
September 28th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
This is gonna be a long one, so bear with me
I was watching the game today and I got to thinking that there must be a more enjoyable way to spend ones Sunday afternoon. Today’s performance summed up everything that is wrong with our Current Squad/Manager/Sporting Director/Board.
The last game I was at was the pre-season game against Roma (I live in Northern Ireland), and although the performance that day was hardly awe-inspiring, the 5-0 drubbing of a “Top Italian Champions League Side” left me in high spirits on the flight back to Belfast.
Unfortunately it turns out that for “Top Italian” it should have read “Fat Italian”. A side who recently succumbed to Romanian whipping boys in their first home game in the Champions League.
Due to our recent plight we’ve had a fair amount of television time. I’ve watched the first leg against Krakow and the Cup game against Newcastle. I know television doesn’t allow for a complete game experience but I feel I’ve seen enough.
The game against Newcastle was fair warning. Newcastle are a terrible football team, bereft of confidence, a manager and half their team because of injuries. We didn’t exactly excel against them.
The team that nite was selected to (as The Radio said post-match) “load the midfield and frustrate them” and then try to create something in the second half. Hardly lofty aspirations against mighty Newcastle. But, to be fair we got a result which was what the boys needed, apparently.
Not judging by todays performance.
Gomes is not the answer. I think Comolli was blinded by his last-minute save in extra-time from Steed in last years UEFA Cup. No wonder PSV were more than happy to let him go, and replace him with someone who couldn’t get a game for Man City.
Ledley King is becoming a problem. He can’t play two games in a week. The most important thing for any defence is continuity & stability. Playing every other game does not give us this. Combined with Huttons injury and the result is a less then secure defence in front of a goalkeeper who has no confidence in himself or the players in front of him. (Selling Chimbonda with Hutton out for months?)
Didier Zokora is not a very good footballer. How many times do Liverpool substitute Mascherano? Obi at Chelsea? Rarely. Yet he comes off today. He doesn’t carry the ball well, his positional play is horrendous, he can’t pass and he has the leadership skills of George W.
Jamie O’Hara tries really hard, but he’s not much better. The improvement that Jenas showed towards the end of last season seems to have disappeared as he realises that his better team mates have moved on to greener pastures and no-one wanted him. He’s dis-interested at best.
As for Bentley I suppose he had a tortuous up-bringing in North London and his return has brought back all of those nightmares. His performances on the pitch have been nothing short of nightmarish.
And as for our strike-force, well at least their struggling at their new clubs.
I don’t blame Ramos. He seems to be an honest, hard-working man who knows European (La Liga & UEFA Cup) football really well. The only problem is it doesn’t work against Portsmouth on a Sunday afternoon. His knowledge of English football needs to keep improving bt he may need a crash course if he is to survive this season.
Comolli has to be held to account for out current squad short-comings. It is unacceptable the our two best players leave during the transfer window and we try to sign Emile Heskey at five to midnight. That’s balls.
If any of us produced that sort of standard of performance at work then the P45 would no doubt be in the post. I understand the Levy is a Spurs man, but he’s also a money man. He is balancing the books at Spurs and that all well and good, but at the end of the day all the supporters care about are results and performances on the pitch.
On a positive note (I know, I know), we’re still in four competitions and we do have some decent players in our squad. But things need to change sharpish or it could be Hola to the Championship come May.
B-money
September 29th, 2008 at 8:37 am
This is poor. Very poor from both players and Ramos. Im confused by some team selections and substitutions. If King cant play two games in a week, why are we running him out in the Carling Cup when the League should be our priority. Assou-Ekotto looks out of his depth to me. He is too lightwight and makes some terrible decisions. Gilberto… was he even on the pitch yesterday? Jenas is back to the same old Jenas. Passing to nobody and giving up on the game. Zokora is everything B-Money said although he has made some good runs into space only to run straight into the opposition afterwards. Bentley hasnt proved he is worth the money. In my opinion our two best players this year have been Woodgate by far and Lennon. Which doesnt say much about the team cause Lennon hasnt done much.
September 29th, 2008 at 10:00 am
Glory Glory,
Isn’t Joseph Lewis a wealthy investor ?
I assume you’ll be ‘gladly’ handing back your season ticket today.
September 29th, 2008 at 10:18 am
Oi oi you little fucking pedantic vat of rats vomit. Please kindly fuck off and let us wallow in our own self pity.
What I do with my season ticket should be of no interest to cunts like you.
September 29th, 2008 at 10:52 am
Then why post how you would gladly rid yourself of a burden of a season ticket should some sugar daddy investor take over.
Well, thats all you have had as owners for the last 20 years, so another one shouldn’t make any difference.
Joseph Lewis lost a fortune last year, and it’s no wonder he wants some return from his investment in 6puds, I expect he would gladly be rid of the club to the highest bidder at this very moment.
Not that it’s worth much right now.
September 29th, 2008 at 11:15 am
Nice vent B Money. Dont agree with you on one point. I think Gomes is a top keeper and if not for him against Wigan and Chelski we would have nil points. One possitive from the Portsmouth game has to be the fans. Outsang the sailors for most of the game and the cheeky chant directed toward defoe at was pricless. You make me proud to be a spurs man and if only the players had half the passion. COYS!
September 29th, 2008 at 11:21 am
Bit like the flats being built on the old Scumbury then?
September 29th, 2008 at 11:28 am
Ramos clearly has to take the blame for the current situation. He’s nearly had a full season and the football and tactics are abject. I know we lost Dimi & Robbie, but there is still £150 million plus of football talent that is not performing. The trouble is he can hide behind the fact that Comolli has been signing the players.
With the squad we have, we should automatically be competing with Villa for 5th place, but since the League Cup honeymoon we have gone backwards and Big MJ’s team has gone. Although it may take a foreign manager longer to adapt, Scolari has instantly improved Chelsea and kept them at the top of the tree, we were only looking at top six.
I agree Levy has been trying to make the club more attractive so he can sell. Ramos was going to be a key feature in this, he was going to add value by beinging the “Wenger” like figure at the club. Also everything has gone quiet on the ground development as funding is going to be a major problem. So will Levy cut his losses?
I’m all for keeping the club out of foreign ownership, but will a cabal of Jewish businessmen who follow the club get together and keep the club out of Arab hands. I can’t believe Levy told Roman to take a walk down the Kings Road.
Moyes in for Manager and Steve Perryman in for Director of Football by Christmas.
September 29th, 2008 at 11:55 am
Moyes in for manager?
HAHAHA
September 29th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
I wonder how long we’ll have to wait for another ’special’ Levy broadcast on Spurs TV?
He’s running out of people to hide behind now…
September 29th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
Whats all this chat about levy - he’s not the money man - he’s just a front man for lewis, he’s just a club manager who does as he’s told.
