The Smoking Gun

Kevin Prince-Boateng and a smoking gun. He's told the media that he has no future with us and that - brace yourselves - he was a Comolli signing. Martin Jol apparently told him he did not want to sign him, which makes it the type of evidence that proves what a shambles the DoF system was. Of course, pinch of salt, is always recommended when a player speaks out against the club they he wants to leave. Although Boateng probably regrets the comments (get ready for a 'I was mis-quoted' follow up story) now that Jenas is out for a while. First team football isn't an impossible task for him if he shuts up and tries to prove the self-hype be believes so much in.

As for Damien, he's been active in the press in recent days telling everyone how bloody great he was at Tottenham (as if listening to Ramos tell everyone that nobody at Spurs was intelligent enough to understand his advanced coaching methods hence the terrible terrible relegation league form, although he'd still be manager I guess had he learnt to say 'Just f*cking run around' in clear English). Damien told the Telegraph he was not surprised that the players he has signed are all playing so well and that there is more to come thanks to the world-class academy he has left behind.

Players he signed playing well? You mean Zokora? Bought as a DM, and playing a blinder in the right-back position? And as for a world class academy, its obviously not that great if Wenger hasn't attempt to steal any of our players. Let's quote the great man:

“I’m pleased when I see Woodgate doing fantastically, Assou-Ekotto playing well; I thought Zokora was outstanding last week [against West Ham]. And Corluka, Modric, all of them. I’m very pleased. When I made mistakes I knew it quite quickly. I don’t think I made many mistakes. The players who are still there and playing, I knew they had the quality. Sorry, I don’t mean to sound arrogant by saying that, but that’s the way I felt. I’m pleased the players are doing well, but not surprised. I’m not surprised that Darren Bent has scored 12 goals this seasons. I knew he would score goals.

Overall, in terms of trading, it worked well. As far as I’m concerned I probably made about three or four mistakes out of 25 first-team deals during my time. Some of those I consider mistakes now, could turn out to be a success in the future. You never know – that’s the beauty with players, especially young ones".

He goes on to claim how he bagged Berbatov from Leverkusen and that he beat Barcelona for the signature of Bostock. What a guy!

The academy, well, if he was responsible for the scouting and coaching then fair play. We do have a tasty youth team so this is something that might come back and bite any anti-Comolli person (including me) on the arse. And its a bite I would gladly bend over and take if we see 3-5 of these kids make it into the first team.

As for 3 to 4 mistakes (transfers) out of 25? Its more like 3 or 4 successes out of 25. And as for 'could turn out to be a success in the future' - you don't spend millions on players who might just make it after making no initial impact. That's a bullshit ego-get-out-clause.

Comolli, seems to think he can walk on water, and would even have you believe that he was responsible for signing Adam and Eve to the Garden of Eden, but don't you dare go blaming him for the forbidden fruit debacle. That was down to God because, like, why stick forbidden fruit in an easy to get place and what the fuck is up with the security if a snake can wiggle its way in causing biblical havoc? But speak to God and he'll tell you that the DoE (Director of Evolution) system works fine and that the Garden is the responsibility of the landscaper and Adam and Eve were imperative signings if progress was to be achieved.

All went pear-shaped with the snake and fruit incident, so God decided to get rid of the DoE and went for a more traditional set-up, which proceeded a transitional period involving the dismantling of the garden and replacing it with dinosaurs. Which worked a treat for many many ages until he realised you can't win anything with Kritosauruses.

Comolli again

So our mate Comolli thinks he did an exceptional job at the Lane.

Spurs rated 11th biggest club in the world.
3 times European qualification.
Carling Cup winners.

All down to him according to himself. He doesn't say that directly of course, but implies it.

"I had a lot of success. I did a lot of good for the team and left a club in great shape"

No you didn't. The club was a complete and utter mess thanks to the DoF system and your ability to avoid the most vital of signings at key moments.

"The current results are showing what I did for Tottenham. The team is great and young"

The current results are a consequence of Ramos and you being sacked. We were rock bottom, disharmony in the dressing room.....you did what for Spurs?

"I am still asking myself what happened in the end. I don't understand it. I advised the club to take a coach (Ramos) and it went well at first. But when he had problems the club turned on me. I am leaving a club with a lot of assets, many, many players"

Obviously someone needs to take Damien aside and explain what constitutes success. In Ramos, he bought in the wrong person for the job. If the rumours that Juande stopped learning English 2 months ago are true, then you do the maths. As shown in a previous blog posts, yes, Mr Comolli you did bring in some decent players but you never addressed the main issues that's left us with an unbalanced team.

Buying players isn't a difficult job. Bringing in the likes of Corluka and Pav (who I hope go from strength to strength) and having them both cup-tied for the UEFA Cup isn't what you would call world-class scouting and acquisition. Zokora, Kaboul etc.....let's not cover ground covered yesterday.

There's no doubt the quality of players we've had at Spurs recently has been fantastic compared to maybe 5/6 years ago. But signing Bentley/Modric and the likes is something I could do with a wad of money and a private jet. He was meant to be a prodigy. A true scout who would uncover gems for little money. Compare us to Arsenal in that respect and Comolli has hardly done a thing for us. But then, you didn't really do much at Arsenal so not sure why I even mentioned this this aspect of your role. Maybe to highlight what a mistake it was to employ you in the first place?

Fact is, a true scout would sign the likes of Corluka BEFORE he signs for the likes of City. Plucking players from other Premiership games when every man and his dog can 'scout' him via tv coverage is not deserving of exceptional credit.

Players of an unknown quality you have drafted in (Ghaly, BAE etc) have been resounding flops.

My final point on this (I promise) is that overall there is no complain of the quality brought in, but for what you are meant to be you haven't done a thing that could be considered exceptional.

DML Editorial: Complaining about Comolli

Damien Comolli has fallen on his feet. The much maligned easy-to-blame target for the Spurs boo-boys, the media and for the right honourable Daniel Levy - who made sure that after Ramos was acquired as manager that everyone knew he was brought in on the say so and recommendation of Comolli (thus by default, responsibility for his failure was tagged). But, fallen on his feet has Damien. At Saint-Etienne. Again.

I was never a fan of his (you'd never have guessed that, right?) but more so was never a fan of the director of football structure. Chief scout working as a bitch to the manager, closing deals the manager has requested is how it should have worked rather than taking responsibility of transfers away from the coach. We all know it was an overly simplistic system when noted on paper but in reality it created confusion and chaos in-house and on the terraces with nobody ever knowing who was directly responsible for the internal politics that undermined the likes of Jol. Obviously Levy, but see, he sits on the side of 'I'm dumb with the football thing and entrust my DoF to make sure all things go as planned', so as this paragraph descends into literal suicide, it serves its purpose to prove that Comolli leaving and Levy finally admitting defeat is a great day for traditionalists.

Will it be great for Saint-Etienne? Possibly. Possibly not. Don't care. So what of Damien's reign as top cockerel at WHL? Was he really THAT bad? Was he simply an easy target, with us only selecting examples of transfers that didn't quite work out (no different to a manager with no technical director influence buying the wrong player - and how many times has that happened?) and not giving him credit when he did bring in someone decent?

"No seriously dude, I don't like you or your English cup of tea"

The fickleness is strong amongst us. He was celebrated for a period of time, believe it or not. When things were going well on the pitch. When we signed Zokora (and he was photographed with the player by a Spurs fan abroad) many of us saw this as a major coup. A real proper DM, proven African Nations class. And he also signed Berbatov (his first signing in fact). Or did Jol tell him to scout Berbatov and sign him? And was Berbatov really a good signing considering the mess its left us in? Harsh I know - because there's no way of knowing who or when a player will act in such a disloyal way. The point is, was Comolli actually 'ok' at his job?

