Do we have a mole?

[basskadet]

Well, it seems a lot of slightly idiotic, perhaps underdeveloped, individuals have become a wee bit upset as to the way Spurs & specifically Harry, have conducted themselves in this transfer window. Quite as to why the scallies have had their feathers ruffled I'm not exactly sure. I distinctly remember knowing about Saha's move before he joined from United but worse still . . . Yakubu?? My your scouse memories are short!! Maybe its because they can't actually afford anyone themselves this time around, I don't know, but we are getting criticised just for being linked with players now! What about City? or Jose Mourinho? Even Phil Brown talked about Steve Finnan when he was going thru his medical with Hull (which he failed by the way, so thank god we did not pursue him any further!!). Talking & reporting on players is just what happens in the transfer window, GET OVER IT!!

It actually becomes detrimental for our own purposes as everybody suddenly knows our hand. Notice how United & now City have suddenly bid on Palacios, how Villa & City suddenly went for Defoe & City (AGAIN!!!) are trying for Bellamy (find your own f**king players Sparky & stop just trying to copy Harry!).

Harry has now said that he is worried that there is a spy in the Tottenham camp who is leaking our targets to the press. He says that players, who have only been discussed with the chairman & board in private, are very quickly publicised in the media. No doubt Comolli has left some of his Arsenal minions behind to undermine our transfer dealings.

Redknapp worried about Spurs 'mole' - London News

[kevfball63]

It does actually stink of cloak and dagger behaviour , but the player should want to come to us mainly to achieve things and make some money along the way . Instead it seems they want to make money their priority , and if they achieve anything else its a bonus . Thats why we tend to lose our quality players to CL teams . As for it getting fast-tracked into the headlines , its nothing new , i think we just have to get used to it .

[DanSpurs80]

Yeah heard the interview on SS1.

Tapping up - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A reference as to what Tapping Up really means.

[basskadet]

Exactly "a milder form" meaning that it there is nothing officially wrong with doing it. It happens to us all the time & we don't moan about it. What upset us about Rafa & Fergs is that they both tried to claim that the players were already on their way to the respective clubs & Levy supposedly had other evidence of United talking with Berbatov's agent, greasy Dantchev.

[DanSpurs80]

Exactly "a milder form" meaning that it there is nothing officially wrong with doing it. It happens to us all the time & we don't moan about it. What upset us about Rafa & Fergs is that they both tried to claim that the players were already on their way to the respective clubs & Levy supposedly had other evidence of United talking with Berbatov's agent, greasy Dantchev.

Funny you should mention the gruesome twosome Bass.
Found this article in the archives.

We have made Tottenham an offer on Berbatov and we have good expectations that this deal will go through,” Sir Alex Ferguson said yesterday.
“Berbatov has been impressive during a long time and would be a great addition to our attack. I think time will work for us more than against us. We will not stress this situation. We are hoping to have a constructive conversation with Tottenham in the near future.”
After losing out on the player two years ago, it seemed as though Fergie was finally going to get his man. However, a press statement from Tottenham Hotspur later in the day threw a spanner in the works. Apparently Ferguson is a hypocrite…
“Today’s public comments by Manchester United’s manager, announcing that he has made an offer for Dimitar and is confident that the deal will go through with time working in their favour, is a blatant example of sheer arrogance and interference with one of our players,” said Tottenham Hotspur chairman, Daniel Levy, in a statement on the club’s official website.
“It is also probably one of the worst offences by any manager in the Premier League to date and is unbelievably hypocritical given his recent comments in respect of Cristiano Ronaldo and Real Madrid. As a result, we have today made an official complaint to the PL about the conduct of Manchester United.”
Spurs have also thrown their dummy out where the dippers’ pursuit of Robbie Keane is concerned, reporting Liverpool to the Premier League as well.
“The behaviour of both clubs has been disgraceful,” Levy continued. “We told both clubs very early on that we had no interest in selling Robbie or Dimitar, respectively, and that they should refrain from pursuing the player. Both clubs arrogantly chose to ignore this request and we now have evidence that both clubs have systematically been working to prise the players away from us, outside of PL rules of conduct.”

Two sets of rules in this league mate.

[basskadet]

Also notice that when Sbragia & Lamb 'spat their dummies out' (notice that when we have ACTUAL evidence of wrongdoing we're 'spitting our dummies out' but when other teams just take offence to our manager saying that he admires one of their players & even that he has made an offer (but not saying that he expects it to go thru) they are 'taking a firm stance'!!!), Harry moved very quickly to say that they are within their rights to not sell the players & that we would no longer be pursuing them.

[slimboydim]

Good Afternoon, I may be old fashioned, but I do not think Harry should
mention players under contract at other clubs until a deal is done.
When Rafa did it to us over Robbie, I did not like it.
For me two wrongs don't make a right.

[basskadet]

Yeah but Slim, you are allowed to say a player is good, nothing wrong with that. Rafa said it very different to what Harry said over players we categorically said we would not sell. Defoe was already on his way out of Pompey, Harry was asked if he liked him & he said of course he does, he signed twice before already!! Harry has not mentioned Kenwyne once so I don't know why Sbragis has his nickers in a twist & with Bellamy I think that Harry only confirmed we'd made a bid (It was already public knowledge that both us & City had made a bid & nobody has said anything about City).