September 29th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Why would you care as a dirty scummer cunt? Do one will you, and go and play on a motorway please
September 29th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
This is a long one. Apologies now, I am somewhere between pissed off, pleased at the possibility of a Park Lane season ticket if the worst happens, worried that if we lose to Hull we are officially in a relegation battle, and sure we are just in a bad run of form that has lasted about 3 seasons.
We finished 10 points above relegation last year and after playing 15 games we had 12 points. Of these 12 points, we had won only two games, both 4-0, against Derby and Wigan. So we are in fact the same as last year. Shit.
Last season however we always look liked scoring, this year I am beginning to wonder if someone has walked off with all the goalposts from Spurs Lodge and nobody has noticed in training.
The problem is a very simple one. Ramos has no idea who his best team is and where they should be playing. We have sold our two most creative players and replaced them with two players who will run the channels and score with headers.
At the moment the team sheet is like the lottery. Maybe that’s how he’s picking them. Borrowed a Dream number machine from Lottery HQ, it would explain a lot about the team selection.
In defence Gomes is a quality goalkeeper, Hutton, Bale and Corluka and Woodgate have all been quality performers when fit. Once this back 4 plays together we should be alright.
Ledley should be seen purely as back up, Gunter needs to be given a chance in the absence of Hutton and Dawson and Ekotto are both an accident waiting to happen.
In midfield our problems start.
Best right winger? Lennon in flashes, but we just spent 16m on Bentley so I can only imagine he will be first choice. On his current form he would struggle to play for my local Blue Square team, his delivery has been shocking.
Left Winger? Dos Santos, Lennon, Gilberto, Bale, Modric. All have played there so far. Ramos obviously has no idea what to do. (Remember Steed?)
I like Lennon followed by Little Gio. Lennon and Bentley combined well against Krakow the other week and then Lennon set up Romski the other night. It seems to work
Central Midfield? Modric or Jenas. One not both.
Hudd, Zokora, O’Hara. They are all not up to the job. Diarra please.
And up front? Just play 2 of them, for 90 minutes, every game.
Until he knows what the hell to do with his midfield, going to the Lane remains as an appealing prospect as going to watch my son playing football.
He has no idea where the goal is and shows more interest in running the opposite way to the ball. I have a hunch this is due to him watching Spurs and thinking this is the way football should be played, rather than because he is 3.
End thought - We need to beat Hull.
September 29th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
Glory Glory,
I’m sorry for being a bore at such a time - I’ll go right now and never return.
September 29th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
I have to say, I agree with many of the points raised.
What I have a problem with is the assertion that Ramos does not know what he’s doing…
YES, the evidence seems to be there in our varied formations, and utter lack of coherence, but really, he MUST know. He MUST have a plan.
surely?
September 29th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
Although he MUST have a plan Toby, & I really hope he does; it just seems like he’s shooting in the dark with all this chopping and changing with the squad…
P.S is Ledders injured or just being rested?
COYS.
September 29th, 2008 at 6:18 pm
Ledders can’t play 2 games in a week and therefore I agree with what I have read here and on other sites… that he should be used as back up to Woody & Corluka. Gunter is more than capable of playing RB - I just don’t get why Ramos changes this. The back line should be the most simple one to get correct what with Bale being the only LB who can actually claim to be able to defend (and not even that well either).
I think any plan Ramos had or has, may well have been ruined by the work of (or lack of) Levy & Comolli. I’m certain that it would not have been Ramos’ decision to sell Keane & Berbs. Defoe I don’t know about, but either way, any manager worth his salt is clearly going to spot that there could be a problem in the goals scored column if we sell Berbatov AND Keane.
Ok, we all knew BErbs was going, but Liverpool should have been politely told to fuck right off until we had a replacement lined up. Even then, Keane was one of those players whose value was almost intangible to Tottenham. I don’t look at what he hasn’t done at Liverpool - I look at what he did for us and no doubt still would be doing.
I am just so angry and feel cheated by the club. We should get a refund on the extra we paid for our season tickets - this was supposed to strengthen the squad and I don’t htink I’m alone in regarding our current set of players as weaker overall than last years cup-winning set.
September 29th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
Agreed Glory, King really, sadly, is just not in a fit state to be considered a regular.
I still firmly believe that continuity is key - review management by all means, but just like buying players, it should be done at the end of a season, and in good time.
Also - It is clear we will be buying in january, but amongst all the names, can we not, for the love of God, buy some experienced Premiership players?! Fucking hell, we will by then surely need personnel who can hit the ground running - we already have far too many ‘it takes time to adjust to the English game’ players already!
September 30th, 2008 at 10:20 am
Just a obtuse thought here, but instead of slagging, you could get behind the manager then maybe you would be able to reap the rewards:
1 Hamburg 6 3 0 0 6 3 1 1 1 6 7 2 13
2 Bayer Leverkusen 6 2 0 1 11 5 2 0 1 7 5 8 12
3 Werder Bremen 6 2 1 0 9 5 1 1 1 9 7 6 11
But as usual, you expect and demand instant returns and success, but you haven’t had any real success for decades, and to demand instant success borders on the naivity of the geordies.
You blame this and that, but the players confidence comes from the stands and all your ooohs and ahhhs and head hanging really aren’t gonna help.
But you know no different, so your pain continues, fairly soon you will cry for ramos’ head, then he’ll go and win the champions league with fc kickaball and you’ll be managed by some kerb crawling parasite for 18 months till he becomes your new nasty nick, carlos winacup becomes your new rubiks cube manager and the 6puds world revolves once more, but still remains the laughing stock.
You remain bitter about losing your best players, but their loyalty was dependent on achieving champions league status and you couldn’t deliver so they left, simple.
Glory glory indeed, when and where did you grab the balls to claim that moniker ? There’s no glory in the quick returns you seek and your dreams of success are build on pure fantasy.
September 30th, 2008 at 11:35 am
Oi Oi,
Some valid Points, but I wait to see how Arsenal fans react to their next defeat, blowing kisses at the players no doubt and congratulating each other on a great game.
After 60 minutes of the CC semi, your lot were doing a great job of supporting, although it was probably about 3 miles down the high road, but I’m sure all your players confidence was shot to pieces by that point anyway (a cheap dig I know.)
Most Spurs fans I know are realistic. We have never qualified for the CL and only recently qualified for Europe, (2 years in a row, wow). But we continually pay top dollar to watch a load of old shite, interspersed with flashes of brilliance.
If I want to boo, I can. If I want to moan, I can. That is my right as a paying customer.
As a supporter I will cheer my team and support them, but support them blindly, no way.
BMJ took us as far as he could, and we got in a new manager who has been given time and money. He has lost players true, but he is still unsure about the players he has bought in. Not good.
We may get ourselves out of this mess easily or we may struggle all season. We don’t have too much quality to go down, we might have too little fight to stay up.