Bent (initially slated by all), Corluka, Woodgate, Bale, Hutton, Modric, Bentley - all arguably very very decent players (Bale and Hutton still trying to reclaim some form after returning from injury and Bentley and Modric finding their level after a slow start). Most Prem teams outside the 'Top Four' would be happy to take these players off our hands (by most I mean Aston Villa). Modric is arguably good enough for a Top 4 club. And might well be playing for one in a season or two. Hmm. Anyways, all good good players. Maybe purchased for a little bit too much, but that's up the bank and not, I would expect the DoF.

Some managers spend millions on players of their own choosing, who flop and get sold on - so if Comolli was discussing targets at all times with the 'coach' and only going out to sign a player the coach wanted 100%, then was he doing anything wrong? Was he not just doing his job? Following orders? Players who we apparently missed out on due to chairman interference ('he is too old' - 'he wants too much in wages') is surely down to Levy and Levy alone. Up to the bank, right?

But isn't it Comolli who advises Levy who should be manager? Surely someone with that much responsibility and power wouldn't then become a lap dog for someone he appointed? Would he?

But what of Ghaly or Kevin Prince 'everyone thinks I was German Young Player of the Year when actually I wasn't' Boateng? Or Rocha? Or Taraabt? Or Gilberto? Or BAE? Kaboul? And Zokora obviously. Or Zokora. And Zokora. That Zokora. Oh Christ, Zokora.

We have spent millions on players that don't appear to be signings the coach might have wanted or singled out as targets. Millions of pounds playing reserve team football without a squad number. Yet where are the player we so desperately require? The cheap and cheerful engine-rooms and grafters? Not every player has to be box-office.

And when we need a replacement for Berbatov along with a defensive midfielder we got nothing. He never got on with Jol and along with his pal Kemsley got Ramos to walk out of Sevilla for us, which turned out to be an epic failure too far. So surely an inability to work with someone like Jol and Ramos out-weighs any successful signing? But if he's empowered by the chairman, the buck should stop with Levy. But it doesn't. And gone is Comolli.

Daniel and Damien thought it rude to stare at the blind floating head ghost

Apart from the nitty gritty of transfers, arguably, you could say his other main directive is to avoid mass upheaval and sign players the next manager can work with - all of course within the DoF structure. So basically, Comolli is responsible for the vision and progression of the club, and no matter who we sign, the 'next' coach can ease in and continue the training of the first team.

But now, this ethos, no longer exists, so players like Modric and Bentley - bought by Comolli for Ramos and were not used properly are now finding their way under Redknapp who HAS used them properly. But then any manager probably would have done so. In fact, if the players are good enough, it doesn't really matter who the coach is as long as he can man-manage.

What pro-Comolli supporters will tell you, as I've hinted earlier, is that he hasn't done that bad compared to other managers (DoF free) with signings. But again (repeat mode) him being there as a buffer between chairman and coach, protecting the chairman serves no purpose to the fans or the club in the long term.

Let's take a look at his signings:

Berbatov £10.9M - For the money spent and low-key status of the Bulgarian (not everyone had heard of him) this was a great signing. The first made by DC, and ironically the one that would prove (partly) pivotal in his downfall, thanks to Levy's dithering.

Assou-Ekotto £3.5M - Why, why, why? He has one move. You know the one. It's the one where he moves to go one way and goes the other instead.

Zokora £6M - After the first season, everyone hoped to see the real Zokora - the one that played a handful of games in the African Nations - in his second year at the Lane. What we got in year two was first season Zokora, slightly degraded, but with additional dance moves. An engine he has, but its not enough. Footballing brain is a standard requirement. Doesn't score goals, likes to play act and is pretty much the definition of not what to spend £6M + on.

Dervitte undisclosed - Not seen much of him, but I'll put this type of signing down to the quintessential 'we've signed a captain of his country (be it at youth U-21 level)' Spurs signing that we never see break into the first team because they never turn out to be good.

Malbranque £3.5M - Great player to have in the squad and team, and our most consistent performer last season. Would flourish under Redknapp. Why was he sold to Sunderland? Did we need the extra few million, perhaps for investment in the hopefully re-designing of Chirpy's head?

Chimbonda £4M - Infuriating player. Mercenary who had a few decent games, because he can play, but has shown himself up (Cup Final anyone?) and since joining Sunderland has continued to prove this point.

Mido £4.5M - Really helped us when he first signed up, influential up front, giving us somethign different. The weight/injury problems means he will probably never consistently perform for any one club.

Rocha £3.5M - Why?

Alnwich undisclosed - Is he still on loan? Another 'highly rated youth player' who we've seen nothing from. Apart from his dick in a mobile phone sex video.

Bale £5M - Great talent, but is possessed by evil spirits. Why was this not uncovered during scouting missions? Has never won a Prem game for Spurs, and never will till he is exorcised

"What do you think? Can he play left-wing?"
"Damien, that's a tree"

Berchiche undisclosed - Another one for the future, but he has a few years before we can chalk this off as a faded dream.

Taarabt undisclosed - Zidane on LSD. Has had some tasty games for the reserves, that are made up of 10-30 second bursts of genius, followed by playground football. A kid with immense ball skills, but suffering from Zokorapsy. If he doesn't learn to do the simple things, he'll never make it.

Bent £16.5M - Masses of money spent on him. The ones who didn't want to take the abuse that Bent was a waste of money will tell you he was bought for that much at the time because we needed someone to take the helm from Berbatov. Except, Berba was still with us for a season - along with Keane and Defoe, so Bent's form and confidence suffered as he sat it out on the bench. Still, over-inflated price (thanks to West Ham for matching Charlton's estimation). We were still the mugs that paid it. £9M would have been fine based on modern day wastefulness. Still, at least he is now starting to repay us. But why he was bought originally when we did not require a forward, especially when the money could have been spent elsewhere is.....Comolli's guess.

Kaboul £8.2M - Stupid. Another 'captain', another average player. Struggled thanks largely to the poor start to the season we had, but showed glimpses of something. That something then turned to nothing, confirming he was shit. Now at Pompey (bought by Redknapp, which is something that I'll worry about depending on how Harry does in the Jan window). Complete and utter waste of money. You do not spend £8.2M on a 'potentially great player'. Potential is another word for 'maybe'.

Rose undisclosed - Decent young Lennoneque player, without the bling baggage. One to watch and maybe a gem. As long as he stays away from Buckhurst Hill.

Boateng £5.2M - Much hyped because he has 'Prince' in his name and has tattoos. Looked well over his head when he did play for us, but he just might come good. Has 'grown up' since he got relegated to the reserves (basically, he realised he was being a dick and has got back to proving his worth as an up and coming prospect by concentrating on his football, because Christ, he ain't no superstar). Harry has brought him back into 1st team affairs, so a second chance is on the cards. Did we sign him because Sevilla were looking at him when Ramos was still there? Doubtful you think, as Ramos never went anywhere near him selection wise.

Gunter £2M - Decent player. Another gem, we hope.

Woodgate £7.5M - Doesn't take a DoF to look towards bringing Woody to Spurs, does it? Any manager at Spurs (considering our CB issues) would have looked to bring him in. Am I side-stepping a compliment for Comolli? Yes. Yes, I am.

Hutton £8M - Probably a bit too much for a Scottish player. Looked superb getting forward before injury. Bit of a crock performance wise since coming back. Comolli bought him on the strength of one of his scouts (Alex Ferguson).