Saying you like a player & would love to have him on your team is massively different to saying you like a player & are confident you will sign him, despite the club already saying he's not for sale.

Also, like I said already, what REALLY upset Levy was that he had evidence that United/Liverpool had made contact with the respective players' agents without our permission. That is what he complained to the Fa about, not what the managers had actually said, that was just the catalyst for making the complaint. The FA are unlikely to charge on solely what the managers say but they will if agents/players are involved in negotiations without the current club's permission. Apparently, in the end, his evidence was not strong enough for the FA but it obviously was going on for Rafa & Fergie to apologize. We all know Dantchev was in talks with United for ages!

[slimboydim]

Good Afternoon, that is a really fine line though, things Harry has
said have unsettled Bellamy for certain. If he does not mention
a particular player until the deal is done, to me that is a much better
option. Now we look very amateur and small time, being linked with
every player on the planet. If he passes no comment these allegations
will not be made at him.
The way he mentions players under contract is not the way we
should be doing business...
If Mark Hughes suddenly uses Modric's name, we as fans will not like it.

[basskadet]

Good Afternoon, that is a really fine line though, things Harry has
said have unsettled Bellamy for certain.

I do agree with the fact that its a fine line & Harry is definitely no angel but i'm not sure you can say its Harry's fault Bellamy is unsettled. West Ham already said they had received bids on Bellamy from us & City before Harry said anything & just because he wants to come here is not our fault. City are just as guilty & have offered a better deal.

By wanting to take a publicly clear stance that they did not want to sell their player too cheap West Ham released the bids they had received to the press. This has somewhat backfired on them. However, neither they nor Wigan are accusing Spurs of anything. Middlesbrough, Sunderland & Portsmouth all had a problem but Harry specifically said he was going to stop talking about them when they said that whereas Rafa & Fergie just carried on regardless. Defoe was already surplus to requirements at Pompey & had stated his desire to return to Spurs before Harry said anything anyway.

This is Harry's way, he's always been fairly open with the press, and its actually what a lot of [people like about him, his honesty. Its just that at Portsmouth or wherever you can talk about whoever you like & nobody gives a cr*p but you do that at Spurs & its suddenly an issue.

[slimboydim]

Good Afternoon again, I thought he mentioned Bellamy or it
was written in the papers we were in, before The Shammers
confirmed a bid. Either way, if he does not mention players
in contract, then this issue will not arise.
He may not be doing anything illegal, but for me it reflects
badly on our great club. We seem to be upsetting other clubs
for no reason, and long term will just end up paying for it in
overinflated fees to Chairman we have annoyed from rival teams...

[Essexyido31]

Imo alot of it is down to the media they pick up on the bits and pieces, harry has always been an honest man, he's not going to say no I am not intrested in x y z. All the interviews I have seen this week have been a reporter asking him about various targets, he says if a deal can be done then good if not I'll move on. lets be fair who would wanna stay with the spammers anyway, just using bellamy as a example

[the don72]

Think the mole is Kevin Bond - we know how he likes to stir things up with agents! Seriously though I think Defoe will score a brace tomorrow (see skysports.com and bet3pm.co.uk for predictions) and therefore people can stop getting on Harry's back.

[basskadet]

Don't be fooled Slim, we are not p*ssing anyone off, they just don't want to lose their best players & them moaning about it is just as sly. Whether we say anything or not, when you bid on a player, everyone gets to know about it & if the player is interested he will say so. These clubs are complaining about us not so much because they are genuinely upset with us but because their reaction will make their player settle back down again a bit & put us off from bidding again. Its all gamesmanship.

We didn't mention Bellamy until long after it was already printed in the press tho, that's a definite fact., but I do get why you are concerned, like you said before, its a fine line but I do not believe Harry has crossed it yet. Here is the first quote Harry made on the subject on the 30th Decemer after bids had already been reported a day or two beforehand:

"If we could agree a fee with Portsmouth, then fine, he is a good player, but if Portsmouth do not want to sell him, then that is up to them.
They haven't got to sell him if they don't want to. If they say, 'no' then that is the end of the story."

Meanwhile, Redknapp has also revealed that he has seen a bid for West Ham striker Craig Bellamy turned down.

"We made an offer and they turned it down. He belongs to West Ham and if they don't want to sell that is their prerogative.
We can't force them to sell him but, yes, he is a player I like."

That is a long way short of saying what Rafa/Fergie said which was more along the lines of "I like this player, we've chased him for a while & we are confident he will sign for us in the near future." despite Tottenham claiming either player was absolutely not for sale.

I get your point that it is sometimes better not to say anything but the bids had already been reported & it has never been Harry's way to avoid the press. He is just discovering that what he would once have said at Portsmouth/Southampton and not caused any issue is now the subject of scrutiny simply because we are Spurs.

[Essexyido31]

That is a long way short of saying what Rafa/Fergie said which was more along the lines of "I like this player, we've chased him for a while & we are confident he will sign for us in the near future." despite Tottenham claiming either player was absolutely not for sale.

I get your point that it is sometimes better not to say anything but the bids had already been reported & it has never been Harry's way to avoid the press. He is just discovering that what he would once have said at Portsmouth/Southampton and not caused any issue is now the subject of scrutiny simply because we are Spurs.[/quote]

Bass thats spot on, maybe I am being niave but I see Harry doing nothing wrong.