As supporters we have invested and continue to support our club more than teams like Bolton or Wigan or some others who play to half empty grounds each week. And for what? Mid table mediocrity. But we still do it and the Lane is still a great place to go.
Bitter? Players come and go, how they handle themselves is a different matter.
I will applaud Robbie Keane and wish him the best, but Berbatov is a different matter, acting like a spoilt child is neither professional or deserving of any respect from any Tottenham fan.
Come December I look forward to telling him that. In a more direct way of course.
September 30th, 2008 at 11:48 am
The support for the team against Wigan was great. Yes there were a few boos at the end of the game, and thats a blight of the modern premiership fan (not just a tottenham thing - I’ve even heard Liverpool fans do it), but that was at the end of the game where for the entire second half most of park lane and shelf side were singing CONSTANTLY. Whilst we were playing sh*t!
Contrast any Spurs game with any Arsenal game I have been to where the atmosphere is noticably lacking except for the minute after a goal is scored - and there are also just as many people who like to moan - even if they don’t have so much to moan about, unfortunately!
I base my comments on having attended many many tottenham games and a fair few arsenal games (in the home end sometimes, sadly, cos occasionally my season ticket holding mate offers me a spare) and so knowing what the two sets of supporters are actually like.
You base yours, it seems, on what you read on the net or in the papers.
Villa. Newcastle. Spurs. Liverpool. Man Utd. Man City. I would say (without spending too long making sure thats an exhaustive list) that these are consistently the best away fans in terms of noise and support for their team. And that Tottenham fans create more of an atmosphere at home than Chelsea or Arsenal. Only been to West Ham once so can’t really comment.
Don’t get me wrong. I’d rather have a better team than better supporters - but if you want to air obtuse thoughts on this site (and I’m all for it, don’t get me wrong), at least refrain from making them rehashed tabloid style obtuse thoughts about fickle spurs fans on the terraces! Because I’d say our fans are anything BUT fickle!
Also - “you blame this and that, but the players confidence comes from the stands”. Again, I think you are confusing what people say on blogs and how they are at the match. I don’t deny Tottenham fans get frustrated on occasion (who wouldn’t!), but the idea that somehow the fans in the stands weren’t getting behind the team or the manager before Martin Jol got the sack is another cliche that just isn’t true.
Lets see how many Arsenal fans start to moan if and when the City revolution pushes you out of CL spots. Again, I’m not saying Spurs will have one over you when that happens - I’m just saying that you will see that Spurs and Arsenal fans are not so different in some ways except that we genuinely do create an atmosphere at our games.
September 30th, 2008 at 11:52 am
Block 54 Diaz makes some of the points I make.
I don’t agree with booing, personally - I’d rather moan about it in the pub and on the bagel ;o) but I imagine that he is, like most of the yids who boo, a die hard who spends the actual 90 minutes getting behind his team and supporting them.
I’d take that kind of fan over an Arsenal fan sitting silently in his seat not booing any day.
In fact, Arsenal prove you wrong oi oi. If players confidence comes from the support on the terraces, Arsenal players would have hardly any!
September 30th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
“BMJ took us as far as he could” ???
That’s an interesting point - was he given the budget and support to tighten up the defence and midfield ? Did he make the choice to sign petrov or bent, two players you spend too much money on without return.
If he had access to the £77M ramos has blown over the summer, would he have had the same shoddy start to last season ?
And was ramos a ready made improvement ? Or the best option for a quick return in europe and increased leverage on a quick sale for lewis ?
September 30th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
Thanks Oog!
I will say i won’t boo at half time, only at the end and and if they deserve it. They get paid enough to take some flak.
I honestly could not remember more than 3 worthwhile shots at the end of the Wigan game, which was piss poor.
I’m all for standing and cheering, to the point of being ejected from an away ground for persistent standing. Which was strange seeing that about 3′000 other people were doing the same thing…………We lost 4-0 that day so being thrown out at 0-0 was actually a result.
Mr Diaz met Miss Artois. Cloud met silver lining.
September 30th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
“BMJ took us as far as he could”
Certainly with the backing, or lack of, and the control he had in player purchases (or lack of) yes, it IS fair to say that he did, under the conditions he had, take us as far as he, or anyone, could have.
I may be naive, but given that pantomime, and this season’s farce, lessons should have been learned… hmm…we’ll see.
September 30th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
“BMJ took us as far as he could”
Mr Oi, would you put him in the same league as Wenger, Ferguson, Benitez, Mourinho or now Big Phil? Would you swap him for your manager?
5th place two years in a row was great but the second year we scraped it, and games in the cups against Arsenal and Chelsea and Sevilla, showed some shortcomings.
I think he did a great job and I am not saying that the way we got Ramos was correct. But the board decided, for better or for worse, to go for a manager with the experience of winning a European trophy.
Time will tell about that judgement call. I just hope Senor Ramos gets given the time to turn it around.
September 30th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
There were clearly issues with BMJ not being provided with the players he wanted and instead being provided with Kaboul etc.
Quite rightly he wasn’t happy about that.
At the same time, I got very frustrated by what I saw as BMJ’s one dimensional tactics. 1-0 up with an hour gone? Take off a striker and pack the midfield rather than kill the game off. 1-0 up with 10 minutes left against a big 4 team? Take off a striker and put on Anthony Gardener so that when the inevitable resulting pressure gets piled on you have an extra man in defence who won’t prevent the equaliser going in. And so on, and so on. We never got results against the big 4 teams and at the time the board were, quite rightly, looking upwards as to how we could progress. That wasn’t “tottenham arrogance” or whatever, that was ambition and it was right that we had it. The way they went about it, and the timing of it stank, but I liked the fact they obviously had the same concerns about BMJ that I had.
Ramos came in and was a breath of fresh air. Tactical changes that worked. A league cup victory - trophies are never to be sniffed at and despite what some might think that remains a big plus on Senor Ramos’ cv for me. I’m not about to say the board got his appointment wrong because of our struggles this year. And I don’t think we could have won that trophy with BMJ in charge.
In the last couple of years we have had strikers who can create goals when our midfield isn’t playing well. Now we have strikers who may yet turn out to be goal machines when the midfield is firing (MAY!) but at the moment aren’t really getting any service. I admit, I thought we should let Keane go if he was determined to leave, but there’s no doubt we are missing berbatov and keane.
Thats what set us apart from the rest of the “uefa” type teams. We finished 5th over two years because of our superior strikers (keane and defoe, followed by keane and berbatov) and won a trophy even when we had a crap year in the league.
So Ramos is being criticised for tinkerman antics but really, its losing our strike force that is overwhelmingly the issue here. The tinkering is in response to that problem. He wasn’t criticised for it last year and he wouldn’t be criticised for it this year if we’d sorted out our strikers in good time.