Gilberto £1.9M - Brazilian? If he's Brazilian, so are my nuts.

Modric £15.8M - Brilliant little player. Gem for sure. Diamond in fact. But what does it say about the working relationship of Ramos and Comolli when Modric is stuck in awkward formation positions and struggles to impress? Harry comes in and does what everyone would do - let him play as a classic free-roaming number 10. Spurs did well to sign him. He's a typical flair Spurs type of signing and one we needed after losing the vision of Berbatov. I'll give Comolli props for getting the signature, but what did Ramos actually ask for? A left-winger?

dos Santos £4.7M - Either he is an extreme talent (if so, why did Barcelona let him go?) or he's a one-trick pony. IMO, was thrown into the deep end in a shit team. When he returns from injury, hope to see him settle and play. Might not be good enough for Bojans Barca, but he'll do fine in the Premiership. But Spurs should not have pushed this as a major coup with additonal 'he'll be a fully fledged first team player' soundbites. We needed something a little more complete. dos Santos is for the future. He's got a while to go before we can claim to have the best young Mexican player.

Gomes £9M - He plays brilliantly against us (for PSV) in one game and that's enough to value him at a hefty £9M and also pencil him in as a steady, reliable replacement for Paul 'I once had a HUGE long term contract at Spurs' Robinson. Instead we got a very good shot-stopper who is prone to amazing lapses in concentration and experiences yo-yo confidence. In other words, we spent almost ten million to bring back Paul Robinson.

Bostock £700k - Gem, gem, gem. Whether we have the development lined up for him is something I can only pray for. This kid can plaaaay. So credit here.

Bentley £15M - A typical superfluous luxury Tottenham type of player. Not really needed, when you consider what was needed pre-season. We lose Robbie Keane, so quick-sharp, we get a new poster boy. Not that Robbie was ever a poster boy. However, confidence makes people forget the past and look to the future, and Bentley is showing some quality now that he and the team are playing with swagger. Still not worth £15M, and might yet still go missing in games, depending on whether the gel keeps his hair in place.

Sanchez undisclosed - Backup keeper. Fairly impossible to be critical of this signing. Until he plays and concedes three.

Pavlyuchenko £14M - He might have the fashion sense of a blind chav let loose in Primark, but he seems honest, but not in a soppy way Rebrov was. Might have no pace but once he settles in England, he might be very decent for us. A snip at £14M. I'm trying not to be critical of the player, so I wont. I'll be critical of Comolli however who saw fit to spend this staggering amount of money on a player who had just done 5 months of Russian football. Arshavin would cost us £20M tops. We don't ever spot a bargain do we?

Corluka £8.5M - Can cover three or so positions. Has looked good and has looked average, but with Mordic at Spurs, bringing him in was inspired. I don't want to sound like a broken record and criticise the fee, and when you compare the amount spent and see it matches up with the money spent on Kaboul, this transfer still manages to make me feel a lot better, even though it shouldn't. But I wonder what kind of defender we could have got for £16M.

Campbell loan - Manchester United laughing at us.


So, the list more or less has as many hits and misses as you'd expect from most clubs who go with a more traditional manager-with-no-director-of-football-system. The lack of transparency means we simply can't be certain how much influence Jol and Ramos had during their time there and how involved Levy truly was. So, be it Comolli the glorified scout/contract man or be it Comolli the would be architect of glory - the only thing certain is he was one cook too many around the broth.

Comolli, having inherited a team built by Frank Arnesen's and Martin Jol - who finished 5th - he got Jol sacked and left us wanting a DM and a LW even after spunking £150M. He simply never bought the right players for the right (or left) positions when most required.

This system doesn't, didn't work.

The comedy Comolli complaints have now ceased. Forever.

Another red letter day

You didn't think I'd forget all about Daniels open letter to the fans?

Open letter from the Chairman, Daniel Levy


Dear Supporter, How quickly things change in football. Our pre-season form, our start to the transfer window and early summer signings had everyone optimistic for the season ahead. The last few days of that window and our poor start to the season has seen all that change. This has been a difficult period for the Club and many questions are being asked and much criticism levelled. I should like to update you on some important developments announced a short while ago, to answer some of your questions and also to outline our thinking as we look to improve our current position going forward.

Here it comes. The double-barrel PR shot-gun, aimed directly at our faces, and when fired, we get covered in fluff, glitter and care bears.

We have faced many key challenges as we have progressed over the last few seasons and we have had to take important decisions at crucial times - without the wonderful benefit of hindsight and always under full public scrutiny. As such, they have been judgement calls. Some of our decisions and judgements may at times be unpopular with our fans but we always take decisions we believe to be in the best interests of our Club, at the time we make them, and for the right reasons. In many cases, it is simply not possible or practical for all of the factors involved to enter the public domain and I do understand that this can alter or impair the perception of why something has or hasn't been done.

So basically, we sacked Martin Jol because it was in the best interest of the Comolli and Kemsley. And you agreed to it even though history would suggest caution when sacking and replacing managers. Good judgement call there. It's what you get paid for.

Today, as formally announced by the Club, I have made one such important judgement call and in doing so I have taken some very difficult decisions. Relieving Juande Ramos, our Head Coach, and Juande's assistants, Gus Poyet and Marcos Alvarez, of their posts is not something I have undertaken lightly. Unfortunately, our record of just three League wins since our memorable Carling Cup victory against Chelsea last February, combined with our extremely poor start to the season, led the Board and I to determine that significant change was necessary as a matter of urgency. We are grateful to Juande, Gus and Marcos for all their hard work - they are incredibly professional, committed individuals and I regret that their time in the Premier League has not gone as well as we had all hoped..

Quick sweep under the carpet. But at least you stepped up and admitted failure with these appointments. Leaving it any longer might have proved suicidal out on the pitch.....and in the stands.

The English Premier League is an unforgiving competition - time was no longer on our side and was a luxury we simply could not afford. We have quite clearly not performed to the best of our ability for many months now and our poor run of form is not something we could allow to continue unchecked.

In appointing Harry Redknapp as our new manager, we are delighted to have secured the services of someone we have long since admired and whose track record and knowledge of all levels of football, including importantly the Premier League, is outstanding. I know Harry is relishing the opportunity of managing a Club he knows well, not least from his son Jamie's time here as a player and Captain, and of re-invigorating and restoring confidence to a squad of highly talented international players. With his great knowledge of the game and his excellent motivational skills, Harry has inspired his teams to consistently over-perform, whilst his preferred attacking style of playing the game sits comfortably with our Club's history, heritage and the type of entertaining football our fans want and expect to see.

Easy on the points scoring. Jamie was 'ok' for Spurs as a player. And if you've been following tv, you'll have seen his transformation into the Sky Sports poster boy. Though I doubt he'll be churning out any more anti-Spurs chat now that his old man is in charge of first team affairs.

Harry has the right tools for the job (ooh) and should see us move out of the bottom 3 before Christmas. But let's not forget West Ham United (too good to go down) went down playing attacking football and his style also sat comfortably with their clubs history, heritage and brand of entertaining football.

It's not a given that we'll be safe by the time you unwrap your Xmas presents. Not yet. And we'll have to wait and see how Harry handles life at a club like Spurs, where we have far bigger expectations (deluded, aren't we?) than lickle West Ham or Pompey.

We have spent around £175m on new players over the last 3 years. The purchasing of players is a critical aspect of our Club and, given our current position, it is essential that we go into the January transfer window with absolute confidence in the advice being offered to the Board. Following a meeting of the Directors and a full review of our football management structure, I can also inform you that Damien Comolli has left the Club with immediate effect. Damien will not be directly replaced.

In my opinion, and with the benefit that comes with running our Club with and without a Sporting Director in the past seven years, the successful management of a football club is not about structures or job titles. As in most businesses, it's about people: their personal qualities, their knowledge, their experience, their relationships, communication skills, interaction with colleagues, leadership and, of course, their ability.

£175M? Christ. Does that not tell you that the DoF doesn't/didn't work? You're meant to be good with numbers. No 'big thank you' and goodbye for Damien?

All that stuff about personal qualities and ability can be said of the players along with some of the people you've had at the club in recent years (Kemsley anyone?). But that's probably you're point, especially with regards to the management team and the fact that you've brought in a manager who is on par with Jol, re: personality. Though I don't think Jol was half the media whore Harry is.

In Harry, we are also accepting with his appointment that now is the right time for us to move back to a more traditional style of football management at our Club. one which we believe will be capable of initiating our climb back up the Premier League table and to maintaining our challenge in the UEFA, Carling and FA Cup competitions.

However, I should stress that we are not in this current position because of any single factor or any one individual. Human nature often dictates the need to find someone or something to blame, but in these circumstances we need all our energies to be directed instead to supporting the team and improving our League position. Nothing else matters at this time.

Yes we are. Its down to you. The fans, as witnessed on Sunday, backed the team rather splendidly. But that doesn't mean I'm gonna sweep all this under the carpet and just forget about it because 'nothing else matters'. It's happened and it might happen again.

It will happen again. Based on history. You're job is prove me (us) wrong. The people that doubt you.

That said, and without dwelling too much on last summer, I do also want to take this opportunity to address some of the other concerns you have raised. Many of the questions I have been asked and much of the reasoning for our poor start to the season has centred on our striker options. I do not believe this to be the sole reason, but I do feel it is important to set out the facts once again regarding the sale of two popular and talented strikers: Keane and Berbatov. Robbie Keane's departure was undoubtedly the shock of the summer. I personally had an excellent relationship with Robbie and he was one player that I always thought would end his career at the Club. I know you all felt the same. I was as disappointed as any of you when he informed me that he wanted to join what he described as his favourite boyhood club. Against this background and despite his obvious professionalism, our coaching staff felt that it would be very difficult to expect Robbie to continue to be such a positive influence in our dressing room when he so clearly wanted to leave us. The decision to sell Robbie was therefore not a financial one, although in such circumstances it was vital for our Club to secure the maximum possible value for a player of Robbie's ability.

We could have tried a Gareth Barry stance with him, but fair enough. £20M is a lot for Robbie. What makes all this frustrating is that money has gone on compensation for sacking Ramos, Comolli etc. So we've left without the energetic and match-winning Keane and out of pocket on the money made from his transfer to Liverpool. Ho hum, hey? Great bit of business right there.

The sale of Dimitar was an entirely different matter. Dimitar first intimated to Martin Jol that he wanted to join Manchester United after just one season at our Club - and just 10 days before the end of the summer 2007 transfer window. At that time, the coaching staff's preference was to let Dimitar go and for us to replace him. This was not something I would allow - at any price - as I felt that Dimitar's request was completely unreasonable. From that moment on, we obviously knew we had an issue and we spent many hours over the course of the season that followed trying to persuade Dimitar to stay. I rebuffed a number of approaches from clubs , including Manchester United, this May and again in early July. Despite press stories to the contrary, there was no extended period of negotiation with Manchester United and their July offer of £20m was not increased until they contacted us again in the last few days of the transfer window.

Dimitar is a squirrel loving twat. The more I think about this, the more I believe we should have accepted £20M and got rid of him the first time round. I've changed my mind based on everything that's happened since his transfer. Magic of hindsight.

The club said they would never let another Rebrov situation happen again. Or another Campbell situation. Let's not go through another summer of verbals like we did with the stroppy Bulgarian. He wanted out. He was disruptive and as noble and right standing up for the club and the written contract is - the club NEVER wins. The player always does. So playing hard-ball with Utd and waiting until the final moments to sell him was a mistake. I know that's not how it happens, according to you. But from a high level point of view, it's exactly what happened.

What was wrong with telling Utd to pay up within a set deadline - and also tell the player he wont move unless Utd make a bid for him and the offer is accepted? Start of the summer this could have been done and dusted. Basically, when it comes to players - men - like Berbatov, we as a club need to be a far bigger cunt than the player in question. Enough with the begging and wanting a player who quite obviously wants to leave. Shinebox. Go home, get it.

The internal decision to sell Dimitar at the beginning of the window was premised on a suitable replacement being found and on the assumption that Dimitar couldn't be persuaded to change his mind. Under FIFA regulations, if a players signs a contract before his 28th birthday, he has only to serve 3 years of that contract before he can terminate it and join a new club. Whilst some compensation is payable under such circumstances the level of compensation is set by a third party body in accordance with predetermined factors, and in Dimitar's case would have been but a small fraction of the fee we received from Manchester United. But even this was not the final determining factor in our decision to part company with him. Despite the potential cost to the Club and knowing that our efforts to sign an additional, experienced striker had failed, the final decision on whether or not to sell Dimitar was not a financial decision but a footballing one. It was felt that he had not been a positive influence on the pitch or in the dressing room and that this would continue.

Is that right about the FIFA regulation? I think he can move abroad but not to another domestic club in England. So not sure its all that relevant there Daniel.

So, not financial? Why such desperation to get that extra £5M/£6M then? Getting the most and not allowing Utd to benefit from the players disgusting lack of loyalty is again noble. But in this case it didn't seem like we truly believed he would actually leave, hanging onto a billion in one chance.

But you're saying we had already failed in bringing in a striker, so selling him at the last minute is not relevant to other dealings? See somehow, I think a clean break at the start of the summer would have made it easier. For a start, we would have had £40M+ from Berba and Keane and that other Russian player who you don't mention in your letter might have been purchased from Zenit.

The timing of the actual transfer of Dimitar was completely immaterial and unconnected to our bringing in a replacement for him. We had been aware for a long period that he was likely to leave and our negotiations to get the best fee for him was independent of our work to replace both him (as we did with Pavyluchenko) and Robbie, with experienced strikers.

The ultimate failure - as I have said before - of our dealings in this summer's transfer window was not about the departure of two good strikers, or because we have operated a structure that happens to have had a Sporting Director and a Head Coach, or because our financial parameters are too rigid - after all, let´s not forget that we did bring in much quality to enhance our current squad. Quite simply, we failed because we were not as decisive or as successful in identifying or replacing the two strikers as early as we should have been. Perhaps these insights will help once and for all to de-bunk the myths that have been perpetuated around these transfers.

So basically, its not because of the structure the club operated with (DoF and coach) and yet we failed to identify or replace both strikers. Surely if we failed it was because of the structure? Whilst Wigan stole Zaki (be it on loan), we panic-bought Pav. The Arshavin saga went on for ages and ages and never happened, and from the sounds of it because we didn't meet the asking price. And (allegedly) a last minute call to Reading (for Doyle) was, well, last minute. No one was there to pick up. You've not really de-bunked anything here. Just deflected.

There are a fucking shed load of forwards out there. I can't believe for a moment that a competent coach/DoF/chairman would not aim to work every single day for the summer to bring someone in. There is no shortage of quality forwards. I refuse to believe Spurs could not draw up a list of 10 players. Remember, we are Tottenham. Not Real Madrid.

You all failed the club on this.