At some point our home form will click enough to take us into another season of midtable obscurity, but basically I’m happy with Ramos, and whilst it would be nice if “not knowing how to break into the top 4″ was all we had to worry about at the moment, I don’t think BMJ would be having a great time with this situation right now either! I wouldn’t have got rid of BMJ at this stage last season (I wasn’t against replacing him, but I was against the timing and I didn’t boo him!) and I wouldn’t get rid of Ramos now!
September 30th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
Didn’t mj also chase the game with strikers when necessary ?
And I wonder (just humour me) how much a difference a player like perhaps diarra would have made to his team had he been allowed to address the central midfield and/or central defence frailties ?
I dont personally believe you should sack a manager during a season unless absolutely necessary - ie 3 games to go and you need the points.
I agree with oog, it was the wrong time to change managers and it undermines the general faith in the clubs’ leadership. After all, just previous to ramos’ tenure mj was given funds to spend (?) and a pre season to plan the campaign, then as soon as the season started there were reports of dubious meetings in cafes etc etc.
If the board knew they were going to move forward then give the new manager a fighting chance and complete the transition during the off season, this episode made a farce out of levy’s indignant stance over the berbatov sale that has ultimately faltered the start to this season.
I honestly wonder if ramos will be given the chance to prove his worth at 6puds. Perhaps someone can answer, does he even have full control over player purchases ?
Or is it, as my biased eyes reveal, that player investments are being made purely for the objective of profit - carrick, dafoe, keane, berbatov.
September 30th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
BMJ could have had the players he wanted, and I accept that he can claim that he was undermined to this extent. I agree that Comolli (or whoever it really is that was responsible for our recent transfer policy) is to blame for that, not Jol.
But give BMJ better players and we would have been 1-0 up with ten minutes to go against top 4 teams a bit more often, and he would still have been overly negative I think. My criticism isn’t that he decided who to buy, but that even with what he had he got the tactics wrong too often.
As for bringing on Bent for Pavlyuchenko:
The fans get annoyed at one substitution they don’t agree with and get angry briefly - We lose the game that we would probably have lost anyway - Ramos perhaps got it wrong - the media leap on it - but its hardly the disastrous decision that caused our downfall! And if he keeps doing it when we are 1-0 down, say, I’ll consider it a weakness in his tactics. But for now I don’t think its anything much to be getting carried away with.
September 30th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
“Or is it, as my biased eyes reveal, that player investments are being made purely for the objective of profit - carrick, dafoe, keane, berbatov.”
Carrick, Keane, Berbatov. They all wanted to leave. To play CL football and have a shot at winning the league. Fair play to them. If I was in their shoes I would have wanted the same. (The way Berbatov behaved is a different matter)
Defoe had to go. Unless somebody had of bought a DeLorean from Car Giant there was no way to know that Robbie Keane would want to leave and that a team would be crazy enough to pay 20m for him.
JD on the other hand would not sign a contract and we are all aware what that means now.
Tottenham Hotspur is a Plc. And a very well run one at that if you look at the figures.
Gomes, Bale, Woodgate, Corluka, Hutton, Modric, Bentley,Bostock, Dos Santos, Pav,Bent
That 11 represents a lot of money spent, around 115m. However against the 75m we were given for the 4 mentioned above it means that we have spent around 4m a player for a team. Plus a lot of them should have a decent resale value (unless we get relegated).
If you take into account 7 others we have sold Robbo, Kaboul, Tainio etc we have come very close to breaking even.
Great business, shame about the football club.
If anybody does think Ramos should be sacked, and in some cases BMJ bought back, they need their head examined. And I will be surprised if the board do it. Who would ever manage Spurs after that? The desperate, the greedy and the unwanted.
So we are in for an interesting season.
Thursday we could easily be knocked out of the UEFA at the first stage. Ramos’ fault? He only has Bent and Campbell available up front, and we had a good goal disallowed which probably would have killed the game. I think he can escape the blame on this one.
Sunday we could be a lot of points behind Hull - supposed relegation fodder. Ramos’ fault? Partly of course. He is the manager, the motivator, the man who picks the best team (midfield) to do the job.
JJ running behind defenders, Gio and Lennon running at them, Bentley provding killer balls, Modric piecing everthing together, O’Hara tackling and being aggresive, Zokora running around a lot and Hudd passing and jogging around.
Somehow he has to turn these 8 players into a 4 or a 5 and make them work as a unit. Until that happens we are in the proverbial. However you look at them they just seem to lack balance.
Even BMJ would struggle to find a solution.
September 30th, 2008 at 7:18 pm
Oi Oi sez: Did he make the choice to sign petrov or bent, two players you spend too much money on without return.
I didn’t realise we had signed Petrov. If that’s the case, I’m all for him starting as soon as he gets back to full fitness.
October 1st, 2008 at 10:02 am
Adam my post appears lost in translation.
My point was who is making the player purchasing decisions, and if a manager does not have that control then as block54diaz suggests if ramos goes who would want the job ?
Is jj (or as ashley calls him, bj) really good enough for this central role he has ?
I would suggest that bentley, bale, modric all look a little weak for the midfield you need.
Anyway, enough nonsense, the Mighty Arsenal stuffed porto yesterday and the atmosphere was fantastic. That’s the champions league for you.
October 1st, 2008 at 10:32 am
And Adam’s point was that we haven’t signed Petrov. Seems a fair point to me. Who did you actually mean?
October 1st, 2008 at 10:38 am
I meant the attempt to sign petrov and the signing of bent were conducted by the sporting director not the manager.
October 1st, 2008 at 10:44 am
Well, I don’t see how we could have spent too much money on Petrov, although I agree that whatever money we spent on him was for very little return indeed.
Not sure what point you are trying to make here - that BMJ might not have been in control of our transfers when he was in charge? We already know that!
The criticism isn’t so much that someone other than the manager is buying the players - but that the guy who’s doing it (comolli) is generally perceived to have somehow survived whilst not doing a very good job of it.
How much Ramos had a say in recent signings - I’d imagine quite a bit, but not as muchas most managers. I don’t think anyone outside the club really knows, and I imagine he’s pretty frustrated with Comolli like most spurs fans are.
October 1st, 2008 at 12:23 pm
Oog - think that’s a wonderful summary. Spot on *thumbs up*
October 1st, 2008 at 1:49 pm
The point I’m trying to make is that perhaps getting rid of mj was a little rash, the timing disruptive, his replacement unprepared and the directors’ vision privately conflicts with that of the paying fan.
comolli is not so bad at doing his job is he ? After all, he IS buying players, but who is making the decision about which players to buy, and ultimately to what purpose ?
If the transfer policy is for the betterment of the owners and not the customers, then levy is doing a good job. However, if he has the customers ambitions guiding his agenda, his showing is very poor.