There is also an inaccurate perception that our Club is run entirely for profit and that football is secondary. Success on the pitch is the sole determinant to the future of the Club and its financial stability, so it would be entirely counter-productive to have anything other than football as our first and foremost priority and it is ridiculous to suggest otherwise. At a time when football clubs are criticised for losing money and for their debt levels, I am surprised that we should be criticised for running our Club on a sound commercial basis and for making a profit. Thank goodness we do make a profit because it has significantly supported the progress we have made over the last seven years and has helped to make us one of Europe's most secure Clubs. I make no apologies for the fact that we reinvest the Club's positive cash flow in both players and infrastructure.

Yes yes. You are great with the money and the merchandising and the profit margin. And our profit margin might even be bigger if we didn't spend so much money year in year out and find that it doesn't always improve the squad. Comolli, arguably, didn't always buy badly - but he did over-spend. And just because we are rich doesn't mean we should be spending £8M or so on Zokora and Kaboul. Money saved by a better system of scouting could be spent on forking out extra in club wages for the one or two players that have in the past turned us down for not offering enough. The reason people question you is because, for a club of our alleged stature - when the likes of Carrick, Keane and Berbatov do move on for a lot of money, it feels like we sell the parts of the jigsaw that stop us from completing it.

All three left because the lure of the Top 4 is too great. But when MON stops Barry from leaving Villa, sometimes people see our initial stamping of foot as just part of the money-dance you make when the offer is finally accepted.

Goes back to the lack of transparency, but don't expect the club to ever be 100% forthcoming with what happens behind the scenes. Not sure anyone expects that.

Sadly, we (you and the fans) will always be losers to the likes of Keane and Berbatov. The drastic measure to stop it can be something for you to look into. For a fee, I'd be willing to offer my assistance.

And so back to looking ahead and to redress our current position.

Firstly, in Harry, we have secured the services of an excellent Manager of proven Premier League quality. Harry will be working with a squad of quality internationals. We must not forget that this team, without the benefit of three additional players at the time (Pavlyuchenko, Corluka, Campbell), gave a more than creditable performance against the current League leaders. I have spoken to the senior players in recent days and I know the players share our frustration and I know they will dig deep to produce the performances we know they are capable of - they have our full support - and support for the team is absolutely critical at this time.

Yes ok Daniel. We'll stop threatening demonstrations and protests and forever sing songs for the team.

Stop with the patronising. Its sickly.

As for Harry. What quality exactly? Let's not build it up to anything more than what it actually is. But then again, you're not are? No mention of a 2-3 year plan. Just getting us to play decently again and push forward and up the table. Fine. He's a decent man-manager, which after the silent Spaniard, both fans and players will be very happy with. He's a personality, so Sky Sports will be off our backs for a while. Whether this is the right type of kick up the arse we need, we'll find out 10 games from now.

What type of players we can attract will altogether be a different kettle of fish. But this might be one of the upsides. We need some work-horses and not powder-puffs.

If Harry is a run-away success, then all those times we pointed at the DoF system and laughed will come back to haunt you. Because every manager you've sacked might have worked out if they were left to manager the transfer like Harry will.

We have all been subjected to much criticism - myself, the Board, coaching staff and players - having now made what I considered to be necessary, sweeping changes to our football management team, we must re-assert ourselves, regain our focus, and answer our critics in the best way possible - by winning games again.

Secondly, we must prepare ourselves to take advantage of the January transfer window. Harry's experience of the UK and international transfer market will be of critical importance and I shall be looking to Harry for clarity on our priorities. As Chairman, and as previously in our former structure, I must, ultimately, rely on the knowledge and judgement of my technical staff to give me a clear football-based view and recommendation on our transfer targets.

Came no Daniel. Are you saying you're a bit of a thicko with the old football shit? Do you want me to explain the offside rule? Actually, let's pass on the offside rule.

You must have some knowledge, but sure you had to rely on Comolli and his recommendations i.e. Can I please have £8M for Zokora? Maybe on the pitch performances would have given you a clue on just how successful your staff proved to be when spending that money you make for the club.

As long as Harry doesn't start shipping in players with unpronounceable names and David James, I'll be ok with it. Can we expect Defoe back? £10m should do the trick. You'll be down by £3M, but that's just loose change.

I can assure you that everyone here, from the Board to our most junior staff member, shares the frustration and disappointment of the season so far, but I can also assure you that all of us in every area of the Club are doing what we can to help the players to produce the level of performance and the consistent good results our fans expect and all of us crave.

We have achieved too much over the last seven years - three successive qualifications for Europe, a League Cup win, Training Centre planning permission - and still more to announce - to allow this to be overtaken and thrown away overnight. We have suffered a set back and we have taken strong action.

Too much? You mean not enough? Did we get an open bus parade for the Training Centre Planning Permission Cup? But yeah, considering we had no progress for well over 10 years - since Martin Jol we've made the right type of leap forward. The same pundits and tabloid hacks who laugh at our current predicament are the same ones who put us down for a 5th spot finish. Seems our esteemed football journalists believed that without a DM and true class forwards we'd do just fine, even with our lack of results since March. So much for their expert opinions. The fucking melters.

To get into that position regardless is fine. But winning the Carling Cup is just a bonus (previous winners never pushed on - its not a sign of actual 'Top4 ' pushing progress). All it did is prove the players could finally beat a couple of rivals, and avoid choking. And it's something we all appreciate. Ramos did have one big positive impact.

Sacking him was the only option. All a bit dizzying, this isn't it?

I have received numerous e-mails and letters from supporters offering advice and suggestions on how the Club should be run and what we should and should not do. I do appreciate the time people take to write to me and when the e-mails or letters are constructive and not abusive, I can assure you that I read as many as I can. And I do take notice of your views. Indeed, I have been heartened by the fact that the over-riding response from our supporters has been one of determination to get behind the team. Too often in difficult times supporters can forget that their support is needed even more than ever. The team will tell you how much of a difference it can make to them on the pitch. White Hart Lane needs to once again become the fortress it was, not so very long ago. With your tremendous support it can.

I try not to be abusive. Just honest. Colourful language is something you should expect from a football fan.

Yet more ass-kissing from your good self with yet another mention of the crowd/support. We know what our job is and we'll always make noise. And you're saved from protests and water-balloon attacks for the time being.

Finally, I know I am sometimes criticised for appearing too business-focused, too uncommunicative, or simply for not being emotional enough when it concerns our team. The majority of our fans know that it's simply not my way to seek a high profile. I do not crave publicity, neither do I believe it is necessary to do my job. I would prefer our team to make the headlines, for the right reasons. We now have a manager who is a great communicator to players, fans and the media alike and I shall also, personally, look to keep you all informed and your questions answered as we progress through the season.

Your support has never been more important - and we are grateful to so many of you for the messages of support and encouragement the Club has received during this difficult period. Now's the time for all of us to pull together and to get behind Harry and the team.

Yours, Daniel

Very heart-felt and upfront, even though you've carefully side-stepped and deflected blame quite creatively. See things change very quickly in football. On and off the pitch. A week ago people wanted to protest and this week people aren't too fussed about it. But the reasons they wanted to protest in the first place are still moments in time that have happened and someone should be accountable. They are in the past, and will be there forever for people to refer back to and use going forward.

You've sacked Comolli. You've got rid of the DoF structure.

That has bought you a get out of jail card even if there is still a minority (majority?) that believe you should step down. But with Joe Lewis seemingly detached from ENIC, it seems you'll only ever step down if you sold the club. And at the moment, that doesn't appear to be something you wish to do.

I'm sure with the new stadium annoucement forthcoming, the fans who did hate you may soon be worrying about other things. Fickle bunch we are. And you know that.

So, I'll let you get on with the accountancy and judge you on how Harry performs. Just make sure you keep an eye out for my next letter.

Disfunction of Football

Cannot disagree with this:

Paul Duffen, the Hull chairman and a Tottenham fan, said:

“The idea of a director of football is very amusing to us. The clubs with the biggest problems in this country have directors of football.

“I feel you need a shallow hierarchy, total accountability, with nowhere to hide, good communication and you don't want an interim layer between the boardroom and the management. The extra layer tends to obviate responsibility and nobody really knows who is accountable."

And yet Levy swears by his precious DoF system. Even though history tells another story altogether. Look at Hoddles reign, where one blamed the other for the failings of the team. It's almost like a Director of Football is there to legislate who comes and goes by sanctioning transfers - having the final say on whether its a green or red light. It's a safety net to protect Levy's far more important ethos of 'what's best for the business' - rather than what's best for the footballing team.

Yes, our finances are in great shape. But losing sight of what happens on the pitch can result in losing status as a top flight club. Which means those fantastic finances turn to shit. And all because of an extra few million not being spent because 'our' valuation of players did not match the clubs we were attempting to sign them from. Which cost us a certain Russian forward (or maybe it was agent interference) and one or two other players that we could really do with at he minute.

So what's the answer? Simply put, keep things simple. Have a chief scout, call him a DoF if you really find that title sexy, but have him as nothing more than someone who scouts and updates the coach/manager on targets. If Ramos wants a player, and wants him bad, then we sign him on the strength of what he wants - rather than what Comolli thinks we need.

And if all fails - then the manager is the responsible one. No blame game.

I don't see the risk. I know what Levy would say. He'd say that we need a DoF system to make sure things do not go out of control, money wise, over-spending and turning into another Leeds Utd.

There's this quote that usually does the rounds every now and again in newspaper articles about Levy. It's something like 'I'll never let another Rebrov happen to this club again' (if anyone has the correct quote, please feel free to share).

What Levy means is that the club won't go out and spend so much money on a player that proves to be an unmitigated disaster. But unless my memory serves me wrong, Rebrov was a Pleat signing, and Hoddle didn't rate him. So is this not a DoF error?

And with the DoF in place we've spend £16.5M on Darren Bent and £14M on Pav and £15M (maybe more) on Bentley.....and so on.

Fair enough if we are asking Ramos 'do you want this player?' - but hands up if you believe that's how it works?

There was a wonderful Martin Jol interview in the broadsheets this past weekend (Sunday Times). And the stand out quote from the big huggable man?

"I knew Comolli was trying to get Ramos in the summer, even when we had just finished fifth.”

So was the start we had down to the politics behind the scenes? It's the picture painted by Martin and preached by a number of Spurs fans. The way we went Ramos-chasing, led by Kemsley, suggests Levy got a little bit too ambitious too early. See the fundamental problem here is that if Comolli really knee-deep in these type of discussion making then it's suggestive that the DoF is the most important role at the club. The club's 'drive'. And that the coach is secondary to this Holy position.

The DoF selects the coach. The coach has to be compatible with the DoF. The DoF buys the players (Kaboul, KPB for example) rather than the coaches choice in players (Petrov, for example). And when it turns to shit, the coach is the scape-goat.

But with one failure following another, this is now far too transparent (if it wasn't before to the most blind of fans).

Will Levy admit defeat? Of course not. If Ramos goes, then another willing 'coach' will arrive and the same cycle of disfunction will begin. Much like the snake swallowing its own tail, at some point soon, there be nothing left.

Ramos and Poyet, two peas in a pod

I had a conversation with a fellow Spurs fan a week before the season kicked off. He said it was IMPERATIVE we won at Boro. I agreed. Confidence wise, to win opening day, away from home, and collect 3 points would see us start on a positive. Confidence wise we would have continued on a high. But the reality was it went to shit, and got worse.

Playing one up front is OK when you play Chelsea away, but at Pompey, it's almost felt like Ramos was telling the board, "Here you go....here's the team you have built for me".

Its a mess. Which would mean the DoF isn't working the way it's meant to, because Levy stated Comolli wanted Ramos, because they could 'work' together on transfer targets.

The final 15 mins or so of the game at Portsmouth saw Ramos and Poyet sitting down, with the look of disillusion. If you wanted to be a conspiracy theorist about it, you could argue Poyet's insistent repeated post-match 'complaint' of Pav and Bent being the same type of player, thus they can't play together being a subtle hint at how unhappy management are.

Reading between the lines is all you can do until something gives.

The Two-Face Perspective

Issue #3
Director of Football





Harvey Dent: So another manager fails under the Director of Football structure.

Two-Face: Failed? I would argue against that. I think Levy is accountable for appointing Santini but found himself lucky to then promote Jol to work with Arnesen. It worked with those two because they were suited for each other. There is nothing wrong with the structure as long as the parts fit.

Harvey Dent: Not many Arnesen signings left at the club.

Two-Face: Yes, but the point is Jol worked well with him. It was Arnesen that gave the go-head to promote Jol. Which forms part of the continuity flow that the DoF system is meant to promote. When Frank left for Chelsea, Levy had to replace the DoF. That’s the crux of the problem thats confusing you with the suggested 'failure'. You can’t employ a new director of football when you already have the coach there because you run the risk of bringing in someone who may not like the current manager. Levy had to obviously replace the gap left by Arnesen. I do agree that this was potentially a risk and was proven so.

Harvey Dent: Yes, and by your very defination it didn't work, did it?

Two-Face: It does work and has worked.

Harvey Dent: Nope. Comolli didn’t see eye to eye with Jol and vice versa. Neither were comfortable in each others company and had different targets in mind. That's the systems fault.

Two-Face: You are simply echoing what the papers write about the DoF structure and the fact that it supposedly undermined Martin Jol. Jol approved of the signings, but was found not capable of taking the club any further. Tactically he was shown up and incapable of developing the players and team. The DoF system works fine. You are missing the point. The problem was with Jol. Not the system.

Harvey Dent: Jol would work fine without a DoF. The problem was that Comolli found himself working with someone he couldn’t work with and vice versa. That's the systems fault. You do know Jol has gone on Dutch tv and made suggestions that things were not right at the club since the summer? He stated he had the same view as Arnesen. Doesn’t have to mention Comolli, and the fact he doesn’t speaks volumes. You even touched upon this yourself. He also stated he felt something was wrong during the summer and that in the end he was simply waiting till they took him aside to tell him he was sacked.

Two-Face: Thats Jol's perspective. Levy and Comolli will possibly suggest the opposite of that. But Levy knows to admit to anything would be detrimental for the way people percieve the DoF system. Levy knows the system works and knows that Jol doesnt fit into the system.

Harvey Dent: Best manager we've had for years and we've got rid of him because the system doesn't work? Lunacy. What about Petrov, Distin, Elano?

Two-Face: What about them?

Harvey Dent: Three players he wanted to sign, that’s Jol. Rejected for being either too old or too expensive.

Two-Face: We don't know that for sure. Didn't Petrov reject us because we wouldnt say yes to 100% first team football?

Harvey Dent: He also mentioned on Dutch tv that you can’t read too much into the £40M spent in the summer as the players are either for the future or for the subs bench and thus are not that big of an improvement to the squad. Sure, we all know Bent is a replacement for Berbatov. But how about spending money on areas that need immediate improving rather than covering our backs with the potential sell of one of our current players? The DoF was stagnating Jol.


Two-Face: Look, I'm not arguing that it wasn't working out for Jol - but that's down to Jol and not the system itself. It wasn't working in his favour, we can agree on that. In fact I would go as far as saying that Levy and Comolli made their minds up a while back and the players bought in the summer were players that another manager could reap the benefits from rather than signing a player that falls into the Jol philosophy. So that explains Jol's frustration on that £40M spent.