It would look to the casual observer that his intentions are to fatten the kosher pig and is picking up players with potential to display as so many trinkets to dazzle and confound prospective owners, a slight of hand to deflect lack of progress on the new stadium / champions league status.
The problem remains that any such potential owners would also be at liberty to ‘own’ the club in the same way as the glaziers aquired manure, ie, refinance the club to pay for the cost of aquiring it.
In which case you rely solely on fans financial support, as now, but shift enormous interest payments onto your liabilities.
Time will tell how visionary this is, but for ramos to succeed he will need to be given seasons to achieve something, even if you were relegated, but time is a commodity rarely given to managers, especially 6puds managers.
October 1st, 2008 at 2:19 pm
So the problem with the whole strategy is that IF the board sells then any POTENTIAL future owners MIGHT do some things that MIGHT not be good for the club.
A devastating critique there.
I’m also outraged if your suggestion that levy is buying players who have “potential to display” is true. What skulduggery - buying young international players with good reputations.
You don’t think that rather than our transfer policy being a ruse to trick some Asian dude into buying us because, hey - we might not be in the CL but we’ve got Kevin-Prince Boateng - that it might just be that they are trying to buy quality but with an emphasis on youth, they’ve managed it in some areas but not in others and that we’re suffering from the loss of two key players?
Lets face it, the reason why a billionaire might buy us is because i) we are in the English premiership and ii) we have lots of fans and iii) we are based in London. I don’t think it has anything to do with our transfer policy, except that a transfer policy that threatens i) is obviously not a good idea!
October 1st, 2008 at 3:34 pm
Quite right, except that players with potential could possibly lead to the same recent (continuing?) issue faced by the Mighty Arsenal, ie, players not ready / transitional periods / demands of patience from fans.
With the precarious position regarding 6puds, namely the loss of goals, perhaps the transfer policy does in fact threaten i). Are you that sure that the team is too good to go down ? Didn’t people say the same re. Cloughie’s Forest ? Or those young whippersnappers at west ham ?
If this is the case, and if the boards intentions are strictly to find a buyer then ramos’ days may well be numbered and a relegation battled hardened veteran could be hoist to the lofty heights of whs. Step forward celtic comic wee Gordon Strachan (or similar).
There’s (quite) a few if’s and but’s there, but it’s not completely unfeasible.
October 1st, 2008 at 3:34 pm
It’s simple. The bagel has to come back and write something for our season to turn around.
No presssure BB, alright.
Good to read all the posts above. The Beef Bagel is alive and well.
October 1st, 2008 at 4:08 pm
oi oi - I’m not saying we have the right transfer policy, or that we don’t. I’m just saying I don’t think our transfer policy is aimed at attracting a buyer who hasn’t realised we’re not in the CL. Or that the problem with such a tactic is that “something might go wrong with it at some point”.
Since you asked the question though, yes I think we are too good to go down.
However, I admit that last year I knew we were too good to go down, and that this year if we aren’t a couple of wins better off pretty soon, I’ll be worrying its going to be a rocky road all year.
October 1st, 2008 at 5:00 pm
No one is too good to go down.
If Hull City can beat the Scum in their own backyard then anything can happen in the PL as far as I’m concerned.
October 1st, 2008 at 5:01 pm
Sorry, to put that in context…no-one outside the top four is too good to go down
October 1st, 2008 at 5:02 pm
Glory glory - all I was saying is that I THINK we are too good to go down! 17 teams will be too good to go down and I think we will be one of them.
But last year I KNEW it! I agree, there are no whipping boys in the division this year (or if there are, it looks like it might be us!)
October 1st, 2008 at 5:11 pm
Yeah, how about that? The scum losing to Hull.
I’m sure glad we aren’t playing Hull any time soon………
D’Oh!
October 1st, 2008 at 7:28 pm
What happened to the Bagel? I used to enjoy his blogs.
October 1st, 2008 at 9:21 pm
I hear that he moved in with his bird. Then got a great job and discovered there is more to life than THFC blogs.
It’s crazy i know.
October 1st, 2008 at 11:02 pm
Anybody going to the Hull Game? There needs to be a match report here on Monday.
Come on Bagel. Save our Spurs.
October 2nd, 2008 at 9:56 am
so much hope so much expectations we should of said to untd sorry to late. like reading said to us
October 2nd, 2008 at 10:16 am
oog Says:
October 1st, 2008 at 5:02 pm
Glory glory - all I was saying is that I THINK we are too good to go down!
——————————————————–
I sure hope you’re right!
So what about this afternoon’s game?
Firstly, what a stupid bloody kick off time.
Secondly, some twit here has arranged a meeting for 3:30pm, so I am going to be unable to follow the 2nd half.
Thirdly, I see King is being sacrificed for Sunday since he is being played today. I would have personally rested him today and used him to help get the 3 points in the league, where it really matters most. I know it ‘only’ Hull, but we are ‘only’ Tottenham to them!
Either way, COYS and lets hope we can go home happy from work tonight
October 2nd, 2008 at 10:27 am
With you all the way Block54Diaz; come on Bagel - match report pleeeeeeeease!
October 2nd, 2008 at 12:38 pm
I am worried for Ramos if we lose today and on Sunday.
Just been on the website looking at tickets for the Blackburn game for some family and friends.
Early kick off on a Sunday, I suppose it is on the box.
Gone to general save and there are loads of seats free. First time I have seen that in a very long time (for a league game). I can’t see the board keeping the faith in Senor Ramos if we stop regularly selling out at home.
If anybody struggles to get tickets normally, then go to the Blackburn game!!!!
Good thing we don’t have a 60′000 seater stadium, as I’m sure Oi Oi will point out.
October 2nd, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Slightly worried about the game today
October 2nd, 2008 at 1:40 pm
If we go out tonight atleast we can focus more on the league. Saying that I really hope we win.
October 2nd, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Don’t worry Diaz, any spare tickets for the Blackburn game are bound to be given away free to local school children. Actually, you could also spin that and say the kids will be given detention at WHL ;-p
Fraizer Campbell to come off the bench and score the winning goal today? You heard it here first…
October 2nd, 2008 at 2:31 pm
Only too happy to oblige:
Good thing you don’t have a 60,000 seater stadium !!!
October 2nd, 2008 at 3:43 pm
How about this shamelessly lifted from the bbc site:
What’s the difference between Tottenham Hotspur and a triangle?
A triangle has more points.
Anyone else realised that derby, with the worst ever seasons points return, actually had twice as many points as your current tally at this point last season ?
October 2nd, 2008 at 5:41 pm
Yep but last season we had 12 points after 15 games. And we finshed 10 points clear of relegation.
Mid table mediocrity here we come!