Harvey Dent: So you are saying what now? That the DoF works but it has to have the right director and coach?

Two-Face: Yes. Do you not listen? You know that's exactly what I mean. Look at Ramos at Sevilla. The DoF he had there was able to work in complete unison with Ramos. It was a perfect partnership. Comolli has appointed Ramos. Comolli sees him as the person, the type of coach, he can work with. They share the same philosophy therefore there will be little or no disagreements with signing players.

Harvey Dent: So let me get this straight. As long as the DoF remains consistent, i.e. the same person, then it doesn’t matter who is coach as long as the coach is of top drawer quality?

Two-Face: Retaining a DoF allows for continuity. It isn’t detrimental when we have to change manager. A new coach comes in and the same club ethos continues.

Harvey Dent: That’s really dressing it up right there. Detrimental? Of course it is. It’s not like there’s world class managers waiting to be picked off a tree. How many other managers do you think would suit Comolli? Surely we are limited to the DoF and his ethos? In fact, its almost like the DoF is the kingpin and the coach is there for his benefit. And if the DoF walks, then you need to start again. Its potentially messy. Very untidy.

Two-Face: And having one man buying and selling and coaching isn’t? The DoF is there to assist the coach. The coach wants a certain type of player, the DoF will draw up a list of 5 or so, and then along with Levy and others they will agree to sanction the transfer.

Harvey Dent: Works for Fergie and Wenger, not having a DoF.

Two-Face: DoF worked for Sevilla and Ramos pretty well too. You need to remember, when this system works – with a DoF and coach – who see eye-to-eye, then it WORKS. They obviously gave it a go with Jol due to circumstance and it worked with two top 5 finishes. But there’s been problems there for a while and they unfortunately exploded in August. Jols wasn't improving the team and if you look closely, which Levy obviously did, the team were going backwards. We flattered to decieve. Hence the chase for Ramos. And look what happened just before we got Comolli. We signed Rasiak. A DoF is there to aid the coach. If you want to believe the press that there is continuous disagreements on who we should sign then you are some what delusional. Nothing more, nothing less. The system does work. Jol simply wasn’t good enough for the system. He had to go.

Harvey Dent: If a manager isn’t capable of buying players on his own, then that individual can’t possibly be a good coach. Sure, have someone doing all the leg work but don’t dress it up as a ‘Director of Football’ and stick him at the top of the hierarchy. That has the potential for conflict. Jol was undermined because of it.

Two-Face: Oh please. Do one. Undermined? How so?

Harvey Dent: If you are part of a system that doesn’t work, how can you possibly concentrate on the work at hand? How can you even work with players if they are players that you did not want in the first place?

Two-Face: You’re saying what? That Spurs poor form is down to interference from above? That Jol wasn't inspired to work with the team he had because the team he had wasn't completely his own selection? That Levy and Comolli are to blame? That’s pushing the boundaries of belief just a tad. Put down your copy of the News of the World. Levy and Comolli are not out on the training field shouting out instructions. Jol takes reasonability for that. And he has failed to correct countless long running problems with selection and tactics. You can’t say this is the fault of the DoF system.

Harvey Dent: Ok, maybe not directly. But by your own admission you are saying it’s not working with Jol stuck in the middle of it, so ignoring the ideal template for the system - if all parts fit, it works like a dream – when they don’t fit, it quite obviously causes problems. In this case it’s done just that, so you can't argue that it works. The moment someone, a coach, feels surplus, then this will affect him and affect his management and his coaching and the players and the results. That’s exactly what’s happened. Jol has admitted that things haven’t been right since the summer. So, this is the fault of Levy above anyone else for the single fact that this whole system is his responsibility. The moment he brought in Comolli he should have sacked Jol if that’s what Comolli felt was the right thing to do.

Two-Face: Sack Jol? At the time there would have been a riot. The team were playing well and improving.

Harvey Dent: And the progress stagnated. The DoF system didn’t help matters. Again, remember you have stated that when the right people are working as part of the structure/system it works, when there's one person who isn't quite right, it doesn't work. What was it you said? There is nothing wrong with the structure as long as the parts fit.

Two-Face: Thats right.

Harvey Dent: Yes, and that's my point. If you don't have the right people in there then it wont work which means the DoF system doesnt work. Its not full proof and not stable.

Two-Face: It is if you get it right and you are naive if you think its easy to rid the club of Jol in a blink of an eye and replace him. Levy and the board have had to think this over and make the necessary changes over time. Wasn't fluid, but it wasn't a knee-jerk either. Levy's aim has been to bring back stability that will help produce the results needed. You need to see beyond Jol's lovable character and see he wasn't cut out for it. DoF or not.

Harvey Dent: This will go on and on...

Two-Face: Flick a coin and be done with it.

Harvey Dent: Up, up it goes…

Misery

Not sure where to begin.

Jol was interviewed yesterday (shown in SSN), and he stated various things that were contradictions. Like how we (Spurs) spend more time practising/training set-pieces than any other Prem club. Firstly, how would he know what other clubs do in training? And secondly, OMFG! We spend time practising set-pieces? And yet we hardly ever score from them and ALWAYS concede from them. This is like Jack the Ripper telling everyone he’s actually a great conversationalist.

Martin looked huggered. Completely defeated, his fate blatantly obvious to all. We all know he wont walk (money money money) and we know Levy has no options with who to bring in. So, the cancer continues to spread from top to bottom, from board level to first team and through to the stands where hope has disintegrated into a puddle of shit.

Is he or is he not friends with Berbatov? Who know’s. Everyone’s read about how he apparently asked Berbs 3 times to get up and warm-up. But then Berbatov has looked and acted like a stroppy bastard since pre-season so I wouldn’t blame him. Jol explained the benching down to 'saving him for Thursday'. I wonder if Defoe feels privileged to have been left at home, all in the name of the UEFA Cup.

The confusion continues to drown the memories of what it felt like to be on the up. Once more, I refer you back to the Newcastle game (yes, I have now seen it). Tactically astute is our manager and as for our players, they know exactly what their responsibility on the field should be.

Tainio: "I was surprised I was put on pitch, as I had only trained once after an injury. I went on to play on the wing - which wing it was, was a bit unclear. I think I was told to change positions four times during the match."

It’s Total Football all over again.

The Omnipresent that is Jenas continues to do what he does so well. Nothing. But to simply lay blame on his incompetence (unable to pass or hold onto the ball), to be fair, most of the team were guilty of the same inept display. Again. May as well start copy and pasting previous blog entries to save time ranting about the same thing every week. Then again, it’s therapeutic to laugh at my own misery. Helps to elevate the tragedy of the situation.

So who is exactly responsible for this mess? As manager you expect Martin to oversee and get the fundamentals right:

- Shape
- Passion
- Belief
- Fight

But there’s so much one man can do, because out on the pitch the players are producing nothing more than a Keystone classic whether home or away. Has he really become a bad manager over night? Of course not. Looking at our prima donnas you’d think they were playing to enable those relegation clauses, post haste. All is wrong and God only knows what the psychological shot in the head this will have on the club. Again, amazing how quick you can go from being ‘nearly top 4’ to utter gush. Proving that we were never nearly top 4 in the first place (blame the fans and the media on that one).

Yes we have talented players. But we have no true balance. No true leader. Key positions are weak. And talking of 'no true leader', Jol loves pointing out the fact that we have a leadership issue, but again not his fault that we spent £16M on a striker we don’t need at this current point in time. Talented players – no direction. And the same olde trend is set to be followed. We cant handle or live up to the hype.

Modern day footballers don’t tend to bust a gut for a manager on his way out. And the boards general incompetence with on the field management and football (rather than merchandising) is dragging us down. It always has. The two 5th place finishes flattered to deceive.

We sacked Graham before a semi-final. We gave Hoddle millions to spend when it would seem Levy and his pals always looked to set get rid of him in the 2004 season and did so 6 games in. Then there was Arnesen who’s advice was ignored and Levy drafted in Inspector Clouseau and his magical mystery tour bus. Nine games later he’s gone and Jol is promoted. That’s some shrewd re-structuring there, very slick. No wonder we are hot on the trails of Arsenal. Apparently that’s the reason we have a Director of Football structure at the club. We can replace a coach without upsetting the karma around WHL – and yet it seems to do the exact opposite. To further compound the fact that Levy doesn’t have a fucking clue, him and the board (including Kemsley who apparently has wanted Jol out for an age) knee-jerk after 2 league games resulting in the Ramos fiasco and this rendering our season dead.

Fact. Jol has over-achieved. The fans got a tad too excitable. The board got too Billy big-boots.

It’s summed up perfectly by this:

Levy has enjoyed popularity over the past few years because he has put up the money - but the buying policy is now under serious doubt - many people claim that Levy wanted the young English talent like Jenas and Bent - and Comolli is bringing in player after player who are not the finished article. Running a club is not just about spending money - people tipped us to break the top 4 just because we had finished 5th and then spent £40m. But look at how Allardyce and Eriksson spent their money and look at the way we spent ours.

When Levy announced we would have a DoF structure I thought who the hell is he to decide that he knows better than the boards of Man U, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea where the manager was all powerful - but we stuck with it and by chance ended up with a good coach. But with this structure there is too much potential for conflict and I fear that as long as Levy buries his head in the sand (or refuses to fuck off) we will slip back to being the also rans of the Prem League once more.

Nothing more to add.

Dead Man Walking

Dead Man Walking - Guest Blog by 'The East Stander'


On Sky’s Sunday Supplement, various journalists (and I use that word loosely) debated the current state of Tottenham Hotspur. You can watch the video here:

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11096_2665571,00.html .


It’s Damien Comolli you idiots, not Daniel. And Martin Jol wasn’t brought to the club originally as a Director of Football either. Superb researching on display by England’s finest reporters. I’m not going to dispute any longer that Jol’s position at the club is on thin ice. Even though the journos from the above link were making assumptions based on rumours, the fact that people are discussing any of this means that it’s in the heads of Levy and Jol and pressure is then created from a situation where it might not have existed in the first place.

Jol gave his speech last season and gave credit to Levy. After the opening two defeats, people claiming to know people at the club began to spread rumours. Jol’s job was no longer safe. He and Levy did not see eye to eye. Comolli and Jol do not get on. Jol has not approved of several signings made (i.e. Zokora, Bent). Suddenly, it’s being suggested that the past two years have been achieved through a divided management team that do not get on.

Bookies stopped taking bets on Jol being sacked.

This (prior to the Derby game) appeared on a Spurs forum:

Right dont shoot the messenger but I’m just passing on what I’ve been told this morning by my friend...
He is helping out a lad today whose dad is very good mates with Chris Hughton...
He has said Jol and him are gone after the Derby game whatever happens..
Jol has said to the players he wants a win against derby, a wave goodbye to the crowd before being forced out, he wants to leave with his head held high...
It fits in with what is being said...
Id be gutted if he goes as I love him as a character and a personality, but I’ve been having doubts for a while now whether he has what it takes it get us challenging for the next level...
And was echoed across other forums that suggested that Jol was a dead man walking.

Of course, Spurs won 4-0. And the people who suggested Jol was gone backtracked, saying that Levy had not been able to draft in a replacement and that apparently he will get rid of the manager once we ‘the fans’ turn against him. The Favourite being Ramos of Seville who was apparently spotted with chief executive John Alexander and director Paul Kemsley. The Sunday Mirror had pictures (too low quality to print). Ramos denied the stories, but people would simply suggest ‘where there’s smoke there’s fire’.

There’s been no official word from Spurs. Of course any official word would probably constitute a ‘vote of confidence’ so they can’t win on that front.

But even though I would want to dismiss all stories as mis-truths, Jol appears to be fighting his corner:

“I always think of David Moyes and Everton,” Martin Jol, the Tottenham Hotspur manager, said. “He had a very good year, then the next year was horrendous, but nobody said anything. And now they have a good team and are challenging for the top six. So I just think, leave me be.”

“The board has never personally told me I have to break into the top four,” Jol said, “and betting on me to get the sack, I don’t think so – but you never know. I thought there were whispers last year, but there are whispers at every club. I’m the same as maybe seven people in every ten – I can’t take f***ing criticism.

“As a manager, you want time to build a team. Look at Arsenal and Liverpool, how many of my players would get in for them? If it is six or seven, then we must be fourth. If it is one or two, then we are overachieving. In 25 years, no Tottenham manager has had the number of points we have won over two seasons. None of them.”

Unless he is fighting the media rather than Levy with his words.


On another Spurs forum, a member was asked to post the following – which is apparently from a Spurs board member. Not exactly official club policy to go through a message board rather than the official club site:

As I know you are always in the chatroom, can I provide you with the current position please.

Re Ramos, Klinsmann etc - We are not negotiating with any managers about the replacement of Martin Jol at this time. We are an ambitious club and it is a realistic ambition that we should look to CL qualification, so anything that looks like we may not make it is bound to lead to speculation and we fully expect that. No manager's future is decided on one or two games and it is insulting to suggest that this board would do that.

Re Martin and Damien - they have a good working relationship - the football management board works - no player comes into this club that Martin doesnt agree to - it would be ludicrous to suggest that money would be spent on players Martin did not favour and whom he would not then play, Damien has brought talent to the club with Martin's approval - and we would not have players like Berbatov and Bale without him to mention but two (there are obviously many more).

Re left position - always difficult as evidenced by the fact that the majority of prem teams (Liverpool a notable exception) play a right footer on the left. We have Lennon, Malbranque (who played a blinder on the left yesterday) Bale and Keane. So we have many options and yet we will still look as depth is a key factor of the squad.

Please let me know if any rumours running amok that I have not answered here - will be happy to! best regards,

Too confusing, isn’t it? No real way of knowing whether Mido’s dig at Tottenham’s ‘politics’ is true or just a bitter parting word at the fact that he was shifted out of the club having dropped to 5th in the pecking order.

And are forums really this powerful tool of mass hysteria where a few words posted suddenly appear in the next days edition of The Sun or Mirror?

Is Levy to blame for failing to buck a trend and behave in the manner that has become synonymous with the past - bad management. Why do we have to persistently rock the boat? Or is modern day football to blame, breeding impatience in the terraces and on the board.

Maybe its not all rumours. Maybe there is truth in it. Maybe I'm blinded by the fact that Jol has achieved great success compared to the past set of managers who have failed miserably - but I fail to see that he might not be capable of taking us further.

I said that I no longer dispute the fact that Jol's days maybe numbered. And as you can tell from this article I am unable to settle down into one school of thought on this.

If Jol wasn't in trouble he is now. And its more to do with the hype surrounding it than the actual logical process that should be considered (i.e. give Jol the time he needs).

Maybe sacking him isn't too bad an idea if Ramos replaces him. But I just can't find myself liking that idea at this moment. That must make me pro-Jol and anti-Levy. Spooky will be pleased with that. Though he's anti-everything at the best of times.


TES