October 2nd, 2008 at 8:56 pm
“Any spare tickets for the Blackburn game are bound to be given away free to local school children”
Or Blackburn fans with toy flags.
October 3rd, 2008 at 12:22 pm
Christ, Gomes scares me. I think he has flashes of brilliance and frightfulness in equal measure. Scary as hell!
October 3rd, 2008 at 1:57 pm
It wasn’t too pretty but it was job done.
Ramos has to be given time. All this speculation about a change of manager will not help us out of our predicament.
Hard work, passion and desire are needed and everyone pulling together. Ramos is a good coach. Our players are good players. It will come.
COYS and YIDS etc etc
October 3rd, 2008 at 2:41 pm
What’s the difference between Spurs and the Star of David?
The Star of David has 6 points.
October 3rd, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Think we should sign bullard in Jan. 4 million A Steel. COYS!
October 3rd, 2008 at 2:55 pm
Bring back STEEEEED!
October 3rd, 2008 at 3:41 pm
Wattson -I know exactly what you mean. Tackling, effort and commitment to the cause, Steeeed is sorely missed at the moment.
Where is the Bagel? You don’t think he got a job in the Hadron wotsit and is in a black hole? I know he said he was busy, he seems to have disappeared.
Match report please someone, anyone.
October 3rd, 2008 at 4:42 pm
We will win on Sunday and the world will seem like a better place.
As for Bagel, being sucked off……………… into a void of dark matter, well it does sound like a bit of a chore but I’m sure he has been in worse places in his time. Highbury for example.
“Bagel, give us a sign. Bagel, Bagel give us a sign.”
October 3rd, 2008 at 6:52 pm
I like your blog. Are you going to be updating it more often?
If you are going to keep blogging, I have an idea you might like. Shoot me an e-mail for more info.
Thanks!
October 4th, 2008 at 8:18 am
“being sucked off………………… into a void of dark matter” Sounds like many a familiar weekend while I was serving in HM Armed Forces!
Anyway, I think we can actually get something out of the match against Hull… We have to begin to turn that proverbial corner soon. Hull are bouyed up on the recent results, but their manager is no mug, he knows we could be the potential banana skin. We have to stand up & be counted
Bagel, we all understand how busy you are, that’s exactly why I’ve been quiet for so long. But let’s face it, I’m not being missed so much while you, on the other hand have left a huge gaping chasm & while we may not have been sucked off… We are certainly feeling as if we are in a void of darkness
Hornchurch Yids, I apologise for pinching your turn of phrase but it seemed too appropriate. We need you Bagel
COYS!
October 5th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
Gosh… Hmm,
According to voices out of my radio box, it was a deserved win.
My question is - was that because Hull are good, or was it that we are serious relegation-fodder??
I’m afraid. I think I already know the answer.
October 5th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Starting to panic now.
October 5th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
The saddest thing is - that was our best home performance of the season.
And Hull still deserved the win.
No doubt about it. Its a relegation battle all the way for the rest of the season!
October 5th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
Oh Spuds.
I’ll miss abusing you all so much.
But I’ll persevere, and that feeling of loss will be replaced with contentment when I look down at the Championship fixtures and see your name in fixtures against the other big teams in London.
Like Charlton Athletic, Crystal Palace and QPR.
Much love,
The Arsenal.
October 6th, 2008 at 9:08 am
Relagation battles are fun
October 6th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
i was at the Hull game - few observations..
the early chances we had I found v frustrating - as we could only manage scuffed shots as we tried to walk the ball into the net - someone needed to leather it - foot right through the ball. Then Pav pulled up a hamstring on 7 minutes (strangely wasn’t replaced until about 30 mins so I hope it wont have done more damage) - looking more like a Heskey than Berbatov.
Woodgate was very unlucky not to find the net and struck his shot like ANY of the forwards should have done - likewise Modric was unlucky not to score in the 2nd, as was Bent with his effort that ran just wide. Hull offered little really apart from their freekick except to pile most of their team behind the ball - making them very hard to break down. Jenas played well and was commanding I thought + won a lot of tackles and broke up counterattacks - very unlucky to be booked for his endeavour. Also Zokora similar, but when he finds himself too advanced up the pitch, he is clearly out his comfort zone - should not be tempted to shoot as he’s just another Steffen Freund in that respect - just mop it up and distribute. Too much of our play seemed to go back and forth across the midfield and you wonder how the strikers can get involved - Our frontline are not creators like both Keane and Berba so their only function is back to goal, turn and shoot, head from a cross (service lacking) or win headers from up ‘n’ unders from our defence. Bale stood out again as a strong threat - great dead ball delivery and gives us great width on the left.
I actually thought Bentley looked good with Lennon coming on at right back - as his crossing is often strong from a deeper position - similar to Beckham. Against a side offering little attacking threat like Hull, there was little defensive risk in putting Bentley in there. Lennon can dummy well and run at his defenders - but mostly the cross is either too long or he might win a corner if the cross is along the ground and then off a defender.
Luka I think will improve soon - he looked more adjusted to the pace of our game yesterday. Not sure about Dos Santos - if he’s gonna work, he’ll need at least 5 starts to acclimatise. Pav will come good and offers more guile than Bent for me. Fraser was playing more withdrawn but mostly got muscled out of anything yesterday.
Keep the spirits up! - there were enough positives yesterday - we all have to keep our nerve in a tough time. There was enough confidence - just a lack of cutting edge against a well drilled Hull side who took their one chance. Gomes made some good saves but he wasn’t really that troubled.
I saw enough to keep positive for now! What we don’t need is the media getting on everyone’s backs.
If you can keep your head, whilst others are losing theirs…
October 6th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
And if you can get points off Stoke …..
October 6th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
A swap anyone?
By NESHA STARCEVIC
AP Sports Writer
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) - Seven games into the season and
100 days into Juergen Klinsmann’s tenure, Bayern Munich is
off to its worst Bundesliga start in more than three
decades.
The «Klinsmann out» chants have already started.
The defending champions are 11th in the standings with
nine points, trailing leader Hamburger SV by seven. The
last time Bayern had a similarly poor start was 31 years
ago, when it finished 12th. In the Champions League at
least, Bayern has one win and one draw.
October 6th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
YOTN
Glad that you are back although I wish it was under happier circumstances.
Lets see what our boys are made of?
At least the scum dropped more points. They are fading already which is the only brightness in this gloom.
October 6th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
Funny though - even when we drop points we move further away from the 6puds.
October 6th, 2008 at 8:42 pm
….And Ar5ena1 move Further away from the title
=]
October 6th, 2008 at 8:50 pm
While 6puds move ever closer to next seasons top 4 position.
Mind you top 6 is ok for the play-offs.
October 7th, 2008 at 12:30 am
Hornchurch
Nice to be back but, as you say, not under the best of circumstances
I could’nt have been more wrong abut the Hull game, although that was the best we’ve played so far this season (not much comfort in that)
It is beginning to get a frustratingly nervy time, we are still failing miserably in many areas, we’re questioning Ramos’ tactics, team selection, formations etc… But I still believe that we will turn it around. Ok, it won’t be the season we all hoped for but we will stay up & yes, mid table mediocracy probably does await us. But as ever, we, the fans will keep the faith, cheer the team on, we get a couple of much needed decent signings in the January transfer window & hopefully Ramos will start to show his genius
These are troubled times, but we will get through this together
October 7th, 2008 at 10:28 am
YOTN
Agreed.
We can’t really say that it is a bad spell of form as we haven’t had a good run yet but maybe we are just getting our slump out of the way early. At least we have time to turn it around. It may even make a few of our young players stronger for it. If we can all come through this as a team then the boys may just have the character to take us forward. We need to keep faith with Ramos. He hasn’t become a crap manager in the last few weeks. He is just struggling with the results of a completely fucked up transfer window.
I’m glad that we have Liverpool in the league cup. If we lose then it won’t be a shock but a good result could do wonders for our confidence.
Lets see what the UEFA draw looks like later. We still have plenty to play for.
Come on You Spurs!!!!!!!!!!
October 7th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
Not a bad draw in the ‘You Wafer’, could have been worse anyway.
I had previously said we’d be better off out the cups, but now I think they will provide a decent distraction from the PL.
Shame we’ve got the international break now. What we could have done with was another game sooner to put the Hull game out of mind.
Minimum requirements from Stoke & Bolton is 4 points. Anything less and I will really be starting to panic and planning next season’s away trips to Southampton and Palace.
October 7th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
it must be a plus that we’ve drawn Luka and Pav’s former teams
October 7th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
Why’s that Sputnik?
October 7th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
some inside knowledge on key players/how they play I hope!
October 7th, 2008 at 5:27 pm
whats the difference between a jew and a pizza………………………………………………….. a pizza doesnt cry when u put it in the oven
October 7th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
Gattuso anyone? Would be the perfect foil for Modric, just like Davids and Carrick.
October 7th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
Block54Diaz good call would allow modric to express himself
October 7th, 2008 at 5:39 pm
fuck the lot of u penny pinching fucking yids!
Spurs are on there way to auchwitz
hitlers gunna gas them again
October 8th, 2008 at 9:50 am
New sponsors ?
http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/167/1zz41nnxz0.jpg
October 8th, 2008 at 11:17 am
New Ar5ena1 home kit?
http://store.pridestore.com/product.php?xProd=6342&xSec=9
October 9th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
I will always be a yido but I was thinking tonight that I don’t really support football any more. The whole thing is corporate and owned by Sky and I feel no connection to it. I count myself lucky though having stood on the shelf in the 70s+80s watching Ossie and Glenda and Roberts and Archibald and many more legends managed by Burkinshaw. Man that was a good time to be a football fan. Right now I think it is heading for a crunch as the whole thing is getting more distant and tbh I don’t really care.
October 12th, 2008 at 10:06 pm
Who is levy going to hide behind when comolli gets sacked ? I’ll never forget that after the jol sacking and ‘honest guv, wasn’t us’ tapping up of ramos, levy was nowhere to be seen when 6puds announced their new manager.
Now you have abandoned the system that you could argue was an absolute failure, are you actually going to follow the rest of the premiership and lets the manager chose the players for his system ?
A groundbreaking theory.
All the hopes and dreams you had of tapping in the Mighty Arsenals famous scouting system weren’t quite realised were they, but then the only player comolli ever scouted was Clichy, even then Lord Wenger made the final decision.
Another shocking waste of time and money, that’s my point.
All I need is another point and I’ll have as many as you losers.
October 13th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Just looking back over some old match reports….
God damn I miss the Bagel.
:’(
October 15th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
Oog, if/when you next see the Bagel can you find out if this is it? Cheers.
October 15th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
its safe to say beef bagel is dead im upset i think some one or people could of taken it over but i suppose no one wanted to live in any shadows ne way is there any oth good spurs sights
October 15th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
Steaduk - Been checking this site and must agree it does seem to have gone to the bloggers graveyard.
So one last try - anybody going to the next home game? I am sure loads of people are still checking this site and it seems a shame to let it die. Match report anyone.
If it does die then I will say a final farewell to the Bagel. You did a grand job.
October 16th, 2008 at 12:36 am
I’ll be at the Bolton game, but not sure i could manage a match report. Might attempt to give it a go - anyone got any tips. Do I need to take notes throughout the game??
October 16th, 2008 at 9:04 am
Glory Glory, just go for it. I’m sure every beefbagel fan would appreciate it. Good luck. I’m looking forward to it.
Anyone else care to have a go? Come on, don’t be shy!
October 16th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
I saw the bagel at the hull game and his basic point was that he just can’t face coming on to the site because it hurts him too much!
Sentimental old bagel…
October 16th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
RosieRoo,
Thanks for the support - I will do my best to try and make it entertaining, although I don’t think trying to emulate The Bagel will help anyone so I will put my own spin on it and hope for the best
October 16th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
Nice one Glory Glory. Good on yer!!
October 16th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
Yeah I’ll do the game against the Mighty Arsenal
October 16th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
(If I manage to get a ticket)
October 16th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
Awesome look forward to it Glory Glory. Getting sick of scrolling through 250+ comments to the latest one.
October 16th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
Wattson - try pressing the ‘End’ key (will take you to the bottom of the page).
Anyone know how I submit the report to Bagel? I’m assuming I just email it to him…
October 16th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
A new dawn
Beef Bagel: The Glory Glory Years?
lol
COYS!
October 16th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
sounds wicked cant wait to hear it! even if someone just posts any peice of spurs info would be great. so stoke any predictoins can we make the turn? or will it be just another let down.we NEED bent to stand up in this game! whats happend to tarrabt he looked absoulutly class have not heard or seen anything since maybe we are hiding him so united dont kidnap i mean buy fair and square or maybe hes just a bag of shit who knows! danny rose weres he? john bostock? tomas perkhert i know hes on loan even fuckin stailteri he was ok for us west ham anyone? think we need a injection from somewere anywere
October 16th, 2008 at 6:29 pm
thebagel@beefbagel.com
Now I finally have a (sort of) grip on my class of 36 (!) I shall do the same. I feel this site, and its community are desperate enough to warrant a submission of mine…
In other news…Wagner Love. Aside from his ACE name, anyone know anything of him??
October 16th, 2008 at 9:38 pm
This site has become a ghost town — ony adding to the near suicidal depression I already have mounting with every miserable game that ends in dissappointment this season. Never in the 31 years that I have supported Tottenham have seen the club under such a dark cloud.
I understand how the bagel feels. Gutted.
coys!
October 17th, 2008 at 9:25 am
Yeah I’ve seen Wagner Love a few times, he’s a brazilian who been playing in russia for some time now, he’s a good player, dangerous and quick. You might not have seen him though, he tends to be in the champions league.
However, none of europe big teams have been in for him, which maybe shows two things,
1) he has either attitude or fitness problems
2) he is the perfect for the media to link to 6puds
He’ll be joining the other greats over the years that have knocked you back.
October 17th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
Toby the Yid
A quick google shows that him and Robinho made a nice “party” video with a blonde!
Maybe Wagner should be Wanger.
October 18th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Glory Glory
Go for it mate, we’re right behind you
I’ll be at the Stoke game, so if I get the chance I’ll try to post a match report to The Bagel
Oog, if it’s too painful for the Bagel to enter this blog, that’s a shame, because his comments & input are sadly missed by us all. We are all greiving the loss of the Bagel & that has created a vacuum in our lives.
As I’ve said before, it needs a bit of work from a few of us hardcore Bagellers (if that’s the correct expression) to keep the impetus going, but it still ideally needs a sprinkling of genuine Bagel essence for the finishing touch…… Oog, how about you mention this to The Bagel, we miss him deeply. We know it won’t be the same, but a sprinkle is far better than a drought. We can all get involved to keep this going, but it will have to evolve
A win at Stoke tomorrow should kick start us all in to getting involved
COYS!
October 18th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
This morning I got a nice letter from the club, offering a ST in the East Stand - restricted view. It allow’s me to jump up the ST waiting list.
Has anybody sat in these before? Have always been in the Paxton or Park Lane. Couple of times I was in the east stand the supporting poles were not really a factor.
I know some of you guys are shelf side so any advice would be appreciated
October 19th, 2008 at 1:17 am
Block54, when they had the old online ticket purchase system where you could choose your specific seat I would get restricted view cos they were a tenner less. I then found that some of them really aren’t very restricted at all (in terms of the goal mouth) so would always look to get those ones. This probably isn’t useful at all to you but brings back good memories
*sniff*
October 19th, 2008 at 6:20 pm
I can write that bolton match report for ya!!
Another sorry loss!!! we huffed and puffed but again we were showed up for our lack of skill. absolutly no cohesion or ability as the lilyshites are again put to the sword! but we are still to good to go down!! bring on the arse! even though we will probably lose!
October 19th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
The posts seem to have dried up ???
October 19th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
Any chance of a match report ?
October 19th, 2008 at 9:45 pm
Ha Ha You fucking buddle of slimey fucking cunts theres only one team in North London We are THE Arsenal ya Yid fucking shitbags looking forward to life in the Championship a ha ha ha ha ha ha. 1st Belfast BATT U.V.F
October 19th, 2008 at 10:17 pm
Diaz - personally I’d avoid the restricted view seats. That means you will not be able to see one of the goalmouths and you would get pretty fucked off pretty quickly I reckon (cue some unintelligent wit from the goons about not seeing much goal mouth action anyway).
If you’re that intent on getting a season ticket, I would wait it out as I have a feeling that like myself, a few thousand others may be packing it in after this season.
Can’t comment on the game as I didn’t watch or listen due to other commitments. Suffice to say I am gutted, as I’m sure you all will be. It’s gone past the feelings of anger and frustration to be honest. I really don’t think we’ll be in the Premier League next year and the feeling I have right now is one of shellshocked disbelief.
October 19th, 2008 at 10:25 pm
Shell-shocked disbelief it is. And shame.
Right now, it looks like there is nowhere left to go, as things are. 47 years and never, NEVER anything like this. This is nothing like the Spurs I have always known. It’s a stinking carcass, from inside to out.
Sweet dreams all.
October 19th, 2008 at 11:48 pm
Glory Glory, I am tempted to agree with you. I am quite high on the list anyway so only need a small percentage to say no thanks next year.
Missed the Sky and the BBC showing tonight but starting to think we are GOING DOWN.
The irony of the situation is beyond belief.
October 20th, 2008 at 9:23 am
Block54Diaz,
What irony are you talking about ?
The fact that you have spent so much and hull have spent so little, yet you are relegation bound.
The fact that you chased a new manager for on pitch improvements and in hindsight, it wasn’t a great idea.
The fact that the pre-season optimism has disappeared and been replaced by pessimistic realisation.
Or is it because now you can finally get a st you aren’t convinced it’s a great idea.
Yep, isn’t it ironic, though not in a alanis morissette lyric’d way.
Anyway, glory, glory (????), I wasn’t going to point out that restricted view wouldn’t matter because of lack of goal mouth action, there’s plenty of goal mouth action, just not for the home team.
Bolton, the Mighty Arsenal, liverpool, citeh …. it’s not looking that clever for the next few weeks. I cant wait !
October 20th, 2008 at 9:49 am
One other thing - I have heard recently that gareth bale has never been on the winning side in the premiership in a 6puds shirt, is this correct ?
October 20th, 2008 at 10:49 am
Correct Oi oi
So three points next week against Bolton as he won’t be playing
October 20th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Oi Oi.
The most ironic aspect of all of this is that on a Spurs blog that is dying a slow death, an Arsenal supporter seems to be keeping it alive almost singlehandedly.
Well done. You have become a Yiddo.
October 20th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Juande Ramos: “The second goal for Stoke made it difficult for us but I thought the attitude of the players was very good.”
In what way was there attitude good? The players were a fucking disgrace with no fight or quality at all, maybe Ramos should take a leaf out of Pulis’ book and and give them a kick up the arse FFS.
October 20th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
Ramos’ interviews fill me with dread - I don’t know whether anything is lost in translation or not, but he says the most obvious things and actually gives no insight at all as to why something went wrong. I think he might just be out of his depth. Not that he’s a bad manager at all of course, but if BMJ wasn’t good enough for Messrs Levy & Comolli and is now doing a sterling job at Hamburg then what hope has any manager got of succeeding at the Spurs helm?
I would like to just see Poyet do the interviews, but despite his enthusiasm he does tend to take ‘refreshing honesty’ a bit too far - especially with his comment about Pav & Bent not being able to play together. Just how embarrassing do they want the club to become? Not that it can get much worse of course.
I do find a bit of comedy can help in these situations, so I hope you find this as funny as I did.
WARNING: Not for those easily offended..
——————————————————
Fritzl’s Daughter’s Diary:
Monday: Stayed in. Got fucked by Dad.
Tuesday: Stayed in. Got done doggystyle by Dad
Wednesday: Stayed in. Dad came over my face and tits
Thursday: Stayed in. Dad did me up the wronger
Friday: Stayed in. Forced to suck off Dad.
Saturday: Went to pub to watch Spurs. Wish I’d stayed in.
October 20th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
That Cheered me up Glory Glory.